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Gameboy Advance Clone Superemulator
Aluminum Tuesday writes "During a raging internal debate over whether to fork out for the new Gameboy Advance SP, I came across the Korean GP32, a handheld console that looks superior to the GBA in every way. It's capable of emulating the GBA, Super Nintendo, Commodore 64, etc. plus there's a SCUMMVM engine for Monkey Island games and a Java VM. Seems to have a huge online following. It runs its own OS, and there are programs capable of playing divx/mp3 files, though there's also a Linux port on the way. Not too expensive either. (99UKP / 149USD) That's a UK supplier; they ship worldwide, though I found this more expensive American supplier too. (179USD)" Gotta catch 'em all!
Is it's ability to link with up to 4 other SP32's wirelessly: http://www.gp32news.com/?page=showpage&lang=en&id= 6
You should title your comment ....
'I CANNOT EVEN READ THE SUMMARY OF THE ARTICLE'
It clearly states that Linux port is in the works.
Nice to see that reading is still a specialized skill.
. I love the sound of burning women and screaming rubber....
Come on there has to be a catch right ? Surely this violates untold numbers of patents or weighs three tonne, something! If not it's a very impressive little bit of kit.
before Nintendo's lawyers are beating down the distributors doors demanding they halt immediately importing this thing.
:)
Get 'em while you can!
cpu 32 bit risc cpu
screen 3.5" tft
rom 512 kbyte
media smc(smart media card)
sdram 8mb
communication usb port
sound 16bit stereo sound
4 channel wav mixing
resolution 320 x 240 pixel
power supply 2 batteries aa
display colors 65536 colors
C:\earth\humans\del *.m0ronz
Dimension/Weight 147mm X 88mm X 34mm(163g)
Display 3.5" Reflective TFT LCD(65,536 concurrent colors)
Resolution 320 X 240 pixel
CPU 32-bit RISC CPU(ARM9)
RAM 8MB SDRAM
ROM 512K
Sound 44.1Khz 16 bit Stereo Sound / 4 Channel Wav Mixing, 16Poly S/W MIDI Support / Earphone Port / 2 Speakers
External Storage Medium Smart Media Card (SMC)
Wireless Multiplayer Gaming 4-Channel RF Module PC Connection USB Port Connection
Power Supply 2AA batteries (12 hours use time between charges) / DC 3V Adapter
Option Rechargeable Battery
Controls 8-way directional pad (joystick) + Durable 6 key button
MP3 Capability MPEG ( , )
Audio Support Other Add-on Applications
Image Viewer, Text Viewer, Media Player, E-Book Viewer
RF Module 2.4GHz ISM Band
Keep your packets off my GNU/Girlfriend!
It doesn't emulate the Gameboy Advance, just the gameboy and who knows how well it even does that.
how can you run a good emulation of SNES with only 2 buttons.
I'm quite happy with the tetris on my cellphone...
"I only speak the truth"
Karma: null(Mostly affected by an unassigned variable)
But wait! There more! Thats a $500 for only $170 USD! Call now!
I'm also curious if Nintendo is going to try to kill this thing. Although I'm sure Nintendo is making a profit off of GameBoys, I'm also sure they make most of their profits from the games themselves, so logically they'd have a reason to look the other way if this encouraged more people to buy gameboy games. However since when has logic ever raised it's head in legal/piracy issues?
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
The game titles alone make me want to own it:
Little Wizzrd
Dyhard Infinity
Kimchi-Man
Astonishia Story R
Her Knights - "Forcing break-out"
Hany Party Game
Tails of windyland
Especially "Kimchi-Man". Is he really made of pickled cabbage?
This product is not illegal in the slightest from what I can tell.
-Derick
The GP32 has been out for well over a year now. I wouldn't hold your breath for a US release though.
/. front page, you might want to include the standard legal emu disclaimer. Support legal emulation! Only emulate those games that you own.
The next time this makes the
If it is as wonderful as it is played up to be in the article, I am shocked I've not heard more about this before. Why would anyone buy a GBA when you could get this thing (an obviously superior piece of equipment) for not that much more cash?
Nowhere in that list does it say "Game Boy Advance" or "GBA". Considering that it lists the Game Boy separately from the Game Boy Color, I think it's a bit presumptuous to say that it supports GBA games just because you see that category there.
So, seeing as how it does not actually support GBA games, I don't find it superior to my GBA, which *does* play GBA games.
"Mod, mod, mod...and another troll bites the dust."
>What's next? Slashdot posts stories about warez releases?
Old news. Sort of.
If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC
Yeah, yeah, OT.
meh
Vote monkeys into Congress. They are cheaper and more trustworthy.
Want to Know How to Cheat the GPL? Read On!
Slap a cell phone into this thing and I'm ready to sign up!
Everyone I know who has bought one thinks it was a waste of money so far. It sounds great on paper but the unit is very cheaply made, and emulation is sub par. Not to mention it's total piracy. Wonder why Slashdot posted a blatant piracy article?
Hardware emulation isn't illeagle. No honest to god it isn't
Honest to goodness, that's good to hear...I mean, we had a parakeet when I was a kid, and it got sick once and it was pretty bad the mess it made.
But a sick eagle?!! THEY ARE HUGE! And with their diet, you would have mice carcasses and such everywhere, it would be a bloody disgusting mess, honest to god
*grin*
---"What did I say that sounded like 'Tell me about your day?'"---
There is no Gameboy Advance emulator for this thing as far as I can tell. There's Game Boy Color and original Game Boy, but no Game Boy Advance.
:) )
So, you *could* play LoZ4: Link's Awakening on this thing, but not the recent LoZ3 remake. (Although the SNES emulation could sort of cover that, too...
--
viqsi - See "vixen"
If we do not change our direction we are likely to end up where we are headed.
Slashdot reported about a graphical operating system for various small systems (Gameboy, Commodore, NES) a while ago, which perhaps could be used on this device as well? It had a TCP/IP stack, web browser, web server, etc: here is the Slashdot article, and here is the OS homepage.
I think you might have a little bit of trouble with the SNES emulation, with only 2 buttons.
A portable NES emulator is still pretty cool, though. It'd be nice to be able to crank up Mike Tyson's Punch Out to alleviate a little bit of aggression when sitting in a traffic jam.
Money I owe, money-iy-ay
The thing has sucky games, doesn't emulate at full speed, and don't forget the ethical implications of downloading and using roms illegally. Not to mention that the screen won't have the correct aspect ratio to emulate half these systems without some method of scaling/bilinear interpolation to make it ugly/fuzzy. I saw this awhile ago and it obviously didn't impress me. I think the biggest turnoff is a lack of decent first-party games. I mean, look at what a lack of games did to the XBox. If you want an obscure handheld, try the defunct Wonderswan color.
They say that it can play divx movies, but who wants to split up a 700 meg movie onto 128meg smart media cards? I want someone to port that low quality SMR movies that are downloaded of Kazza. Maybe someone from slashdot could do that.
And it does!
Install Linux, play yer oggs.
Did anyone else notice that in the lower left hand corner of every page on the GP32 site it says "This is temporary Website". What exactly does that mean ... is this thing going away, or are they going to upgrade to a better site eventually?
Thoughts on tech, Software Engineering, and stuff
iPAQ + Familiar Linux dist and you can run SNES games and even Quake. :)
But, ok it's a bit more expensive.
Ciryon
no backlight necessary if you play outdoors in the natural light. get some sun!
I don't have any thumbs you insensitive clod!
Business \Busi"ness\, n.;
A scam in which all people involved perceive as beneficial...
What I want to know is: what's the lighting situation on the reflective LCD display? Is it at least of Afterburner quality? All the pictures of it have the screen off.
-If
Run a pencil-and-paper RPG campaign with your far-off friends: Gametable!
Alternately, yeah, people use, say, playstation emulators as a method of not having to buy a playstation and being able to pirate games, even though playstation is still on the market, and that seems a bit more like a moral gray area, but i'd still call the emulator itself an okay thing, i think. I mean, playstations are everywhere cheap used, and sony makes the bulk of the money on the licensing of the playstation games that a psx emulator will invariably caus eyou to buy. And the piracy thing is just like people pirating mp3s, if they really want to pirate something they'll do it whether you indirectly facilitate them or not.
At the least, i have this thing about piracy of any sort: in general, i have a real trouble feeling bad in any way about someone illegally giving you something for free when they don't particularly profit in return, whether that something is an NES or Mum - Smell Memory.mp3.
But this just feels ucky. It:
- Is basing its existence on the hard work nintendo spent making games, pushing the game boy platform, creating the platform, etc.
- It's copying a platform that Nintendo is still making money on
- Is causing its creators to make money in place of Nintendo-- they are literally taking money from nintendo and putting it in their own pocket, something very different from a "lost sale".
- It's copying a platform that Nintendo is still pushing money into, still doing active research and development on, still improving...
- There is no functionality the GB provides that this doesn't-- a GBA emulator for a PC wouldn't be so bad in my mind because you're enticed to buy a GBA but you don't get the full value of the GBA, since you don't get the handheldness-portable-y features. This is a full-on copy.
- It's stealing from a company that is legitimately facing some sort of problems; unlike, say, Sony, or Nintendo in 1993, it is concievable that the nintendo of today could eventually run out of money.
- The Game Boy is nintendo's lifeblood. It's where the bulk of nintendo's money is coming from. I love my gamecube, but nintendo's right to call themselves a major player in the game market rests on (1) the fact they have a lock on the portable handheld market through nothing but sheer quality, meaning that anyone who wants to compete has to deal not only with market forces but with the fact it's very hard to make something more compelling to the consumer than a GBA, and (2) the fact they can point at that big figure of how many game boys they've sold and say to developers "look at how successful this is, you will do well if you release your game on our platform". Each purchase of this GBA clone is sucking away one unit from that big number, and just a bit more money from nintendo's warchest..
--super ugly ultramanThe catch is that it does NOT play GBA games.
"Give orange me give eat orange me eat orange give me eat orange give me you." -Nim Chimpsky
You are aware this is from SOUTH Korea, not North Korea?
If it's in you sig, it's in your post.
If by GBA you mean Gameboy and Gameboy Color then yes it does. Nice try though.
$_='while(read+STDIN,$_,2048){$a=29;$b=73;$c=142;
No thanks, I'll just have a slice of Cheeseulator.
In Soviet Rush, today's Tom Sawyer gets high on you.
12 links on a story! Now I see why my submitions are never aproved ;)
they're just simple ports of available open source emulators. just because it runs doesnt mean it runs well, and certainly doesnt mean its playable. Paying for a GP32 for emulation is like those doofuses who keep buying DC, PS2 and XBOX emulators for the PC.
I doubt very highly that GBA emulation works well at all on the GP32. GBA emus are just barely playable on an 800mhz P3. Eventually it'd get better, but even the best emulator is never the same as the real thing.
All in all its a cool little toy, but if you actually want to play the games you'd own both.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
And I also believe it doesn't support the afterburner type lights for the gba. Not having decent lighting is the main reason why my game boy advance sits in a bag collecting dust instead of being used for anything useful.
http://www.gamepark.co.kr/english/main.asp
Security is inversely proportional to the commitment of one desiring to circumvent it.
Mmmmm.... Portable M.U.L.E.....
Slashdot is like Playboy: I read it for the articles
Anyone else notice their logo is a slightly altered Dreamcast logo?
Andonyx www.andonyx.com
One of the things that grabbed me about the GBA-SP was it's smallish design and the clamshell design, allowing you to easily put it in your pocket and keep the screen protected.
Trolls lurk everywhere. Mod them down.
"What's next? Slashdot posts stories about warez releases?"
;)
Emulation != warez. As a matter of fact, emulation is a valuable tool when developing games for something like the GBA. Or did you think they used a GBA with an on-screen keyboard to program?
Hunting isn't illegal. Gun shops in those areas are not illegal either. Anecdotal proof:
:
Los Angeles Gun Club Indoor Pistol,1375 E 6th St., Los Angeles, CA 90021. Phone: (213)612-0931.
listed on
http://www.webcom.com/gun_guy/rangesca.htm
Determining intent in a purchase is extremely difficult, and generally doesn't get you anywhere. The "if guns are illegal, only criminals will have guns" argument is at least plausible. Making emulators illegal will guarantee that only criminals have emulators, obviously harming the market.
Don't agree? Consider every CD ripper being illegal. Isn't that a harm?
-Zipwow
I don't know which is more depressing, that 2/3 didn't care enough to vote, or that 1/2 of those that did are crazy.
Not to toot my own horn, but I knew about the GP32 long ago. They've been selling it on Lik Sang for a while now.
The site is great because they offer all kinds of unusual gaming-oriented Asian stuff and, like TG it's always a blast to go there and check out the weird/interesting stuff they have to offer. I know I sound like an advertising bot, but it's a really great site (you may have heard of them because they got their ass sued to the moon by MS a little while ago for selling X-Box modchips).
Actually,Korea is making alot of cool stuff lately. Check out the Linux distro Hancom from Korea too, it's a company which employs 95 ppl and produces some bitchin' proprietary software to compliment their os.
SEO Copywriter. Just Say ON
Are there minimal PDA's handheld, maybe the core of this game, that could be made to wireless network and also have the capability to IR Scan.
Indestructability is a must of course and running
linux or something with a java VM would be a plus.
I'd prefer a bright display solution. The boxes I've seen are hideous and dark a lot of the users keep flashlight around to view them. I say damn the battery life they can hire someone to keep'em charged.
As cheap as this is, it'd be cool if something like it'd work, but I'd probably have to settle for something a bit heftier. But a game console would be super nice for some of the people in the warehouse, they could do much more than the rather braindead machines they have now.
If I knew I could get linux on that little beastie I go ahead and buy it, heck I should anyway it looks cool.
I'd go on a Vegan diet but the delivery time from Vega is too long. --brownkitty
It also says nothing about the screen being backlit just reflective tft like the origanal GBA which sucks ass, especially if you were to try to watch movies on it.
the link shown does NOT indicate GBA emulator, only GB also (as noted here it also is not backlit.... cool toy, but not as feature rich as the post suggests....
meh.
I used Craig's Store in the UK. Got it in 10 days via airmail, to the souuth central US.
Err... you don't *need* a link cable. It can take advantage of one for multiple players, but PocketNES runs quite nicely stand-alone.
I don't think they do in this case, since it obviously has some legit uses (they are developing their own games for it), but the US code has laws against such stuff. If you "with knowledge of the infringing activity, induce, cause, or materially contribute to the infringing conduct of another," then you are guilty of contributory infringement. If in fact they know that most people are buying this in order to play pirate roms, then it's pretty likely that they would be in legal trouble. (That is, if they were based in the US!)
The lighting is alright. It could be better (IMO). Controls are pretty decent.
A friend of mine who wrote Xcade for Palm has ported it to the Game Park.
Of course, standard disclaimer is that you have to have obtained your arcade ROMs legally...etc...
http://www.codejedi.com/shadowplan/gp32.html
Not including the start and select.
RonB
It is human nature to take shortcuts in thinking.
Don't buy it from upstategames.com. If you bother to check with BBB and tons of forums (eg. a lot of people who ordered the Flash Linker fot Neo Geo Pocket from upstategames), you'll probably end up with $179 out of your pocket, your pants down, and your @$$ reamed with Dimitri's fist.
If you must order a unit, then order one through lik-sang.com. At least, that's what http://www.devrs.com says.
GP32Emu is an excellent resource for Gamepark Emulation.
That site mentions several SNES emulators as well as GB (no GBA, yet) and NES. Plus the site lists a few of the game ports for GP such as Doom, Descent, Wolfenstein 3D and some others. Worth a look for people who are interested in what these things can do.
Not quite. But check out Xcade.
http://www.codejedi.com/shadowplan/gp32.html
It's not MAME but it's a start.
is that they encourge unlicensed 3rd party development, where nintendo does their best to squash independent coders.
u rceforge.net/index.htmlg roup/gp32dev/
http://www.devrs.com/gp32/
http://devkitadv.so
http://groups.yahoo.com/
i'm thinking of picking one up explicitly for this purpose. anyone have any experience coding for one of these?
If you want portable emulation, get a laptop. Then you can play whatever wherever. Hey you wouldn't even need to emulate. There are plenty of good PC games. Okay they don't fit in your pocket, but hey. ;)
Here's an overview of emulators and how they perform:
t ors.html
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/joseph.lebrech/emula
It appears that only the 8-Bit consoles can be emulated well.
Well, I wouldn't take what Nintendo says as legal advice. Note how they are careful to say that "back-up" copies are not "authorized" or "necessary," but don't claim that they are illegal.
In fact, the US Code (17 USC 117 (a) (2)) has specific exemptions for backup copies. Check it out. Backup copies are legal!
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/117.html
According to the GP32 Xtreme site linked as source for the emulators, there's no GBA emulator for the GP32. It can currently emulate the Gameboy/Gameboy Color and even the SNES... but not the GBA.
Coincidentally enough, I just installed an Afterburner in my GBA last night... I even went out and bought a soldiering iron just for it.
It doesn't take any really advanced solidering skills, but patience and a steady hand will go a long way. I did get some dust on the screen, but it's not the end of the world. I considered the "bathroom as a clean room" idea, but I didn't have anywhere to work with it in there =)
The only difficult part I had was in laying down the AR film, as it was nearly impossible to get right, and I wound up being off by about 1-2 degrees, so there's a slight tilt to it, which bugs me, but I'm not sure I want to bother to try to buy a relacement, peel it off and do it again... it would probably do more harm than good.
I'm quite happy with my GBA now. It finally makes the games playable, and I was surprised that my NiMH batteries were still giving a green power light even after six hours when I finally had to turn it off so I would get some sleep for work today =)
Please consider making an automatic monthly recurring donation to the EFF
It does play ogg.
He's dead-on, and provides the proof to boot.
If you want to know what's legal and what isn't, you read legislation or obtain professional legal advice. Simply believing everything you're told, especially by a company that's financially motivated to mislead you, is just foolish.
To use this as a replacement for a GBA you need more hardware than just the GP32. You also will need a GBA cart reader. This will get you a ROM image to run on the GP32....well this is where the law gets sticky. Technically you aren't allowed to run an official GBA ROM on anything but a GBA, so if you do this...be warned...it is illegal. Also, do note that the control scheme is different than a GBA, so you won't be playing your games the way you were meant too. And then there is the fact that it appears the GP32 is going to be phased out (not a suprise since the GBA has walked all over it).
Unstable Apps: Our Android Apps Don't Suck
The display is MUCH brighter than a GBA. I don't know how Gamepark did it, but it is bright.
An afterburner type light is due out this month for the GP32.
I've heard this asserted many times, but has any court actually ruled this to be the case? To my knowledge, there is no law that specifically allows making copies for use on alternative hardware. There are certainly legal issues here: Is it legal to use such a copy, not as a backup, but to play the game on different hardware, or must it be kept solely for use on the original hardware in the event that the original version fails? Is it legal to make a backup for a game that is distributed on a medium that does not have a significant likelihood of failure?
not much mention of the Divx player. There are two Divx players, a free one and one you have to pay for: Moviepark. Moviepark is not expensive ($5.80USD) and works much better than the free one. Well worth the money.
Using VirtualDub, videos have good color, good sound and fair to good motion.
The Matrix would be a blur, but most TV shows look good.
The Simpsons look great on the GP32!
Even GBA development isn't an excuse, again, because of the availability of the Flash Advance Linker mentioned above.
Anyone buying a GP32 for the purpose of playing GBA games is doing so because for whatever reason they think it's a better financial deal for playing pirated games (for the cost of a SmartMedia card) since a GBA SP is cheaper and a GBA is a lot cheaper.
All of this SEEMS to be moot since the link given in the story to GP32 emulators doesn't seem to include a GBA emulator, only GB/GBC.
You have to register your gp32 through their sight to activate it and its software. This seems to only effect you if you want to download games, programs, etc from them. I still can't tell if it is possible to back this stuff up incase something happens later.
While there are about six buttons, I can see it being awkward to try to play emulators of systems like the SNES that have 6 buttons plus select and start.
The mp3 playback is limited to 128 kps. The ID3 tags are limited as well, but that isn't quite that much of a problem.
You can't play mp3s while playing games due to the fact that most of the gp32s power is used when playing mp3s.
From what I can tell an offical compiler/devkit costs a lot. At least there are free ones out there.
The games you can buy are usally encripted in one of two ways. An game encrypted on a SMC card to only that card but can be played on any gp32, or one that can only be played on just your GP32.
Even with those problems I still am considering getting one, you can do some fun things with it.
Moderators, pass the crack pipe.
This thing cannot, repeat CANNOT emulate the GBA. Check the site, there's no mention of this. Even trying it would be stupid - go ahead, run a working GBA emulator on this sort of hardware. Have fun with your 2 frames per second.
This isn't hurting Nintendo's current revenue stream at all, save for the fraction of a percent of original GameBoy games still being sold.
Yikes, several dozen other posts have already pointed this out, yet it gets both posted and modded up.
Oh, and for the record, Playstation emulators were popular years ago (everyone had Connetix's for a while), back when Sony WAS making hordes of money off the platform. And because the emulator didn't care what media you put in it, everyone used pirated copies of the games. So don't give me this horseshit that somehow PSX emulators are 'ok', when a system that doesn't emulate any currently sold system isn't.
Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
Great, but I still wonder how long it will last until they get nailed for making a better product than the original :)
:)
It's not a Gameboy though. It's an entirely different platform, one which GB emulation software has been ported to.
As for "better" product, let's drop this and an official Gameboy from 4ft up and see which one still works afterward...
DRM in the GBA games will surely be here soon to force only a real GBA handheld can play the games.
The original Gameboy hardware (and possibly later versions too) had bootstrap code that compared a bitmap of the Nintendo(TM) logo in hardware to a bitmap on the cart, and if they weren't identical, the cartridge's code would not be run. So in order to release GB software without breaking the law, developers had to get Nintendo's permission to put their logo into their ROM.
That's as close to the DRM scheme you fear as anything, and it's been around for fifteen years now.
The real strength of the GP32 is that anyone can write code, press it to a SmartMedia card, and execute it.
/. was supposed to have a fairly high ratio of developers to content thieves but obviously I'm wrong.
I can think of about a million uses for a 32-bit RISC portable system that I can write my own games for, and to limit it to playing emulated games on other systems isn't doing the beauty of the "open console" concept justice. I thought
The GP32 is an interesting device, but its generally reguarded as undermarketed and insecure (it comes with the ability to download from your computer BUILT IN). In general, the GBA has similar emulators, though I don't believe anyone has been brave enough to port SNES emulators over to GBA. I would check but it seems that during the writing of this post PocketHeaven has removed its emulator database. I know that PocketNES is coming along finely, with the ability to save states and scale the screen differently with a touch of a button, and mappers being implemented.
I Browse at +4 Flamebait
Open Source Sysadmin
They're missing 2 buttons on it. Thats something of a problem for bringing older titles to the GBA. Street figher? Total bitch to do without 6 buttons.
I Browse at +4 Flamebait
Open Source Sysadmin
How does it emulate the SNES with only two buttons?
Thats too bad... But I can play MAME on my HP Photosmart 618 digital camera. :)
http://digita.mame.net/
Deltron 3030 - Virus (music video)
So in order to release GB software without breaking the law, developers had to get Nintendo's permission to put their logo into their ROM.
Holy crapola! Actually I shouldn't be surprised. Nintendo can go to great length to control what gets and what doesn't get released for their platform. Do the have a restriction like this on the Gamecube? (Almost) all the games I've popped into mine start with the Nintendo logo (I said also because I can't swear to it, but I'm almost positive). Maybe a licensing restriction on the media type?
Do you have any links regarding this? A superficial search on google turns up nothing. Will search more, tho, it's an interesting subject.
No sig
I wouldn't worry about GBA emulation, since quite a lot of GBA titles are rehashed SNES games.
Actually, according to the FAQ here, there's supposed to be one in the works called the GPi. Unfortunately, the link they list for more info is dead...
In fact, abandonware may have a distant shot at being legal, through an interpretation of two of the four factors distinguishing copyright infringement from fair use.
First of all, a fair user can justify "the purpose and character of the use" by, for example, including the abandonware titles as specimens to be criticized in a work about the art of game design, establishing an "educational" nature.
Another factor is "the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work." In practice, the courts have weighed this factor more than the other three. If the copyright owner has refused to commercially exploit a work, this could be viewed as an admission of the absence of such a "potential market".
Will I retire or break 10K?
Looking at the specs it only appears to emulate the GB and GBC not the GBA.
However, even if it isn't possible to emulate the whole GBA on the GP32, it would be straightforward to source-port free GBA software by partially emulating the graphics and sound hardware.
Will I retire or break 10K?
I'm quite happy with the tetris on my cellphone
Tetramino games on cellphones look tame once you've played TOD. Imagine for a moment what a tetramino game would look like on LSD.
Will I retire or break 10K?
That had the C4 chip, which (last I checked) no one emulated.
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
The GBA and SNES are as alike as the SNES and Genesis.
The GBA is more powerful, has more sprite rotatation and scaling modes, has more colour display, can address larger cartridge space, has an ARM processer (instead of a 65C816), and happens to have a very shitty 8-bit sound processor. They are not very similar except that they both play games that are 16-bit.
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
1. 320x240 full screen at a 19" monitor, typical viewing distance == headache city.
Actual coin-operated arcade games use a 19" display running at resolutions close to 320x240 pixels. So just sit farther from the screen, at TV distances rather than computer distances. A PS1 joypad connected to your USB port through an EMS USB2 adapter should help you sit back while giving you authentic console-style feel.
2. 320x240 window on same monitor running a 1024x768/1152x864/1280x1024 desktop == squint city.
At those display resolutions, pixels on a 1x display are about as big as pixels on the GBA or GP32. If you use a relatively dark desktop theme, the small size of the emulator's window shouldn't bother you.
I'd suggest adding a third option, as found in several emulators I use for development such as FCE Ultra and VisualBoyAdvance:
3. 320x240 rescaled 2x using hardware scaling of DirectDraw overlays == enjoyable SimCity.
Will I retire or break 10K?
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blakespot
-- Heisenberg may have slept here.
iPod Hacks.com
Yes. Yes he is.
There is a 'masked rom' protection for catridges that makes a hex dump of a ROM not a backup in the legal sense.
You're thinking of Atari v. JS&A Group, which ruled that backup copies are not necessary to protect works stored on mask ROM media. However, it could be argued that a ROM image stored on a hard disk is an "adaptation" rather than a "backup copy", and 17 USC 117 specifically allows the owner of a genuine copy to make adaptations necessary to get the program to run.
If you're still interested, you may want to read my speculation about the holes in the common "emulation is illegal even if you own the cartridge" arguments.
Will I retire or break 10K?
You know full damn well the primary purpose of this product will be to play illegally-downloaded roms.
How again is it an infringement of copyright to download GPL'd or otherwise freely redistributable ROM images?
Will I retire or break 10K?
It was used to play roms, end of story.
And how does this make emulator software automatically illegal? First of all, not all ROMs are illegal to redistribute. Some ROMs are even free software under the FSF's definition. Second, the owner of a genuine copy of a work who dumps the copy and adapts it for use on another machine does not infringe the copyright in the work (17 USC 117).
Will I retire or break 10K?
Corporations have this idea that they can tell you what to do and automatically that is the law.
If there's a binding contract, then this is true. However, under what conditions the EULA qualifies as a contract (offer + acceptance + consideration by both parties = contract) is still up in the air.
Will I retire or break 10K?
To my knowledge, there is no law that specifically allows making copies for use on alternative hardware.
Then what about 17 USC 117? It reads, in part:
Will I retire or break 10K?
PocketNES runs quite nicely stand-alone.
Without a link cable, how do you copy PocketNES and the NES ROM dump from the PC to the GBA's memory?
Will I retire or break 10K?
Does it play Ogg?
Manipulate the moderator system! Mod someone as "overrated" today.
12 if you list each major direction separately
Which is, to set the record straight, actually the correct way to list them because this is how the hardware sees them, in the order B, Y, Select, Start, Up, Down, Left, Right, A, X, L, R.
Will I retire or break 10K?
Gee, if you click on the link right in the article, you can see a pitcure of this unit, and can see that it has two buttons on the front and TWO SHOULDER BUTTONS, for a grand total of FOUR BUTTONS. Not two. Four. Cripes, you didn't even have to scroll down or actually read anything, just look at the picture.
one of my former roommates had one of these things, and I must say that he's quite an excellent programmer, and with a little work he got Quake and Descent running on it at about 5-10 fps. I'm sure that more complicated emulation is quite possible for that little machine. I always wanted one myself, but I was not that good at porting, nor programming like my ol' roomie :)
I don't know why GP32 still does not make it into the US market. This gaming console is great in many respects; the CPU power, more memories, and especially, more open development architecture to attract third-party game developers.
There are two problems the Korean console maker is facing. One is the brand power of Nintendo. I am afraid GP32 will need a huge amount of money to _at least_ display their consoles and games right next to Nintendo's at Bestbuy or Circuit City. The second one is small number of killer games for GP32. There do exist several killer games for GP32. However, they are ports of PC games which were quite popular among Korean users. No wonder American users never heard of them.
Anyway, I would like to see GP32 displayed right next to Nintendo's Gameboy at retail stores. GP32 offers much better features than Nintendo's with lower price. Just adding several classic games into its inventory will surely make GP32 take off as a robust gaming platform. The Korean market for gaming is not suitable for GP32. The availability of Internet cafes in every block of the towns and the popular use of Internet is good for MUDs rather than console games. Personally I don't want to see a great gaming platform with the potential of exceeding Nintendo's Gameboy wither away at the small Korean gaming market without giving benefit to other gaming users all over the world.
The GP32 doesn't have a rechargeable battery, DOES NOT HAVE A INTERNAL LIGHT, is much larger than the GBA SP, doesn't play GBA games, and costs at least $150.
So why exactly is this so great?? It's designed to be a portable gaming unit, and there's already a better/cheaper/BRIGHTER portable gaming unit, so why did /. even bother covering the GP32?
If you want to cover something, cover this: new GPi
It's the new GP32, adding:
--16 Megs of internal memory
--operates on Linux OS: Kernel 2.4
--web browser
--multimedia player (including Divx)
--text viewer/editor program (aka word processor)
--built in Li+ rechargeable battery
--INTERNAL LIGHT
That's what slashdot should be covering, the GP32 is about 2 years too late.
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
From one of the greatest minds out there: Thomas Jefferson in the declaration of independence: "We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal..." This is not, nor in my opinion has it ever been, a silly idea. It can be a somewhat difficult idea to wrap one's head around, since, as you pointed out, there are those who accomplish more than others. But these words and this idea does not speak to a person's accomplishments. It speaks to the idea that each individual is worthy of being treated with dignity, respect, and the rights granted to even those who are considered "leaders," "achievers," or any other name you'd like to conjure up. Without this as a governing concept, with only the idea that one's accomplishments and/or holdings makes one valuable, then it becomes okay to run sweatshops with children in them, or any number of attrocious things because that person who doesn't have as much money, or who hasn't accomplished as much as Mr. factory owner isn't worth as much as a human. Even with this idea as a governing philosophy, these situations can and do happen. Most of the founders owned slaves, and slavery, by definition, does not fit with the idea that all men are created equal. But if you discard this idea, or maybe ideal, then it becomes way to easy to think of all the grief and suffering that still happens in the world as okay because those people are not as equal as the ones with the money and/or accomplishments.
snes9x works great, and there are many ports of it despite the name.
It appears right now the downloads page is unavailable though, but maybe some googling would locate it.
www.vimm.net also used to have a *LOT* of SNES and NES roms, but took the SNES down due to bandwidth limitations.
no comment
I have a GP32. It plays scumm games (Day of the tentacle, sam n max), sega master system, gameboy color, c64, c16, msx2 and pcengine games at full speed and full sound. Other emulators (mame, gba, etc) are under way and there are private betas out showing great progress. You also have heretic, wolfenstein3d and doom, full speed but with some minor problems still. I use my GP32 every day and my GBA just collects dust in a corner although I own 11 gba games. I hope that clarifies a lot :)
Mame 0.66 is being ported by rlyeh, as seen on http://elportal2000.metropoliglobal.com/gp32/ . It currently runs pooyan and 1942 well, but without sound yet. So just wait a little and you will be able to play the older coin ops for sure.
I've read a lot of talk about the ethics of emulation and how it affects this system. Imho, this was written by people who just read the article, made some unfounded conclusions and started blabbing about the wrongs of it without really knowing what the hell they where talking about. Fairly standard internet behaviour.
:) :) :)
/Inopia
However, a few notes:
- The GP32 is just a korean game system like the GB/C/A, wonderswan, or any other handheld. It doesn't indorse or support piracy in any way. They just released a GP32 SDK for home programmers to program their own stuff on it. I doubt they ever expected it would get the following it did. Saying the GP32 is unethical because of it's emulator scene is about as intelligent as saying the XBOX is an unethical system because you can play mame on it.
- If you're interested in buying a GP32, let me before warn you about the emulation. Not all emulators are as good as you'd wish. The processor is an ARM920T running at variable speed from 20-133mhz. Consider that ALL gp32 emulators are ports from PC emulators, and you might understand why not evey emu is as good as one might wish. In my opinion only two emulators have been thouroughly optimized, and those are GPEngine (pc-engine emu, does about 70% of pc-engine games) and the SNES emu wich is being worked on. As a result some emulators aren't great, but the ones that are really good are the sega master system emu, beforementioned gpengine, gameboy(color), scumm VM (excellent sound!), sarien (it is a bitch to play leisure suit larry without a keyboard:) and the C64 emu. I guess you'll have to try em yourself.
- It has flashable bios, and a homemade bios exists wich is actually better than the original
- Why is the system so cheap? Well, the korean gov encourages cooperation between korean tech companies. As a result, the Gp32 is internally almost wholly Samsung. It has an all-in-one solution chip intended for handhelds (arm920t at max 133mhz, lcd controller, mem controller, etc), a samsung 240x320 screen (rotated 90 degrees to make it look like 320x240, but the mem adressing is still 240x320, wich makes for interesting programming:), 8mb samsung memory, and a uses samsung made smart media cards for storage. The games are encrypted using something called secumax (korean too?). The only thing non-korean in there is a philips 4 channel PCM chip. In short, this is so cheap because they didn't really have to develop anything themselves, they just hooked up existing technologies.
- some say the thing is cheaply made. Well, it feels very study, and the 8-way stick (like the ngpc) takes a lot of getting used to. They only bad thing is the screen, wich scratches very easily. You'll have to smooth it out every once in a while.
- Also, emulation is not even the main reason why I'm so happy with my Gp32, since I use it mainly as a media player. It can play MOD/XM/IT/S3M (listnening to old orange mods on the train is great) and even SID. It can play MP3 out of the box via the mp3 player in the bios, and there's a DIVX player that can play divx 4.12 movies (ideal for cartoons like ren and stimpy, duckman, etc). I have two 128mb SMC's wich I bought here in the netherlands for 65 euros each, and I have one filled with punkrock MP3, and the other with movies and programs. I have to commute between my place and my gf's every weekend and I have to spend 1.5 hours in the train. I do have a GBA and a flashwriter but I never use it anymore.
- if you're a programmer gp32 is an ideal platform. The community is small and friendly and helpful, and for over a year now new programs have been coming out every few weeks. There's an add-on to devkitadvance that allows you to get programming with gcc in a matter of minutes. Also, ARM assembler is the best!
- linux? They're working on it but I personally I can't see the point. WindowsCE ? They're working on it too but personally I really can't see the point. Quake? They're working on it. I can't wait
anyway, that was my rambling for today, hope you enjoyed it.
Dont forget to mention the systems' only full speed 16bit emulation: The GPengine. http://www.gp32x.com/gpengine/ It blasts the pants off any gba. Games like R-Type, Sidearms and Mr. Heli are displayed at native 320x240 pixels and with 16bit stereo sound. I've shown this to three friends who are also into gaming and they all bought a gp32 immediately. A multiplayer GPengine is in the works, allowing you to play all your favourite shoot-em-ups wirelessly with up to 3 friends.
http://www.gbax.com/gp32review.html
Actually, the GBA emu is in private beta stage, but it's possible to get your hands on it if you ask nicely on #gp32dev (efnet i think).
Currently, it does run reeeeeeeeeaaaaalllllyyyy slooooooow, but considering it is a straight 2 days port (100% C, no assembler), that is pretty good.
Additionally, there is a list of other emus for GP32:
GB/GBC (2 emus)
GBA (currently in private beta)
Nes (2 emus, both are Infones ports)
SMS / GG (2 emus)
PC Engine/Coregraphx (2 emus, one is near perfect, the other is discontinued)
SNES (2 emus, one discontinued)
MD/Genesis (hasn't been released yet, since there are negociations between GamePark and Sega, and the emu author doesn't want to interfere)
MSX (really nice and complete emu)
NeoGeo Pocket Color (currently in private beta)
Wonderswan (discontinued?)
Zx Spectrum
Commodore Plus4
C64
Arcade (Oldies like Pacman, Space Invaders, and such, plus Mame 0.66 is being ported by rlyeh, author of the excellents fMSX32 and fNES32)
Moreover, several classic games have been ported more or less succesfully to the GP32:
Rick Dangerous
Elite the Newkind
Wolfenstein 3D
Doom
Heretic
Descent
LucasArts' adventure games via ScummVM
Sierra's early adventure games via Sarien AGI interpreter
Read more at gp32emu.com
You should also know that some pretty neat stuff has been developped for this pretty neat handeld:
3 MP3 players (one comes with the console)
3 Divx (4.12) players (one has been discontinued, another on is commercial, the 3 of them are still a bit slow)
an e-book reader
Gif, Jpeg, PNG viewers
Custom GUIs and Firmwares
a Java VM and a Flash player are rumoured
Linux and Windows CE are bieng ported over
Lots of stuff i forgot to mention
And i didn't even talk about commercial nor amateur games.
(I own a GP32, I'm sure you guessed. The only thing i'm not happy with, is that it should be able to connect to the Internet, but yet this feature isn't availiable)
Anything you do can get you slashdotted, including nothing.
> This thing cannot, repeat CANNOT emulate the GBA. Check the site, there's no mention of this. Even trying it would be stupid - go ahead, run a working GBA emulator on this sort of hardware. Have fun with your 2 frames per second.
http://www.gp32news.com - check the article posted on Monday 21 February 2003 @ 02:59. You obviously have trouble reading, so I'll post you a transcript here :
GBA emu underway, made in France
Yes, gba emu is underway.
Ok it's just a begging, so it only support 4mo roms, no sound, 5-10fps, but for a first private release it's a good start.
The article is followed by three screenshots of Contra Advance.
5-10fps is a very good starting framerate, and with further optimization, it ought to be able to hit full speed. This is standard fare for first-version emulators of/on other systems.
If the GP32 can emulate a SNES at a reasonable speed, why on earth do you assume "2 frames per second" for a GBA emu ? The GBA is a very low-spec machine (similar to a SNES) - you don't need any more than "this sort of hardware" in order to emulate it !
Score:4 ? HA !
but only roms under 4mo, without sound and at 5-10 fps.
c =40 for some screenshots
actually, the emulator exists only in private version.
have a look here : http://www.gp32news.com/index.php?lang=en&page_re
Download the FRODO c64 emu for PC and see how you like it. The c64 emu for gp32 is a frodo port /Inopia
Yes, but then you're forced to have your GBA on at all times, which wastes battery life.
In case you're unclear on what "sleep mode" is, it's a GBA BIOS call that some games can trigger that turns off pretty much everything on the GBA board except the interrupt controller, which is needed to wake the GBA on a keypress.
Heck, what if my g/f decides she wants to play Tetris while I've got a game of SMB in progress?
If you switch from SMB to Tetris Worlds by turning the machine off and on, you'll lose your progress in SMB anyway. If you're at home, launch TOD in an emulator, and now your gf is playing tetraminoes and getting high at the same time. If you're on the road, switch PocketNES from SMB to either Tengen Tetyais or Nintendo Tetris. Or give her your other Game Boy. What? You don't have another Game Boy? You're missing out on two-player.
Sorry, but a flash cart is, IMHO, the only way to go. Get one
I have one, but I'm the only person I know who has one because they're still three figures, which is expensive for a neighbor who's still in high school.
Plus, then you can write your own stuff for the GBA! :)
I already do. No, before you criticize me for mentioning sleep mode and not having already implemented it in my public releases, I have implemented sleep mode in my own tree, but there are a few bugs blocking the next TOD milestone.
Will I retire or break 10K?
While I can't speak for the reliability of the source, Entware seems to be the supplier of a gp32 DivX player. Interesting...
"DRM in the GBA games will surely be here soon to force only a real GBA handheld can play the games."
You do realize we're talking about a media that doesn't even have region encoding and hasn't for over a decade, right?
Actually, even the original GB cartridges had a region. They're either Japan Region or Everyone-Else Region. The GB consoles never checked any of it though.
Luke-Jr