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Retro Gaming Gains A Savior?
1up.com has a look at a new slimline NES console made by a company named Messiah. They hope the console, named Generation NEX, will be able to reach consumers in retail stores. From the article: "We think our products can be mainstream, it's just a matter of finding and reaching those people. Everyone loves the NES, and grew up playing it...We're hoping to get Generation NEX into mainstream retailers. We think that'll help out a lot. It's kind of like one of those impulse buys, people aren't searching for it but when they come across it they'll be like 'whoa, I want that!'...The greatest challenge was incorporating all of the extra features into the hardware...It's quite easy just to make a clone that works with the existing stuff, but then when you incorporate the built-in wireless and all the other stuff that went into this hardware ... That was the biggest challenge, getting everything to work together."
It really does sound like emulation with a different box...
It's not emulation, it's what people in the know call a "famiclone". In fact, there are probably dozens of similar systems out on the market - if you look up famicom systems on Ebay (or NES systems) 99% of the results will be this thing or similar models, not real Nintendo systems.
The Famicom was reverse-engineered years ago. Nintendo hates it but there's nothing they can do about it. These sorts of consoles have been on the market for probably a decade now. Interestingly enough, the vast majority of those plug and play TV game systems (like the Intellivision 25 in 1, the Atari 10 in 1 and Activision 10 in 1, etc.) are built using a "famicom on a chip" - same basic idea. They're using the famicom to emulate whatever system they're supposed to be.
Nintendo does go after "pirate" consoles every once in a while, but these are systems with Nintendo software pre-installed on them. They always carefully word their press releases so that it looks like the console itself is illegal, though, and the media usually plays along. It's a scare tactic.
Frankly, I don't see why 1up thinks this model is so special, unless this is just the first they've heard that such things exist. That doesn't really make it newsworthy, though.
(Sometimes news isn't really about how new something is but about letting people know about something they probably don't already know about... but the fact is famiclones have been on the market for a long time and are neither going away nor are they headed for the mainstream.)
Price the Messiah at $50 with games from $5 to $10 and it might find its niche. Providing a free SDK and selling programmable carts would help, too.
Modern copyright is theft of culture from everyone and it retards the progress of the useful arts and sciences.
I've covered videogames for some years, and my initial reaction was that this... sweet! but then I thought about it more. Having programmed a bit for the NES I can personally attest to the difficulty and hurdles to overcome.
A system that has these same features and accepts a cheap flash memory like SD that runs it's own 2D games utilizing an easy, modern programming language and has the ability to run NES games in emulation would go much further and be able to be made much cheaper.
This thing is headed for failure either because of poor market research or lawyer costs trying to save their asses. Any serious older gen gamer is going to buy a Revolution and get the same thing but with so much more.
Gaming in general needs to go back to 2D. 3D is great for FPS' but that's about it. 3D has been a square peg in a round hole for years and what kills me is that companies cling to it as tightly as possible. Ever notice why the GB/GBA does so well? People want FUN games with SIMPLE controls, whoever thinks that a controller with 18+ buttons and three directional inputs is a good thing is an idiot.
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I didnt Read the Fancy Article, but I see a lot of people speculating that this company will go under after Nintendo crushes them with their legal might.
Not going to happen, because...
Nintendo's patent on the NES is over. There have always been Famiclones out there, but now we are seeing very nice ones being released. Wonder why? Because they are legal and products companies want to succeed in the face of other Famiclones.