RetroN 77

[Laner]

New Eurogamer article: The retro gaming industry could be killing video game preservation. All about Hyperkin and other retro-hardware manufacturers profiting from open source emulators. It briefly mentions that Hyperkin has licensed Stella, but neglects to point out it's an ancient version (unless some deal has been struck with the current maintainers that I'm unaware of...)

[cybercylon]

That article was a decent read of the issues.

 

It remains to be seen of Hyperkin will do the right thing this time around.

[Andromeda Stardust]

I swear they'd rather release an inferior product than honor an open source license by giving back a few snippets of code changes used to read the cartridge bus interface.

[DirtyHairy]

New Eurogamer article: The retro gaming industry could be killing video game preservation. All about Hyperkin and other retro-hardware manufacturers profiting from open source emulators. It briefly mentions that Hyperkin has licensed Stella, but neglects to point out it's an ancient version (unless some deal has been struck with the current maintainers that I'm unaware of...)

 

 

For the record (as a member of the current Stella team ): no deal has been struck to license any even remotely recent version of Stella. To be fair, this is virtually impossible as Stella has been licensed under the GPLv2 for more than a decade and relicensing it would require the consent of every single contributor since the switch to the GPL.

Edited February 18, 2018 by DirtyHairy

[kennetzel]

I was just at Hyperkin's Facebook page and they have post saying "Keep checking social media for updates concerning the RetroN 77." or something to that effect. So I guess more news to come.

[Keatah]

Yup.. Keep-a-check'n. Keep-a-clicking. As long as you do that you'll be fine.

[godslabrat]

Yet another annoying social media phrase. "Keep checking"... it's what you say when your project is too darned busy to answer questions, but you figure your customers have nothing to do except refresh a Facebook page that hasn't had a post since November.

[Flojomojo]

"Keep checking" is code for "deal with it" which really means "go away."

 

[cybercylon]

"Keep checking" is code for "deal with it" which really means "go away."

 

 

Yup... file that one away with anything that says Soon, Sometime, Delaying to make the experience better, Going forward, That said, Taking more time for continuous improvement, We are delaying to add a new feature that will better the experience, We are working hard to make more progress (insert whatever BS here), We are learning the ropes to (add something BS here) that will make the product better....

 

Am I missing anything...

 

Oh... Simple as that! That one never gets old.

[Flojomojo]

[Coolcrab]

I recently discovered that Ataris do work on new TV's. So that does remove a lot of reasons for me to have the retron one. Although HDMI still sounds nice.

[godslabrat]

I recently discovered that Ataris do work on new TV's. So that does remove a lot of reasons for me to have the retron one. Although HDMI still sounds nice.

They work, but only in a very kludgy way, and the design of the TV will affect your experience greatly. The R77 could, theoretically, standardize everything to a consistent, reliable level.

[cybercylon]

At this point, unless I see or hear otherwise, I am filing this under the likes of the Polymega or the Ataribox. Yes, I know that Hyperkin does produce real products even if they are of dubious quality or legality. What I am referring to in the comparison is that nothing is going to come out anytime soon, if ever.

[godslabrat]

At this point, unless I see or hear otherwise, I am filing this under the likes of the Polymega or the Ataribox. Yes, I know that Hyperkin does produce real products even if they are of dubious quality or legality. What I am referring to in the comparison is that nothing is going to come out anytime soon, if ever.

Hyperkin has their own history of vapor ware. You aren't making a fool's wager at all.

[Andromeda Stardust]

I plan on making a rage fanboy video when the Retron77 comes out, bitching about why Draconian doesn't work. LOL just kidding. At this point I just want to support anything that promotes playing physical Atari cartridges. If enough units sell, someone will come along and do an FPGA version that corrects all the flaws and works with Melody boards. Maybe when Analogue finally releases the Mega NT, Kevtris releases a cart adapter for it with the five toggle switches and full Atari support (right now there is not "melody" core and probably won't be one for the forseeable future, meaning a cart bus is absolutely necessary to play said games without resorting to software emulation).

[Cepp]

It's a shame really, I'd love a product like this but it is starting to feel like it'll never see the light of day.

[kennetzel]

I just saw this on Facebook. https://hyperkinlab.com/retron-77-premium-retro-gaming-console-for-2600/

[Electric-Dreams]

Homebrew support ?! I'm in

[+Karl G]

Homebrew support ?! I'm in

 

Where are you seeing anything about homebrew support?

[neotokeo2001]

 

Where are you seeing anything about homebrew support?

Nowhere. So that is the big question. Will it run new homebrews?

[godslabrat]

Hyperkin has a history of doing April Fool's announcements. It does then no favors to mix real news in with that.

[Keatah]

Nowhere. So that is the big question. Will it run new homebrews?

 

Not all of them.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

I even if, it will still only support homebrews, but not homebrewers.

[kennetzel]

They are posting at facebook that this is NOT a joke. I know it's April Fool's day, but it is also the first of the month which is where I would expect to see an announcement from a company. One can only hope.

[Keatah]

I noticed companies are not doing a lot of April Fool's jokes. Not like they were 10 years ago.

 

Unconfirmed, heresay, he-said-his-buddy-said kinda thing - AF jokes on web pages tend to piss people off more than being fun and amusing. And then there's liability. Gotta be careful what's said.