Flashback 2 and others covered on Retro Gaming Radio

[Pipercub]

Hi, I host a segment on Retro Gaming Radio called the Hardware Flashback (term used before the Atari products), and in this month's show I do a review on modern production of classic gaming hardware like the FB2, C64 DTV and others. It is intended to introduce the general public to what is so special about the FB2 and like quality hardware so it won't tell most of you anything you don't already know but you might still enjoy it being talked up in the media. You can download the Sept. broadcast at www.Retrogamingradio.com look in the upper right corner under CURRENT SHOW. I also post on the forums there as SubaruBrat

 

Enjoy!

[Flojomojo]

Any way you could post or highlight the specific segment that talks about the FB2? I like the idea of RGR, but in practice, I really don't want to sit and listen to Monroe holding forth for 3 hours at a time -- I'd prefer to read it print on the web.

[jaybird3rd]

Any way you could post or highlight the specific segment that talks about the FB2? I like the idea of RGR, but in practice, I really don't want to sit and listen to Monroe holding forth for 3 hours at a time -- I'd prefer to read it print on the web.

Well, you can also fast-forward to the segment in question. It's at the very end of the September 2006 episode, about 205 minutes into it.

 

Very nice segment, BTW. The FB2 coverage is probably old news to many of the people on these boards, but I wasn't aware that the Hummer Off-Road Racing game used the C64 DTV chipset (I'm not much of a C64 guy). I picked one up at my local Radio Shack after hearing the broadcast, and even though I had to pay the full retail price for it, I figure it's still a bargain. It will give me something to run the handful of C64 games I'm interested in that aren't available on the Atari computers, without my having to invest in a working C64.

[Retro Rogue]

Very nice segment, BTW. The FB2 coverage is probably old news to many of the people on these boards, but I wasn't aware that the Hummer Off-Road Racing game used the C64 DTV chipset (I'm not much of a C64 guy). I picked one up at my local Radio Shack after hearing the broadcast, and even though I had to pay the full retail price for it, I figure it's still a bargain. It will give me something to run the handful of C64 games I'm interested in that aren't available on the Atari computers, without my having to invest in a working C64.

 

 

You're kidding, full retail price? All the Radio Shack's around here had them on closeout over the summer for $10-$15 a piece.

 

Yah, the Hummer wasn't authorized to use the DTV chipset. Mammoth was only licensed for the original DTV joystick. The Hummer version has the version 3 board/set which had some things fixed. The only thing you can't do is hack in a second controller port. There's a description of the features of all three sets here, and the site also includes tips/directions/etc. for hacking the hummer version.

[jaybird3rd]

You're kidding, full retail price? All the Radio Shack's around here had them on closeout over the summer for $10-$15 a piece.

 

Yah, the Hummer wasn't authorized to use the DTV chipset. Mammoth was only licensed for the original DTV joystick. The Hummer version has the version 3 board/set which had some things fixed. The only thing you can't do is hack in a second controller port. There's a description of the features of all three sets here, and the site also includes tips/directions/etc. for hacking the hummer version.

Yeah, I was almost forced to pony up the $30 because it was the last one at the last Radio Shack anywhere near me that had them, and I figured it would cost about the same amount to buy one online and have it shipped in. But, not long before I sold one of my DTV joysticks for about $10 more than I paid for it, so it more or less evened out.

 

Thanks for that link ... I guess it's time to buy some surface-mounted components and break out the magnifying glass. It's amazing that the resistor ladder in the video circuit was bungled so badly; it seems to me that the correct resistors would have been about the same price and just as easy to use (unless they just didn't know what they were doing). Here's hoping that the FB3 sees the light of day; I'd love to see a similar single-chip implementation of the 400/800 architecture someday.