Categories
Video Games

On Peripherals That Never Made It Over (Part 1).

If I haven’t mentioned it, it bears mentioning. The reason I study what I do (engineering, computers, Japanese) — it’s all due to video games. When I was growing up Japan was the country that was the mecca of all video gamedom. Almost all the bests and classics came from Japan, not to mention the god to which I prayed, Nintendo, was a Japanese corporation. So, in tandem my interests in both computers and the Japanese culture grew into the obsessions they are are today. They sometimes manifest them in ways as we see today, where I am going to gush about an experience I never got to have (really, as you will learn, not many did.)

That brings us to the Satellaview.

Now what in the world is a Satellaview. Well, it’s an add-on for the Super Famicom (SNES) that was released only in the land of the rising sun. Great! It was basically a satellite driven modem that was stuck on the bottom of the Super Famicom. Who cares?? Well, let me do some name dropping, Zelda, Mario, Excitebike. Excited? If you are not than maybe this article isn’t for you (please, don’t stop reading). Here is a little photo just so you can stop wondering what the danged thing looks like.

Check out that chunky thing! Sexy, thy name is Satellaview. This system used a broadcast technology already in place in Japan aptly named “Broadcast Satellite.” This was one of the many precursors to the modern day Xbox Live or PSN. It offered games, tournaments, news, and magazines to subscribers. It’s nearest cousin was the Sega Channel (another sweet add-on I missed out on). Come to think of it, there were basically the antithesis of each other — Sega Channel was on Sega Genesis (Mega Drive for everyone else), only in the USA, and through cable; Satellaview on the other hand was on Super Famicom (SNES), only in Japan, and was received through satellites. Weird revelations! Anyway, the Satellaview was released in 1995 and ran all the way until 2000 which is longer than I expected. It had specific times in which you had to play due to the other broadcasting that happened on the satellite system. It’s claim to fame was in the fact that it had versions of games that were only available on the Satalliview such as BS Zelda no Densetsu, and Excitebike Buzz Mario Battle Stadium (What a translation!). These were exclusive to the platform and drove sales and interest in the system years later.

BS Zelda no Densetsu was a subsection of games for the system called SoundLink. In addition to this being a 16-bit remake of the original Zelda title because it was a SoundLink game it would broadcast full audio which would often consist of narration for hints and clues.

Now why did this not get widespread adoption?

Well, partly due to this tangle of rediculosity. The above image is a diagram of the item’s need and wires need to play the Satellaview. Yowza! Let’s do some quick math, because we all love math.

(all costs are estimates)

BS Tuner: $330.00

Satellaview: $140.00

6-Month Subscription: $50.00

BS Dish: $75.00

—————————————-

Total Upfront Cost: $600.00

That quite a large upfront cost. I can tell you that there is NO WAY that I would have been a happy subscriber even if I was in Japan in ’95.

Luckily, some of the experience has been preserved thanks to the emulation community. Many roms are available for satellaview games with minor hitches. For example, any SoundLink game does not contain the broadcasted audio because that was a direct feed and was not embedded in the remaining memory packs.

I will leave you with some videos of the Satellaview and gameplay. I hope this was even a little bit enjoyable. I enjoy gaming history thoroughly and passing it on is the best way to keep it alive.

All images were taken from Wikipedia and are sole copyright of those owners.

Categories
Personal Philosophy

On Running.

This topic has probably already turned of the vast majority of readers. I promise this is not about technique or best routes. No, this is more based in philosophy and why I personally run.

A little background. I am training for the Chicago marathon in October. Why? To prove to myself I can do it. I am also reading Haruki Murakami’s auto-biographical book about running. I figured that with a potent cocktail such as that it is about time I wrote about running.

Now, I have never had what you could call an athletic physique. In fact, I am probably the opposite. That is not to say I’m some lazy ass, it’s genes mostly these days (but not always). I am one of those people who will gain weight if I sit still. It sucks, but on the bright side it keeps me aware and active. In high school I was a little chubster. I had a terrible diet and was a total couch potato. Around senior year I got kind of embarrassed and (begrudgingly) decided to do something about it. My girlfriend at the time was all into running; track, cross-country, the whole shebang. (Me being what I was, I must have had just an amazing personality to bag a runner. I kid, I kid…) Anyway she was trying to get to go running so I caved. I actually enjoyed it, I mean beyond the pain, panting, and shin splints. I started to pick it up after that and have been running on and off ever since.

Running is a unique sport. I really think it’s the most human of all sports. You are basically equipped for it naked. You need almost no gear for it, a pair of shoes and a long stretch of road. We are born runners. It’s part of our survival.

Running is also one of the most personal sports. This is why it suits me so well. Aside from races, running is a solitary experience. The only person you are competing against is yourself. This makes only you accountable for any shortfalls that occur. The time when I am running it is very peaceful, almost meditative. I rarely run with music and when I do it’s mostly without lyrics. It’s a chance to escape into my head because the only thing my body needs to worry about is moving forward. If there is ever a problem I need to confront or anger that needs venting I always save it for the run. It’s incredibly cathartic.

There is nothing better than reaching the goal you set for yourself, or finishing a long run. The runner’s high is real and it feels amazing. The endorphins swimming all around invigorating every part of your being. The immediate gratification after running is awesome and keeps you coming back. There is days when you don’t want to run. That never goes away, and from what I read, even at the Olympic level. You just need to push through it.

That’s why I run. It aligns itself so well with my personal philosophies. It’s a matter of you vs. you. That’s what life really is. It is always, how bad do you want it? If you work had enough and have the determination you will get to where ever you want.

Running is a sacred time of day for me. It is my meditation and my soul food. It keeps me healthy, helps me sort through all of life’s crap, and refocuses me. In a nutshell, I need running.

I hope this might inspire some people to take up running even if only to see if they like it. It’s not for everyone nor do I claim that various other activities wont keep you healthy. It’s just my personal favorite. If you do try it and haven’t before or even love running too, leave me a comment, I would love to hear about it!

UPDATE: I didn’t stress it in the above paragraphs, but my girlfriend at the time when I started running deserves a lot of credit. She is the one that pushed me into it and allowed me to discover the joys of running. I am very grateful for that so, thank you.

Categories
Nonsense Personal

On Mowing.

There is few things in life I despise more than mowing. It’s not just that it has been a point of contention with my family ever since they stood me behind a machine I barely could stand over at the ripe age of 9, but just the pointless, un-winnable battle with a series of plants that would much prefer to stay long. The whole point of grass cutting has always escaped me. How much energy could we save if we just didn’t have sprawling yards, or if we just let it go? Most of us pay for parks and recreation which provides, among other things, parks for us to use. So, if I need some outside fun, I will venture to one of those. I never really used my yard either. Most of my time in the yard was spent…mowing it. Charlie-Brown-eqsue-Ughh!

I know it sounds weird, but mowing really defined my teenage years. It was something that needed to be done every week that I opposed to the point of being insane, while my dad fought me tooth and nail. Mowing was really less about cutting grass and more about a power struggle between my Dad and I. Example: The lawn always must be mowed before rain if we are to receive rain. Always. Why? It’s not going to prevent it from growing, if anything it will grow more freshly cut. Such is the struggle. For better or for worse, mowing is intertwined into my psyche.

Just because I loathe it so much, I decided to do some calculations and see just how much energy,time, and fuel has been wasted on mowing.
lawn

Here is my lawn taken from a satellite view from Google maps. This in my family is how we divide our yard. I know the names are dumb and uncreative I apologize (Well, it’s not the backyard. How about back back? Perfect! Not the sidelot…).

I used some Google magic and took some rough measurements of everything. (everything is in meters, Also, some parts were not perfect rectangles so the excess is added)

Sidelot

16 x 45

Back Back

6 x 20

Front

11 x 19

Side Side

46 x 9 + 3 x 18

Backyard

18 x 9 + 2 x 5

I tallied everything and found the total area to be:

1689 square meters or about 0.417 acres

Now to the meat of this, the reason I did it.

Warning these are very ball-parked figures, they just serve the purpose of an estimate.

I have to fill the tank of the lawnmower about 2 times per mowing and it has a 0.5 gallon tank. So, about 1 gallon of gas per mow.

I estimate the mower span to be about 2 feet so about 0.61 meters. That would mean after calculating through all of that I walk about 2383 meters or 1.5 miles per mow.

Using a calculator I found online, using my body weight and distance, it estimated I burn about 778 calories per mow.

It takes around 2 hours to mow the whole yard without breaks.

Using the amount of times I do this, going from age 9 to age 18 when I moved to college doing it roughly every week, i’ll even estimate every 2 weeks, during the months of May to November gives us:

18-9 = 9 years * 6 months * 2 times per month = 108 lawns mowed.

Now if we shrink that number, but not eliminate it, from age 18 to 22 and say probably once every 2 months:

4 years * 6 months * 0.5 times per month = 12 lawns mowed.

108+ 12 = 120 Lawns mowed

So, compiling all that, we have the totals:

120 * 1 = 120 gallons of gas

120 * 1.5 = 180 miles walked (almost 7 marathons)

120 * 778 = 93360 calories burned

120 * 2 = 240 hours (1 week and 3 days of straight mowing)


What a waste! Kind of like sitting down and compiling all of this data. All I know is where ever I am moving is going to have little to no yard. Well, sorry for that potentially interesting or potentially death inducing boredom. Check back for less mowing-themed posts.