Schlagwort: retro gaming

  • Bringing Quake to Arduino: a game-changing project by Nicola Wrachien

    Bringing Quake to Arduino: a game-changing project by Nicola Wrachien

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Following up on his successful Doom port last year, engineer Nicola Wrachien – who works at Silicon Labs, a leader in secure, intelligent wireless technology for a more connected world and long-time Arduino partner – has now tackled an even bigger challenge: porting Quake, the iconic 1990s’ first-person shooter, to an Arduino gamepad. 

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVnfwzxTJ00?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

    What a great warm-up for the upcoming Matter Challenge! If this kind of project sounds like fun, follow the competition or submit your own entry by October 31st. 

    Sponsored by Mouser Electronics, Silicon Labs and Arduino, the Matter Challenge is open to all skill levels. Take the opportunity to inspire others, by creating an incredible project with the Arduino Nano Matter board.

    Released just three years after Doom, Quake was a huge leap forward in gaming technology. It introduced full 3D environments complete with dynamic lighting effects, and its enemies and weapons were 3D models rather than 2D sprites. The game also featured a scripting engine that gave modders a lot of creative freedom. But with more realistic graphics, a particle engine, and more complex sound effects, Quake was also a far bigger technical challenge to port.

    Tackling this project required Wrachien to level up on memory and speed constraints. If you want to dive deeper into these challenges, be sure to check out the dedicated post on the Silicon Labs community blog.

    In the face of demanding requirements, Wrachien turned to the Arduino Nano Matter, developed with the powerful Silicon Labs® MGM240S as part of a partnership to better enable seamless development of Matter over Thread applications on the Arduino platform, which also led to the release of Arduino’s first-ever Matter software library earlier this year. 

    Reflecting on the Arduino Nano Matter board, Wrachien said: “The Nano Matter board, featuring the Silabs xG24, offers impressive processing power and versatility in a compact size, making it a fantastic tool for both simple and complex projects like this one.”

    If you’re intrigued and want to explore more technical details, dive into Wrachien’s full post and get into the nitty-gritty of this remarkable project on his blog. You can get your Arduino Nano Matter from our store and replicate his idea thanks to all the information he shares, or imagine a new challenging project of your own! 

    The post Bringing Quake to Arduino: a game-changing project by Nicola Wrachien appeared first on Arduino Blog.

    Website: LINK

  • This new game engine runs Manic Miner on an Arduino UNO

    This new game engine runs Manic Miner on an Arduino UNO

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    For owners of Sinclair ZX Spectrum computers in the ‘80s, few games were more desirable than Matthew Smith’s Manic Miner. It is very much a classic and has official and unofficial ports available for just about every console and computer released since. There was even a port made for Microsoft’s Zune MP3 player. And now you can play it on an Arduino UNO thanks to Scott Porter’s custom game engine and port.

    This isn’t the first time someone has done this, as James Bowman created a Manic Miner port for Gameduino a decade ago. But Porter’s project is a little different. His port runs on a custom engine on an Arduino UNO Rev3 that produces composite video output through a custom shield. That shield also contains a speaker driver circuit, buttons for control, and a port to connect an NES controller for a more comfortable gaming experience.

    Porter’s biggest challenge was generating video, as that requires very accurate timing. For that reason, he recommends using an official UNO and not generic boards that sometimes cut corners with resonators instead of crystals. 

    The game engine is impressive, with a fixed framerate of 50fps at 256×256 and up to nine sprites on screen. One of those sprites can have pixel-perfect collision detection with all of the others, which is ideal for a game like Manic Miner. But the video is monochrome and there do seem to be some glitches evident in the demonstration video. Regardless, this is very impressive and we’re excited to see what else Porter can achieve with his engine. 

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dm_dUSeIqC4?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]
    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iUYeZ2Ppnk?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

    The post This new game engine runs Manic Miner on an Arduino UNO appeared first on Arduino Blog.

    Website: LINK

  • LittleZone is a tribute to the 1980 video game Battlezone

    LittleZone is a tribute to the 1980 video game Battlezone

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Arduino Team — June 6th, 2022

    Back in 1980, the video game Battlezone was released, and it marked a major advancement in the world of computer graphics since it was the first game with a 3D first-person perspective. In it, the player must pilot a tank around a battlefield and fire at targets in an attempt to rack up the highest score possible. So as a way to commemorate the groundbreaking game, Mark Wilson created an approximation that runs on an Arduino Uno.

    Wilson has previous experience with vector graphics on embedded targets, as evidenced by his work on ElitePetite, an approximation of the loading screens from Acornsoft’s Elite game. Based on prior effort, he started the project by attempting to reverse engineer the original 6502 assembly and replicate its behavior. This process was a challenge owing to the complexity of the code, but after designing a clever sparse pixel encoding algorithm, the game could be completed, albeit with some minor graphical problems that appear when the game is being displayed on the attached 320×240 LCD shield.

    Wilson’s LittleZone project is an impressive feat that showcases how 3D graphics with a first-person perspective can be generated. And although some features have not yet been implemented, it’s still a very well-done tribute to Battlezone.

    For more details on how Wilson designed this project, be sure read his Hackaday.io write-up here and watch his demo below!

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTlbJuPLrvA?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

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    You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

    Website: LINK

  • Play your retro console on a modern TV

    Play your retro console on a modern TV

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

    Want to connect your retro console to your modern TV? The latest issue of Wireframe magazine has the only guide you need, courtesy of My Life in Gaming’s Mark Duddleson.

    “Get a Raspberry Pi. Done.” It’s probably the most frequently recurring comment we get across all videos on the My Life in Gaming YouTube channel, which often revolve around playing classic games on original hardware. Not everyone has held onto their old consoles through the years, so I get it.

    PS1Digital on a 4K OLED TV
    PS1Digital on a 4K OLED TV

    Software emulation, whether through a PC, Raspberry Pi, or any other device, is easy on your wallet and solid enough to give most people the experience they’re looking for.

    But for me, the core of my gaming experience still tends to revolve around the joy I feel in using authentic cartridges and discs. But as you may have noticed, 2021 isn’t 2001, and using pre-HDMI consoles isn’t so easy these days. A standard CRT television is the most direct route to getting a solid experience with vintage consoles.

    Standard RCA cables with composite video. A direct HDTV connection is a poor experience
    Standard RCA cables with composite video. A direct HDTV connection is a poor experience

    But let’s face it – not everyone is willing to work a CRT into their setup. Plenty of people are content with just plugging the cables that came with their old systems (usually composite) into their HD or 4K TV – and that’s OK! But whether for the blurry looks or the input lag they feel, this simply isn’t good enough for a lot of people.

    Down the rabbit hole

    “There has to be a better way,” you say as you browse Amazon’s assortment of analogue-to- HDMI converters, HDMI adapters like Wii2HDMI, or HDMI cables for specific consoles by a variety of brands. You might think these are just what you’re looking for, but remember: your TV has its own internal video processor. Just like your TV, they’re going to treat 240p like 480i. Not only is it unnecessary to deinterlace 240p, but doing so actively degrades the experience – motion- adaptive deinterlacing takes time, adding input lag.

    RetroTINK-2X MINI (left) and 2X Pro (right). The MINI pairs great with N64
    RetroTINK-2X MINI (left) and 2X Pro (right). The MINI pairs great with N64

    That Sega Saturn HDMI cable is going to deinterlace your gorgeous 240p sprite-based games so hard that they’ll look like some sort of art restoration disaster in motion. The dark secret of these products is that you’re buying something you already own – a basic video processor designed for video, not video games, and the result will likely not be tangibly better than what your TV could do. The only reason to go this route is if you have no analogue inputs and could not possibly invest more than $30.

    So what is the better way? The primary purpose of an external video processor is to send a properly handled signal to your TV that won’t trigger its lag-inducing processes and turn your pixels into sludge – basically any progressive resolution other than 240p. Luckily, there are several devices in various price ranges that are designed to do exactly this.

    There is lots more to learn!

    This is just a tiny snippet of the mammoth feature in Wireframe magazine issue 49. The main feature includes a ‘jargon cheat sheet’ and ‘cable table’ to make sure any level of user can get their retro console working on a modern TV.

    If you’re not a Wireframe magazine subscriber, you can download a PDF copy for free. Head to page 50 to get started.

    You can read more features like this one in Wireframe issue 49, available directly from Raspberry Pi Press — we deliver worldwide.

    Website: LINK

  • How not to code: a guide to concise programming

    How not to code: a guide to concise programming

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

    Updating a 22-year-old game brought Andrew Gillett face to face with some very poor coding practices. Read more about it in this brilliant guest article from the latest issue of Wireframe magazine.

    In 1998, at the age of 17, I was learning how to write games in C. My first attempt, the subtly titled DEATH, was not going well. The game was my take on Hardcore, a 1992 Atari ST game by legendary game developer and sheep enthusiast Jeff Minter, which had been released only as an unfinished five-level demo.

    A series of ultrabombs blowing up a snake.

    A series of ultrabombs blowing up a snake.

    The player controlled four gun turrets on the outside of a square arena, into which enemies teleported. While the original game had been enjoyable and promising, my version wasn’t much fun, and I couldn’t work out why. Making a decent game would also have involved making dozens of levels and many enemy types, which was looking like too big a task, especially as I was finding it hard to understand the intricacies of how the enemies in Hardcore moved.

    So I abandoned that game and decided to replicate a different one – 1994’s MasterBlaster, a Bomberman-style game on the Commodore Amiga. MasterBlaster didn’t have a single-player mode or bots, so there was no enemy AI to write. And the level was just a grid with randomly generated walls and power-ups – so there was no real level design involved. With those two hurdles removed, development went fairly smoothly, the biggest challenge being working out some of the subtleties of how character movement worked.

    The 2021 version of Partition Sector
    The 2021 version of Partition Sector

    The game, which I named Partition Sector, was finished in mid-1999 and spent the next 18 years on my website being downloaded by very few people. In late 2018 I decided to do a quick update to the game and release it on Steam. Then I started having ideas, and ended up working on it, on and off, for two years.

    One of the biggest hurdles I came across when writing my first games was how to structure the code. I knew how to write a basic game loop, in which you update the positions of objects within the game, then draw the level and the objects within it, and then loop back to the start, ending the loop when the ‘game over’ criteria are met or the player has chosen to quit. But for a full game you need things like a main menu, submenus, going through a particular number of rounds before returning to the main menu, and so on. In the end, I was able to come up with something that worked, but looking back on my old code 20 years on, I could see many cases of absolutely terrible practice.

    “I started having ideas, and ended up working on it, on

    and off, for two years”

    While most of my time was spent adding new features, a lot of time was spent rewriting and restructuring old code. I’m going to share some examples from the original code so you don’t make the same mistakes!

    This is just a snippet of Andrew’s brilliant monster-sized tutorial, which you can read in full in the latest issue of Wireframe magazine. No subscription? No problem! You can read the rest of this post in full for free in PDF format.

    Wireframe issue 48
    You can read more features like this one in Wireframe issue 48, available directly from Raspberry Pi Press — we deliver worldwide.

    Website: LINK

  • RetroPie booze barrel

    RetroPie booze barrel

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    What do we want? Retro gaming, adult beverages, and our favourite Spotify playlist. When do we want them? All at the same time.

    Luckily, u/breadtangle took to reddit to answer our rum-soaked prayers with this beautifully crafted beer barrel-cum-arcade machine-cum-drinks cabinet.

    A beer barrel with drinks inside two opening doors cut into the front of the barrel and a retro arcade console serving as the lid of the barrel with joystick and buttons on a ledge in front
    We approve of this drink selection

    The addition of a sneaky hiding spot for your favourite tipple, plus a musical surprise, set this build apart from the popular barrel arcade projects we’ve seen before, like this one featured a few years back on the blog.

    Retro gaming

    A Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ runs RetroPie, offering all sorts of classic games to entertain you while you sample from the grownup goodies hidden away in the drinks cabinet.

    The maker’s top choice is Tetris Attack for the SNES.

    A beer barrel with drinks inside two opening doors cut into the front of the barrel and a retro arcade console serving as the lid of the barrel with joystick and buttons on a ledge in front
    Such a beautiful finish

    Background music

    What more could you want now you’ve got retro games and an elegantly hidden drinks cabinet at your fingertips? u/breadtangle‘s creation has another trick hidden inside its smooth wooden curves.

    The Raspberry Pi computer used in this build also runs Raspotify, a Spotify Connect client for Raspberry Pi that allows you to stream your favourite tunes and playlists from your phone while you game.

    You can set Raspotify to play via Bluetooth speakers, but if you’re using regular speakers and are after a quick install, whack this command in your Terminal:

    curl -sL https://dtcooper.github.io/raspotify/install.sh | sh
    Booze barrel joystick and buttons panel during the making process
    Behind the scenes

    u/breadtangle neatly tucked a pair of Logitech z506 speakers on the sides of the barrel, where they could be protected by the overhang of the glass screen cover.

    Hardware

    The build’s joysticks and buttons came from Amazon, and they’re set into an off-cut piece of kitchen countertop. The glass screen protector is another Amazon find and sits on a rubber car-door edge protector.

    The screen itself is lovingly tilted towards the controls, to keep players’ necks comfortable, and u/breadtangle finished off the build’s look with a barstool to sit on while gaming.

    We love it, but we have one very important question left…

    Can we come round and play?

    Website: LINK

  • (Raspberry) Pi Commander | The MagPi 95

    (Raspberry) Pi Commander | The MagPi 95

    Reading Time: 4 minutes

    Adrien Castel’s idea of converting an old electronic toy into a retro games machine was no flight of fancy, as David Crookes discovers

    The 1980s was a golden era for imaginative electronic toys. Children would pester their parents for a Tomytronic 3D or a Nintendo Game & Watch. And they would enviously eye anyone who had a Tomy Turnin’ Turbo Dashboard with its promise of replicating the thrill of driving (albeit without the traffic jams).

    All of the buttons, other than the joystick, are original to the toy – as are the seven red LED lights

    Two years ago, maker Matt Brailsford turned that amazing toy into a fully working Out Run arcade machine and Adrien Castel was smitten. “I loved the fact that he’d upcycled an old toy and created something that could be enjoyed as a grown-up,” he says. “But I wanted to push the simulation a bit further and I thought a flying sim could do the trick.”

    “I didn’t want to modify the look of the toy”

    Ideas began flying around Adrien’s mind. “I knew what I wanted to achieve so I made an overall plan in my head,” he recalls. First he found the perfect toy: a battery-powered Sky Fighter F-16 tabletop game made by Dival. He then decided to base his build around a Raspberry Pi 3A+. “It’s the perfect hardware for projects like this because of its flexibility,” Adrien says.

    Taking off

    The toy needed some work. Its original bright red joystick was missing and Adrien knew he’d have to replace the original screen with a TFT LCD. To do this, he 3D-printed a frame to fit the TFT display and he created a smaller base for the replacement joystick. Adrien also changed the microswitches for greater sensitivity but he didn’t go overboard with the changes.

    The games can make use of the full screen. Adrien would have liked a larger screen, but the original ratio oddly lay between 4:3 and 16:9, making a bigger display harder to find

    “I knew I would have to adapt some parts for the joystick and for the screen, but I didn’t want to modify the look of the toy,” Adrien explains. “To be honest, modifying the toy would have involved some sanding and painting and I was worried that it would ruin the overall effect of the project if it was badly executed.”

    A Raspberry Pi 3A+ sits at the heart of the Pi Commander, alongside a mini audio amplifier, and it’s wired up to components within the toy

    As such, a challenge was set. “I had to keep most of the original parts such as throttle levers and LEDs and adapt them to the new build,” he says. “This meant getting them to work together with the system and it also meant using the original PCB, getting rid of the components and re-routing the electronics to plug on the GPIOs.”

    There were some enhancements. Adrien soldered a PAM8403 3W class-D audio amplifier to Raspberry Pi and this allowed a basic speaker to replace the original for better sound. But there were some compromises too.

    The original PCB was used and the electronics were re-routed. All the components need to work between 3.3 to 5V with the lowest possible amperage while fitting into a tight space

    “At first I thought the screen could be bigger than the one I used, but the round shape of the cockpit didn’t give much space to fit a screen larger than four inches.” He also believes the project could be improved with a better joystick: “The one I’ve used is a simple two-button arcade stick with a jet fighter look.”

    Flying high

    By using the retro gaming OS Recalbox (based on EmulationStation and RetroArch), however, he’s been able to perfect the overall feel. “Recalbox allowed me to create a custom front end that matches the look of a jet fighter,” he explains. It also means the Pi Commander plays shoot-’em-up games alongside open-source simulators like FlightGear (flightgear.org). “It’s a lot of fun.”

    Read The MagPi for free!

    Find more fantastic projects, tutorials, and reviews in The MagPi #93, out now! You can get The MagPi #95 online at our store, or in print from all good newsagents and supermarkets. You can also access The MagPi magazine via our Android and iOS apps.

    Don’t forget our super subscription offers, which include a free gift of a Raspberry Pi Zero W when you subscribe for twelve months.

    And, as with all our Raspberry Pi Press publications, you can download the free PDF from our website.

    Website: LINK

  • Recreating Sega’s Columns with Arduino!

    Recreating Sega’s Columns with Arduino!

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Recreating Sega’s Columns with Arduino!

    Arduino Team — April 30th, 2020

    In the early ’90s, Sega shipped its Game Gear console with a falling-block puzzle game called Columns. This Tetris-like game invited users to match colored “jewels” on the ground with lines of three new colors that drop from above. Michael A. Maynard envisioned building his own portable version of Columns at the time, but without electronics like Arduino boards and addressable RGB LEDs, the project just wasn’t in the cards.

    Nonetheless, after years of consideration, he’s finally been able to create such a handheld. He used an Uno for development, which was replaced by a Nano in the current iteration. 

    His system manipulates the falling jewels through a 6×13 LED matrix, with a three-LED preview display, seeven-segment LEDs for game stats, and dual-motor haptic feedback. The game even features stereo sound, with effects, and music produced via dual MP3 player modules.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXwcQ1SlwXg?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMffKkS-aSM?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

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    You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

    Website: LINK

  • Pre-order Code the Classics today!

    Pre-order Code the Classics today!

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Today, we are proud to announce Code the Classics, the latest (and long-awaited) publication from Raspberry Pi Press.

    Pre-order Code the Classics today

    Subscribe to our YouTube channel: http://rpf.io/ytsub Help us reach a wider audience by translating our video content: http://rpf.io/yttranslate Buy a Raspberry Pi from one of our Approved Resellers: http://rpf.io/ytproducts Find out more about the #RaspberryPi Foundation: Raspberry Pi http://rpf.io/ytrpi Code Club UK http://rpf.io/ytccuk Code Club International http://rpf.io/ytcci CoderDojo http://rpf.io/ytcd Check out our free online training courses: http://rpf.io/ytfl Find your local Raspberry Jam event: http://rpf.io/ytjam Work through our free online projects: http://rpf.io/ytprojects Do you have a question about your Raspberry Pi?

    Code the Classics

    Code the Classics not only tells the stories of some of the seminal video games of the 1970s and 1980s, but shows you how to create your own games inspired by them using Python and Pygame Zero, following examples programmed by Raspberry Pi founder Eben Upton.

    Get game design tips and tricks from the masters. Explore the code listings and find out how they work.

    Learn how to code your own games with Pygame Zero. Download and play games examples by Eben Upton.

    Pre-order Code the Classics today

    Code the Classics is available to pre-order now from the Raspberry Pi Press online store, and it will be released in time for Christmas on 13 December. Pre-order today for FREE UK shipping.

    Code the Classics is the perfect gift for anyone with fond memories of the video games of the 1970s and 1980s, and it’s also a brilliant way for young coders to get into understanding the code mechanics behind gaming, helping to inspire them to create their own.

    Website: LINK

  • New book: Retro Gaming with Raspberry Pi

    New book: Retro Gaming with Raspberry Pi

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Raspberry Pi Press is delighted to announce the release of the latest addition to your bookshelf: Retro Gaming with Raspberry Pi!

    Retro Gaming with Raspberry Pi

    Subscribe to our YouTube channel: http://rpf.io/ytsub Help us reach a wider audience by translating our video content: http://rpf.io/yttranslate Buy a Raspberry Pi from one of our Approved Resellers: http://rpf.io/ytproducts Find out more about the #RaspberryPi Foundation: Raspberry Pi http://rpf.io/ytrpi Code Club UK http://rpf.io/ytccuk Code Club International http://rpf.io/ytcci CoderDojo http://rpf.io/ytcd Check out our free online training courses: http://rpf.io/ytfl Find your local Raspberry Jam event: http://rpf.io/ytjam Work through our free online projects: http://rpf.io/ytprojects Do you have a question about your Raspberry Pi?

    Retro Gaming with Raspberry Pi

    This 164-page book shows you how to set up a Raspberry Pi to play classic games; and how to build your own portable console, a full-size arcade cabinet, and a pinball machine with clear step-by-step guides.

    Learn how to program your own games

    You’ll learn how to program your own games using Python and Pygame Zero, allowing you to recreate some of your favourite retro games, as well as learning how lines of code can produce gorgeous graphics and hours of nostalgia-driven fun.

    If that’s not enough, you’ll also find reviews of some of the best retro gamer kit, such as cases and controllers; tips on setting up emulators; and showcases of some gorgeous retro-fit Raspberry Pi systems.

    Get it now

    If you’d like to buy Retro Gaming with Raspberry Pi as a physical book (and we do recommend you do – it’ll make a fantastic stocking-filler), you can purchase it now from the Raspberry Pi Press website with free international shipping, or from the Raspberry Pi Store, Cambridge.

    As with all Raspberry Pi Press publications, Retro Gaming with Raspberry Pi is available now as a free PDF, ready for you to download from The MagPi website.

    Website: LINK

  • New book: Retro Gaming with Raspberry Pi

    New book: Retro Gaming with Raspberry Pi

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Raspberry Pi Press is delighted to announce the release of the latest addition to your bookshelf: Retro Gaming with Raspberry Pi!

    Retro Gaming with Raspberry Pi

    Subscribe to our YouTube channel: http://rpf.io/ytsub Help us reach a wider audience by translating our video content: http://rpf.io/yttranslate Buy a Raspberry Pi from one of our Approved Resellers: http://rpf.io/ytproducts Find out more about the #RaspberryPi Foundation: Raspberry Pi http://rpf.io/ytrpi Code Club UK http://rpf.io/ytccuk Code Club International http://rpf.io/ytcci CoderDojo http://rpf.io/ytcd Check out our free online training courses: http://rpf.io/ytfl Find your local Raspberry Jam event: http://rpf.io/ytjam Work through our free online projects: http://rpf.io/ytprojects Do you have a question about your Raspberry Pi?

    Retro Gaming with Raspberry Pi

    This 164-page book shows you how to set up a Raspberry Pi to play classic games; and how to build your own portable console, a full-size arcade cabinet, and a pinball machine with clear step-by-step guides.

    Learn how to program your own games

    You’ll learn how to program your own games using Python and Pygame Zero, allowing you to recreate some of your favourite retro games, as well as learning how lines of code can produce gorgeous graphics and hours of nostalgia-driven fun.

    If that’s not enough, you’ll also find reviews of some of the best retro gamer kit, such as cases and controllers; tips on setting up emulators; and showcases of some gorgeous retro-fit Raspberry Pi systems.

    Get it now

    If you’d like to buy Retro Gaming with Raspberry Pi as a physical book (and we do recommend you do – it’ll make a fantastic stocking-filler), you can purchase it now from the Raspberry Pi Press website with free international shipping, or from the Raspberry Pi Store, Cambridge.

    As with all Raspberry Pi Press publications, Retro Gaming with Raspberry Pi is available now as a free PDF, ready for you to download from The MagPi website.

    Website: LINK

  • Raspberry Pi retro gaming on Reddit

    Raspberry Pi retro gaming on Reddit

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Reddit was alive with the sound of retro gaming this weekend.

    First out to bat is this lovely minimalist, wall-mounted design built by u/sturnus-vulgaris, who states:

    I had planned on making a bar top arcade, but after I built the control panel, I kind of liked the simplicity. I mounted a frame of standard 2×4s cut with a miter saw. Might trim out in black eventually (I have several panels I already purchased), but I do like the look of wood.

    Next up, a build with Lego bricks, because who doesn’t love Lego bricks?

    Just completed my mini arcade cabinet that consists of approximately 1,000 [Lego bricks], a Raspberry Pi, a SNES style controller, Amazon Basics computer speakers, and a 3.5″ HDMI display.

    u/RealMagicman03 shared the build here, so be sure to give them an upvote and leave a comment if, like us, you love Raspberry Pi projects that involve Lego bricks.

    And lastly, this wonderful use of the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3+, proving yet again how versatile the form factor can be.

    CM3+Lite cartridge for GPi case. I made this cartridge for fun at first, and it works as all I expected. Now I can play more games l like on this lovely portable stuff. And CM3+ is as powerful as RPi3B+, I really like it.

    Creator u/martinx72 goes into far more detail in their post, so be sure to check it out.

    What other projects did you see this weekend? Share your links with us in the comments below.

    Website: LINK

  • Use all your old-school game controllers with the turn of a dial

    Use all your old-school game controllers with the turn of a dial

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Use all your old-school game controllers with the turn of a dial

    Arduino Team — November 6th, 2017

    IT professional (and Arduino cap fan) John Milner had a minor problem. While his retro gaming setup could emulate a wide variety of systems and games, it was still missing the tactile feedback of the original controllers. Rather than “submit” to playing with only an Xbox 360 controller, he developed the Multijoy Retro Gaming System that can change gamepads with the turn of a knob using an Arduino Micro.

    The resulting system lets him not only choose the original controller for each game, but if you want to mix things up and see how Super Mario Bros. would feel on a PlayStation 1, or even a Genesis controller, you can do that too! It also features shortcut buttons on the new console.

    The Arduino presents itself as two joypads with native plug-and-play support for Microsoft Windows 7+ and Linux/RetroPie. The selector is simply a ring of LEDs with a potentiometer in the center, using the knob will move the lit LED to the desired controller pictured in that position, a simple system with an unexpected bonus of being a little retro in its appearance.

    You can check it out in the video below, and see more of the project on his blog and on GitHub.



    This entry was posted by Arduino Team on Monday, November 6th, 2017 and is filed under Arduino, Featured, Micro. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

    Website: LINK

  • 5 Cool Facts You May Not Know About the Unreleased Super Nintendo PlayStation

    5 Cool Facts You May Not Know About the Unreleased Super Nintendo PlayStation

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    The SNES-CD, aka Super Nintendo PlayStation, refers to an unreleased peripheral for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). The device and the format were to build upon the functionality of the cartridge-based SNES by adding support for higher capacity compact discs. The SNES-CD platform was developed in a partnership between Nintendo and Sony. Another partnership with Philips yielded some poorly received Nintendo-themed games for the competing CD-i game console instead of the SNES-CD. Sony independently furthered its developments into its own console, which resulted in the release of the original PlayStation, a chief competitor of the SNES’s cartridge-based successor, the Nintendo 64.

    super-nintendo-playstation

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    5. Ken Kutaragi Started the Relationship Between the Companies

    The relationship between Sony and Nintendo started when Sony engineer Ken Kutaragi became interested in working with video games after seeing his daughter play games on Nintendo’s Famicom video game console. He took on a contract at Sony for developing hardware that would drive the audio subsystem of Nintendo’s next console, the Super NES. Kutaragi secretly developed the chip, known as the Sony SPC 700. As Sony was uninterested in the video game business, most of his superiors did not approve of the project, but Kutaragi found support in Sony executive Norio Ohga and the project was allowed to continue.

    4. Development Started in 1988

    Development of the format started in 1988, when Nintendo signed a contract with Sony to produce a CD-ROM add-on for the SNES. After several years of development, Sony introduced a standalone console at 1991’s summer Consumer Electronics Show called the „Play Station.“ The system was to be compatible with existing SNES titles as well as titles released for the SNES-CD format. However, due to licensing disagreements with Sony, Nintendo announced that it had formed an alliance with Sony’s rival Philips to produce the SNES-CD add-on.

    3. Two Companies Clashed

    Tthe two companies conflicted over control of the licensing. Under their agreement, Sony would develop and retain control over the SNES-CD disc format, with Nintendo thus effectively ceding a large amount of control of software licensing to Sony. To counter this, Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi sent Nintendo of America president Minoru Arakawa and executive Howard Lincoln to Europe to negotiate a more favorable contract with Philips, Sony’s industry rival.

    2. Sony Announced PlayStation a CES 1991

    At the June 1991 Consumer Electronics Show, Sony announced its SNES-compatible cartridge/CD console, the „Play Station“. The next day, Nintendo revealed its partnership with Philips at the show – a surprise to the entire audience, including Sony. Although this was a clear breach of contract, Sony claimed they didn’t sue Nintendo or Phillips because of fear that such a lawsuit would delay the development of the DVD format which Sony and Phillips were collaborating on.

    1. 200 Prototypes Created

    While Nintendo and Sony attempted to sort out their differences, approximately two hundred prototypes of the Play Station had been created in various physical forms, and software for the system was being developed. In 1992, a deal was reached allowing Sony to produce SNES-compatible hardware, with Nintendo retaining control and profit over the games, but the two organizations never repaired the rift between them. By the next year, Sony had refocused its efforts on developing its own console for the next generation of consoles.