[Did the Vectrex have superior a sound chip for its time?]

I liked the music in this demo, it sounds very analog.

 

[Coleco Chameleon .... hardware speculations?]

If you're thinking you've heard the "Homer" talk before, you're right. This thread is eating its own tail.

 

Kevtris brought it up first, here

 

PlaysWithWolves embellished the concept, here

Just go read the whole thing, it's too good to summarize.

Ha!, now I remember reading the post from kevtris. I missed PlayWithWolves' post though.

The Chameleon clearly needs its own subforum so we can categorize things in topics

 

The only one who can add something new to this thread is 'Mr Lee'.

[Coleco Chameleon .... hardware speculations?]

'The Homer'

[What is your retro computing most "irrational want?"]

I always wanted an accelerator for the Amiga 500 but most of the older games I play wouldn't take advantage of even boot with one, yet I drool over the possibility of an A500 with a 50mhz 68030!

The vampire 500 could be interesting.

[Snatcher for ColecoVision]

The sequel is SD Snatcher, Google for it

I know SD Snatcher. I would not consider it a sequel (same story). Fantastic game anyway.

 

Does Policenauts for the Saturn count?

Maybe, I still have to play the translation.

[Snatcher for ColecoVision]

I just discovered this thread. I love snatcher! Too bad Kojima never made any sequels like he did with Metal Gear.

[Is it time to re-visit expansion module upgrades for game consoles?]

Maybe the GPU could be modular. 1080p, 4k, 3d (stereoscopic), VR don't change the actual game (CPU?) but only affects the GPU I guess. So you could swap the GPU depending on how much visual fidelity you want.

[NX Already Out-Powered Before Release]

Let's remember that Nintendo's games, *generally* but not specifically, are aimed at children and teens. I'll make an assumption that most of us in this thread are older with cars, bills and years of gaming experience... but from my 11 year old stepson's point of view, the Wii U has been (and still is) an incredible console that's provided hours upon hours of entertainment.

True, the Nintendo WiiU (and the upcomming NX) is the only console I would consider for my kids (7 and 4 years old) since they aren't into gore and blood.

 

It is also the only console they are interested to play in the stores/shops.

[Contemplating selling a retro high end console for a PS4...yay or nay?]

Within a few years, when the ps4 is a lot cheaper since the ps4.5 came out, you'll be sorry.

[Who went from A8 to Amiga?]

A8 > MSX > MSX2 > Amiga 500 here.

 

Later I got an Amiga 1200, but somehow I think the Falcon was a more worthy successor to the Amiga 500, since it had 16-bit sound and a DSP.

[Coleco Chameleon .... hardware speculations?]

Don't think 99.99 % of gamers know of Gamegavel.com or care about it

 

Same with his mag which name sounds like retrogamer at http://www.retrogamer.net/

That's an excellent magazine.

[Coleco Chameleon .... hardware speculations?]

Way better electronic skills than Mr. Lee's.

[FPGA Based Videogame System]

The only difference between a software emulation and a hardware emulation are levels of abstraction. How do you class, for example, a processor that uses microcode to implement its instruction set? How is implementing a state machine in HDL any different from one implemented in software on a processor? There is absolutely nothing inherently more accurate (or more "pure") with hardware (FPGA) emulation as opposed to software.

Could software emulation work/interface in realtime with a cartridge?

[FPGA Based Videogame System]

Someone asked me this question about this device:

 

Surely this is just emulation, correct? What will this do that you can't do with an android box or a Raspberry Pi?

 

I'm not sure how to answer this. I think it is quite a bit better than just emulation, but how should I answer this? Please advise. I think this is a very nice device that's in development, and I want to have good answers to these questions!

I would say:

 

FPGA: Replication of the original hardware on an electrical level. The electrical signals in the FPGA can be the same as the emulated system, therefore the replicated hardware can be made to act 100% like the original hardware.

 

Android box or Raspberry Pi: A microprocessor with a program (the emulator) that is working very hard to emulate all the parts of the original hardware. Like a juggler who holds many balls in the air.

 

Besides that, the FPGA of kevtris has a configurable clock so even that element acts like the one in the original hardware (possibly eliminating audio and video timing issues). Something impossible on other hardware (Android etc.). Even the HDMI upscaler is directly tied to the emulated system so latency is brought to a minimum.

[Yet another repro Spectrum]

My biggest complaint with this clone is that it lacks joystick ports that later Speccys had, and the keyboard is something Sinclair would have done to save money.

I'm not even sure it has an AY sound chip. Since it's probably FPGA based, you might be able to add the sound chip if it's not there. But you'd need an external joystick interface.

It seems they have changed the specs then, since the AY and DB-9 ports are mentioned now?:

The Spectrum Next is fully implemented with FPGA technology, ensuring it can be upgraded and enhanced while remaining truly compatible with the original hardware by using special memory chips and clever design. Heres what under the hood of the machine:

 

Processor: Z80 3.5Mhz and 7Mhz modes

Memory: 512Kb RAM

Video: ULAplus featuring expanded video modes and colours

Video Output: RGB, VGA, mini HDMI

Storage: SD Card slot, with DivMMC-compatible protocol

Audio: AY-3-8912 or FM2149 audio chips (selectable) with stereo output

Joystick: DB9 compatible with Cursor and Interface 2 protocols (selectable)

PS/2 port: Mouse with Kempston mode emulation or an external keyboard

Extras: Multiface functionality for memory access, savegames, cheats etc.

Tape support: Mic and Ear ports for tape loading and saving

Expansion: Original external bus expansion port and accelerator expansion port

Accelerator board: GPU / 1Ghz CPU / 512Mb RAM

I'm worried a bit since this project lacks the impact of the Vega, the Vega was just there. I hope this isn't going the same way as that other promises based machine...

[New ZX Spectrum!]

Woops, just found there aleady is a topic about this... http://atariage.com/forums/topic/252112-yet-another-repro-spectrum/?hl=%2Bspecnext&do=findComment&comment=3503140

[New ZX Spectrum!]

 

 

The Spectrum Next is fully implemented with FPGA technology, ensuring it can be upgraded and enhanced while remaining truly compatible with the original hardware by using special memory chips and clever design. Heres what under the hood of the machine:

 

Processor: Z80 3.5Mhz and 7Mhz modes

Memory: 512Kb RAM

Video: ULAplus featuring expanded video modes and colours

Video Output: RGB, VGA, mini HDMI

Storage: SD Card slot, with DivMMC-compatible protocol

Audio: AY-3-8912 or FM2149 audio chips (selectable) with stereo output

Joystick: DB9 compatible with Cursor and Interface 2 protocols (selectable)

PS/2 port: Mouse with Kempston mode emulation or an external keyboard

Extras: Multiface functionality for memory access, savegames, cheats etc.

Tape support: Mic and Ear ports for tape loading and saving

Expansion: Original external bus expansion port and accelerator expansion port

Accelerator board: GPU / 1Ghz CPU / 512Mb RAM

http://www.specnext.com

[6502 Made out of discrete components]

It must be beautiful to run it at 1Hz and see the lights blinking.

[6502 Made out of discrete components]

This is really cool!

 

A 6502 made out of discrete components.

 

http://monster6502.com

 

 

The MOnSter 6502

 

A new dis-integrated circuit project to make a complete, working transistor-scale replica of the classic MOS 6502 microprocessor. We'll be showing off our progress at the 2016 Bay Area Maker Faire!

[Creator of DirectX: Unpaid overtime is part of the games business]

So making games is just 'pushing a mouse', simple as that.

[Which is one video game console that you do not own but wish you did?]

There is not much I wan't since I emulate a lot, but an N64, together with Pilotwings, that's something I would like to have.

[Coleco Chameleon .... hardware speculations?]

If the hardware guy gives him an SNES and says it's an FPGA system, he's not at fault for for not knowing better is he? I mean, it's not like he's responsible for the project his leading rigt? Would you hold the lead director of a project responsible for it's failures?

Sean found Mike, Mike found Coleco, so...

[Coleco Chameleon .... hardware speculations?]

Maybe that guy from the video-team could shoot a nice video (MTV's catfish-style) of Sean, explaining his side of the story.

[Coleco Chameleon .... hardware speculations?]

Albert makes the shells, Kevtris the boards?

[Games We Want Updated & HD-ified]

- Super Mario Sunshine (My favorite Mario game)

- Shenmue / Shenmue 2 (I hope this will be a reality, since Shenmue 3 is comming)

- Metroid Prime (The music is already perfect. I think this could be a killer VR game (edit:

))