open source/fan made video game consoles

[estlib]

I have seen alot of fan-made open source video game consoles appearing (for example: gpx2(?) and uzebox/fuzebox.
I sense that the times are beginning to repeat itself.
int the 70s when the 8-bit consoles started to appear, there were pooloads of different consoles to choose from (example: atari2600, colecovision, spectrum, arcadia ect, ect...) not like now where you have the choice of 3: Nintendo wii, ps3/ps2, x-box 360.
As the fans make them, the question in the store will be:
"hmm... shall i get the wii... or the super fuzebox... I like wii cuz it has them old games too... but fuzebox has the classic feel and some games wii cant have... hmm... or maybe ill have the Xgamestation instead..."

So, im gonna predict something here:
In the future, the video game market will be fludded with all kinds of different consoles but the selection will be even more colorful as the technology has advanced. There will be modern consoles, fan made classicy consoles, and fairly decent famiclones (using famiclone as a general word for a console clone). The signs of history repeating itself are here. Wii has tons of accessories... but so did NES.
Whats next? power glove for the wii?

So here is a cent of my thought about the nes:
In my opinion nes was kinda ahead of its time with all the accessories, great companies who had great staff and thats why the 2 other great game companies fell under the dictation of nintendo: atari and sega.
if there wouldnt have been any working on the cd add-on for the snes, playstation never would have appeared.
still, nintendo nes is great but so were sega and atari too.

Whenever i fall down, i get back up and move on but apparently atari and sega didnt know that.

okay... i think i kinda strayed off the real point of this post... >_>
well... it dint had any particular meaning but... meh... you decide

EDIT:

I think i posted this because i have an idea of whatkind of console id want to make but i dont have enough knowledge or any programming skill at all to do that.

Thing i have thought of:


Sindo Star (Yup, i couldnt thought of any better than "Sindo")

Look(design):
[Working on it]

Capabilities:
Maximum resolution: 640 x 480
Audio formats: mp3, ogg, nfs, gym, vgm
3d

Hardware:
Cartridge slot (Not sd card slot or a usb port, the kind of classic consoles had)
Cd-drive
4 Controller ports (custom)
6 Special ports for extra accessories(4 usb ports, one for speakers/headset & one for mic)
*[possibly one for modem too]
A/Vout (6 pin and A|V|RF)

Accessories:
2 controllers
1 zapper like gun
1 Mouse
1 special controller (has miniature steering wheel)

Normal controller:

LEFT                    RIGHT
                           
   UP                      
            START    A B C D
LEFT  RIGHT  SELECT   X Y Z ž
            EXIT            
  DOWN                      

Special controller(larger due to the wheel and special buttons:

LEFT                                   RIGHT
       START SELECT EXIT       ||||        
   UP                        ||||||||      
            START  A B C D  ||WHEEL|||    
LEFT  RIGHT  SELECT X Y Z ž   ||||||||      
            EXIT               ||||        
  DOWN                                    
         BRAKE GAS GEAR UP GEAR DOWN      

In overall, it should be 32/64 bit console

[Cat]

You know, you could be very correct!

About the cartridge slot, there is still one game system that uses that: Nintendo DS! (I don't care what Nintendo or the media calls it, it is still a type of cartridge.)

[lih]

I have no interest in those open source consoles

because almost all that's on them is pirated games

which you can get on your computer if you really want to etc.

[eataninja]

Apr 1, 2009 0:45:08 GMT -6 lih said:

I have no interest in those open source consoles

because almost all that's on them is pirated games

which you can get on your computer if you really want to etc.

This. Although, I would like to see this make the light of day:

cheetahmen.silius.net/agm.html

[estlib]

Well... soem people are interested and others are not but thats for them to decide.

anyway... when i was playing sf2pc earlier, i had an ingenius idea.
Why not make a console out of old windows(95/98/2000) computer parts?
it would be cheap, good for environment and its just a great idea.

it should have a floppy drive and a cd drive (there are tons of used computer cd drives for 4 bucks at a used stuff store near me and that goes for floppy drives also but they are cheaper).
It could do 320x240, 640x480 and maybe even 800x600.

aint it a good idea? xD

[Admin]

I'd rather just download the emulators and ROMs and run them on my own computer for free than manufacture, as it were, an emulator 'console'. As has been said previously in this thread, these homebrew consoles all focus the majority of their efforts on being compatible with and/or emulators for previously existent game systems. Conversely, Nintendo 64 is about the latest console a standard, OS-running PC can be pushed to run at a sufficient framerate to be playable. Honestly, I'm cool with emulation only being up to N64 (even that is kinda wrong, from both a social and a legal standpoint) because anything after that starts running into the realm of copyright infringement/ESA violation.

[estlib]

Of course it would have the capability of emulating (whats wii for then?) but i think it would be capable of running ps1,ps2 and x-box games aswell. cant find emulators of those consoles that easy. xD. also uzebox and hydra are all natural consoles, they arent compatible with any other console, google them if you dont believe me.