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Marcus Vale
Marcus covers the consoles, handhelds and PC hardware of the 90s and 2000s: what they cost, why they won or lost, and what became of the companies that built them. Marcus Vale is a pen name; 404 Memory Found publishes no photos or personal details of its writers.
73 posts by Marcus Vale
- Who Owns Packard Bell Now? Acer Revived the BrandPackard Bell is owned by Acer, which relaunched the dead 1990s PC brand in September 2026 with a 499 euro laptop sold everywhere but the US.
- EverQuest in 2026: The 1999 MMO That Still RunsEverQuest is still active in 2026: Darkpaw Games runs the 1999 MMO, and a new server called Lethar opened on August 26, 2026.
- Why G4 TV Failed Twice: The 1,000-Viewer CollapseG4 TV failed twice. Comcast unplugged the gaming channel on December 31, 2014, revived it in November 2021, and shut it down again in October 2022.
- Who Owns Game Informer Now? Gunzilla Games DoesGame Informer is owned by Gunzilla Games, which bought it in March 2025 after GameStop killed it in 2024. Issue 381 marks 35 years in print.
- Where to Buy a Game Boy in 2026 and What to PayBuying a Game Boy in 2026 costs about $70 for a tested original, over $300 boxed. Check the LCD lines and battery terminals before you pay.
- Does Nokia Still Make Phones? Who Makes Them NowDoes Nokia still make phones? No. Nokia sold its handset business to Microsoft in 2013, and the last Nokia smartphones were pulled in January 2025.
- Is an Anbernic Handheld Worth It for Game Boy?An Anbernic handheld is worth it for Game Boy games if you bring your own files. Prices start under $60, but US shipping stopped in April 2025.
- Is GameStop Still in Business? 1,598 Stores LeftGameStop is still in business in 2026, but it closed 727 US stores in one year and ended January with 1,598 left. Games are now under 12% of sales.
- Sega Genesis Games in 2026: The Best Way to PlayThe best way to play Sega Genesis games in 2026 is a used console and a flash cart, about $65 for the console, or $49.99 a year with no hardware.
- Is Sega Still Making Games? Life After the DreamcastIs Sega still making games? Yes. Its games arm sold 326.6 billion yen worth last fiscal year, and Sonic 3 grossed 492.2 million dollars.
- Is RuneScape Still Popular in 2026? OSRS vs RS3Is RuneScape still popular? Old School RuneScape peaked above 240,000 players at once in 2025, roughly eight times RuneScape 3. Here is who owns Jagex.
- Is CompUSA Still Around? What Happened to the ChainIs CompUSA still around? No. The chain sold its last 103 stores in December 2007, and the brand was written off for $35.3 million in 2012.
- Who Owns Atari Now? The Brand That Refuses to DieAtari is owned by Atari SA in Paris and run by Wade Rosen. The brand sold for $5 million in 1998 and booked about $65 million last year.
- Is Palm Still a Company? From Pilot to a $349 PhoneIs Palm still a company? No. HP bought it for $1.2 billion in 2010, sold webOS to LG, and TCL has owned the dormant Palm brand since 2014.
- How Compaq Lost the PC Business It Helped InventCompaq went from a pie-shop sketch in 1982 to the world's biggest PC maker, then sold itself to HP for $25 billion. Here is what broke first.
- Why the NSA Banned Furby: The 1998 Toy Craze ExplainedFurby sold 1.8 million units in its first holiday season, hit $100 on the resale market, and got banned from NSA headquarters in January 1999. Here is why.
- Sega Channel Explained, the 1994 Cable Game ServiceSega Channel piped Genesis games down cable lines from 1994 to 1998, peaked at 250,000 subscribers, and its lost ROMs were recovered in 2025.
- Why the Sega 32X Failed: The $159.99 Add-On FlopThe Sega 32X launched November 21, 1994 at $159.99, sold about 665,000 units, shipped 40 games, and was cleared out at $19.95 before dying in 1996.
- The Game Genie Beat Nintendo. Who Owns It Now?The Game Genie is long discontinued, but it beat Nintendo in court in 1992 and collected a $15 million bond. A loose NES unit runs about $22 in 2026.
- What Happened to Geocaching, the GPS Treasure Hunt That Started With a Bucket and a Can of BeansWhen the US military stopped degrading civilian GPS signals on May 1, 2000, a hobbyist in Oregon hid a bucket in the woods the next day. That bucket became geocaching, a 3-million-cache, 191-country platform with a 25-year run.
- Why the Power Glove Failed but Never Really DiedMattel's Power Glove reached US stores in October 1989 at about $100, was gone within a year, and sells loose for roughly $100 in 2026.
- What Happened to the Atari Lynx, the Color Handheld That Lost to Game BoyIn 1989, the Atari Lynx had a backlit color screen, hardware sprite scaling, and 8-player networking. It got crushed by a $90 gray brick called the Game Boy. Here is exactly why.
- Why the TurboGrafx-16 Won Japan and Lost AmericaNEC's TurboGrafx-16 ruled Japan as the PC Engine but sold just 750,000 US units by 1991. Konami owns the library now, and a Mini shipped in 2020.
- How the Nintendo NES Saved Video Games After the 1983 CrashIn 1985, American retailers had given up on video games. Then a Japanese toy company shipped a gray plastic box with a robot, called it an entertainment system, and resurrected an entire industry. This is the full story of how the NES pulled gaming back from the dead.
- What Happened to Standalone GPS Devices: TomTom and the Smartphone KillerIn 2008, the world bought 42 million standalone GPS devices. By 2014, the category was effectively dead. The story of how a free Android feature, a Cold War satellite system, and an $11 billion map data war ended an entire consumer electronics market.
- What Happened to the Nokia 3310, the Phone That Refused to DieNokia's 3310 sold 126 million units, became an internet meme for being indestructible, and got resurrected from the grave in 2017. Here is the full story of how a small Finnish company built a phone so good it accidentally turned into a cultural symbol.
- What Happened to the Sega CD, the Add-On That Promised Gaming's FutureSega bolted a CD-ROM drive onto the Genesis, charged $299, and promised the future of video games. Here is the messy, fascinating story of how it all went sideways.
- What Happened to the 3DO, the $700 Console That BombedIn 1993, a console hit shelves at $699.99 and promised to be the VHS of gaming. Instead, the 3DO became one of the most spectacular flops in video game history. Here is the full story.
- What Happened to the Sony Discman, the CD Player That Changed MusicThe Sony Discman made music portable on compact disc for the first time. Here is the full story of how it changed everything, then quietly disappeared.
- What Happened to StarCraft, the Game That Invented EsportsHow a real-time strategy game from 1998 accidentally built a billion-dollar esports industry, turned South Korean teenagers into national celebrities, and changed competitive gaming forever.
- What Happened to Kodak, the Company That Invented the Digital Camera Then Chose to Ignore ItKodak controlled 90% of the American film market, employed over 145,000 people, and invented the digital camera in 1975. Then it spent three decades pretending digital photography wasn't coming.
- What Happened to the Virtual Boy, Nintendo's Most Embarrassing FailureNintendo's legendary engineer Gunpei Yokoi created the Game Boy. Then he created the Virtual Boy, which sold 770,000 units and gave everyone a headache.
- What Happened to the Segway, the Invention That Was Supposed to Change the WorldInvestors predicted a billion dollars in first-year sales. The Segway sold roughly 140,000 units across its entire twenty-year lifetime.
- What Happened to the Game Boy, Nintendo's Unbreakable HandheldHow a monochrome brick with an 8-bit processor outlasted every competitor with color screens and better specs, sold 118 million units, and accidentally created the template for portable gaming.
- How the iMac G3 Saved Apple and Killed the Beige Box ForeverIn 1997, Apple was losing $878 million a year and Michael Dell said they should shut it down. Then a translucent blue computer changed the entire industry.
- What Happened to Counter-Strike, the Mod That Became Bigger Than the GameTwo modders, an ICQ chat, and a Half-Life SDK turned into over 50 million copies sold and the birth of competitive PC gaming as we know it.
- What Happened to Arcades: The Rise, Fall, and Unlikely Return of Quarter-Powered GamingIn 1982, arcades earned more than Hollywood and the music industry combined. Then they vanished. Here's the complete story of what happened to arcades, from the golden age to the modern revival.
- Is Quake Still Playable in 2026? Who Owns It TodayQuake is still sold and still played in 2026. Microsoft owns it through ZeniMax, and id Software shipped a free 19-map episode in August 2026.
- What Happened to WebTV, the Box That Promised Internet for EveryoneIn 1996, three former Apple engineers built a $325 box that let people browse the web on their televisions. Microsoft paid $425 million for it. By 2013, it was gone.
- What Happened to 3dfx? The Graphics Card That Ruled the '90sIt dominated the late 1990s with an iron fist, commanded 80% of the 3D graphics market, and fundamentally changed what PC gaming could be. Then in just a few years, it was gone.
- What Happened to GoldenEye 007, the Game That Proved FPS Could Work on ConsoleBuilt by ten first-time developers at a rural British studio, GoldenEye 007 sold 8 million copies and defined console multiplayer for a generation before licensing disputes made it nearly impossible to play for two decades.
- Is There a New Tony Hawk Game? The Series in 2026No new Tony Hawk game is announced for 2026. The last one was Pro Skater 3 + 4 in July 2025, and its studio cut up to 90 jobs in April 2026.
- What Happened to the Sega Game Gear, the Handheld That Deserved BetterThe Sega Game Gear had superior hardware, full color graphics, and backlit brilliance. So why did it lose to the Game Boy? Discover the tragic tale of ambitious hardware sabotaged by battery life and Sega's own chaos.
- What Happened to RollerCoaster Tycoon, Built by One Man in AssemblyChris Sawyer wrote 99% of RollerCoaster Tycoon in assembly language, alone, and earned $30 million. Then the franchise left his hands.
- Newgrounds Is Still Online in 2026, 31 Years LaterNewgrounds is still online in 2026, owned and run by founder Tom Fulp, funded by supporters from $36 a year, with its Flash archive kept alive by Ruffle.
- The Original Sims: How a Virtual Dollhouse Became the Best-Selling PC Game EverWill Wright pitched it as an architecture sim. EA almost killed it. Then it outsold every PC game in history and changed who we think of as a gamer.
- What Happened to Iomega Zip Drives and the Click of DeathThe Zip drive made 100MB feel infinite, turned Iomega into a $7 billion company, and then a manufacturing defect brought it all crashing down.
- What Happened to Club Penguin, Disney's Accidental MMOHow three guys in Kelowna, BC built a virtual world that captured 200 million kids, sold to Disney for $350 million, and then vanished entirely.
- What Happened to Screensavers: Flying Toasters, 3D Pipes, and Doing NothingFrom a $30 million software company selling animated toasters to a forgotten Windows setting nobody touches, screensavers had one of the strangest rises and falls in tech history.
- What Happened to Commodore, the Company That Won and LostCommodore sold more home computers than anyone in history. Then its own executives drove it into the ground. Here is how it all fell apart.
- How Doom Changed Everything About PC Gaming and the InternetOn December 10, 1993, five people in a Texas office uploaded a file that crashed a university network and generated $100,000 a day. The full story of how Doom rewrote the rules.
- Why the Atari Jaguar Failed and What It Costs NowThe Atari Jaguar sold about 125,000 units before Atari quit hardware in 1996. Sealed consoles have since gone for $1,199.99.
- Who Owns Sound Blaster Now? Creative Labs in 2026Sound Blaster still belongs to Creative Technology, which trades as Creative Labs and sold $67.4 million in 2025, down from a $1.6 billion peak.
- Is HD DVD Still Around? Why It Lost to Blu-rayHD DVD is dead: Toshiba quit on February 19, 2008, after Warner Bros. went Blu-ray exclusive. The retreat cost the company about $1.1 billion.
- Was the iPod the First MP3 Player? Not Even CloseNo: the iPod was not the first MP3 player. Korea's MPMan beat it by three years, in March 1998. Apple still won, and here is what did it.
- Does the Nintendo Wii Still Work Online in 2026?The Nintendo Wii still plays every disc in 2026, but Nintendo killed online play in 2014 and closed the Wii Shop in 2019. Used consoles run $40 to $75.
- Do They Still Make Netbooks? Why the Eee PC DiedNo. Netbooks peaked at 38.8 million units in 2010 and died in 2012. Chromebooks under $200 and cheap Windows laptops replaced them.
- Is the PS2 Still the Best-Selling Console in 2026?Yes. The PS2 still leads at 160 million units sold, but the Nintendo Switch reached 155.92 million by mid-2026 and sits 4 million behind.
- Who Owns Gateway Computers Now? Acer Still DoesGateway computers still exist as a brand: Acer bought the company in 2007 for $710 million and now sells Gateway laptops only through Walmart.
- Motorola Razr V3: 130 Million Sold, No Signal LeftThe Motorola Razr V3 sold 130 million units, and since August 3, 2026 it cannot make a call in the US. What one costs second-hand now.
- Is the Nokia N-Gage Still Around? Who Owns It NowThe Nokia N-Gage is gone: Nokia stopped the hardware in November 2005 and closed the N-Gage service in 2010, after 3 million of a 6 million target.
- Why the Sega Saturn Failed and What It Costs NowThe Sega Saturn failed after a $399 surprise launch in May 1995 and sold 9.26 million units. A working console costs $180 to $280 in 2026.
- Why the Apple Newton Failed and What It Costs NowApple sold about 50,000 Newton MessagePads in three months, then killed the line in 1998. Why it failed, and what a MessagePad sells for now.
- Is the Original Xbox Still Supported in 2026?The original Xbox lost support in 2006 and Microsoft closed its Xbox Live service in 2010. Fans rebuilt the servers, and 39 games still run.
- Are LAN Parties Still Around? QuakeCon Sold OutLAN parties are still around in 2026: QuakeCon's BYOC hall sold out in August, but DreamHack ended its own after 32 years.
- Is Circuit City Still in Business? Zero Stores LeftCircuit City closed its last 567 stores on March 8, 2009. The name survives online under an owner who bought it in 2016. Zero stores left.
- Is the PSP Still Supported? Sony's Handheld in 2026The PSP is not supported in 2026. Sony sold more than 76.4 million, closed the PSP store in 2021, and PS3 and Vita sales end in July 2027.
- Why the Nintendo GameCube Lost the Console WarThe Nintendo GameCube sold 21.74 million units to the PlayStation 2's 155 million and died in 2007. Its games returned on Switch 2 in June 2025.
- Is RadioShack Still in Business? 2026 Store CountIs RadioShack still in business? Yes, as a brand. The US chain died in the 2017 bankruptcy, and an El Salvador group has owned the name since 2023.
- Is Fry's Electronics Still Around? All 31 Stores ClosedFry's Electronics is gone. All 31 remaining stores closed on February 24, 2021, with no bankruptcy filing and no farewell sale. Here is what is left.
- Are Tamagotchis Still Made in 2026? Yes, by BandaiTamagotchi is still made by Bandai in 2026. Shipments passed 100 million in July 2025, new models cost $44.99, and 1997 originals fetch $40 to $50.
- Why Sega Stopped Making Consoles After DreamcastSega stopped making consoles on January 31, 2001, after the Dreamcast sold 9.13 million units. It has not built one since, and still will not.
- Palm Pilot Explained: The PDA That Phones ReplacedThe Palm Pilot sold a million units in 18 months, then lost to the smartphone. Palm shipped its last handhelds in October 2005.