Retroblox

[Flojomojo]

 

A metric ton is 2,204.62 pounds

The average American man over the age of 20 weighs 195.7 pounds

 

so, 11.26 average sized people showing their interest in this thing, give or take (retro gamers tend to be middle-aged, higher than average BMI, male), presumably separate and distinct from their supposed DDOS attack out of Missouri.

 

Sounds about right.

[00010000]

I'll wait until I see how this thing performs in real-time before writing it off. FWIW, its specs aren't bad for the price; quite better than the new VCSs and even better than similar laptops and desktops (new, not refurbished) I was able to find in the $250-$300 price range. Given this at least positions itself as a retro gaming device and not some brand new console, I won't bother bringing up PS4/XBO/Switch comparisons here b/c power-wise it should be obvious those have the advantage (at least in graphics; PolyMega's CPU is likely at least as capable as base PS4 and XBOs if not a bit more capable), but value prop-wise they're after a whole different tangent than what this seems to be going for.

 

That said I still think the modules concept is a little too much; why not just a single module for cart games? I know that would possibly be visually repulsive, so why not then just do a PolyMega specifically for cart games, and one for CD-based systems. If someone wants both, they can just dock the cart-based unit on top of the CD-based one, good ol' MegaDrive/MegaCD style. Supposing someone will buy all the modules anyway, you might as well make it more cost-effective to turn those into a cart system, it could even use a cheaper Intel since those systems don't require as much processing power, could make do at $150 or possibly less for that version.

 

That way the CD unit could also have room for original CD system peripherals. PS1 pads, Saturn pads, N64 pads etc., since they're already admitted the FPGAs are only for peripherals and cart-dumping. And maybe just a single cart slot on the CD unit for N64 games (wouldn't be right to make them pay for the cart unit too just to play N64 carts when the CD unit would be the one capable of handling that emulation anyway).

 

This is just me looking at different possibilities here; these things do nothing to change other disappointments though like the removed Twitch streaming support, which was a big selling point. They should really look into getting that working for the release.

 

Guess we'll see how this shapes out; I'm not 100% writing this off yet into the landfill, as long as they can show proof what's promised and still in, is running and runs damn well, and the UI experience is user-friendly.

[derFunkenstein]

Screen Shot 2018-09-06 at 11.05.11 AM.png

 

A metric ton is 2,204.62 pounds

The average American man over the age of 20 weighs 195.7 pounds

 

so, 11.26 average sized people showing their interest in this thing, give or take (retro gamers tend to be middle-aged, higher than average BMI, male), presumably separate and distinct from their supposed DDOS attack out of Missouri.

 

Sounds about right.

They're not going to hit their $500k goal.

[00010000]

Oh yeah, I remember seeing some people asking why no Kickstarter? IIRC they already have funding for this, so there's no need to go the KickStarter route.

 

Plus, be honest; if they did that, you'd have people calling them shady since they already have corporate financing, but wanting to double-dip via KS on top of that. It'd be a lose-lose situation.

[godslabrat]

They're not going to hit their $500k goal.

Apparently, somewhere they were asked what would happen if they failed to reach their goal, and the answer was "We will start an official inquiry to determine why the demand failed us." There's already the presumption that if this doesn't go the way they want, it's the customers at fault. No way this could be a bad idea that was handled miserably.

[derFunkenstein]

Apparently, somewhere they were asked what would happen if they failed to reach their goal, and the answer was "We will start an official inquiry to determine why the demand failed us." There's already the presumption that if this doesn't go the way they want, it's the customers at fault. No way this could be a bad idea that was handled miserably.

 

Well, it's phrased poorly, but I took that to mean they'd try to figure out how to make it something people want.

 

Either way, that means if it doesn't ship in April they're keeping your money. That's super shady.

[goldenegg]

They had Nintendo Life publish the changes to the console.

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2018/09/polymegas_grand_vision_for_the_ultimate_retro_system_includes_a_virtual_console_successor

Edited September 6, 2018 by goldenegg

[derFunkenstein]

They had Nintendo Life publish the changes to the console.

 

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2018/09/polymegas_grand_vision_for_the_ultimate_retro_system_includes_a_virtual_console_successor

Sorry to beat a dead horse but so much of this just irks me. I'm a "think for myselfer" so I have no desire to drink the Kool Aid.

 

"Changes have also been made to the 'Hybrid Emulation' system; FPGA has been moved out of the console itself and into select modules to accommodate the larger CPU and addition of more systems. The first FPGA module will be Famicom, if its reward level is reached."

This thing, the thing that was our main selling point right up until this week, has not only been delayed but it's not even going to happen unless you the buying public make enough preorders.

 

"Due to the switch from the slower Quad Core to higher speed Dual Core, the Twitch feature will no longer be part of the launch package; it may be reinstated later after the pre-order campaign is completed and all reward levels are locked-down."

Another key selling point is no longer possible, but we can magically make it happen for real if you buy enough of our systems. We'll hold it hostage for now.

 

"Polymega's digital store will launch in Q4 2019"

Ship in April, supposedly, but their online store, where they think all the money will be, won't be ready for ANOTHER 6 months?

 

"We’ve also added a software-based Game Genie and Pro Action Replay as a reward level for supporting the console beyond its initial funding goals."

You mean you'll enable features that are already in the emulators you've supposedly licensed IF you get enough preorders. What an incentive.

[Tanooki]

So basically with the removal of the FPGA they have like I said, an emulation box, an American version of the RetroFreak that like it has modules to add on controller/cart slots, runs ROMS that encrypts them in process to the system through SD cards, and they're trying to ape the virtual console thing that got fairly played out that Nintendo dropped in lieu of their ACA Hamster stuff and the free line of games to play through the internet services in a couple weeks.

 

How is this possibly going to go well for them? Enough people balked at $200-300 for the retrofreak. Now we're at $300 and then another $60 per system module.

 

I see they're already also trying to lay blame on this forum and this thread for disinformation and making their lives tough. So asking questions that don't want to get clearly, easily, or at all answered is a disinformation campaign eh? Fake news? Nah, fake honesty. Fake sales pitch. Fake console?

[Flojomojo]

Their ideas about a "Virtual Console" are somewhat interesting ... though I doubt they'd be able to get licensing deals beyond what Nintendo, AtGames, RetroBit, etc are able to swing.

[derFunkenstein]

Their ideas about a "Virtual Console" are somewhat interesting ... though I doubt they'd be able to get licensing deals beyond what Nintendo, AtGames, RetroBit, etc are able to swing.

Not even that. There's no way Nintendo itself gets in on this, and nearly half of what was interesting on the VC was Nintendo first-party games.

[Flojomojo]

Not even that. There's no way Nintendo itself gets in on this, and nearly half of what was interesting on the VC was Nintendo first-party games.

 

Especially when they're asking for money up front, and not even promises of things to come. Maybe they self-sabotaged the website to get out of having to deliver something for their VC benefactor. I'm having trouble understanding why this product exists (if it does in fact exist) based on the available information.

[godslabrat]

Especially when they're asking for money up front, and not even promises of things to come. Maybe they self-sabotaged the website to get out of having to deliver something for their VC benefactor. I'm having trouble understanding why this product exists (if it does in fact exist) based on the available information.

 

That's an interesting theory, and one I would like to keep in mind. The PolyMega, as promised this week, bears little resemblance (in purpose, or in philosophy) to the retroblox as revealed in 2017. I have to wonder if the original team is happy with the path the project has taken, and if maybe some people involved are looking for an exit strategy.

 

PURE speculation, naturally, but human nature speaks for itself.

[SegaSnatcher]

They are getting eaten alive via Facebook comments.

[Fluxgra]

They are getting eaten alive via Facebook comments.

 

No no, they are educating people that FPGA is only necessary for "hardcore gamers" that are concerned with minuscule differences.

[godslabrat]

From an earlier press release:

 

"

WHATS HYBRID EMULATION?

 

Hybrid emulation is a completely new way of tackling emulation, providing the cost-effective and future-friendly advantages of high level emulation as well as the accuracy and compatibility advantages of using clone hardware or FPGAs (Field-Programmable Gate Arrays) to model the original consoles.

Hybrid Emulation is unique in that it requires software emulators to function at a much lower level than the ones you can simply download for your PC, Phone or RetroPie / RetroArch / LibRetro box. RetroBloxs proprietary RBXOS and Richter UI environment are built from the ground up in Linux, fully optimized for our system so that we can access the architecture from the bus-level and I/O from cartridge interfaces and controllers directly via high level emulation on the heart of the system, the Rockchip RK3288. This means we dont have to rely on software emulation of memory mappers and/or co-processors that may not be fully optimized, which in turn frees up valuable resources to ensure other aspects of the machine run smoothly. This is especially important to the homebrew community where many developers have created their own bank-switching and mapping mechanisms to extend the abilities of the original platform far beyond the manufacturers original intent. With Hybrid Emulation, we do not need to be privy to the intimate details of how the cartridge expansions function to have their software run on RetroBlox. It just works."

 

...so is R-Blo now saying that software emulation is perfectly fine, and the lack of "optimization" is okay?

 

Edit:

 

 

"We know you don't mean to be angry. When you calm down, you'll see that we were right all along and know what's best for you."

Edited September 6, 2018 by godslabrat

[Fluxgra]

From Twitter:

 

 

the TG/PCE mention is regarding whether we would do an FPGA module for TurboGrafx / PCE, and the answer is no as basically no games would benefit from it the extra functionality.

 

Just for fun one of their responses to someone questioning why the old FAQ and new FAQ are completely different was along the lines of "The Sega Saturn wasn't on the old FAQ either". Real pleasant people this lot are.

EDIT: How in God's name is the website still not up. I am in Australia, surely I am trying in off peak times when the website should actually work.

Edited September 6, 2018 by Fluxgra

[00010000]

That's an interesting theory, and one I would like to keep in mind. The PolyMega, as promised this week, bears little resemblance (in purpose, or in philosophy) to the retroblox as revealed in 2017. I have to wonder if the original team is happy with the path the project has taken, and if maybe some people involved are looking for an exit strategy.

 

PURE speculation, naturally, but human nature speaks for itself.

 

You're being needlessly pessimistic on this for odd reasons imo. Then again, I understand how these sort of troubled launches bring out the fun in people.

 

I'm still just gonna be on the fence with this until they show more video footage of it in action. Call me an optimist.

Edited September 6, 2018 by 00010000

[godslabrat]

You're being needlessly pessimistic on this for odd reasons imo

Hey, when the creator of a project picks a fight with you on FB, it tends to take things up a notch.

[dj_convoy]

You're being needlessly pessimistic on this for odd reasons imo

If the events of the last couple of days with these guys don't raise GIGANTIC, HUGE red flags, then I don't know what to tell you.

[RandomRonn]

Well, I suppose the upshot is that if they can't deliver on their promises, they at least had the common decency to provide a nice dumpster fire to keep ourselves warm by.

 

The amount of backtracking and anti-consumerism with this whole project is rather impressive, in a way.

[SegaSnatcher]

Remember its totally our faults if the system doesn't succeed via intital preorder kickstarter. Not the false promises of what this system was initially going to be when first announced.

[goldenegg]

It's interesting to see that they're getting hammered by people on Facebook, but they seem to have a lot of supporters on Twitter.

[Tanooki]

 

No no, they are educating people that FPGA is only necessary for "hardcore gamers" that are concerned with minuscule differences.

Yeah who are those morons who actually want something well you know, that's about as accurate as you'll currently get outside of starting up a plant and manufacturing decades old hardware for shits and giggles. They were FPGA before they realized the stuff they were shoveling started to mirror that one scene in Back fo the Future, not just a mouth full but a whole car load. Now it's re-write history CYA mode with that stunt. News flash, can't erase the internet, but you can erase that credibility.

[Flojomojo]

It's interesting to see that they're getting hammered by people on Facebook, but they seem to have a lot of supporters on Twitter.

That's weird. They can delete negative things on Facebook, but not on Twitter.