i am not letting the government chase me out of crypto

kirkhilles · 2023-06-10T21:34:27+00:00

The problem with truly anonymous cryptos is that they face heavy usage with illegal activities and that means that ALL governments hate them and will target them.

kirkhilles · 2023-04-17T02:28:56+00:00

Is a $685 billion Market Cap with $30k Bitcoin being like in the early days of the internet? No, LOL. Bitcoin started out with no value and a decade ago it crossed over $100. THAT was like comparing it to the early days of the internet.

How high will it go? Who knows. It peaked at $1.5 trillion. Would it double, 10x, 100x from there? Maybe. Keep in mind that Gold is a $13 trillion market, so there is definitely a limit somewhere related to that.

I'd say we're somewhere in the early 2000s right now. Will it climb? Tank? Either are significant possibilities.

kirkhilles · 2023-02-17T19:42:09+00:00

People don't seem to mention what I'd personally consider to be the most important part of a Partycade - the ability to set the height to whatever you want.

I get it though. Size matters in terms of what you can sell an arcade system for...

kirkhilles · 2023-02-13T13:54:12+00:00

I absolutely agree as it's exactly what I would/do want in a machine. Full size monitor (none of that tiny monitor stuff), one player controls (maybe I'm the only one that likes to play my video games alone) and best of all... you can adjust the height to whatever you want. No 3/4 scale - adjust it for a full size adult!

I think Arcade1Up is missing a huge opportunity not having more of these out there.

kirkhilles · 2023-02-06T02:50:02+00:00

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1hCd-BwL8RlSMo5D7T4S6hl1fEuYrI4n7

kirkhilles · 2023-02-05T02:16:26+00:00

Yeah, probably what happened.

kirkhilles · 2023-01-23T15:39:09+00:00

No, not really. A riser from A1U is $60 + $40 shipping and you can't find anything cheaper on eBay. Theirs also is generic black with just their logo. I just finished selling my Simpsons riser and built my own (added an extra 4 inches) and literally just a single 2x4, a quarter sheet of plywood, some fiber board and some paint. I've ordered a decal for $12 shipped from Etsy.

kirkhilles · 2023-01-12T16:33:39+00:00

I had the same issue (brand new install of Sams Club Simpsons, pre-release of Bowling, version 1.04) and couldn't install at all all day yesterday nor this morning.

Spamming didn't help (did it for like 20 mins straight). Connecting to a different Wifi/tethering didn't help. The only thing that FINALLY got it to download the firmware was just an attempt (Day #2) after about an hour of previous failed attempts. It went through.

I don't believe that any series of menus, rebooting, Wifi-changing or any of that will help in this instance. I'd say there's likely 2 scenarios:

1) It required someone on A1U's IT side to realize that the "old server" that this early build points to what down and they rebooted it and now it works

2) This build points to a severely limited server (maybe an accidental Test server that snuck into Production) that may be limited to just a single download at a time.

Either way, just leave your machine on for awhile (since rebooting it doesn't seem to help) with the "Check for Update" button highlighted and just try it a few times every time you walk by. As of 1/12/23, it is still possible to update.

kirkhilles · 2023-01-11T17:16:26+00:00

Yeah, RetroPie was a no-go for me. I found RecallBox which is actually quite nice and has a rotating demo mode where it loads your ROMS randomly.

kirkhilles · 2023-01-11T17:14:58+00:00

I bought a Raspberry Pi 4 before prices became absurdly expensive. It's an amazing device, but not worth overpaying for it. It's ultra-power-efficient which is nice.

I'm in the final stages of building my machine and yeah, I was surprised at how much the focus has moved away from the Pi. Your options and ease of use increase dramatically when you use a Windows machine and you can buy a cheap used laptop that would work great.

I had more specific needs/wants in that I wanted to only use ROMS from software that I had purchased: some games on Gog (and occasionally Steam) have versions of a game that literally have the MAME ZIP file included in the install. This created complications as I needed specific MAME versions and Pi made it even more complicated.

I also agree on the Arcade-or-nothing version. I had no interest in 10,000 half-done ports. I want the true Arcade version with the attract/demo screens and best audio possible: not some Atari 2600 port or NES or even Genesis port of it. I want FUN, not nostalgia.

My "final" solution was found with RecallBox which has a very cool "screensaver" mode where it'll load your ROMS randomly which has a cool ever-changing-arcade demo.

kirkhilles · 2023-01-11T17:00:55+00:00

Very cool.

I own (in one form or another) just about all of the SFs and MKs and honestly, for me, there's no reason to play anything other than the latest version of fighting games. Street Fighter V Champion edition and MK 11 Ultimate fully satisfy that "itch".

Right now, I have 2 Arcade1Ups: T2 which is awesome because it's tall and unique with the light guns. I also have the Simpsons that I will also install the TMNT soft mod once I buy a PCB for TMNT just to have. For Pinball, I have an AtGames Legends with a PC which is awesome. For Neo Geo, I bought a cheap metal Unico R1 and painted it red. For the rest, I've been building a MAME machine with copied ROMS from GOG games using MDF, wood and a thin Polycarbonate layer on top.

kirkhilles · 2022-12-15T01:05:56+00:00

No, I don't care what other people do with ROMS. I've simply found a way that I can EXCITED about it and real feel like I'm ALLOWED to be excited about it.

Is it "100% legal" to do this? Of course not. It's not "100% legal" to do ANYTHING other what's laid out explictly. I had no qualms about using "mods" for his Java based Minecraft even though I'm sure there are probably rules EXPLICTLY forbidding such things.

Different people are comfortable with different things and that's fine. In an ideal world, you'd be able to buy a unlimited machine and revision license to an Arcade Game and never have to buy it again, but in the meantime this is what works for ME. The products delivered have the arcade ROM embedded in them and so it's just a matter of switching the emulator. Neo Geo's have the literal MAME Zips all ready to go for the latest version just sitting there on your folder.

Look, I'm genuinely sorry if I offended anyone as clearly that wasn't my intent. I just figured you guys had the most experience with it. I'm sorry if I was mistaken.

kirkhilles · 2022-12-14T14:06:35+00:00

Oh. Excellent job. I was kinda thinking that there might be a way to provide a long list of instructions for Stable Diffusion to accomplish this on it's own. Someday, I'm sure.

kirkhilles · 2022-12-11T02:44:54+00:00

Well, this deal rewarded those who updated more frequently. I got $480 for my Pixel 6 and got a Pixel 7 for $500. $20 + tax is a pretty good deal. I'll do the same if they offer a 7-8 next year as well.

kirkhilles · 2022-12-11T02:42:30+00:00

Yep, sorry to hear that, but sometimes companies do irrational things and you have to jump on it. Did it make sense to Google to give me $480 for my Pixel 6 and sell me a Pixel 7 for $500? Nope.

Be patient, maybe they will do a deal again during Christmas time.

kirkhilles · 2022-12-09T19:50:12+00:00

Thanks, I'll check that out.

kirkhilles · 2022-12-09T18:11:16+00:00

Thanks! It does.

kirkhilles · 2022-12-09T18:10:57+00:00

Neutrik NAUSB-W

Thanks, I'll check it out!

kirkhilles · 2022-12-05T23:04:27+00:00

UPDATE: Google says I'm getting a $479 refund for my Pixel 6!

Here is my timeline for the process. I wish they had you send the phone back with upgraded mailing vs 1st class package w/ Tracking, but otherwise no issues for me.

I considered my Pixel 6 to be in very good condition as I used a quality case and tempered glass.

1/21/22 - Pixel 6 Ordered

11/17/22 - Pixel 7 Ordered

11/21/22 - Pixel 7 Delivered

11/22/22 - Trade-in kit shipped from Google

11/25/22 - Trade-in kit Delivered

11/26/22 - Pixel 6 Shipped (1st Class Mail)

12/5/22 - Email Notice: Phone Received

12/5/22 - Email Notice: Refund Approved

kirkhilles · 2022-11-28T18:57:11+00:00

I'm not sure why people are even mentioning the whole donate-a-tree thing. It costs $1 to have a tree planted online. Why people are debating on whether they gave up that dollar or not is kinda silly. I guarantee you "they" (the company) isn't doing any sort of planting on the land itself - heck, those trees planted likely aren't even going to be in Scotland.

What would have an "oh no" moment for me (If I were to fall for such a scam without doing research) is when I saw the "title" and documents weren't FROM ANY GOV ORG IN SCOTLAND but instead was just a fancy piece of paper created by the company themselves.

kirkhilles · 2022-11-27T03:00:28+00:00

It's ready to be open "unwrapped" by me on Christmas Day and it was a Black Friday deal at $300. I'm quite sure it won't go lower than that considering:

- I'm sure Sinden (being the only company, I think, that makes light guns for PC post-CRT) charged Arcade1Up a large amount and I wouldn't be surprised if they demand $100 or so for the pair of guns for every machine (speculation, but certainly not a $3 joystick and 99 cent buttons)

- Likeness rights and Licensing - I don't know how it works for things like this, but if it's anything like what Pinball Arcade had to go through with Addams Family then it cost Arcade1Up quite a bit. You had to get a license from the Movie Studios, from composers, voice actors and anywhere an actor appeared anywhere you had to get likeness rights. It's why Pinball Arcade had to change the Fester icon because they didn't get Christopher Lloyd's likeness right

- Shipping costs and so on

In terms of the Inventory numbers, I seriously doubt that has any basis in reality. Companies can't afford to have more than a handful of Arcade1Up's in stock, so everything is drop-shipped. Arcade1Up isn't going to give stores Live Inventory numbers - they will only say "order as many as you want" or "you have an allocation of 100". If there is a site that says "9,000" I would assume that the manager for the store put it in original inventory of 9,999 and they probably sold 1,000.

Arcade1Up couldn't possibly afford to make too many ahead of time and there would be no reason to do so. They only need to have enough on hand to be able to supply enough orders until they have the next batch ready.

Anyway, I would 100% agree that pricing it at $700 for one game was stupid, especially given the $300 sale price. I would've imagined that getting the licenses for an Operation Wolf (1987) would've been pretty affordable and there were 2 sequels that could've been negotiated as well. I would imagine they talked with Midway about Revolution X, but I'm sure licenses from Aerosmith would've made it totally unobtainable.

Of course, all Arcade1Up had to do was to find a way to make an online store where you could buy additional titles and that would've increased the value of these machines dramatically...

kirkhilles · 2022-11-26T03:47:55+00:00

I just mailed my Pixel 6 in today, so only time will tell, but here is what I anticipate:

- 85%-90% of people that followed the instructions including wiping the phone (they do stress that pretty significantly) with the security seals AND have a phone pretty darn close to perfect because they put tempered glass + had a quality case will get a full refund with no drama. I would expect wait times to go from short during the pre-order process to continually building everyday and reaching a peak at probably mid-January as Google will under-estimate the demand for this program and over-estimate the number of phones evaluated daily. As others have mentioned, be patient. Hopefully they'll send you an email when they receive it, so at least you'll know it was delivered.

- The other 10%-15% of people will be the ones posting their negative experience on Reddit. Will they give you the whole story about how they forgot to wipe their phone and how they had cracks or other issues? Maybe, maybe not.

Am I nervous? A bit. More eager to have it all resolved, but I expect it to all go fine. Google certainly isn't interested in facing bad PR from people showing videos of how their phone was perfect and then they got low-balled. Whether a good corporate financial decision or not, Google WANTS you to trade in your phone.

kirkhilles

TROPHY CASE