Emulators + Multiplayer

[Prometheus]

I would suspect that in the case of using the TV-out functions and external controllers, the games people would be playing would not have had or needed a split screen to begin with, and thus this would not be required. (To give a quick example, Bomberman, or the battle mode in Super Mario All-Stars. )

 

[God Ginrai]

Yeah, but could you just connect controllers via USB or Bluetooth on the Pandora then use the TV out to connect to a T.V.? Wouldn't that make a split screen less of a hassle?

I don't get your point. Would the Pandora be connected or not to a TV and would it be fitted or not with controllers, the emulator HAS to handle the screen splitting.

I think he was assuming that the split screen that was mentioned was to be split across the Pandora's screens, and he was suggesting just connecting it to the TV with USB controllers and letting one emulator handle the multiplayer.

Or at least, that's how I understand his post.

-God Ginrai

 

[Luftwaffles]

Almost all fighting games don't require split screens, I played souledge on the playstation ten years ago with my brother, would love to do it again.

 

[limestrael]

Almost all fighting games don't require split screens, I played souledge on the playstation ten years ago with my brother, would love to do it again.

Well, if the game you're emulating was initially running on a console you connect to a TV (PSX, SNES...) - I don't know the exact term for that, seems that my english has its limits ^^ - you won't have to care about it, since it already handles the screen splitting if it needs it (Most of the racing games, for instance, need to split the screen).
But what if it's a handheld console's game ? There, the game doesn't bother about screen splitting, since initially every player has his own console therefore his own screen. So the emulator will have to split the screen itself.

Conversely, when you're playing Mario Kart - or such - on your Pandora (not connected to a TV) with friends who also have Pandoras, then the screen splitting (handled by the game, so you can't do anythin' about) will be a pain in the ***. Every player will have to see on his Pandora screen - which ain't as big as a TV screen - each other player's screen.

 

[michaeljustman]

Almost all fighting games don't require split screens, I played souledge on the playstation ten years ago with my brother, would love to do it again.

Well, if the game you're emulating was initially running on a console you connect to a TV (PSX, SNES...) - I don't know the exact term for that, seems that my english has its limits ^^ - you won't have to care about it, since it already handles the screen splitting if it needs it (Most of the racing games, for instance, need to split the screen).
But what if it's a handheld console's game ? There, the game doesn't bother about screen splitting, since initially every player has his own console therefore his own screen. So the emulator will have to split the screen itself.

Conversely, when you're playing Mario Kart - or such - on your Pandora (not connected to a TV) with friends who also have Pandoras, then the screen splitting (handled by the game, so you can't do anythin' about) will be a pain in the ***. Every player will have to see on his Pandora screen - which ain't as big as a TV screen - each other player's screen.

I'm pretty sure it would be cake for the dev to include a "half-screen cut" scaling that could be toggled on and off.

 

[Vorporeal]

Almost all fighting games don't require split screens, I played souledge on the playstation ten years ago with my brother, would love to do it again.

Well, if the game you're emulating was initially running on a console you connect to a TV (PSX, SNES...) - I don't know the exact term for that, seems that my english has its limits ^^ - you won't have to care about it, since it already handles the screen splitting if it needs it (Most of the racing games, for instance, need to split the screen).
But what if it's a handheld console's game ? There, the game doesn't bother about screen splitting, since initially every player has his own console therefore his own screen. So the emulator will have to split the screen itself.

Conversely, when you're playing Mario Kart - or such - on your Pandora (not connected to a TV) with friends who also have Pandoras, then the screen splitting (handled by the game, so you can't do anythin' about) will be a pain in the ***. Every player will have to see on his Pandora screen - which ain't as big as a TV screen - each other player's screen.

The only way to do what you're talking about is to run multiple instances of the emulator at once on the device, each with their own input, and link them together locally. For something where, in real life, each player has his/her own device, there has to be a different running emulator. It can't just split the screen like that.

 

[femngi]

The bigger concern for me would be if you had multiple controllers going into the pandora as described above, would it have enough power coming out of the USB to power them all?

 

[WizardStan]

Probably. But if not, since you need to use a hub anyway, it may as well be a powered hub. Guarantees that you'll have enough power.