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Non-NEC Console Related Discussion => Console Chat => Topic started by: elmer on February 01, 2017, 04:02:29 AM
Title: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: elmer on February 01, 2017, 04:02:29 AM
Quote from: PressRelease
UNLEASH YOUR NOSTALGIA WITH THE RETROBLOX™ MODULAR RETRO GAME CONSOLE
RETROBLOX™ Elevates Retro Games to a New Level Combining Innovative Cartridge-Compatible Element Modules, Disc Game-Compatible Optical Disc Drive, and Online Connectivity features to Create the Ultimate Living-Room Worthy Retro Game Console.
http://retroblox.com/press/
Nice renders, overblown description, few real details, industry veterans, going to Kickstarter in April.
Does another emulator-in-a-box excite anyone???
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Arkhan on February 01, 2017, 04:14:48 AM
No, because they're stupid and using the word retro like 900 f*cking times in the span of two sentences.
That word needs to be banned from the internet for awhile.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: ClodBuster on February 01, 2017, 04:19:33 AM
That word needs to be banned from the internet for awhile.
Along with "rare" and "vintage".
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Necromancer on February 01, 2017, 04:29:15 AM
It's got a CD drive, so that's different. I actually would buy a Turbob emulator box that output to hdmi, supported bluetooth wireless pads, and played hueys, cds, and roms/isos off a sd card, but only if it used something accurate (Mednafen) and wasn't more expensive than building myself a little pc.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Gredler on February 01, 2017, 05:26:41 AM
I hope that there is some sort of online component, I'd love to play some obey with some of you guys :)
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Desh on February 01, 2017, 05:42:34 AM
I bet they don't have a working prototype ready for their Kickstarter date and try to fund on indiegogo. When that fails some of the guys will give up and some other mysterious guys will continue development until they show their prototype at Toy Fair in NY. It will end up being a GameCube case with a Turbo Express stuffed inside. Then, when they show a clear version of the prototype it will end up being an old 3dfx Voodoo 5 graphics card with a bunch of wires and stuff soldered to it.
This is just my prediction of course.
P.S. WTF do they mean by hybrid emulation?
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Black Tiger on February 01, 2017, 05:54:19 AM
"If you're hardcore into playing old games like us, nothing but real hardware will do.
So please donate money so we can build yet another fake hardware device".
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Dicer on February 01, 2017, 06:13:16 AM
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: wildfruit on February 01, 2017, 06:16:07 AM
It looks very pretty but I bet the modules will be expensive. Would probably piss the wife off less than my current set up of an illustrated history of nec, sega and Sony stacked on the bedroom side.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Arkhan on February 01, 2017, 06:18:10 AM
I bet they don't have a working prototype ready for their Kickstarter date and try to fund on indiegogo. When that fails some of the guys will give up and some other mysterious guys will continue development until they show their prototype at Toy Fair in NY. It will end up being a GameCube case with a Turbo Express stuffed inside. Then, when they show a clear version of the prototype it will end up being an old 3dfx Voodoo 5 graphics card with a bunch of wires and stuff soldered to it.
This is just my prediction of course.
P.S. WTF do they mean by hybrid emulation?
Talk to dangdang in DoxPhile chat. He is one of the guys making this machine
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: crazydean on February 01, 2017, 07:22:13 AM
Other than playing original games which are identical to roms, what is the advantage of this over a raspberry pi?
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Black Tiger on February 01, 2017, 07:58:48 AM
Other than playing original games which are identical to roms, what is the advantage of this over a raspberry pi?
The opportunity to wear out pins and scratch discs with drives that are designed simply to be "close enough".
Any "retro" box should just feature a large storage space and fully support roms and isos of various formats. It should also be cheap, otherwise there is no point.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Michirin9801 on February 01, 2017, 08:24:10 AM
I already have one of those, it's called a "Nintendo Wii"
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: SignOfZeta on February 01, 2017, 09:07:01 AM
I agree that adding a CD-ROM makes a big difference but I don't trust these people. Way WAY too much talking and hyping and almost zero reality whatsoever. The design of the thing sorta hints that they don't understand what retro retro retro retro really is about. Nobody who loves retro loves the fact that the two main game systems nowadays look virtually identical and design-less. We certainly don't want another chicken shit designer's ultra cautious featureless block. Make it red and chrome and call it the Wonderkind or something. f*ck. Try.
Also, PSX is the lingo of forum trash and the ghosts of people who died in 1993. If they were to be taken seriously they should use consistent nomenclature at least within the same paragraph. PlayStation is to Turbo Grafx 16 as PSX is to Turbob. If you're worried about legal action from Sony then use Diehard Gamefan approved abbreviations for the other systems you support as well.
Btw, who's excited about OHMYGOD playing PlayStation games? Is that actually a problem for anyone? Can't someone still buy a PS with an RGB cable for like $38? While it is the most popular CD based system it's also the least appealing given other available avenues. I mean...I have a PS3 and it does a pretty decent job upscaling and sending it out over HDMI. Is this thing targeted at non-PS3 owners?
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Black Tiger on February 01, 2017, 09:18:37 AM
Although I would use "Playstation" in a press releases like that, "PSX" is no worse than "NES" which is also used. It's all part of their "we're hardcore like you!" pitch that they alone want backing for.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: SignOfZeta on February 01, 2017, 09:37:25 AM
NES has been officially used by Nintendo to describe the Nintendo Entertainment system on thousands of occasions. Sony never uses PSX to refer to the PlayStation on the box, in the manual, in the TV comercial, or anyplace else to refer to this system. PSX is two things: a term Sony used to describe the system before it had a launch date or final design and dropped from everything official long before it was actually released save for the model number and 2) a special version of the PlayStation 2 that actually was called PSX exactly. The reason they felt comfortable using the name then is probably because they had never sold anything with that name before.
The real question is why forum dwellers never used PSX2, PSX3, PSX4, PSXP, PSXVita, etc. Maybe they think x=1?
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Punch on February 01, 2017, 10:23:09 AM
PSX.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: elmer on February 01, 2017, 10:55:22 AM
NES has been officially used by Nintendo to describe the Nintendo Entertainment system on thousands of occasions. Sony never uses PSX to refer to the PlayStation on the box, in the manual, in the TV comercial, or anyplace else to refer to this system. PSX is two things: a term Sony used to describe the system before it had a launch date or final design and dropped from everything official long before it was actually released save for the model number and 2) a special version of the PlayStation 2 that actually was called PSX exactly. The reason they felt comfortable using the name then is probably because they had never sold anything with that name before.
The real question is why forum dwellers never used PSX2, PSX3, PSX4, PSXP, PSXVita, etc. Maybe they think x=1?
Pretending to not understand why PSX has been used since before the Playstation was released is forum trash behaviour, on par with insisting that the PC Engine is an 8-bit generation console.
The console that most people call "SMS" or "Sega Master System" was officially titled the "Power Base" and the overall library title was later adjusted to reflect what people often incorrectly called it. But you don't correct people who type "SMS".
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Gredler on February 01, 2017, 11:19:57 AM
I bet they don't have a working prototype ready for their Kickstarter date and try to fund on indiegogo...
P.S. WTF do they mean by hybrid emulation?
I will take that bet. A half-gallon of rum to the winner?
Also, hybrid emu means a human-emu hybrid clone. Fox news warned us it was coming!
My original post was in jest rather than being serious. I only found out this was a thing a couple of days ago and haven't heard much about it. I probably would have known longer but I haven't been on the DoxPhiles for awhile due to kids and other projects. Will you guys welcome me back with open arms?
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: sirhcman on February 01, 2017, 12:33:27 PM
NES has been officially used by Nintendo to describe the Nintendo Entertainment system on thousands of occasions. Sony never uses PSX to refer to the PlayStation on the box, in the manual, in the TV comercial, or anyplace else to refer to this system. PSX is two things: a term Sony used to describe the system before it had a launch date or final design and dropped from everything official long before it was actually released save for the model number and 2) a special version of the PlayStation 2 that actually was called PSX exactly. The reason they felt comfortable using the name then is probably because they had never sold anything with that name before.
The real question is why forum dwellers never used PSX2, PSX3, PSX4, PSXP, PSXVita, etc. Maybe they think x=1?
Pretending to not understand why PSX has been used since before the Playstation was released is forum trash behaviour, on par with insisting that the PC Engine is an 8-bit generation console.
The console that most people call "SMS" or "Sega Master System" was officially titled the "Power Base" and the overall library title was later adjusted to reflect what people often incorrectly called it. But you don't correct people who type "SMS".
Whatever I'm doing, "pretending not to know why" isn't it. I know why. It's because the letter X was really cool on the 90s and old habits are hard to break.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: elmer on February 01, 2017, 06:40:30 PM
Also helps that one of the guys heading up the project is a DoxPhiler. :D if I remember correctly, each module is a clone of the original hardware, kind of like the AVS for NES. Read for yourselves, though.... I am a drunkard and might be remembering things wrong.
For me, at least, and I certainly can't speak for everyone, it's not whether there's any sense in the basic idea. It's all about the motivations and the actual real-world implementation.
When the folks on AtariAge have hacked at your friend's website and are showing pre-release stuff that displays a company mindset that wants to be the paid-secure-digital-distribution outlet for DRM-protected homebrew games ... then my first reaction is WTF???
The guys seem *far* more capable and clued-in than Mike Kenneddy and his team, but (IMHO) they still seem to be pushing a "solution" that is looking for "problem".
Perhaps I'm just far too cynical, and stupidly-wrong. It wouldn't be the first time.
In the meantime, that press-release sounds just like this ...
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Gredler on February 01, 2017, 08:57:43 PM
I may've been watching too much Star Trek lately, but I lol'd at that too hard. :P
My main questions for this thing are
1) Does it provide online multiplayer and online friends / match making for that? My brother bought a house in Colorado recently, so it looks like if I am in San Diego forever as I hope to be, no more multiplayer with him , unless we both wrangle together a emulator solution.
2) Is the hardware emulation closer to a retron 5 or an AVS? If this thing is a great as I hear the AVS is but for more systems, I would be happy to have something that let me easily play my carts / ancient discs (and more importantly flash cards and burned backups) on a HMDI TV that would save me from updating any of my systems (I currently only play on one specific CRT, and it'd be nice to play elsewhere in the house).
3) Price
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: BigusSchmuck on February 02, 2017, 01:10:24 AM
Sounds like a repeat of the Laseractive but with Retro all over it and no Laserdisc support.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Necromancer on February 02, 2017, 01:20:06 AM
When the folks on AtariAge have hacked at your friend's website and are showing pre-release stuff that displays a company mindset that wants to be the paid-secure-digital-distribution outlet for DRM-protected homebrew games ... then my first reaction is WTF???
You got some links? This sound hilarious.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: ClodBuster on February 02, 2017, 03:08:50 AM
I would be happy to have something that let me easily play my carts / ancient discs (and more importantly flash cards and burned backups) on a HMDI TV [...]
Isn't the whole point of flash carts and burned CDs playing roms and ISOs in real hardware? If you wanna play ROMs and ISOs on your TV with a controller, but don't care what you play it on, you might as well go with a much cheaper and better solution that's already out and readily available, like a Raspberry Pi with Retro Pi in it, or a hacked Wii/Xbox/PSP/3DS, whichever one you prefer, or you could simply hook up your PC to your TV and buy one of these: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61hX6A3NooL._SL1500_.jpg and then emulate the games in full screen on your TV, heck, you could even use some cool CRT filters that way (unless you're actually hooking your PC up to a CRT like I do)
If you have a game collection and want to play said games, I'd assume you also have the real hardware to play them on, but I can understand wanting to play them through HDMI without modding your older consoles, in which case yeah, go right ahead, but I don't see a point of using a system like that for ROMs and ISOs...
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: ChuChu Flamingo on February 02, 2017, 04:19:58 AM
but think of how much space it will save on my stand!
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: elmer on February 02, 2017, 04:41:48 AM
When the folks on AtariAge have hacked at your friend's website and are showing pre-release stuff that displays a company mindset that wants to be the paid-secure-digital-distribution outlet for DRM-protected homebrew games ... then my first reaction is WTF???
You got some links? This sound hilarious.
I was wrong, it's not a "hack" of their website, just a scouring through Google's cache of their website. Sorry! :oops:
Sounds like that would be a pretty kickass deal for homebrewers, IMO. Seems like it would help to expand their product visibility. Profit motive isn't inherently evil.
There's absolutely nothing wrong with making a bit of profit ... it helps to keep a company alive.
But, is the profit on a few homebrew sales going to be enough to keep someone's DRM servers up-and-running for the next 30 years?
How do you go from a console idea that absolutely fetishizes original cartridges and CDs, that people can display and trade and take around to their friend's house ... to a digital-download that's locked to a particular machine, with an unknown hardware lifespan because of all of that plugging-and-unplugging of those emulation-modules (or whatever they're called)?
I've got the impression that the folks that are buying homebrew for old consoles actually *want* it delivered on a real cart/CD to add to their collection.
Perhaps it's a brilliant idea, and I'm just missing the point.
But the whole idea suddenly raises the question of "what are these guys wanting to do?", and are they trying to use KickStarter to fund a "company", like the RetroVGS guys wanted to do?
If so, just where is their paywall going to be, and what compelling reason can they give for folks to buy into it?
And how can they convince folks that their business model is stronger than Ouya's?
I guess that we'll find out more over the coming weeks when they release more information.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Arkhan on February 02, 2017, 05:03:25 AM
How would this expand product visibility for homebrewers, if the people who are likely going to buy this are already fans of *insert console here*, and likely already know about homebrew activities for said console?
I don't get it.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Black Tiger on February 02, 2017, 05:42:03 AM
The NeoSD flashcart for Neo Geo is the way to do digital sales for homebrew. Each one is serialized and roms can be made to only work on a particular NeoSD.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Necromancer on February 02, 2017, 06:44:01 AM
Sounds like that would be a pretty kickass deal for homebrewers, IMO. Seems like it would help to expand their product visibility. Profit motive isn't inherently evil.
True. I mostly thought it was funny because if a homebrewer wants a secure digital download system, why not package their game with an emulator and go with Steam, PSN, etc. to reach a far larger audience? I can't imagine there's that many homebrewers clamoring for digital downloads for fake retro systems that relatively few own instead of making real carts/cds for real systems that everyone already owns.
Also, DRM is pretty much always pointless. No matter if it's encrypted, relies on always connected server connections, or whatever, someone will crack it, making it only onerous for the paying customers.
.... I don't see a point of using a system like that for ROMs and ISOs.
Why can't I want it for both the games I own and those I don't? I could buy another flashcart (I'm too lazy to move one from room to room) and burn piles of cdrs, true, but that's quite a bit more expense and effort for zero gain.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Punch on February 02, 2017, 07:05:57 AM
For posuers like me, on systems I don't follow or care to buy shelves for, it would be nice to have a market where I could see all the Sega watermelons I didn't know about and just buy interesting ones right there. Sure, I could Google, research, buy from a shady site with no SSL or pirate for homebrews.... But I only go through that hassle for turbobs.
That's a pretty sad generalization about homebrews in general. Almost every site I've seen dealing with homebrews has a valid SSL cert or handles purchases through paypal, a good percentage of homebrews never get a "shelf candy" release, some even do a pay-what-you-want ROM sale through itch.io, and these ROM files go into evil, inexpensive non-retroblox emulation machines or into the real deal through an everdrive pretty much all the time. "or pirate for homebrews" yes because this is clearly the only option in a world where commercial homebrews are sold in ROM format or dumpable at home with sub $50 devices.
You have a good point about centralizing homebrews for better visibility, but why did you had to play the COLLECTARD card instead of acknowledging the valid skepticism that surrounds this press release? Sad!
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Punch on February 02, 2017, 07:41:17 AM
For posuers like me, on systems I don't follow or care to buy shelves for, it would be nice to have a market where I could see all the Sega watermelons I didn't know about and just buy interesting ones right there. Sure, I could Google, research, buy from a shady site with no SSL or pirate for homebrews.... But I only go through that hassle for turbobs.
That's a pretty sad generalization about homebrews in general. Almost every site I've seen dealing with homebrews has a valid SSL cert or handles purchases through paypal, a good percentage of homebrews never get a "shelf candy" release, some even do a pay-what-you-want ROM sale through itch.io, and these ROM files go into evil, inexpensive non-retroblox emulation machines or into the real deal through an everdrive pretty much all the time. "or pirate for homebrews" yes because this is clearly the only option in a world where commercial homebrews are sold in ROM format or dumpable at home with sub $50 devices.
You have a good point about centralizing homebrews for better visibility, but why did you had to play the COLLECTARD card instead of acknowledging the valid skepticism that surrounds this press release? Sad!
Grache was right about you, crooked Punch. Such a nasty Brazilian!
Brazilian Jew, don't omit the jew part :lol:
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Michirin9801 on February 02, 2017, 07:47:54 AM
I'm not saying you can't 'want' one, but the rest of my previous post already makes my point...
Right, but your point doesn't address the question of "what if I want to play what I own, AND play stuff I don't own?"
Isn't that what they'd get a Flash Cart for? I mean, that post was already an answer to gredler wanting to put a flash cart in it, and as I said before, isn't the whole point of flash carts playing the ROMs in real hardware?
The only reason I could see someone wanting to get a system like this is on an AVS-like situation, where they want to play their games through HDMI without having to mod their old systems, in that case, as I said before, go right ahead! However if you just want to play ROMs on your TV, there are other reliable methods readily available...
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Necromancer on February 02, 2017, 08:47:10 AM
And like Gredler and myself have said, it's not an either or type of thing. I'd want to play my real games on a modern TV and play games I don't own, homebrew stuff, translation patches, etc. and I'd rather not go through the expense and hassle of another flashcart or burning cdrs.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Arkhan on February 02, 2017, 08:53:38 AM
Isn't that what they'd get a Flash Cart for? I mean, that post was already an answer to gredler wanting to put a flash cart in it, and as I said before, isn't the whole point of flash carts playing the ROMs in real hardware?
That doesn't address CD hardware. There's no flash cart for ISOs on PCE, etc.
and as I said, the flash cart doesn't have my save files present. Sometimes you just want to play Star Road without beating all of SMW again.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Michirin9801 on February 02, 2017, 09:36:27 AM
That doesn't address CD hardware. There's no flash cart for ISOs on PCE, etc.
I'd think the exact same argument about burnt CDs would go without saying... Do I have to spell out everything? Also if you have your real cartridge with your save file in it, why would you NOT use it?
And like Gredler and myself have said, it's not an either or type of thing. I'd want to play my real games on a modern TV and play games I don't own, homebrew stuff, translation patches, etc. and I'd rather not go through the expense and hassle of another flashcart or burning cdrs.
Let me rephrase my point: The selling point of this device is playing your physical games through HDMI without having to mod your old systems, kinda like a "Multi-system AVS" If you want to play hacks, homebrew stuff and games that you don't own, you can already do that Right Now both in real hardware through flash carts and burned CDs, and in other emulation boxes that already exist. When (or if) this thing comes out, there's nothing stopping you from playing both in it...
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Arkhan on February 02, 2017, 09:42:17 AM
I'd think the exact same argument about burnt CDs would go without saying... Do I have to spell out everything?
Before you get lippy, you should really stop and understand the difference between being able to use an ISO and having to burn a CD-R.
There is a reason things like the GD EMU are so sought after for dreamcast even though people could just burn CD-Rs all goddamn day if they want.
Admittedly, I hadn't thought about that... If this device is going to play ISOs as well that's all fine and dandy, but well, I don't know about you, but I already play both PCE CD ISOs and Sega CD ISOs on my Wii ;3
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Arkhan on February 02, 2017, 09:55:37 AM
Admittedly, I hadn't thought about that... If this device is going to play ISOs as well that's all fine and dandy, but well, I don't know about you, but I already play both PCE CD ISOs and Sega CD ISOs on my Wii ;3
and then you can't shove a real cartridge into the Wii, so there's that whole issue again.
Now do you see how a combination machine would be a useful thing?
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Gredler on February 02, 2017, 10:03:55 AM
Admittedly, I hadn't thought about that... If this device is going to play ISOs as well that's all fine and dandy, but well, I don't know about you, but I already play both PCE CD ISOs and Sega CD ISOs on my Wii ;3
Also wii is only upscaling to 480p, this thing hopefully will upscale nicely to whatever tv you're using.
I do want to try to mod my wii, I recently got a broken one that was just dirty or something works fine for me, so I kinda want to try to mod it. Can you pm me links on how is the best way so I don't have to trudge through the shady corners of the world wide webs?
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Necromancer on February 02, 2017, 10:05:48 AM
Let me rephrase my point: The selling point of this device is playing your physical games through HDMI without having to mod your old systems, kinda like a "Multi-system AVS" If you want to play hacks, homebrew stuff and games that you don't own, you can already do that Right Now both in real hardware through flash carts and burned CDs, and in other emulation boxes that already exist.
Obviously there's other options. Via HDMI, I can play hueys with a Retron5, CDs with a soft modded Wii and a cheap adapter, or roms/isos/CDs on a computer... but there's nothing that'll do all of the above in one system. It's not hard to comprehend that I'd prefer a single machine instead of two or three..... or a dozen when you look at playing more than just PCE.
When (or if) this thing comes out, there's nothing stopping you from playing both in it...
You sure about that? I wouldn't be at all surprised if it won't play roms, isos, or even CDRs, not when DRM and protecting homebrew stuff is a primary goal.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Michirin9801 on February 02, 2017, 10:59:06 AM
Also wii is only upscaling to 480p, this thing hopefully will upscale nicely to whatever tv you're using.
I do want to try to mod my wii, I recently got a broken one that was just dirty or something works fine for me, so I kinda want to try to mod it. Can you pm me links on how is the best way so I don't have to trudge through the shady corners of the world wide webs?
Yeah that's why HDMI is the selling point... Personally, I'm good with 480p because that's a perfect 2X scale of 240p, and pretty much all the systems you can emulate on the Wii are 240p so... Yeah...
I'll PM you with what you might need, but I don't know if it's gonna work on a supposedly broken Wii, unless you've gotten it fixed since...
Admittedly, I hadn't thought about that... If this device is going to play ISOs as well that's all fine and dandy, but well, I don't know about you, but I already play both PCE CD ISOs and Sega CD ISOs on my Wii ;3
and then you can't shove a real cartridge into the Wii, so there's that whole issue again.
Now do you see how a combination machine would be a useful thing?
Let me rephrase my point: The selling point of this device is playing your physical games through HDMI without having to mod your old systems, kinda like a "Multi-system AVS" If you want to play hacks, homebrew stuff and games that you don't own, you can already do that Right Now both in real hardware through flash carts and burned CDs, and in other emulation boxes that already exist.
Obviously there's other options. Via HDMI, I can play hueys with a Retron5, CDs with a soft modded Wii and a cheap adapter, or roms/isos/CDs on a computer... but there's nothing that'll do all of the above in one system. It's not hard to comprehend that I'd prefer a single machine instead of two or three..... or a dozen when you look at playing more than just PCE.
When (or if) this thing comes out, there's nothing stopping you from playing both in it...
You sure about that? I wouldn't be at all surprised if it won't play roms, isos, or even CDRs, not when DRM and protecting homebrew stuff is a primary goal.
Guys, there's a lot of conflicting information in here...
First off, It's not hard to wrap my head around the fact that you would want all of them in one system, or that you would want to play them on a modern TV, but one talks about running ROMs and ISOs in it as well as playing real cartridges, and the other talks about it not running those because of DRM, but if it can't run ISOs and ROMs, and you want to play hacks, homebrews and/or games you don't own in it, you're gonna have to get a flash cart and burn CDs, unless the system doesn't play those either somehow, and if that's the case, aren't you gonna need a separate emulation box for those things anyway?
Also, isn't this a 'modular' thing? Doesn't that mean you're gonna have to buy a different attachment for each game system you wanna play on it? Wouldn't that get in the way of the whole "All-in-one" argument? The way I see it, it would be smarter to shove a HuCard slot and a CD reader on a Retron-5-like system and add support for PCE and whatever systems support CDs...
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Gredler on February 02, 2017, 11:21:27 AM
Yeah that's why HDMI is the selling point... Personally, I'm good with 480p because that's a perfect 2X scale of 240p, and pretty much all the systems you can emulate on the Wii are 240p so... Yeah...
I've not used my wii in forever, but maybe I should give it a shot. The color and quality output of the wii was always such garbage, I never considered it an option. My TV's are 1080 and 4k, so wouldn't a 480 have to be upscaled by the tv? (typically poor quality)
I do want to try to mod my wii, I recently got a broken one that was just dirty or something works fine for me, so I kinda want to try to mod it.
I'll PM you with what you might need, but I don't know if it's gonna work on a supposedly broken Wii, unless you've gotten it fixed since...
I apologize for the confusing sentence; the wii was given to me and because they thought it was broken, but it works fine after some minor maintenance.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Michirin9801 on February 02, 2017, 11:40:10 AM
Yeah that's why HDMI is the selling point... Personally, I'm good with 480p because that's a perfect 2X scale of 240p, and pretty much all the systems you can emulate on the Wii are 240p so... Yeah...
I've not used my wii in forever, but maybe I should give it a shot. The color and quality output of the wii was always such garbage, I never considered it an option. My TV's are 1080 and 4k, so wouldn't a 480 have to be upscaled by the tv? (typically poor quality)
Have you tried the Wii2HDMI converter? It's pretty cheap, but it's not gonna magically make the Wii output in HD or anything, I don't even know if it reduces input lag, but it's gonna cleanup the composite artifacts and it MIGHT upscale the image in an acceptable manner... I don't know because I play my Wii on a CRT, but that's a thing to keep in the back of your mind... The other options I can think of are the Wii Component cables, which will also clean up the image somewhat, and a separate upscaler box like the Framemeister or something like that, but the latter has a bit of a prohibitive price...
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Gredler on February 02, 2017, 11:49:39 AM
Have you tried the Wii2HDMI converter? It's pretty cheap, but it's not gonna magically make the Wii output in HD or anything, I don't even know if it reduces input lag, but it's gonna cleanup the composite artifacts and it MIGHT upscale the image in an acceptable manner... I don't know because I play my Wii on a CRT, but that's a thing to keep in the back of your mind... The other options I can think of are the Wii Component cables, which will also clean up the image somewhat, and a separate upscaler box like the Framemeister or something like that, but the latter has a bit of a prohibitive price...
No I've not tried up purchase an upscaler for my wii, I was trying to make a point about HDMI selling point of these consoles.
For CRT I'll use the genuine article, but for my 1080p plasmas the analog systems look muddy and control poorly. My 4k has a really nice built in upscaler (probably because 80% of content has to be upscaled for it at this point in 4k's lifespan), so I can play those with component/composite.
If I bought an upscaler, I would skip the wii and use original hardware.
I consider the Wii the highest end of the analog generation 480p being the highest it will go without exterior upscalers, which I dont want to invest in.
I'll try the mod out, and use the component cables I have on the 1080p and 4k at 480p, but I imagine it will still look poorly scaled (except for the aforementioned nice scaler in my 4k)
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Sarumaru on February 02, 2017, 11:52:46 AM
For someone like me, the advantage of having a console like this would be convenience. For example, about a week ago I had a bunch of guys over for some game playin' and we switched between a few consoles. Someone brought some mega cds, a bunch of pce shits, some sfc carts and some neo cds. I pulled some of my systems out of my game room that were connected to my pvm via a switch and took them to the living room. We played PCE through an upscaler, and I don't have a framemeister so we had to suffer through the lag which made some stuff unplayable. We played the SFC stuff on the retron after, then hooked up the CDZ for a couple rounds.. every time we switched consoles, it somewhat broke the flow of the game playing while I fiddled to connect shit. We didn't even bother with the Mega CD because of two power adapters and just didn't feel like hooking all this shit up....
At the end of the night, there were systems all over the floor. Right now, all the systems went back into the room and I couldn't be bothered to hook all this shit back up to the switch.. seemed like a hassle. I am a huge fan of optical media and a system like this would just make it easy to play my original games on without having to fuss over a billion cables when people come over. All my shit can just stay hooked up to the PVM for my personal enjoyment. If one of my buddies comes over and is like "HAY I HAS NEW GAEM. LETS PLAY NAO" we could just pop it in something like this and be playing. All my other game things can just stay hooked up as they are in the room undisturbed.
This is not for everyone. I get a weird personal enjoyment from playing my original games (maybe because I'm f*cking old, whatever), whether it be on real hardware or something that will play them like real hardware. I'm excited for it. I want it. I'd advocate for it. I want to be involved in it and hope that it becomes a reality. Even if there ARE a few modules I would need to get for the games I want to play, the main system stays plugged in. Changing the module wouldn't be any more of a hassle to me then just switching out a cart. Time for video game playing for me is very rare, especially when friends come over. I don't want to waste that time fiddling with things when we could get straight to the game playing. But that's MY situation why I think I would benefit from such a device.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: SignOfZeta on February 02, 2017, 01:08:29 PM
Maybe you just don't like old video games very much.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Sarumaru on February 02, 2017, 01:23:07 PM
I just wanted to chime in to add that the atariage thread is hilarious. I see many of them as wearing foil caps in their parent's basement, next to a shrine they have built and filled with anti-retrovgs evidence...
Yep, there are definitely some folks over there that seem to take their part in the "AtariAge Hater Brigade" a little too seriously ... but dude, your peeps haven't really shown anything more than a pretty skin that could be running on an $35 RPi yet, and your guys are throwing around overblown marketing buzzwords like they're going out of style, while providing little *real* information.
Their actions are only fueling the more-strident members of the doubters-club.
Now, my *guess* at this point is that your guys do actually have some clue about what they're doing.
I just find an RPi or low-end-PC, running a multi-system emulator (probably a hacked Open Source one), with an FPGA that can be reconfigured to read a physical cartridge ... kinda boring.
It's basically a Retro Freak with nicer software and CD support (and probably a much higher price).
But that's just me.
If your friends are right, there is going to be a large-enough group of people addicted to plastic that will love this thing.
But I'm still pinning my hopes-and-dreams on Kevtris's fully-FPGA Zimba3K.
I'll take one-guy-with-a-passion-to-get-things-right over a bunch-of-guys-with-a-passion-to-make-money any day, especially when that guy has shown that he has the technical talent, too.
Having said which ... I'm still enjoying the AA thread, for much the same reason that you are. :wink:
P.S. Interesting to see both Henshin Engine and Sydney Hunter builds on their machine. Wonder where they got those??? :-k
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: nodtveidt on February 04, 2017, 04:20:06 PM
P.S. Interesting to see both Henshin Engine and Sydney Hunter builds on their machine. Wonder where they got those??? :-k
Henshin Engine would have come from Sarumaru and I. Which one of the six million ports of the fifty Sydney Hunter games was on display? I no longer have a hand in any of them, and the only ROM I've ever made was a barebones mapper/coldet demo of the first stage, not even worth messing around with.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: TheClash603 on February 05, 2017, 12:54:52 AM
I know very little beyond what is already public. And what I do know that isn't public can't be shared. All I can say is that the retroblox is real, and it will offer functionality that a raspberry pi can't, at least not with insano crazy modification. One feature in particular will appeal to the turbo crowd.
24/7 Internet connection required to allow for real time notification something new has been posted in the "(Former Mugs)" thread is my guess.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: elmer on February 05, 2017, 07:22:47 AM
Looks like there was a flyer at the show with some specs ...
It's a Rockchip RK3288 Quad-Core ARM at 1.7GHz, with 2GB of RAM, running Debian linux (NOT Android, yay!!!).
The board that they showed looks like this ..
http://www.armdesigner.com/MINI3288_SoM/
And here's a rather nice development kit board that you can buy on Amazon that uses the same chip ...
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00RBK1U5G/
Interesting! It might be a nice little machine, especially if they don't lock it down so that folks can run whatever they like on it.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Gredler on February 05, 2017, 07:54:06 AM
Looks like there was a flyer at the show with some specs ...
It's a Rockchip RK3288 Quad-Core ARM at 1.7GHz, with 2GB of RAM, running Debian linux (NOT Android, yay!!!).
The board that they showed looks like this ..
http://www.armdesigner.com/MINI3288_SoM/
And here's a rather nice development kit board that you can buy on Amazon that uses the same chip ...
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00RBK1U5G/
Interesting! It might be a nice little machine, especially if they don't lock it down so that folks can run whatever they like on it.
Glad to hear it got a elmer thumbs up. I am duophilally biased to be hopeful this does well, and after a absolutely horrible retro pi sales pitch from a friend and recently added as arcade cabinet at the office, I can only hope this thing at least consistently displays games nicely.
That tretro pi my friend brought over and the one they installed in a Arcade cab at work, both look like dog doo, like worse than RF on a LCD. They have to be setting it up wrong on the back end, because there were no front end available graphical settings. I just needed point sampling fod pixel scaling at a integer scale of 4:3.
I swear, half the games were 16:9 stretch, half 4:3, all were blurry as get out with graphical bugs and weird pixelated side bars, I was actually flabbergasted at how bad his was. The one at work is slightly better but I think it's because they just chose specific decently functional games.
It made me want a retro pi even more so I can make a package of config settings to give to my friend and whoever set up the work cabinet, because it's atrociously bad.
I am adding a fourth hope for this thing.
Crisp pixel perfect display settings for the person who is familiar with playing the games at 4:3 on a CRT out of the box.
Screw filters and smoothing and stretching, if they hide those in an optional menus then whatever, but just make the games (ROM or cart, ISO or disc) look good with little to no setup besides plugging the thing in.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Phase on February 05, 2017, 09:20:48 AM
That tretro pi my friend brought over and the one they installed in a Arcade cab at work, both look like dog doo, like worse than RF on a LCD. They have to be setting it up wrong on the back end, because there were no front end available graphical settings. I just needed point sampling fod pixel scaling at a integer scale of 4:3.
I swear, half the games were 16:9 stretch, half 4:3, all were blurry as get out with graphical bugs and weird pixelated side bars, I was actually flabbergasted at how bad his was. The one at work is slightly better but I think it's because they just chose specific decently functional games.
It made me want a retro pi even more so I can make a package of config settings to give to my friend and whoever set up the work cabinet, because it's atrociously bad.
I am adding a fourth hope for this thing.
Crisp pixel perfect display settings for the person who is familiar with playing the games at 4:3 on a CRT out of the box.
Screw filters and smoothing and stretching, if they hide those in an optional menus then whatever, but just make the games (ROM or cart, ISO or disc) look good with little to no setup besides plugging the thing in.
I think the latest RetroPie builds default to crisp pixes but not 100% sure. I had the same problem, its the resolution when in the emulator. go to... Retropie Setup_Confgig/Tools_Config Edit_CBasicEmuOpt_PCE_Render Res then set it to video output res You have to do this in the other systems too afaik. After that there is also bilinear filtering you can turn off but the main problem is the resolution. The RetroPies config menus are not very fun :(
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: SignOfZeta on February 05, 2017, 03:52:43 PM
It's amazing how long we've been f*cking with this "%90 perfection" shit. 20 years basically. I don't know where people get the energy to spend building yet another not-quite-good-enough-to-actually-play shelf sitting tech demo.
I've basically given up on anything the Wii or OSX won't play and I'll just stick to old systems with games I can afford. It's a lot more fun than staring through a haze or trying to figure out if that audio weirdness is real or your imagination.
Recently both of my smaller CRTs have broken down and while I look for parts I'm running a very low end RF-only 19" for copying LDs and testing shit and whatever and honestly...it looks kinda low on color but it's SO much better than some f*cked up flat panel digital bullshit.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: ccovell on February 05, 2017, 05:46:58 PM
I share SignOfZeta's frustration. When emus / game boxes display on modern TVs, they seldom do the no-brainer: integer scaling. The only good, customizable examples of such I have seen recently have been (by sheer coincidence, I'm sure) FPGA-based complete systems (or NES PPU addons/replacements).
But I'm a CRT holdout who never got rid of all his '80s/'90s game systems, so I'm not a desirable customer, anyway...
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: bartre on February 05, 2017, 06:56:06 PM
It's amazing how long we've been f*cking with this "%90 perfection" shit. 20 years basically. I don't know where people get the energy to spend building yet another not-quite-good-enough-to-actually-play shelf sitting tech demo.
I've basically given up on anything the Wii or OSX won't play and I'll just stick to old systems with games I can afford. It's a lot more fun than staring through a haze or trying to figure out if that audio weirdness is real or your imagination.
Recently both of my smaller CRTs have broken down and while I look for parts I'm running a very low end RF-only 19" for copying LDs and testing shit and whatever and honestly...it looks kinda low on color but it's SO much better than some f*cked up flat panel digital bullshit.
I'll agree to this, I've got my PVM for my old shit, and my PC/modern displays for new stuff. granted, PS2 era stuff looks pretty damned good on a CRT or LCD style, but it's good to be flexible.
I had a night of Dreamcast with some coworkers at the bar not too long ago hooked up to a modern display via a framemeister and that was a pretty good time.
honestly as long as input delay isn't but 1-2 ms, i'm not too worried about it.
that said, if it CAN be eliminated, I'm all for it. I'm just not good enough at games to worry about it :P
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: elmer on February 06, 2017, 05:24:01 AM
Glad to hear it got a elmer thumbs up. I am duophilally biased to be hopeful this does well, and after a absolutely horrible retro pi sales pitch from a friend and recently added as arcade cabinet at the office, I can only hope this thing at least consistently displays games nicely.
That tretro pi my friend brought over and the one they installed in a Arcade cab at work, both look like dog doo, like worse than RF on a LCD.
My reaction is a little more complex than a thumbs-up, I'm afraid.
Their use of the RK3288 should deliver performance on-par with an RPi3 AFAIK. I *think* that the MALI GPU is a bit more powerful that the Broadcom unit in the RPi, but I don't know how much difference that'll make.
The point is that it's just another software-emulator-running-on-an-ARM box, probably running the same libretro cores, that RetroPie does.
The hybrid-emulation stuff that they're hyping still has to be explained ... but if they're just reading the ROM off of cartridge dynamically as they execute the emulator, then that would seemingly result in a lot of latency problems that would slow down the CPU and screw up the emulation.
It was notable that they didn't show anything running off of a cartridge at this weekend's show.
For me, if you're just going to run a software-emulator, then you can put together a much more powerful platform, that will run your emulator much better, if you just buy a cheap refurbished Dell Business computer and turn it into a dedicated emulator box.
http://www.dellrefurbished.com/
Dell Optiplex 7010 3.2GHz Quad-Core i5 with 4GB RAM & Win8Pro (downgradable to Win7, or just run linux). $180
Throw a $30 refurbished AMD 7570 GPU into the 1st one of those, and you've got a *really* nice little dedicated-emulator box.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Gredler on February 06, 2017, 06:26:45 AM
The moral I am gleening from this conversation is: Original hardware, or windows based full emulator box? I don't have a problem with that; I've always used windows machines for emulation, and have found every other emulation device to be inferior to a windows machine running typical emulators. The front end is not as fancy feeling, but the gameplay and emulation quality is as good as it's going to get.
I don't understand the retro pi obsession; it seems to suck? Has anyone here gotten a good quality across the board setup for one yet?
4. Turbo/PCE emulation... I wish I could share the bits of inside info is was given, but this is going to be something special. Better than any emulator currently available. Bigusly.
Catastrophy: Exclusive to Retroblox PCE 2018.
Broke the news first here, get your preorders in.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Necromancer on February 06, 2017, 07:10:43 AM
So far it's long on buzzwords and short on real capabilities and specifications. It smacks of the hype machine bullshit of the retrovgs, so I'll save my excitement for when they reveal something tangible.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: elmer on February 06, 2017, 07:58:59 AM
For tech savvy peeps, yes, there are inexpensive options for building a nice dedicated emu device... even without going the route of power thirsty PC hardware. I think retroblox will appeal more to gamers who aren't necessarily savvy with tech.
Certainly! There are plenty of companies and ideas that have been wildly successful, just by making something easier for folks. That's a good business strategy.
You're right, a PC uses a lot more electricity than an ARM-based system. But it's also a lot more capable. Is the electricity usage really a significant factor for folks?
When it comes to ease-of-installation, I get the concern, but don't forget that you've got things like "Lakka" already out there ... Lakka is a lightweight Linux distribution that transforms a small computer into a full blown game console.
Lakka is the official Linux distribution of RetroArch and the libretro ecosystem.
* Powerful
Built on top of the famous RetroArch emulator, Lakka is able to emulate a wide variety of systems and has some useful features such as automatic joypad recognition, rewinding, netplay, and shaders.
* User friendly
Lakka is easy to setup and use. Once installed on your SD card or USB flash drive, you just have to copy your ROMs on the device, power up the rig and plug your joypad and enjoy your favorite games.
* Low cost
We try our best to keep the hardware required to run Lakka as cheap as possible. The software is optimized to run fast even on low end computers, and we support a lot of USB joypads.
* Open source
Lakka is a community-driven project. Coders, designers and gamers, from all around the world, are working together to make it the Ultimate Emulation OS. Come and join us!
There are pre-made builds for the RPi and various other ARM boxes, and for PCs.
The moral I am gleening from this conversation is: Original hardware, or windows based full emulator box?
Everyone gets to make their own choice on that one! :wink:
There are other plug-in-your-old-carts ARM-based systems either available, or coming-soon.
It's up to these guys to show, in detail, why their system is the one to go for, and why folks should believe that they can make it, and make it well enough that it will last as long as all these old consoles that they're telling us are falling-apart.
Their choice of that slot-loading laptop CD drive doesn't exactly fill me with confidence.
Perhaps these guys *will* be the ones to do it right.
But when they've had this "big reveal" to let people know about the project, and then folks turn around and ask sensible questions as a follow up, about things that the team *should* already have decided by now, and the official answer is just "More will be revealed during our kickstarter next month." ... well ... that doesn't sound good.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: ccovell on February 06, 2017, 10:02:13 AM
But when they've had this "big reveal" to let people know about the project, and then folks turn around and ask sensible questions as a follow up, about things that the team *should* already have decided by now, and the official answer is just "More will be revealed during our kickstarter next month." ... well ... that doesn't sound good.
Yes, I think giving details early is like a "Rolling Start" in Daytona USA... best to start the Kickstarter with awareness of the product, rather than spin your tires when the KS begins.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: SignOfZeta on February 07, 2017, 10:22:15 AM
The problem with anything Linux whatsoever is that...basically I consider Linux evangelists liars. They always say it's soooooooooo easy that even a simpleton can do it but typing something out that's 100 characters with zero syntax flaws is already more difficult than anything most users have done with a computer in their lives. Most people don't even know "where stuff saves". In the opinion of a Linux advocate (and, it could be argued, reality) all users of a lower pay grade than them are simpletons and I think they sometimes forget that when they are proselytizing. A lot of us are way too dumb to do this kind of thing. Many more are too busy running our familiy business or putting our fires or fixing leaks or taking out the garbage in our daily jobs to spend as much time polishing our L337 micro as people in other walks of life do.
I know an "emulator and OS on a self install disc" *can* work and would be amazing, but I would bet money than the project was considered finished when it was only %95 good enough for the average user. I say this from being suckered into a night with Linux dozens of times in the past. Of course they have a GUI and its just like Windows but these f*ckers always...ALWAYS have me opening a shell and phoning a friend trying to bash some shit out. I refuse to touch anything Linux at this point. It's not a technical problem, it's a social one.
Additional software will be needed. Something with have to be compiled or converted. Nothing just...works with Linux unless your friend guides you through every single dumb step. I don't think people who understand what a "finished job" even is would be working with Linux to begin with.
What's that you say? This time it will be different?
f*ck off. You're a liar, just like the last guy. I'd rather spend all weekend trying to get a front loading NES to recognize a $1 game.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: elmer on February 07, 2017, 12:36:00 PM
I know an "emulator and OS on a self install disc" *can* work and would be amazing, but I would bet money than the project was considered finished when it was only %95 good enough for the average user. ... What's that you say? This time it will be different?
You're absolutely right. I sometimes (often) forget that a lot of the tech stuff that I find reasonably-easy, is total gobbledegook to most folks ... just like what a lot of other folks can do is totally gobbledegook to me.
There *is* a market for this thing if it's done well, lives up to its promises, and is *really* user-friendly.
Yes, I think giving details early is like a "Rolling Start" in Daytona USA... best to start the Kickstarter with awareness of the product, rather than spin your tires when the KS begins.
Absolutely, I totally agree.
I believe that's what they were trying to do.
Perhaps they believe that they have. Perhaps lots of people out there believe that they have.
So far it's long on buzzwords and short on real capabilities and specifications. It smacks of the hype machine bullshit of the retrovgs, so I'll save my excitement for when they reveal something tangible.
This seems like the best response.
They're giving out more info, slowly on their forum, and now have a list of machines that will be supported, together with the obligatory "but wait ... there's more!".
The buzzwords and hype are in full-force.
Meanwhile, the AtariAge Hater Brigade has been woken from its crypt, and is smelling fresh blood! :twisted:
IMHO, Nullity's friends should really hype less, and show more.
If what they're saying has any deep foundation in truth, then what they've achieved is technically impressive, and pretty revolutionary, and it's not like some competitor is going to come out of nowhere and clone it all in 2 months before the KickStarter.
When folks promise something that seems to be too-good-to-be-true, it usually is.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: elmer on February 07, 2017, 12:57:42 PM
The point is that it's just another software-emulator-running-on-an-ARM box, probably running the same libretro cores, that RetroPie does.
The hybrid-emulation stuff that they're hyping still has to be explained ... but if they're just reading the ROM off of cartridge dynamically as they execute the emulator, then that would seemingly result in a lot of latency problems that would slow down the CPU and screw up the emulation.
On their forum they're now claiming that they're not just using existing emulators, because those weren't suitable to run with their hybrid-emulation technology.
OK, that's good to hear, and makes perfect sense. They're obviously not completely full-of-sh*it.
But then they say that they've written their own suite of emulators, from scratch. With a small team. In approximately a year (I guess, given the timing). When they have day-jobs.
That's less plausible. Definitely possible, with enough dedication, but less ... plausible.
It definitely puts the onus on them to actually show that this stuff works, and works well.
Their whole product is no longer an evolutionary step that is built on existing and proven hardware and software.
It's a different ballpark now, and it's up to them to show if they really do have something "revolutionary", or whether they're just full-of-sh*t after all.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: jtucci31 on February 07, 2017, 01:15:25 PM
Recently both of my smaller CRTs have broken down and while I look for parts I'm running a very low end RF-only 19" for copying LDs and testing shit and whatever and honestly...it looks kinda low on color but it's SO much better than some f*cked up flat panel digital bullshit.
I never thought I'd ever really have to worry about not having a CRT to play old games on, but with Goodwill not accepting them anymore it's going to get harder and harder faster than we know it.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Gredler on February 08, 2017, 03:42:25 AM
I never thought I'd ever really have to worry about.. it's going to get harder and harder faster than we know it.
That's what I said, to her.
In all honesty, I can't say much about what I know either but I think I can safely say the people behind this project art not approaching it as part time hobbyists
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: SignOfZeta on February 08, 2017, 03:45:07 AM
Recently both of my smaller CRTs have broken down and while I look for parts I'm running a very low end RF-only 19" for copying LDs and testing shit and whatever and honestly...it looks kinda low on color but it's SO much better than some f*cked up flat panel digital bullshit.
I never thought I'd ever really have to worry about not having a CRT to play old games on, but with Goodwill not accepting them anymore it's going to get harder and harder faster than we know it.
I'm %100 confident I'll have CRTs for the next 20 years if not the rest of my life. You won't be able to pick perfectly functional $2500 Wegas at the curb all day but Jesus, that's obviously not going to last forever.
I'll learn to fix the things and find the parts I guess. I have a local repair guy but he gives up easy. I need to find another place. I also need to learn about making flybacks fit into machines they weren't designed for. The transformer in my JVC pro monitor died a while back and new ones aren't easy to get...
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Gredler on February 08, 2017, 04:47:47 AM
I grabbed a free 36" FD Trinitron about a year back, and have been meaning to learn how to adjust the yolk to fix geometry and color alignment issues, but am to much of a nullity to nut up and mess with it.
I agree though, I think we have a bit of time left before CRT's are completely unavailable I imagine the supply will shrink in size both per unit scale and number of units available out there equally. The larger ones, as Zeta pointed out, will fade away first I imagine.
I do think the enthusiast market will keep them available beyond the cheap/free status they have now for a very long time too.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: SignOfZeta on February 08, 2017, 08:50:51 AM
I like what they are saying about "hybrid emulation". Not the part about how it's "completely new" since by definition nothing hybrid is completely new. I like that physical carts have direct memory/bus access. Actual advantages are probably minute but in theory...
I don't like that it's as locked down as any other console.
If it comes out and earns a good rep I'll look into it. Paying $200 to play PlayStation and PCE games when I can already do this with a pile of stuff I already have and is barely worth that much to begin with doesn't make a lot of sense.
Like, if you are playing real SNES carts then the basic SNES does a pretty ace job of that. I kinda need more features I don't already have.
Unlike the VGS, which was seemed stupid from the first minute, I'm open minded at the moment.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: SignOfZeta on February 08, 2017, 10:42:31 AM
Ask him why they won't just say "PlayStation" when they use terms like Sega CD, SNES, and even now PSOne.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: sirhcman on February 08, 2017, 10:49:33 AM
They say that they'll demonstrate it at a couple of events *before* the KickStarter, where folks can just bring along any-old-cartridge to run on it (VERY, VERY GOOD IDEA!).
If they can do that, then I'll agree that they've proved that it works, and my hat will be off to them.
But ... it's going to be locked-down, with an encrypted SD-card that will only run stuff that you directly rip yourself on the console, and carts that include expansion-chips (StarFox, etc), will always need to be physically inserted in order to run.
No installing downloaded ROMs or ISO images.
So they're avoiding the issue of piracy, and just punting it downstream to the Reproduction guys like Tobias.
The pricing bar has been set by their own comparision ...
Quote from: RetroBlox
We’re not confirming prices today, but we can tell you that RetroBlox, including 1 Element Module and controller, will be much less than a base Nintendo Switch, and additional Element Modules will vary in cost depending on complexity (both software and hardware), but won’t cost any more than a new video game. The final pricing will be announced before the launch of the Kickstarter Campaign in April.
So, I'm guessing that means $250-$299 for the base unit+1 module+controller, and $60 for each additional module.
I hope that's what folks are looking for.
For myself, it offers *me* little advantage over owning real hardware and a CRT, or just using an emulator running on a PC.
Anyone that's interested in the same basic hardware, but without the cartridge-slots or the lockdown, should be able to buy one of these in a few weeks (for $70) ...
Good point, how-on-earth did I miss that post??? :oops:
As I said, they've actually come up with a bunch of good information there, answered a lot of questions, and promised to show it running stuff *before* the KickStarter.
Good stuff!!! :clap:
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Black Tiger on February 08, 2017, 12:16:24 PM
I grabbed a free 36" FD Trinitron about a year back, and have been meaning to learn how to adjust the yolk to fix geometry and color alignment issues, but am to much of a nullity to nut up and mess with it.
Do you have the controller with it? If so you can enter the "factory" or "technician" mode and correct a lot of it that way. I fixed a bunch of issues on my 32".
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: elmer on February 08, 2017, 01:19:56 PM
I'll have DoxPhile chat open if anyone wants to stop by with questions. I won't have all the answers (either through ignorance or verbal NDA) but I did get some interesting info.
Here's one for you ...
Since they adamantly don't want to support piracy by allowing you to put your own ROM images onto the system ... how are they expecting you to get a Playstation BIOS, or Sega CD BIOS, or PCE System Card image onto the system???
Are real-hardware PCE owners now going to be expected to fight against RetroBlox owners for a dwindling supply of Arcade Card DUO & PRO cards???
Even if it's possible for us PCE folks, how are the Sega CD & Playstation folks supposed to handle it???
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: sirhcman on February 08, 2017, 01:31:32 PM
Doesn't that rather depend upon who buys the RetroBlox, and why?
Isn't it tailor-made for folks that want to run *real* cartridges and *real* CDs on a piece of hardware.
Is that the same crowd that have a pre-loaded TurboEverdrive on hand?
For anyone that doesn't have a PCE already, are you saying that newcomers would expect to buy a RetroBlox (with SNES Module, probably), and then pay another $60 for the PCE Element Module, and then expect to have to go out an buy a $80 TurboEverdrive, too?
Even if they do ... what about the Sega CD and Playstation?
I'm ignorant here. I know that both of those have BIOSs on board. ... ... But are those BIOSs not needed during gameplay? It's a serious question, I just don't know.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: SamIAm on February 08, 2017, 02:26:40 PM
I'm ignorant here. I know that both of those have BIOSs on board. ... ... But are those BIOSs not needed during gameplay? It's a serious question, I just don't know.
As someone who had no idea what is really going on under the hood, I think that the answer is "sometimes".
Magic Engine has its own substitute bios, although it doesn't work as well as a real one (which it gives you the option to set).
I know I've played a Saturn emulator that didn't need a bios, although again, many problems were solved by providing one.
The only way that this Retro-whatever could be legit, without obtaining permission to use the bioses anyway, would be for the developers to roll their own for each system. Even if they could manage it, this would seem to bring down the likelihood of accurate emulation significantly.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: elmer on February 08, 2017, 03:21:28 PM
Poor answer ... you just sidestepped the question. [-X
As SamIAm pointed out, the "substitute" BIOSs provided with emulators are typically cr*p, with lots of problems.
How are folks supposed to get a real-and-working original BIOS into the RetroBlox console?
Or are you telling me that after every other emulator-author has come up with a lousy substitute-BIOS after years of work, that your guys have suddenly created 100% compatible ones, along with everything else that they've done, all in the last year-and-a-bit?
'cmon ... their posts today have been good news, and on the right track to shutting down the Hater Brigade.
I've got a good theory of what they've done technically, and I can see that it *could* be a real improvement over the existing emulators.
Don't mess up my semi-happy feelings with evasions. :lol:
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Punch on February 08, 2017, 07:02:47 PM
I overreacted but I'm still unconvinced by this whole thing. Guess it's a wait and see situation.
The BIOS question is a very good one but if I recall correctly the PSx emulator (which is an accurate one) doesn't need a BIOS dump file to work at all. There's probably a decent way to do it... and didn't most games patch the BIOS in RAM at runtime anyway? I'm pretty sure that other consoles are going to need actual dumps to work though. The PCE side of things can get away with demanding an actual syscard in the console... which is kinda annoying for people who don't have one.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Dicer on February 09, 2017, 01:41:31 AM
This thing seems like an overly complicated hassle, blah blah blah protect copyright blah blah blah...I get that but in the end a person can go get a pi for the cheap and setup a competent emulation box for a fraction and with much less headache. I'm not seeing the benefit of this so far.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Necromancer on February 09, 2017, 01:42:18 AM
But ... it's going to be locked-down, with an encrypted SD-card that will only run stuff that you directly rip yourself on the console, and carts that include expansion-chips (StarFox, etc), will always need to be physically inserted in order to run.
No installing downloaded ROMs or ISO images.
That sucks. I'd rather not waste days dumping and ripping hundreds of games.
The pricing bar has been set by their own comparision ...
Quote from: RetroBlox
We’re not confirming prices today, but we can tell you that RetroBlox, including 1 Element Module and controller, will be much less than a base Nintendo Switch, and additional Element Modules will vary in cost depending on complexity (both software and hardware), but won’t cost any more than a new video game. The final pricing will be announced before the launch of the Kickstarter Campaign in April.
So, I'm guessing that means $250-$299 for the base unit+1 module+controller, and $60 for each additional module.
They also dismissed the Retro Freak and its support of a dozen different systems as forcing you to pay for functionality that you don't need if you only want to play games on a couple different systems. If your price estimates are accurate, they made a stupid comparison.
You could always just rip them as you play them. I don't really see any benefit (or fun) in pre-ripping all those games, especially since it probably won't take but a few seconds per cart.
If I bought one of these, it'd be hooked to the LCD in the living room (not in the game room) and taken to other people's homes, so the benefit would be in not having to move around my games.
Also, there is no retro emubox thing out there today that has built in support for capturing screenshots/videos and streaming on twitch. At least not that I'm aware of. So comparing the base unit to Retro Freak or Retron isn't exactly apples to apples.
I agree. Being honest that the Retro Freak supports more platforms for (maybe) similar cost but is missing wireless pad support, is limited to 720p instead of 1080p, lacks a disc drive, etc. would've been a far better answer from them.
You won't need to use any system cards of any kind with Retroblox, so isn't this moot?
They've not said explicitly that it supports Arcade Card games, so how would I know? Similarly, there's no word on how or if it'll support Games Express games or the various games that have system card incompatibilities.
Maybe they've built a brand new system card bios that'll do all of the above with 100% compatibility, but I'll believe it when I see it.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: SignOfZeta on February 09, 2017, 08:52:54 AM
Wait...you're saying it *won't* dump games from a flash card? How does it know and what kind of bullshit is that?
What's happened here you see is that all the conventional means of copy protections digital and analog have all been defeated so consoles that were designed to be "closed" are essentially now as open as any PC was in the 80s.
Well, this thing seems like it will fix THAT f*cking problem.
The more we talk about this the more I realize they've taken a very big bite. I hope they can chew it. The BIOS question seems insurmountable. With non-obey systems that don't have their disc OS on a cart especially. You can:
1) reverse engineer a good one
2) license the real one
Both seem unrealistic in the case of Sega CD. Bleam didn't use a real PS BIOS but it was also custom written on a game by game basis, IIRC. They were also sued out of business by Sony, who lost every judgement but killed them with legal costs.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: SignOfZeta on February 09, 2017, 10:36:45 AM
Ah, yeah.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: GaijinD on February 10, 2017, 07:09:22 PM
Bleam didn't use a real PS BIOS but it was also custom written on a game by game basis, IIRC.
No, it was general purpose, though I don't remember how good the compatibility was. I want to say I had problems with some games, but it's been a long time.
You were probably thinking of Bleemcast, the Dreamcast version that did have multiple releases, each customized to a particular game. I had an actual PlayStation by that point, so I never tried any of them.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: SignOfZeta on February 11, 2017, 07:19:26 AM
Bleamcast is really impressive. The kind of thing we take for granted nowadays, emulation of polygonal stuff massively upgraded in resolution and overall smoothness thanks to newer hardware. I have the MGS one. The disc has some of the most insane custom etching and weird copyright protection I've ever even.
What I meant regarding Bleam was that their BIOS was legal but bad and needed to be constantly fixed one game at a time to increase compatibility. This is what I vaguely remember.
I remember Neo Geo emulation being like that at some point.
My point is that if you can't use a real one and they aren't going to license the real one then we can look forward to "game compatibility" being in increased incrementally over subsequent releases and frankly that kind of shit is why I play old games in the first place. :)
Bleam didn't use a real PS BIOS but it was also custom written on a game by game basis, IIRC.
No, it was general purpose, though I don't remember how good the compatibility was. I want to say I had problems with some games, but it's been a long time.
You were probably thinking of Bleemcast, the Dreamcast version that did have multiple releases, each customized to a particular game. I had an actual PlayStation by that point, so I never tried any of them.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: GaijinD on February 11, 2017, 08:22:05 AM
What I meant regarding Bleam was that their BIOS was legal but bad and needed to be constantly fixed one game at a time to increase compatibility. This is what I vaguely remember.
I remember Neo Geo emulation being like that at some point.
Ah, okay. I can't say I remember, but it's a general pattern for emulators, so you're probably right. The deciding factor today is probably how well documented the BIOS features are. With enough reverse engineering already done, it may be relatively easy to put together a working replacement. I'm pretty sure Bleem! was starting from scratch.
Since you mentioned it, now I'm remembering NeoRage taking a half-hour to load KoF '97, before it even had sound. I actually thought it didn't work, since it'd go to a black screen with no indication that it was doing anything. It wasn't until one day where I had to walk away from my computer and came back later to find the game running that I realized it just took a long time to start up.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: sirhcman on February 18, 2017, 06:14:50 AM
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: KnightWarrior on February 18, 2017, 04:43:37 PM
You know people going to fund this right?
I really hope this blows up in there faces
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: bob on February 18, 2017, 04:45:28 PM
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: KnightWarrior on February 18, 2017, 05:08:39 PM
There just cashing in the Retro-Hype
Title: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: esteban on February 19, 2017, 01:06:06 AM
I will admit that I am much more interested in this project now.
I went from 100% skeptical ---> hmmm, this could be a good thing.
FLAWS: I see the entire concept of pulling out and swapping modules as cumbersome. But, I think I might change my mind on this...
We need more details on SoC/emulation or whatever...
------
Obviously, the fact that the CD-ROM drive is in the base unit = awesome, since everyone will have access (not an upgrade).
However, I do worry about the build quality of the CD drive....hopefully it will remain reliable and functioning in a few years? To cut costs, using cheap mechanical components will be incredibly tempting for the design team.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: elmer on March 09, 2017, 03:56:27 AM
5 weeks since this whole thing was announced, and the team has been very quiet for 4 of those weeks.
Does anyone else feel like the buzz and excitement that the RetroBlox guys generated in the first week has just been allowed to slowly drain away?
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Necromancer on March 09, 2017, 04:13:32 AM
Yeah, they need a lesson in hype.
Where's the cardboard pcbs? Where's the pci dvr card stuffed in a clear shell? C'mon, guys, get with the program! :mrgreen:
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: SignOfZeta on March 09, 2017, 04:24:44 AM
Personally, I have no interest in hype. I can't imagine why anyone who isn't making money off it would.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: elmer on March 09, 2017, 04:59:38 AM
They are alive and kicking. Can't really say more than that but there should be an update soon.
There are still a lot of unanswered questions that the guys need to clear up.
Quote
I did a video chat with Bryan last month and he showed me the prototype playing a Keith Courage cart playing in the PCE element module. It could have been an elaborate rouse but I kind of doubt it. :)
A video like that would be really helpful to show.
They've *got* to show the thing playing cartridges, that's the main unique-selling-point of their technology.
Our PCE has one of the simpler cartridge interfaces around on consoles.
But showing that running will start to show the potential power of their system.
The thing that will *really* start to convince folks is going to be seeing some video of those hard-to-emulate SNES cartridges with co-processors.
And by that, I mean video clearly showing that the cartridge images haven't been preloaded onto the system.
If they can do that, then I expect that they'll easily get their crowdfunding.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Black Tiger on March 09, 2017, 05:55:03 AM
Don't you need a working prototype for kickstarter? If so, they'll have to include footage of it performing. They're probably working on their promo video right now.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: SignOfZeta on March 09, 2017, 07:18:14 AM
A "working prototype" doesn't have to be a fully functional thing in practice or theory. If it kinda played Mario Bros it would satisfy that criteria.
I donated to the Kite Patch (mosquito repellent) project years and years ago and it's still not done because it's new medical technology and that needs major research and regulation to work.
They did send me a sample spray last year that works really well, still no patch.
Maybe these guys will send you a Gameboy in six years. That's kinda all a Kickstarter is supposed to be. I agree with the DoxPhile guy, the specter of VGS hangs over every similar project now and we are now asking as much of five man teams as we ask from Sony.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Groover on March 18, 2017, 06:36:40 PM
This seems like so much vaporware. This is a long way from reality. I hope it is great and comes out but I will wait until it is a real product for sale. Also it will choke more the sale of CD games.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: elmer on March 19, 2017, 07:34:37 AM
Apart from some of the crazier members of the tinfoil-hat brigade, who are already spewing ill-thought-out random hate, most folks that I see are just skeptical, and are patiently waiting for more information.
a group of people demoing something they made well before asking for crowd funding for the manufacture of an actual product.
This is what the skeptics want ... some actual demos of what the team have put together, so that they can get some idea of how much has been done (promises-backed-by-verifiable-reality) and how much is still left to do (promises-backed-by-hopes-and-dreams).
Your peeps don't have to do much, except be open and honest ... which would seem like a good policy when you're going to be asking for people's money up-front.
Their silence for the last month doesn't give people a good impression, and doesn't make it look like they've got their act together and really do have a "manufacture ready" product.
Perhaps they do.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Gypsy on March 19, 2017, 07:43:41 AM
I think Elmer is spot on here. Most rational people are just taking a wait and see approach.
I certainly would never give them a dime of money before any product exists, but if it turns out to be a decent product capable of performing the job of multiple disc based systems, then that is appealing for a lot of reasons.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Groover on March 19, 2017, 01:00:51 PM
@nullity
I'm still not convinced but they don't have to convince me until it is out for sale. I'm just not going to get excited and I'm taking a wait and see approach.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: elmer on March 21, 2017, 06:13:25 AM
nullity:
Your peeps really need to pay some attention to their forum.
Having someone post an "Is the Project Dead?" thread is bad enough, but having a guy post this in response is worse ...
Quote
2017-03-21 at 4:18 AM Foefan
It’s not dead. The team is currently under a legal embargo so they legally can not put out an update or even answer questions about the console. All they can say is that they are still working on it and that they are in a legal battle.
Legal battle??? RetroBlox is being sued???
That's not a good rumor for them to allow to spread ... unless it's true, of course.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Gredler on March 21, 2017, 06:35:40 AM
That's not a good rumor for them to allow to spread ... unless it's true, of course.
I think the verbiage is confusing, and that random person posting that is not helping. There is a lot of back channel communication about their product.
*I think* they have a parent funding company, and I imagine they are NDA'ing the thing hard, which is what "legal embargo" *probably* means, and this person has worded it in a way that makes it sound litigious
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: elmer on March 21, 2017, 07:19:42 AM
The RetroBlox post last week just made it sound like they were in the middle of negotiating some deals, and were probably under NDA.
I suspected that this "foefan" guy just misinterpreted that.
He really should be corrected on the forum, even if the guys still don't want to say what is going on just yet.
I wouldn't be entirely surprised if one of the many trademarked users of the word "blox" wanted to have a word with your guys. :wink:
But I'm hoping that what they're really trying to do is to properly license things like the Playstation, Sega CD and PCE System Card BIOSes.
If they actually pulled that off, then the whole project would get a huge boost in credibility.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Gredler on March 21, 2017, 07:36:05 AM
Admittedly, I hadn't thought about that... If this device is going to play ISOs as well that's all fine and dandy, but well, I don't know about you, but I already play both PCE CD ISOs and Sega CD ISOs on my Wii ;3
Also wii is only upscaling to 480p, this thing hopefully will upscale nicely to whatever tv you're using.
I do want to try to mod my wii, I recently got a broken one that was just dirty or something works fine for me, so I kinda want to try to mod it. Can you pm me links on how is the best way so I don't have to trudge through the shady corners of the world wide webs?
https://please.hackmii.com
You need the Wii's MAC address and an SD card, that website does all the bundling and downloading work for you. After that you plug the SD card with the files on it into your Wii, open the 'letterbomb' in your messages, and follow the steps on screen. Once that's good grab all the emulators you want from wiibrew and you're good to go! A $4 Wii2HDMI adapter from AliExpress is a personal recommendation of mine if you're running on an HDTV and not a CRT though, cleaner 480p image than component in my experience.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: elmer on May 30, 2017, 04:04:52 AM
Quote from: POLYMEGA
Please note: This is a technical / educational post, so if you’re looking for juicy new tidbits of info on the console itself – you’ll need to wait until next week!
Wake me when they say something that is actually interesting.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Gypsy on May 30, 2017, 04:12:43 AM
Oh so no actual info just a bunch of bs and buzz words.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: SignOfZeta on May 30, 2017, 04:58:20 AM
Please note: This is a technical / educational post, so if you’re looking for juicy new tidbits of info on the console itself – you’ll need to wait until next week!
Wake me when they say something that is actually interesting.
No shit! A massive screed about how to overthink a name is not much of an update.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Dicer on May 30, 2017, 08:12:23 AM
The classic "we have nothing but we need to give them something" update...
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Necromancer on May 30, 2017, 08:47:25 AM
"Just give us money. We'll figure out the specs later!"
Sound familiar? :mrgreen:
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Gredler on May 30, 2017, 09:13:55 AM
They've asked for money? How much are they asking? I am curious about this but would hope to hear specs before I heard the price haha
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Necromancer on May 30, 2017, 09:39:54 AM
They've not said much of anything, really.
But I should've been more clear in my previous post. I meant it in response to your comment that "hopefully the technical info will be covered in such detail when it is released"; as in it's possible that they don't give technical details even when the kickstarter launches. Considering the amount of hype and lack of substantive info. surrounding the project thus far (not unlike a certain chameleon), it wouldn't surprise me at all.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: elmer on May 30, 2017, 10:45:25 AM
$78 including case and power supply, from an internationally-known manufacturer.
Sure ... the RetroBlox POLYMEGA will offer an immediate out-of-the-box experience (if it ships), but it'll be basically the same ARM-emulation at the end of the day. And it will be DRM-protected, and not run ROMs.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Gredler on May 30, 2017, 10:48:46 AM
It can run Roms from flash carts... They just won't have access to all of the big features like a physical cart would.
Wait.... what? Are you saying it'll detect flash carts and gimp how they work compared to real hueys?
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Gredler on May 30, 2017, 11:36:40 AM
I think I remember them mentioning something about backing up carts, adding manuals or labels or something based on the carts, or downloading cheats? I am getting more curious about it after hearing it will play flash carts, but will it load roms from SD cards?
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Black Tiger on May 30, 2017, 11:44:00 AM
How can a "repro" console "elevate retro games to a new level" if it can't do everything that the consoles it's pretending to be can do?
You save much more space and time with a handful of consoles plus flashcarts than a single repro console and thousands of carts + hundreds of pricey repro carts required just to run any kind of fan translation or even the simplest of hacks.
Unless this thing retails for $50, I don't see what kind of market it could target other than casuals who don't plan on ever buying more than one or two games for any of the supported platforms. But that would still defeat the whole point of a device that lets you plug physical games into it.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Gredler on May 30, 2017, 12:52:42 PM
Still waiting to hear about online play, so I can get worked over by Arkhan and Dark Kobold at the same time.
Double team supreme
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: elmer on May 30, 2017, 01:13:27 PM
Thanks for the link to that ASUS board, what OS can you put on that thing? I will start researching it, looks rad.
It's the same CPU, running at the same speed, with the same ... everything really, as the original RetroBlox prototype that they showed. The huge difference is that it doesn't come with the cartridge slots and controller ports build into it.
Most folks can just buy cheap USB-to-whateverjoypad adapters if they care ... or someone could wire up the I/O pins on the Tinker Board and write a driver ... just like nullity's peeps have done.
As for the OS, it runs a customized version of Debian linux if you need to use it's 4K HD video-playback hardware, or you can run a more-standard Debian distribution and run whatever you like on it, such as RetroArch and all of its emulators.
The RetroArch guys are working on adding support for it to their stand-alone Lakka operating-system-plus-emulators-and-do-everything-out-of-the-box ... but it's not there quite yet.
The point is ... it's open, it's supported, it's fixable, but you're actually going to have to read some web pages to get it working.
The POLYMEGA promises to be a closed-environment one-stop-shop solution for something that's basically-the-same-but-may-be-better.
We really don't know at this point.
You can probably tell from my language, which basic approach I personally prefer ... but that's not important.
The critical question (IMHO), is whether these guys can actually pull off what they promising. If so, then there are potentially a lot of people who would be happy with this.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: ClodBuster on May 30, 2017, 06:07:05 PM
If I want to play original cartridges on my PC, I just plug in my Retrode cartridge reader in one of the USB ports. Reads SNES and Genesis right from the start as well as reads/writes SaveRAM, and has two ports for both SNES and Genesis controllers built in. With adaptors, I can even load GB, N64 and Master System cartridges, the N64 one features two N64 controller ports as well.
I know some people build prototype adaptors for Hucards and NES carts, and there's support for them in the Retrode firmware.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: GohanX on May 31, 2017, 02:09:24 AM
$78 including case and power supply, from an internationally-known manufacturer.
Sure ... the RetroBlox POLYMEGA will offer an immediate out-of-the-box experience (if it ships), but it'll be basically the same ARM-emulation at the end of the day. And it will be DRM-protected, and not run ROMs.
I'm now more interested in this Tinkerboard than the Polymega.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Dicer on May 31, 2017, 08:44:35 AM
So minus CD's the Retro-freak will continue to be the de-facto machine if you want an all-in-one games compatible device?
Seems that's the vibe I am getting anyway.
Once retro-poly-whatever went to secure proper bios'es and crap the drm was assured, and sorry but not being able to pop my current streamlined rom collection over with my legit hard owned copies all at once is big ass deal breaker for myself, and assuredly plenty of others.
Oh well, it sounded kinda neat, but as i have said all along, this was never gonna go very far.
I could still be proven wrong, but that opportunity is closing quickly.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: bob on June 02, 2017, 09:41:16 AM
people seem to care way too much about this thing (one way or the other). majors has a buddy that summed it up perfectly when we were talking about tobias shit, and it kind of applies here too. "These arent being made for people who know anything about this stuff".
i mean, good for them if they make it and sell a few, but exerting any energy on reverse-engineering the insides of essentially nothing is a waste of time. accusing them of stealing anything or how it compares to other knock off systems is pointless. if you think its a dumb idea or want to feel like you "figured it out", then just move along.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Dicer on June 02, 2017, 10:24:37 AM
people seem to care way too much about this thing (one way or the other). majors has a buddy that summed it up perfectly when we were talking about tobias shit, and it kind of applies here too. "These arent being made for people who know anything about this stuff".
i mean, good for them if they make it and sell a few, but exerting any energy on reverse-engineering the insides of essentially nothing is a waste of time. accusing them of stealing anything or how it compares to other knock off systems is pointless. if you think its a dumb idea or want to feel like you "figured it out", then just move along.
Harboring the "only post if you have something good to say" mentality isn't good, at all...
We should be allowed to discuss/debate any topic that comes along, it is a discussion forum after all, if I was carefully curtailed thoughts and a have mind I'll apply for another NEOGAF account.
That said I didn't try to be negative about this product, I just say the direction it was taking a mile back and promptly pumped the brakes, there is a slim chance something good could still happen but I don't see it coming over the horizon.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: bob on June 02, 2017, 11:38:41 AM
people seem to care way too much about this thing (one way or the other). majors has a buddy that summed it up perfectly when we were talking about tobias shit, and it kind of applies here too. "These arent being made for people who know anything about this stuff".
i mean, good for them if they make it and sell a few, but exerting any energy on reverse-engineering the insides of essentially nothing is a waste of time. accusing them of stealing anything or how it compares to other knock off systems is pointless. if you think its a dumb idea or want to feel like you "figured it out", then just move along.
Harboring the "only post if you have something good to say" mentality isn't good, at all...
We should be allowed to discuss/debate any topic that comes along, it is a discussion forum after all, if I was carefully curtailed thoughts and a have mind I'll apply for another NEOGAF account.
That said I didn't try to be negative about this product, I just say the direction it was taking a mile back and promptly pumped the brakes, there is a slim chance something good could still happen but I don't see it coming over the horizon.
ha, my response wasnt directed specifically at you. i'm just sayin. and its not a "post only if you have something good" angle i was going after. im just surprised lots of people care this much about it. its amusing how people have jumped all over what is essentially a concept with prototype. at this point it doesnt really matter what the innards are since they prob arent final.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Gredler on June 06, 2017, 09:34:15 AM
Was fun to check out, worked really well from what we tried, still curious to learn more - but outlook is positive given what I was shown.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: rrob78 on June 06, 2017, 10:00:52 AM
Was fun to check out, worked really well from what we tried, still curious to learn more - but outlook is positive given what I was shown.
Same here, got to play some PC Engine Street Fighter II Turbo, little to no lag with the physical hucard in the system. I was impressed, was digging the crt & rgb filters.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: SignOfZeta on June 06, 2017, 10:49:52 AM
I was hoping to get some tech info to share, but the tech info I got isn't sharable. I can say that after being hands-on with the system, it is as slick and responsive as this video shows...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHhRP6KOLxE We loaded carts and CDs (even for the new mystery console) and everything worked great. I can never say anything that will satisfy those who think the console is rigged to simulate loading from cart but really loading from ROM, but what I saw satisfied my curiosity.
Also, this talk of the prototype being fake is bogus. They had one slick injection molded shell with battery powered lights as a display piece to show what the finished product looks like, then they had a fully functional prototype in a project box of mostly the same dimensions but without all the fancy finishings. Both of these were at the con where they showed it (prge I think?)... Why Pat said the prototype was an empty box is beyond me... And why people took it as gospel is equally mystifying.
Edit:. Apparently Pat was misquoted as saying the prototype was an empty shell, and critics ran with it.
I guess I'm not in the market for this thing. I skimmed through that slooooooooooooow time buying video and I'm already sick of the whole vibe.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: elmer on June 06, 2017, 11:19:13 AM
On the positive side, they're showing that they've done a lot more real work than the RetroVGS guys ever did.
But ...
<YAWN> Any new information? ... nope. <BACK-TO-SLEEP>
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: GohanX on June 06, 2017, 01:37:44 PM
That interface looks pretty slick. They have by attention.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: SignOfZeta on June 06, 2017, 03:08:55 PM
Kinda reminds me of my friends hacked XBox, over a decade ago.
Who buy these things again? The further they get into development the more pointless they seem since...you know, Windows exists and $400 PCs the size of a sandwich are commonplace, redumping your own carts is a waste of electricity since we've all had complete ROM sets for 15 years, etc.
I think people are running out of things to spend their money on, personally.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Gypsy on June 06, 2017, 03:30:42 PM
Kinda reminds me of my friends hacked XBox, over a decade ago.
Who buy these things again? The further they get into development the more pointless they seem since...you know, Windows exists and $400 PCs the size of a sandwich are commonplace, redumping your own carts is a waste of electricity since we've all had complete ROM sets for 15 years, etc.
I think people are running out of things to spend their money on, personally.
The same guy that has bought every dumb clone system so far and needs another. Really though, your last line rings true.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Michirin9801 on June 06, 2017, 03:50:38 PM
Kinda reminds me of my friends hacked XBox, over a decade ago.
Who buy these things again? The further they get into development the more pointless they seem since...you know, Windows exists and $400 PCs the size of a sandwich are commonplace, redumping your own carts is a waste of electricity since we've all had complete ROM sets for 15 years, etc.
I think people are running out of things to spend their money on, personally.
My point from way back in the beginning of this thread exactly... Like, I've since accepted that this is for the people who want to play using their physical copies of their games but without having to hook up every single console to their TV and have a mess of wires, and have to keep hooking and unhooking everything all the time, but personally, I'm fine just using my hacked Wii to play almost everything that I want, and using my PC for whatever doesn't have a good emulator available for the Wii, such as the X68000 and the PC-98 for example, and honestly, I'd recommend a similar setup for anyone's living room, be it a Wii, Xbox, Raspberry Pi or whatever else you can hook up to your TV and install emulators on, there's nothing more convenient than that... I get that you guys love your physical copies and stuff, but I'd think the point of having them is playing them on the system they were made for, but eh, your copies, you do what you want with them...
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: roflmao on June 06, 2017, 06:09:25 PM
Yeah, I really don't get the allure to this. It looks like it's going to be relatively pricy, and I think my $35 Raspberry Pi can do everything it can. Granted, it's got a pretty sweet interface, but I've gotten used to what the Pi has, and can change it if I'm so inclined.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Necromancer on June 07, 2017, 03:14:43 AM
You can say that $35 pi is the same thing as soon as it comes with a case, cartridge slot, cd-rom drive, controller, and works right out of the box without you having to f*ck around with it.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: elmer on June 07, 2017, 04:01:56 AM
You can say that $35 pi is the same thing as soon as it comes with a case, cartridge slot, cd-rom drive, controller, and works right out of the box without you having to f*ck around with it.
Yep, assuming that the POLYMEGA really does all they claim, and does it legally, I can certainly see some people buying it.
It doesn't make any sense to *me* why people would want to actually go out and buy real old physical games to run on a fake emulated console ... but to each his own.
I assume that their real plan is to be the middleman for digital sales of legal DRM-protected downloads of old games. That seems like the only thing that makes much sense to me.
Again, for people with no technical skills, but with a love for old games, I can see that that might work.
For as long as their POLYMEGA works without breaking, anyway.
That module system looks fragile, and those laptop CD drives don't exactly have a good rep for longevity.
Big manufacturers have large budgets, and teams or companies that they can go to for the experience of making solid consumer products that don't break.
These guys have a 3D printer and a history of software development.
Perhaps they've managed to team-up with someone reputable who has history ... that might change things.
But then, why run a crowdfunding campaign for initial sales?
I guess that we'll find out more during E3 next week. That seems likely to be when they plan their big <yawn> announcement.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: SignOfZeta on June 07, 2017, 04:12:59 AM
You can say that $35 pi is the same thing as soon as it comes with a case, cartridge slot, cd-rom drive, controller, and works right out of the box without you having to f*ck around with it.
I agree totally, but just running Windows emulators is pretty easy and the whole dumping your own carts thing, except for the ability to continue your saves across platforms, is pretty much totally f*cking pointless.
We've all been doing this for AGES on PCs for free. It's weird to me that this became an industry (or mostly jank products) so many years later.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: roflmao on June 07, 2017, 04:34:53 AM
You can say that $35 pi is the same thing as soon as it comes with a case, cartridge slot, cd-rom drive, controller, and works right out of the box without you having to f*ck around with it.
Ha! It does pretty much work right out of the box without having to tinker with it: https://retropie.org.uk/ Chances are good you already have a controller that'll work with it and the cartridge slot/cd drive is essentially meaningless since they're both doing emulation anyway.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Necromancer on June 07, 2017, 04:49:04 AM
You don't have to care about features that don't interest you, but it's patently false to say a $35 pi has the exact same capabilities.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: roflmao on June 07, 2017, 05:35:48 AM
You don't have to care about features that don't interest you, but it's patently false to say a $35 pi has the exact same capabilities.
You're right. A Raspberry Pi 3 is far more capable than a Polymega. :D
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Gredler on June 07, 2017, 06:15:19 AM
I like the idea of playing on my CRT for nostalgia, but then taking the game up to the bedroom to play before I go to sleep on my LCD, then going back down to the basement in the morning to continue the nostalgia fest. Or practicing runs on the LCD and then going through and beating it to watch all the glorious credits on the CRT. It's the simple things. Still waiting to hear about online multiplayer though, if they have a way to incorporate that I will be a vehement supporter.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: roflmao on June 07, 2017, 07:10:58 AM
Psst. That can also be done with a Raspberry Pi. :P
wwwwhat? I need to research this. How difficult is it, and how well does it work? I think every Raspberry Pi I've encountered has been crippled or setup incorrectly, because I did not see anything like this and the visual quality of the emulation was a mess. Links would be appreciated, thanks!
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: sirhcman on June 07, 2017, 07:45:05 AM
I heard the Polymega can stream your games live to Twitch as well. Might not be for everyone but a nice feature nonetheless
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: roflmao on June 07, 2017, 07:53:02 AM
wwwwhat? I need to research this. How difficult is it, and how well does it work? I think every Raspberry Pi I've encountered has been crippled or setup incorrectly, because I did not see anything like this and the visual quality of the emulation was a mess. Links would be appreciated, thanks!
Here's the wiki page on it. https://github.com/retropie/retropie-setup/wiki/Netplay
I haven't played around with it, but it doesn't look very complicated. Reminds me of getting games online back in the early Windows days. :)
I don't know how long ago you checked out RetroPie, or what type of Raspberry Pi you were using, but on a Pi3 all the emulators I've tried run flawlessly (minus N64 - some games play fine, some don't). PS1 games run fine on it.
It can even run Dreamcast games, though I haven't installed that emulator yet:
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: SignOfZeta on June 07, 2017, 08:29:53 AM
You're not listening. Nobody is questioning the quality of the emulation because they're more concerned with getting the f*cker running. All the power and accuracy in the world is useless if I can't work it myself. See: Linux, Mednafen, or any other "simple" thing that meganerds don't have any issues understanding.
Is it as easy to use as a PC Engine? That's the question. If the answer is "no" then it can rot in a stack of Gamepark 32s for all I care.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Necromancer on June 07, 2017, 08:42:18 AM
Don't bring logic into it, zeta. The dipshit troll wants to believe a pi is equal or better in every way.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: roflmao on June 07, 2017, 08:43:46 AM
Setting up a RetroPie is dead simple, though.
1. Go to the RetroPie website and download the image. 2. Put the image on an SD card. 3. Plug SD card into Raspberry Pi and turn Pi on.
You're done. All the most common emulators are already configured and run intuitively with whatever controller you have plugged in.
Adding roms is just as simple.
1. While RetroPie is running plug a USB flash drive into the Pi. It'll automatically create a folder structure on the drive. 2. Plug the flash drive into your computer and copy your roms to it. Put the Turbografx-16 roms in the folder labeled "Turbografx-16" etc. 3. Plug the flash drive back into the Pi and it'll automatically add all the games to the Pi.
That's it. In probably less than an hour you have it ready to go.
There's all sorts of other stuff you can tinker with if you want, but it doesn't take a "meganerd" to get up and running.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: SignOfZeta on June 07, 2017, 09:32:31 AM
How about CDs?
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: roflmao on June 07, 2017, 09:41:02 AM
You put the bin/cue or iso files in the folders it creates on the flash drive, just like the roms.
If you're a "meganerd" you can also ftp into the Pi and transfer them that way.
EDIT: Just to clarify, I think the Polymega is a very slick-looking console and it's interface is gorgeous. I'm definitely going to want to play around with it when Null gets his. :) But there isn't word yet on pricing, and I imagine it won't be cheap. I'm just trying to point out that there's already something out there that's super cheap, easy to set up, and does almost everything this thing does. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if Polymega is using Retroarch for its emulation on the backend.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Gredler on June 07, 2017, 09:46:16 AM
I don't have a Raspberry Pi, but my friend brought one over to show me and it ran fine but had terrible (I am assumimg were default) graphical settings. The picture was stretched 16x9 for some systems, and all seemed blurry (not point sample scaled). I do want to get one and try it, but haven't taken the money and time to do so yet.
It's hard to argue that hooking this thing up and playing it will be a lot different experience than plugging in a AC, HDMI, a controller, and a cart/cd. The steps to use the Retromegabox will be a lot different for non-pc/emulation enthusiasts.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: SignOfZeta on June 07, 2017, 01:08:58 PM
You put the bin/cue or iso files in the folders it creates on the flash drive, just like the roms.
If you're a "meganerd" you can also ftp into the Pi and transfer them that way.
EDIT: Just to clarify, I think the Polymega is a very slick-looking console and it's interface is gorgeous. I'm definitely going to want to play around with it when Null gets his. :) But there isn't word yet on pricing, and I imagine it won't be cheap. I'm just trying to point out that there's already something out there that's super cheap, easy to set up, and does almost everything this thing does. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if Polymega is using Retroarch for its emulation on the backend.
Where do you put the CD BIOS?
Also, how do you get it to f*ck right the f*ck off with 16:9?
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: roflmao on June 07, 2017, 03:55:24 PM
Also, how do you get it to f*ck right the f*ck off with 16:9?
By default, it plays in 4:3. You have to mess with it to make it 16:9.
You're right, for CD games you do need to add bios so it's not simply plug and play. There's an exhaustive wiki that clearly defines where bios go for each console: https://github.com/retropie/retropie-setup/wiki/Playstation-1
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: roflmao on June 07, 2017, 04:57:55 PM
Can i call Geek Squad to perform this rocket surgery?
If you do they might call the F.B.I. for the porn they find. :D
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: elmer on June 13, 2017, 05:39:33 AM
So, nullity ... is Neo Geo CD support really their big E3 announcement?
Or can we expect something more interesting later on this week?
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: DragonmasterDan on June 14, 2017, 12:55:36 AM
Even a Dreamcast can play Neo CD games with one of those emulator boot discs, not too surprising.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: SignOfZeta on June 14, 2017, 05:57:38 AM
The DC doesn't do a very good job of Neo, IIRC. I can't remember.
I do remember the DS ran Neo surprisingly well. So this thing has to be WAY more powerful than the DS, and also more powerful than my 133mhz Pentium 1 with 128MB of RAM which ran every Neo game flawlessley.
Can they can pull this off!?!?
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Gredler on June 14, 2017, 06:39:37 AM
I played it, and I've been playing Samurai Showdown 2 on AES A LOT on my CRT, and it felt almost identical playing the CD version through this machine on a LED TV.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: SignOfZeta on June 14, 2017, 06:55:33 AM
Oh good, I thought Neo Geo emulation had been lost to time or something.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: GohanX on June 14, 2017, 08:26:38 AM
The DC doesn't do a very good job of Neo, IIRC. I can't remember.
I do remember the DS ran Neo surprisingly well. So this thing has to be WAY more powerful than the DS, and also more powerful than my 133mhz Pentium 1 with 128MB of RAM which ran every Neo game flawlessley.
Can they can pull this off!?!?
The DC didn't do Neo cart emulation very well because of a lack of ram, but the DC had plenty of ram for CD games so the CD versions ran perfectly.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: SignOfZeta on June 14, 2017, 10:23:41 AM
Now that you mention it...I do remember that.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: DragonmasterDan on June 14, 2017, 10:30:48 AM
I'll wake you up next month for the big announcement. :lol:
I think they are going to keep with small weekly news updates until the big one in a month.
Well ... not much in the way of Weekly Updates, and over a month has passed.
I imagine it's either ...
1) They found an investor and don't need to talk to the unwashed masses until they're ready to Kickstart the first manufacturing run.
2) They've found that producing real hardware is a lot more difficult than they expected, and they're either running way behind, or have given up.
I think that the majority of AtariAge would say 100% likelihood on the 2nd, but I'll give your guys the benefit of the doubt and only say 40% chance. :wink:
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: turboswimbz on July 23, 2017, 03:02:33 PM
I'll wake you up next month for the big announcement. :lol:
I think they are going to keep with small weekly news updates until the big one in a month.
Well ... not much in the way of Weekly Updates, and over a month has passed.
I imagine it's either ...
1) They found an investor and don't need to talk to the unwashed masses until they're ready to Kickstart the first manufacturing run.
2) They've found that producing real hardware is a lot more difficult than they expected, and they're either running way behind, or have given up.
I think that the majority of AtariAge would say 100% likelihood on the 2nd, but I'll give your guys the benefit of the doubt and only say 40% chance. :wink:
From their site's FAQ. It appears they are claiming 1. But I would lean on two more.
WHEN IS THE KICKSTARTER? Kickstarter is a means of crowdfunding the development of a product which is at a prototype phase. Since we announced Polymega, when it was a prototype, we raised enough money from private investors and corporations that we won’t need to rely on crowdfunding for development purposes anymore. At this point, we’re going to launch a pre-order campaign “when it’s done”, which may be on a crowdfunding site, or might be through some other means. We plan to be at that point later this fall, and when that happens you’ll be able to pre-order the system which will have a target delivery of summer next year.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: SignOfZeta on July 24, 2017, 04:21:27 AM
You know what Nintendo never does? They don't show us every chip, every decision in the process, come up with levels of ownership, peripherals, etc years before thing comes out or even has a date. They just say, "Look, here is is, it comes out on xx/xx/xx please buy it" with one price in dollars...and you pay with confidence knowing WTF it is. Not this, "Did I tell you I'm writing a screenplay yet?" bullshit.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: esteban on July 24, 2017, 08:04:49 AM
You know what Nintendo never does? They don't show us every chip, every decision in the process, come up with levels of ownership, peripherals, etc years before thing comes out or even has a date. They just say, "Look, here is is, it comes out on xx/xx/xx please buy it" with one price in dollars...and you pay with confidence knowing WTF it is. Not this, "Did I tell you I'm writing a screenplay yet?" bullshit.
This is true.
I gotta say, Nintendo does what BLOXTOPS can't.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Necromancer on July 24, 2017, 08:18:45 AM
Doesn't that apply to Sony and MS too? They all have existing products that they'd rather you buy now rather than wait for the next thing that you know you want, so you only get leaked specs and educated guesses.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Arkhan on July 24, 2017, 09:10:03 AM
Doesn't that apply to Sony and MS too? They all have existing products that they'd rather you buy now rather than wait for the next thing that you know you want, so you only get leaked specs and educated guesses.
I've seen instances of Sony and MS bringing up vague, possibly made-up terms to describe their tech. "Terra-flops" immediately springs to mind.
This is why I never get excited about anything anymore. I've lived through too many Coleco Chameleons. While we do actually have some people with actual industry experience on board this time around, it's vapor as far as I'm concerned... until it comes out.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: MrBroadway on July 24, 2017, 11:29:22 AM
Teraflop has been legitimate since the 90s with Intel.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Dicer on July 24, 2017, 02:18:14 PM
The dream is dying or dead, we just haven't had a confirmation yet...
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: crazydean on July 24, 2017, 05:01:37 PM
Doesn't that apply to Sony and MS too? They all have existing products that they'd rather you buy now rather than wait for the next thing that you know you want, so you only get leaked specs and educated guesses.
I've seen instances of Sony and MS bringing up vague, possibly made-up terms to describe their tech. "Terra-flops" immediately springs to mind.
This is why I never get excited about anything anymore. I've lived through too many Coleco Chameleons. While we do actually have some people with actual industry experience on board this time around, it's vapor as far as I'm concerned... until it comes out.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FLOPS
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Punch on July 25, 2017, 03:52:57 AM
I was going to say that FLOPS/MIPS are pretty useless but considering how everything is floating point matrices in 3D graphics the FLOPS measure is actually pretty useful if console manufacturers are using sensible architectures without dumb bottlenecks between CPU/GPU/RAM like the PS2 EE.
edit; I did not notice this was the RetroBlox thread, how did the discussion get to this :lol:
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Arkhan on July 25, 2017, 04:25:48 AM
im going to retroflop my foot in someones ass.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: SmaMan on July 25, 2017, 05:43:05 AM
Teraflop has been legitimate since the 90s with Intel.
I know it's a legitimate term, but that's not the point. You can douse the masses in flops, chipsets, schematics, and technical jargon all you want... but what does that mean?! that's not necessarily going to convince people that this is a console worth getting excited about, and pre-ordering/buying. They want to see what you're doing with all those terms you've come up with.
Bringing this back to the RetroBlox/Polymega, one buzzword has been thrown around a ton without much meaning behind it: hybrid emulation.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: SignOfZeta on July 25, 2017, 08:18:40 AM
Doesn't that apply to Sony and MS too? They all have existing products that they'd rather you buy now rather than wait for the next thing that you know you want, so you only get leaked specs and educated guesses.
I didn't write Nintendo/Sony/MS for the same reasoning don't write he/she everytime I refer to someone. It's a waste of time and I don't care who it offends. I don't give a shit if people think I'm a Nintendo fanboy. I've been called a lot worse.
That being said, usually Nintendo does hold surprises back a bit more than the other two but that isn't why I mentioned them. I just wanted to name a decent example.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Necromancer on July 25, 2017, 08:58:22 AM
Uh-oh, zippy's been triggered.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Necromancer on September 19, 2017, 03:52:11 AM
Since they claimed that they got enough private funding to finish off system, I expect that the "fans" (whoever they are) are all irrelevant now, and that we won't hear much from nullity's peeps until they are either close to production-ready, or they burn through the cash.
You can look to the Saber Rider guys for what it looks like when a team is close to "burning through the cash", i.e. nothing to show for months followed by the announcement of a new "partner" (with cash to inject), and an expansion of the goals so that the new partner can believe that their investment will be rewarded.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: esteban on September 19, 2017, 09:29:56 AM
+5 for Saber Rider.
:)
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: xelement5x on September 20, 2017, 07:29:18 AM
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Necromancer on September 20, 2017, 08:09:30 AM
Heh, what a poor choice of name indeed. Assuming it's not a scam/joke, of course.
NW would prefer x.seedi. :mrgreen:
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: ClodBuster on September 20, 2017, 08:33:14 AM
How about see-dee-i?
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Punch on September 20, 2017, 08:37:04 AM
I'd comment about Philips suing them for the Compact Disc inspired logo but I'm too busy laughing at the name. ahahahahah
edit: An off-the-shelf dvd burner plugged into an android chipset inside a pirate famiclone Wii mold with a fake PS3 controller. Come on that's the lowest hanging fruit possible. :lol:
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: turboswimbz on September 20, 2017, 10:59:15 AM
Hmmm it seems I already have an emulator ... I call it a personal computer.
it also has a clever abbreviation
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Black Tiger on September 20, 2017, 11:28:38 AM
They're selling collectards a clear limited edition version that lets you see how it's just an empty box with someone else's tech in one corner.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: esteban on September 20, 2017, 12:07:54 PM
I refuse to believe that is a real product.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: MrBroadway on September 20, 2017, 01:38:21 PM
I just assumed this thread was about ROBLOX. Ya'll disappoint.
The **ONLY** reason I know what the f*ck you are referring to is because I have 6 year olds.
DAMMIT.
:)
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: GaijinD on April 23, 2018, 05:05:47 PM
http://polymega.com/2018/04/19/updates/
Seems like this might not be dead?
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Necromancer on April 24, 2018, 02:42:30 AM
They're shit at building and maintaining interest. Don't put out a bunch of slick (but empty) hype, then miss multiple self-imposed deadlines for updates and reveals while you sit around telling everyone how busy you are with "finishing it up" for a year+.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: esteban on April 24, 2018, 09:56:18 AM
I forgot about ROBLOX completely...
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: dangdang on April 25, 2018, 06:44:56 PM
They're shit at building and maintaining interest. Don't put out a bunch of slick (but empty) hype, then miss multiple self-imposed deadlines for updates and reveals while you sit around telling everyone how busy you are with "finishing it up" for a year+.
Yeah, if only Polymega was as good at building and marketing game consoles as PCEFX Forum Moderator Necromancer. Tsk. [-(
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: ClodBuster on April 25, 2018, 07:50:25 PM
Cut the crap and don't detract from what's going in this thread on by going offtopic.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Necromancer on April 26, 2018, 02:19:56 AM
Yeah, if only Polymega was as good at building and marketing game consoles as PCEFX Forum Moderator Necromancer. Tsk. [-(
That's the thing: I'm not building or marketing anything but they are.
Maybe it's better to try but fail (because at least you tried), but that doesn't change the fact that you've failed.
The only failure I see is a forum mod, who should be impartial and unbiased, making an authoritative-sounding accusation (including profanity) in an attempt to discredit a project which they admittedly do not have the experience or background to discredit. I've heard rumors that the mods here have really gotten bad but to see it myself is a different story. At least on Atari-Age the hater brigade are just regular members and the mods largely stay out of it.
Full disclosure, I lead the Polymega team and have been a PCEFX member here since before the project started (and in PCEFX infancy on a separate account).
Title: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: wildfruit on April 26, 2018, 03:32:41 AM
The only failure I see is a forum mod, who should be impartial and unbiased,
Why?
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: dangdang on April 26, 2018, 03:59:03 AM
Quote
Why?
Because when the referee starts throwing punches, you know the fight is fixed. So whats the point of trying to have a fair discussion in the first place? The actions of those in charge represent and warrant the credibility of the forum as a whole, and as someone who has used this forum as a source of good information and community for collecting over the years, its pretty sad to see this type of mud-slinging from someone in a position of power and authority. So I've called it out where normally I would pay such accusations no mind.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Lost Monkey on April 26, 2018, 04:11:51 AM
Because when the referee starts throwing punches, you know the fight is fixed. So whats the point of trying to have a fair discussion in the first place? The actions of those in charge represent and warrant the credibility of the forum as a whole, and as someone who has used this forum as a source of good information and community for collecting over the years, its pretty sad to see this type of mud-slinging from someone in a position of power and authority. So I've called it out where normally I would pay such accusations no mind.
Necro is just another PCE fan who has mod clearance. He is not the FBI or a referee. And honestly, it is hard to argue with what he said, I also completely forgot about your project...
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: dangdang on April 26, 2018, 04:40:26 AM
Because when the referee starts throwing punches, you know the fight is fixed. So whats the point of trying to have a fair discussion in the first place? The actions of those in charge represent and warrant the credibility of the forum as a whole, and as someone who has used this forum as a source of good information and community for collecting over the years, its pretty sad to see this type of mud-slinging from someone in a position of power and authority. So I've called it out where normally I would pay such accusations no mind.
Necro is just another PCE fan who has mod clearance. He is not the FBI or a referee. And honestly, it is hard to argue with what he said, I also completely forgot about your project...
Folks forgetting about the project until we were ready for pre-order was by design. It's called strategy and avoidance of marketing fatigue. Thing is, you would only get that if you actually understood the correct way to build and maintain interest, which is the opposite of what we've been accused of here. I'm not familiar with each mods individual backgrounds, but regardless, being a mod carries some clout with it, and I for one believe that those in elevated positions should remain impartial and ensure that fair discussions can be had.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Necromancer on April 26, 2018, 05:31:22 AM
The only failure I see is a forum mod, who should be impartial and unbiased....
Nowhere in my job description does it say that I can't express my opinions. My job is to approve new registrations, move misplaced threads, and enforce the rules; anything else you think I should be doing is your own ignorant bias and wishful thinking.
.... making an authoritative-sounding accusation (including profanity) in an attempt to discredit a project which they admittedly do not have the experience or background to discredit.
Nobody needs direct personal experience to see what's been happening and recognize poor marketing. It's a fact that you've been secretive about what the hardware is and what exactly it does (hybrid emulation, lulz), it's a fact that you've officially announced and missed several reveal dates and pre-order openings, and it's a fact that you went nearly a year without any news on your official site. There's plenty of the same points being made on your own forum for crying out loud.
I understand the reason for being quiet (protecting yourself from potential competitors and having investors instead of crowdfunding), but that doesn't change the fact that you've left your audience hanging in the wind for over a year with nothing but "just wait, it'll be great, trust us!". It's not hard to see why people are skeptical about it ever coming out, as there's little difference between the way you're acting and what was seen with various vaporware systems.
I've heard rumors that the mods here have really gotten bad here but to see it myself is a different story. At least on Atari-Age the hater brigade are just regular members and the mods largely stay out of it.
Yeah, no doubt the recent chatter about bad mods is all about me and not a certain canine. :lol:
Full disclosure, I lead the Polymega team and have been a PCEFX member here since before the project started (and in PCEFX infancy on a separate account).
Good for you. Maybe you'd have more support and less skepticism if you'd actually engage with us instead of dismissing legitimate concerns as 'trolling'.
Because when the referee starts throwing punches, you know the fight is fixed. So whats the point of trying to have a fair discussion in the first place? The actions of those in charge represent and warrant the credibility of the forum as a whole, and as someone who has used this forum as a source of good information and community for collecting over the years, its pretty sad to see this type of mud-slinging from someone in a position of power and authority. So I've called it out where normally I would pay such accusations no mind.
This isn't your forum. I don't delete posts and threaten bans because of dissenting opinions and simple complaints.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: dangdang on April 26, 2018, 06:49:42 AM
Quote
Nowhere in my job description does it say that I can't express my opinions. My job is to approve new registrations, move misplaced threads, and enforce the rules; anything else you think I should be doing is your own ignorant bias and wishful thinking.
Then by all means continue to do what you're doing.
Quote
Nobody needs direct personal experience to see what's been happening and recognize poor marketing. It's a fact that you've been secretive about what the hardware is and what exactly it does (hybrid emulation, lulz), it's a fact that you've officially announced and missed several reveal dates and pre-order openings, and it's a fact that you went nearly a year without any news on your official site. There's plenty of the same points being made on your own forum for crying out loud.
I understand the reason for being quiet (protecting yourself from potential competitors and having investors instead of crowdfunding), but that doesn't change the fact that you've left your audience hanging in the wind for over a year with nothing but "just wait, it'll be great, trust us!". It's not hard to see why people are skeptical about it ever coming out, as there's little difference between the way you're acting and what was seen with various vaporware systems.
Speaking for the project, it's not at all about the merits of what you said, which actually is open for healthy debate, instead that as a mod - you hold a position of authority which makes your comments hold sway above and beyond that of a standard forum member, and by using this forum / platform to comment, you express bias that potentially could prevent other members who might have otherwise been open to expressing a counterpoint from engaging in meaningful discussion. It's not surprising that many of the people who have seen / played / vouched for and reported back to this forum their experiences using the system are no longer around.
As a PCEFX forum member, I will happily debate the merits of what you actually said from an informed insider position, but it's so far off, it's not really even worth the time and effort.
Quote
Yeah, no doubt the recent chatter about bad mods is all about me and not a certain canine. :lol:
Misquoted me. I said I've heard rumors that the op situation here was bad, not that it was or wasn't fact. What is a fact, is to see smack talking directly from the mods shows that there's a serious lack of professionalism going on. The only thing seemingly idealistic on my side is the expectation that a popular forum mod would have some integrity.
Quote
Good for you. Maybe you'd have more support and less skepticism if you'd actually engage with us instead of dismissing legitimate concerns as 'trolling'.
It's not our policy to engage "legitimate concerns" on forums that are not ours as it directs traffic to sites other than our own. The team answers every thread that is posted on Polymega's forums. The only reason I posted here is because as card-carrying PCE fan and member of this forum, I don't think the mods should be expressing bias that would prevent fair discussion from occurring. Which is what you're getting flack from me personally for.
Quote
This isn't your forum. I don't delete posts and threaten bans because of dissenting opinions and simple complaints.
Right, because if it was, you'd already be demoted.
As a public relations major who has worked in a sales role since I graduated, I will say Polymega's strategies are not by the book.
I am not a repro fan, I typically only play games on real hardware so I am not here to critique the quality of the Polymega.
Important not to confuse an in-market product that is being sold with an in-development product that has trade secrets and intellectual property to protect. People may call BS, but its true. Try patenting something in Taiwan if you disagree. :wink:
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Necromancer on April 26, 2018, 09:08:28 AM
Speaking for the project, it's not at all about the merits of what you said, which actually is open for healthy debate, instead that as a mod - you hold a position of authority which makes your comments hold sway above and beyond that of a standard forum member, and by using this forum / platform to comment, you express bias that potentially could prevent other members who might have otherwise been open to expressing a counterpoint from engaging in meaningful discussion. .... What is a fact, is to see smack talking directly from the mods shows that there's a serious lack of professionalism going on. The only thing seemingly idealistic on my side is the expectation that a popular forum mod would have some integrity. .... The only reason I posted here is because as card-carrying PCE fan and member of this forum, I don't think the mods should be expressing bias that would prevent fair discussion from occurring. Which is what you're getting flack from me personally for.
You keep claiming I'm biased and lack integrity, yet nothing I've said is dishonest, unethical, dishonorable, or unfair; it's based entirely on what we (the general public) have seen in official statements. What you're really claiming is that a mod shouldn't opine about anything, and that's simply horseshit. I can't think of a single fan forum that requires or even expects their mods to never comment on anything (positive or negative) in fear that everyone else will follow suit.
Let's get real here: if I was being 100% positive about the polymega, you'd think I was the best mod evah! and doing god's work. We both know you're not on douphile berating nully for being a amoral, biased jerk. :lol:
It's not surprising that many of the people who have seen / played / vouched for and reported back to this forum their experiences using the system are no longer around.
Your (willful?) ignorance is showing again. It's not because of me that nully and friends are gone.
As a PCEFX forum member, I will happily debate the merits of what you actually said from an informed insider position, but it's so far off, it's not really even worth the time and effort.
Since you can't debate facts, you're going to stick to telling us how this forum should be run? Understood. :lol:
It's not our policy to engage "legitimate concerns" on forums that are not ours as it directs traffic to sites other than our own. The team answers every thread that is posted on Polymega's forums.
Yes, but like I said, you answer it with "just wait, it'll be awesome, trust us!"
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: DarkKobold on April 26, 2018, 09:18:01 AM
I gotta agree with Necro. The PR on this hasn't been great.
I like dangdang as a person. He's a great guy. However, he's definitely not winning the favor of the community by condescending to everyone. People who have actually seen the demo are impressed... but we live in the post-Coleco-Chameleon world. People are going to be skeptical, and very few people have actually seen the thing. Thus, it sounds like a bunch of marketing hype with very little substance.
That said, no one has asked for money for this project. The best PR move would be "We hear your concerns, we agree that we came out too early, and please be patient with us. We won't ask for money until we have a product ready to sell." Getting into the weeds with members of the community doesn't do anyone any good.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: esteban on April 26, 2018, 09:39:05 AM
Hmmm.... interesting developments in this thread recently.
I wasn’t expecting for there to be any life in this desiccated, leathery old sack of wondermega.
:)
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Lost Monkey on April 26, 2018, 10:16:36 AM
I gotta agree with Necro. The PR on this hasn't been great.
I like dangdang as a person. He's a great guy. However, he's definitely not winning the favor of the community by condescending to everyone. People who have actually seen the demo are impressed... but we live in the post-Coleco-Chameleon world. People are going to be skeptical, and very few people have actually seen the thing. Thus, it sounds like a bunch of marketing hype with very little substance.
That said, no one has asked for money for this project. The best PR move would be "We hear your concerns, we agree that we came out too early, and please be patient with us. We won't ask for money until we have a product ready to sell." Getting into the weeds with members of the community doesn't do anyone any good.
Nice post. I have no animosity towards Polymega, just 25+ years of internet experience. Failed projects announced too early have been the butt of internet follies for a really long time, and they always seem to start out the same way...
It would be nice to suddenly wake up and hear about a previously unannounced console that is available for sale, but unfortunately no-one seems to want to follow that model. Just remember - Mike Kennedy didn't ruin it for everyone else - that would be giving him too much credit as he was not the first - he just ruined it for the next couple guys.
I really wish Polymega luck - and I hope you are having fun doing this...
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: dangdang on April 26, 2018, 10:28:11 AM
@DK I think you're showing exactly the kind of qualities that it takes to be a moderator -- which speaks exactly to my only real point in participating in this discussion. When the moderator is no longer mediating the discussion and is choosing a side, whats left? Your words are markedly clearer and more fair, while you still have an opinion of the subject at hand.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: schweaty on April 26, 2018, 10:36:50 AM
youre looking at this all wrong. just because necro is a mod doesnt mean that anyone takes his opinion around here any more seriously than the next guy's. in fact, no one really cares about anyone's opinion around here other than their own :mrgreen:. we're mostly middle-aged dad-types who are pretty set on our ways. stick around for a while and you'll be just as crusty as the rest of us.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Necromancer on April 26, 2018, 11:11:16 AM
DK only agrees with me because I'm a moderator. He always agrees with me.
:derpcat:
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: DarkKobold on April 26, 2018, 11:25:42 AM
@DK I think you're showing exactly the kind of qualities that it takes to be a moderator -- which speaks exactly to my only real point in participating in this discussion. When the moderator is no longer mediating the discussion and is choosing a side, whats left? Your words are markedly clearer and more fair, while you still have an opinion of the subject at hand.
Um, you said it yourself, he's a moderator not a mediator. His job is only to prevent things from spiraling out of control, not to serve as an impartial referee. Necro's totally entitled to his opinion, and his foul-mouthed way of expressing it. I'd suggest dropping your feud with him, as your job (as a PR person) is to make Polymega look great.
Now, granted, you didn't ask for that video to be posted here, but it got posted. So, your best option isn't to get into a battle over what a moderator's responsibilities are, but instead to say something akin to:
"Hi everyone,
That video was posted to our personal blog so that those interested in following our progress can be kept up to date. We understand the concerns that we came out of the PR gate too early and to fast. We also understand everyone's cynicism. Seeing debacles like the Retron 5 stealing emulator code, and the fraudulent creations by the RetroVGS/ColecoChameleon left a bad taste in everyone's mouth. We hope, in the coming months, as we make more progress, we will be able to overcome this cynicism by providing real high quality demos. Those who are interested can continue to follow us at *address*. Those who are skeptical, we hope that we will change your mind when the time is right and we have a product ready. In the mean time, we appreciate your patience, and look forward to surprising you with our wonderful product. I personally believe everyone will love it.
Thank you, from everyone involved in the PolyMega Team."
The problem is, you haven't done that, and continue to not do that. Instead, you debate the merits of a moderator having an opinion.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: dangdang on April 26, 2018, 12:11:39 PM
Quote
youre looking at this all wrong. just because necro is a mod doesnt mean that anyone takes his opinion around here any more seriously than the next guy's. in fact, no one really cares about anyone's opinion around here other than their own :mrgreen:. we're mostly middle-aged dad-types who are pretty set on our ways. stick around for a while and you'll be just as crusty as the rest of us.
I totally understand the fraternal dad-vibe you're talking about, but let me provide a counterpoint from the perspective of a hypothetical new member of the forum.
As easy as it was for him to criticize the operational matters of my company, it was just as easy for me to volley complaints against him related to my perception of his quality as a moderator. Nobody got anywhere with either argument since neither of us were *actually* qualified to make such arguments -- he doesn't run a company making a game console, and I'm not a forum moderator. The only difference is that here on PCEFX, he is a known quantity in possession of a ban hammer, and I being Jerry Jelly, am an unknown. Were I not to disclose that I actually work on the project, I would have been instantly crushed by him and others backing him up, which nearly happened after my first post when someone said I was derailing the topic, which I assume to be coded language for "ban this guy".
Regardless of whether what he said was true or not, Jerry Jelly will lose 100% of the time in this situation if a defense is made or equal eye is taken in response to the mod. I'm fine taking that shot, because in the end I'm well enough known outside of PCEFX that I can substantiate an argument with a mod here, but anyone who isn't, and is really just a guy who is excited about the system (or whatever the argument is at hand), is basically DOA. So, if you aren't a long time poster I can't imagine how someone would ever make an argument in response without getting massively ganged up on.
Normally the moderator would do their job and make sure both sides can be heard - which was only done in this instance by DK. Therein lies the issue I've been railing on about and why, yes, I think mods here should demote themselves before deciding to make inflammatory remarks, at least on the forum which they run. Elsewhere, go for it.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: TheClash603 on April 26, 2018, 12:35:19 PM
@DK I think you're showing exactly the kind of qualities that it takes to be a moderator -- which speaks exactly to my only real point in participating in this discussion. When the moderator is no longer mediating the discussion and is choosing a side, whats left? Your words are markedly clearer and more fair, while you still have an opinion of the subject at hand.
Um, you said it yourself, he's a moderator not a mediator. His job is only to prevent things from spiraling out of control, not to serve as an impartial referee. Necro's totally entitled to his opinion, and his foul-mouthed way of expressing it. I'd suggest dropping your feud with him, as your job (as a PR person) is to make Polymega look great.
Now, granted, you didn't ask for that video to be posted here, but it got posted. So, your best option isn't to get into a battle over what a moderator's responsibilities are, but instead to say something akin to:
"Hi everyone,
That video was posted to our personal blog so that those interested in following our progress can be kept up to date. We understand the concerns that we came out of the PR gate too early and to fast. We also understand everyone's cynicism. Seeing debacles like the Retron 5 stealing emulator code, and the fraudulent creations by the RetroVGS/ColecoChameleon left a bad taste in everyone's mouth. We hope, in the coming months, as we make more progress, we will be able to overcome this cynicism by providing real high quality demos. Those who are interested can continue to follow us at *address*. Those who are skeptical, we hope that we will change your mind when the time is right and we have a product ready. In the mean time, we appreciate your patience, and look forward to surprising you with our wonderful product. I personally believe everyone will love it.
Thank you, from everyone involved in the PolyMega Team."
The problem is, you haven't done that, and continue to not do that. Instead, you debate the merits of a moderator having an opinion.
+1
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: dangdang on April 26, 2018, 01:22:34 PM
@DK I think you're showing exactly the kind of qualities that it takes to be a moderator -- which speaks exactly to my only real point in participating in this discussion. When the moderator is no longer mediating the discussion and is choosing a side, whats left? Your words are markedly clearer and more fair, while you still have an opinion of the subject at hand.
Um, you said it yourself, he's a moderator not a mediator. His job is only to prevent things from spiraling out of control, not to serve as an impartial referee. Necro's totally entitled to his opinion, and his foul-mouthed way of expressing it. I'd suggest dropping your feud with him, as your job (as a PR person) is to make Polymega look great.
Now, granted, you didn't ask for that video to be posted here, but it got posted. So, your best option isn't to get into a battle over what a moderator's responsibilities are, but instead to say something akin to:
"Hi everyone,
That video was posted to our personal blog so that those interested in following our progress can be kept up to date. We understand the concerns that we came out of the PR gate too early and to fast. We also understand everyone's cynicism. Seeing debacles like the Retron 5 stealing emulator code, and the fraudulent creations by the RetroVGS/ColecoChameleon left a bad taste in everyone's mouth. We hope, in the coming months, as we make more progress, we will be able to overcome this cynicism by providing real high quality demos. Those who are interested can continue to follow us at *address*. Those who are skeptical, we hope that we will change your mind when the time is right and we have a product ready. In the mean time, we appreciate your patience, and look forward to surprising you with our wonderful product. I personally believe everyone will love it.
Thank you, from everyone involved in the PolyMega Team."
The problem is, you haven't done that, and continue to not do that. Instead, you debate the merits of a moderator having an opinion.
As a forum member, my opinion of how a forum moderator should act isn't going to change.
Speaking as the head of the project, the time for polite lip service and apologizing for other peoples failed projects passed long ago. We're far beyond that. Instead, I'd rather just extend beta invitations to people who are interested in testing the new PCE/TG16 emulator and Polymega's user interface. So, if you're actively following this thread right now and are interested, the first 5 people to PM me will get an invite. :mrgreen:
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: DarkKobold on April 26, 2018, 02:13:02 PM
Speaking as the head of the project, the time for polite lip service and apologizing for other peoples failed projects passed long ago.
No, no it hasn't. As a business man, your #1 goal should be to put your personal opinions aside, and do what is best for your team and company. Every company, even the 128 year old Nintendo, worries about PR. You've not even got a product to market, getting arrogant and alienating your potential user base just hurts sales.
You aren't just a forum member now, you are freaking representative of a product you are hoping to sell to the very users of this forum. Act like it.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: dangdang on April 26, 2018, 03:00:09 PM
Speaking as the head of the project, the time for polite lip service and apologizing for other peoples failed projects passed long ago.
No, no it hasn't. As a business man, your #1 goal should be to put your personal opinions aside, and do what is best for your team and company. Every company, even the 128 year old Nintendo, worries about PR. You've not even got a product to market, getting arrogant and alienating your potential user base just hurts sales.
You aren't just a forum member now, you are freaking representative of a product you are hoping to sell to the very users of this forum. Act like it.
To anyone following this project, the Coleco Chameleon, Retron 5, RetroFreak et all very clearly poisoned the well for classic game console projects and people who play them. They screwed a lot of things up and a lot of people over. But, that doesn't mean that every project is as they were. For people who got burned in some form, we've been working tirelessly to not fall prey to the same issues.
The video that was posted in the group earlier was posted on our website to show that we do have a hardware team and that we are still actively developing the project, despite some speculation that it had stalled. More demonstrations indicative of this should be expected very soon. We are serious about making something that is not only "not a failure" but something that is actually great and will bring everyone a significant amount of enjoyment for years to come.
We're not asking you to take our word for it at this point, instead we want to show the hard work we've put in by showing this product very soon with high quality demonstrations. We also promise we won't ask you for a dime until the console is ready, fully vetted, and for sale. Anyone who is interested in following us or keeping up to date on information can visit www.polymega.com (http://www.polymega.com/) for more information. You can also follow us on Twitter (@polymegahq) and Facebook (@playPOLYMEGA).
Thank you, from Team POLYMEGA
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: mickcris on April 26, 2018, 03:03:15 PM
Quote from: dangdang
As a forum member, my opinion of how a forum moderator should act isn't going to change.
Speaking as the head of the project, the time for polite lip service and apologizing for other peoples failed projects passed long ago. We're far beyond that. Instead, I'd rather just extend beta invitations to people who are interested in testing the new PCE/TG16 emulator and Polymega's user interface. So, if you're actively following this thread right now and are interested, the first 5 people to PM me will get an invite. :mrgreen:
So this can just run on a computer. no need for the hardware?
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: dangdang on April 26, 2018, 03:13:18 PM
As a forum member, my opinion of how a forum moderator should act isn't going to change.
Speaking as the head of the project, the time for polite lip service and apologizing for other peoples failed projects passed long ago. We're far beyond that. Instead, I'd rather just extend beta invitations to people who are interested in testing the new PCE/TG16 emulator and Polymega's user interface. So, if you're actively following this thread right now and are interested, the first 5 people to PM me will get an invite. :mrgreen:
So this can just run on a computer. no need for the hardware?
Yep, Polymega is a Linux computer and does not require the real hardware for basic emulation of installed games and running the user interface. One feature of Polymega, hybrid emulation, would require the use of the real hardware so that will not be tested here. That said, any Debian-Linux compatible computer that meets our minimum specifications will run the system software and "vanilla" aspect of the hybrid emulators for the purposes of installed game testing.
Title: Re: RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console
Post by: Purple1308 on April 29, 2018, 04:18:03 PM
Can any one recommend them a thesaurus or give them one for this whole thing ?