SmileyDude

Ahh, you're missing the point. Programming a console is nothing like programming a PC running Linux. The XGS is going to have custom video hardware, and is going to run with an ARM chip. There is no OS to get in the way (or help you out, for that matter). This looks like a pretty fun machine, though admitidly, I'm more excited by having another ARM box to play around with than by the rest of the box

I picked my demo disc up at KB Toys -- it was $10. I had to check around at a few stores -- the KB Toys in Stoneham, MA wouldn't sell me one, but the one in Burlington would. Originally, when news of the demo disc first came out, it was reported that it would be for sale for $10. The next day, the news seemed to have changed. As for Best Buy, I have no idea what is up with those idiots. You can get whole games for the cube for less than $40... why anyone would purposely buy a demo disc for that much is beyond me... the only thing I can think of is that they are hoping to fool parents into buying the disc. I can imagine quite a few angry customers coming back to complain about it, and then being told that they don't accept returns on opened video games...

I know I tend to suck at strategy games in general, but I've found the AW series to be a nice change. I still suck at it, but not as much as other strategy games. Plus, with AW2, I can actually see myself getting better at the game ('bout time...). I've heard that multiplayer AW is much better than single player, but I've been happy playing solo -- I dunno if I would want to have to wait around for another player to decide on a move...

I have a now 6 year old who was 4 when the GCN came out. He really enjoyed SMB and Super Mario Sunshine. Most likely, a 4 year old won't be able to completely grasp all of the concepts of Mario, but they still tend to have fun with just exploring the game levels. I'd recommend either playing with them, or unlocking the levels ahead of time. It will make it much more fun for them, cause they really can't understand why certain things in the game are locked.

Are we talking about the same guy that wrote the Z-80 book? I've heard good things about the Z-80 book, but nothing about a book on the 6502...

It's also available for free on http://www.atariarchives.org/ -- along with the second book as well. Unless you want the physical book, I would just go for the web copy

I'd start with something outside the Atari, at first. The Atari is a fun machine to work with, but if you don't have the basics down, you can end up learning the wrong way to do something (The Atari is very forgiving about such things ). I still stand by the Java recomendation. Go get a good Java book, and work through it. From there, you can branch out and learn other things (C, C++, assembly...). Java will give you the basics of programming, without bogging you down with a whole lot of details. And, if you get good at it, you might be able to get a job doing it Good Luck

Wapchimp -- I don't want to pick on you or anything, so don't take this wrong -- but, I've heard a lot of people say basically the same thing you did, i.e, I really want to do X but I don't know how... this sounds like a perfect opportunity to learn about something you want to do (well, maybe not start out gunning for a big game project, but you have to start somewhere). If I was in your position, I'd go out, get a book or two on beginning programming, and read through it inside and out. Since you've already expressed an interest in Java, go get a Java book, download the JDK from java.sun.com, get yourself an text editor you like (Notepad is an okay choice in this case), and start learning. The good thing is that since it appears you already have a computer, the only additional costs are the book and your time. It's really funny sometimes watching beginners in programming. Either they a) are unsure of themselves, when all the really need is just a good start or b) are full of themselves, and probably couldn't write a program to save their life. I think it sounds as if you are in category A, so go out, get that book, and start demystifying the idea of programming

It's kinda interesting comparing the CTIA color chart with the TIA color chart for the 2600 (http://www.urchlay.com/stelladoc/v2/tia_co...colorchart.html). I find it amazing as to how similar and yet different they are. I also realised that the 2600 doesn't have a pure white -- it appears from the chart that the closest you can get is a light grey.

The headphone adapter ain't too much... I think it's $2-3 bucks at store.nintendo.com -- even cheaper if you buy a 3rd party one at one of the local game stores. As far as the frontlight goes, the only complaint I have is that when it's on, and you have plenty of light, you can't tell that it's on. You have to cover up the screen and see if it's on or not. I wish that they would've turned on a LED or something letting you know that it's on...

I do find it a bit funny that it was the Trammel's that brought Atari up to the calculator age. Jeez, can these guys run anything without turning it into a calculator company?

I remember playing a game or two that was writting in Action! back in the day... it didn't require a special disc for me to play it. I was under the impression that the runtime was free to distribute with any program you made with Action!, as long as you owned a legal copy, that is (yes, there is a disc based version out there... I had a copy myself). If you do end up using Action!, the runtime is going to be the least of your problems. The bigger problem is using a language that only existed on one machine, and is now effectively dead. At least 6502 assembly was pretty widespread (Atari, Commodore, Apple, NES), and it's easy to find tons of references for it. You can even find the 6502 still being used today in the embeded market. Personally, I would learn 6502 assembly if I was you, and maybe get a copy of Action! for your personal collection. But don't spend too much time on it

Boy, tagging could get interesting -- there is a year field, that's obviously the year it was released. You have genre -- I guess you could fill that in with the game type. There is artist -- I guess that could be the company that released it. You have a lyrics field -- you could probably stuff the instructions in there. You have a album cover field -- that becomes the scan of the cart or the box (you pick ) Sure, a lot of this wouldn't be seen by most people, but it's the little details that add a lot. Need some help?

Boy, tagging could get interesting -- there is a year field, that's obviously the year it was released. You have genre -- I guess you could fill that in with the game type. There is artist -- I guess that could be the company that released it. You have a lyrics field -- you could probably stuff the instructions in there. You have a album cover field -- that becomes the scan of the cart or the box (you pick ) Sure, a lot of this wouldn't be seen by most people, but it's the little details that add a lot. Need some help?

They did -- Animal Crossing has a NES emulator in it. They've also been placing the emulator in other Cube games, but in a more limited fashion -- Metroid Prime has the emulator in it for the orignal NES Metroid. I doubt that you're going to see a NES Collection for the GameCube... Nintendo would rather make you buy a bunch of new games with the NES games as a bonus (GCN), or make updated versions of NES games (GBA) or put the game on e-reader cards. Animal Crossing seems to be the exception so far, but they still didn't make all the games available right at the start... you have to spend months of agony trying to collect them all... grrr

What's the lowest bitrate you can use before you get to the point where the game won't load? BTW, if you did an MP3 version, I'd be willing to buy a copy -- even without having a Cuttle Cart -- it just seems too cool to pass up

LOL -- too many TLAs Anyway, I think SMA3 is worth the $30, IMO -- it was a very fun game. It's a shame that some of the effects got lost on the way to the GBA (why? I have no idea... the GBA should've been capable of pulling off everything in the original...) and that the game noticably slows down when there is a lot going on (again, I don't know why...), but that doesn't mean that it's any less of a fun game. I will say that SMA2 is a better deal than SMA3... so, if you're trying to choose one over the other, pick SMA2...

A suggestion -- I don't know if the MP3 format would butcher up the audio in a way that would be incompatible, but I do know that there are a bunch of CD players coming out on the market that can play MP3s... assuming that you get a 10-1 ratio, that means you would be able to fit all 6 CDs onto one CD with plenty of room to spare. Now I really wish that I had a Cuttle Cart... darn it... how much do those go for on ebay?

True, but with a tight kernel, you could do some of the repositioning where there are only single laders anyway (I hope that sounds right -- I can see it mentally, but I might not have explained it right ). I could live with double line resolution if necessary... but, I don't want to throw single line out until I absolutely have to I still need to get back to coding -- maybe tonight I'll get a chance

Hmm, interesting... but, wouldn't 2k work out better? Then, you can keep the playfield values all in RAM, if needed. (192 lines * 6 = 1152 -- rounded up to 2k for simplicity). Is there already a standard format that can be used to get the RAM? That way, the wheel doesn't entirely need to be re-invented? It would be really nice to just be able to go out, find some existing cart, rip out the ROM, and replace it with an EEPROM for testing.

What about using the Starpath? Would that be acceptable? I think that would give us the RAM that is needed (no way around needing the RAM, that's for sure), and each additional level could just be loaded in as needed. Does anyone have the information needed to setup a Starpath program? What about other suggestions -- like different cart types, etc. I remember having one of the CBS games (I think) that said it had additional RAM right on the cart -- is that the only commonly available cart that had extra RAM? Has any of the existing homebrews used additional RAM? Questions, questions, questions... time to get back to coding

I honestly don't see how that the XBox could be doing better -- the only advantage that system has is that it can be hacked. I've yet to see a game that makes me want to buy an XBox. On the other hand, there are some PS2 games that have tempted me. I do know that as a gamer, the Cube has kept me happy -- of course, it's mostly first party games doing it, but I really can't complain about it. I do have some 3rd party games (Monkey Ball is one of my favorites), so it's not like Nintendo is the only source of games. Maybe the bigger problem for the Cube is that Nintendo has set the bar really high, and none of the developers for that system can reach it? And, BTW, good riddance to Acclaim -- I've only bought 2 Acclaim games for the Cube, and I can sum them up by saying long load times and frequent crashes. You can only get as much out of a platform as your willing to put it, and Acclaim never put much effort into the GCN. IMO, a game console should be fairly close to never crashing -- I know that you can't get rid of all the bugs, but damnit, if it crashes after playing it for five minutes, then something is very very wrong.

I was giving some thought to a GBA version -- but, my hardware knowledge is pretty limited The standard flash carts on the GBA can hold up to 64megs (512mbit), so that would be enough to hold a good collection of Atari games There are already cables to go from PC Serial to the GBA, so it might be feasable to modify one of those to use SIO...

No, I think it was the fact that 6 months after the GCN launch, they still had mounds of N64 gear. Add to that the mounds of GB/GBC games that they had, and you get a recipe for disaster. To top it off, the local Sears (Burlington Mall, MA), is right next to a EB and KB-Toys in the mall. So, Sears was fighting a loosing battle here at least. And besides, I think the Cube is doing fine... if I owned an XBox, I'd reallly be worried

Never got an Atari system on launch date -- the only systems I did get on launch day were the GBA and GBA SP. I got the N64 the day after launch day. And speaking of Sears, that's were I purchased my PS1 back when FF7 came out. Down in the Bellevue Mall in NE -- nobody ever thinks of going there But, it appears that Sears is only carrying Sony and Microsoft now -- I have no idea what happened to the Nintendo gear, but it seems pretty stupid to me. Why would anyone want to sell the XBox and not the GBA and GCN? Maybe if it was a choice between XBox and GCN, but I'm assuming that it was an all or nothing deal... Or maybe Nintendo just realised that nobody buys games at Sears...