Slashdot Mirror
Proposed Set-Top MAME Emulation Console
BRock97 writes "An interesting post over at MAMEWorld discusses the possibility of the folks at HanaHo Games (the creators of the ArcadePC and the HotRod joystick) creating a set-top system that would run the MAME emulator and allow the user to play their collection of ROMS on a TV. From what has been posted, it sounds like the unit would be comparable to an XBox (with x86 inards), run an embedded OS (sounds like it would be Linux), and the company would fully support end user hacking of the unit (i.e. boot a DivX player). They would like to hit a target price of $200-$300 and would bundle as many ROMS as they have the right to. The company is requesting feedback." I tend to think MAME is best played in a cabinet (guess thats why I built one ;) but would love to see a mame set top box, but a custom box seems harder than simply using a dreamcast or x-box to do it. Course if they can do this with permission of the original ROM makers, this could be awesome.
All-In-One Arcade Console
How to Download YouTube Videos
What'd be cool is if there was an agreement between the major ROM copyright holders to allow some company to put all the old ROMs on one CD and sell, then split an amount between them. I'm thinking small amounts per CD (1-2 cents per game?) - a disc with 500 games may have to split $10 between the original copyright holders. Perhaps the administrative costs might be too high for some, but they'd be getting *something* instead of people continually 'stealing' their original work. Yes, I've got ROMs for VCS cartridges I bought, and C64 games, and even a few I never bought. If I want more, the only options I have are 'illegal' ones.
Someone give me an affordable, *legal* way to play those good old games I miss from the past, please.
creation science book
/. effect soon:
Subject New Idea.. need opinions! Reply to this message
Posted by borg357
Posted on 01/07/03 02:28 PM
Hello Everyone! Some of you know me, some may not. My name is Richard and I work at a company called HanaHo Games (www.hanaho.com), where I'm a product developer. Over the years, we've created some kewl emulation products like the HotRod Joystick and the ArcadePC among other things..
I wanta drop the ball on something here, and I need some honest opinions. Over the years at HanaHo, we've gained allot of experience in creating our own embedded PCB's for use in Coin-op markets, and we also have experience in marketing, as well as some really good contacts with various partnerships in the real coin-op business.
What would you guys think about a console based gaming system (embedded hardware unit) for use for emulation? This would be an incredibly ambitious project, as we would be facing some huge obstacles! But I've been kicking this idea around for a while now.. and here's some details:
A stand alone game system, that's about the size of an X-box or PS2. It would have the ability to plug in USB game pads, HotRod, X-arcade, Slickstick, or home made joystick keyboard hacks. It would also be able to plug in to a TV or a VGA monitor, as well as direct sound output, and Network support built in. The base system, would simply boot up (within seconds), and play MAME. There would be an optional hard drive, but contain a DVD-ROM player for the games to load.
With our experience in embedded products, I feel that we could launch such a project, as an alternative to "hacking" an x-box or ps2 to play MAME. Emulation would be the main purpose for this console unit, however, it would be very similar to the way the X-Box works, in fact, given today's chip prices, we might even be able to create something even more powerful than an X-Box.
The OS would be embedded into the boot-up of the console, and we would have to reply on a team of people, working with, and creating a MAME version for this unit.
The target price I'm shooting for would be $200-300, and we would of course bundle this with as many ROMS as we can get the rights too.
There would also be some added bonuses here too.. First off, creating our own game system would solve a lot of ROM licensing issues, and also create and help legitimize MAME, while still keeping MAME as a grass roots movement. The only way this major gamble would work is to have the support of the MAME community. We know very well, that the market is now saturated with consoles and titles by some heavy hitters, but we're NOT after the same market of newer games. In fact, while microsoft is busy sueing everyone offering mod chips, we would fully embrace hacks in our system. This system, unlike X-Box or GameCube, or PS2 would be very very useful in "home-brew" arcade units, as well as the engine in our own line of cabinets we sell. It might even be a significant cost savings as a PC is actually a bit of an overkill for a MAME machine.
Take a moment.. think about it. tell me what you think..
Thanks
--
-Richard Ragon/Senior HanaHo Evangelist
http://www.HanaHo.com - HanaHo Games, Inc.
Hope this helps.
Licensing ROMS is a very expensive deal, I wonder how they plan on paying for them? I'm pretty skeptical of this venture getting much further than that post (but I'm still hopeful).
--naked
Very popular slashdot journal for adul
$300 is far too much money for something like this. Put it this way, over here in the UK we can buy a console that looks suspiciously like an old N64 controller which plugs straight into the TV. It holds a large amount of NES games on it. (I haven't checked the number, but there's loads.)
The price? 30 quid. That's roughly $50.
Sure, some geekier-than-thou types would get a stiffy from being able to plug Linux into their telly, but the average person won't care whether or not they get their Retro gaming fix from the NES or Arcade versions of games.
And yes, I know how easy it is to get MAME up and running, but face it. If you're reading slashdot, chances are you're in the top 5% of the technically inclined and setting up an emulator is *easy*. But, if you're mom and pop AOL who don't even know what type of sound or video card they have, let alone the processor speen and RAM, well then it becomes a more daunting task.
Though I have to wonder how much of a market there will be for this... considering how many publishers have released collections of their old games for the latest consoles already..
Replying to own post:
What'd be SMART - if they were to do it - is for a company to bundle all its old games together and ship it with MAME. I thought Activisin did something like this, but EA hasn't done it. Yes, it's not MAME, but there are C64 emulators available. If they'd ship all their old classics (Skyfox, Archon, Seven Cities, etc) *with* an emulator, it'd certainly sell. Huge amounts? Maybe not, but the development cost is practically nill.
creation science book
Because they want to include as many roms as possible in the system itself. Clearly just to make and sell the unit isn't an issue, but what's a unit without games you can purchase for it/games that come with it?
Steps for getting an Xbox to play Mame games:
Find grey-market chip for your xbox on the 'net
order it
wait
open up your Xbox, solder it in
burn the right CD, with all the games you want to play
Steps in using a dedicated MAME console:
Use it.
Yeah, seems so much harder.
Seriously this thing seems a lot simpler. I already have an x-box, but I might be more intrested in this, since for *me* this will be a lot simpler. And I lost the urge to dick around with computers just for the 'fun' of of it a few years ago.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
Unlike stealing a bunch of ROMs are you are doing on your XBox.
They would have to get the permission of the MAME developers as well. If you read the license that comes with MAME, it forbids distribution together with roms.
For every post, there is an equal and opposite re-post.
"Course if they can do this with permission of the original ROM makers, this could be awesome."
Nintendo is still making money off of selling trading cards with classic games imbedded on them. How many incarniations of the Classic Gaming CD (which contains 10 games, taking up less than 10% of the disk) have you seen? Care to by the sequel?
No, they're gonna have to shell out for the permission to use those ROMs.
You need a FREE iPod Nano
If it's allready running Linux, does that mean we have to change our usual plans and try to get windows to run on it?
Everything will be taken away from you.
Hanaho has been legally distributing quite a lot of roms, with full permission of the copyright holders, for some time now.
:)
See: Capcom, for one. There are also quite a few arcade roms that have been put into the public domain over the years.
Nintendo is not the end-all and be-all of video games (even if they did make some of the funnest
Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.