The Gamer's Quarter

kirkjerk · . Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 1227

Prelude: Geek Evangelism is kind of odd. What is this compulsion to praise your electronic device choices, sell others on it? I guess it's the more people you convince of your consumer wisdom, the smarter you seem, and the more people who are on your side in the marketplace. I suppose this is where fanboyism gets its roots.

That said: I really, really enjoy having a video projector. It was so absolutely the right choice for me... a great big image at a terrific price. Without a huge investment, I have that "home cinema" experience, just with a recycled speaker in each corner, and a picture big enough to feel cinematic.

My love of multiplayer "couch" gaming has driven my television purchases, with a 200 lb behemoth of a tv in 1998, and now this in 2004 or so. If you're going to split the screen 4 ways, it's nice if each subscreen isn't tiny...with the video projector, each subscreen is bigger than many monitors.

Plus, I'm proud of my luggable gaming package:

At top is my backpack o' Game Cube... a Cube, 5 controllers (always pack a spare kids! especially when 2 of your controllers are wavebirds with batteries), a cd folder of 40ish games. (God, apparently I've had more money than sense. Or freetime :-/ ) Anyway, gamecube is a great system for travelling...besides the multiplayer thing it does so well, the first release of the system was a wonderfully designed portable package. It has a carrying handle, for cryin' out loud. It begs to come with.

Beneath is the cyclopean projector, along with 2 computer speakers (with the little audio converter doohickey) and a power squid, the best idea in power outlets in a decade. That photo background is a couch in my mom's basement, this Memorial Day I set it up, and we had 4 player Dr. Mario all evening long.

Video Projectors aren't perfect... you need a room you can make dark, and a lightish clear bit of wall, and they can be fiddley to tweak once you move them...but then again, there aren't many other video technologies with that size image that you could consider moving like that, so there's not much to compare it to. Some room geometries are tougher with it, and it can make a lot of heat. So it ain't the end all be all, but still.

I don't know about the highdef aspect, turns out I'm a size queen with this kind of thing, but I think if I had paid more I'd have something that was compatible with the next gen of HD.

I guess for some gamers there might be a kind of lack of intimacy, but when it's more than 1 player, or it's a cinematic game, it really can't be beat.

OtakupunkX · . Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Posts: 730

My church owns several video projectors and we've used them for various gaming-related events.

I've found that they're not that great for darker games, but brighter games look really good. Maybe it's just their projectors...

dhex · Posted: Tue May 30, 2006 10:12 am Post subject:

what brand projector do you have? i used to have to service quite a few of them throughout college (either being hit, kicked, punched, or having soda poured on them) but otherwise have no experience with projectors for anything fun.

also: brand evangelism exists in some contexts for the same reason we tell people about foods we like or music we enjoy, or authors who are important etc etc and so forth. the style may differ, but a case could be made to describe tgq as a evangelistic platform of sorts.
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Pijaibros

kirkjerk · . Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 1227

kirkjerk · . Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 1227

Pijaibros · Posted: Tue May 30, 2006 2:27 pm Post subject:

Ok, I just got carried away.

Say does your problem with your projector only happen when you come out of a black screen? Like when you turn on the system or after a death for example?

By color saturation you mean everything gets bright and super colored and then resets back to normal right? Do you want it to stay that way or are you just concerned about it? Also do you know what model you have out of curiosity?

kirkjerk · . Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 1227

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

I should mention that I have always had a secret desire to own a projector. One day I still will, it’s just that I know for standard convention of gaming and movie watching that they don't cut it except under the most precise conditions.

Having said that my wife and I constantly sit outside at night and go camping where we would love to have something like this. The current solution is to use my laptop, which only works just enough to keep me from it.

Also, damn those screens are expensive.
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“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

Pijaibros · Posted: Tue May 30, 2006 3:08 pm Post subject:

I getcha. No that is not your projector that is causing the problem. Many old NES games did this for whatever reason I cannot comprehend. Must be the way the PPU handles graphics. We had small TVs back then so I don't think we bothered to notice.

It even happens with my HD-CRT on some NES games. Even my computer on boot for a split second. With the bigger screens and all the processing that these devices do for all the signals we put out, we actually notice now. I wouldn't worry about it. For me it's usually bloody obvious to see in dark games like Ghouls n Ghosts, Ninja Gaidens, and Castlevanias.

kirkjerk · . Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 1227