The Blu-Ray drive on my Playstation 4 Pro, under the stress of the last eight months of pandemic induced heavy usage, started showing signs of failing. Namely I had to hit the top of my PS4 multiple times after putting in a disk in before it would “catch” and start spinning up.
The thrilling sounds of my PS4 Pro rejecting a disc that put into it.The sounds of me not-so-gently tapping the top of my PS4 Pro to read a disc.
Thanks to the magic of parts on Amazon (always check your model this one only for PS4 Pro) and the great guides at iFixIt, I was able to swap out the drive with minimal fuss. As a precautionary measure, I set up my “Generic Extreme Sports Action Camera” over it and set to take pictures every 5 seconds in case I wound up with any extra parts.
Conveniently this made a great time-lapse video after stitching it together. I have been messing with Blackmagic’s DaVinci Resolve as my editor which provides a ridiculous amount of value in it’s free package. I am a big fan.
Anyway here is that time-lapse.
During re-assembly, you have to apply thermal paste again to the APU. The original paste that Sony puts on is sloppy as hell and I wonder if it had anything to do with my Pro sounding like a jet engine during later titles like God of War, Days Gone, and The Last of Us Part 2. I put on my trusty Arctic Silver 5 and right now I am playing through Ghost of Tsushima (great game) and have not heard any fan revving.
But on the other hand I have only played Ghost of Tsushima and Fall Guys (another great game) since putting everything back together. I’ll give it a stress test when I have a chance. But for now all is right with the world. If the world was just this drive problem with my Playstation.
I have recently reached a milestone in my game collection… Not too sure how proud I am about it though. Two games in my collection stand out above the rest. They are the only two games that I own four physical copies of for four different consoles.
The Quadruple Dip Tier is very rarified air.
First up is Night Trap from Digital Pictures. I picked up my first copy on Sega CD many moons ago. It was in the bargain bin of either an Electronics Boutique or Software Etc… at a New Jersey mall. When the game came out, it helped usher in a new era of what could be considered adult content in video games along with what should be allowed.
This all wasn’t done on purpose though. The game sorta sucked. It was a campy B-movie with vampires and Dana Plato from Diff’rent Strokes fits into the equation somewhere. You are part of the SCAT team which even as a kid I knew was a dumb name to give any group. Mortal Kombat did the heavy lifting with this new era ushering, but Night Trap sure was paraded around because it looked like a movie (in the 64 color palette of the Sega CD)
But because of all the controversy surrounding the game, it became a hot item for a bit. The beloved used video game chain Funcoland had the price for a used copy over $100 for a period of time. By 1997 – 1998 this was all forgotten as newer and grittier games were released. This was when I got the game for like $20 bucks new in box. That box has since gotten a lot of abuse because I didn’t have great storage options through the years. But other than some visual mileage, everything is still complete.
I could go on forever with the lore of Night Trap and how it has become one of those classic “B-movies” in game format where I just can’t say no to owning a copy of it. Around the time of the game’s 25th anniversary, it was re-released for PlayStation 4 in digital format. Not only a re-release but a remaster of the game as well using higher resolution video sourced from the original footage. It is definitely the best looking copy.
Limited Run Games, a company that specializes in releasing physical versions of digital games, worked out releasing real disc and cartridge versions of Night Trap. Over the past couple years of releases, I was able to get the PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, and Nintendo Switch releases of the game. I decided not to get a PC version because I really don’t have a physical PC game collection outside of my 90’s Mac stuff.
I remember that Double Switch was originally hyped as a “spiritual successor” to Night Trap. Digital Pictures released the game about year later as people were still riding that brief wave of the Sega CD being relevant (I am guilty of this too). In terms of 1993 full motion video games, Double Switch was celebrity packed. It had Corey Haim, R. Lee Ermey, Debbie Harry, and a bunch of other people that don’t have as in-depth Wikipedia pages.
I picked up the game new at some point during the Sega CD lifecycle. It was much easier to get a copy of than Night Trap at the time most likely because of the “T” for teen rating it held. In terms of B-movie, Night Trap had it beat. It did have a fun trap system and the story was interesting enough for a teenage me to be entertained with.
The Sega Saturn version offered higher quality video and moved from 1 disc on Sega CD to 2 discs on Saturn. I picked my copy up only recently which brought Double Switch into the Quadruple Dip Tier.
Just like Night Trap, Double Switch got a digital re-release and remaster with higher resolution footage around the time of its 25th anniversary. Limited Run once again did physical releases only for PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch. I think they did a PC re-release as well, but I am not really collecting big box PC games.
Look, I know that both of these games are pretty horrible overall. They don’t move the needle very far in regards to gaming. Sure, Night Trap helped start the big conversation of censorship and regulation in video games, but look at games today. Anything released in the last two years with a Mature rating makes Night Trap look like a PG movie. These are just two titles that stood out for their campiness (is that a word) and their uniqueness at the time. A time where I was young and impressionable with full motion video and a Sega CD.
Shortly after Double Switch, I got out of console gaming and became more interested in computers and gaming on them.
Are you on a Mac that has upgraded to Catalina that also plays games through Steam? Since upgrading are you getting an error like this when you launch some games?
An error occurred while updating GAME (unknown error)
I was having this problem with a couple games and could not figure out why. They were 64-bit compatible. They would launch on my laptop, but not on my macMini. Could it have something to do with resolution since my desktop has two monitors and one is an ultrawide? I remember running into this problem soon after upgrading the mini, but forgot what I did to fix it. I promised myself if I did remember how to, I would document it so I wouldn’t forget again. So here was my solution…
On my macMini, my entire Steam Library is located on an external SSD drive. For the games that were giving me the above error I had to do the following with each one:
Right click on the game in Steam
Go To “Properties”
Click on “Local Files” tab
Click on the “Browse Local Files…” button.
Find the game application if there are other data files in there
Open “System Preferences” -> “Security & Privacy” and go to the “Privacy” tab.
Under the section “Full Disk Access,” unlock the system preferences with your admin credentials, and drag the application into the window on the right.
Launch the game through Steam again and it *+SHOULD+* (science willing) launch without issue.
Once the game launches, quit out and go back to the “Security & Privacy” System Preferences and remove the game from “Full Disk Access.”
It should still launch with the possibility the first time of asking you to enable External Disk Access to Files and Folders which you can allow.
🤷♂️This worked for me for any game that was 64-bit compatible (even the false positives that Steam reports). It’s not a cure all but may be a fix for someone in a niche situation like me.
Also make sure to check out Demon’s Tilt pinball on Mac or PC (or Switch). It’s a great classic pinball game that takes advantage of being a digital table in multiple spooky ways.
Turmoil (Mac) 1-28-19
Donut County (100%) (PC) 1-31-19
February 2019
Red Dead Redemption 2 (PS4) 2-27-19
March 2019
Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition (PS4) 3-4-19
Rick and Morty: Virtual Rickality (PSVR) 3-9-19
Ape Out (PC) 3-31-19
April 2019
Yakuza Kiwami (PS4) 4-7-19
Wario Ware Gold – Story Mode (3DS) 4-12-19
The Division (PS4) 4-15-19
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Remastered (PS4) 4-19-19
Mortal Kombat 11 – Main Story (PS4) 4-25-19
May 2019
What Remains of Edith Finch (PS4) 5-11-19
June 2019
Shakedown: Hawaii (PS Vita) 6-1-19
Weedcraft – Scenario 1 (PC) 6-2-19
Tetris Effect – Journey Mode (PS4) 6-14-19
Manual Samuel (PC) 6-20-19
Detroit: Become Human (PS4) 6-22-19
Katamari Damacy (Switch) 9-8-19
The Hong Kong Massacre (PC) 9-10-19
December 2019
Late Shift – 100% (PC) 12-14-19 Death Stranding (PS4) 12-17-19 Titanfall 2 (PS4) 12-28-19
Additional Superlatives…
Game of the Year – PS4 – Death Stranding – If someone told me I would put 65 hours into a game that is basically delivering packages and rebooting routers to get people on the internet… I probably would have believed them. Because I did with Death Stranding and it was a good time throughout. Yeah, it could have had a lot of excess chopped out of it, but overall I can’t complain. I don’t think I put as many hours into any single player game recently. Honorable Mentions to Mortal Kombat 11, Everybody’s Golf, Tetris Effect (PSVR) and Trover Saves the Universe (PSVR).
Game of the Year – Switch – Celeste – Yeah it may have come out in 2018 and I still haven’t actually beaten the game yet, but I didn’t get too much for Switch this year (physical editions of Night Trap and Double Switch are the other two purchases)
Game of the Year – PC – Islanders – One of the most chilled puzzle / city building games I have played. Very relaxing and non pressure, but also allows you to go crazy on certain maps. Honorable mentions to My Friend Pedro, Ape Out, The Hong Kong Massacre, and Beat Hazard 2. I also has plenty of time with PUBG still.
