The ScooterBlog

A couple of blog commenters suggested updated drivers might help some of their problems. I followed a website or two and came across this driver which is definitely for the Gamemon device:

http://images.chinagameware.com/productattachment/52917542134ee3b6011365f38b03097f.zip

I will allow someone smarter than I to let me know if it is indeed a newer device. Apparently the company behind this is a rather large third party Chinese manufacturer for these video game accessories.

Yep, that’s right Wal-Mart stuff from good ‘ol China. I stopped being shocked long ago, and I’ve never been apalled by it, commercialism is a bitch like that.

I want you to think back for a moment, to a better time in sports games. You know, before EA owned the entire world of ‘em? When there was true innovation in every game you played? Racing games are no different, and outside of EA (really, I can play NASCAR Chase For The Cup 05 and feel like I’m missing nothing), that innovation has been there for twenty years, and even more so in the world of open wheel racers. From the first time I played Pitstop 2 for the Commodore 64, to the last time I tinkered with Indycar Series on the XBox, these games have pushed forward, generally not constrained to the need of a yearly rendition.

To this effect, I bring you one of the finest simulations the PC’s ever seen … and it existed before 1990, and you could play it well on a 386. Even scarier, this game was published by Electronic Arts, when they teamed up with Papyrus, the company who later made a spectacular series of NASCAR and IndyCar games that were by far the best the PC had to offer in the 90’s … Indianapolis 500: The Simulation.

We take for granted a lot of the stuff that this game offered nearly twenty years ago … the ability to tweak any aspect of the car you wanted, realistic car damage, amazing renditions of speed, and 33-car competition. This game had that. I recall playing it all the time in high school on their 386 machines, constantly tweaking my car for the most speed I could, constantly having issues blowing engines on a couple of the models when I tuned the car up too far. I don’t even recall the newer games having issues with a car tuned up and blowing the engine!

I’ll post a link to this game as soon as I find it. While I’m sure the suits at EA won’t like it, eighteen years likely qualifies as abandonware!

So as a baseball fan, and even more specifically, a stats fan (thus my current love of Baseball Mogul 2008), sometimes there are things that are completely amazing in sports. LIke, a couple of weeks ago, the Texas Rangers, on the road no less, scored THIRTY runs in a game! The amount of weird tidbits surrounding the game are immense, like the fact that they only scored those runs in four of the innings (which means in the five other innings, they did nothing!).

In the spirit of that, there’s an ESPN Page 2 article noting one columnist’s opinion of the 100 biggest beatdowns in history. That baseball game? Only good for number eight!

I don’t point you to this post about the fact that the iPod now has the same body type as the Super Mario Brothers. I point it out to show you the absolute epic quality of the Apple Store mock graphic that they posted!

Thought I would just take a minute to follow-up on all of the comments and my own extra limited impressions of the device:

• First, my thanks to everyone visiting. It looks like this is the post and mention of this device, which seems to be in all of my local Wal-Mart stores, and thus likely across the country.
• The device definitely seems to be hit and miss for people. This doesn’t surprise me, it’s a Hong Kong cheapie and likely cost everyone involved about a buck to make. Computer configuration could be a big deal with this too, seeing as the drivers may be good, but also maybe not wonderfully refined. Of course, making those ports USB 2.0 WOULD have been nice.
• The XBox port appears to sometimes act like a USB port of its own, which makes sense. For those who don’t know, the XBox’s controller ports are nothing more than reshaped USB 1.1 slots, which is why adapters for people to use keyboards with Phantasy Star Online, and in reverse, easy-to-make adapter cables for PC, gained some ground a couple of years back. This also means that the fact that it picked up on some controllers just fine but not others could have some legs … to ask a Hong Kong company to have the USB PID’s for every XBox pad (yep, just like a PC device, they got ‘em) might be asking a bit much.

The whole thing, plus some discussions on the virtues of some early next-gen wireless controllers has got me thinking of some new tests, which could give people super-cheap wireless pads on their computers. Think PS2 wireless, or Wavebird action.

Update: Tried a third-party GC pad. It took a couple of tests for the force feedback to click in, but it did do so. Could have been the pad as easily as it was the USB converter.

Speaking of controller converters … need to use your XBox 360 wireless converter with a Mac? Check out the driver HERE, looks like it will solve your problem!

Been in Wal-Mart lately? It is, of course, the standard mix of quality US products, cheap products thanks to the people from Bentonville, Arkansas, and the occasional even cheaper “Hong Kong” type item. Sadly, even their electronics aren’t immune from this.

Upon my visit today, I found the Gamemon USB Converter. A $9.90 USB box that can allow you to use Gamecube, XBox, and PS2 controllers on your PC (all simultaneously if you desire), along with a couple of USB 1.1. ports in hub form. I’ve always been a fan of these style of converters since they came to be six or seven years ago in the form of PSX to Parallel Port converters (I got one of those sitting somewhere still). So, does this product stand up? Does it work in the most driver-challenging environment out there now, Windows Vista?

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Do you know where Galloway, Ohio is? Neither did I before this past Wednesday. BUT, this Columbus suburb, just barely out into a more country version of suburbia, might be where we’re living in a month or two, if everything goes okay with a house we found.

The house is on Hubbard Drive South, a small semi-circle road that runs off of Hubbard Lane. It’s about 20 minutes west of downtown, which means location is great for me and Danielle (although shopping at Polaris or Easton won’t be nearly as easy as it is now).

Three bedrooms, 1-1/2 baths, which actually is a misnomer for us in OUR favor because of how we’re thinking of using the basement as a huge master bedroom, which it isn’t being counted as. That means a game room upstairs (YES! Back to Ikea for me!), an extra room which can be an multi-purpose room and eventually a nursery, and a guest bedroom.

I’ll be updating this post with more details, but needless to say, I’m excited as all can be!