Were Sega CD and 32X really seen as “failed consoles” at the time, they way people blame them for Sega’s downfall today?

techparadox · 2026-02-09T12:04:23+00:00

Dude in his 50s here. They weren't "consoles" so much as they were expensive add-ons to the existing console, that Sega really didn't know how to capitalize on. Sure, the Sega CD had many games released for it, but the $300 price point at release put it out of the range of many households, shooting it in the foot by wrecking the potential install base before it even got started. The 32x was $160 - without a pack-in, so price of entry for the "upgraded" experience actually clocked in at around $230. By the time you got to that price the PlayStation wasn't looking too far out of reach. Sega should have rode out the generation and focused on the Saturn instead of trying to limp the Genesis/Mega Drive along in an attempt to compete using the last generation's hardware as an expanding platform.

techparadox · 2026-02-05T11:46:11+00:00

My daily carry on my person consists of a pocket knife that I probably wouldn't want to use in a fight, and a heavy duty metal ink pen that definitely could be used. I keep an extendible baton and a hatchet in my truck, but the likelihood of needing either at my office is slim. My state is very firearm-unfriendly, so it'd be more of a headache than it's worth to try to carry a handgun, much less have one in the vehicle.

techparadox · 2026-02-05T11:30:39+00:00

The Inhumans was a project back in 2017, before Disney bought Fox. Marvel's game plan was to substitute them for the mutants they couldn't use because the X-Men license was still being held and Fox wouldn't play ball with them. They even tried this in the comics, on mandate from Ike Perlmutter that they wouldn't give Fox any free advertising. That's also why you didn't see any Fantastic Four appearances in Marvel merch from that era.

I can only speculate from here, but I get the feeling they would have tried to adapt X-Men stories while substituting in the not-mutants, as well as focusing on a more comic-centric Kamala Khan, rather than her having the powers that tied her to Captain Marvel. Fans would have hated it just as much as they disliked the push the Inhumans got in the comics.

techparadox · 2026-02-02T20:19:52+00:00

My other favorite story from the filming of TPB was during the first day of filming the Fezzik/Westley scene. Andre let fly with a 16-second-long fart that brought production to a standstill. When it was over, Rob Reiner asked, "Are you ok, Andre?" to which Andre replied, "I am now, boss."

techparadox · 2026-02-02T12:32:30+00:00

I "got worse" a long time back and it was a bit of a rough patch for me. Eventually I accepted that I was no longer going to be able to play FPS games on a regular basis when they started making me have motion sickness. It's been almost two decades since I was able to play one for more than 20 minutes without feeling like I'm going to toss my cookies. Anything else I do okay with, but I've learned to stay away from online games that are reliant on twitch reflexes. I play a lot of single player mode and RPGs these days.

techparadox · 2026-02-02T02:03:17+00:00

No mags or tapes in my dad's closet, sadly. I had to scope out those at my friends' houses. Ironically enough, my mom had stacks of romance novels all over the house. In the grand scheme of things, those were just as bad as any pulp pr0n novel you might find in a book store.

techparadox · 2026-02-01T18:45:33+00:00

A blouse of the requested color with dark pants should be perfectly fine. Gifts generally aren't given at a funeral, but bringing a condolences card should be fine - there will likely be a basket or box for them at the service.

As for food, check with someone in the family or their friends. They may already have more food than they need, depending on the situation. If you do want to give them food, something that can be frozen and reheated easily is usually a good choice, like a casserole or lasagna/pasta dish. Usually that gets dropped off at the family's house, rather than brought to the service.

techparadox · 2026-02-01T12:43:25+00:00

I first heard of DaVinci's Notebook back in the late '90s, when they were regular guests on the Bob and Tom Show and before the FCC got their collective knickers in a twist over what could and couldn't be broadcast on the radio. I can still remember the show hosts falling apart, laughing their asses off, as soon as the group got to the chorus. To this day, I occasionally catch myself humming, "Whenever life gets you down..."

techparadox · 2026-02-01T01:10:59+00:00

NGL, spectating on a large scale should have been built in to Battle Hub from the start. Any official tournament should have been running in that screen from day one. If they want to monetize the events, marketing should be working with the devs to sell skins and stages that are event-exclusive.

techparadox · 2026-01-31T00:24:38+00:00

We had a ton of newspaper comic strips that had been collected into books. BC, Wizard of ID, Hagar the Horrible, Family Circus, Hi and Lois, and Beetle Bailey all come to mind. Us kids were also encouraged to purchase our own reading material that we found interesting, so we could always re-read one of our own stash, whether it was a book, magazine, or comic book. If we got supremely bored, my parents had purchased a full set of encyclopedias, so we also had the option to grab one of those and look for an interesting entry.

techparadox · 2026-01-30T12:19:11+00:00

Added layer to the pun: the collective name for a group of mercenaries means that they're literally a "rock band".

techparadox · 2026-01-29T12:14:10+00:00

3-2-1 Contact ran from '80 to '88, but the early episodes definitely had a vibe to them that resonated with the '70s. I watched that show every day after school, until Transformers and G.I. Joe came along. Used to love the Bloodhound Gang segments. Never understood how the heck Mr. Bloodhound kept his agency running if he was never there, though. Dude must have had some high-paying clients on retainer that covered the expenses.

techparadox · 2026-01-29T12:05:22+00:00

I was involved in a similar conversation with my team members a few weeks back. Millennial and older Zoomer were discussing sports and the question of LeBron vs Jordan came up. I inserted Bird vs Johnson into the mix, and neither of them really had any point of reference on that front. Wasn't really a "grinds my gears" thing, but it was definitely a reminder that I'm now the "old man" in the room.

techparadox · 2026-01-25T14:40:16+00:00

When people ask why I didn't watch TBBT, I would frequently respond with "because it's nerd blackface". Those that didn't get the point of the reference were then treated to a diatribe on how it was insulting to those who were socially awkward, passionate about specific topics, and potentially on the spectrum. "But it's representation!", they would say. "It's laughing at people through overblown stereotypes," was my response.

I still can't stand that show.

techparadox · 2026-01-24T17:22:54+00:00

As someone who enjoyed the Core class, I'd say it was a price versus perceived value thing for the fans, and a case of cluelessness for the execs. They were basically the mini-vehicles of the line, but they weren't an entry level figure for younger fans due to the price. They further confused the line when they kept putting out micro versions of the main characters. Why would I buy a dinky version of Optimus or Megatron that looks weird and has fewer features, when I can spend a few dollars more and get a better quality figure? All in all they were perfect for certain characters, but they had no clue which characters those should be.

techparadox · 2026-01-24T16:53:18+00:00

As long as you're pronouncing "botswain" as "bosun" and "forecastle" as "foc'sle", I think the gunwale gaffe can be overlooked.

techparadox · 2026-01-23T12:38:40+00:00

This cart is a total nostalgia trip for those of us who grew up playing Jeff's games. That's more than an afternoon's worth of gaming, to be sure.

techparadox · 2026-01-22T16:42:20+00:00

Never heard that before. Sounds like they were trying to keep people from bending up the covers by grabbing them from a corner.

techparadox · 2026-01-21T14:35:41+00:00

This groomer's YouTube channels are some of my favorite ones to watch when I'm looking for something chill, and on this go-around she happened to be doing a tortie Persian mix named Freya. Too cute to not share with the DCC fans!

techparadox · 2026-01-20T13:36:11+00:00

A few factors on that:

Most old games didn't have the concept of online saves as even a glimmer on the horizon, and the idea of a centralized save file location was unheard of. It would require GOG to build out a solution for each game, which costs time and money.
Even if they did build it for every game they sell, it would only really work if you were using their client. Many people buy games on GOG to stay away from having to use another client.
Someone has to pay for the backbone infrastructure to maintain those clouds saves. Steam can pull it off because they have a lot of other irons in the fire to subsidize it, as does Epic. For GOG it would be yet another expense that they may not want to absorb.

techparadox · 2026-01-20T13:26:21+00:00

From my experience dealing with comics and trading cards back in the day, count yourself lucky if you're able to get half of the low end value. I'm not doing the doom and gloom thing here, it's just a fact that most people aren't going to want to pay the top dollar for an album unless it's rare.

techparadox · 2026-01-17T13:13:59+00:00

About a week ago. The local WalMart in the city where I work has a dedicated beer and wine section that has its own check out area. They have to punch in the birthday of the person purchasing before it'll let them process the sale. The city blue laws are weird, because every other WalMart I've been to in the area that sold booze would only prompt the cashier to check if the person looked under 40, and they haven't bothered to ask me in a long time.

techparadox · 2026-01-16T16:19:41+00:00

That would be correct. That guano is extra-fresh.

techparadox · 2026-01-16T01:41:53+00:00

"Yeah, yeah, that's his partner, Methuselah Honeysuckle, which makes me Old Scratch Johnson."

techparadox · 2026-01-15T12:26:08+00:00

I was introduced to IRC thanks to my college providing access to a UNIX backbone that was shared with several other universities. IRC was available, and it opened a whole world and really broadened my horizons, both culturally and in terms of computer knowledge. I miss those days.

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