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Yes, it's first gen. I didn't know you could install a harddrive in the PS2! (I have installed a laptop harddrive in my PS3, but figured memory cards were the only option for PS2s).

Thanks for the tip!

Yeah, I guess it's a bit silly thinking of going the emulation route if the PS2 is still working fine. Mainly a space thing and dislike of multiple boxes, I guess.

As I own a PS2, a PS3 and a laptop, I'm seriously considering selling my PS2.* Since my version of the PS3 (the super-slim. Yes they did an even slimmer version of their slim) is not backwardly compatible with PS2 games, and there are some I'd like to keep, I've been thinking of going the PCSX2 emulator route, essentially turning my laptop into a virtual PS2.

It's not a top range laptop, but it's far newer than the console, so I reckon it should handle it all right.

Trouble is, further investigation suggests it will be a right fiddly kerfuffle! Apparently the emulator isn't enough. I've got to extract the bios from my PS2 and install it. Unfortunately, that's easier said than done as to utilise the software that extracts the bios, I have to make the PS2 'homebrew'. ( I think that means, reconfigure the console so it will accept software not from Sony and commercial games companies).

I'll admit, I'm strongly tempted to just download a bios from the internet. Trouble is, that's illegal. It's not something I'd feel too guilty about since I bought the original console and the games, so I'm hardly conning Sony out of money. But I'd prefer to do things the legitimate route if I can.

So, the purpose of the thread: have any of you gone the PS2 emulator route?

How did you find the process? Any advice appreciated, but I appreciate this is primarily a comic book forum and there are other places I can find that information. (I have investigated although the job looks like a real headache.)

How did the games perform? Did they perform?

If you'd like to chat about your experiences with other emulators too, feel free to do that here too.


* More to free space rather than for the money, as I doubt I'll get much for it. Also thinking of getting a PS4 pro at some point, or maybe that new XBox when it comes out**, bit that will probably be a while yet.

** I feel more inclined to Sony than Microsoft, even when the latter produce better consoles. This new full 4K job does seem something special though.

Red Dwarf XI The Game on Android.

It's just a cheap mobile game (or more accurately a series of games) corresponding to epeisodes of the last series, but it's quite fun. It's a tad buggy (I found myself trapped in certain areas and a couple of times parts of the environment I explicably vanished and poor old Rimmer ended up falling off the edge of the space-station and plummeted into open outer-space (literally. It happened a lot in an early level, but redownloading the game sorted that out. It happened in a later level also, but only once) but I largely like it. A tad tricky in places, but  perserverence pays pays off... although I'm a bit stuck in the last level flying Starbug through a ships corridors*.

I'm just three episodes in so far (that's several levels as there are a few levels per episode)and there's plenty more episodes to be added via updates. Should keep me going for a while, assuming I don't give up.

*Why they'd do that, I'm not sure. You'd usually get out once you've boarded a ship, I'd think. Guess the lads are lazy.

If find it difficult to compare Alien and Fight Club really being such different films

I do happen to really like them both.

Finn's ability to wield a lightsabre... I think we saw different movies. In the one I watched, he turns it on twice, waves it about wildly hitting people and then gets comprehensively flattened both times.

I thought he actually held up pretty well against Kylo Ren. Okay, Ren soundly beat him, (which was to be expected) but he held his own longer than I'd have expected.

I didn't really find that unbelievable though, when you consider that Stormtrooper with the baton thing. The New Order are aware that Jedi were instrumental in defeating their predecessor, so during their rise during the new Republic era (if you can call it an 'era') they make sure they give certain trooper's training in hand to hand combat with those special weapons, possibly even tech they dug up from the Prequel time period.  (Considering those droids with those electrostaff weapons.)

Jedi might be a minority now, (well, basically just Luke after the destruction of his academy)  but they don't want to take any chances, and I'd imagine those gizmos are pretty handy against other non-ranged weapons. Staves and axe type things seem to be in use within the Star Wars universe, as are blades of different kinds.I guess Finn had a bit of that training too.

Anyhow: Rogue One and The Force Awakens. I like them both. I feel the latter was constructed worse, being an almost beat-for-beat retelling of Star Wars (okay, Finn the defecting stormtrooper was a rather different element) and relying on fate/coincidence a bit too much ("Lets escape on that saucer shaped ship. Oh look at who just happens to be parked up in orbit...")but it was fun and had a good heart.

Rogue One however managed to pull off a much more original story, even despite being set between other films. It was bleak, sure, but it also had heart. The better of the two films, I think, from a structure/story point of view, but The Force Awakens, was FUN (apologies for repeating myself)!

I'm very much looking forward to Episode VIII. I'm particularly curios about Luke's line, right at the end of the trailer... (I won't spoil it for those who intentionally avoided the trailer.)

Riddick.

Not bad, but rather similar to Pitch Black albeit with different monster designs. (Both good in their own way, although I wonder how canine creatures so similar to African wild dogs and hyenas* evolved on that world. Maybe they didn't. Maybe they escaped from captivity making 'dingo dongo'** actually more accurate than one might think.)

Considering how different Pitch Black and Chronicles of Riddick were, I'm kind of glad they made reference to the second film in this, even featuring Karl Urban briefly. This was mostly just to get Riddick into his current situation, mind you. The start felt rather disjointed as a result, lending one to feel like there was almost a whole other film there, or least a section of film that was sped over. Understandable I guess, as they wanted to make the film about Riddick surviving on a world full of monsters and storms, while holding his own against bounty hunters, rather than a revenge flick 'Riddick vs the Necromongers'. Maybe they'll get to that in the next film.

Anway, result: a film whose main structure is almost exactly the same as Pitch Black, and I think Pitch Black did it better.

But as I said, not bad.

I found myself groaning inside (not in a sexy way) at the hot macho lady who  gives us the impression she is a lesbian, right until Riddick turned her head and she decided to 'ask real sweet like'. Dear me, male heterosexual wish-fulfillment, or what? I mean, I'm a male heterosexual, and I found that distasteful.

I wouldn't say it ruined the film though. It was just rather silly.

* Okay, hyenas aren't actually canines, but they have dog-like characteristics.

** Despite their wild nature, dingos are thought to have descended from dogs brought to Australia by human beings. That explains their difference to other native mammals in Australia who tend to be marsupials. (The couple that aren't are even stranger - egg layers.) Considering the fact that the humans they came over with are likely the ancestors of the Australian Aborigine... well, thousands of years still qualifies them as native to my mind though.

It's really enjoyable stuff! Having just seen a series on BBC2 concerning a world where the Germans one the war,

...or "won the war" even. Dear me, I'm cringing inside. I think I typed that on my phone... that's my excuse.

Anyway, yeah, I watched the rest of The Man in the High Castle (well the 2 series on Amazon) and thoroughly enjoyed it.

My last watch was Vikings. I was reluctant to watch that when it first came out (partly due to the silly modern haircuts of certain characters) but it turned out to be very enjoyable.

It's not perfect, but it's fun and even thought provoking. I like the blend of history with fantasy. Not so keen on the depiction of Christians as cowardly twats, but to be fair, they're not really real Christians as I know them.

I watched all four series on Amazon, and I look forward to series 5. [spoiler]And a brave thing they did in series 4...[/spoiler]

Hee hee. That was a different kind of advertisement.

I also think that maybe the newer ABC Warriors stories read better in collected form. What can seem a slow pace on a weekly basis*( particularly considering the large spreads and panoramic two page panels that feature a lot in modern ABC Warriors) can speed up considerably when you can just forge on.

I've always been fond of modern ABC Warriors anyway.

* And consider those stories in the Meg with a similar art aesthetic, particularly that other Mills strip concerning young thing identity theft with the big chinned non-Dredd in a batmobile. Despite my not remembering the name (I'm tired and on a train on my way home) I've often thought it better than many seem to credit it. But the monthly installments of page gobbling panels probably doesn't help the story.

I've often wondered how Would got so obsessed with cucumbers being a viking, as isn't it a New World fruit?* Then again, the Norsemen did cross the great divide centuries before that Columbus chap.

I suspect he picked it up later, though.

* I'm sure it's technically a fruit having seed thing inside.

Unrelated - forgive me - but there's an excellent dynamic picture of Hellboy on a horse on that site. A free print too apparently.

Yeah, Cycle of the Werewolf. I'm curious about this one, but I may trade-wait.

Yeah, I think all my 3a figures have a  bit of a whiff to them. Not particularly overpowering, taking up the corner of the room, or anything like that, though, but it's quite distinct.

I started watching The Man in the High Castle this weekend. I'm 5 episodes in already* and theres plenty more to go, although from a story-arc point of view it feels like episode five was the start of a new series.

It's really enjoyable stuff! Having just seen a series on BBC2 concerning a world where the Germans one the war, I was a little reluctant to see this... but it turns out to be rather different.

Likeable characters. Nice plot twists. I reckon I've sussed out the source of that film footage already, but it will be fun to see if I'm right.

*I disgust myself sometimes, but putting off cliff-hanger resolutions it's not my strong point.

Although they're all very different characters.

But fair enough. I like Whedon's stuff, but i can see how it could grate with some people.

I'm glad you were okay Sheridan.

On Thursday and Friday, Westminster station was still closed off. Not completely, (you can get off there and swap lines) but there was not entry/exits. (I sometimes travel from Embankment on the District line, and the train passes by there*.) Understandable I guess.

*I only just noticed that on Friday. My knowledge of tube stations and lines isn't that great. Not that it's a big deal as nothing happened at the station itself.