PixlBit

Instead I’m going to focus on some buys that I normally do during the time of year when summer is not quite over and fall is not quite here. Plus I’m adding a GameRig1UPdate to this blog given the situation around the Game Rigs in question. Let’s just say it’s only fitting to do so given that this is the month when we speak of things “coming back from the dead”…

At one yard sale I happen to notice someone selling a good number of retro game carts for the Sega Master system, Sega Genesis and NES. As much as I wanted to buy them all, all selling for $2 each, I ended up passing on most of them given that I don’t own a Master system or an NES. Instead I bought myself a complete copy of X-Men for the Genesis and some choice NES titles for my mother and brother. Though not pictured I got my mom Athena, Ikari Warriors and Double Dragon and a Hudson title I can’t quite remember. For my brother I got him Clash at Demonhead given his love for Scott Pilgrim. Both my mom and bro loved their new games.

I stuck out later on at the regional rummage sale but there was a small antique flea market that happened to have one stall selling some PS2 titles along with a older model PS2. Though the games they offered were good, I passed on Ace Combat 2, I was mostly interested in the hardware offered. The PS2 looked complete but there was corrosion on the A/V port. But what really caught my eye was the two logitech PS2 wireless controllers nearby. The seller wanted $10 for both which was a really good offer. Sadly when I inspected them I found that someone left the batteries in one of them, causing them to leak all over the insides of the controller. Because of this I was able to buy them both for $5. That barter ended up being a good deal because when I got home I decided to try to clean out the corrosion with hydrogen peroxide and a small scraping hook. AND IT WORKED! I am now the proud owner of TWO working logitech PS2 controllers. They even work on my PS1! But the real prize of the day came later on at a local yard sale.

 

I happen to notice a yard sale having 2 N64s for sale. Though they didn’t come with any controllers, AC adapters or AV lines, the seller was asking for $20 for both of them. If I had the money I would’ve bought both of then, you never know when you might need a spare N64. Put alas I spent most of my money on the pre-mentioned game and controllers above, I had only $5 left to my name. In the end I was able to buy something from the N64s which in truth was the only reason why I stopped by. I already have an N64 but what was inside one of them was what I really was after.

Inside both of the units was the official Nintendo 4 RAM Expansion Pak! I’ve always wanted to have one given that one of my Halloween Games for 2013 could utilize it (SPOILERS). So I was able to haggle with the seller if he’d be willing to sell me one of those Expansion Paks for $5, and he did! I almost felt bad about the deal later given that those units can go for $15 to $50 depending where you shop, plus that system is now useless without a jumper pak installed in it. The seller didn’t seem to mind and said he’d be selling the system for parts later. Makes me wish I had more money or else I’d have bought both the N64s for their RAM Expansion Paks themselves.  Oh well.

And now for the GameRig1UPdate! If you’ll recall during the summer both my Xbox 360 and my Original Xbox decided to die on me. I pretty much abandoned any idea of getting them fixed/replaced since I had to focus on my Top 11 Halloween games purchases. But teh wife, MysticalMist, decided we just couldn’t have that. She was able to dig up my original repair receipt for the first Xbox 360 repair and found out that the system had a “limited” warranty on the repair work. We were not sure what that covered so my wife told me why not take the system to them with the receipt and see what it’s about. It was better than sitting on a dead system and doing nothing.

Turnes out to be the right call for when they found out it broke with the same error message, they took the system back and repaired it a second time and only charged for the labor. According to them the cause of my systems death was either the new Xbox Dashboard that I signed up for as a beta tester or that I’m taxing the system too much with so many downloads. Either way they told me if it broke again I’d be better off buying a newer system. So I’m back in the game with my Xbox 360! But wait! It gets better.

At the same time I also brought in my dead Original Xbox hoping they’d be able to fix that system as well. Though they weren’t sure at first they said they’d take a look at it. As it turned out my system really wasn’t dead at all! According to the repair guy when he took a look at it all he found wrong with the system was some corrosion on the A/V port for the system. He was rather amazed to see how nice and clean it was on the inside and figured some moisture must’ve worked its way into the A/V port given that I used a third party cable that doesn’t fit as tight as the original Xbox A/V cable. He gave the port a good scrubbing, along with a vacuuming of the system and it was as good as new! He suggested I buy an official Xbox A/V cable and try the system again. And sure enough it works just fine now! Even the inner cleaning fixed the disc read error/disc tray sticking issue! I was so happy I built the system its own independent shelf for Game Rig 2 along with an official Xbox A/V cable like suggested.

 

Despite this I still plan to keep my Halloween Gaming list for 2013 the same that it is right now. My choice of games is already set, but it’s nice to finally have both my Microsoft consoles “back from the dead” as well as a PS2 logitech.  Looks like the treats on me this year!  My next MyBuys blog will cover the games that I bought for this Halloween but till then I’ll be sure to speak of them in detail with my list this year. Till next time let’s hope my Microsoft systems have a long life ahead of them.

Ta-ta

“N”