1. Leave the control scheme un-changed, and use a smaller-sized LCD on top, or
2. Completely hack apart the controls, and arange them on opposite sides of a larger LCD (a la PSP)
In option 1, we'd be resrticted to a 2.5" - 3" LCD, whereas option 2 would allow a gorgeous 3.5"-5" LCD. The challenge lies in the obvious: It'd be kind of hard to chainsaw the controller into two halves, and expect it to work, and, whereas the first configuration would really only require slight modification of the board, the second would require either a complete re-make of the original controller on a wider board (pain in the ass) or an additional board mounted on top (sloppy and increases size/weight). This is why I opted for the former configuration, although soldering gurus will likely go for #2.
Another advantage of the first board is that the whole thing will more or less retain the original's configuration, and thus be more accessible to people familiar with the platform.
A third alternative is to make a "GameCube Mini" module, that is slap the goods into a Tablet PC-style case, and use the stock controllers and parts. This would also allow for the biggest display sizes (around 7"), as well as serious battery life. On the downside, the thing will be MUCH bulkier than the other 2 options, and will be more of an in-the-car portable whan an in-the-pocket one. This is a good config for LAN parties, though... if you can find a GC LAN Party.
I'm wondering WHERE IS THE MODDINC COMMUNITY IN ALL THIS?!
The GC's entrails are already pint-sized, all we really need to do now is to slap a custom control board on top, add a 3" LCD, and put it in a purdy box. This is really all that is required:
- 1 GameCube unit ($99)
- 1 controller (included with above)
- 1 3.5 in. LCD (available with XBOX controller for $50)
- Custom board for controls (can be hawked together from controller board and spare wire)
- Custom board for power, reset, eject buttons (can be soldered together; take buttons from XBOX ctrlr)
- custom plastic case ($5, a lot of patience)
- screws ($0.20)
Total: $155.20 + a lot of time
Would sell for: $350, easily.
"Licensing -- owning a DVD doesn't mean you can distribute the content on the DVD."
Err... this IS one of the reasons I said Netflix:
If they have the licence to rent it out, they will also likely have the licence to do this (you DO need to licence the films to rent them out, I'm not sure about licencing PRICES per se, but it ain't $20). Matter of fact, AFAIK, you need to licence each disc (that's the reason they all come with those little silver stickers in the middle that say you have to buy the DVD if you take them off.) This may mean that NF will need to buy additional licencing per film, but I'm guessing against that (they ARE doing this)
It is an interesting concept, but take a look at this:
- Cable/Sattellite companies have the capability to stream high-res content to your TV - Cable/Sat companies have thecapability to have different people watching different channels - Cable/Sat companies have vast amounts of storage space and proccessing power.
What, therefore, stops them from ripping all of the DVD's in, say, NetFlix's library into their format, storing it on their server, and putting up a request system.
Then, any time someone would want to watch a movie, they'd simply have to hit a button, and the movie would be queued from the provider's central server, and streamed immediately and directly to the user's channel using a server/client setup. Considering the amount of processing power needed to play/stream a DVD is a nominal 500-700MHz, and these people's server power, I think this is more than possible. Question is, where the hell is it.
not neccessarily. At that point, they could simply copy the process which is running on the real-world computer onto the simulated computer, a means which would effectively double the processing power needed for the simulation to exist. But at the point where you are simulating individual processes on individual CPU's, you likely have nearly unlimited processing power as it stands, and even THAT would be assuming you are leaving the CPU's etc. as solid objects and emulating the processes externally, then bringing their result into the world. If you are at the stage where you are simulating individual particles (i.e. energy particles, neutrons/electrons/positrons), you would theoretically have infinite processing power at your disposal [inside the simulation set the temperature to 1 Kelvin, and overclock the sim CPU near-infinitely.
Side note: is it just me, or are we seeing the beginning of a program that will eventually simulate the chaos theory?
in truth, it depends on the card and the device, i.e. slow cards [crappybrand etc.] are known to work slowly, fast [i.e. Lexar 52x] cards are known to work fast.
Besides, in SD you always have compatibility issues and SanDisk (the Microsoft of SD cards)
your experience is wrong. Besides havig faster transfer rates at lower price points, CF is known to be much more reliable than SD for storing data.... then again, 99% of accessories are CF, so I'm not sure you would WANT to occupy that slot with memory.
Your Axim X5 very well does have that power. You simply don't realize it. I'd strongly suggest you get a 256MB+ SD card (or CF, if you're so disposed). Then, visit http://www.aximsite.com and go straight to the forums. In the media section, start reading. Read the guides, the posts, etc. until you throw up, twice. Then head down to your local video store, and talk them into letting you rent x movies for 1 night for $10, where X=[amt of free HDD space you have]/[8GB per movie].
Proceed with ripping these [SmartRipper does a fine job of this], and re-encoding them [get a few codec packs and VirtualDub, refer to aforementioned forums for help], I prefer:
96 to 256kbps video [96 on 2-pass with DiVX does nicely]
16 to 32kbps mp3 audio, mono [you don't NEED the sound quality, and are unlikely to nitice it in the middle of an action scene on a bus]
300% volume boost [trust me, you'll need it].
If properly done, you'll get the average movie in something like 120MB, with 320x240 in sufficient quality
And, for God's sake, don't buy this $500 pos. get an Axim X5 advanced for $300, laern to use it. Same thing, but saves a ton of $
There was a point when Acclaim titles were respected. Turok was one of them, until they screwed it up with the XBOX version. South Park's FPS was a fun little game while it lasted, as well as countless other good games I can credit these guys with.
as far as I can see, though, they have failed to innovate:
South Park's N64 FPS, years ago, had run-shoot-run-button-shoot-run type gameplay. Since then, games have become increasingly more innovative, better-looking, and sleeker/more intuitive. Acclaim, though, hung on to their old business model, lost enough market share to go to the ranks of ValuSoft, and even then failed to realize their mistake and improve on it. Now, the former captain has sunk with his ship.
Almost all current movies are translated where there is sufficient demand for it, and in the case of Hollywood blockbusters, that is everywhere.
For example, I can call my friend in Ukraine, and ask him to ship me
Kill Bill 2 Man On Fire I, Robot
countless others, right now. As a matter of fact, as soon as any kind of DVD or CAM-based rip is released, within 2 days to a week you already have it showing up on Ukrainian filmstands. This, I believe, is not unique, as I've no doubt the publishers have 0day FTP access, if not better.
Slashdot Mirror
The last good game without excessive blood, violence, or nudity was Killer Instinct. Oh, wait...
whatever happened to taping a rifle scope onto a $5 disposable?!
This is the only 35mm camera your home mortgage won't pay off.
can I have the Sony when the Apple comes in?
I've got 5:1 that this will get cracked in 24 hours from release.
the way I see it, there are two options:
1. Leave the control scheme un-changed, and use a smaller-sized LCD on top, or
2. Completely hack apart the controls, and arange them on opposite sides of a larger LCD (a la PSP)
In option 1, we'd be resrticted to a 2.5" - 3" LCD, whereas option 2 would allow a gorgeous 3.5"-5" LCD. The challenge lies in the obvious: It'd be kind of hard to chainsaw the controller into two halves, and expect it to work, and, whereas the first configuration would really only require slight modification of the board, the second would require either a complete re-make of the original controller on a wider board (pain in the ass) or an additional board mounted on top (sloppy and increases size/weight). This is why I opted for the former configuration, although soldering gurus will likely go for #2.
Another advantage of the first board is that the whole thing will more or less retain the original's configuration, and thus be more accessible to people familiar with the platform.
A third alternative is to make a "GameCube Mini" module, that is slap the goods into a Tablet PC-style case, and use the stock controllers and parts. This would also allow for the biggest display sizes (around 7"), as well as serious battery life. On the downside, the thing will be MUCH bulkier than the other 2 options, and will be more of an in-the-car portable whan an in-the-pocket one. This is a good config for LAN parties, though... if you can find a GC LAN Party.
I'm wondering WHERE IS THE MODDINC COMMUNITY IN ALL THIS?! The GC's entrails are already pint-sized, all we really need to do now is to slap a custom control board on top, add a 3" LCD, and put it in a purdy box. This is really all that is required: - 1 GameCube unit ($99) - 1 controller (included with above) - 1 3.5 in. LCD (available with XBOX controller for $50) - Custom board for controls (can be hawked together from controller board and spare wire) - Custom board for power, reset, eject buttons (can be soldered together; take buttons from XBOX ctrlr) - custom plastic case ($5, a lot of patience) - screws ($0.20) Total: $155.20 + a lot of time Would sell for: $350, easily.
"Licensing -- owning a DVD doesn't mean you can distribute the content on the DVD."
Err... this IS one of the reasons I said Netflix:
If they have the licence to rent it out, they will also likely have the licence to do this (you DO need to licence the films to rent them out, I'm not sure about licencing PRICES per se, but it ain't $20). Matter of fact, AFAIK, you need to licence each disc (that's the reason they all come with those little silver stickers in the middle that say you have to buy the DVD if you take them off.) This may mean that NF will need to buy additional licencing per film, but I'm guessing against that (they ARE doing this)
There's a moment to look forward to...
"Oprah, meet Tron."
This is where NetFlix with their fat ass movie library comes in.
Kazaa: Tivo edition
It is an interesting concept, but take a look at this:
- Cable/Sattellite companies have the capability to stream high-res content to your TV
- Cable/Sat companies have thecapability to have different people watching different channels
- Cable/Sat companies have vast amounts of storage space and proccessing power.
What, therefore, stops them from ripping all of the DVD's in, say, NetFlix's library into their format, storing it on their server, and putting up a request system.
Then, any time someone would want to watch a movie, they'd simply have to hit a button, and the movie would be queued from the provider's central server, and streamed immediately and directly to the user's channel using a server/client setup. Considering the amount of processing power needed to play/stream a DVD is a nominal 500-700MHz, and these people's server power, I think this is more than possible. Question is, where the hell is it.
not neccessarily. At that point, they could simply copy the process which is running on the real-world computer onto the simulated computer, a means which would effectively double the processing power needed for the simulation to exist. But at the point where you are simulating individual processes on individual CPU's, you likely have nearly unlimited processing power as it stands, and even THAT would be assuming you are leaving the CPU's etc. as solid objects and emulating the processes externally, then bringing their result into the world. If you are at the stage where you are simulating individual particles (i.e. energy particles, neutrons/electrons/positrons), you would theoretically have infinite processing power at your disposal [inside the simulation set the temperature to 1 Kelvin, and overclock the sim CPU near-infinitely.
Side note: is it just me, or are we seeing the beginning of a program that will eventually simulate the chaos theory?
are they going to make an SWG expansion with this?
I've been told to f*** off 3 times that way.
so Agent Smith IS a mutant...
[quote=zonker]kinda annoying that you can't play a dvd disc on it[/quote]
Interesting point, although I believe the reasoning behind it is the size restriction [with a dvd reader, it'd be the size of a small laptop
WILL start to be treated like controlled substances?
SOE's been selling us doses of EverCrack for years.
in truth, it depends on the card and the device, i.e. slow cards [crappybrand etc.] are known to work slowly, fast [i.e. Lexar 52x] cards are known to work fast.
Besides, in SD you always have compatibility issues and SanDisk (the Microsoft of SD cards)
your experience is wrong. Besides havig faster transfer rates at lower price points, CF is known to be much more reliable than SD for storing data. ... then again, 99% of accessories are CF, so I'm not sure you would WANT to occupy that slot with memory.
Your Axim X5 very well does have that power. You simply don't realize it. I'd strongly suggest you get a 256MB+ SD card (or CF, if you're so disposed). Then, visit http://www.aximsite.com and go straight to the forums. In the media section, start reading. Read the guides, the posts, etc. until you throw up, twice. Then head down to your local video store, and talk them into letting you rent x movies for 1 night for $10,
where X=[amt of free HDD space you have]/[8GB per movie].
Proceed with ripping these [SmartRipper does a fine job of this], and re-encoding them [get a few codec packs and VirtualDub, refer to aforementioned forums for help], I prefer:
96 to 256kbps video [96 on 2-pass with DiVX does nicely]
16 to 32kbps mp3 audio, mono [you don't NEED the sound quality, and are unlikely to nitice it in the middle of an action scene on a bus]
300% volume boost [trust me, you'll need it].
If properly done, you'll get the average movie in something like 120MB, with 320x240 in sufficient quality
And, for God's sake, don't buy this $500 pos. get an Axim X5 advanced for $300, laern to use it. Same thing, but saves a ton of $
Shoplifters, start your engines.
There was a point when Acclaim titles were respected. Turok was one of them, until they screwed it up with the XBOX version. South Park's FPS was a fun little game while it lasted, as well as countless other good games I can credit these guys with.
as far as I can see, though, they have failed to innovate:
South Park's N64 FPS, years ago, had run-shoot-run-button-shoot-run type gameplay. Since then, games have become increasingly more innovative, better-looking, and sleeker/more intuitive. Acclaim, though, hung on to their old business model, lost enough market share to go to the ranks of ValuSoft, and even then failed to realize their mistake and improve on it. Now, the former captain has sunk with his ship.
The Queen Is Dead. Long Live The Queen.
You, sir, are absolutely incorrect.
Almost all current movies are translated where there is sufficient demand for it, and in the case of Hollywood blockbusters, that is everywhere.
For example, I can call my friend in Ukraine, and ask him to ship me
Kill Bill 2
Man On Fire
I, Robot
countless others, right now. As a matter of fact, as soon as any kind of DVD or CAM-based rip is released, within 2 days to a week you already have it showing up on Ukrainian filmstands. This, I believe, is not unique, as I've no doubt the publishers have 0day FTP access, if not better.
The RIAA/MPAA will complain, no matter what.
It's a given:
They bitched when CD burners let us copy their precious music, albums at a time.
They bitched when players were released to play that [mp3] music, from CD/Flash/HDD
They bitched when DVD recordables were released to allow people to shrink and burn their precious movies.
They're bitching about the dual-layer DVD formar becoming recordable and available to the puclic.
Guess what they're going to do when we can slap 4-8 of their precious DVDs onto one BluRay disc for 50c? [hint: bitch.]