Olde Skoole Gaming: TurboGrafx-16
1989. I was a strapping young fellow, a mere thirteen years old, when I heard from my buddy Damon that he just got a TurboGrafx-16. I asked him to repeat. Did he truly posses the holy grail of gaming? Could it be that he had a REAL TurbGrafx-16, or was this some sort of cruel joke at my expense? I hounded my parents for hours until they finally agreed to drive me over to his house so I could crash there for a while. We spent countless hours immersed in GLORIOUS 16-bit graphics nirvana. Screw those chumps and their measly 8-bit nintendos and master systems. We were console kings with our mighty 16-bit graphics, not to mention included TURBO SWITCHES right on the standard TurboPad controller!!
My folks didn’t have a lot of money back then, so I never did get a TurboGrafx-16 of my own, but I would spend many a weekend at my friend’s house planted in front of his TG-16. Things are different now. I am old and krusty like the TurboGrafx-16, but now I have a new friend called EBay.
Several months ago, I spent a few weeks scouring EBay for a good deal on a TurboGrafx-16 system. Eventually I found one that looked good and included everything (even the promo fliers and manuals). The price was right so I watched that auction like a hawk and ended up winning the TG-16. I didn’t have a chance to bust it out and play right away, and then we moved and it got lost in all the boxes. Fast-forward to last night, where I happened upon the TG-16 while cleaning out the closet in my office. Thrilled, I rushed to set it all up. I had forgotten how pristine the condition of the TG-16 was. When setting it up, I realized that even the protective film on the console logo and the controller was still intact! I decided to peel them off to get that “just opened” new console rush. What a rush it was…and only 17 years late!!
I decided to photograph this historical setup and “un-peeling” of the system:
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TurboGrafx-16 Console (note the film over the logo) 
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Peeling the film off the logo 
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Peeling, continued 
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Fresh TurboPad with film intact 
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Peeling back the film 
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Virgin TurboPad! 
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All set up and ready to go! 
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Keith Courage in Alpha Zones 
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Keith after donning his ROBOT battle suit 
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And finally, Bonk’s Adventure (2), one of the best TG-16 games EVER. 
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Vonage Customers A Wee Bit Unhappy With IPO
When I first heard that Vonage would allocate up to 13% of it’s IPO stock for current customers to purchase, I thought that was really cool that a VoIP Technology company would kick back some shares to the customers that helped it get to that point.
The IPO price of $17 per share seemed reasonable, and apparently a lot of Vonage customers seemed to think so as well.
Many of them agreed to purchase a certain amount of shares, apparently with no money up front. I am sure they figured that they would make some serious cabbage when Vonage went public. Then IPO day came around and by the end of the day and shares were down to around $12, about $5 below the IPO price of $17.
Of course, all the Vonage customers that participated were pretty pissed. I guess witnessing all their delusions of grandeur go -POOF!- in just a few hours was a pretty sobering experience. I’m sure plenty of them had bragged to their pals (who were still using plain old telephone lines) about their KOOL VoIP company and how they were gonna get some bucakroos on opening day, and that would surely come back to bite them in the you-know-what.
So what did they do? They got all mad and started openly stating that they would not pay for the shares that they agreed to. Since they hadn’t put up any cash yet, what was the worst that Vonage could do to them? Cancel their accounts?
Now I am no wall street whiz kid, but it doesn’t take much grey matter to understand that the stock market is risky business. Some people get extremely wealthy and some get completely ruined. I have a feeling that simply not paying when the time comes due is not appreciated.
To quote the great Peter Griffin, “What really grinds my gears”, is that these Vonage customers are now forming a class action lawsuit against Vonage to recoup their losses. Actions like this will surely discourage any other companies from trying to include their customers when going public.
Finally, let’s not forget that the stock market is an ever-changing entity. Vonage stock is on the rise - a modest increase, still under the IPO price, but nonetheless, the stock is recovering. I think that it would be sweet, sweet irony if the shares continue to rise as the class action lawsuit continues. What will these customers will be saying if Vonage stock climbs above that $17 mark during the course of the lawsuit?