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T-Pac

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Posts posted by T-Pac

    What are you currently reading?

    in Everything Else

    Posted

    image.png.97f177ba24b66d8987584f627f4df45c.png

    Finished reading Anna Karenina (1878) by Leo Tolstoy.

    Spoiler

    This is a literary classic that follows a selection of upper class Russian relations through their lives in Moscow, Petersburg, and the neighboring countryside. The highlighted characters are the titular Anna Karenina and Konstantin Levin, who rarely interact but bolster the narrative with their diametrically opposed fates.

    At its core, this novel explores the difference between living for one’s self, and living for one’s soul. That is to say - leading a life entrenched in self-interest or a life vested in God’s love. The acute difference here makes itself evident in Levin’s epiphany at the end of the novel, and informs the trajectories of each character in the story. 

    Anna’s own tragedy stems from a life led by passions. Her love for Vronsky causes her to leave her otherwise ornamental marriage at the cost of abandoning her son and the security of her societal standing. And although there’s a redeemable honesty to Vronsky and Anna’s mutual love, the strained circumstances that maintain it are worsened by the relationship’s self-interested underpinning. Trapped in this vacuum of equal parts isolation and similarly-motivated company, Anna can’t help but spiral into unfounded jealousy - ultimately seizing suicide as the only means to escape her situation and satisfy the vindictiveness that her feelings toward Vronsky so precipitously evolved into. 

    Her husband Alexi falls into a similarly unsatisfying fate from self-interest. While he showed a moment of clarity in his magnanimous forgiveness of Anna as she nearly died giving birth to Vronsky’s son, Alexi’s “conversion” can’t penetrate into his character - a man whose whole being is no deeper than surface-value convictions. Stripped of his dignity in society over his wife’s infidelity and lack of confidence from his peers, Alexi becomes such a shell of a man that he turns to fortune-tellers to make decisions on his behalf. And Vronsky, broken by Anna’s suicide on his own account (though blameless), runs off to war in order to die himself under the thin guise of heroism.

    A notable secondary character, Oblonsky, is similarly self-interested. And he lives this conceit outwardly through a spendthrift, unfaithful, pleasure-seeking lifestyle. Yet he surrounds himself with people who conversely live for God, for the soul and the good of others. And Oblonsky is thereby sustained through the grace of his company, whether or not he deserves the fruits of others’ generosity.

    At the positive end of the spectrum is Levin, who struggles through the whole novel with his questioning of life’s meaning, of philosophical reasoning, of work and family and happiness in general. In spite of his mental turmoil over these enigmas, Levin unquestioningly follows his conscience. He pursues honest work, establishes a healthy relationship with his wife, cares for his dying brother, and provides for his friends and acquaintances. Levin finds himself at the point where his life is outwardly perfect, yet the agony of his empty search for meaning in it all brings him to the brink of suicide like Anna. And yet a moment of clarity in an offhand conversation enlightens him to the idea that living for God’s goodness, as he had unwittingly done all his life, is the key to an inner happiness that he couldn’t grasp by reason alone.

    It’s a beautiful denouement to the whole novel, shedding light on what brings tragedy for the self-interested and peace for the selfless. Granted, as a Christian I can easily identify with Tolstoy’s faith projected through Levin - but I’d like to think that living for the soul is an idea that can pervade beyond religion and be a driving force for everyone’s lifestyle and inward motivations. And while those like Alexi and Anna don’t have the depth of character to embrace this truth, real people aren’t hindered by the lack of dimension that plagues allegorical figures. We all have the capacity to live for a good beyond ourselves - we just have to commit to it.

    [T-Pac]

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    Game Boy versions that were more fun than NES/SNES/Arcade?

    in The Gauntlet

    Posted

    Bubble Bobble for the Game Boy is my favorite version of the game, although you might argue that it's not a direct port considering all the level differences, introduction of sub-bosses, etc.

    I also prefer the Game Boy port of R-Type to the TurboGrafx-16 release. It has fewer levels, but is way more accessible for players like me who enjoy easier games.

    [T-Pac]

    • Confused 1
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    NES Completions thread 2024 - 662/677

    in Site-run Events & Contests

    Posted

    11 hours ago, Khromak said:

    Oh interesting! I didn't see that the "24 levels" are just the same 6 levels, but with more difficulty added. That should be...interesting...I'll bet some of these levels will be really challenging with the reduced time/increased crystals, as I already found them tough as-is.

    That said, I think I can take this one down, given enough time & practice.

    I'd love to hear your thoughts on it, too! 

    I've got Boulder Dash on my backlog for this year - and even though I plan to use save-states on it, I'd like to know what I'm generally in for haha.

    [T-Pac]

    Movie Debate #152: Gravity

    in Everything Else

    Posted

    2 hours ago, FireHazard51 said:

    Was going to say you if you want to enjoy the movie you absolutely must ignore physics and reality.  Some sci-fi films I can do this and others I can't....Core

    I actually had to watch this movie in my high-school physics class... Our assignment was basically to tear it apart for how painfully off-base it was with regard to actual space science.

    But I thought it was neat anyway. I like space stuff.

    [T-Pac]

    • Like 1

    VGS Atari High Scores

    in Leaderboards

    Posted

    I beat the Mountain King challenge score this week!

    115,140

    6 minutes ago, T-Pac said:

    Mountain King [Atari 2600 - 1983]

    This game was a lot more complex than I expected, but I ended up absolutely loving it.

    [T-Pac]

    image.png.dc17c9aad6bc33ead28b6868b1d1b93a.png

     

    And I forgot to post my Pitfall high-score from last month, too.

    100,648

    [T-Pac]

    On 2/4/2024 at 3:57 PM, T-Pac said:

    Pitfall [Atari 2600 - 1982]

    I didn't get the hype for this game when I first tried it a few years ago. But now that I sunk my teeth into it - I love it.

    [T-Pac]

    image.png.824f1faf44abbea54bf5c2ffbd8aaeec.png

    Water Cooler!

    in Everything Else

    Posted

    11 hours ago, fcgamer said:

    That's awesome 😎 

    On a similar note, I'm friends of the guy who did the graphics for Aladdin on Famicom. 

     

    Oh sick! 

    I've always wondered what it would've been like to be a graphics artist in the 8-bit / 16-bit era. Like - how much programming knowledge did they need, and what compromises did they have to make for system limitations and stuff?

    [T-Pac]

    New PS1 Fakes from China?

    in General Collecting Discussion

    Posted

    This brings a whole new dimension to the argument!

    If I remember correctly, the rationale behind the proponents of "P" was that PlayStation is a single word - so only the first letter should be represented in the acronym. But now that these bootlegs are branding themselves "P Station", we're back to "PS" - one letter to abbreviate each word.

    Still doesn't solve the "X" versus "1" problem, though...

    [T-Pac]

    What are you currently reading?

    in Everything Else

    Posted

    17 hours ago, avatar! said:

    I really enjoying reading your reviews! Spot-on. Do you think we should start a "book review" thread?

    🙂

    Thanks, dude!

    I feel like this thread is fine for now. It's not terribly active anyway - plus I wouldn't consider my writeups "reviews" so much as "my thoughts on what I just read".

    [T-Pac]

    My 2nd RetroAchievements Set Developed - Barker Bill's Trick Shooting

    in The Gauntlet

    Posted

    23 hours ago, Gloves said:

    What strikes you as the games I'd typically play?

    Lol no but you're not wrong. I played Barker Bill early this year for the NES Completions thread and actually found it incredibly enjoyable; compared to Duck Hunt which is basically all I've used the NES Light Gun for, it has a lot more variety and depth. I like shooting stuff, you think I don't like shooting stuff?!? 😛

    NBA Hang Time is a game I played a lot with my brother when we were kids, and I've not played it since then but have always wanted to get a CIB copy for my shelf. When I was looking for my next set to develop it was suggested that I should move beyond the NES to start working with bigger RAM (16-bits!) so I could get more experience digging through memory for flags and the like, and so I could perhaps do some more complex stuff (if this then this, or that and then this when these). I was thinking of doing a platformer (considered doing SNES Beauty & The Beast), but was struck by a lack of inspiration for achievement design (beat all the levels, do so damageless... uuuuhhhh... not much else...), so I started looking at games I was really good at, and then games I just plum wanted to play. NBA Hang Time was in my "Want to buy" list and I was like hey... lots can be done with that!

    I've got some more complex logic done up as was my goal, such as "Score a basket after the buzzer which puts you in the lead from behind, winning you the game":

    image.png

    Haha that's makes sense.

    I guess I've just inadvertently established you as a "shoot-em-ups and Runescape" guy in my mind, so "sports-ball and carnival games" caught me off guard. 

    [T-Pac]

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    What are you currently reading?

    in Everything Else

    Posted

    image.png.1435b0f33c19b7e51997058ca775bdda.png

    Finished reading The Defining Decade by Meg Jay.

    Spoiler

    Meg Jay is a clinical psychologist, and this is essentially her call to action for “twentysomethings” based on what she’s learned working with numerous early-adult clients. I’m admittedly a bit late to a book like this, as I’ve only got a few “twentysomething” years left myself - but it was an insightful read regardless.

    Jay explores work, relationships, and health as they all pertain to those starting out in adult life, and her overarching appeal is to work toward establishing all of these life-facets in your twenties rather than living aimlessly in the assumption that everything will fall in place later.

    I was relieved to find that my career so far has been in-line with Jay’s suggested approach: making a definitive decision on what you want to do and taking strides toward it now. The difficult part here is knowing what you want out of a career in the first place, but any professional experience builds skill-capital for wherever you ultimately end up. And feeling sub-par or unqualified here is not only normal, but expected - since it typically takes years to establish yourself in your field. The important thing is not to give up and run away to an “easy” job just because you feel inadequate as a novice.

    The most poignant assertion in The Defining Decade, at least for me, is that your twenties are a time to establish the major habits you want to keep throughout your adult life. The twenties are apparently the second and final period of major neural-network building in the brain (the first being early childhood), meaning it’s the time to solidify important connections and habits for navigating adult life before your brain prunes its “unused” links in your thirties. 
    I’m not entirely certain what lifestyle I want to establish for the years to come, but I’m motivated to figure it out now, in the “use it or lose it” neurological period of my own brain development. I can’t know everything now, but there’s something encouraging in the idea that what I do in my twenties actually makes a difference for my future. Here’s hoping I take these last few “twentysomething” years and make the most of them.

    [T-Pac]
     

    • Like 1

    My 2nd RetroAchievements Set Developed - Barker Bill's Trick Shooting

    in The Gauntlet

    Posted

    On 3/10/2024 at 10:13 AM, Gloves said:

    Being a Jr. Developer over on RetroAchievements means that when I develop an achievement set it has to go through review, and man that process can take ages (~2 months right now before it's even looked at by a reviewer). But I've persevered (i.e. waited patiently) and now the second set I've developed (the first was ShmupSpeed!) has been released to the world.

    Barker Bill's Trick Shooting (NES/Famicom) · RetroAchievements

    This set was harder to make for sure, and will be much harder to earn all of the achievements on. Getting a "beat" on the game is easy enough, but the perfectionist achievements will take a lot of effort and skill.

    I've also set up leaderboards for each of the four modes, both normal and perfection boards for showing off how cool you are with a lightgun (or a mouse emulating one...). 

    Next up, I'm working on a childhood favourite in a genre that I mostly never tough, and taking on the challenge of a new console - the SNES! I've been working hard on Code Notes for NBA Hang Time! Having a lot of fun with this lately. 🙂

    Neat!

    I'm curious, though - what made you pick Barker Bill's Trick Shooting and NBA Hang Time? Those don't strike me as the type of game you typically play.

    [T-Pac]

    Favorite NES Mega Man Game in 2024

    in The Gauntlet

    Posted

    15 hours ago, NostalgicMachine said:

    Now I feel bad I didn't see those lmao.

    IGNORE MEH.

    Don't feel bad - for every 1 person that gets upset at repeat threads, there's another person who missed it the first time around and yet another person who's more than happy to share their thoughts again.

    Anyway - these semi-frequent "NES Mega Man" threads are a good reminder for me to actually get around to playing all the games haha.

    [T-Pac]

    • Love 2

    Water Cooler!

    in Everything Else

    Posted

    So I was talking to one of my supervisors at work yesterday, and apparently her first job in the animation industry was doing cleanup on Aladdin's idle-cycle in the Genesis game...

    I've been working with her for 2 years and I'm just learning this NOW!!?? Lost my mind a bit haha.

    [T-Pac]

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    My "Good Vibe Collecting" Youtube Channel

    in Virtual World

    Posted

    18 hours ago, austin532 said:

    Well, it's been like 2 years since my last one but I decided to do a sealed unboxing. Wii Play. Everyone's favorite shovelware game.😄
     

     

    Great watch!
    Wii Play got just as much playtime as Wii Sports with my family (if not more). Especially the target-shooting game.

    [T-Pac]

    • Thanks 1

    Chasing Down New Rabbit Holes to Collect

    in General Collecting Discussion

    Posted

    I’d say my ROM collection is pretty unique because, due to my views on piracy, every ROM I have was dumped myself from my own copy of the game (excluding digital releases).

    Not many people can say that when they’re emulating a game, they’re emulating with the data from their specific cartridge. I would say that makes me more of an “outlier” than a “pioneer”, though - since most people don’t share my opinion on piracy and I don't anticipate much of a "ripping your own games" trend in the future...

    [T-Pac]

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