Nebulon

Sweet Sixteen - Billy Idol

Has anyone successfully managed to get the 360 to run retro emulators? I'm thinking of stuff like arcade, NES, SNES, SMS, etc.... If so, how did you do it?

Congratulations on the purchase. Great game! You'll likely want to get a set of fuses for it. As for the power supply -- perhaps it can be repaired? I was told by a coin-op tech that the American power supplies are very rugged.

For the purposes of this thread, I chose NES too. However, I actually think the Atari VCS has a wider variety of games. I can't imagine life without good ol' Rabbit Transit on the 2600.

As you were mentioning, Bill, it could have happened a number of ways. Here's some interesting information. This one talks about Coleco talking to a company in Hong Kong as early as 1980. Other articles I've read suggest that Eric Bromley had been working on developing ideas for what would become the ColecoVision as early as 1979. That, and he was known for making quite a few trips to Asia. http://www.colecovision.dk/history.htm And another link that I'm sure most of you have read (but is so entertaining that it deserves posting): http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2010/09/feature_how_colecovision_became_the_king_of_kong

Yeah, the design process information on the ColecoVision would help a lot. As you can tell, I'm really just speculating based on what I know about released machines. When it comes to the CV, I really don't have any historical design information to draw upon. So yes, it really is a case of splitting hairs as you said. I think carlsson has a good point about TI likely shopping their graphics and audio chips around. I've certainly seen that before in my years in the computer hardware industry. Texas Instruments appears to have been very happy to get their chips in to as many products as possible and 'boost those component sales numbers!' I've been an owner and fan of the ColecoVision since it was first released. I just had a hard time seeing Coleco make such a big leap from their older game offerings without some kind of assistance (if that's the right word for it). It's very cool that you have a CreatiVision machine. I still think it's a landmark machine -- based on what I can dig up so far.

On the one hand, I agree. Yes -- there's definitely an iterative design process happening here. And there's the use of the word 'Vision'. You could argue that CreatiVision took two ideas from the Intellivision (but they made enough changes to make it theirs, once you start to pick the machine apart and examine the guts of it). On the other hand, the CreatiVision and ColecoVision are just too similar for the CreatiVision to not be an obvious precedent for the CV: Same video chip. Same audio chip. Same amount of system RAM. Same amount of Video RAM. Same corded controller design (raised disc and keypad) And almost identical name (both have 12 letters, both start with a capital 'C', both end with the word 'Vision' with a capital 'V' and both are two words combined into one. I mean... really.... Of course, I do agree with you on the liberal borrowing that was clearly happening in the industry in general: E.g.) the controllers --> Coleco Telstar Arcade for the raised disc component and Intellivision for the cord, keypad, and bays.

Well, you just re-defined everything for me. Despite the tendency for manufacturers to use similar off-the-shelf solutions, I'm a big believer in proof-of-concept. I spent four years with industrial designers, so I have a pretty good idea how this scenario likely played out. - TI gives evidence of what the TI graphics and sound chips can do with the TI-99/4 in 1979. - CreatiVision is released in the first half of 1981 with a form-factor that is - 'copied' by Coleco for the ColecoVision (with the 6502 subbed-out for the Z80). Clearly, someone at Coleco MUST have seen the CreatiVision (the shape of the controllers, the name of the machine, placing the controllers in storage spaces formed from the machine's case, ...). I feel sorry for VTech now, since I think they deserve more credit. http://www.videogameconsolelibrary.com/pg80-creativision.htm#page=reviews

Yep. After doing more digging, it looks like the RAM, VRAM, GPU, and sound specs between the ColecoVision and SG-1000 are indeed the same. It also looks like the Spectravideo SV-318, SV-328, and the MSX machines all owe more than a bit to the ColecoVision (since I've yet to find a similar spec that pre-dates the CV).

I spotted this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/USED-XE-1-PRO-Game-Joystick-x68000-MSX-FM77AV-/261500450917?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3ce2a43865 Looks pretty darned cool.

Ah. I see. Yeah, I only wish there was a proper port or emulation of the arcade game out there somewhere. I still recall when it first hit the arcades.

Really? Starblade on 3DO is one of the better versions of the game.

I have to admit... I've been known to do this on Gravitar. Hey -- it's a brutally hard game!

This is how I understand it as well. Generally it's the number of write operations that impact the flash device. Having said that, one wonders about the electrical charge required for read operations and if they have any significant impact. Here's a neat PDF showing how complex all this read/write activity is for this type of storage: http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=9&ved=0CFkQFjAI&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.micron.com%2F-%2Fmedia%2FDocuments%2FProducts%2FPresentation%2Fflash_mem_summit_jcooke_inconvenient_truths_nand.pdf&ei=dPmRU8uCBsLpoATj6ICIAw&usg=AFQjCNHXhqOjEmfSTxTAo-mJMhcx8zS0Og&bvm=bv.68445247,d.cGU As for the RAM comment earlier in the thread, RAM is the least-reliable storage medium, since it requires an electrical charge to maintain storage of data. And the idea that the flash device will re-allocate data to a good cell if a cell goes bad is a nice idea, but it doesn't happen automatically. That would require a re-write (as well as a deliberate piece of code to PUT that data in a location that is verified as good). Unless they come up with a managed redundancy system like the old SCSI RAID 1, but for flash memory. Now just how good is ECC for flash memory and how much user-intervention is required to make it work well? That's for someone more versed in this stuff to explain. No storage medium is perfect or lasts forever. All the more reason to remember to make backups. Nothing like a bit of entropy for your day

Can someone confirm the correct specifications for the ColecoVision and the SG-1000? Both of these systems have varying specification listings on the web. However, as a ColecoVision owner since day one, I know its specs as: ColecoVision (1982) CPU: 8-bit Z80A (3.58MHz) RAM: 1 KB Video RAM: 16 KB Video Display Processor: Texas Instruments TMS9928A Colors: 16 Sprites: 32 Resolution: 256x192 pixels Sound: TI SN76489AN. Channels: 3-tone, 1-noise As for the SG-1000 (1983), I'm pretty sure it's the same. However, I see some reports claiming that the SG-1000 has 2 KB of RAM and 16 KB of VRAM. Others claim that it has 1 KB of RAM (like the CV). I tend to think the specs between the two machines are actually the same -- except for the system ROM and the memory maps.

Galaga - SG-1000 Monaco GP - SG-1000 Star Force - SG-1000

Versions of Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr. already exist with the missing levels added back in again for the ColecoVision. In response to an earlier post requesting Mappy. That's already been done on the MSX, so we have an idea of what that would look like on the CV (not great, unfortunately). Galaga (SG-1000), Dig-Dug (MSX), Pop-Flamer (SG-1000), and Elevator Action (SG-1000) look more promising though.

Hustle Chummy - SG-1000 TRON Deadly Discs - Intellivision Golgo 13 - SG-1000

Robotron runs pretty darned well on the XBOX controller using the dual analog sticks. I'm now saying it's better that the arcade sticks -- just really good.

I'd love it if someone would refine the Keil emulator for the Color Computer so that the sound is clean. I've yet to be able to run it without the sound coming out scratchy. The OP mentions the main things (audio synch, organized ROMs, properly configured keys, etc..). I think the rest comes down to convenience and presentation (and controllers or course).

And then I found this: http://www.avalaunch.net/docs/manualv2.2.pdf Example of a “List”: <list name="Games"> <path scanlevel="2">E:\Games</path> Path should be directed to the folder you want to scan for xbe’s. The scan level (2 in this case) sets the levels of sub folders to scan from the starting point. If not defined, it will simply default to 2 sub folders. Meaning that all default.xbe in: E:\Games E:\Games\<folder> will be included in the list. If you want to divide your applications into sub-categories you can add 'List' items to a list Example: <list name="Games"> <list name="Action"> <path> E:\Games\Action </path> </list> </list> As far as I can tell, any disc with default.xbe in the root directory should boot automatically. I'll have to test this out. It would be nice to start with an existing emulator disc (like BAED) and then modify its ISO on a PC, then burn that to a DVD and run it on the XBOX. I wonder if Qwix will allow me to do that... ?

I see that these are arranged as files instead of ISOs. I guess I could load them on the XBOX hard drive (however, I need to learn more about the folder structure). I've yet to figure out where the AvaLaunch dash is getting its menu item names from. I don't suppose you know where I can find information on how to make my own bootable custom XBOX DVDs, do you? I'm pretty sure there's an app on the PC that can read XBOX discs...

It's true. It was Berzerk. After reading the news report and the background on it, it is as you mentioned -- a pre-existing condition. And he had actually stepped away from the machine just before he collapsed. Of course, the media went "berzerk" with it and played it up as much as they could for shock value.

Bump 'n' Jump - Intellivision Galaxian - Atari 2600 Double Dragon - NES

Now THAT's fast! "Flash is fast, Flash is cool."