Quickdev16 SNES developers cart: now you too can make games no one will ever play

If homebrew SNES development was an obscure affair in the days that the platform reigned supreme, undertaking such a project almost two decades later can be nothing left than a labor of true geek love. But if you’ve always dreamed of writing the next great first-person shooter for a retired game platform you’re in luck: the Quickdev 16 is a cartridge that includes everything necessary for bringing your creations to the Super Nintendo, including the Atmel AVR ATmega644 with boot loader, USB connection for placing your code on the cart, 16 megabits of SRAM, and an RS232 converter for a debugging terminal. Works with Windows, Mac, and Linux systems as long as you know your way around a command line (and if you’ve read this far, you just might). Available now for $120 including shipping.

[Via Hack-A-Day]

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Quickdev16 SNES developers cart: now you too can make games no one will ever play originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nintendo’s Miyamoto: next-gen Wii hardware could be “more compact, cost-efficient”

There ain’t much to glean from Shigeru Miyamoto‘s recent sit-down with Popular Mechanics, but in the never-ending quest to learn more about Nintendo‘s next-generation Wii, a few tidbits of interest have been highlighted. Miyamoto, who is responsible for creating the likes of Mario and Zelda (amongst others), spoke at length about current titles, the future of video games as a whole and on his view of the not-yet-named Wii 2. In answering a question about the future of motion-sensing in the Big N’s consoles, he ran off topic a bit and noted that “it would be likely that we would try to make that same functionality perhaps more compact and perhaps even more cost-efficient” when speaking about future hardware (which honestly may have been talking strictly about accelerometers). Of course, this is about as predictable as it gets — hardware tends to always shrink and get cheaper as technology improves — but hey, there it is! Now, let your imaginations do what they were born to do.

[Via TechRadar]

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Nintendo’s Miyamoto: next-gen Wii hardware could be “more compact, cost-efficient” originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nintendo shipping black Wii to Europe in limited edition bundle

Why, Nintendo — why? Americans have been buying your underpowered, kid-centric console faster than you can ship ’em here for years now, and yet you ignore our innermost desires to see a Wii in some color other than white. Have we not made ourselves clear? Are our voices going unheard? Clearly, you’ve an ear for those in Europe, as folks in the UK and Ireland will be able to procure a dark Wii starting on November 6th as part of a limited edition bundle that includes Wii Sports Resort and a Wii MotionPlus dongle. The rest of mainland Europe will see the same bundle on November 20th, and as if that wasn’t enough, a black Classic Controller Pro and a slew of black Wii accessories will also accompany the package for those looking to stock up. Naturally, there’s no mention of a price, but considering that you’ll pay anything to join the still-limited black Wii party, it (likely) matters not.

[Via Engadget Spanish]

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Nintendo shipping black Wii to Europe in limited edition bundle originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SNES / Sega Genesis USB cartridge adapter now available for pre-order

Looks like our old friend, Matthias — the developer of the USB SNES cart reader — is back on the scene, and this time he’s going commercial. His newest project, Snega2USB, adds Sega Genesis, read and write for battery-backed SNES games, open source firmware, and up to four gamepads to the homebrew fave of classic gaming fanatics world o’er. This is a work-in-progress, but all the pieces are in place to have all orders met on the December, 2009 street date. Pre-orders will be taken until October 31 for $90 in the United States or €75 in Europe. Video after the break.

[Via Gadgetoid]

Continue reading SNES / Sega Genesis USB cartridge adapter now available for pre-order

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SNES / Sega Genesis USB cartridge adapter now available for pre-order originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Heckler and Koch MP5 sub-machine gun Wiimote controller: ’nuff said

That, friends, is a darn good representation of what a Heckler and Koch MP5 sub-machine gun looks like. And contrary to popular belief, there’s no real ammunition in there — unless you consider the kind required to shoot digital clay pigeons “real munitions.” Spotted at a nondescript trade show over in Hong Kong, this here Wii controller actually comes with Wiimote, nunchuck and MotionPlus functionality built right in (wild, right?), so there’s no need to slip your own Wii controller in before greasing up your face, jumping in the fatigues and mashing that diminutive power button on your console. Who knows if this thing will actually ship Stateside, but man, can you imagine the line at your local GameStop if it does?

[Thanks, TheLostSwede]

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Heckler and Koch MP5 sub-machine gun Wiimote controller: ’nuff said originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nyko Wii Wands get a dash of color

Just as Nintendo finally decides to bring some of that noir goodness over to the US, Nyko pops up with no less than four new colorways for its Wand Wii remote. We’re no anthropologists here, but we reckon one of these new options will do a lot better in sales than the other three. All the same, with Nintendo furnishing Japan with blue and pink Wiimotes, Nyko has played it safe and followed suit. These should be hitting Walmart right about now with an MSRP of $29.99, so look out for them at your next government-sponsored Wii bowl-a-thon.

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Nyko Wii Wands get a dash of color originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Oct 2009 06:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Black Wii Remote, MotionPlus add-on and Nunchuck arrive on November 16th

We knew they were coming for the holidays, and now Nintendo’s black Wii gear has some prices and a November 16th release date. The black Wii Remote comes bundled with a MotionPlus add-on — obviously Nintendo doesn’t want to risk too many more people picking up a controller without one — and retails for $50, while the black Nunchuck (shown after the break) is all by its lonesome for $20. Unfortunately, still no word of a black Wii in the US to hang out with these finely tinted accessories.

Continue reading Black Wii Remote, MotionPlus add-on and Nunchuck arrive on November 16th

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Black Wii Remote, MotionPlus add-on and Nunchuck arrive on November 16th originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Oct 2009 09:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bona fide exercise bike abuses Wiimote accessory license… badly

See that up there? That’s an exercise bike. And a Wii. Amazingly enough, there’s a strong correlation between the two, and unless the entire world is being pranked here, BigBen interactive is actually looking to ship a “full-size” Wiimote-compatible fitness machine with its next game. We can’t even fathom how quickly this thing is bound to fall apart (or how absurdly expensive it’ll be if there’s even a smidgen of quality), but we’re more than anxious to learn of an MSRP. Now, if only Ford would pump out a Wiimote-friendly Focus to use in the next installment of Mario Kart, we’d be set.

[Via Joystiq]

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Bona fide exercise bike abuses Wiimote accessory license… badly originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Oct 2009 07:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NVIDIA Tegra to power next-gen Nintendo DS?

While Microsoft tries to figure out if it should take Tegra-powered Zune HD in a gaming direction or the Xbox in a portable direction, there are wild rumorings from the underground that claim Nintendo is planning on using Tegra to power a next generation DS handheld. The primary source on this comes from Bright Side of News (which doesn’t have a big track record to judge by), who claims the debut is planned for late 2010 and conjectures that the device could either use the upcoming 40nm 2nd-gen Tegra tech, or the existing, tried-and-true 65nm chip. There were rumors from Yahoo! Games of a Tegra DS afoot at GamesCom in August, with higher resolution screens and full backwards compatibility, and PC Perspective also claims its own NVIDIA insiders are confirming this — the evidence is certainly stacking up. If it turns out to be true it’s going to mean a pretty dramatic jump forward in portable gaming power, but either way this generation of handhelds seems due for a refresh, and there’s plenty of ultra compact silicon floating about to make a graphical leap possible.

[Via PC Perspective; thanks, Fernando]

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NVIDIA Tegra to power next-gen Nintendo DS? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nintendo’s Reggie Fils-Aime says the PSP Go has a ‘fundamental concept problem’

Nintendo’s Reggie Fils-Aime has been known to take a few shots at the competition in the past and, while he’s not exactly verging into CE-oh no he didn’t territory this time around, it seems that he just couldn’t help himself from offering a few thoughts on Sony’s latest handheld. Speaking with The Washington Post, Reggie says that the PSP Go has a “fundamental concept problem in terms of ‘Who’s it for?’ and ‘What’s the benefit?” — adding that he always has the “utmost respect for all our competitors, but that it’s “interesting to try and answer the consumer question of ‘What’s in it for me?’ in that product.” Of course, Sony does have a few answers to those questions for its part, sort of.

[Via Joystiq]

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Nintendo’s Reggie Fils-Aime says the PSP Go has a ‘fundamental concept problem’ originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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