youxia

I didn't know about this one. I think it's possible to run a C64 in MIST, but nice to see there's a dedicated FPGA project by an experienced modder. Next is a bit different beast though: also faithful FPGA recreation but with extra modes added. Plus, it's also plug'n play and has a lovely modern design, not a bare-metal board for the hardcore tweakers. It did quite well, so I believe similar C64 could do even better, what with much larger original user base.

I have no intention of buying this whatsoever, just curious. C64 was an amazing microcomputer and deserves a ZX Spectrum Next kinda treatment, but these people already have written it off at the start as " too expensive".

Right...but a full sized version of what? The Mini? Or the "recreated computer"? So vague...but then their initial pitch was vague as hell too, with "no fixed specification". I suppose it'll be just the Mini-guts with keyboard added. Emulated c64...wonder what emu are they using?

That Arcade Dreamplay Dreamcade Replay thingy has similar specs (4GB RAM/32 GB SSD) and runs Win 10. Which was one of the things that made me skeptical about it. Not sure really how it will shape up. My i3/4GB laptop runs it fairly well, with multitasking. As for space it takes 24GB atm and I had it for about a year, so a couple fo big updates went down. Don't think they added that much to the original size. Perhaps the Win edition for such devices as DR differs from the "normal" one though, and plays by different rules, dunno.

So, whatever happened with the original THEC64 computer advertised in the initial campaign? Was it abandoned or morphed into the Mini?

Well, they would say that, wouldn't they? Here are some other quotes: Smarty Ring "Be part of the tech revolution." "This product is not only the first of its kind, but is truly the perfect fit for the tech savvy" "high quality piece of tech-jewelry made from allergy free, surgical quality stainless steel. The simple elegance of this piece makes it suited for both men and women" Kreyos Meteor "Mobilize Your Life" "We can ease your tech aches and pains" "the other “smartwatches” on the market won’t have full gesture and voice control capabilities for a long time --- if ever." Elroy Earbuds "add new functionality to your digital lifestyle" "transforming it into something that becomes a piece of electronic jewelry" " I understand manufacturing on a visceral level" GameStick "There are over 1,416,338,245 TVs in the world but less than 1% of them are used to play games! Crazy. We think that's because traditional games consoles and content are too expensive. So 12 months ago, we set out to challenge that by making the most affordable, open and portable TV games console ever created. At $79 GameStick offers the most affordable route to playing games on your TV." Source: 7 Spectacular Crowdfunding Fails

Turning verbs into nouns, how QUTIE. Monetizing LGBT movement with a lame app? Not sure that's what the campaigners fought and asked for, but it certainly goes hand in hand with Atari SA's modus operandi. After all, these are the guys who whored out some stone cold classics and turned them into flash casino games.

You're not wrong, in fact invasion of these douchetwats with their insufferable, patronising technobabble is one of the reasons I finally left London and moved to another side of the world. "Somebody (google) WILL buy my amazing start up one day!" is a prevalent mantra in the Tech City (bleurgh). Yeah, coke is a helluva drug. But I digress. I still have no clue what all this has to do with VCS? There's no mention of Atari at all in this adverview, I CTRL+F'd it.

The hell did I just click on? What does this surreal word-salad cum blockchain-propaganda have to do with VCS?

It's amazing how many thrills such a simple gameplay concept can provide. It's also a bit sad that some smartphone kids probably think that Flappy Bird and other such "simple" games are somehow innovative and never have been done before. Speaking of LL clones I was recently impressed by 1985 -The Day After (C64), it's sort of open-world (yeah, you go to different planets and all and the controls are super tight. Lots of hair-raising moments with this one. EDIT: had to post this pic, this is true retro computing porn

Yes, and due to their age these people tend to a have wealth of experience and advanced reasoning and pattern recognition capabilities. That's why there's so many of what you call cynics/haters/trolls around here You may continue thinking that this is because these people are just a bunch of stubborn curmudgeons willing to hate on autopilot - or perhaps you can consider the fact that there are massive red flags attached to this project, and therefore the strong critical reaction is much warranted. Few of these: -abysmal track record of the parent company, bankrupts who are basically clutching at straws in trying to stay afloat in this market (but should've sank long time ago, for the sake of the brand and the fans) -abysmal track record of the main "designer", who then got fired few months ago anyway -neither fish nor fowl target audience and purpose, undermined by specs and vague statements. Is it a Linux box? Emu Box? AtariBox? -lack of any system-selling software, or, actually any significant software (bar the already available one) plus the signed-on dev list quite pathetic -silly and uncompetitive price point - it may be okay with these initial 10k hardcore fans, but future wise...hmmm -the fact it's still one year off! (at best, if at all) The last one really gets me...I mean, okay, I understand that some people want to "support" the old brand - even though it has absolutely no connection to any of the old designers or devs. Even so, I'd simply wait until it's (or, if it is) available. If you believe this brand is strong enough and warrants a dedicated console, then there surely should be some investors believing that too and willing to plonk down a few million and not rely on some indiegogo panhandling. There is a few folk in this thread saying they understand all this and bought in anyway - I respect that, fair enough. But there's also few who are simply hand-waving facts away and that always puzzles me.

Wow, probably the first time since I saw Alien 3 that I witness somebody actually prasing it, and rightly so. Most folks just jumped on the hate-wagon, but that film really has a lot going for it. Incredible visual style (DF-trademark) atmosphere and script. It was grimdark before grimdark. Sure, could be better but definitely holds its own. For me the whole initial trilogy sort of stands equal, all different films with different strengths. Though, if I had to pick one, it'd be Alien of course I really had high hopes for #4 because Jeunet/Khondji was a genius tag-team, but it was awful. I think the script at fault. And I had no-hopes for Prometheus and sure as hell: a turdiest turd that ever turded. Scott should've really retired a long, long time ago, start an oyster farm or something.

Anybody remembers that time when "troll" meant a person who baits others with some made up shizzz in order to provoke a reaction? It was probably back in those ancient times when we still said "emoticons" instead of "emojis" and "programs" for "apps". Anyway, it actually had an useful meaning back then and wasn't just a get outta jail card used to dismiss any critics. The same role is ascribed to its cruder cousin, the "hater". I suppose it's got to do with the uber-prevalent "like" culture, Negative Nancy's have no place in the always-cheerful world of the interwebs, no matter how valid or reasonable their arguments might be. Why u so negative, bro? U a h8r?

A-men. It's a good angle, apart from "so much cheaper".

There were lots of cases of copyright harrasment in Europe back in the day, not sure about now: Even the PC sacred cow CD Projekt Red got into this in some point, sending nice letters about that Witcher copy you might've downloaded. Or, might've not, since this method is based on IP records, so it did not discriminate between your flatmate or somebdoy hitching on your wireless.

Haha no, they just went and completely turned everything over its head: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/17228/coming-soon-to-retroarch-new-input-mapping-system-old-remap-files-don-t-work I don't know, it may be for the better in the long run, but I saw enough "OMG how do I go back to previous version, this is chaos" to put me off updating for a while. This sounds like a day-and-a-half operation plus, yeah, I can't see any proper doc explaining it yet.

From the forums: It's rather weird, is this a one off? I thought they would continue with constant production. Hopefully it's just a break after finishing the kicksarter batch. I think I want one somewhere in the forseeable future. I'm currently emulating ZX on a Pi using a NTSC CRT TV. It's a bit of a pain. Obvious problems with jerkiness and heavy artifacting abound. Not sure if it would translate to real hardware too, but unless you can get hold of a PAL-capable TV you may be in the same boat.

I saw your post there, it's great. Thought about making an account as well and chiming in, but there's probably no point spamming their (rather serious) board. You can always link to this thread should an issue of "but is there any interest?" arise.

The back-up is a must, about to make one. But overall, in my case the problem is that the emus and cores for obscure machines that interest me are lacking features at the moment and are often updated. So there's no avoiding the tinkering. I would issue a strong BEWARE! for anybody fancying "updating all packages" on a new Retropie 4.4 install. This will update your libretro to 1.7.3 (4?) which introduces a completely new control scheme, exploding your old one in the process. The new one is about as cryptic & convoluted as you get and there are no good docs or guides atm explaining it.

So, I kind of got curious who actualy are the "Atari SA". I'm afraid that their Wikipedia page does not make for pretty reading if you're fan of the original brand and glory days. Probably best not to dwell on the Bankruptcy paragraph, which describes how they sold off loads of their famous money making franchises, got into "social casinos", and were down to 10 people. Why be negative. After all - there's a "vigorous turnaround campaign". So all is good, I suppose - these corporate heavyweights know how to do this stuff, right? Respective Metacritic scores: 19/100 & 44/100. There was also a "LGBT mobile game" and "Lunar Lander". Phew. The next step in the Vigorous Turnaround Campaign? The VCS. Wise move, given their history I suppose. Ok, so I'm shooting fish in the barrel, probably that makes me a "hater" and all that, but...it's pretty sad really. I'd say, somebody take this corporate Old Yeller behind a shed and put it out of its zombified misery. Perhaps the brand would then land in hands of people who actually have a clue, or maybe some time off in a Vintage Heaven would do it good. It sure deserves it, after years of being re-animated by thirsty suits over and over again.

I've played this kinda game quite recently but cannot track it down now. It's a mansion, and it has levels, lifts and rooms. Not a platformer, sort of weird hybrid of adventure and something else. You enter rooms and either find supplies/items or nothing or that cursed slope which sends you back to level one. There's also a timer and the aim is to get to top mansion level. I'm playing every single C64 game starting from digit 0 and I'm currently at "6" but couldn't see it. So maybe have played it in some random fit. Or perhaps it's not even the game he's looking for

Personally, I'm strictly DIY. Already have a Pi/Retropie and currently assembling a GroovyCube-style mini PC. I have no interest in any of these nostalgia boxes, but don't begrudge anybody wanting one: each to its own. Just find this "open" angle curious, since there are so many better, truly open options and I doubt entity such as Atari would allow real freedom. Even if they did, you'd probably hit a lots of snags on hardware/software/compatibility/support level. It can be a challenge to get everything running properly on the Pi (and it's as open as you can get), nevermind this strange, tailored project. That besides the giant red flags of low-speciness and actually not even existing yet.

The saddest thing about this cluster**** is that Sir Clive is actually involved. I really didn't need to see my childhood hero - and the iconic brand itself - tied to yet another sad & tedious crowdfunding mess. It's a good thing that at least we have Spectrum NEXT to carry the torch, as probably the best designed retro videogame machine ever.

I don't trust the lite set. Best build your own. Here's an alternative to clrmamepro: Simple Arcade Multifilter It's much, well, simpler. Needs proper catver.ini file though.

Are you sure it is actually "open"? Or will be it just some custom Linux flavour OS, with plenty of restrictions from Atari? One quote I saw said "you can access games you've bought from other content platforms" - that's not very "open". And even if it is truly open, you will eventually have to do all the legwork yourself - leading to the usual elephant-in-the-room question of "why not just buy a mini PC". Or even, the Arcade Dreamplay. While I'm not a fan of that box for assorted reasons it admittedly has better specs/lower price.