xiaNaix

All of the GUI screenshots are labeled as "Monolith" if that helps any.

The Retroblox Twitter account is only following one person. James Adams, hardware engineer at Raspberry Pi. My optimism for this continues to fade.

Here is the CEO and Co-Founder's LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryanbernal

There's an earlier version of the "Say Hello to RetroBlox" blog post in Google's cache that contains a bit different wording. http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:6dtqkdDgpTEJ:retroblox.com/2017/01/13/say-hello-to-retroblox/+&cd=8&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us Notably, it mentions a second founder "Eric" who is not mentioned in the published article. Also mentions support for "even the slightly less popular but equally enjoyable systems from NEC, SNK, and more." Another notable omission is the sentence mentioning that their patent pending "Hybrid Emulation" system "achieves analogue hardware levels of game compatibility via emulation without the connectivity limitations of FPGA or salvage-hardware based systems." There is also an entire paragraph missing in the final edit. "You, the community have put out inspirational works in the form of new games, mods, and translations, often times with little to no support from official sources or otherwise. Also, we’ve at times been witness to seeing this work compromised by those that would use it commercially without due credit to its creators. It’s our opinion that the lack of a secure, unified digital marketplace for new retro game projects is a key contributing factor to this “retro-gaming ghetto” where those doing it for the love get burned – and where other talented people who would do it for the money won’t venture for largely the same reasons. So, we believe its time for another option. With RetroBlox, you’ll be able to securely distribute new games and content on our digital storefront. We also plan to provide new tools for you to use to accomplish these goals which we’ll have announcements about in the future. Our goal is to work with you, the community, as well as major publishers to create a balanced ecosystem of new and original retro games that appeal to all tastes." Make of it what you will.

Fake as a $3 bill. Unless I'm blind, there are no cables whatsoever coming out of the back of that thing. They should be visible in the second "TV" picture. No power cord, no video cables, no nothing. Also, the "menu" looks like nothing more than a static image. The character in the bottom window hasn't moved from picture to picture. Normally that would be a videosnap of the game you are selecting. I suppose it could be argued that they used a static image for this "prototype" but I'm not buying any of it. Once a scam always a scam.

Keep the faith then, brother.

Like I said before, the most realistic scenario is that this will be just like the Retron5 and RetroFreak consoles. Those contain both an FPGA and an ARM Processor. The FPGA does things like read the rom data from the cartridge slot for the emulator (ARM version of Libretro/RetroArch) to run. So his statement of "We are running his games through our custom written SNES FPGA Core" is technically accurate. They probably have custom code on the FPGA to read the SNES cart into memory. The SNES emulation core in Libretro takes over from there. If he had a SNES Jr. board inside the Jaguar shell, which is pretty obvious he did, this is what it would have looked like for that controller to be "hard wired" to. I'd imagine that wouldn't be too difficult even for him.

If he had a bare SNES Jr. board inside that Jaguar shell, which he obviously did, the extension cable was likely plugged into the connector on the board. I've seen enough marketing b.s. in my time that I'm sure that could be interpreted as "hard wired" by a PR person or a politician.

That's all fine and dandy but, like I said previously, other consoles like the Retron5 and RetroArch are also ARM-based, have an FPGA, and still run off a hacked (and unauthorized) version of Libretro/RetroArch. I see no evidence whatsoever that this guy has developed anything different. I believe the FPGA in those consoles only handles stuff like reading the cartridge data into memory. The rom is then emulated by Libretro running on ARM so, technically, he would be correct that his games are running through a "custom written SNES FPGA core." The FPGA is getting the rom data from the cartridge at least. lol

Did he actually say the words "FPGA core" though or just "core?" Libretro/RetroArch uses emulator cores for each system. They have a working "core" for pretty much every system up to the PS2. No offense, but does he even have the technical knowledge to know the difference between an FPGA hardware core and systems being emulated by an ARM-based Libretro core?

I don't know about the RetroFreak but, last I heard, the Retron5 was using Libretro's SNES9x Next core. They weren't even smart enough to use BSNES/Higan, which would have been more accurate. I should also point out that both consoles used Libretro/RetroArch without permission and the author(s) were, shall we say, less than thrilled.

Ding!

I suspect he's using clever semantics. Like I said earlier, products like the Retron5 and RetroFreak consoles contain an FPGA and an ARM processor. They are emulation based and running hacked versions of RetroArch/Libretro, which uses "cores" for each of the emulators so, if that's where this has ended up, he would have "a working SNES core." Technically, that wouldn't be a lie.

The controller shown in those pictures from the booth is one of those cheap knockoffs designed for the Wii and WiiU, which explains why it's covered in dust and fingerprints. http://www.amazon.com/Pro-Controller-Wii-Nintendo-U-6304900/dp/B009D4JW3U

Yes.

The Retron5 and most of the other emulation-based retro consoles have "an FPGA with ARM architecture" too. Any bets as to whether this ends up running a stripped down RetroArch just like those do?

This has been sold.

Price dropped to $250 shipped for all three carts and their respective CF/SD cards.

I used to own PSX-SCENE.COM, the largest PlayStation hacking site on the internet. Getting out of the gaming scene. Google my nick if you're worried. I'm in Michigan, U.S.A.

SOLD.