Goafer

I don't game that much anymore, but I think that's because my tastes have become more specific as I've got older. I've played countless games over a quarter of a century, to the point where gameplay just doesn't do it for me anymore. I've played pretty much every genre that's interested me, so when a new shooter, racer, platformer etc comes out, I've already experienced it before. Horizon made me realise this, as I'm sure it's a great game, but the gameplay felt like just another 3rd person action game to me and the story didn't grab me. I want a more mature experience now. Not mature as in kick-fucking someone's head off, but more an intriguing, well thought out plot, filled with things to make me think. Unfortunately, these are few and far between, so I don't get to play many games. The last game that properly grabbed me was Persona 5. Since then it's just been a few lesser games to tide me over.

I've had a though, but I don't want to tread on anyone's toes, so feel free to ignore me. My idea: We create a new playlist. Each user contributes a number of songs (2 or 3 maybe?) List is a Spotify playlist, but we have a text version on here for anyone who wants to recreate it on other platforms. I just think an ongoing playlist will end up too big, so maybe create a new monthly to keep things fresh? Maybe have a theme or mood each month?

I'd definitely be up for something like this. I remember we did the CD swapping thing a while back, which was awesome. Unfortunately I don't have Spotify, so I can't join in. I do have Amazon music though, so I could in theory just recreate the list on there so I can listen to it.

Cheers, although I'm pretty good nowadays. I think it was more a direct reaction to the circumstances I was in, rather than an actual ongoing issue. As soon as I got that phone call saying I had the new job, I completely changed. But I guess that's a part of the whole mental health spectrum. Sometimes it is just temporary and easy to fix, other times it's not. I mirror your offer though. Same goes for anyone. I'll happily listen to anyone and offer advice where I can. I'm hoping my original post will make it easier for others to speak about their experiences and get help. Those 9 months at that job were fucking dark at times and if anyone else is going through it now, or still having residual issues due to a previous dark time, I want to help.

I see quite a few social media posts saying you should check on your friends once in a while and talk openly about things more, but very rarely do I see people actually doing its. So how are you all? Is everything ok, or is there something you're not happy with? Mental health is hugely important and I think we should all talk about it more. To help ease people into it, I'll get the ball rolling. It's not the easiest thing for me to talk about, but I guess I need to lead by example right? I'm fairly good overall, but it's not always been that way. It's taken my current state to realise how bad I was before. About 2 years ago, I left a dull, unfulfilling job where the owners of the company were always making the employees feel worthless and unvalued. It wasn't horrendous or abusive, it was just that subtle kind of belittlement that you can't call them out on because each incident is tiny, but it mounts up over time. Still, it wasn't awful and I was just fed up after 8 years. I was unsure of the job I was moving to, but it paid more and I figured it couldn't be worse. I was very, very wrong. The boss/owner of the business started out nice, but he turned out to be a complete bully. It sounds childish to say that, but that's exactly what he was. He was clearly insecure or miserable in his own life, so had to spread the misery. And he was very good at it. My memory isn't great at the best of times, but the sheer volume and nature of the work made it very easy to miss things. Loads of little jobs that caused a very hectic working day. Everyone forgot things, even the boss himself, in fact him more than most. But my memory soon became a thing of ridicule. He went through phases of giving certain employees a hard time. For a few weeks it would be me, then he'd move on until the cycle came back to me. When it was my turn, he'd constantly check that I was remembering things. Not in a helpful way, but in a completely mocking way. If I forgot anything, I'd get a comment such as "What's wrong with you, have you actually got a problem with your memory?". Again, not in a helpful way, but implying that I was useless. If there were no particular thing for him to point out, he'd just start random conversations asking if I had genuine problems with my memory. It was masked as concern, but he'd always do it in front of people to embarrass me. At one point, after I'd made a mistake, he even called over my coworker to help figure out what was wrong with me. As he was the owner of the company and I have a mortgage to pay, I couldn't simply respond "because there's too much fucking work and no other cunt actually bothers to answer the phones or see to the walk-in customers". I spoke to the coworker afterwards and even he felt it was like the owner called him over to gang up on me. He was as uncomfortable as I was. He would also do things like text me after hours/at the weekends. One occasion that sticks in my mind is the time he sent me a text on a Saturday, whilst I was in town. A customer had emailed to complain that she hadn't received enough prints. I didn't have access to the emails, so I had no idea about it. The first I heard was from a coworker that pre-warned me as he could access the emails from his phone. The text I received from the boss was lengthy, but ended with "What's wrong with you, can you even do simple maths?". Again, I endured it, because I had to pay the mortgage. To add to this, it was a fast paced, customer facing job, which stresses me out on it's own, even without the added bullshit. All this put me in quite a dark place. I absolutely dreaded the drive into work and would have done anything to delay the inevitable arrival. Even times when I wasn't actually at work, I was almost terrified of the thought of going back. I was even scared to look at my phone every time I got a text or Facebook message, just in case it was the boss with another mistake I'd made. I wouldn't say I had full on depression or anxiety, as I think people are far too quick to throw those terms around and it belittles the people that genuinely suffer from them, but looking back, I definitely wasn't in a good place. Even looking back through my texts to find the above quote makes me feel incredibly uncomfortable. I felt my heart racing as I re-read it. Somehow, after 9 months of working there, I managed to find the energy to apply for other jobs and the first interview I had lead to a job offer, which I accepted. It was quite risky, as it was working from home, which seemed too good to be true and the interview was in a hotel conference room, so I had never seen the actual office. Something just didn't feel right and I had a hard time believing such a job existed. I didn't care though, I knew I needed out of the job I was currently in ASAP. Firstly because it was clearly not good for me and secondly, because I feared I would get fired soon. There was always the constant fear of being fired, as he had a history of firing people via text with no notice period. I think that was just people on their probation period though. The person who phone to offer me the job did so at 5pm, as I was locking up. Everyone else had gone home and I was just going to the toilet before leaving. I had just finished peeing and the phone rang. I hadn't even had chance to wash my hands, but I recognised the number so I answered immediately. There I was, in a horrendously grotty toilet with unwashed hands and when I heard those words "We'd like to offer you the job", it was like a wave of positive emotions. I was free of this shithole. Event with the doubts about the new job, I was free. I smiled all the way home, knowing that even though I had to give a months notice, I didn't have to give a shit anymore. Nothing the boss could do could in that month could bring me down. Worst case scenario is he could fire me in that time, which would just result in an even earlier freedom. Luckily, the job turned out to be genuine and it's amazing. The people, from the lowest level all the way to the CEO, are amazing and there's a genuine concern for the staff. I've never had employee perks before, but this job seems to hand out genuinely thoughtful benefits. We have a Perkbox subscription for leisure stuff, but there's also more serious things like access to a mental health phoneline, if we feel the need to talk to someone. They're not huge things, but everything combined with the respect people give each other just makes a hugely positive atmosphere. I still have the rare "dark days", but they're few and far between. I'm way more happy now than I've probably ever been. If I sit and think about things, there will always be areas that I want to improve in my life, but overall I think I'm happy. One thing that really hit home was when I went on holiday to Greece recently. I had previously been to Barcelona whilst working at the previous job and the flight home was just awful. I had had a great time and knowing that it was all over and I had to return to that hellish place was just soul destroying. The flight home from Greece was nothing like that. I enjoyed it and it was a shame that it was over, but I was still happy. There was absolutely no post-holiday blues and I had no issue with returning to work on Monday. I am so incredibly thankful that I took the chance on my current job. Aside from being a great job, I feel it has helped my mental health immensely. I had so many doubts about it at various stages and it makes me almost nervous thinking about the times I almost turned it down. When they offered a phone interview, I forgot it was working from home and all I saw when I double checked the company was that their office was just over an hour away, so I almost turned it down due to the increased travel time. It was only my dread of the current job that forced me to keep my options open and see where it went. During the phone interview, they reminded me that it was working from home (fortunately without me having to reveal that I had forgotten), but even then it seemed like a fake job. Whilst I was working at the hellish job, I really regretted leaving my previous job, but looking back on it all, the fear of that job lead me to my current one. For that reason, I don't regret a thing. I still occasionally drive the old route to the awful job, just to remind myself of that feeling of dread I felt every morning and to make me realise how lucky I now am. It's not a route I've ever had to drive for any other reason, so it will always be associated with that job. I guess the lesson I learned is that happiness isn't something that will just come to you. You have to work for it. Even if it's just going out and actually doing something, anything, instead of just sitting around wondering what to do/feeling sorry for yourself. It's definitely not easy, but every step, no matter how insignificant will make a difference. Even if the first step you take is tiny and makes no difference to how you actually feel, it may just raise your energy level enough to make a slightly bigger step next time. I had absolutely zero energy and self worth, but my sheer dread of the job gave me just enough drive to apply for jobs. From there, I just went with the flow and luck was on my side. So yeah, that's my story. I'm hoping that by opening up and sharing mine, others will follow suit and find it helpful. Anyone else care to share?

So I finally made my micro-speaker. I ripped the speaker out of one of those knock-off PSPs that play like a million games. Like this one: And then stuck it into a solderless mono 3.5mm jack. It's not the loudest, but it actually works. I'll see if I can get a broken Gameboy and take the speaker out at some point. Or just have a look round on eBay. For now, this will do:

A sort of small, but also fairly significant update to the Pi: The main Pi 2b board is now gone and been replaced with a Pi 3 thanks to @Happenstance, who gave me his unused Pi. Due to all the storage being handled by a Micro SD card, it was just a case of putting the card into the new Pi and attaching the screen and syncing up the pad again. I bloody love how easy it is to switch parts on this thing. Thanks to the upgrade, the RetroPie station now features built in Bluetooth (much faster syncing and no ugly dongle!), WiFi and a more powerful processor.

You also have to bear in mind that when Shenmue came out, most RPGs looked like this: FF8 - 1999 Fallout 2 - 1998 Skies of Arcadia - 2000 (one year after Shenmue) Shenmue - 1999 Compared to what was around at the time, Shenmue was huge. Real world setting (including actual weather from the records of the time), a realistic story, full voice acting, a day and night cycle with time sensitive events, a living, breathing world where NPCs went about daily routines and loads of mini games/details to flesh out the locations. The location wasn't just where the story took place, it was part of the story. It hasn't aged well, especially now that pretty much everything that made it unique has been done better, but for the time it was mind blowing. I do think that the long wait and the "will they/won't they" release of the 3rd game has hyped the series up a bit too much, but I still consider the original Shenmue a significant benchmark in gaming and one of the most immersive (if not the most immersive) experience for the time. Even the things that modern gamers would find boring add to the immersion. No fast travel, no time skip, no minimap/pointer. You walk where you need to, you wait/find something to pass the time when you have to and you ask directions/follow signs/search. Just like in real life.

I've been looking for hours, but my home has no acorn. What the fuck do I do now?!

If that were really the only reason, she would be a free update.

My controller showed up and it was an absolute pig to set up and it involved a lot of semi-useful tutorials and a whole load of trial and error. I'll post the process, mostly for my own benefit if I need it in the future. 8Bitdo Controller Setup Connect via Bluetooth in RetroPie Bluetooth menu "Set up udev rule for Gamepad" and change Bluetooth connection mode to "Background" in Retropie Bluetooth menu Back out to Retropie main menu Configure inputs in RetroPie Open RetroArch configuration Configure inputs in RetroArch so that it's bound to player one (Bind any previous controllers to port 2) Set menu hotkey to Select+Start in RetroArch Save, quit, reboot etc. Bootup Process for Raspberry Pi Boot up with no USB controller attached (Just in case it sets the USB controller to player one. Might not be necessary) Wait until the "No pad connected" message screen Wait for Bluetooth dongle to start flashing Turn 8Bitdo controller on (or restart it if it was already on) Controller should bind Press a button to go to main menu The end result, which I'm glad to say is running very nicely. Ignore the low power icon at the top right, I had to power it via my PS4 to get the photo and either it or the cable wasn't up to snuff: One annoying thing is that the controller clip covers the charging socket for the pad, meaning it can't be charged whilst attached to the Pi/Screen. Given that it's the official clip for the pad, I'd say that was a very poor design choice. The holes that allow the LEDs to shine through are a nice touch though. The pad itself is very nicely made. Imagine the classic SNES feel, but modernised. The buttons are still nice and chunky, but they just feel a bit tighter. The pad is also heavier, but nicely so. Feels nice and solid.

You do realise E3 is for showing what companies are working on and not a "Here's what we're definitely releasing before the next E3" right?

Someone on my Facebook feed was interested in seeing a build thread for my Raspberry Pi, so I figured here was the best place to do it. Feel free to contribute with your own Pi tales. I won't be covering the RetroPie software setup, as it's well documented elsewhere, plus emulation is naughty and shouldn't be encouraged. (Also, I've totally forgotten how I did it.) Intro The Raspberry Pi is basically a tiny, Linux based computer. They can be fairly complicated if you want to do your own stuff with them, but for the more common uses, there's tonnes of tutorials and help out there. I have very little coding experience and I've been fine so far. I also have not had to do any soldering, but that may change depending on how I go about adding a speaker. Part list (so far): Raspberry Pi model 2b (I think a model 3 would work for this build too) Quimat 3.5 inch touch screen and case (touch screen not used in my build) Vitalitim Bluetooth Adaptor 8Bitdo SFC30 Controller 8Bitdo Xtander I've had the Pi set up as a retro station for a while, but decided I wanted to make more use of it and take it with me when I go away with work/on holiday (although getting it on a plane might be interesting). Rather than hoping the hotel room TVs have a HDMI socket, I thought I'd make the Pi completely self reliant. Raspberry Pi board, as it came out the box: I previously had it in the official case, which is a great case if you just want to hook it up to a TV: The screen comes in kit form and is super easy to setup. There were no instructions, but it's fairly straightforward. First step was to attach the Pi board to the backing plate, making sure to use the plastic spacers to hold the board away from the backing plate itself. This was probably the most fiddly part of the build so far. Then I clipped the screen onto the Pi board using the IO pins (the strip of pins at the bottom of each board, Pi is Male, screen is Female). The screen has an offshoot, so that these pins can still be used for other applications when the screen is attached. A nice little feature. There are also ribbon cables available to allow the screen to be located away from the main board if needed. Back view of the screen to show the pins to be connected (black strips at the bottom of each board). Then I attached the side panel and the HDMI connector. The pins and HDMI connector hold the Pi and screen together quite solidly, which is good as it's the only things holding them together. The side posts go on Then the top panel. The screen is exposed, as it's a touch screen. And that's pretty much it so far. The screen is plug and play, with a dedicated driver only needed if you want to use the touch screen. RetroPie doesn't support touch screen, so I have no need to install the extra drivers. There is a black border by default (shown below), but it's easy enough to fix by adding disable_overscan=1 to the config.txt file found on the memory card. It also works as a normal HDMI screen as long as it's powered, as shown here by my PS4 I'm currently waiting for my 8Bitdo controller to show up, so I'm using a wired 360 pad for now. From what I remember, the 360 pad is plug and play, with only the key bindings requiring setting up. A keyboard had to be used at first boot. I've already tested the Bluetooth dongle and it works great with my PS4 pad. The touchpad just causes issues, so I just stick to the 360 pad for now. Once the 8Bitdo pad shows up, it's just a case of syncing it up via RetroPie and playing. The Xtander will allow the screen to be mounted to the pad. One thing I've noticed is that the power cable used (micro USB) can make a difference to performance. I've had to make sure I'm always using a decent plug and cable, otherwise certain games stutter. I've tested it being powered from my TV's USB socket, my cars accessory socket and a decent wall plug and they all seem to work perfectly as long as I use a decent cable. Still to do Get a battery pack Wire up a speaker (currently headphones or a separate speaker) Maybe fashion a more protective case.

If you're going the unofficial route, a Raspberry Pi would be cheaper. Just make sure you get a model 2 or above. I had stuttering issues with the model 1. Or I assume you have a computer already? Even cheaper.

My Pi screen showed up and It's more beautiful than I could have ever imagined: And also accepts HDMI in, as Illustrated by my PS4:

I played Skies of Arcadia once. It was great.

I used to be able to do pullups many years ago when I got into shape. It was only like 3 or so, but I remember being quite proud that I could do any at all, having never really tried. I miss being thin(ish). Annoyingly, I seem to have retained a lot of the muscle in my lower legs, but it just sits there taunting me and reminding me of better times. I'm nowhere near the cyclist I used to be.

So my plan to try and get into shape isn't the riproaring dash to the height of peak fitness that I'd hoped, but I am improving. For example: when I started, I struggled to do 10 pushups (pathetic, I know), but I can now manage 30 with my legs raised on the sofa. The plan is still to get to an acceptable level of fitness before enquiring at the Muay Thai place. Hopefully my fitness will improve faster once I start that.

Some stuff for my Raspberry Pi: Screen with case: Pad: Dongle for Pad (no idea if it will work propoerly, but it was cheap so worth a try): Clip thing so I can use the pad with my phone (and maybe the new Pi case):

That sucks. I get why, but it just reaffirms my dislike of Nintendo's attitude towards homebrew, YouTube and other things. It's not like it'll achieve anything, so whatever.

I vote SNES and Mega Drive, mainly because people can very easily get an emulator if they don't fancy spending money. It seems silly for someone to have to buy a console just for one game.

Fortunately, I already have a template for Wii reviews: I waggled the controller. I didn't like it.

Count me in, assuming it's a game I can afford/already "own".

The Banbury Emporium has retro games, but it's more of a general retro shop rather than a games shop.

I don't know of many, but there was a promising one in Bristol. Picked up a Saturn game, waited at the till for 10 minutes, put it back and walked out. Couldn't tell who was staff and who was there to play card games. Whoever the staff actually were, they had zero interest in serving customers.