the (most expensive?) star trek game that barely sold

In my collection of now-vintage video games is Star Trek: A Final Unity. No, I did not buy it for full price and I'll explain that in a moment.

The year, 1995. Spectrum Holobyte releases ST:AFU which probably had the highest production cost for any video game of the time. The graphics were very intricate and represented the show characters for Star Trek: The Next Generation almost flawlessly. In addition, almost every show character voiced their own parts. Yes, this means Patrick Stewart voiced Captain Picard, Brent Spiner voiced Lt. Commander Data, Marina Sirtis voiced Counselor Deanna Troi and so on. I don't even want to begin to know what was spent to get all those actors from the show in the game, but they're there.

I distinctly remember the price of the game when released; there were two versions.

The first version was your standard box-and-CD, which in itself was pretty amazing for 1995 being not everyone had a CD-ROM drive yet. That cost $65.

The second collector's version - which came in series - was $105 to buy it. And no, I'm not kidding. I don't know how many of the series there were, but each came with special collector pieces, a pin if I remember correctly and a toy figurine.

It wasn't even a question of whether I'd buy either version or not - the answer was flat out no. Too expensive.

Less than six months later I was in some major electronics store with my father going to buy something (I don't remember what). I saw this cheap white cardboard kiosk, as in the kind you see at Wal-Mart routinely, loaded with ST:AFU copies. All of them were nothing more than a cheap white black-and-white booklet and CD in shrink-wrap.

The price: $17. I bought it.

Yes, that means that those who released the game were so desperate to sell it had to make an ultra-basic version for sale just to break even - assuming that even happened. The game was exactly the same as it was in the $65 and $105 versions in a plain wrapper.

I recently dug out my copy of ST:AFU, which is playable and runs perfectly in DOSBox even on Windows 7 64-bit. Ah, the memories.

ST:AFU is a great game, no question. Well, except for the space battles - those suck. But the rest of the game is spot-on. It takes a long time to get through it and you can tell a ton of effort was put into development. The storyline is good, the game follows the show very well and most of all it's fun.

TRON: Legacy

I finally got around to seeing TRON: Legacy. On a four-star rating I'd give it a 3. It's above-average and very well done, but is yet another one of those movies that focuses too much on effects and not enough on story just like The Incredible Hulk.

Did I like the movie? For the most part, yes.

What I didn't like about TRON: Legacy

The Flynn (as in old Flynn) character is weak. He seems to be an aloof goofball most of the time who doesn't really do much. He's a pivotal part of the story but his absent-minded nature does nothing to move the story along and in fact drags it down several times where you're just saying "DO SOMETHING! C'MON!" He eventually does get around to getting off his ass and making things happen, but it happens way too late for you to care.

In the parts I would have liked to hear more about the story, you see effects instead. Tons of them. Yes, they're spectacular and awesome, but they also get in the way of the story.

I thought the movie could have ended better. The way everything was left was on a somewhat somber note. I understand the writers were trying to put across the "new world" feeling where you're supposed to experience that through the character's eyes, but it just didn't work.

What confused me about TRON: Legacy

There were several parts of the movie that lost its glue so to speak when it came to the storyline.

Is the computer world big or not?

I honestly couldn't tell. I think, but am not sure, that the world of TL is supposed to be self-contained compared to the original TRON which could in fact branch out. My feeling is that the computer world in TL is small on purpose, although again, I'm just not sure.

Weird aging?

Data can in effect age in real life due to bit rot, yet in TL there is nobody old, save for old Flynn. How could he age in the computer world while no other programs did? The excuse for this is "reinvention" on the program's part, but that just doesn't stick.

Where is the world?

In the original TRON, you knew exactly where the world was, as in the physical locations of the computer servers that housed it. In fact, you actually saw some of the servers in the beginning of TRON. In TL you have no idea at all other than the fact you assume it's all in the lab. However, the lab is really dark and you barely see anything while in there. Again, this does not stick well.

There are several other parts of the movie that don't stick, but can't mention them because it gives away too much of the storyline.

What I did like about TRON: Legacy

The programs acted like people with real character to them. This is good because the way we see data now compared to the 1980s is like night and day. For all intents and purposes, we do grant the technology we use life. For many people, if their computer, smartphone or otherwise starts working improperly, they start "reasoning" with the technology as if it were "sick" and needed to "get well".

Certain parts of the movie's look had a very, very intentional tech noir (a.k.a. Blade Runner-style) look to it, but did so in a way that was inspired and not totally ripped off. Worked great. Also, one of the characters was an odd-but-good combination of Roy Batty and Alex. You'll know which character I'm talking about if you see the film.

I liked that the computer world had a very dark look to it. There's a reason for that which is in the story, but I can't say why because it would ruin it if you haven't seen the flick yet. What I can comment about without ruining anything is the fact the sky has lightning in it almost all the time. This actually makes complete sense being everything in that world would be electric, and power would in fact arc lightning-style on a routine basis.

I like that the good guy and the bad guy were very clearly spelled out. There are some movies where you have no clue who the true villain is. You know who it is in TL, and I dig that because I can't stand movies where you don't know who's fighting who or for what reason.

Memorable?

I'd have to say no. TRON: Legacy had a real chance here to be very different compared to other modern sci-fi movies, but in the end ended up as something which will easily be forgotten in a year or two.

TL could have been more memorable if it had focused more on what a digital life is actually like. Movies are, after all, supposed to take us to a different place and immerse us in it. What makes the original TRON so good is that it shows a completely new world and you get to live inside that place for a short while. TL doesn't do that. You're not living in that world, you're just a visitor along for the ride.

At the end of the movie it's shown that even if you wanted to, you could not live in the digital world. The story ends in such a way where it's said loud and clear "you can't go here", figuratively slamming a door on your imagination. That above all else is why TL won't be memorable.

Truly great movies end on a note where you're left in wonder and awe. You say to yourself, "I felt like I was really there." As for TL? Too impersonal, forgettable and leaves you asking the wrong kind of questions.

Still a great movie to see in IMAX though.

on K-PAX, people used netscape on a mac

There are some web sites are there that have literally been untouched for almost 10 years. Once such example is www.k-pax.com. What is it? It's a promo site for the movie K-PAX, released October 26, 2001. The k-pax.com domain hasn't been touched since 2002 since the movie was released to DVD. This is especially obvious since the site says "Flash 5 Required". To put this in perspective, we're all using Flash 10 now.

There are a few very quick scenes in the movie of internet back in the early 2000s. I spotted them, of course.

In the movie, you see Netscape being used on a Mac. No, not Mac OS X. Mac OS 9.

I also noticed that the search engine used is Yahoo! and not Google.

'Starfield Simulation' screen saver in Windows 7 64-bit

The only screen saver in Windows 7 64-bit that I actually like is "Ribbons". All the others are terrible and require way too much horsepower just to run a frickin' screen saver.

What would be great but can't do is put the old "Mystify" screen saver in Win7, because the new one sucks, but oh well.

I was however able to get one of those old screen savers from the old Windows into the new, "Starfield Simulation". It may be really simple, but I've always liked it.

What I did is copied the file ssstars.scr out of a Windows 2000 install I have in Virtualbox on to my Win7 64 desktop, then right-clicked it, Install, and ta-da, I've got my "Starfield Simulation" back!

It's not "Mystify Your Mind," but hey, I'll take what I can get. :)

a bevy of computer parts on the way

Some assume that I, being as technically inclined as I am, think that I have the latest/greatest/bestest computer money could buy.

Wrong.

For the longest time I have been a seriously cheap-ass computer user and have no shame in admitting that. I hate spending money on computer stuff and always have.

How I got to be a cheap-o computer guy is that way back in the day I bought a Compaq Deskpro 6000 5200 (meaning Pentium 200MHz CPU) desktop - a "business" desktop PC. It came loaded with Windows NT 4.0 Workstation. Cost: $2,000. Oh yes, I was the type to put seriously good money into computers back then.

I was so proud of that box - at first. Then I quickly realized that NT 4.0 is a piece of crap as a desktop OS and should have went with Windows 98.

Then I discovered the CPU wasn't MMX-enabled so I couldn't play the latest games on it the way I wanted.

Then I discovered the optical drive that came with it was absolute crap. It was a seriously weird-ass thing. If I recall correctly, it would read normal CDs fine as any other optical drive would, but to write data it needed a special disc had to be put in this cartridge which I think if I'm not mistaken was DVD-RAM. If not it was something similar to it. All I know is that I never bought those writeable discs because they were ridiculously expensive back then.

After that experience I always went cheap or at best slightly-above-cheap and never looked back because I vowed never to get screwed like that again - and never have.

The upgrade

It has now come to the point where, once again, I have to upgrade. My hard drive, a Western Digital 250GB, operates perfectly, but it's almost three-and-a-half years old and been through some seriously heavy use. Hard drives usually don't start going wonky until around the four-year mark if you've been beating the crap out of it, but I'm being better safe than sorry here.

I am currently running Windows 7 in 32-bit because the maximum RAM my motherboard will support is 2GB - and that sucks. That needs to be upgraded so I can go 64. I do have the 64-bit DVD of 7, but can't use it because of my RAM limit.

I bit the bullet and decided to buy just about everything needed for the guts of a new computer.

This is the list of stuff I bought, with a total end price of $348.06, shipping included. I hated spending the money, but my computer is how I make my living so it's not like this was something I could put off. Anyway, here's the list:

• Gigabyte GA-EP43T-USB3 motherboard
• Arctic Silver Thermal Material Remover & Surface Purifier
• Lite-On DVD Burner
• Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB 7200 RPM Hard Drive
• Rosewill RCX-Z775 80mm Sleeve Low Profile CPU Cooler
• Sunbeam PSU-BKS580 580W ATX Power Supply
• Mushkin Advanced Essentials 4GB (2 x 2GB) - bought twice for 8GB total

Now an explanation of each:

Motherboard

I purposely went with the 775 socket because I'm transferring my existing Core 2 Duo over to it. I also purposely chose this mobo because it has USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports, so when USB 3.0 stuff starts becoming available, I'll have the ports ready-to-use.

Side note: I'm shocked at how many Intel CPUs this mobo supports; the list is huge. Intel used the LGA 775 socket for a good long time (ever since Pentium 4 505!) and still does with the Core 2 line. That's cool.

Thermal Remover

Since I'm transferring the CPU from one board to another, there's going to be old thermal gunk from when I originally installed it. That needs to be removed proper before installing in the new mobo, otherwise there could be problems. I don't like problems.

DVD Burner

Speaking of problems, my existing DVD drive is flaking out. I swear, I wear out one of these every 9 to 18 months. Doesn't matter how little or how much I spend on an optical drive because it will bust, so I go cheap on purpose since it's going to break anyway in less than two years.

500GB hard drive

I figured as long as I was going to get a new primary HDD that I might as well go for a 500 gig'er. I actually do quite well with my existing 250GB, given its "limited" space. However, it's aging and needs to be relegated to storage-only so the OS can run happier on a new HDD.

Yes, I could have gone with a 1TB. I didn't because I don't need it, and all the reasonably priced HDDs of that size are 5400 RPM and not 7200. In other words, slow. I'm not putting 8 eff'ing gigs of RAM in my box only to have it bottlenecked by a slow HDD. And if you're wondering how much more you need to spend to get a decent 7200 RPM 1TB drive, the answer is around 25 to 35 dollars over the price of a comparable 500. That may not sound like much, but if you read the reviews for a 500GB compared to 1TB drives, you'll notice people have way better luck with the 500s.

Concerning the 2TB drives, it's $180 for a decent 7200 RPM. Nope. Too much. 500 is fine for me, speedy, and priced right.

CPU Cooler

The existing CPU cooler fan I have is the one that came with the CPU originally. As most people who build PCs know, the fan provided is adequate but just barely. The replacement fan is smaller and way, way quieter. It doesn't need to be pretty as long as it works, and I believe the one I bought will fit the bill nicely in that respect.

Power Supply

Based on the reviews for this product, I'm either going to get something that works like it's supposed to with nary a complaint, or it will be total crap. No in between about it. It's either going to be wonderful or suck complete ass.

Then again, almost everybody who wrote a bad review for it was trying to do things with their computer that this PSU simply cannot power properly. This PSU absolutely cannot handle the draw of an overclocked system, nor can it handle high-power stuff like big-ass video cards. If the system is "civilized", not overclocked and doesn't have a bunch of high-draw crap in it, the PSU should work out just fine.

If it turns out the PSU is crap, I'll just return it and get something else.

8 GIGS OF EFF'ING RAM, BABY

Even though I bought a mobo that supports 16GB RAM, I went with 8 that takes up all the banks. Why? Because I have a low-end Core 2 Duo. Besides which, when the time comes that I need 16GB RAM or more, I'll just buy a whole new computer. :)

The RAM is the kingpin of my setup. This is what allows me to go 64-bit properly, and even though it bothered me somewhat to pay what I did for it (133 bucks), last year this would have easily cost well over $200. I paid $16.63 per gig of RAM. It would have been nicer if it were $10 per gig (which it will be in 3rd quarter 2011 most likely), but 16.63 is way lower than it was when at roughly 30 bucks a gig - which was truly not that long ago.

It may sound like a waste to give a Core 2 Duo 8GB RAM, but it isn't. The lack of speed in PCs these days is not the processor's fault anymore and hasn't been for some time. In fact the biggest bottleneck is at the hard drive. That will be (mostly) eliminated when SSDs become affordable for everyone, but that's not going to happen for a while yet.

My stuff arrives tomorrow or Thursday. If it all works out the way I hope it does, having a rebuilt and significantly upgraded box for just under $350 is a good deal. Not the best deal, but it's the best I could do in the current market.