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Homebrew on Consoles Detailed
Yoshi writes "DCEmu have released an article detailing the current State of the Homebrew Scene on all consoles from the PSP to GBA and even to the Next Gen Nintendo Wii, the article explains whats needed to run emulators and games and if its worth bothering for each console."
Dude, Xbox.
I've got a couple dozen emus on my Xbox, with rom sets thanks to a hard drive upgrade. The hardest part is figuring out a button layout that's comfortable on the Xbox controller, once that's set up it's smooth sailing.
-Billco, Fnarg.com
The "article" (which is actually a forum thread) says, and I quote, "The State of Homebrew On All Consoles", which is a complete lie. What's missing from the forum thread?
Atari 2600? Check.
NES? Check.
Game Boy pre-GBA? Check.
Sega Master System? Check
Sega Genesis? Check.
And there are probably some that I've forgotten as well, but at least I'll admit it.
"Because we are the only dedicated Homebrew Network on the web covering just about all scenes"? STFU and GTFO, you suck.
FC Closer
The Wii is interesting because the dev kit is only $2000. That puts it well within the range of an avid hobbiest. If I had a really good idea come to mind about a game using the wiimote I'd consider getting one.
It would be interesting to see what kind of legal agreements come with that dev kit. Can a group a homebrew coders get there hands on one and start churning out free games? Will there be an easy way for us to play these games?
Kyle
BASE Conflict for Quake 3
I picked up my DS Lite at 12:04 last night at WalMart. It replaces my original DS, which the wife is getting. The screen is way brighter, the case is a bit smaller, the stylus is larger (1cm longer, and slightly thicker) which makes it easier to hold... the microphone moved to the center of the console, and the status lights are now EASILY visible when the case is closed.
The only minor drawbacks are the new start and select buttons are itty bitty, and require a bit more effort to push accurately.
It was definitely worth the upgrade.
Whoever stated that signature sizes should be limited to one hundred and twenty characters can just go ahead and kiss my
I've got one, and I'm pretty happy with it. Right now it's got a pretty good number of emulators running at or near full speed (the Genesis emulator in particular is great, and there's a very accurate PC Engine emulator that just hit 1.0 that does most games full speed with sound). Some emulators are still coming along though, which should be expected somewhat with a machine that's only about 6 or 7 months old. There are also some pretty good "interpreters" out for it (ports of Doom, Commander Keen, Quake, and Duke3D are all notable.) Batteries are a bit of a sore spot for some people, but if you can get your hands on some good 2500mAh NiMH rechargeables, you can expect about 5-6 hours per pair. Not great, but better than a PSP's battery life and you can swap them out when they die. Like I said, I'm happy with mine but it's got its quirks so it's not for everyone. Do a bit of googling and find out if it's for you.
This poo is cold.
So it is not entirely true as in the article that Nintendo doesn't care about the homebrew scene. Not suprisingly, PSP commercial games often don't fit on its memory stick but most Nintendo handheld games can fit a dozen to a flash card.
This makes it a lot easier to pirate GBA/DS games then PSP games.
The DS had a revision that forced a new key but I am just not sure wether that revision happened to be the DS Lite. For sure the DS Lite is of the new version however so the answer is still yes. If you check the sites you will find some advice on checking wich firmware you got with your DS. Color background in pictochat if I remember correctly.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Mod parent up.
As an amateur Nintend DS developer:
In the "good old days" one could buy a device called a PassMe (a glorified device that performs a JMP into the GBA cartridge's ROM thus executing unencrypted code. They come in several variations such as the PassMe and the SuperPass). Nintendo was not happy with the PassMe and made all the recent DS systems (after and including firmware 4.0) and made the handshaking between the DS and the DS cartridge a bit more complicated and on a game-by-game basis. Now, one needs a device called a PassMe2 which essentially pretends to be a game. Beyond this, there are "NoPass" devices which don't have to do the handshaking with the DS.
As it stands you can't use the rumble addon like the article implies, largely because both slots on the DS are taken up with the current state of homebrew (a GBA cart containing the code you want to run and a PassMe-like device in the DS slot). The DS section of this article is misleading. For more information, I suggest DualScene.net and MaxConsole.net for information on homebrew games and programs. One can check DSLinux.org for information on, appropriately, DS Linux, and one can check GBADev.org for information on DS and GBA development.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
The term Homebrew is probably a holdover from the '70s homebrew computer club, where the likes of Bill Gates, Paul Allen, Steve Jobs, Woz and other mainstream computer founders would get together and display their own computers, or computer programs. It's a part of our computing heritage, so it can easily be applied to computerized games, though I do agree that the term is probably used a little too much in place of DIY.