+JasonlikesINTV Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 (edited) I did pick up a DVD copy of the Princess Bride for 70% off (paid $2.99). Not sure why it was with Christmas clearance though ...I asked the cashier if they could count it as a clearance item. They said, "As you wish." Edited January 5, 2015 by JasonlikesINTV 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cmart604 Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 I did pick up a DVD copy of the Princess Bride for 70% off (paid $2.99). Not sure why it was with Christmas clearance though ...I asked the cashier if they could count it as a clearance item. They said, "As you wish." Lol! Nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freewheel Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 any sales figures come in on the Intellivision Flashback? what level of sales would be considered great and what level of sales would be needed to pretty much insure there will be a 2nd edition? Keith, or someone in the know, has hinted towards the 100,000 unit mark. Which has been considered pretty successful for something like this. I'd be surprised if we don't see a FB2. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Loguidice Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 $24 is pretty cheap for a handheld anything, if the screen isn't complete crap. Of all systems, I find it hard to see much to complain about with Genesis sound emulation. Not only did it have some of the worst (and yet I love it) sound hardware for its day, there was so much variation between hardware revisions that some people swear 3/4 of the consoles are garbage. So I can't see how emulation can be that much worse. It's actually a nice handheld, but the same hardware as the previous version, meaning if you're familiar with Genesis sound, you likely won't like the sound output. The next iteration that's coming out in 2015 will be a completely new model. Based on what I tested last year, almost all concerns and then some will be addressed in that model. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Loguidice Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 Keith, or someone in the know, has hinted towards the 100,000 unit mark. Which has been considered pretty successful for something like this. I'd be surprised if we don't see a FB2. I don't know if/when anyone will ever be allowed to reveal the actual figures, but, for what it's worth, I can say that it looks like both the Atari Flashback 5 and Sega Classic Console 2 outsold the other models by a wide margin. With that said, 2015 will be a good year for both digital and physical products from AtGames and I think everyone is hopeful that considerable momentum will be built off 2014's stuff. I'm hoping further tweaks to the hardware and software will also find their way into all of the upcoming products so we hear less of "this part of x is nice, but this part of x is really disappointing" and more like "it's a really nice product with no major flaws." We'll see how it all turns out. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arenafoot Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 The Walgreens I was at today Had a Christmas clearance sale for 70% off, but the Flashbacks weren't part of that deal. They were $24.99. I took them up to the register to have them verify, but they rang up as $24.99. I'm going to watch for a few days to see if they make it into Xmas clearance. were they on the same aisle as the Christmas clearance? mine was so they had to honor it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onmode-ky Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 Over the weekend, I showed off my CV FB and INTV FB to my elementary-age nephew and niece. We played primarily arcade-type games, due to time constraints, and the game they really seemed to enjoy was the Battle Tanks portion of Triple Action, with long-range bouncing shells (when they played against each other; when playing with me, my nephew got a big kick out of Biplanes). Good times! I never had a Genesis, so I wouldn't know if the sounds were off anyway To someone that never played a Genesis, I doubt you'd even notice. I'm not particularly familiar with the Genesis library, but I found the AtGames Genesis sound issues easy to notice; the main problem is that the sound channels, at least in certain games, are not playing in the same key. They're out of tune with each other. Even if you don't know how it's supposed to sound, you can still hear that something is wrong--at least if your ears are able to easily distinguish between major, minor, augmented, and diminished chords. At times, it can sound like the melody channel is playing one thing, while the bass line is off doing something entirely different on its own. For the life of me I don't understand why such glaring emulation issues crop up in these things. We had much better Genesis sound emulation over 10 years ago. I guess NIH applies. What the AtGames Genesis systems have are actually not emulation issues, since there is no emulator involved; up through 2014, at least, those have been built on Genesis-on-a-chip implementations (the chips they've used are named "RedKid" and "RedKid 2"; for more info on these from my research into them, see my post here, the one before it, and the one involving Radica that I wrote after it). It just happens that these GOACs don't implement certain aspects of the architecture properly, hence the sound issues. The 2015 system that Bill L. mentions should be totally different, though. I don't know if/when anyone will ever be allowed to reveal the actual figures, but, for what it's worth, I can say that it looks like both the Atari Flashback 5 and Sega Classic Console 2 outsold the other models by a wide margin. I note that it appears certain retailers (Target stores, at the very least) chose not to carry the Intellivision and ColecoVision Flashbacks at all, so that's definitely a factor. Retailer-created lack of demand is still lack of demand in the end, but I would hope it would be considered differently by the sales analysts. onmode-ky 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+JasonlikesINTV Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 were they on the same aisle as the Christmas clearance? mine was so they had to honor it Flashbacks were in a different part of the store (not with the clearance items), but I'll watch for them to move them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lord_mike Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 (edited) I don't know if/when anyone will ever be allowed to reveal the actual figures, but, for what it's worth, I can say that it looks like both the Atari Flashback 5 and Sega Classic Console 2 outsold the other models by a wide margin. With that said, 2015 will be a good year for both digital and physical products from AtGames and I think everyone is hopeful that considerable momentum will be built off 2014's stuff. I'm hoping further tweaks to the hardware and software will also find their way into all of the upcoming products so we hear less of "this part of x is nice, but this part of x is really disappointing" and more like "it's a really nice product with no major flaws." We'll see how it all turns out. You mean the "not being able to save a game on the cartridge" issue with the Sega Classic COnsole system might be fixed? That would be great! Except that I would have bought my sega system a year too early... What about the other systems? Will the Intellivision or the Colecovision systems have a catridge or sd card slot for roms? Edited January 6, 2015 by lord_mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfy62 Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 I don't know if/when anyone will ever be allowed to reveal the actual figures, but, for what it's worth, I can say that it looks like both the Atari Flashback 5 and Sega Classic Console 2 outsold the other models by a wide margin. With that said, 2015 will be a good year for both digital and physical products from AtGames and I think everyone is hopeful that considerable momentum will be built off 2014's stuff. I'm hoping further tweaks to the hardware and software will also find their way into all of the upcoming products so we hear less of "this part of x is nice, but this part of x is really disappointing" and more like "it's a really nice product with no major flaws." We'll see how it all turns out. Hi Bill! I love the system and the controllers. I played W.C. Baseball on level 3 last night and lost......I never lose at Intellivision Baseball! Tough game it was great to be challenged like that. Lots of fun!!! 9-8. I will try to win tonight! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Loguidice Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 You mean the "not being able to save a game on the cartridge" issue with the Sega Classic COnsole system might be fixed? That would be great! Except that I would have bought my sega system a year too early... What about the other systems? Will the Intellivision or the Colecovision systems have a catridge or sd card slot for roms? If anything, it would be a single save state, not actual save file emulation. The positive with that is that it applies to all games, but the negative is that it's not a real save. As for the other systems, obviously cartridge slots are right out, but SD slots are unfortunately unlikely as well. We'll see as things develop, but I don't expect many notable changes outside of the Sega handheld. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nebulon Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 I picked up an Intellivision Flashback recently and I'm really enjoying it. If only it had some way to load ROM images onto it (I'm dying to try TRON: Deadly Discs out on this little beasty). 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lord_mike Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 If anything, it would be a single save state, not actual save file emulation. The positive with that is that it applies to all games, but the negative is that it's not a real save. As for the other systems, obviously cartridge slots are right out, but SD slots are unfortunately unlikely as well. We'll see as things develop, but I don't expect many notable changes outside of the Sega handheld. Thank you for the info! At least I won't have to buy another one next year!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+5-11under Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 I picked up an Intellivision Flashback recently and I'm really enjoying it. If only it had some way to load ROM images onto it (I'm dying to try TRON: Deadly Discs out on this little beasty). I'm working on it (I did it for ColecoVision). The games would still be fixed... but whichever games I choose. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lord_mike Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 I'm working on it (I did it for ColecoVision). The games would still be fixed... but whichever games I choose. Wow! That's pretty cool... care to elaborate how it was done? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+LS650 Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 I'm kind of puzzled as to why the TRON games were left out, especially Deadly Discs. If they could edit out the trademark names for the AD&D games, why not edit it out TRON and just call them Deadly Discs, etc? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+5-11under Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Wow! That's pretty cool... care to elaborate how it was done? It started by reading the memory chip from the 61 game version and the 60 game version, and carefully comparing them with a hex editor... then determining the file compression, the file list format, the menu printing format, and the CRC format. Following that, inserting my own selection of games and painstakingly making the required adjustments to the file. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daldude Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 It started by reading the memory chip from the 61 game version and the 60 game version, and carefully comparing them with a hex editor... then determining the file compression, the file list format, the menu printing format, and the CRC format. Following that, inserting my own selection of games and painstakingly making the required adjustments to the file. How did you access the data on the chip? It's not like it has a USB Port. I thought the chip was built into the circuit board with a glob of sylicon over it to protect it and no wires except for the ones going to the controllers. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+5-11under Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 There's three main chips on the board. The glob-top is the processor. Beside that is a RAM chip. In the corner is the flash EPROM chip. I removed that chip, cleaned the contacts, and popped it in my EPROM programmer to read the chip. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pimpmaul69 Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 There's three main chips on the board. The glob-top is the processor. Beside that is a RAM chip. In the corner is the flash EPROM chip. I removed that chip, cleaned the contacts, and popped it in my EPROM programmer to read the chip.awesome. You want an eprom for intv? I should be modding another one and will remove the chip if you want it. I think i threw my last one away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freewheel Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 As for the other systems, obviously cartridge slots are right out, but SD slots are unfortunately unlikely as well. We'll see as things develop, but I don't expect many notable changes outside of the Sega handheld. Bill, I don't know if you've answered this before, I don't even know if you know the answer or could share even if you did, but... Why is a cart port and SD slot on the Genesis unit a slam-dunk, but entirely out of the question for the others? Is it technical (emulator compatibility issues), licensing, both, neither? It's not just the cartridge connectors is it? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freewheel Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 There's three main chips on the board. The glob-top is the processor. Beside that is a RAM chip. In the corner is the flash EPROM chip. I removed that chip, cleaned the contacts, and popped it in my EPROM programmer to read the chip. Been waiting to see who figured this one out first. I've yet to see one of these types of systems not get modified in this fashion. How is the emulator compatibility with other games? Some people seem to imply that these emulators need to be hand-tweaked for damned near every game, but from my experience a loooong time ago, that isn't the case at all unless you completely botch the emulator from the get-go. Yeah, there are a LOT of edge cases to deal with, but that 70-90% compatibility is usually there without any effort. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lord_mike Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Bill, I don't know if you've answered this before, I don't even know if you know the answer or could share even if you did, but... Why is a cart port and SD slot on the Genesis unit a slam-dunk, but entirely out of the question for the others? Is it technical (emulator compatibility issues), licensing, both, neither? It's not just the cartridge connectors is it? I don't want to answer for Bill, since he's got the good info, but I wonder if it's because the Sega flashbacks seem to be a "Sega on a chip" instead of an emulator. If it uses the same pinouts on the same bus, it's not hard to also make the same cartridge slot that works without any modification. After all, a cartridge on these systems simply connects to the system bus like any other component. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freewheel Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 I don't want to answer for Bill, since he's got the good info, but I wonder if it's because the Sega flashbacks seem to be a "Sega on a chip" instead of an emulator. If it uses the same pinouts on the same bus, it's not hard to also make the same cartridge slot that works without any modification. After all, a cartridge on these systems simply connects to the system bus like any other component. Good point about the cart port, and almost certainly true. The SD slot would then simply be down to emulation compatibility concerns? It also raises the question in my mind whether or not the next Genesis unit will have these capabilities, as I'm getting the impression it may not be GOAC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pimpmaul69 Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Good point about the cart port, and almost certainly true. The SD slot would then simply be down to emulation compatibility concerns? It also raises the question in my mind whether or not the next Genesis unit will have these capabilities, as I'm getting the impression it may not be GOAC. the genesis arcade stick thingy they made had an sd cart slot. Not sure why they didnt put one on the genesisish console. But i dont think any other ones have a cart slot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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