BassGuitari Posted September 29, 2012 Share Posted September 29, 2012 NO IT WONT, it has been confirmed, the "console" part is nothing more than a docking bay/charge station with AV output, THAT IS THE EXTENT OF IT'S ABILITY. Once again, the joystick and charge base with a portable emulation device, nothing more, That makes my "should I buy this?" decision very easy, then. Thanks for the heads up! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bojay1997 Posted September 30, 2012 Share Posted September 30, 2012 Well, yes and no. Just because it is "liscensed and produced" by the cheap overseas company does not neccessarily mean SNK has zero involvement. I assure you if this thing takes off and sells well SNK will end up having a LOT of involvement. On the other hand If it totally bombs then yeah, they will not be doing much...and it likely will bomb unfortunately.. Actually, it does mean SNK has no involvement. There has been quite a bit of discussion about this device on neo-geo.com as well as other sites. Blaze and Tommo licensed the name, logos, casing designs and roms for the release. SNK is in no way involved in the engineering or manufacturing and frankly, hasn't had a hardware engineering division for years. Even their software teams don't deal in Neo Geo stuff anymore. This is a pure cash in for them, nothing more, nothing less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King_Salamon Posted September 30, 2012 Share Posted September 30, 2012 The additional games will be sold on SD cards (or something similar in nature). On ebgames.com if you purchase from them, they are including a free copy of Ninja Masters on the 'cart' to add to the library of games. I was also on the NEO GEO X GOLD site and they quote that the joysticks that they are including (1 with the package and additional sticks for $50) will be made using NEO GEO arcade quality parts. Not sure how much of this is marketing gimmicks or if this is 100% accurate as I would think playing this at home with an arcade stick would be pretty awesome! I signed up on the sute to get as much info on this unit that I can... the way it's going, this will be a tough thing to find (and even tougher to find here in Canada) and when it does make it's appearance, it may be in a liquidation lot or something. I hope it does well but the entry price is kinda steep. I'll reserve my decision until I can see one in person so I can see the portable unit for myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reaperman Posted September 30, 2012 Share Posted September 30, 2012 (edited) There has been quite a bit of discussion about this device on neo-geo.com as well as other sites. oh good, the 4chan of classic gaming. Call me racist, but whatever the opposite that they decided on is my side. This means I'm for this turd, doesn't it? Edited September 30, 2012 by Reaperman 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Climber Posted September 30, 2012 Share Posted September 30, 2012 Actually, it does mean SNK has no involvement. There has been quite a bit of discussion about this device on neo-geo.com as well as other sites. oh good, the 4chan of classic gaming. Call me racist, but whatever the opposite that they decided on is my side. This means I'm for this turd, doesn't it? lol, agreed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zenimus Posted October 17, 2012 Share Posted October 17, 2012 I put in my pre-order finally. Considering what you're getting in the set, I think it's a pretty good deal. The game selection is pretty decent too, about half of them are games I'd play frequently. Obviously they can't release a handheld with every Neo Geo game ever made due to licensing issues, but hopefully the SD card slot will allow for non-SNK games like Magical Drop 3 and such. It's weird, the game that sent me over the edge to buy it was Puzzled. It's an obscure Tetris spinoff that no one gives any love to, but it's super addictive and fast paced. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GadgetUK Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 (edited) This can be preordered in the UK now from www.funstock.co.uk - link was provided to me by the guy that runs blaze.com. All text says 'expandable game card' which is SD. It looks to me like they are using content protection on the SD cards and I would be amazed if its not encrypted - only time will tell. Its changed my mind, I am going to look at getting an old PSP and use my existing XBOX 1 to play on large flat screen. Edit2: one final point about hacking the thing:- The Blaze Gopher was never hacked despite the hardware being really capable and having an amazing LCD for as little as £40... If it ends up with a standard ARM processor that might change, but again theres very little info given and I believe thats deliberate. Also notice how theres no pricing to buy the game cart that comes with preorder, that worries me that games could end up £20, £30, £50 each... Sure it comes with 20 games but most cheaper devices can play the whole collection already. Edit: the reason I believe cards will be protected, theyve not 'sold it' in the wording like every other open retro device has previously, and thats a huge selling point. Mark my words, games are protected, and if its a bespoke CPU and NAND like the ones on the Blaze Gopher Mega Drive hand held, you can bet it wont get opened up. Why bother when there are other devices as good as but cheaper and open platform. The controller is good, I might buy a seperate when available and hack it to PC or XBOX. Edited October 26, 2012 by GadgetUK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rex Dart Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 May not have to hack it much; it's got a USB plug. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GadgetUK Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 Yeah lol, it just might need someone to work out the hardware first. Again I refer to the Gopher MD hand held - awesome hardware, dirt cheap, excellent screen, SD slot, £40 or less, crappy firecore firmware, why no hacks - it could run many emulators including neo geo... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rex Dart Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 Sorry, I was referring to the controller. The pics I've seen seem to show USB plugs. Would be nice if you could just plug it into a PC & have it be recognized. Would still need some hacking to work on an Xbox, but it ought to work on a PS3 right away if it works on PC... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldSchoolRetroGamer Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-1H7DMsVR0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GadgetUK Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 Ah, sorry, I thought you were referring to a DMA type attack thats often used with USB interfaces. That could be a good way in if it turns out to have an ARM cpu or something similar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GadgetUK Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 Nice vid, almost makes me want one, until I realise that I likely wont be able to play shocktroopers or the whole metal slug collection, at least not until they are licenced and ive paid probably £200 for 9 more metal slug games and shocktroopers (assuming £20 each which would be cheap for SD if you ask me). That also assumes that the whole collection will be published - I am not so sure because SNK dont own all the games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rex Dart Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 No guarantee that the hardware can handle the later, more demanding games, either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austin Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 Since I missed out on shelling out for the Wii-U in time, I'm contemplating buying one of these. Considering it's a handheld *and* a nice replicated Neo-Geo stick is included, I don't think the price is all that unreasonable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldSchoolRetroGamer Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8n6vBikGJ3M Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GadgetUK Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 (edited) Notice how not one of these reviewers has asked if you can just stick rom images on the SD cards. Edited October 26, 2012 by GadgetUK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StoneAgeGamer Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 Build quality looks nice, but I thought you would actually dock the portable in the cart slot. Seems kind of weird to have to open it like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GadgetUK Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 Yes, the docking station just provides a tidy way of connecting video and controls. I would have rather had a little box connected by cable than the neo geo laptop theyve provided lol. Nice waste of space... Still tempted IF it can be hacked, but it might take a while to find out. The other concern I have with these emulator hand helds is they are normally less accurate than the free software emulators already out there for other platforms. I havent read anything about regular firmware updates being available etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atariboy Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 (edited) Build quality looks nice, but I thought you would actually dock the portable in the cart slot. Seems kind of weird to have to open it like that. At least it will protect the screen in there. Notice how not one of these reviewers has asked if you can just stick rom images on the SD cards. Kind of a pointless question to ask. Much of SNK's business seems to revolve around their Neo Geo backcatalog and it's already known that they're going to be selling additional games for this. If all you had to do was stick rom images you downloaded online onto a SD card, that doesn't do either company any good. Doesn't do the value of their back catalog any favors and it doesn't help their chances of selling additional software for this. And the people that already have Neo Geo romsets resting on their hard drives likely already have superior methods to emulate the platform on their television and on handhelds already set up. So if any of that diehard group was eying buying this device, the inability to freely expand the game lineup likely isn't even a dealbreaker since they're more interested in satisfying their curiousity and the collector's value than anything else. Edited October 27, 2012 by Atariboy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StoneAgeGamer Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 At least it will protect the screen in there. I guess, but many devices with screens use docking stations, not 100% sure how screen will get damaged by just sitting there, dusty maybe. Either way it looks nice, I just think a fake cart slot is kind of tacky. Its like cars that have fake side air scoops. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the.golden.ax Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 Meh, if you can play it all on a PSP and own an actual AES / MVS why bother. I suppose if you really want to say you have a "neo geo" and don't have any other way... I'm still not thrilled, but maybe it isn't DIM. Can't wait to hear about that little aspect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GadgetUK Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 I still dont understand why the people getting hands on havent at the very least asked how much the games will be and which titles might be coming down the line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldenegg Posted October 27, 2012 Author Share Posted October 27, 2012 Gamespot asked and the answer was that price and list of titles aren't available yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GadgetUK Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 (edited) Yeah, ive just seen another vid on youtube where someone did ask about upcoming games and cost - the reply led me believe the company actually licensing the SNK logos, brand and initial 21 games hasnt agreed which if any will be licenced for release later. They are basically waiting to see if they make profit before signing more contracts. My gut feeling is this is a doomed product. I never usually hesitate to buy new technology, I was first in line for an Aibo ERS-7 (sold last year), GP32 and GP2X, all consoles etc but this gives me mixed feelings because theres no clear roadmap interms of their support. I also have concerns that the emulation might not be up to scratch. If they are doing previews of release kit, why havent they let IGN and co review it fully... Edited October 27, 2012 by GadgetUK 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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