A new source port of the classic 1995 sci-fi racer, Wipeout, has just popped up on GitHub.

The Computer History Archives Project recently posted two 1998 Sony promotional videos, showing the manufacturing process for Trinitron CRTs. It also describes the difference between curved and flat glass CRT’s…

Curious just how far some of you have gone for a CRT, and why!

For me, it was about 300 miles round trip to rural central Wisconsin to pick up a free Dell D1626HT. The guy really didn't want to pay the $20 ewaste fee to dispose of it so he had it listed on eBay for local pickup.

It turned out to be completely worth the trouble - not only was it a rebadge of the excellent Sony GDM-500PS (Trinitron PC monitor), it was in near mint condition too. Still gets regular use today 6 years later.

Few RPGs can boast as much freedom as FFVI does, but Final Fantasy VI was built on a foundation five masterpieces-strong.

This is easily the best new pop punk band of the 2020s, imo.

This has to be one of the coolest mods out there.

For further context, here's a podcast Shank was on with Steve from Retro Tech where he discusses how this mod came to be: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxGHIBjDS38

Both of these websites are actively cataloguing the vast number of CRTs in existence, complete with specifications, service manuals, and photos. They also provide extremely helpful guides to help walk through some of the more complicated repair procedures.

CRT Database
CRT Wiki

Now that the Japanese console versions of Soulcalibur II are 20 years old, it's worth looking back at why the game remains so iconic.

I was extremely late to the party with Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, never having played any of them until 2016 or so. Having long missed the zeitgeist, I figured it would be one of those instances where the games were massive in their time but are simplistic or clunky to play now. But man, was I wrong.

These are mechanically deep games with a crazy high skill ceiling, rewarding skillful execution and mastery of the controls. They have much more in common with combo-oriented action games like Bayonetta or Devil May Cry than anything in the "Sports" category they're often lumped into (and as a fan of those action games, I felt right at home). THPS 3 and 4 are just sublime to control.

Admittedly, the first two entries show their age a bit due to lacking the mechanics that flesh out the gameplay in 3/4, but they're still solid. The 1+2 remaster is outstanding by the way, bringing in all those later mechanics for the full THPS experience. It's a near-perfect example of a remaster done right.

For me, it was joining the Super Smash Bros. competitive scene roughly a decade ago. Before then I had switched over all my consoles to an LCD, but something always felt off about it, even if I didn't have the vocabulary to explain it back then. I just kinda assumed that display tech was always going to be getting better, and left it at that.

Going back to CRT after years of gaming on LCD was revelatory. I couldn't believe how responsive it was and how fluid it looked - thus beginning a journey of learning about this technology, collecting sets, and optimizing my cabling and console outputs. Seeing 480p F-Zero GX on a VGA monitor was what locked me in for the long haul- I never would have thought native 480p could look that good.

I'm of the opinion now that gaming lost a lot more than people think in the transition away from CRTs. I truly believe that many gamers who grew up in the CRT era who now think they've "gotten worse at games" are actually symptomatic of this transition, dealing with input lag and poor response times that didn't exist before.

This video is a little old, but I think it's worth sharing again in case others aren't aware of this exciting project. The chassis is one component of a CRT that can be realistically remade in today's supply chain, and this project is aiming to provide a way to extend the capabilities of any CRT beyond what was originally possible.

From the video description:
I recently had the pleasure of talking with Thomas Daede, the creator of an open-source CRT chassis. This project aims to replace the current aging circuitry that drives CRT TV's and arcade machines, with more modern components that allow for more control and flexibility. While the project isn't ready for public testing, Thomas has made some pretty incredible progress so far and this has potential to completely breath new life into older CRT's. If you're a CRT-expert and have experience in high-voltage electronics design, please check out the Github link and see if you can contribute:

Github: https://github.com/tdaede/td-crt

Mike Chi, the creator of the excellent Retrotink line of products, revealed that the upcoming Retrotink 4K will support pretty much every relevant video signal under the sun over its HD15 (VGA) port:

-RGBHV
-RGBS
-RGsB
-YPbPr
-Y/C (green/red)
-Composite (on both hsync and green)

HD15 is generally a more reliable option over SCART, the latter of which is prone to awkward cabling and bent pins.

On top of all this, he also revealed up to 1080p in for the RT4K. It's wild to think you could have a realistic use case with a system as modern as the Switch with this thing.

To kick things off, here's my current hoard, er, stash:

2x Toshiba Cinema Series 32AX60
Sony WEGA 32FS320
Dell D1626HT
Sun Microsystems GDM-5410
Gateway VX1120
Lacie Electron 22 Blue IV
Dell m783s (acquired at 0h)

I was a big Trinitron advocate for years, but the Toshiba 32AX60 really challenged that notion. It's by far my favorite for 240p.

For 480p/720p/1080p, it's a tossup between the D1626HT and the GDM-5410. Even Switch and PS4 looks solid on those.