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 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brsI6z13Su8 https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-consumer-electronics-hall-of-fame-microsoft-xbox Launched November 15th, 2001 in North America, the Xbox (named after the DirectX API) was Microsoft's first home video game console, and the most powerful console of the 6th generation, going against the GameCube (launched 3 days after the Xbox in North America, on November 18th), and the PlayStation 2 (launched a year earlier). The first 6th generation console, the Dreamcast, launch in North America 9/9/99, and was discontinued March 31st, 2001.  https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2018-07-01-the-original-xbox-prototype-is-alive-and-kicking https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPkGpbpxcYc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lu7o3exy00Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7hRb2BXL1A In comparison to the typical fully custom hardware on game consoles, the Xbox was effectively a PC internally, with an Intel Pentium III CPU, Nvidia GPU (roughly equivalent to a GeForce 3), 8 or 10 GB hard drive, and a built-in ethernet port for LAN and broadband internet connectivity.  The hard drive allowed for caching of large sections of game content, then quick-loading small parts as needed, enabling more seamless gameplay. It also made possible custom in-game soundtracks from ripped CD tracks. The game discs were 8.5 GB dual-layer DVDs. The system also supported 64 channel Dolby Digital 5.1 audio. The controller had 8 face buttons (the 6 coloured buttons being pressure sensitive), twin clickable analog sticks, twin analog triggers, a D-pad, twin memory card slots, and a quick-disconnect cable for trip protection. Other accessories included a component cable for HD-compatible games, and a remote that enabled DVD movie playback.  In Japan, the Xbox launched with a smaller "S" controller, that later replaced the larger "Duke" in the rest of the world.  On November 15th, 2002, one year after the launch of the console, the subscription service for online play, Xbox Live, launched. The original starter kit included a 12-month subscription card, a voice chat headset, and a service install disc with demos of Whacked! and Moto GP. A later version of the kit contained a 3-month subcription card, a voice chat headset, and the full version of MechAssault (by this point, the service was pre-installed on new consoles, so the install disc was omitted). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2amt4GYeJQ There were 20 games available on launch day in North America, including 4 first-party titles; Halo, Fuzion Frenzy, Project Gotham Racing, and NFL Fever 2002. Here are a selection of Xbox-exclusive/Xbox-enhanced games:  The Xbox's killer app. Often appearing on best games of all time lists, Halo redefined first person shooters on consoles the way GoldenEye did 4 years earlier. The stunning bump-mapped graphics, superb AI, deep physics engine, and epic soundtrack combined to create a package that was the epitome of "wow factor".  ------------------------------  A more arcadey take on the MechWarrior series, MechAssault was one of the killer apps of the Xbox Live online service, featuring 8 player deathmatches in destructible environments. Watch: System Link gameplay ------------------------------  Another Xbox Live killer app, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow featured the legendary 2v2 Spies vs. Mercs gametype, which involved the Spies stealthing through shadowy attics and vents, trying to get the drop on the gun-toting Mercs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu5_l6WtWgQ ------------------------------  Prior to Forza Motorsport, Project Gotham Racing was the go-to racing series on the Xbox. Project Gotham Racing 2 featured a massive selection of exotic cars (complete with walkable showroom), and beautifully realized locations including downtown Chicago, Moscow's Red Square, and Germany's Nurburgring. That latter track became host to the online community gametype Cat & Mouse, wherein speedy supercars had to push little slow cars across the finish line, with the monstrous speed difference creating total chaos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NQgs30KBYQ ------------------------------   ((^ click to enlarge)) A tour-de-force mech simulator, Steel Batallion came bundled with it's own mech control panel, complete with twin joysticks, pedals, a gearshift, manual ignition sequence, windshield wipers, and emergency eject button. ------------------------------  Fuzion Frenzy is the Xbox's answer to Mario Party, with faster action, flashier effects, and more attitude. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oi5jWuJHZUo ------------------------------  A semi-obscure but graphically intensive exclusive from Japan, Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions is a lighthearted vehicular action game that has you playing as either police or spies trying to clamp down on the Yakuza in Hong Kong. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASQJcrAp974 ------------------------------  A super popular Xbox Live title, Crimson Skies: High Road To Revenge is aerial combat that anyone can get into. ------------------------------  Taking full advantage of the Xbox's power, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind was a massive upgrade for the RPG series, with fully realized 3D environments, a crystal clear soundtrack, and a huge quantity of NPCs, questlines, and lore. ------------------------------  The sequel to the Dreamcast's Jet Grind Radio, Jet Set Radio Future cranks everything up to 11, with better graphics, bigger levels, streamlined graffiti controls, and a more exotic soundtrack. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXjhmwueQQM Synthetic Hermit fucked around with this message at 07:32 on Nov 19, 2021 |
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Nov 15, 2021 21:32
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The OG Xbox was the first system I owned that gen and I bought it solely for WWF Raw and Oddworld Munch's Oddysey. I ended up with really fond memories of that system: Morrowind, KOTOR, Fusion Frenzy, Halo, JSRF, Splinter Cell, Crimson Skies... It was incredible to young me. Doubly so when I figured out how to softmod.
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Nov 16, 2021 01:37
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You forgot to include in the OP that it was huge, enormous, gargantuan. Just massive. Staggering in size.
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Nov 16, 2021 12:50
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I picked up an Xbox shortly before Covid hit, and I love having this big dumb thing around. Soft-modding it with rocky5's tool was easy, but swapping out the hard drive with an SSD while the system was running was the most stressful thing I've done since I started tinkering with classic systems. The result is worth it. You get the cool startup animation when you power on, then boot into XBMC4Gamers with a clean grid of all your games' box art. My favorite aspect of the hardware is how chunky the controller plugs are, with that strip of semi-transparent plastic on the end. After years of using wireless controllers or tiny fiddly USB you forget how easy and satisfying it feels to plug in something substantial. No sex jokes please. I mentioned this in another thread a while back, but since my Xbox is on a shelf directly under my Xbox Series X I noticed that the OG console's green disc is almost exactly the same size as the green circle in the Series X's top vents. Now that I have a Retrotink 5x and an XBox2Wii Component adapter on the way I'm looking forward to seeing how this thing looks with cleaner scaling and fancy scanline masks.
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Nov 16, 2021 13:22
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BluesShaman posted:You forgot to include in the OP that it was huge, enormous, gargantuan. Just massive. Staggering in size. For the time, but big (launch models, anyway) kinda became the norm outside of Nintendo.  
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Nov 16, 2021 14:44
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I only got to owning an OG Xbox about 6 years ago, so I always had limited experiences with it when it was relevant (same for 360). For me the system was always cemented as where Team Ninja were at their best, because seeing their games like Ninja Gaiden and DOA Ultimate convinced me that this thing had its own value, that it had something that Sony or Nintendo systems lacked. Oh yeah, and there was Halo, but I associate that more with a case of me bouncing off it hard due to overhype from everyone else I knew at the time. Always thought the games looked cool, until I actually got my hands on it and found that playing it was not my thing. These days though? My appreciation for the system has increased dramatically due to the variety of unique exclusives it had beyond the aforementioned big, popular titles from its day (A lot of exclusive Sega games helped in making me see it as a Dreamcast 2, of sorts). Combined with what you can do with the console when modded, it's up there with the Wii as systems I keep plugged in both for their intended games and whatever mod/homebrew functions I can load onto it. Always in the mood to turn it on just try a game for a few minutes because what alternative is there?
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Nov 16, 2021 18:16
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Mechassault 1 & 2, Project Gotham Racing 1 & 2, RalliSport Challenge 1 & 2, and Forza Motorsport are still stuck on the OG Xbox.  Unsure how good Xbox emulation is now and if it can play these games perfectly or at least very close.
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Nov 16, 2021 19:03
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^ I don't understand why MechAssault 1 & 2 haven't been ported. Microsoft owns the MechWarrior license.
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Nov 16, 2021 20:59
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Battletech and Mechwarrior are split up and owned/shared by different companies and people. The licensing for Battletech is really messy across the board.
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Nov 16, 2021 23:36
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I said come in! posted:Battletech and Mechwarrior are split up and owned/shared by different companies and people. The licensing for Battletech is really messy across the board. Historically, the ownership has indeed been all over the place, but Microsoft owning sole video game rights seems quite clear. The current games, MechWarrior Online and MechWarrior 5, published by  , are under sublicense from MS.
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Nov 17, 2021 00:40
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I had a Dreamcast, shed my tears at its death and then moved on by buying an Xbox and it's remarkable how much the original Xbox really felt like a Dreamcast successor, though that might also just be because I picked up Jet Set Radio Future as soon as I could. In terms of Xbox games that I wish would get a sequel/port/something there was a sci-fi sports combat game called Deathrow. You have two teams of four players trying to get your glowing space frisbee through the goal at the opponents end of the field to outscore them, or you can just beat them into submission, score be damned. You had kicks, punches, throws, stomps, or you could just charge the frisebee up a bunch and then huck it at them to knock them out. It's been so long since I've played it that I'd be hard pressed to recall clearly whether it was actually any good or not but I definitely enjoyed it at the time.
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Nov 18, 2021 06:57
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It used to be a thing (maybe it still is) where if you had too large of a hard drive inside the XBox, the file system would poo poo itself and you'd have problems. So like 18 years ago I bought this XBox extender thing that let you put 3 hard drives in the system, and it had a selector switch for which hard drive you are using. I love it because of the absurdity of it:
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Nov 18, 2021 16:06
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Microsoft put up a 3D Xbox Museum to wander around in your browser. It has a lot of concept sketches and other behind-the-scenes stuff from the OG Xbox to look at.
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Nov 23, 2021 18:17
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those early design prototype dashboards are loving sweet, I've never seen those before. the one that explodes into butterflies whenever you select something is just pure 
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Nov 24, 2021 16:17
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lF0wFNWhJog
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Nov 24, 2021 22:55
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The OG Xbox did not get enough respect at the time. Halo and Dead or a Alive 3 were really impressive at launch and then as others have already mentioned Xbox got a lot of Sega exclusives like Jet Set Radio Future and Panzer Dragoon Orta. Xbox was also generally my go to system for multiplat games too. I was probably one of the few people who also owned a Gamecube who got SoulCalibur 2 to play it on Xbox with Spawn instead of Link.
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Nov 26, 2021 19:12
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i often held lanparties in my house at the time of the xbox, which meant 4 guys would bring CRT's and xboxes which we'd all put on my living room table to play halo deathmatch
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Nov 27, 2021 01:22
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Shibawanko posted:i often held lanparties in my house at the time of the xbox, which meant 4 guys would bring CRT's and xboxes which we'd all put on my living room table to play halo deathmatch That's what's up
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Nov 28, 2021 03:29
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My favourite thing about the Microsoft Xbox home computer system is that without "illegal" modifications it is unable to display the higher resolutions because they're not on the menu. Why were they left out? Who the gently caress knows, maybe Stephen Ballmer hates Europe. Anyway I got a modified system as a birthday present more than a decade ago and it's great. Swapped out the fan for a silent one because I still use it to play foreign-region DVDs (and to play games). e: I'm pretty sure Timesplitters Future Perfect isn't compatible with later systems, and also doesn't work with the most common settings on the dashboard or bootloader of whatever the gently caress it's called in a modified system. But at least it works so that's great. 3D Megadoodoo fucked around with this message at 13:40 on Dec 8, 2021 |
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Dec 8, 2021 13:34
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I legit get this uneasy feeling every time I hear the OG XBox boot up sound (especially the happy little chime at the end) because it would usually follow a huge E74 error when I turned them on once those "pin" mod chips stopped working properly on 1.1 motherboards. You had to get within the length of a gnat's dick in a specific spot on the motherboard to get it to work and it would drive me insane. 3D Megadoodoo posted:My favourite thing about the Microsoft Xbox home computer system is that without "illegal" modifications it is unable to display the higher resolutions because they're not on the menu. Why were they left out? Who the gently caress knows, maybe Stephen Ballmer hates Europe. What's the story with this? You mean on the green boot up system menu where you can select resolutions, Europe didn't get 720p and 1080i or something but you could hack it back in so you could select it?
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Dec 8, 2021 16:37
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Chumbawumba4ever97 posted:What's the story with this? You mean on the green boot up system menu where you can select resolutions, Europe didn't get 720p and 1080i or something but you could hack it back in so you could select it? Exactly. It works fine technically, you just couldn't select to do it software-wise without modifying the system (which may or may not be/have been illegal). Some games also require you to boot to NTSC mode to run in hi-res which is hosed up because aren't the games region-free? Anyway, every game I own works, but a handful need specific settings and a hard or soft re-boot, which is just a minor pain in the neck.
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Dec 8, 2021 18:55
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3D Megadoodoo posted:Exactly. It works fine technically, you just couldn't select to do it software-wise without modifying the system (which may or may not be/have been illegal). That's insane. So people would buy the HD component cables and only get 480p in Europe? I can't believe it's my first time hearing about it.
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Dec 8, 2021 21:56
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Chumbawumba4ever97 posted:only get 480p in Europe Lmao no. Interlaced only. (I guess 576i?) Games on an unmodified PAL Xbox look like absolute poo poo on any remotely modern television set.
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Dec 8, 2021 22:10
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The way I found out was the CD-ROM drive on my first, modified, system started failing, so I bought an un-modified unit for 40€. I didn't get it at first, but everything just looked off. Then I had a look at the settings and, welp. (I ended up just transplanting the CD-ROM drive to the first unit, and everything's been fine ever since. Neither of them were the models prone to capacitor death.)
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Dec 8, 2021 22:14
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That's loving crazy. I can't believe it's the first I'm hearing of it. Did they even bother selling the component cables there?
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Dec 9, 2021 04:44
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Chumbawumba4ever97 posted:That's loving crazy. I can't believe it's the first I'm hearing of it. Did they even bother selling the component cables there? I'm not sure. I have a component cable but I can't remember if I bought it new and if it's first-party.
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Dec 9, 2021 05:02
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reviving this thread from December to say I recently bought an OG Xbox off Craigslist for  and it's disk drive is stuck open when powered on. I think the clock capacitor leaked and has shorted something on the mobo. anyway, bought a working one off eBay to satisfy my need for nostalgia. i also bought an RCA to HDMI adapter box so I could play on my normal TV and bought one of those Pound HD Link cables to see which works better (the Pound one does I think). And an assortment of games off eBay. But woo boy, so many great memories of playing xbox as a kid. THPS 2x was my jam. THIS IS WHAT IT'S LIKE WHEN WORLDS COLLIDEcouple things I'm disappointed in: the version I have doesn't do the full kick rear end spinning xbox goo startup animation. surely there must be some mod to fix this for me lol it only came with the s-type controller. gotta buy myself a duke for the full nostalgia experience! the retro video game market is insane. stuff is so expensive. i'm so angry at teenage me for selling all my Xbox stuff all those years ago. not only would it be worth more now but I wouldn't have to pay all this money to get back what I had! a standalone JSFR is way too expensive! I want to ask: what mods should I do? Where do I find out more about modding? I'm somewhat ok with doing simple/easy hardware modding but soft modding is more my level
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Apr 21, 2022 18:31
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I got a premade hack package (USB and a copy of Agent Under Fire) for like 15 bucks a year and a half ago. I suggest just doing that and binging HDD ready stuff.
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Apr 21, 2022 22:29
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A few months back, my girlfriend secured for me an original Xbox, a stack of games, and a complete Steel Battalion set. I have everything I need to send it to get it HDMI modded with an SSD except the OpenXenium chip. Are there any other sellers for it than MakeMhz? I see XeniumSpice on ebay. Would that work as a substitute?
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Apr 22, 2022 01:12
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The DVD drive in my Xbox died while it was in storage, giving me nothing but "This disc is unreadable"-type errors no matter what game I try. Is it easy to swap out, and does it have to be a specific model? (Long before that, the power button packed up in the weirdest way; the machine just suddenly started up for no apparent reason, and could only be powered off at the mains from then on.)
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Apr 22, 2022 16:12
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Disposable Scud posted:I got a premade hack package (USB and a copy of Agent Under Fire) for like 15 bucks a year and a half ago. I suggest just doing that and binging HDD ready stuff. oh cool I'll look into it
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Apr 22, 2022 21:28
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Payndz posted:The DVD drive in my Xbox died while it was in storage, giving me nothing but "This disc is unreadable"-type errors no matter what game I try. Is it easy to swap out, and does it have to be a specific model? I don't believe OG Xbox DVD drives are transferable, meaning that if your model has a Thomson drive, it needs a Thomson drive, if it came with a Samsung drive, it needs a Samsung drive, etc.
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Apr 22, 2022 22:48
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They're all interchangeable
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Apr 23, 2022 04:25
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Iirc you can use a regular rear end PC DVD-ROM drive in an xbox
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Apr 23, 2022 07:46
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Silhouette posted:Iirc you can use a regular rear end PC DVD-ROM drive in an xbox I don't think so, at least not without modding - Xbox drives spin in reverse. In any case, all drives made for the Xbox are interchangable. The best model is the Samsung SDG-605 Ver. B
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Apr 23, 2022 09:00
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That's another misconception. XBOX disc layouts are CAV instead of the standard CLV of DVD. GC and Wii discs are the same (though obviously formatted differently). You can use regular IDE drives, but requires a molex splitter (power delivery on stock drives is custom) a patched BIOS and original games won't work.
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Apr 23, 2022 13:06
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^ Is there some kind of game console drive that runs in reverse? Could've sworn I read an article about that.
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Apr 23, 2022 14:50
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Not that I'm aware of. I'd imagine there's too many much cheaper ways to use non-standard optical disc variations without needing a special DVD drive with a motor that spins both ways.
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Apr 23, 2022 15:02
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Synthetic Hermit posted:^ Is there some kind of game console drive that runs in reverse? Could've sworn I read an article about that. This is what people used to say the Dreamcast GDRom drives did, which I believed for 20 odd years up until about 5 minutes ago when I googled it, and found out this is not actually the case. It just packs the information more densely, giving it a couple of hundred more megabytes of storage space, and spins the drive slower to compensate. Isometric Bacon fucked around with this message at 03:21 on May 15, 2022 |
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May 15, 2022 03:18
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Shout-Out to the Dreamcast that let you burn copies of a game almost as easy as your Kazaa music files.
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Jul 26, 2022 19:57
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