Say That Op Were Bought Out?

[SirisC]

Have you seen the consoles that Sega put their name to lately, God Ginrai? :lol:

I would buy a successor to the Dreamcast, or are you referring to the Brazilian company that still has rights to manufacture the Genesis and other Sega approved genesis clones?

--edit--
Oops, didn't even realize how old the post I was responding to was.
Nevermind, I'm just crazy at the moment.

 

[SomeGuy99]

I don't know if Treasure has the buyout money. This is all hypothetical, so I didn't consider that point. Also, your second quote is attributed to Prometheus, who seems to have taken the complete opposite point; I think you deleted the wrong quote tag.

-God Ginrai

Fixed. h34r:

Yeah, I don't think Treasure have ever been rolling in money.

 

[God Ginrai]

Have you seen the consoles that Sega put their name to lately, God Ginrai? :lol:

I would buy a successor to the Dreamcast, or are you referring to the Brazilian company that still has rights to manufacture the Genesis and other Sega approved genesis clones?

Hey, Tectoy is doing fine with the Sega hardware rights. They seem to be quite creative with them. I believe Prometheus is talking about the "Sega Zone" here: http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/02/sega-zone-the-genesis-with-a-wiimote-nobody-asked-for/

-God Ginrai

 

[Prometheus]

@God Ginrai - I was going to say that those are third-party titles, but it looks like I got ninja'd. h34r:

@SirisC (and also at God Ginrai, I think - I'm having trouble keeping up, here! :lol: ) - Aside from the various carnival prizes (such as the light-show devices, and the rebranded PMP, and so on and so forth), I actually meant the rather recent official "Mega Drive" "clones", both with and without cartridge slots, that are sold at retail in at least the UK (EDIT: And on Play-Asia).

To give a brief run-down, though, for those not familiar with them: They aren't clones, and they aren't based on real Mega Drive hardware - they're based on a 32-bit ARM SoC of some sort, which is running emulation software which is not properly compatible with many very common games. For example, even the in-built games, which I presume were chosen to match the hardware's strengths, are not correctly emulated, and PAL-optimisations in some of them are ignored (the device has a PAL/NTSC switch, but some of the built-in titles which were originally adjusted to run at the correct speed on PAL Mega Drives do not run at the correct speed in either mode); As far as problems with common cartridges go, in Sonic The Hedgehog 2, the protagonists have large holes through their faces and bodies; In Rocket Knight Adventures, Sparkster is a big corrupted mess; In any game that has underwater graphical effects (or other similar tricks), the water colours cover the whole screen and will sometimes flicker in a fit-inducing manner between the normal and water palettes; And for my last example, no game has accurate audio, and what you hear is inexcusably bad - it is far below the state of Mega Drive audio emulation at the start of the last decade. There are plenty more issues, but these are the most obvious within about two minutes of using one of these devices.

I was given one, and got the opportunity to try out a few cartridges besides my own (I'm not a huge fan of most of the first-party stuff, so most of my collection is third-party things ), but it prompted me to instead seek out and buy a Multi-Mega.

 

[SomeGuy99]

Multi-Mega.

Good god, that's so 1337.

I had one of those Megadrive pad tv-game things and it seemed to work fine. I'm guessing it used some sort of FPGA rather than emulation though?

Similar to this:

 

[Prometheus]

That one is, as far as I know, an actual hardware clone.

However, after trying one and finding bugs in the games, and crackly and slightly "off" audio, I did some research which led me to discover that it's likely that the CPU isn't quite the same as the original - I spoke to a friend about it who pointed me to a YouTube video which demonstrated something about swapping the CPU in the real thing for a later revision, or something of that nature. It caused the same game bugs (this was explained to me, in simplified terms, to be the result of how the machine handle collision-detection being affected by a faster CPU, if memory serves), and also caused similar audio trouble as well - although the clone still sounded a fair bit scratchier. (The model with Sonic The Hedgehog 2 on it is the one that I tried - you can get stuck in loops quite frequently, because you can sometimes simply zoom right through their "walls", requiring either a reset or waiting ten whole minutes to snuff it. You also can't hear the sound effects behind the music, and everything sounds scratchy.)

Heh, pardon me. Ever since I got my first Famiclone (a quite good one that's fairly accurate), I've loved hardware clones, they're curious little things.

Argh, I'm off-topic again, I'm so sorry. I don't know what's up with me today! :lol: Must be pre-Pandora hyperness.

 

[SomeGuy99]

Argh, I'm off-topic again, I'm so sorry. I don't know what's up with me today! :lol: Must be pre-Pandora hyperness.

I think everyone round here's been bottling it up. Signs of giddiness are everywhere!

My favourite clone (which I own) is the C64 DTV. Not sure if counts as a clone, but it's lovely.

I can't believe people still make Famiclones, and they're still all the same: 1000 games = more like ten, every game has a weird rename.

 

[Prometheus]

There are some great Famiclones (doubtless we'll see a fake Pandora with one shoved inside one day, eh? :lol: ). My favourite is really a NES-clone, though (it was my second-ever clone), since it's for NES cartridges - the Blaze RetroCon. It's just a plain console, no pirated junk or such, and is the same, guts-wise, as my first.

As for the C64 DTV? It is a genuine clone - look here.

Giddiness is right. I should stop now - sorry again for dragging this off-topic.

 

[SomeGuy99]

There are some great Famiclones (doubtless we'll see a fake Pandora with one shoved inside one day, eh? :lol: ). My favourite is really a NES-clone, though (it was my second-ever clone), since it's for NES cartridges - the Blaze RetroCon. It's just a plain console, no pirated junk or such, and is the same, guts-wise, as my first.

As for the C64 DTV? It is a genuine clone - look here.

Giddiness is right. I should stop now - sorry again for dragging this off-topic.

Right. Just wandering what the exact definition of a clone is; do you have to fabricate your own chips, or does using a FPGA count? Is it a clone if it's legitimate?

I'm aware that the D64 can be heavily hacked, I just never bothered to open mine up with my soldering skills.

The easter eggs were a nice touch too.

No worries about dragging it off topic. All the threads are going off topic at the moment anyway!

 

[Prometheus]

Heheh, if you say so.

As far as I'm aware, the definition of a clone would be that it's as close a reproduction of the original parts and their behaviour as can be done. With some clones (particularly some Famiclones, I think), I guess that's a pretty loose definition. :lol:

 

[SomeGuy99]

Heheh, if you say so.

As far as I'm aware, the definition of a clone would be that it's as close a reproduction of the original parts and their behaviour as can be done. With some clones (particularly some Famiclones, I think), I guess that's a pretty loose definition. :lol:

I think Mario still behaves the same, even if he's called Italian Hero Man and has 20 versions.

 

[Prometheus]

One word: Pandamar.

You have not lived until you have experienced the atonal mess that is its music, and the actually quite good graphical hackery.

 

[SomeGuy99]

One word: Pandamar.

You have not lived until you have experienced the atonal mess that is its music, and the actually quite good graphical hackery.

Maybe I hadn't lived, but now I want to die. Thanks.

Worth watching for the wooden pipes alone. Kudos to that person.

 

[MDave]

Say Apple bought them. iHomeBrew?

 

[God Ginrai]

@God Ginrai - I was going to say that those are third-party titles, but it looks like I got ninja'd. h34r:

I realize that they are third party games. I also realize that Nintendo has to accept them before they can be produced, so it means that they are allowing it to happen. But, not only are they allowing it to happen, but they are encouraging it with products like the Wii vitality sensor and Wii Fit, so don't try to pin it on companies other than Nintendo, because Nintendo is as much to blame as any of them.

@SirisC (and also at God Ginrai, I think - I'm having trouble keeping up, here! :lol: ) - Aside from the various carnival prizes (such as the light-show devices, and the rebranded PMP, and so on and so forth), I actually meant the rather recent official "Mega Drive" "clones", both with and without cartridge slots, that are sold at retail in at least the UK (EDIT: And on Play-Asia).

Ah, I haven't been seeing those, but yes, I must agree that they are not good. :/ But if you've been looking at their arcade boxes, at least those have still been good quality.

EDIT: And lol @Pandamar

@MDave: You mean iDRM

-God Ginrai

 

[Prometheus]

I realize that they are third party games. I also realize that Nintendo has to accept them before they can be produced, so it means that they are allowing it to happen. But, not only are they allowing it to happen, but they are encouraging it with products like the Wii vitality sensor and Wii Fit, so don't try to pin it on companies other than Nintendo, because Nintendo is as much to blame as any of them.

Wii Fit (and Wii Fit Plus) is a superb product that is packed to the gills with excellent arcade-style game design (it's one of the first products in many a year to remind me of that old "NES spirit", in fact - doing something different, coupled with some good game design). It's a shame how many people are missing out on that (though it's not my loss ). Long may the high score battles continue.

The Vitality Sensor is unreleased, and is something nobody really knows anything about, so I haven't used it and can't speak about any aspect of that one, let alone make any judgements on it.

Ah, I haven't been seeing those, but yes, I must agree that they are not good. :/ But if you've been looking at their arcade boxes, at least those have still been good quality.

Arcade boxes? I don't believe I've come across such a thing. Is there any more information?

EDIT: And lol @Pandamar

It's probably made your ears bleed (and everyone else's, too). :lol: My sincerest apologies.

 

[headcrash]

the pandora is more than a gaming console.

that's the reason I ordered one. for me its a little linux box, able to support me on a long working day.

I will have all necessary information at hand - literally.

going from one meeting to another, everything I need will be stored on this device.

no more charging-cable and carrying bag for my notebook and more room on my desk for coffee and juice

if sega or some other corporation would buy openpandora, all the potential for evolution in other directions than gaming would be lost and the market of possible users would shrink to the retro-gaming-community.

greetings

 

[God Ginrai]

I realize that they are third party games. I also realize that Nintendo has to accept them before they can be produced, so it means that they are allowing it to happen. But, not only are they allowing it to happen, but they are encouraging it with products like the Wii vitality sensor and Wii Fit, so don't try to pin it on companies other than Nintendo, because Nintendo is as much to blame as any of them.

Wii Fit (and Wii Fit Plus) is a superb product that is packed to the gills with excellent arcade-style game design (it's one of the first products in many a year to remind me of that old "NES spirit", in fact - doing something different, coupled with some good game design). It's a shame how many people are missing out on that (though it's not my loss ). Long may the high score battles continue.

It's a balance board... I'm sorry, but if you think those surfing/skateboarding games in the arcades that you stood on to play were excellent games, then you have some problems.

Ah, I haven't been seeing those, but yes, I must agree that they are not good. :/ But if you've been looking at their arcade boxes, at least those have still been good quality.

Arcade boxes? I don't believe I've come across such a thing. Is there any more information?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Sega_arcade_system_boards

-God Ginrai

 

[Prometheus]

It's a balance board... I'm sorry, but if you think those surfing/skateboarding games in the arcades that you stood on to play were excellent games, then you have some problems.

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that you may not have played it. I've not mentioned any surfing or skateboarding games nor my views on those, and I'm afraid I do not see how I "have some problems".

I think it would be best if I left this here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Sega_arcade_system_boards

Ah, right-o - thanks. I misunderstood your wording for a moment; I'd gotten the impression that there was some sort of retro product or clone that had slipped under the radar.

EDIT: Fixed broken quote tag.

 

[God Ginrai]

It's a balance board... I'm sorry, but if you think those surfing/skateboarding games in the arcades that you stood on to play were excellent games, then you have some problems.

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that you may not have played it. I've not mentioned any surfing or skateboarding games nor my views on those, and I'm afraid I do not see how I "have some problems".

My point is that it is a glorified accessory that best mimics those types of arcade games, and seeing as how you said it was "packed to the gills with excellent arcade-style game design", I assumed those kinds of games were the ones to which you were referring.

-God Ginrai