754 replies to this topic

[mos6507]

I thought the Gameport looked suspiciously close to Ben Heck's work. Turns out that he did the case design. Even named it.

That Gameport looks promising, but they're awfully vague on it. They say that it won't emulate, but that it will synthesize using downloadable software?

If I were to take a Wild Ass Guess, I'd say that it's probably an FPGA-based product. Especially given their comment, "RetroGames has decided to take a radically different approach and provide synthesized versions of the original hardware for all the popular 8 bit classic systems." Thus the "software" for the different systems will probably be the circuit layout files that would be uploaded before the game gets played.

Their constant references to the iPod do not suggest good things about the final price of this unit.

Retrogames LLC was the company that was going to release the 2600-on-a-chip years ago. They posted a video of their prototype way back when and I've been waiting for it to arrive ever since. It sounds from reading the Gameport site that the reason it never came out was that it ran into a combination of legal hassles over copyright and bad business partnerships. It sounds like this is their grass-roots "Plan B". I do not like the case design at all. All those hard edges and right angles. It's okay for one-off VCSp's, but not for a truly professional product.

Edited by mos6507, Mon May 28, 2007 10:39 PM.

[Retro Rogue]

This is what was confirmed during an IRC chat (I brought that up in another thread, FPGA+CPU). BenHeck shows one of the early prototypes on the gametrailers show on MTV, it was supposed to air last week but I think it has been pushed to tomorrow evening.

Hmm, 2 posts, both about this vapor portable. Methinks you guys are getting a little ridiculous with this viral marketing across forum sites (they hit CG.Com as well), news sites (Digg, etc.), etc....

Honestly, when you guys can show an actual product (including a case that doesn't look like the usual oversized GBA style hack case of Ben's) and a price that makes an FPGA behemoth affordable to the casual gamer market, then I'm sure your product will stand on its own two feet. Until then.......

[Retro Rogue]

I do not like the case design at all. All those hard edges and right angles. It's okay for one-off VCSp's, but not for a truly professional product.

That was my thought as well. Ben's 2nd to none with his retrofitting of older consoles in to portable formats. But professional product wise, I just don't see a strong design pattern.

[stylez]

I can't think of anything that's really modern though? Could he be talking about a 2600jr with Activision/Imagic/Parker Bros games?

While there are many Atari consoles more modern than the Atari 2600 (5200, 7800, Lynx, Jaguar, etc.), I'm guessing he means "modern" as in "something new to compete with the DS and PSP"...not that it would be very hard to compete with the PSP at this point in time

That Gameport looks promising, but they're awfully vague on it. They say that it won't emulate, but that it will synthesize using downloadable software? Also, I'm not sure why they bothered posting screenshots of all those games when they're clearly not in-action shots. Seems kind of fishy to me, but if they're really planning on getting ALL of those consoles to work on it, that'd be pretty sweet.

Of course, I'm still looking forward to the FBP to handle all of my 2600 needs

http://www.gametrailers.com/umwatcher.php?id=68980

[Gameport]

Hi,
hopefully your questions have been answered here: http://www.atariage....p;#entry1305643

[Retro Rogue]

Hi,
hopefully your questions have been answered here: http://www.atariage....p;#entry1305643

OMFG.........

[nathanallan]

Hi,
hopefully your questions have been answered here: http://www.atariage....p;#entry1305643

OMFG.........

Same here. I'll probably get one but it won't replace my FB2 Portable.

[SalemFrost7800]

Hi,
hopefully your questions have been answered here: http://www.atariage....p;#entry1305643

OMFG.........

Same here. I'll probably get one but it won't replace my FB2 Portable.

I feel the same, especially if it can be used for 7800 games at some point. Nothing will stop my from buying a FB2 Portable though.

[Retro Rogue]

Hi,
hopefully your questions have been answered here: http://www.atariage....p;#entry1305643

OMFG.........

Same here. I'll probably get one but it won't replace my FB2 Portable.

Umm, no, that was sarcasm. As in OMFG I can't believe the attempt at viral marketing here that just won't stop and claims they're not competing yet hijacking FB2 threads, etc. etc. etc.

Edited by wgungfu, Wed May 30, 2007 6:18 PM.

[nathanallan]

They can try to hijack it, but we'll return to the FB2. See? That easy.

Nathan

[Gameport]

Hijacking? it was rather bringing answers. Don't think we've started any thread. Actually the post described that we're not in the same market as the FB2 portable as well, and if you want a product made by someone from the community for the community, you should buy a FP2; we don't put more focus on the 2600 than on the other platforms.

Also, we're not interested in making our own marketing either, it's the distributor's job; it's been explained somewhere else that the product got out before it was supposed to, so we're not interested in promoting it right now; now as an individual I think it's stupid to leave comments made by clueless people not corrected. Unless one has seen what the GamePort does and owns a GP2X for example, it's just fanboy talk. There's been a few videos of the system running on the web, but only with the first proto case. If you want to sound smart, don't talk about the GP unless you attend a demo (we're going to conduct a few in LA in the next couple months), and comments on the case are useless as it was a temp one rushed for a TV appareance, the real case actually folds like a DS; interestingly, while the case showed looks big, it is actually smaller than a DS or PSP, it is about as tall as a can of soda.

The best is to return to the FB2 as this is an Atari community board, I'll answer questions if any pop up; and we're not saying anything wrong about the FB2 portable, it could be a cool product, get one

[nathanallan]

I meant that sarcastically, since I didn't really see any hijacking. Somehow sarcasm seems to not come out in type. I wish I could make the demo but I gotta work Nothing ever comes to El Paso!

Nathan

[Math You]

All this talk of a Gameport portable might encourage Atari to release the Flashback portable sooner. Let the battle commence!

[mos6507]

All this talk of a Gameport portable might encourage Atari to release the Flashback portable sooner. Let the battle commence!

Is Atari technically "releasing" the FB2 Portable? I thought Atari was just licensing its games to Curt and he was going to release it himself.

[jbanes]

Is Atari technically "releasing" the FB2 Portable? I thought Atari was just licensing its games to Curt and he was going to release it himself.

From my understanding, that's not how the FB2 was produced. Curt did all the work to develop it, get the molds made, create the packaging, load the games, and do the box artwork, but Atari was the official publisher who actually handled the manufacturing, shipping, and distribution. At least, that's how I understood it.

I would presume that the FB2 portable would be handled the same way.

Maybe I'm wrong?

[akirahedgehog]

Do we have any idea when such a product would be released. I just heard about this so yeah...

[werejag]

curt come on tell us its coming on in the next month!!!! you know you want to tell us!!!

[Curt Vendel]

okay, here are some shots of the first article sample unit...



Curt

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[BigO]

Cool. Waiting patiently.

[SpiceWare]

Sweet! I like that normal joystick ports are being used.

Looks like the front-right switch is "on-off". What are the left and center switches?

Update - I see from the Spy Shot that the left is B/W-Color, middle is Menu and right is On-Off. Are there difficulty switches hiding somewhere?

Edited by SpiceWare, Mon Jun 18, 2007 8:22 AM.

[espire8]

Cool! I like the size comparison with the adventure cart!

No cart slot means downloadable roms on the go, ..neat!

[Lord Helmet]

Looks great. Its small, which is good. I can't wait to buy one.

[SalemFrost7800]

Very Sweet

[SomeGuyWithDSL]

Why the USB Host port, and not a 5-pin Mini USB for downloading from a computer?

(Or am I just seeing that wrong?)

[EricDeLee]

I hope there is a difficuly switch so I can pause Thrust