Lazy Game Reviews

The HandyKey Twiddler is a handheld chording keyboard, serial mouse, and motion-control input device all in one! Despite the steep learning curve, it's even somewhat enjoyable to use here and there. And playing motion-controlled DOS games is just a trip, if nothing else.

Remember that time Quake III and Star Trek had an FPS baby together? Taking a look back at Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force from the year 2000! Review of the single player campaign, Holomatch multiplayer, and the expansion pack with Virtual Voyager for Windows PCs.

After seeing pictures of a strange Canon calculator mouse thing floating around online, I tracked it down and imported it! Let's take a look at the LS-100TKM from 2008, unbox one new in its packaging, and test it out with some PC games and stuff. It's not quite obsolete or complex enough for the full LGR Oddware treatment, but it sure is an oddity!

MP3s! In the late 90s few things were more exciting in the world of music, computers, the internet, and general gadgetry. And the original 1998 Diamond Rio was one of the trailblazers that kicked off the whole portable digital audio player craze. It may not have been the very first, but it came close! If nothing else, its impact was noteworthy from being the first to be commercially successful in North America, and the legal pushback it endured from the RIAA set a lasting precedent for all other MP3 players to come.

Taking a look at the tenth expansion pack to Cities Skylines! How much do modular airports augment the gameplay, how do they integrate with existing city infrastructure, and is it worth the asking price? Find out my take in this overview of the Airports DLC!

Exploring a MASSIVE retro computer warehouse, part 2! Revisiting Computer Reset in Dallas to see what's changed, how much remains, and experience some of their weekend events. And yep, groups of folks are still being let inside, so it's not too late to visit before they shut down later in 2022!

Gain a head start in 80s computing with the system approved by King Kong Bundy! The HeadStart is a lovely turbo XT clone that was smack dab in the middle of the market, entirely by design. Yet it included enough in the way of features, documentation, and software to make it as easy as possible for first time computer users. And despite the Dutch Vroom & Dreesmann connection it was built by Samsung, so that's a whole rabbit hole to go down on its own!

Looking back at the Timex Data Link Model 70, an early smartwatch introduced by Microsoft in 1994 for Windows 3.1 PCs! It stores up to 70 data entries viewable on its LCD screen, but its real party trick is how it wirelessly synchronizes with a CRT monitor. Just point your wrist at the screen and data transfer begins, it's awesome. And it's NASA approved for space travel, too!

Review of one of the most straightforward, aptly-named PC games of the 90s: Hot Wheels Crash! It's a game where you crash Hot Wheels cars. That’s about it! It’s simple and it’s over in less than an hour, but I always have a constant grin watching the vehicular carnage unfold. Let's take a look back at it 23 years later here in this LGR retrospective!

Checking out this neat Intel Atom mini PC, known as the Green PC from Sassy's Computers in Asheville, North Carolina! It was billed as a low-power, eco-friendly desktop computer, which is really a Shuttle XS35GT V2 underneath. So let's upgrade and restore it with an SSD and Windows XP Media Center Edition!

First LGR donations unboxing for 2022, and perhaps the last one in this space before I move! Opening up tons of vintage hardware, software, oddware, computer games, and retro technology. Massive thanks to everyone who contributed — and also made offers to do so!

Opening up and testing out a Japanese Sony Vaio PCG-777 BP laptop! Costing the equivalent of between $2K-$3,000 in 1999, it's an A4 file-sized notebook PC with a 266MHz Pentium MMX, 64MB RAM, 4GB hard drive, and modular floppy and CD-ROM drives. Checking out its bundled software and trying out some games for DOS and Windows 98!

Checking out this weird little Plawa arrow key joystick add-on for PC keyboards. It's a deceptively complex contraption from the 90s that clips onto your cursor keys and converts it into a mini joystick! Even better if you attach it to a mechanical keyboard, since you get that nice clicky feel.

I'm moving! The future is looking bright but also somewhat unknown, at least for the moment. Just wanted to let you know there are a lotta things being done to make LGR a better show than ever, so I hope you stay tuned :)

I've been moving and that means getting stuff outta storage and bringing it to the new house. Which inspired this quickly-made video! This is the first time I've had all of my Apple 2 machines out at the same time and I ended up getting excited enough to whip out the camera and begin talking about them. Then a new-to-me Apple IIe system showed in the mail and I got extra excited about that too, so I figured why not tack on an unboxing and test of that lovely system to the latter half of this video while I'm at it! Magic smoke included as a free bonus.

Checking out some of the usual thrift stores in my area and seeing what kind of retro tech and random old oddities I can find. I've recently moved but thankfully there are still some of my favorite stores within driving distance. Let's go thrifting!

Unboxing and testing a new old stock Record-a-Call Model 675 from 40 years ago! A woodgrain-clad answering machine that uses full-size compact cassette tapes to record messages, which I've paired with a lovely 1979 Deco-Tel Chest Phone. Let's try it out with an XLink Bluetooth adapter on a modern VoIP service!

Unboxing and testing more of these weird old mice with a Windows XP PC! Checking out the CVS Pharmacy Golf Ball Mouse, the Tastykake Butterscotch Krimpet Mouse, and the Mus 3 Optical Arrow Cursor Mouse. All from the mid 2000s to early 2010s and all kinds of gimmicky Oddware.

Unboxing, inspecting, and testing two old Packard Bell PCs from the late 80s that need restoring! I imported these VX88 and PB500 Turbo XT PCs from Canada a while back and they each need some repair and testing. So let's do it! Or, as much as I can in the scope of this video anyway. I was happily surprised how functional one them ended up being, and the other will have to wait for a future restoration.

Taking a look at the Sanyo ICC-82D, aka the Dictaphone 1680. The smallest portable electronic calculator with built-in display on the market in 1971! And one of the first hand-holdable battery powered calculators, period. It wasn't cheap either, costing $495 in '71 – roughly $3500 with inflation!

Grab your purple toothpaste lasers! Raiden 2 has been at the top of my most wanted list for as long as I can remember. Now this one is mine, acting as a vertical shmup JAMMA setup. The cabinet is a Dynamo HS-5, a classic in its own right, which housed tons of arcade games in the 80s and 90s. Only some of the hardware repair work is complete but we do at least install a Raiden II PCB, matching marquee, and upgrade to all-new controls in this video. More to come in the future as I gather components and tweak things, for sure!

After Acer began selling Ferrari laptops in the mid 2000s, it wasn't long before competing companies followed suit with their own branded computers! This is one of them, the Asus Lamborghini VX2S from 2007. Specifically the Ultimate Bundle, which cost roughly $4,000 on launch!

Taking a look at the best ViewSonic 'Graphics Series' display when it launched in 2002! The G220f is one superb 21 inch flat screen CRT monitor, boasting a 2048x1536 maximum resolution and a refresh rate up to 180Hz. Testing with the Windows XP Dream PC!

Checking out the Victor V-Saturn, a Japanese Sega Saturn game console sold by the company better known (to me) as JVC. The Vサターン RG-JX1 is a variant I've had my eye on for years. And the fact that it's modded with a Fenrir ODE is extra appealing since I've never used one. Until now! So here's a quick overview of the V-Saturn and a demonstration of the Fenrir ODE. And then the rest is just games, heh.

Gameplay and overview of the TWELFTH expansion pack to The Sims 4. This time it's all about making teen sims spend years in high school. Classes to attend, social media to influence, proms to eat copious whole chickens at... Is it worth the $40 price tag? Let's see!

Before the PS2 EyeToy, before Microsoft Kinect, there was Game Cam! Built in 1999 in partnership with Logitech, this webcam setup was at the forefront in terms of bringing computer vision and gesture-controlled gaming home to the masses. You may have even owned a PC camera or two that had some of this capability bundled with it in the early 2000s – whether you used it or not!

Reviewing an exciting new device in the retro scene: the MiSTercade v1.1! A drop-in hardware emulation solution for JAMMA arcade machines, and it is awesome. Sure it may not have all the games and customization offered by a Raspberry Pi or PC setup, but what it does offer is highly accurate low latency gaming that's a step above the rest when it's at its best. The future of the MiSTer Project is bright!

Unboxing and testing more of these weird old mice with a Windows 98 PC! Checking out a Viagra NASCAR mouse, a dual-wheeled '4D' mouse, and a piece of ammunition that begs to be plugged in. All from the early 2000s and all kinds of silly Oddware.

Taking a look at two 5¼ inch drive bay add-ons from the 1990s, which claim to convert your computer case into a stereo speaker system. Complete with subwoofer! Technically, I guess. Ha. Regardless of results I'm a sucker for these dumb drive bay peripherals, so let's test these on a Windows 98 PC!

The eMachines 566ir is a computer I appreciate less for its capabilities, and more for the context in which it existed in the year 2000. Retail rebates that made it cost $0* to take home, plus the infamous claim of NEVER being obsolete! I've discussed this on LGR Tech Tales but I've wanted to take a closer look at one of the actual systems, and finding this one at VCFMW 2022 complete with all the stickers was a prime opportunity.

Checking out VCFMW 17 near Chicago in Elmhurst, Illinois! Now bigger and more intense than ever. A weekend full of classic computers, retro tech, hardware and software sales, panels, gaming, and good vibes with fellow enthusiasts. Let's go conventioning!

2010 to 2019 were turbulent years in the prebuilt computer market, with such stagnation that the media declared the death of the PC outright. But instead of dying, they evolved, with increasingly eye-catching and experimental designs. So let’s look at systems from the decade that really stood out for their design and significance!

Restoring and testing out the elusive Gateway Astro! An all in one desktop computer from the late 90s that sought to be an easy to use internet appliance, and/or a kid's first PC with branded Rugrats and Blue's Clues bundles. Let's get this one repaired and running Windows 98!

Unboxing and testing the Plusdeck 2c, an audio cassette player for desktop computers! It fits into a 5.25-inch drive bay and offers the ability to play and capture tapes to digital files. Including MP3s, ooh. Let's install and try it out using the serial port on a Windows 98 PC!

Ahh, fall bargain hunting. Checking out the usual thrift stores in my area and seeing what kinds of retro tech and random old oddities I can find. Along with another random store that I visited in Winston-Salem while on a trip over the summer. Let's go thrifting!

First LGR donations unboxing in half a year! Opening up loads of vintage hardware, software, oddware, computer games, and retro technology. Huge thanks to everyone who contributed — and made offers to do so!

The LGR Woodgrain 486 computer needs an update... to the year 1995! I've got a sealed, new in box copy of Microsoft Windows 95 to unbox (on both floppy disk and CD-ROM!) so let's install everything on top of Windows 3.1 and have fun with some classic 90s PC games and software.

Opening up a fresh in box Sega Dreamcast built in 2000! Sega released the system over two decades ago and for whatever reason this felt like the right time to unbox one, set it up, and play some games. IT'S THINKING.

It's December! And that means Christmas Lazy Game Reviews. Or at least a pursuit of holiday games to cover, which this time are found deep within the bowels of the Steam Store. Are there are any free seasonal gaming gifts to be found on Valve's digital storefront? I don't know, but I have nog so let's find out!

The Clone has come up with three odd gifts. Let's see what we've got!

Assembling the Metal Fish Y2 fish tank computer case! This chassis allows you to combine a Mini-ITX PC with a 3.5 gallon aquarium on top. And it can actually house real fish, unlike the Lian Li case I've shown before! Is is a good idea? Ehh I'll let you be the judge. Either way it sure does look neat, so let's assemble a Windows 11 system inside this silly thing.