Extra Video (pulled from the bin) [UPDATED]

If I hadn't read the intro I never would have known it was voice-over'd. All your reviews are enjoyable to watch, regardless of content, keep up the good work!

Hi Mat, Happy New Year. Just to say I enjoyed the short video about the games console. I didn't know about these before. I agree with what many others have said, it's interesting content and fine to go out. I look forward to seeing the review of the year soon.

Hi, Happy New Year, Mat. Just catching up after the festivities. I'll get to your end-of-year navel-gazing epic during the week! :) This video is fine; the important thing is wether the content is interesting, and at this length, it's perfectly OK. It told me things I didn't know, and that interested me. It's a bite-sized Techmoan. It would be a shame to, bin it totally.

Works for me - I think raising Intellectual Property concerns is on-point with many other videos you have made that discuss copy protection measures on audio and video formats, so why not games as well? I can’t see that this video would devalue or impair the Techmoan brand in any way. Although, I supoose we should be aware that the Patreon people are essentially your ‘fan’ club so we are all somewhat biased - towards you. I wonder how long it would take to play just one level of all 3000 games...

A thorough job, as always. Last arcade emulator I used was MAME to play my favourite game, Defender. I can remember plugging quarters into those games in the early 1980s.

VO is a big improvement, anytime you post retro gaming stuff on YouTube you’re letting it all hang out, they’re almost as bad as the audiophile crowd... but if you can deal with that group then let it fly on YouTube might be one of those surprise hits if you get the title right...

Oh gosh, I'm sorry Techmoan, but that voiceover sounds too high quality! I pefer the lo-fi quality of your earlier voiceovers.

Yep, that was awesome. I'd release it! :)

Apart from the voice-over that sounded about as bad as the one game with the messed-up audio, this would be a good TechMoan Quickie (or whatever you decided the name would be for shorter, somewhat off-topic videos)

Hope you release the clip! I thought it was very interesting :D

Thanks for putting this out. :) Even the videos you aren't super into, I end up enjoying quite a bit. Haven't watched this one just yet, but am excited to watch it later today!

I really enjoyed it. Glad it didn't end up in the bin. I don't think it would feel out of place on the channel at all.

It reminds me of those consoles that Soulja Boy was putting out, the icons for the different consoles even look similar. I wonder if it's from the same company?

I'll add my voice to the chorus of folks saying "release it!" Can't say I agree with folks saying it doesn't fit in with other Techmoan stuff, it felt on-brand to me and I'm glad you decided to post it on Patreon at least. The device and topic itself may be nothing special on its own merits, but it's still an enjoyable video on a topic that's pretty darned popular at the moment. I mean, just look at the endless YouTube videos on the aftermath of the PlayStation Classic and Soulja Boy console debacles. ROM-filled emulation stations are quite "in" as a topic at the moment. And personally I was quite surprised to see the games loaded onto a MicroSD card like this one, none of the ones I've come across have such a setup.

Other than your voice sounding hoarse, I thought the video was good enough to release on your channel. I think you covered your bases pretty well. But I must admit it doesn't fit well with your usual content. It's more like something I'd have on my channel.

Thank you for this!

I get why you aren't posting this -- there's likely no point in an exhaustive review of a junky unbranded Chinese bootleg toy when there are so many out there and their availability is so spotty. However, I do wish more people would call out Amazon and their tacit approval of piracy. I had to email their PR department for an article about pirate anime DVDs once and actually write it before they took them down.

You’re quite reasonable about it so I’d say yes. You could go the whole hog and throw Article 13 in too.

What I find most ironic about Nintendo suing ROM sites is that they themselves use pirated ROMs for their Nintendo Classic Mini

Yes there is.. get a real console, do an HDMI upgrade and you can play it on the original hardware on a modern TV :)

I can tell you aren't feeling well, but your voice isn't terribly far from your usual voice. No zip, certainly, but hey, you're not feeling well. As someone else said, you're just expressing surprise that you can get what in Nintendo's mind is stolen property via Amazon Prime. I'm a little surprised, too (not that I care in any way about video games). Grey market stuff like that is usually eBay's turf! Up to you, of course, if you release it, but I don't think you'd anger anyone ... other than the sellers. :-)

Is there a decent one of these that has Atari games? I had a proper Atari as a kid and I'd like to play Missile Command and PacMan again, but not sure if the Atari Flashback is any good.

I'm happy you did this video. I always wondered the same thing regarding 3rd party ROMs. I know they violate copyright, but they are so ubiquitous I'd thought the copyright holders had just given up and abdicated their rights. I'm actually happy to see Nintendo suing. I'm not a fan of stealing digital content. That's how I make my living (software companies), and it's both immoral and stealing real money from me and everyone else.

I enjoyed it. These Chinese pirate consoles are weird and fascinating to me and its fun to see the varying quality of these types of systems. Put it out there.

I like it, put it out....

I liked the rambling rant at the end.

I don't think there's any problem with this video. The voiceover during the outro is still weird though

The whole no-Mario thing was a bit odd, perhaps the Chinese government get especially riled by him so companies who don't want to be shut down steer clear! Thanks for reviewing this - I might have been tempted, but it does indeed look a bit bobbins so you are just doing your duty by telling us all!

Why not just put it out? It's fine and it is helpful, as you're raising a concern and possibly protecting a few consumers out there. I probably would have been duped. It's important and not covered. I wouldn't worry, the trolls are hungry as usual, and you're covering something of interest, maybe just put it out to create a topic or get answers as to how and why. Fun little bit of detective work.

Hi Mat, I'd put it out, its not as if you are the pirate here! I bought a similar one in a sale while visiting the fiances parents other Christmas (alas no big name games in it - but what games are in it (200) are terrible - I'm intending to use the case for a RaspberryPI based one and the screen inside if I can interface it...

I liked it and you were very gentle, yet clear in your explanation of the facts. It doesn't come across like you have it out for these IP pirates, rather that you came across it and were puzzled and concerned. I also didn't find your voice noticeably nasal or stuffed up from your cold. The thing I take the biggest issue with is regarding the edit: when you start the music while still wrapping up your voiceover it sounds somewhat like you've overrun a self-imposed time limit and you're frankly sick of yourself droning on. I'd rather the music started after the review proper is done. So I vote that you fix that and publish it. Happy New Year!

This is good Patreon only video, bit too messy for public. YT is rather heavy on the bootleg consoles this mouth with the whole Solja Boy thing. One thing the video should have if it was going public, Amazon isn't the one listing or selling these, it's 3rd party sellers. Anyone can sell stuff on Amazon and get stuff shipping with Prime.

I still have my working real ZX Spectrum. I did record some games from tape onto the PC. I cleaned the sound up in Audacity so they would 'load' again.

Thanks for the video Mat. I enjoyed it. I think it was just right. Would you consider, if you are unsure on a video, to let some Patreons be your preview guinnea pigs?

The question of roms has been a issue for quite a while. The retro-gaming community tries to keep these older systems alive by preserving the roms and building devices to play them on. I'm partial to the Atari systems. This video is fine and could be another sleeper, like the calculator game video. Believe me, Amazon sells quite a bit of stuff that they shouldn't. Even supplies for devices which require a doctor's prescription. Retro is hot now and they are not likely to get in the way of the cashflow unless forced to. Very nice video (of course I like that sort of thing).

Publish and be damned

Thanks, was interesting.

That video is fine, and no one has wound up a company more than Louis Rossmann youtube channel has wound up Apple, and he just keeps getting wealthier and more successful and more popular. To the point now that Apple is scared to death to sue him, because he would mention it on reddit, which in turn hurts Apple's sales, as it would fuel the viral spread of Goliath going after David, not to mention further publicizing Apple's quality control and design flaws and their disdain for right to repair. The so-called "Streisand effect" Apple has decided to take a blind eye to Louis airing their dirty laundry, so as not to turn off their customers. By the way, his channel and yours have about equal number of subscribers. But they ended up making Louis a multimillionaire by age 28. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVAmnV65_zw" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVAmnV65_zw</a>

Yeah, I can understand your concerns. But I would go ahead and publish it anyways. Besides, it’ll be a Public Service Announcement warning folks about some of the stuff they’d be getting with these games. The people needs to know - as do Nintendo and Sega, among others.

I liked it. You are correct, polite and informative. You are not rude to either Amazon or Nintendo. Amazon is doing something completely wrong. Again. I’m glad you edited down to this length. Double time would have been too long for this subject. I enjoyed watching it.

Reminds me of someone taping Top of the Pops to cassette then selling it retail on a market stall. As you noted you get what you pay for - and hopefully the tights holders will be stirred by this to have them taken down.

Yeah I can see what you mean there. "Sleeping dogs" and stuff... I like that video, especially the short teardown part of it.