Tag Archives: 1990s

Guy Mods ’90s Hot Wheels PC Into High Performance Gaming System

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The 1990s Hot Wheels PC: it made the top of my Christmas list three years in a row, and I never got one. But enough about how expensive therapy is now, below is a video of Shank Mod’s journey to pack a top-of-the-line gaming PC into the body of one of those bright blue PCs with the flame job. And what a journey it is! You know they say every journey starts with a single step, but I’ve started many with a stumble and skinned knees.

The original Hot Wheels PC came with an Intel Celeron 333MHz processor, 3GB hard drive, 32MB of memory, a 56k modem, 32X CD ROM drive, a 15″ CRT monitor and ran Windows 98. It retailed for $899 and was worth every penny as far as I was concerned. Of course, it’s basically an electric-powered rock by today’s standards.

All said and done; Shank managed to stuff the old case with an AMD Ryzen 9 5950X processor, Gigabyte X570 Aorus Mini-ITX motherboard, ASUS X570-I ROG Strix Mini-ITX motherboard, an EVGA NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 XC graphics card, G.Skill Trident Z Neo Series RGB 128GB (4 x 32GB) RAM, a Samsung 980 Pro 2TB SSD, and an LG WH16NS40 16x Internal Blu-Ray Rewriter.

Interestingly, he uses three original Hot Wheels CRT monitors for the display, citing the frame rate benefits of CRTs and the ability to crank all game settings up to max without hindrance. It’s so beautiful I could cry. I could also cry remembering 10-year old me opening a box I thought was a Hot Wheels PC but turned out to be a popcorn maker. Now I can’t even smell popcorn without getting nauseous.

[via Gizmodo]

Blockbuster Video Inspired Eyeshadow Palette: For Browsing The New Releases

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Blockbuster: once the powerhouse of VHS and DVD rentals, now a bygone dinosaur, killed by the meteor that was its inability to adapt to a changing marketplace. But to harken back to the days of actually having to drive somewhere to rent a movie, Hot Topic is selling these $14 Blockbuster inspired eyeshadow palettes, which even come in what looks like a VHS rental box.

I assumed the colors would all be blue and yellow, but there’s actually a variety, named after the different sections of a Blockbuster store, including (from top left to right): New Releases, Adventure, Classics, Drama, Family, Sci-Fi, Comedy, Fantasy, Cartoon, Horror, Action, and Television. Obviously, there are bonus points if you apply the eyeshadow with your Blockbuster membership card, which I still have in my wallet because you never know when the company might turn around.

When my local Blockbuster closed, the space went up for rent and it was eventually renovated into a cycling studio, which, and this might come as a surprise, I visit far less frequently than I did the Blockbuster. Or ever really.

[via geektyrant]

LEGO 3Dfx Voodoo 3D Card Brings Back 1990s Memories

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Since I’ve mostly been using a laptop, an iPad and an iMac, it’s been a while since I had a computer with an upgradeable graphics card. But back in the day, I was constantly gunning for the latest and greatest graphics processors to play games like Quake II and Duke Nukem 3D at the fastest frame rate possible. While today’s GPU cards are all made pretty much running Nvidia or AMD chipsets, there was a time when 3Dfx was the king of the hill. Fans of the brand’s graphic cards will love this user-submitted design that turned up on the LEGO Ideas website.

The idea was submitted by Bhaal_Spawn, and it’s inspired by 3dfx’ flagship Voodoo graphics card, which reached the height of popularity back in 1996. If you wanted the fastest graphics money could buy, you got a Voodoo card, or a Voodoo2 when it came out. Oooh, just think about those 8 Megabytes of memory running at 90 Mhz and amazing 800 x 600 resolution graphics!

As cool as the design is, I’m not sure if LEGO could get the licensing rights to the 3Dfx artwork for the chips, since the brand is now defunct. That said, Nvidia actually bought what was left of the company in the early 2000s, so there’s still hope. The good news is that the design actually looks like it would be pretty easy to replicate if you wanted to build your own. If you think LEGO should sell the 3Dfx Voodoo card as an official kit, you can show your support over on LEGO Ideas.

[via Journal du Geek]

Hasbro is relaunching classic Tiger Electronics gaming handhelds

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A few years ago, Hasbro revived its line of Tamagotchi virtual pets. The new versions of the toy were smaller than the originals from the '90s and had fewer features. They must have sold pretty well, though, since the company followed those up with f...

Super7 Deluxe Ren & Stimpy Figures: Happy Happy Joy Joy!

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The Ren & Stimpy Show is still one of my favorite animated programs of all time. It was just the right combination of silly, absurd, gross, and weird. While the Nickelodeon series might have been off the air for years, it’s still a classic, and the characters are still awesome. If you’re a Ren & Stimpy fan like me, check out these sweet action figures which were recently announced.

These 6-inch figures from Super7 feature the likenesses of the show’s eponymous asthma hound chihuahua and blue-nosed kitty. They’re better than bad, they’re good! What I really love about the figures are the interchangeable facial expressions and all of the little accessories. Stimpy even gets a litter box and a bag of Gritty Kitty Litter.

The figures aren’t due out until March 2020, but you can preorder them now over on Entertainment Earth for $39.99 each.

 

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Golden Girls Dorbz Figures: Thank You For Being a Dorbz

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The ’80s and ’90s brought us some of the most watched and funniest sitcoms of all time. After producers like Norman Lear broke ground in the ’70s, characters could be more realistic, with human flaws, and loads of snark and sarcasm. One of the best series of the era has got to be The Golden Girls, which followed the antics of four elderly ladies who spoke their minds, and paid no mind to their age. Fans of the show will soon be able to add these adorable Golden Girls Dorbz to their toy collections.

This Fall, Funko will be releasing Dorbz figures of Dorothy, Blanche, Rose, and Sophia, each of which does a great job capturing the personality of its on-screen character – I especially like the glasses on Sophia. Lucky buyers may also stumble onto her rare “Chase” version which will come in one out of six boxes, and wears a “I’m ready! Take me Hurricane ’91” sweatshirt, which commemorates the silly NBC Hurricane Saturday crossover episode.

The figures go on sale this October, but you can pre-order them now over on Amazon now for about $10 each.

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