Here's a playlist..

It's about GOD DAMN time!

OK. I have to admit, I was skeptical about doing so at first, but I downloaded a couple tracks off the new Metallica album, and all I can say, is why the fuck did it take almost 20 years to release this? What the hell was all that filler crap in between? I haven't heard anything this brutal since Justice...The only reason I even downloaded it was because I'd heard the live version of Cyanide, and it sounded good.. Hell, to this day I haven't even listened to St. Anger all the way through, I've heard maybe two songs off it. I refuse to listen to it. This one is a whole different story. This is fucking amazing! I mean seriously. If you get the chance, download the tracks floating around right now: The Day That Never Comes (an eight minute song that starts off slow, but a couple minutes into it, they begin ripping you apart repeatedly!), My Apocalypse, which is 5 minutes of pure fucking thrash.. and Cyanide, which is a live version, but kick ass just the same! I had lost all respect for these guys.. Load had a couple good songs, so did Reload, but it wasn't METALLICA! The Black album was a little better than those two, but it still wasn't close to anything they did back in the 80's..And as far as Garage Inc. and S&M, I loved those albums, but Garage Inc. wasn't even original Metallica songs, and S&M was the songs they'd already done before, just with an orchestra. I'm definitely going to buy this album, what I've heard so far has not disappointed me at all. Just when I thought all hope was gone!

So called "Thrustmaster" gamepad

OK. I have this gamepad. I got two of them at a garage sale probably about four years ago, still have the other one here somewhere too.. It looks almost identical to the original U.S. Sega Saturn controller, which is one of my favorite controllers of all time. Anyway, I've never been able to get it to work. It says "THRUSTMASTER" on the top, so naturally, the first place I looked was Thrustmaster's website. Nothing. Anyway, I forgot about the controller for a few years. Today I decided to take it apart, and see if there were any identifying marks. Nothing, except on the motherboard, where it says "TIGEREX SI-3"

OK. Now we're getting somewhere. I type in TIGEREX SI-3 in Google, and all the sites I come up with are in Japanese. So I use the Google "Translate this page" tool, which is pretty shitty, but it's better than nothing. I also found that there is a company called ELECOM, which makes this controller as well, under the model number JC-U609, with the only difference is that the JC-U609 is USB, and mine is a gameport controller.

The center piece, with the THRUSTMASTER logo on it, snaps off if you take the two center screws out, to reveal a hole for a Start button, which is on the TIGEREX and on the ELECOM, which both also supposedly have a turbo mode, which explains the other one.. On the TIGEREX website, the SI-3 is transparent, and the SI-1 is black like mine.. I'm really fucking confused here.

Hell, I'm even seeing a place on the board inside the controller that looks like it is a start button, all it's missing is the actual plastic button. Basically, what I'm trying to say, is WHAT THE HELL IS THIS CONTROLLER AND WHERE THE HELL CAN I FIND A WORKING WINDOWS XP DRIVER FOR THE GAMEPORT VERSION?
DAMMIT!!

.....Yeah.. sorry..it's just driving me a little insane.. Almost thinking its some weird taiwanese bootleg with the Thrustmaster logo slapped on it... but I don't know...Anybody has any thoughts on this or any knowledge of this gamepad, please let me know, I'm tearing my hair out over this...

How to restore your Atari 7800 Pro-Line joystick to almost brand-new condition

OK. I'm sure I'm not the only person in the world who's had this problem: You've had your Atari 7800 for around 21 years, it's been in stored in attics, transported, boxed, abused in all sorts of ways, and the joystick is just, well...loose. It feels like it shouldn't be responding at all with the way the stick just kind of swings around. Remember when you first got it, how stiff it was, it almost seemed like it didn't move at all? Well, here's a tutorial on how to restore it to almost brand-new condition. Don't worry, it's really easy.

Step 1:
Remove the two screws from the bottom of your joystick using an average-sized Phillips-head screwdriver.


See how this joystick works? (ignore the misaligned foam ring, i'd already removed it once before I remembered to take the picture, so I stuck it back on.) The self-centering mechanism is nothing more than a foam ring stuck to the bottom of the joystick casing. The tabs at the bottom of the plastic cross press down on the foam, and when released, the foam springs it right back up. No wonder they wear out so easily.

Step 2:
Peel the foam ring from the bottom of the joystick casing.


Step 3:
Rotate the foam ring about 45 degrees and stick it back in the same place you removed it from. This gives you new foam that hasn't been indented yet. i.e. line it up so that the plastic tabs on the joystick cross line up in between the existing indentions.


Step 4: Before putting the controller back together, make sure that the points coming up from the plastic joystick cross are lined up perfectly centered with the contact points on the joystick board.


Step 5:
Put your joystick back together, making sure the joystick cross doesn't move. If the buttons came out of the casing during this process, just put them back in. I found that it's easier to do that if you put the spring side in first, touching the contacts, then sliding the other end down. After that put the bottom and the top back together, and put the screws back in.


Step 6:
You're finished! Plug it in to your Atari and start playing games!

Enjoy!