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Geek Culture / Has anybody ever heard of the XGameStation?

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Toby Quan
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Posted: 3rd Dec 2003 17:33
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A company is making a new 16-bit video game console that will be
out in a year or so. It is built to be taken apart, hacked, and programmed for! It mentiones that they intend to port a dialect of DarkBasic on the console as well.

Here's an excerpt from the website:

Quote: "What is the XGameStation? - The XGameStation is a kit.
Originally, Andre' LaMothe wanted to write a book on hardware design, and what cooler way to teach it than by developing your own video game system? The XGameStation kit comes with the XGameStation console itself, an eBook on CD that starts from the basics digital engineering and takes you all the way through building your own video game system and writing games for it. Fortunately, the system comes pre-assembled, but you get all the plans and documentation necessary to build your own if you want. Additionally, you get all the software and tools necessary to develop for it, providing a complete educational, productive and fun, package.

The processing power of the XGameStation is approximately 10x that
of the Super Nintendo (SNES), and it's graphical capabilities are
approximately 50-200% more advanced than the SNES. Moreover, the graphics subsystem was specifically designed to draw upon the best parts of the Atari 800, Apple II, Super Nintendo, and Commodore 64, the systems that drove the computer and video game revolutions."


Visit the website and check out the FAQ and demos!

http://www.xgamestation.com
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CattleRustler
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Posted: 3rd Dec 2003 19:02
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16 bit?



-RUST-
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David T
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Posted: 3rd Dec 2003 19:11
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Ah, Andrew LaMothe. He's the editor of an excellent series of games programming books, I'd expect this from him

I think the big gotcha is that it's an eBook, and so you can't read it anywhere

"Help! My keyboard is stuckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk"

Mercenaries in Space demo @ http://www.davidtattersall.me.uk
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ReD_eYe
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Posted: 3rd Dec 2003 19:20
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ebook? ebook is stupid. i hate ebook!
why can't they just make normal paper type books then i can read it when i want not when i'm on the pc.
console sounds ok btw


GO TO THE ETERNAL DESTINY FORUMS!!! http://forums.eternaldestinyonline.com
Do it now!!!
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Ian T
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Posted: 3rd Dec 2003 20:14
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Why 16 bit? Nostalgia is great, but isn't that a bit like making a spaceship to go to Mars, and put engines from the 1970s in for memory's sake ?

--Mouse: Famous (Avatarless) Fighting Furball

A very nice %it, indeed.
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Toby Quan
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Posted: 3rd Dec 2003 20:34
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Why 16 bit? I can answer that one:

This game system is meant to help people learn about how a video game system works. It is perhaps 10-year-old technology, but that is because it may be easier to learn hardware and software on an easier model. If you had a more recent system, such as a full-blown XBox or PS2, both the hardware and software would be much harder to learn. This is simply a starting point.

They plan on making more advanced system in the future, but the first step is to teach the basics.

I am very intrigued by this project. I would love to get one, and teach my sons about how to program an actual game for a console! It supports PS2 and XBox controllers. How cool is that? If you wanted to make a game for a console today, you would have to work for a company that is large enough to afford the Development Kits.

With the sound chip, you cannot play WAV files or things advanced like that, but you can still do quite amazing things with the sound chips from 10 years ago. Remember games like Robotron in the Arcade that had a simple sound chip, but they were able to make exploding sounds and laser sounds? This project is helping people learn the basics of a game console. Then, later, a more advanced model will probably be released for people that can do more complex things.

You can only have 256 colors, but still, you can do quite a lot with 256 colors!

This won't be a system that you can buy games for at the store or anything like that. If you want games, you can make them yourself, or download games that other people have made and posted on the internet.
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Toby Quan
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Posted: 3rd Dec 2003 20:38
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And let's not forget the price: $100-$150.

If you like kits like this to experiment with hardware and/or software, than this may for you.

If you just want to focus on current cutting edge technology and pushing the envelope, then you may wish to stick with DirectX development.
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David T
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Posted: 3rd Dec 2003 21:28
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Quote: "why can't they just make normal paper type books then i can read it when i want not when i'm on the pc."


Because it costs so much more

That's how these things are so cheap

"Help! My keyboard is stuckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk"

Mercenaries in Space demo @ http://www.davidtattersall.me.uk
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TKF15H
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Posted: 3rd Dec 2003 22:45
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Quote: "16 bit?"

this will ease the pain a bit:
Quote: "XGameStation.com - The ARM7 PCBs have arrived, and we've added the surface-mount chip. The Atmel ARM7 runs at 64 MIPS (millions of instructions per second), providing a high-speed, 32-bit core to the XGameStation."


Morfy's Law - Enythink thet ken go rong willll.
Cole's Law - Thinly sliced cabbage.
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Preston C
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Posted: 3rd Dec 2003 23:02
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XGameStation? Yeah, it was posted in the www.remakes.org forum. I'm already signed up at the XGameStation forums, but I rarely go there anymore. Doesnt seem as much as a big deal now as it did when I first heard about it.


Intel Celeron 1.3 Ghrz 512MB Ram NVIDIA GeForceFX 5200 128MB
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OSX Using Happy Dude
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Posted: 4th Dec 2003 00:17 Edited at: 4th Dec 2003 00:19
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The ARM processor is a very fine chip - very easy to write for (same processor as in the RiscPC)... But I doubt this'll come to fruitition, especially not in the UK.

Wonder if the ARM7 still has a 26-bit PC register (even though the rest of the registers are 32-bit) ?


Mirrors are more fun than television. Well, that was fun, in a not-so-fun sort of way...
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