slim writes "This site has the first tools I've seen for homebrew development on the Sega Dreamcast VMU -- file specs, firmware specs, an assembler, a disassembler and an emulator, as well as source code for a Tetris clone. The VMU is the Dreamcast's memory-card-come-mini-gameboy gadget."
Re:how do you connect to a PC?
by
slim
·
· Score: 3
The go-between between a VMU and a Dreamcast is the joypad cable (the VMU slots into the joypad). The go-between between a PC and a DC is... the Internet, via the bundled modem. --
But if history is any indicator just being able to hack a console dosen't mean people will. Look at the Playstation. Sure there are loads of people putting mod chips in and copying games but there are also serious hacker possibilities there too.
A quick search through the web will turn up a bunch of places with libraries and tools for writing your own PSX games. Yet all I've seen from that is a few weak tetris clones, a half-finished vertical scrolling shooter (I.E. Galaxan) and a bunch of worthless demos that do little more than brag that they managed to compile something for the Playstation.
So just because the tools are out there dosen't mean the geeks will embrace. I'm still waiting for the first console to be open enough to truly attract the hacks. Personally I'm hoping the PSXII will be well enough documented quickly enough that we get independant creations going quick.
The trouble is, writing a console game nowadays is an enormous task. With the PS2 coming along, games companies are having to double and treble the size of a team, just to create the more detailed models, etc.
On the other side of the coin, the average Gameboy title takes 6 person-months to complete. That's well within the resources of a hobbyist. Look for Gameboy hacks instead of PS hacks, and you'll find a whole load of interesting stuff. The Dreamcast VMU is less complex than a Gameboy: projects will by necessity be small, and therefore plentiful. --
Other Dreamcast development
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 3
...at the work these people do to figure out the internals of the console. Determining what the registers in a custom graphics/sound/CD-ROM VLSI chip cannot be all that easy. It's not like this information is up on the Sony/Nintendo/Sega web site--they won't tell you that bit 0 of register 5 in chip U2 is the VBI flag, let alone how it's mapped on the address bus. These guys disassemble code, look at hardware, probe--hell, I don't even know how half of it gets figured out--but they do, and they deserve some props.
Hardware hacking has always been, for me, one of the most exciting aspects of computers, and has been an integral part since day one. Stuff like this blows me away.
Speaking of cheesy Tetris clones...
by
Mr+Z
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· Score: 4
I just finished my own cheesy Tetris clone for the Intellivision! I guess I've made my rite of passage.
BTW, if anyone's interested, I have an Intellivision-compatible Software Development Kit as well. :-)
Re:how do you connect to a PC?
by
rappybaby
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· Score: 3
There are 3rd party memory cards that are capable of being hooked up to a computer. One can hook this up to his computer and download games or whatever and then hook up the memory card to his VMU and copy them over.
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The go-between between a VMU and a Dreamcast is the joypad cable (the VMU slots into the joypad). The go-between between a PC and a DC is... the Internet, via the bundled modem.
--
But if history is any indicator just being able to hack a console dosen't mean people will. Look at the Playstation. Sure there are loads of people putting mod chips in and copying games but there are also serious hacker possibilities there too.
A quick search through the web will turn up a bunch of places with libraries and tools for writing your own PSX games. Yet all I've seen from that is a few weak tetris clones, a half-finished vertical scrolling shooter (I.E. Galaxan) and a bunch of worthless demos that do little more than brag that they managed to compile something for the Playstation.
So just because the tools are out there dosen't mean the geeks will embrace. I'm still waiting for the first console to be open enough to truly attract the hacks. Personally I'm hoping the PSXII will be well enough documented quickly enough that we get independant creations going quick.
--- Juggle juggle@hitesman.com
http://www.booyaka.com/
...at the work these people do to figure out the internals of the console. Determining what the registers in a custom graphics/sound/CD-ROM VLSI chip cannot be all that easy. It's not like this information is up on the Sony/Nintendo/Sega web site--they won't tell you that bit 0 of register 5 in chip U2 is the VBI flag, let alone how it's mapped on the address bus. These guys disassemble code, look at hardware, probe--hell, I don't even know how half of it gets figured out--but they do, and they deserve some props.
Hardware hacking has always been, for me, one of the most exciting aspects of computers, and has been an integral part since day one. Stuff like this blows me away.
I just finished my own cheesy Tetris clone for the Intellivision! I guess I've made my rite of passage.
BTW, if anyone's interested, I have an Intellivision-compatible Software Development Kit as well. :-)
--Joe--
Program Intellivision!
There are 3rd party memory cards that are capable of being hooked up to a computer. One can hook this up to his computer and download games or whatever and then hook up the memory card to his VMU and copy them over.