Our New Machine, Pandora

[J201605]

it wouldn't ruin anything, you just might have to play your vertical shooters looking at a small image... hell the volume buttons could even be accessible below the analog stick so it wouldnt be a problem for anyone. N64 was a great system. Why exactly do you want this new system? The gp2x emulates everything up to snes great and obviously you have your own dpad mod.

 

[Yrx]

Hydro thunder, fzero x and san francisco rush 2049 would be amazing on a handheld. N64 is awesome... especially because unlike psx the file sizes are small. We must have analog control.

Oh yeah ruin the design for everything else just so we can play a few crappy blurry, foggy, low-res racing games. N64 blows. We must have digital control.

Yeah, this is exactly what I'm talking about. This is ridiculous. Instead of exploding everytime someone reminisces about their old favorites, maybe just calm down and think of ways to make more control styles possible.

Geez...

Oh, and while I'm at it, do you really think flaming about controls is going to convince craigix about anything? Here you have the benefit of someone designing a system BUILT TO THE COMMUNITY'S WANTS, and then he gets rewarded by getting to sift through all kinds of stupidity like this. He doesn't need to listen to any of us, frankly, however good an idea that would be. So be thankful you've got this oppurtunity, and stop trying to put YOUR personal favorites over what seemingly the rest of the community wants. If this keeps up, maybe he'll just STOP asking and do what he thinks the most people will want, and then if you don't like it, you'll have to deal with it.

Having digital and analog would be the best of both worlds provided that it is done well.

 

[DaveC]

Why exactly do you want this new system? The gp2x emulates everything up to snes great and obviously you have your own dpad mod.

Certainly not N64. You think we should design this only for N64? Analog sucks when playing anything else designed for digital controls.

The Gp2X is crap at SNES and some other systems. More power would help.

So be thankful you've got this oppurtunity, and stop trying to put YOUR personal favorites over what seemingly the rest of the community wants.

The rest of the community wants N64? Why? I had one but it wasn't so great that we should design a system just for it. There is so much more out there than just N64. There is a limit to the amount of controls that can be put on it, maybe there is not room for all of them.

 

[atomicthumbs]

Perfect Dark for the N64 screenshots.

 

[Yrx]

Why exactly do you want this new system? The gp2x emulates everything up to snes great and obviously you have your own dpad mod.

Certainly not N64. You think we should design this only for N64? Analog sucks when playing anything else designed for digital controls.

The Gp2X is crap at SNES and some other systems. More power would help.

So be thankful you've got this oppurtunity, and stop trying to put YOUR personal favorites over what seemingly the rest of the community wants.

The rest of the community wants N64? Why? I had one but it wasn't so great that we should design a system just for it. There is so much more out there than just N64. There is a limit to the amount of controls that can be put on it, maybe there is not room for all of them.

I never said design a system JUST for N64, jsut for some kind of analog. And once again, you're putting your preferences above others', and assuming that it can't accomodate everybody. You know, wouldn't it just be easier to ask craigix if there's a way to do both, since none of us has any real say?

Perfect Dark for the N64 screenshots.

Thank you.

 

[sold]

Anyone got any ideas about how control layout is gonna work, especially for fps games?

I was hoping there would be some sort of analogue stick on the left above the d-pad and some sort of mouse control stick on the right, leaving d-pad and buttons to be mapped for other controls and shoulder buttons for fire and jump (that is if there are only 2). This kind of layout would allow for N64 games comfortably as well as controls that can be used in pda programs and for desktop style navigation.

What do you guys think?

EDIT: Just wanted to add, i realize that sounds like a lot of buttons and stuff.

 

[J201605]

i think that it should have identical controls to 2x but with dpad instead of dstick and an analog stick or nub on the left side below the dpad. Hopefully we will get more information about things like controls and casing tomorrow because craigix said there would be more info in a month on the 11th of last month (though of course this was probably an estimate and the new chipset discussion may have changed things).

 

[quartercast]

Hydro thunder, fzero x and san francisco rush 2049 would be amazing on a handheld. N64 is awesome... especially because unlike psx the file sizes are small. We must have analog control.

Oh yeah ruin the design for everything else just so we can play a few crappy blurry, foggy, low-res racing games. N64 blows. We must have digital control.



Hi - I don't care about anybody else, I just want to be able to control my $100 RC hovercraft with the new console. Please remove any 8-way d-pad or joystick and replace with 2x RC x-y axis control sticks please. :lol:
Oh and please install an RC antenna on every console so that mine will too. Thanks!

 

[kanzlr]

oh!

what a splendid idea
a trackpoint below the buttons on the right would make FPS games way cool

 

[Vimacs]

How about having the dpad and an analogue stick swapable?
The pcb could be layd out like that
....D
D..A..D
....D
With d being the normal dpad contacts and A being a analogue stick mounting thingee,
You could remove the dpad and screw in a little stick, or have a hole in the dpad.

Would be nice if someone could do a render for that to see how it would fit.

 

[icurafu]

Anyone got any ideas about how control layout is gonna work, especially for fps games?

I was hoping there would be some sort of analogue stick on the left above the d-pad and some sort of mouse control stick on the right, leaving d-pad and buttons to be mapped for other controls and shoulder buttons for fire and jump (that is if there are only 2). This kind of layout would allow for N64 games comfortably as well as controls that can be used in pda programs and for desktop style navigation.

What do you guys think?

EDIT: Just wanted to add, i realize that sounds like a lot of buttons and stuff.

The best layout in my opinion is to have the stick under the ABXY buttons on the right hand side and use the left shoulder button for fire.

This however would screw N64 people over, so it maybe be best just to stick it under the DPad. However, for a feature I would hardly ever use, I would prefer not to have it stick out. Detachable maybe or are we heading down the design nightmare terror-tory again?

 

[Turnip]

If the final design (enough buttons to play N64 and a DPAD and an analog Stick) is of my taste i will pay 290 € easily if the sends are included

What is it with everyone and the stupid N64? Designing the system around N64 would be shit. Why does everyone have to have it? The N64 was a crap system. It didn't have many games, the graphics were awful with its low res blurry textures, origami characters, and draw "distance" that went into fog 2 feet in front of you. The game library mostly comprised of terrible racing games and abysmal 3D fighting games. Other than Mario 64 that you can play on a DS What is it that everyone just HAS to have? I don't get it


Are you insane?!?! Many N64 games are widley regarded as the best ever. What would you have the system designed around? Nothing with an anologue stick presumably since thats the only addition to the interface would be needed for N64 emulation so that would be snes, md etc and early PS a bit like what a PSP can do (with its anologue controls for modern games). Or would you have the system designed around some multi purpose gaming PDA snap off keyboard shite that nobody will buy and is such a blindingly stupid idea that I cant beleve its being taken seriusly. Sure have a detatachable keyboard that people who want one can buy so it has the potential to be used as a PDA but dont put off you main market of gamers by adding stuff they dont need.

 

[cappuchok]

I _LOVE_ my GP2X but i would put £200 down on a handheld with a big, hi-res touchscreen that had the power to run any and all 2D emulation perfectly - I'm not fussed about PSX or N64 but thats because I'm slightly older and i grew up in the 8/16 bit days.

Largely my opinion as well, my primary interest in this will be fullspeed Amiga/SNES emulation and a more recent MAME version (on the emulation side, not considering homebrew which might use 3D to great effect), but as PSX will no doubt be possible at full speed as well, I'd like to see a PSX-like control layout minus the analogs (which I've never ever used on a PSX) meaning two shoulder buttons on each side and a total of 10-12 buttons, possibly similar to the NeoGeo+Genesis+PSX merged layout of the Saitek P990 pads (Which IMHO is perfect for arcade games as well as most 8/16-bit era consoles). But I agree that IF there is to be any analog control it must be non-obtrusive (must not make it harder to use other controls) and implemented in such a way that it won't be "taller" from the base of the device more than any regular button (so as not to be fragile).

I won't mind N64 emulation if it's possible, but I'd rather have a control layout adapted for 2D systems and the PSX at most, with or without analog controls, and live with that possibly making N64 controls a bit clunky, than a control layout designed around the N64 layout which would possibly be worse for most of the consoles/computers I really do want to emulate...

 

[virusx]

What about about a small trackball under the Dpad that could act either like an analogue joystick (very sensitive) or a mouse (less sensitive)?

 

[Turnip]

DaveC, this design would work for your vertical mame stuff and have anolog controls.

 

[TheMinder]

There's more than a couple of things that are confusing me ( I've probably mentioned some of them before so apologies for any repeats ).

QUOTE
I fully expect craig to make a machine that isn't just costing what people expect to pay for a machine that does such and such, but something where you really get what you pay for.


If I'm reading that correctly then that's surely a fallacy. As others have already said ultimately this is being done as a business venture and so surely profit has to be one of the main driving forces behind it. There's nothing wrong with that by the way, it's just strange for board members here to try to take some sort of ownership over it as a "community project" when it's actual a commercial venture.

Secondly, I know the thread was put up and it did the job of getting some interest and making a long and active read but are board members not getting a false impression of the importance of their input into the whole thing ?

Speccing a machine to suit say 100 people who have replied in the thread is hardly going to happen as it would make no business sense at all, and surely the market being aimed at has got to be wider than just members of this board ?

The thread would strongly suggest that some people like SQUIDGE for example are being utilised in a professional capacity behind the scenes which makes complete sense (I chose SQUIDGE semi-randomly but could have gone for maybe SKEEZIX as a professional developer etc etc) , and if a business man like Craig (and whoever else is backing) has got professional people involved then I find it hard to believe the machine isn't fully specced out and designed already without relying on the input of board members, who let's face it could all still be at school.

 

[Turnip]

There's more than a couple of things that are confusing me ( I've probably mentioned some of them before so apologies for any repeats ).

QUOTE
I fully expect craig to make a machine that isn't just costing what people expect to pay for a machine that does such and such, but something where you really get what you pay for.

If I'm reading that correctly then that's surely a fallacy. As others have already said ultimately this is being done as a business venture and so surely profit has to be one of the main driving forces behind it. There's nothing wrong with that by the way, it's just strange for board members here to try to take some sort of ownership over it as a "community project" when it's actual a commercial venture.

Secondly, I know the thread was put up and it did the job of getting some interest and making a long and active read but are board members not getting a false impression of the importance of their input into the whole thing ?

Speccing a machine to suit say 100 people who have replied in the thread is hardly going to happen as it would make no business sense at all, and surely the market being aimed at has got to be wider than just members of this board ?

The thread would strongly suggest that some people like SQUIDGE for example are being utilised in a professional capacity behind the scenes which makes complete sense (I chose SQUIDGE semi-randomly but could have gone for maybe SKEEZIX as a professional developer etc etc) , and if a business man like Craig (and whoever else is backing) has got professional people involved then I find it hard to believe the machine isn't fully specced out and designed already without relying on the input of board members, who let's face it could all still be at school.


Sod off.

 

[X-Code]

I consider Turnip's design, and DaveC's design... If someone wishes to draw the combo it would be handy

Basic design & shape from DaveC's design with detachable keyboard
Button number, DPad and stick positions from Turnip's design

And this wouldn't be built around N64 emulation possibilities, but at least it wouldn't be crippled control-wise ( I think ).

 

[A_SN]

People, think of the homebrew! This talk about analog controls is nice, but it's all about emulation and such. What about us, devs, who might, by the presence of analog controls, want to create games that would use them? I'm not saying I absolutely want analog controls, I'm just saying, think of the possibilities for the homebrew stuff.

On an unrelated note, once this machine comes out, we'll need an app creating contest in which we'd have to create an entire app, and by create I mean type the code, compile and debug, on the console itself, with its built-in keyboard, with a toolchain ON the console, with sprite editors on the console (we could have GIMP for example) etc etc..

EDIT : Also, could we get Debian ARM on it? Just being curious..

 

[God Ginrai]

I have a question for the FPSers who want a stick on the right side:

Why does it have to be on the right side? Can't you use an analog on the left side for aim, and the ABXY as WASD? (The Dpad would then take up any functions that those buttons normally took up)

-God Ginrai