Possibly a new 2600 w/ Homebrews embedded.. "Any intere

[EricDeLee]

I am interested in this... but agree with most:

 

It must have the retro look. Add a little fake wood to it... and few switches (6 would be great! ) and it MUST have AV jacks.

 

I'd buy it!

[TuzenTCA]

It would be nice if it was CHROMA LUMA AUDIO R AUDIO L, but standard A/V would be ok.

Ummmm... "CHROMA LUMA" is S-video. Only us crazy folks with old Commodore monitors have anything with separate chroma/luma jacks, so that's even less useful than an S-video port. And stereo output from a 2600 is way overrated.

 

As long as the board design has lots of tap points on it for mods, I'll be happy.

 

P.S. I just found out that Fry's has chroma/luma RCA-F to S-video-M cables for five bucks. I'd have preferred S-video-F, but this is still great, because now I can use more of my C= monitors without having to make more #@%!! S-video adaptor cables.

 

Um, I mean an S-video jack. I have on the rear of my reciever a seperate jack for AUDIO R AUDIO L CHROMA and LUMA (Blue and Green Plugs) and I thought it might be cool to have those, not an S-Video Jack. Even if you had the seperate jacks then people could buy a three dollar cord from Wal-Mart to make it composite video, instead of the seperate. I should have been more clear.

[TuzenTCA]

It would be nice if it was CHROMA LUMA AUDIO R AUDIO L, but standard A/V would be ok.

Ummmm... "CHROMA LUMA" is S-video. Only us crazy folks with old Commodore monitors have anything with separate chroma/luma jacks, so that's even less useful than an S-video port. And stereo output from a 2600 is way overrated.

 

As long as the board design has lots of tap points on it for mods, I'll be happy.

 

P.S. I just found out that Fry's has chroma/luma RCA-F to S-video-M cables for five bucks. I'd have preferred S-video-F, but this is still great, because now I can use more of my C= monitors without having to make more #@%!! S-video adaptor cables.

 

Um, I mean an S-video jack. I have on the rear of my reciever a seperate jack for AUDIO R AUDIO L CHROMA and LUMA (Blue and Green Plugs) and I thought it might be cool to have those, not an S-Video Jack. Even if you had the seperate jacks then people could buy a three dollar cord from Wal-Mart to make it composite video, instead of the seperate. I should have been more clear.

[raindog]

Is everyone smoking crack here? Ken's asking about homebrewer interest in a Jakks-like product, not "We're thinking of making a brand new system that'll take cartridges that haven't been made in 15 years and trying to get Wal-Mart to sell it."

 

My one "finished" homebrew project (the boing demo) wouldn't be worth putting on a system, but all I can agree with of the posts I've seen is that it ought to have some fake woodgrain on there somewhere And regardless of what's on it or how it looks, chances are I'll buy it anyway.

[Mr Egg]

in order for this device to be a succes i feel it must have broader appeal it must be able to play more modern games as well as classics. my idea would be a 7800 on a stick a la jakks . everyone knows that the 7800 can do arcade ports very well as well as atari 2600 games. i believe you have to capture 3 markets ; the classic market ie atari2600 . the classic arcade market ie jakks MS pacman . and the new platformer market ; jakks spongebob and spiderman . never the less a cartridge slot is essential for expansion. price i would feel should be $35. as far as looks i would like it to look like the activision stick from jacks very 80's

[mos6507]

The problem with the Jakks 2600 things is primarily in the sound emulation. It doesn't do explosions or motor sounds properly. The explosions in Atlantis and the motor noises in Gran Prix suck. It's too smooth and musical-sounding.

 

So I hope what Ken is proposing is a more accurate simulation of the 2600.

 

As for A/V, the best way to do it if the unit is compact is to have an edge connector. This edge connector, or multiple edge connectors, could carry out all of the 2600's native signals:

 

Both controller ports

Cart lines

left/right audio

chroma

luma

 

Then you either offer adapter cables or you leave it to the aftermarket to provide them.

 

Edge connectors shouldn't cost anything to supply as it's just bringing lines from the PCB to the edge of the case (and maybe have a little door hiding them you pry open with a screwdriver like the parallel port on the original PS1), whereas having to solder in formal RCA, S-Video, and DB9 ports would raise the cost.

 

And while these Jakks things are selling like hotcakes, the problem over time becomes one of clutter. It's like we're revisiting the console market pre-cartridge. Once you get a few of these you wind up having to store all of them. No, they aren't as big as regular consoles, but they are more of a pain to store than cartridges. And they use batteries, right? So you have to maintain the battery supply of each of them. If these things are going to become a long series of units beyond just 4 or 5 then it makes sense to start selling cartridge packs instead of reselling the base hardware again and again with different sets of embedded games.

 

If the controller has to change between iterations, as was the case between the namco volume 1 and 2 (the twist action for Pole Position) or the paddle unit for the 2600, then it kinda makes sense. But even then it would be less of an issue if they just went the last mile to make these into fully fledged consoles you could plug external carts and controllers into. But then they might not be able to get people to pay $25 for every cartridge pack the way they can charge that for the whole console.

[Mr Egg]

that is why it is important that the device have a cartridge port and should have built in games like the bootleg nes pads

[Bruce Tomlin]

that is why it is important that the device have a cartridge port and should have built in games like the bootleg nes pads

Huh? The bootleg game units use Famicom slots. Not too many folks out there (in the USA, at least) with extra Famicom carts to put in them, or systems to put the Super Joy carts into.

 

So how many of you folks have noticed that Ken hasn't said anything else in this thread so far?

[Saikyo]

that is why it is important that the device have a cartridge port and should have built in games like the bootleg nes pads

Huh? The bootleg game units use Famicom slots. Not too many folks out there (in the USA, at least) with extra Famicom carts to put in them, or systems to put the Super Joy carts into.

 

So how many of you folks have noticed that Ken hasn't said anything else in this thread so far?

 

Maybe we overloaded him with so many ideas that hes not bothering now?

[Mr Egg]

people are just so excited at the prospect of a new VCS like device that it is expected that everyone will bring out their extensive wishlists.

[128bytes]

Personally I would like to see something as small as possible. A cart slot isn't necessary, just an option to load and permanently store as many ROMs as possible.

 

I agree completely with Thomas. A small unit with a self-contained screen, about the size of a Game Boy or GP32, with a SD card slot (and/or onboard Flash RAM -- you wouldn't need a lot), would be ideal.

 

Come to think of it, a commercial release completing Fabrizio's work on the Atari 2600 GP32 emulator, along with bundled homebrew software and a GP32 unit, sold on AtariAge, could be really cool and not that expensive to produce...

[rasty]

Come to think of it, a commercial release completing Fabrizio's work on the Atari 2600 GP32 emulator, along with bundled homebrew software and a GP32 unit, sold on AtariAge, could be really cool and not that expensive to produce...

Hmm we could talk about it

 

In fact selling the GP32 here on AA would be pretty cool.. Al?

My emu would always be free, but then maybe I'd be more pressed to continue working on it

 

Regards,

Rasty.-

[Fretwobbler]

Personally I would like to see something as small as possible. A cart slot isn't necessary, just an option to load and permanently store as many ROMs as possible.

 

Whats wrong with Flash memory? Couldnt you use that for carts?

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Whats wrong with Flash memory? Couldnt you use that for carts?

Sorry, but I don't get your questions.

[Fretwobbler]

If the reason for not having a cart slot is space, why not just use a small cart.

 

Is there any reason why you cant use Compact Flash cards as cartridges?

[Thomas Jentzsch]

If the reason for not having a cart slot is space, why not just use a small cart.

 

Is there any reason why you cant use Compact Flash cards as cartridges?

On a single cart you can easily store all Atari 2600 games including all minor variations, demo homebrews etc. multiple times. So why would you need to be able to exchange it?

[Fretwobbler]

If the reason for not having a cart slot is space, why not just use a small cart.

 

Is there any reason why you cant use Compact Flash cards as cartridges?

On a single cart you can easily store all Atari 2600 games including all minor variations, demo homebrews etc. multiple times. So why would you need to be able to exchange it?

 

I see what you mean, but the size of them is incidental assuming you can get them for a similar or lesser cost than producing a cart, which I believe you will be able to.

 

Your not planning on forcing a revolutionary electronic Homebrew delivery system onto users in order to reduce production costs and generate more profit are you?

[Thomas Jentzsch]

I see what you mean, but the size of them is incidental assuming you can get them for a similar or lesser cost than producing a cart, which I believe you will be able to.

Are you sure? I though a simple build in flash ROM would be cheaper.

 

Your not planning on forcing a revolutionary electronic Homebrew delivery system onto users in order to reduce production costs and generate more profit are you?

Hm, now you started me thinking...

 

[Fretwobbler]

I see what you mean, but the size of them is incidental assuming you can get them for a similar or lesser cost than producing a cart, which I believe you will be able to.

Are you sure? I though a simple build in flash ROM would be cheaper.

 

*Eek* I dont know about the cost of those kind of things , I was just comparing it to, say, making a 2600 cart, I think CF will be cheaper there.

 

And as a potential user, providing it didnt inflate the cost, I would much, MUCH rather have a cart to hold, touch, feel, caress, ..... than a file I download from somewhere and load into a box and thats it, never getting to see its beauty on my shelf, or in my Super Fab 2600 Portable

 

I dont want games to go the same way that music is.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

And as a potential user, providing it didnt inflate the cost, I would much, MUCH rather have a cart to hold, touch, feel, caress, ..... than a file I download from somewhere and load into a box and thats it, never getting to see its beauty on my shelf, or in my Super Fab 2600 Portable

I agree, but a cart containing 2000+ binaries is IMO quite annonyme too. You can still buy my homebrews, play with the carts at home and load the binaries into your portable.

 

I dont want games to go the same way that music is.

I agree, but for a portable device, carts are IMO not very practical.

[RG Dev Rel]

Ken has been provided with the NDA documents.

 

If you have contacted him since this thread started, make sure you get the documents processed through him, and then we will start to contact people individually.

We are also looking for developers on other platforms; Please contact Ken as well to get more information.

 

Thanks for your interest.

[128bytes]

This is one cryptic ending to a thread --

 

Is there any information anyone is able to talk about that isn't covered by your non-disclosure agreements?

[raindog]

Well, apparently the company developing this thing has the initials "RG"

[RG Dev Rel]

Actually, it is possible to release some information.

 

We have two lines of products, one focussing on the pre-'84 systems, the other one based on an original hardware design.

 

The classic consoles are custom hardware with identical characteristics (vs, an emulator or rewriting the software) which means that, unlike the competition's, our units can play all the games and will let customers do so (for the 2600, all common bankswitching modes are supported)

 

We are still looking for new Atari 2600 titles to license. Ken is currently swamped with work, so please allow some time for the answers. Developers can contact us directly if they want to apply for the NDA, but, please, no general questions.[/b]

[PacManPlus]

I'm envisioning something like the Jakks Joystick but with a cartridge port? *drool*