Author Topic: Why is nobody making homebrew for kiddie consoles?  (Read 344 times)

Kitsunexus

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3911
Why is nobody making homebrew for kiddie consoles?
« on: October 04, 2007, 07:08:04 PM »
Seriously, I know few people have them but there is a PRIME 2D powerhouse in consoles like HyperScan, V.Smile and XaviXPort!

Hell, Hyperscan is a 32-bit CD-ROM system that can do some arcade quality games...why is nobody hacking these?

Necromancer

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 21365
Re: Why is nobody making homebrew for kiddie consoles?
« Reply #1 on: October 05, 2007, 04:28:36 AM »
I'm betting that anybody smart enough to develop decent homebrew is also smart enough to avoid these bastard consoles like the plague.  Only a retard would spend $60 just so they can run homebrew games on a weak ass pile of poorly made crap, and the V.junk and XaviXPoop are cartridge based (making it nearly impossible for others to run homebrew code).  I haven't seen any specs on these kiddy machines, but I seriously doubt that they are all that impressive.
U.S. Collection: 97% complete    155/159 titles

Kitsunexus

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3911
Re: Why is nobody making homebrew for kiddie consoles?
« Reply #2 on: October 05, 2007, 07:45:48 AM »
I haven't seen any specs on these kiddy machines, but I seriously doubt that they are all that impressive.

All I know about them is this:

HYPERSCAN: 32-Bit CD-ROM with no 3D capapbility. Has a USB port and RFID scanner. Music is Redbook audio.

V.SMILE: Cartridge based with no 3D. CD-based iteration (V-Flash) can do PS1-esque (More like Jaguar) 3D. Has an ARM processor. Runs Flash?

XAVIX: All the hardware (ie: processor, gfx chip, sound chip) is in the cartrdige for each game. The system is nothing more than a power and A/V hookup for the carts, and a way to interface with the wireless controllers.

td741

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 424
Re: Why is nobody making homebrew for kiddie consoles?
« Reply #3 on: October 05, 2007, 07:58:27 AM »
Although not a "kiddie" console, I'm entertaining the idea of playing around with the "Game Wave".   So far I found out that the system uses Lua as it's main programing language, but I think it's using a customized version of it (at least it fails the header check when I attempt to run the software via lua on a computer.)

That said, it looks like it's fairly easy to customize the trivia games since all you would need to do is pretty much replace the MPEG-2 files.  Then again, I'm not sure if the system does any form of CRC checking or can read a DVD-R.  Oh, it would be nice to figure out what format the actual graphic files are in too, otherwise you wouldn't be able to do things like change the categories, etc.

That said, I'm not sure I want to bother with it all that much. :P

Turbo D

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3989
Re: Why is nobody making homebrew for kiddie consoles?
« Reply #4 on: October 05, 2007, 08:30:22 AM »
I wouldn't mind seeing some homebrew on that hyperscan. I saw it at walmart and it seemed interesting  :)

ccovell

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2245
Re: Why is nobody making homebrew for kiddie consoles?
« Reply #5 on: October 05, 2007, 10:11:43 PM »
Cheap, 32-bit-like original game hardware is now a dime a dozen out of China.  That's why nobody's interested.

WoodyXP

  • Guest
Re: Why is nobody making homebrew for kiddie consoles?
« Reply #6 on: October 05, 2007, 10:24:00 PM »

Instead of programming for these 'kiddie' consoles developers can instead shell out games for more popular hardware.  This is more likely why
it's not being done.  There's more popular systems in the household.. like Saturn, Dreamcast, PS1, PS2 & low-end PC's... no need to make games
for unknown systems.

ccovell

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2245
Re: Why is nobody making homebrew for kiddie consoles?
« Reply #7 on: October 06, 2007, 05:10:19 AM »
Unless you're Charles Doty.
 :twisted:


 O:)  I kid because I love!   O:)

Kitsunexus

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3911
Re: Why is nobody making homebrew for kiddie consoles?
« Reply #8 on: October 06, 2007, 09:15:09 AM »

Instead of programming for these 'kiddie' consoles developers can instead shell out games for more popular hardware.  This is more likely why
it's not being done.  There's more popular systems in the household.. like Saturn, Dreamcast, PS1, PS2 & low-end PC's... no need to make games
for unknown systems.

Since when has homebrew been for popularity and or money?

Black Tiger

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 11242
Re: Why is nobody making homebrew for kiddie consoles?
« Reply #9 on: October 06, 2007, 09:38:37 AM »
Since when has homebrew been for popularity and or money?

It depends on who you're interested in gaining attention from. If your homebrew game becomes popular within the community inspired by the games's hardware, I can see how that would be appealing for some people.
http://www.superpcenginegrafx.net/forum

Active and drama free PC Engine forum

Turbo D

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3989
Re: Why is nobody making homebrew for kiddie consoles?
« Reply #10 on: October 06, 2007, 10:38:58 AM »
I like that Charles Doty ports his homebrew titles to multiple consoles. So, is anyone picking up Frog Feast?