What The Heck Is a PLAYJAM GAMESTICK?!

[@mikethetowns]

Had a choice between backing this or an Ouya back in the day. I went with the Ouya. I made both the right and wrong choice simultaneously.

[@pikaporeon]

lets be real Towerfall was an absolute banger

[@xirxes]

I have both, the Game stick was extremely slow, but the form factor is cool. I never ended up playing anything directly on the Ouya either though, it was a Kodi box, but it does get credit for my Fez playthrough over moonlight

[@blakksheep736]

Your only winning move was not to play.

[@blakksheep736]

​@@pikaporeon didn't it come out on a different console eventually, and do way better?

[@pikaporeon]

@ yeah that was more or less when the ouya was already dead - I def grabbed it again on ps4 it’s a great party game

[@buzzlightyer2948]

the best part about the doom port segment is that you don't even need to look up and down in doom

[@0neDoomedSpaceMarine]

FreeDoom, much like real Doom, isn't even designed for up and down looking, at all.

[@kiwirocket64]

I know I just think it makes it nicer and more appealing sometimes. Plus it’s funny watching stuff warp and stretch out of control sometimes

[@Games_for_James]

@@buzzlightyer2948 yeah but trying to turn with the right stick without touching the Y axis at all is impossible, once it starts to go my inverted muscle memory takes over and amplifies the issue

[@x86-Kait]

@@kiwirocket64 Doom 2 city levels be like:

[@tolindaniel]

​@@x86-KaitBut you *couldn't* look up and down in Doom 2 until source ports added the feature years later, and Doom/Doom 2 levels are d signed as flat planes with heightmap data. You can shoot monsters higher or lower than you automatically by looking their direction in OG Doom. So Doom 2 city levels be like, not designed to be able to look up or down because they had no real elevation.

[@Larry]

I bought one from one of the Kickstarter founders, he absolutely hated the thing, especially the fact you had to PAY for demos at launch!

[@Games_for_James]

Lmao. Well now you can play it!

[@y0da89]

Do you still have it ?

[@Code7Unltd]

That would seem skeevy from most, but PlayJam seem to be one of a few companies making games for Pay-TV providers. I remember playing trials of their games on Dish Network back when they offered interactive games for their receivers (they were as rudimentary as you would think, especially being controlled with an infared remote).

[@nyxxic4550]

@@Games_for_James you should review the Nex Playground, it's like this except with a webcam and being heavily shilled by toddler parents

[@Joomluh12]

Man, they must have gotten this model from a certain US hotel chain. When I was a kid in the early 2000s, it used to be kinda common to see these SNES plug'n'play controllers in hotel rooms. They basically operated like a mini-bar, and you were charged by the minute each time you played a game. It also had 15 minute demos, which cost $7 for each play. Me not knowing this as a kid got me an earful from my parents one year when it was time for us to checkout.

[@soli-ethd]

1:08 well of course it's sticky, that's how you know it's got that genuine Game Stick

[@tylern6420]

sticky game stick moment

[@r4tk1ng1]

thats why you glove up

[@soli-ethd]

@@r4tk1ng1 but then you only get game, no stick

[@tylern6420]

@@soli-ethd then it bricks itself twice as fast

[@TS-ge1nb]

​@@r4tk1ng1no wonder Mario always wears gloves. A real gamer

[@orthodynamicstereonails]

7:46 This is the most bewildered I’ve ever heard James and it’s hilarious

[@johnsalamii]

the purple really got to him

[@Omnivamp]

Accidentally saw this comment before I got to that part, knew exactly what was coming... Still wasn't disappointed.

[@Grimmzy30000]

I heard it and was like "I'm not sure who got it from who or if this is genuine Australian Inflection" when putting it side-by-side with DankPods himself

[@jb-br8bf]

A competitor to the OUYA?! Talk about second place in a no-horse race!

[@948320z]

Reminds me of Techmoan's video on Video 2000, which came a distant 3rd place in the VHS vs Betamax war lol. And it only got any traction in UK because of tariff shenanigans lobbied by Philips (and people _still_ bought more VHS players from JVC on top of the tariff anyway, the tariff that Philips themselves had to pay once they had no choice but to import VHS players from Japan because _no one was buying their Video 2000_ lol)

[@kirishima638]

Ouuuuuuuyaaa

[@CrawliestCotter]

So like just a normal race?

[@foxbomber5]

Ha!

[@craftersshaft]

i only remember this thing from Game LÜT from years ago, also god i hate modding projects that require you to join a discord server even if this case is just to rule out bugs, but this is still an amazingly impressive effort and i love seeing indie/weird gaming history preserved like this

[@Weeze24]

I remember seeing it there too! It looked like the coolest console imaginable there

[@cweiske]

We are still missing some games that can only be rescued from gamesticks that were last online when the original servers were up. As soon as the gamesticks connect to the new server, all the cached information is gone. So I chose to block all unregistered gamesticks until we have collected all missing games.

[@no1DdC]

I hate anything that involves a Discord server at any point. Such a garbage service with a garbage software, garbage search, garbage usability, garbage lack of preservation long-term, garbage privacy, etc.

[@craftersshaft]

i think i vibe with that bit now, basically more of just a bonus preservation step for the unused ones so that any lost content doesn't stay lost, and i still think it's neat!!! i think ive just been burned too many times with how many servers basically act as a glorified download link, but if this helps someone set up a new gamestick and help make the service better for everyone, i don't mind it and i deeply appreciate that effort

[@christopher9727]

Jesus Christ is the only hope in this world no other gods will lead you to heaven There is no security or hope with out Jesus Christ in this world come and repent of all sins today Today is the day of salvation come to the loving savior Today repent and do not go to hell Come to Jesus Christ today Jesus Christ is only way to heaven Repent and follow him today seek his heart Jesus Christ can fill the emptiness he can fill the void Heaven and hell is real cone to the loving savior today Today is the day of salvation tomorrow might be to late come to the loving savior today Holy Spirit Can give you peace guidance and purpose and the Lord will John 3:16-21 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. Mark 1.15 15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Hebrews 11:6 6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Jesus

[@CaveyJohnson]

This is the second angriest reaction I've seen to the color purple.

[@Zachary-dr1mu]

Curious what’s the first? lol

[@AlexJHatesGoogle]

@@Zachary-dr1mu only my third

[@bea3558]

What if it was purple?

[@kira_the_meek]

purple plant?

[@PcMacsterRace]

Purple guy?

[@Zellio2011]

He could've just gotten a cheap tv from a discount store but instead he bought a million converters. That's some admirably weird dedication you got

[@PredictableEnigma]

I think he just keeps them lying around 😅

[@y0da89]

Thanks for highlighting our work. We're still missing about 20 games from the library. Any help is appreciated. See you on the discord server !

[@robertopalermo7185]

Hell yeah Ryo Saeba!!!

[@DUKE_of_RAMBLE]

I have no plans to own one but I felt that you all going through the trouble and expense to revive not one, but TWO dead console services, as being worthy of high praise! Thanks for being *_awesome_* humans 🫡🍻 What I wouldn't have given for one of my old stomping grounds to have had its servers revived: Motor City Online. 😢 _(historic ramble: was an awesome muscle car building/racing MMO, which early in its development it was going to be officially part of the Need for Speed franchise, so it was a legitimately good game, with actual auto parts AND 3rd party brands! [Ford, Chevy, Dodge, Edelbrock, Holley, etc])_

[@Chronis67]

Oooh, this is your work? Neat! I have a Gamestick but I softmodded it to Android back in the day, which is now pretty useless. Is there a way to reset it back to Gamestick OS?

[@y0da89]

​@@Chronis67Yes it is possible. We will assist you on the server.

[@S3anyBoy]

I'll look for my old one and see if it maybe had some games installed.

[@freeuploads4290]

17:55 The reason you couldn't play regular DooM is because you didn't put DooM's IWAD on the device. D-GLES works in a very similar way to something like GZDoom where you have to put DooM's IWAD in a specific directory for it to run. The reason it's not preloaded on there is because DooM is copyrighted software that D-GLES doesn't own.

[@0neDoomedSpaceMarine]

Correct, FreeDoom is the shitty FOSS substitute which these phone ports are shipped with to have _something_ ready right away. In fact, this is still FreeDoom's primary purpose today.

[@a.k.aorangepenguin5032]

@@0neDoomedSpaceMarine the "shitty" aspect depends on the version of the wad, because a lot of maps and assets come and go, earlier versions were more amateuristic design wise, 13.0 came out not too long ago and they are still at it

[@MR_FIAT]

@@a.k.aorangepenguin5032 wow that is suprising, that it still gets updates

[@haydenwelch579]

Hello,I am a video engineer and deal with a lot of funny things with HDMI. It seems that the game stick just has a color space issue. You may be able to fix this VIA the monitor. Hope this helps!

[@L4ftyOne]

This

[@whompronnie]

is

[@SeekerGoldstone]

the

[@MogoPrime]

way

[@StarfywalkingTYPH]

Bump this so that james can see it

[@Nukle0n]

The purple thing might be a "HDMI Deep Color" thing where it needs to be turned off to not happen.

[@21baron]

I was thinking I saw some HDR issues displaying those green and purple colors too

[@kbhasi]

Yep, that was what I was thinking as I had seen a similar option on Dell monitors where it's not enabled by default. Something about switching between RGB and YUV, which I assume the Chinese ODM or OEM portable monitor control boards have set to an additional ‘Auto’ option by default, where it'd try to automatically detect the colour space. Something along those lines.

[@TheBreadlord]

Yeah - looked like the colour artefacting you get with things like the OSSC in the wrong colour mode. My actual guess is that the game device isn't doing a full handshake so the monitors are defaulting to whatever colourspace they think is sensible.

[@gammaboost]

Oh yeah, I forgot about that issue. Made my cheap laser brand blu-ray player purple too.

[@8bits59]

Hey james! So the reason for the purple is that the monitor is probably incorrectly interpreting the HDMI mode set by the gamestick as RGB (computer monitor HDMI/DVI/DP mode) instead of YUV (HDMI TV mode). This is kind of a hole in the HDMI specs and some devices handle detecting the discrepancy better than others. Two separate governing bodies make standard HDMI modes and so that's why you end up with stuff like this happening. The OSD should have a place to switch color spaces and forcibly override the device-set mode.

[@integerofdoom69]

What a surprise that HDMI is crap.

[@UserAccount-ThisOne]

@@integerofdoom69 fun fact: HDMI isnt a generic term used to define a video transmission format, its actually a brand name and the owners of HDMI have sued people in the past who called their products HDMI without the companies proper license so it makes sense why its crap, it has corporate blood in it... if you want a proper format display port is the way to go.

[@integerofdoom69]

@@UserAccount-ThisOne I knew it sucked. I didn't know it sucked that much.

[@dado__]

​@@UserAccount-ThisOneIsn't DisplayPort also proprietary except for the earliest versions?

[@kbhasi]

Yep! I've seen a similar option on Dell monitors that have HDMI inputs, and it's set to RGB by default but either YCbCr or YUV (I can't remember which) as a second option.

[@DrKoneko]

Ive literally never seen anyone ever talk about this other than Scott The Woz and his didn't work so it's pretty cool to see this working!

[@AfterBurnerTeirusu128]

Expandable was originally a PC/Dreamcast game by Rage software. (Millennium Soldier: Expendable) That's why it's decent lol.

[@user-pc5sc7zi9j]

I think I might have seen it for ps2 or psp at some point.

[@thejag4161]

I really enjoyed it back during the Dreamcast launch but it was harshly reviewed. I think because people were just tired of the genre and it didn't push anything visually or technically.

[@potatobomb13]

Yo James I just wanted to say your channel inspired me to start studying electronics and wanting to work on them and Im now working on my electronics engineering degree and am loving it! Love your channel ‼️

[@Games_for_James]

That’s awesome! Well done!

[@potatobomb13]

@@Games_for_James😋

[@crackedemerald4930]

james is so defeated after the third purple incident

[@christopher9727]

Jesus Christ is the only hope in this world no other gods will lead you to heaven There is no security or hope with out Jesus Christ in this world come and repent of all sins today Today is the day of salvation come to the loving savior Today repent and do not go to hell Come to Jesus Christ today Jesus Christ is only way to heaven Repent and follow him today seek his heart Jesus Christ can fill the emptiness he can fill the void Heaven and hell is real cone to the loving savior today Today is the day of salvation tomorrow might be to late come to the loving savior today Holy Spirit Can give you peace guidance and purpose and the Lord will John 3:16-21 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. Mark 1.15 15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Hebrews 11:6 6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Jesus

[@Burn2themall]

learning that james plays inverted is a huge shock cause oml i thought the inverted settings were just there to troll people but seeing someone actually struggle is just so strange

[@Jcreamy513]

The controls or the screen?

[@lucency]

There are dozens of us!

[@towaii]

the game i learned 3d movement on, jak and daxter, had "inverted" controls for the camera's left and right movement (the vertical axis zoomed in and out) so think of it this way: instead of angling the camera to the left (and moving it right to compensate), pressing left physically moves the camera to the left. personally, to this day on gamepad i use ""normal" controls for first person and "inverted" controls for third person where i can (when i'm using a mouse it's always "normal" controls though)

[@a.lollipop]

me and my brother are developing a game and this option never crossed our minds, until just a few days ago we showed it to someone and they struggled with that, i had the same reaction! funny to see james have the same problem right after that haha (we now added the option :3 )

[@sIeeperagent]

Finally James played Doom on one of the things he owns

[@hyperturbotechnomike]

You need to build the Jamestick

[@948320z]

Hot glue and angle grinder here we go!

[@THENAMEISQUICKMAN]

GLUE GUN. GLUE GUN. GLUE GUN.

[@yappingfornothing]

smashing a galaxy s4 into a stick

[@Joshua_Wings]

Acer and reputable in the same sentence is CRAZY

[@radicalquad]

At one point in my life, I had a phase where I knew about a bunch of random obscure game consoles from a game console startup compilation, and so far you've made videos on three of them (Casio Loopy, Vectrex, and this, the Game Stick). A few others that I remember are the Super A'Can, FM Towns Marty, Action Max & Video Challenger, and Sega Titan Video Game System.

[@Code7Unltd]

Can one call Action Max or Video Challenger 'consoles'? Sega Titan was also just a 'Saturn' for arcade operators.

[@boneheadedfellow]

"i can finally play with my stick without making a sticky mess" -james 2024

[@TheRealEncy]

Wat Do You Expect From The Person Who Actually Use The Term Male And Female On Usb Cable! 😂

[@jamielovesbmth]

@@TheRealEncy sorry what do you call it then? those are the correct terms and I've literally never heard any other terms for it

[@TheRealEncy]

@jamielovesbmth Yes I Know, But People Actually Using It While Explaining It Always Be Funny To Me! Edit : _Ignore Person Below He's Just Jealous!_

[@Kyermike]

@@TheRealEncy The Excessive Uppercase Text Styling Makes Me Think You're 7

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@jamielovesbmth although those are the official terms, I do think a swap is going to happen eventually. The obvious sex metaphor does make some women in engineering kind of uncomfortable. It will probably take another 50-100 years and be full of controversy a la attempts to replace “master” and “slave” with alternatives depending on context like server/client, primary/secondary etc. But like with both cases, I think it will happen sooner or later. Like, maybe, “jack” and “socket” or something. Especially as in the case of many cables there’s layers of sheaths that intersect with each other. I know the rule is the direction of the actual pins determine the “gender”, but it’s still funny to me that a “female” D-sub connector has a much larger part for the shielding which inserts into the “male” D-sub. The “male” D-sub just, looks more… receptive, yk? 😅 To the point where, after 25 years, I still have to look it up to be sure I didn’t get it backwards when it comes to D-sub, even though I have the pin/socket rule memorised. The fact that that rule even needs to be taught, with those alternate terms focusing on pins and pin-sockets… kind of shows why I reckon it’s going to become a historical term sooner or later. The metaphor makes a bit more intuitive sense with, like, tip (ring) sleeve connectors… which were of course the OG quick-connector. But I do think it’s become stretched way too far for more complex ones! And there’s some connector types which have 3 or 4 layers of sheaths, instead of D-sub’s one ground sheath around signal pins.

[@sauceman8217]

The most surprising thing I learned from this video is that James is one of the 15 people to play games with inverted view controls

[@Games_for_James]

I wonder if it’s my age group. My introduction to FPS games was Goldeneye on N64 and you didn’t get a choice, vertical look was inverted.

[@ToastyMozart]

​@@Games_for_JamesYeah back in the day they just copied the camera controls from PC joystick games, which were overwhelmingly flight simulators. And on planes you pull back on the stick to bring the nose up.

[@948320z]

I'd imagine it's a hard thing to unlearn if that's your first FPS and played it a ton, and you just set every other game to inverted Y afterwards. My first full 3D FPS was Blood 2: The Chosen, which used right click for "forward" (an ancient legacy from the Quake days). It took me years and many other games to finally unlearn that crap and use true WASD lol

[@Games_for_James]

@@948320z yeah I sure did play it a tonne. What the heck is right click for forward? Who ever thought that was a good idea??😂😂

[@Blas4ublasphemy]

@@Games_for_James 41 and inverted only, like pointing a large camera...

[@adminribbon4648]

So basically this is Android incarnation of the Nintendo iQue Player from the early 2000s

[@johannesviljoen9656]

a firetv but for gaming

[@ziyaadjamil2324]

Except the games aren’t in Chinese

[@malevolentia28]

15:00 Turkish jumpscare, just a heads-up. For some reason this Aussie man is able to read Turkish somewhat properly. It was scary as a Turkish speaker.

[@johnsalamii]

im wondering why it is turkish in the first place

[@malevolentia28]

@johnsalamii Same. Perhaps the game login domain was later acquired by a Turkish company. It also had weird stuff on the side bar like "betting" etc. to support this theory.

[@bigguy7353]

Wait until you have real problems in life.

[@manjackson2772]

​@@bigguy7353I'll give you a few

[@PearcedNobskin]

maybe he is turkish background we are a multicultural country

[@Nin10doh98]

9:50 TONIGHT: Wade kicks a nugget, James gets his hands sticky, and Frankie sleeps in a hammock.

[@dragonbeastx]

If you lookup the RAM name and open a compatibility chart (the first thing I found on google), you can see it says that those RAM modules are 4Gb (Gigabit) each, which is different than 4GB (Gigabyte). 8Gb is equal to 1GB, and RAM is typically shown in GB or MB. I don't know the reasoning why there's these two different units, but storage is typically in GB or MB and transfer and network speeds are typically in Gb or Mb

[@Games_for_James]

Oooooops

[@hey_imriver]

> I don't know the reasoning why there's these two different units Because computer people are awful at naming things (and I work with computers, so I know very well what I'm talking about). The smallest unit a computer can handle is a bit, written as "b", and every modern architecture works with the notion that 8 bits form 1 byte, written as "B". In short, to translate something from small "b" to big "B", just divide the value by 8, so 8 Gb (Gigabits) = 1 GB (Gigabyte).

[@kaitlyn__L]

There’s another wrinkle: raw network throughput is generally presented in bits per second, but actual transfers to storage usually are presented in bytes per second (or words per second in pre-standardisation systems, with 6, 12, 18, or higher bit word-length!). The reason I was told, by a networking and telecoms engineer, is that you can’t necessarily be sure how much overhead is required for line integrity, error correction, etc.

[@Games_for_James]

@@hey_imriver yeah I actually know all this, it was just an oversight on my part. I wasn’t thinking about it enough

[@Games_for_James]

@@kaitlyn__L yeah I learned this years ago with ethernet, I usually divide by 10 to get an average expected speed instead of 8 because of the overheads.

[@sanstheblaster2626]

Love this channel. There are many obscure consoles and many youtubers that talk about them, but this channel is like, bottom of the iceberg obscure. I actually find things l've never heard about here. Like yeah, what the heck IS a Playjam Gamestick?!? Hell if I know, but now I can find out!

[@kikokusy9974]

James you have truly blessed my day with a 23 minute video. Love your content and the longer I get to watch it, the better.

[@ThePauseMenuVlog]

I'm excited to keep watching this channel grow and James shows off how he will literally have everything you ever need to fit any port, cable, terminal, input and be able to Frankenstein something together.

[@KNfLrPn]

@21:22 I can't quite read the part number, but I assume 4 Gb (small b), which would mean two give you 1 GB (big B).

[@KNfLrPn]

Similar story @21:38 -- likely the "9.45 GB" that the chip physically contains isn't all available for storage.

[@GingerNingerGames]

This difference between bit and BYTE annoys the shit out of me. I see the lower case b and upper case B interchanged so much I forget which is which all the damn time.

[@RAFMnBgaming]

yeah the part number is at the top of the screen and when I ran it through it does look like it's listed as having 2 or 4 Gb.

[@TheJunky228]

@@GingerNingerGames bigger letter bigger quantity (byte) more letters

[@1armbiker]

Just to clarify for anyone who doesn’t get the terminology: these chips are 4 gibibit each, together they have 8 gibibits of capacity, for each byte of data you need 8 bits, so 8 gibibits, 1 gibibyte. Now the reason I say gibibyte instead of gigabyte is because of the difference in orders of magnitude in a base 2 system and a base 10 system, in the computer world basically everything is base 2 with the exception of storage, so 1 me-ga-byte is 1000 bytes as base 10, 10^3, but the computer generally thinks of it as a me-bi-byte which is 1024 bytes or 2^10, 1 with 10 zeros in binary. Gi scales the same way. Gi-ga is 10^6 or 1,000,000, Gi-bi is 2^20, or 1,048,576, 1 with 20 zeros in binary. Fun fact this is why your drives always seem smaller on a computer than what the label says, because your software measures in gibibytes and tebibytes, but the drive is sized as gigabytes and terabytes. The correct way for software to notate this would be GiB and TiB for binary gibibytes and tebibytes, but outside of some Linux distros, basically nobody uses the correct labeling scheme.

[@dreamcastfan]

So we’ve had James fiddling with a knob, a bum and now playing with his sticky gamestick…

[@radicalquad]

what an intersting lineup

[@Code7Unltd]

and gaming on *a butt!*

[@oggilein1]

acer has been more of a joke for the last ten years or so, had a laptop from the once, hinges were made of pure garbolium and the only reason it didnt end up in the landfill in less than a year was thanks to my skills with zipties and later on bending custom metal brackets to keep the thing held together

[@teruienages962]

Except other comments have explained that this was very much a Game Stick issue. Also ACER is a great company and they've never done me wrong with monitors, ever

[@poshn9577]

I got an acer laptop and it's a piece of junk. Within a couple of years the battery doesn't work at all, one of the USB ports is dead, the trackpad doesn't work half the time, the wifi adapter has to be reset every day, and it takes about 5 minutes just to turn on. Customer support wasn't helpful for any of this. The thing's on life support just to be able to run and the only reason I still have it is that I don't have much need for a laptop right now. Stay far away from acer laptops.

[@Putchakutty]

Thanks for editing the install time. Thanks for taking the time to install these random games. Thanks for everything!

[@deano023]

What I usually do with spicy pillows in that situation is take them out and see if the device will work without it connected. If it does then just leave it out, print a dymo label with the specs of the battery and stick it in its place. That way at least if you want to put one in later you know the specs. I'm sure like me you're probably not going to use that device anyway unless it's plugged in so it'll probably be fine without a battery.

[@Malcontender]

0:40 Wait.. there are seven hundred thousand Virtua Boys out there?!

[@Games_for_James]

Apparently! Unless they all went in the bin lol

[@MirageMeadowBS]

“Finally I can play with my stick without making a sticky mess” 💀

[@Wheelock_mt]

Why the scull emoji

[@blue-cloud-studios]

​@@Wheelock_mt💀

[@UberMan5000]

Hardware that failed because it does the same things your smartphone does? And this came out nine years ago? Do the people who developed the Humane AI Pin or the Rabbit R1 just not remember anything before 2021, or are they hoping nine years was long enough to forget the last time "it's like what's on your phone, but worse" was considered viable?

[@doerkdev1l]

The reason Expendable seems like a real game is because it actually is. it's just pretty old, meaning it was first released in 1999 or 2000 on PC and later Playstation and Dreamcast.

[@fatfurie]

its funny that these things were "ahead of their time" cause im playing games off my firestick occasionally and its the same fkn thing lol

[@midorinchan]

I genuinely adore the portability of a console you can tuck into a controller, and that little shutter action looks so satisfying! I would love to see a concept like this revived for a more dedicated emulation machine. Even with Retroarch, I feel like the legacy hardware and other bloat would detract from the experience.

[@TheNickelGhost]

FWIW a lot of the portable emulation consoles by Anbernic offer HDMI out, and some of them also offer controller support, so you can basically use it as a little home emulator console as well. (Most of them also have some kind of shell OS, so no fiddling with retroarch usually)

[@tredI9100]

One of the games I had installed on my Panasonic Viera TV when I was little showed an ad for this thing every time I opened it.

[@the_numb_skull]

Knowing James plays FPS games with inverted camera control sickens me but that’s part of the classic James charm.

[@QueenVoodo0]

James shoulda gloved up, Dank would know the pain of all these things getting gross and sticky

[@iscander_s]

Dank is overreacting, this sticky stuff isn't dangerous or toxic, just wash your hands after

[@AfferbeckBeats]

@@iscander_s He deals with used MP3 players and headphones that have been in people's hands and ears and pockets and thrown in a bag of hundreds like it, putting gloves on isn't a bad idea

[@rafaelhines1178]

​@@TheM0nkeyBomb he's a friend to james

[@yaziyo]

@@iscander_s I don't think he's worried about it being dangerous, he just doesn't want sticky glue on his hands that's an absolute pain in the dick to wash off

[@alecperhaps2525]

James has mechanic hands, he'll be fine.

[@mrcmoes]

Hot tip, that gross rubber layer can be removed with gasoline *edit: other solvent like ipa can work, but dont work as well. ipa is a lot more common (to have in a bottle sitting around) and safer though, if you have something the stickiness wont leave try gasoline (I think naptha works too)

[@Voyajer.]

IPA

[@TollyH]

You clearly missed the part of the video where he used IPA and it worked fine

[@simonro9168]

I've personally had good luck with Isopropanol

[@Space_Reptile]

Other alcoholic solvents work just fine

[@hylianbran7273]

"hot tip" is clever

[@AggroNoobs]

I swear pure rubbing alcohol is the magic bullet to all cleaning problems. After I learned to use it in cleaning up botched paint jobs on gunpla, I use that shit on EVERYTHING that needs a ""gentle"" but good rub down and it just friggin works.

[@penguinwithwifi5569]

I love how James actually researches the product and tries his best to make it work

[@greensun1334]

The sticky surface is caused by softener added to the plastic, it often oozes out of the material with time. It's a chemical reaction and you can't do anything to stop the process, but you can temporary wipe it off with orange or lemon surface cleaner (edit: and isopropyl alcohol, obvioursly).

[@AveragePootis]

I never understood why people thought these Android consoles would have ever become successful. All the low power of old android devices, without the all important portable phone bits

[@alecperhaps2525]

nft's were supposed to be all of the value of money without all the weight of paper

[@ccricers]

I'd like to see if it the controller would work with a PC stick

[@marcelosoares7148]

The companies tried to "pull a Wii" by making an inexpensive device (compared to it competitors) with games everyone knew because it ran Android, so when you look at it like that, you can kinda see a resemblance of successful product. In the end, it flopped horribly because of the lack of good software and developers willing to do games for it.

[@beingsactual]

​@alecperhaps2525 That's not NFTs, that's a debit card. NFTs are just another instance of fictitious capital, a thing described by Marx all the way back in the 19th century. This one's just the easiest to lie about the value of yet.

[@ZeroWind2014]

1:08 Wade: "well at least i got the gloves on" James:

[@alecperhaps2525]

mechanic hands

[@RicSan32]

I want to point out some things: 1. The game "Reckless Getaway" actually has an Android sequel and it's so fun to play and mostly different from the first one; 2. When this console and the ouya launched, phones powerful enough to run these games tended to be a little bit pricey, i think that's why Android based consoles exist; 3. The siren SFX from smash cops is ripped straight out of GTA San Andreas.

[@lukasegeling5205]

I wasn't expecting to see Top Gear Stunt School Revolution here. I used to play that on my OG Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 in the early 2010s.

[@linuxducky]

I remember PlayJam - they were a big name here in the UK for satellite TV games on Sky

[@TheMetaMoss]

Over in the US, they were one of the game services available on Dish Network. I wasted so many hours on it and Playin' TV.

[@dumbbirdwayne]

Was looking for this comment lol. Them and Skygames, thought this was related to them!

[@R4dm1n]

5:07 Can we stop locking stuff to Discord servers FOR GODS SAKE?

[@heggy_69]

To be fair this one has a good reason for it (unlike something like THE CUTTUNG ROOM FLOOR. JUST USE AN EMAIL TO CONFIRM MY ACCOUNT GUYS). But it would be nice if they could figure a way to do it without going onto discord, I suppose they assume there wouldn't be enough of a demand to warrant setting something better

[@integerofdoom69]

I hate Pisscord. Bring back forums!

[@Leurak]

2024 moment

[@ditokelio7860]

Not that big of a deal, just leave after you get what you want. If you actually wanted to use this device the discord would actually be helpful.

[@parknich081]

Womp

[@Nobrev]

Love the hard cut to the hdmi converter being de-cased like it was its punishment for not working correctly

[@ampstamp]

He has been cursed with the purple of frustration and confusion

[@Scerttle]

14:30 I think this is what people who want to make their own game hardware need to realise. There's several decades of gaming history that can be had for pretty cheap and some really solid hardware that is ecosystem neutral out there. That's what you're competing with.

[@Scerttle]

17:15 as also an Aussie of a certain age, I say Ray-Den too.

[@parkerlreed]

The modules are 4 Gb lower b. This means each is 0.5 GB which makes sense.

[@ArtyI]

I think you're confusing gibibytes with gigabytes, but the difference isn't that drastic

[@parkerlreed]

@ArtyI RAM modules are denoted as Gigabits for the raw chip itself. 4 Gigabits is 0.5 Gigabytes.

[@hw_driver5988]

Reckless getaway is such a fun time killer. So nostalgic. Same with smash cops

[@LKComputes]

3:00 ah the dreaded purple & green video. i've only seen this happen with capture devices unhappy with the device connected to the passthrough port (i believe it's a refresh rate issue but i dunno)

[@ToastyMozart]

IIRC it's YUV video getting confused for RGB or something. Because HDMI is a disaster of a standard.

[@LKComputes]

@@ToastyMozart that's much more plausible, though i've tried forcing color formats and that didn't fix it. :P

[@Kamjay27]

6:30 I just got reminded of playing Back to Bed from a demo DVD I got from a magazine way back in 2009 or something Thank you James for unlocking that memory lol

[@Whigu]

Funny things is that I bought that exact monitor few years ago for my Raspberry Pi from Finnish store and I'm sure that it cost at least twice as much :-D

[@Gojiro7]

I love seeing these things because it makes Tommy Tallarico and his Intellivision Amico vaporware console look even more laughable pathetic compared to these 3rd party consoles that actually did get made, released, and still failed

[@integerofdoom69]

The concept of that "console" was incredibly lame.

[@a.k.aorangepenguin5032]

I'm willing to admit i fell for that vaporwave scam, not to the point i inverted money but i believed it was ever gonna be a thing that could stick around, a part of me still believes in the idea of a microconsole for lower class communities with brand backing that is in sone way treated as a equal, but as time went on i realized there were options even then for them. Bootleg consoles aside used consoles would do the job amazingly even without external configuration, drm free gaming (not requiring internet connection & a launcer) for the PC is becoming more reachable and known by the day, heck i have seen used laptops on Facebook marketplace for less than 10 dollars, the era when reachable technology had to be compromised with android setups or "different mindsets" in general was gone then and is gone now. Tldr Amico was a scam from inception

[@Gojiro7]

@@a.k.aorangepenguin5032 I think the Evercade is the closest thing were gonna get to a successful attempt at a stand alone 3rd party console that sticks around and does get exclusive games but skews twords cheaper games

[@Gojiro7]

@@integerofdoom69 the various "concepts" were all excuses to not admit everyone involved was a failure, especially the CEO's childish attempts at damage control

[@pphead9960]

I remember buying this at GameStop when I was a kid. I thought for some reason it was a controller you could connect to your phone to play games. As you can assume I was very confused at what I bought.

[@y0da89]

Do you still own it ?

[@ISSTI371]

I 100% remember playing the Top Gear game as a flash browser game on their website back in the day

[@adelaideaux]

22:15 "Finally, I can play with my stick without making a sticky mess" -James

[@soul-6323]

i had one of these back in the day,me and my brother had many good memories for sure

[@ndrzst24]

I heard about this thing from Scott the Woz and then never again… UNTIL NOW

[@patrickmartin3322]

10:07 this had unlocked so many hidden core memories, I had this game on my iPod touch as a kid

[@GigaLem]

Micro consoles have a neat gimmick, but i feel would do better if it were built like gaming phones without the phone parts, or be like those roku boxes but for games. An android based gaming stick with an official play store would probably do it more good.

[@professionalhater3929]

But it still doesn’t solve the problem of why would anyone buy it when you can just whip out your phone and be able to play the same games instantly compared to pulling out a separate device that does less things worse

[@masternas45]

@@professionalhater3929 especially when you can connect your phones to tv's also nowadays.

[@harrisonfackrell]

I had one of these as a kid. There was this Oregon-Trail-type game we had on it, that I absolutely loved.

[@y0da89]

Do you still have it ?

[@harrisonfackrell]

@y0da89 It's in a junk drawer somewhere. It no longer functions.

[@Saghetti]

21:20 RAM chips are usually measured in giga*bits*, so each 4 gigabit chip is actuslly 512MB, and wih two of them you have a full gigabyte

[@amaruqlonewolf3350]

The setup you're using makes it looks like the console is on a life support or something, which... is rather poetic and perfectly fitting at the same time.

[@JeffBreyer]

I had a gamestick. Was a great idea. I loved it. But they gave up on it almost immediately. You could use the sd card slot to flash an aftermarket installation of android and i used it as a media console for my tv for a long time.

[@chain_havnis]

I'm glad you're finally able to play with your stick without making a sticky mess :)

[@CountCannoli]

I remember when I was a wee guy, I thought this thing was absolutely amazing and bought it from a GAME. I still have it somewhere, but since the service for it died, I never played with it again, lol. Did enjoy my time with it, though. Think it was just the form factor of it being a small control that fitted in a controller that sold me!

[@y0da89]

Do you still have games on it ?

[@blanknam3d]

1:12 - Little protip, if you do not particularly care for if the sticky device still looks great or not, with a brush and a small tub of isopropyl alcohol + some aggressive wiping, you can remove that horribly sticky petroleum-based rubberized finish. Did just that for the battery door of a Logitech TV remote/keyboard thing, it turned the surface glossy but removed the unpleasant stickiness. Results may vary though, I did it to a little USB learning microscope as well, and it not only removed the sticky layer but also removed all of the dark gray paint on its body. So *really* only do it to devices you don't particularly care for. EDIT: lol nevermind I see you try it at the end of the video

[@Damaniel3]

I actually backed this and still have mine. I never opened it or used it, and I don't even know (or care) where it is. It's probably in the same box I'm storing my Ouya in.

[@AfferbeckBeats]

You need to start some kind of investment channel where you advise people to do the opposite of what you would do

[@Zeloverevolution]

Love those 7 inch pi screens, they do perform surprisingly well and you can print a case to house it.

[@ktktktktktktkt]

Speaking of PlayJam GameStick, my mom let my cousin live in our house for a while many years back when they moved to Canada. We went on vacation for a bit and then when we came back, I noticed there was some sticky substance on my xbox 360 controller. I guess my cousin had somehow gotten jam in the thumbsticks when she was playing with my game... Also it red ringed and the hard disk failed too. I have no idea how she did so much in a week when she didn't even have permission to use my xbox...

[@hylianbran7273]

but what does that have to do with the game stick?

[@ktktktktktktkt]

@@hylianbran7273 I guess my cousin had somehow gotten Jam in the thumbSticks when she was Playing with my Game

[@pausebreakreviews]

@@hylianbran7273 She Played and Jam got in the Game Sticks.

[@bigguy7353]

Should have hidden it.

[@bigguy7353]

​@@ktktktktktktktThen what you say is, "speaking of thumbstick controllers"....

[@mikkelharris1094]

I had both the ouya and the game stick when i was little. definitely played the ouya more, and my family actually had a blast playing bombsquad on it

[@manandsofa5265]

We’ve finally unlocked annoyed James.

[@ugurkaraarslan25]

15:01 I've never expected to see Turkish gambling page's advertisement in a bygone eras trash console, It just says error 404, page could not be found. Your pronunciation was spot on btw, and now I know this was especially recommended to me even though I already consume stuff like this on my KZbin fyp.

[@AndrewSellers]

@21:22 Individual chips (like DDR3) are sold as giga-bits, not giga bytes, as far as I know.

[@KoopaMedia64]

8 Gigabit would be 1 Gigabyte.

[@villygreenoriginal]

@@KoopaMedia64 Exactly

[@mdnelson09]

I remember finding one of those second hand at an "American cashies" years and years ago. I tried to look for it but couldn't find it. I must have given it away without ever experiencing the amazing gaming experience your video wonderfully covered!

[@jbasher94]

I remember seeing this on GameStop’s website a lot, but it was always sold out or would act up when I went to buy it, which is kinda a good thing, seeing as I don’t use discord (which I gotta say, even while not intended to gatekeep, is a bit of a gatekeep, and doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense to do a whitelist)

[@y0da89]

Unfortunately,the whitelist is mandatory unless we've archived every game.

[@jbasher94]

@ I still fail to see why that means it needs to have a whitelist through discord. Discord is asking for trouble through parasociality. But either way, I don’t own one and ultimately it’s irrelevant to me, but if I had one that would make me question if I’d (and others like me, we do exist lol) want to use it, is all.

[@heart-of-an-animal]

i cannot believe you would upload this video on the same day that i bought an ouya used at a retro games store

[@SimonVasquez]

Now you know why Wade wears gloves

[@mikitukka]

Damn. I thought this was a bootleg dank until I realised it was James. James has got good. 👍

[@spacecat56]

i didn't know they made a game about me! 10:48

[@rueme4228]

7:46 “oh it’s the pehple! IT’S PEHPLE!!” Sorry but that killed me 🤣

[@flloatwer]

"based on android" just wait until bringus studios finds it

[@jesuschrist711]

I like the Ouya because its what you say when someone reminds you of it "Hey, remember the Ouya?" "Ouyyaa!"

[@marcosvg406]

Man, I can't believe you actually got to this one. I remember when these first came out, I saw it on some other channel I cannot for the life of me remember the name of.

[@frank97865]

Scott The Woz showed it in his vid about micro consoles back in 2017. I think that was the first time I had heard of it.

[@marcosvg406]

@@frank97865 Oh no, this was a bit earlier, I found the channel! It's Classic Game Room.

[@Vaxzin89]

I was watching this and I was like”this sounds so much like dankpods…” and I looked at the channel and it’s you James!

[@OzRetrocomp]

3:36 lol no... Acer stuff has always been a bit poo

[@MelodicTurtleMetal]

Yeah, i think people (including myself) confuse them with Asus, which are.. better, or at least reputable

[@-nexusxv-8514]

Me the opposite My experience using Asus is always horrible something is always broken but my experience with acer is better

[@PaynesCupcakes]

I remember playing Back to Bed back in 2015 in a demo CD. 15:00 fun to see Turkish text on a video. You nailed the pronunciation. Greetings from Türkiye. 🇹🇷

[@mikemason3776]

I loved Top Gear Stunt School many years ago, it was one of the better mobile games before mobile games became exclusively micro transaction garbage. Mindless fun and a few challenges. It also looked pretty decent for the time. Sadly it hasn’t been updated for modern phones. Wonder if this is the best supported way to play it now.