Who wishes for a new homebrew-based DC like with GP2X?

MethodGit · Post by **MethodGit** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 5:42 am

Think about it - if Sega would be okay with the idea (and perhaps even help out a bit), the technology could be upgraded to a better model for our homebrew needs - more RAM, bigger VMUs, possibly even an HD if the model changed size a bit. And perhaps technology could be implemented so that it would only play homebrew discs and not copied commercial games? After all, it's only homebrew/ports that really utilise all the RAM for one thing!

A DC fan can dream of course.......

Cid Highwind · Post by **Cid Highwind** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 5:18 pm

Very nice idea, though I think it would be easier just to use tv-out, even though having a DC media center sounds nice

DaMadFiddler · Post by **DaMadFiddler** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 6:17 pm

Um...what's wrong with the Dreamcast we already have? It's already pretty easy to run homebrew on, and it's got enough system resources to do just about whatever homebrew authors actually have the time and effort to throw at it, as long as you know what you're doing.

And that's part of the fun of developing for a console, anyway: making the most of a closed spec set, tapping what you can out of a limited amount of hardware ability, whereas PC developers can just slap things together, and if it's not efficient, just say "oh, well something will come out soon enough that will run it quickly."

It is from dealing with limitations that new computer technology comes from in this respect, rather than vice versa--people come up with something new to do with software, and if it is successful or popular, eventually hardware will be created to facilitate that type of calculation.

And if your concern is storage, well--yeah, the GP2x has TV-out already, so it's set. You can use it as a home console and media center already.

If you really want something easily more powerful, though, and with a ton of homebrew, where coders can be as inefficient or sloppy as they want and still have it flow like cream...just build yourself a media center PC, and hook it up to the television. I guarantee it won't cost you any more than an Xbox 360

HomerCIDAL · Post by **HomerCIDAL** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 11:17 pm

Challenging is nice, but availability for novices would be a huge plus. With so many people just now getting into modding for PC games, a console like what MethodGit proprosed would be a fantastic idea. I know nothing about coding...at least not enough to make a full game, but I do know a lot about level design for games like Quake 2 or Q3A and know how to work with the tools to make levels for those games. Getting a small team together to make a homebrewed project would be great and if it were fully supported instead of needing to use specialized tools that may not use the system to it's full extent, we could see some really cool stuff. Sega could make a larger profit beyond system sales by licensing libraries to make the games to independant developers. It could possibly work out well.

bizzle · Post by **bizzle** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 3:30 pm

Why not just buy a GP2x?

Hawq · Post by **Hawq** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 12:36 pm

DaMadFiddler wrote:Um...what's wrong with the Dreamcast we already have? It's already pretty easy to run homebrew on, and it's got enough system resources to do just about whatever homebrew authors actually have the time and effort to throw at it, as long as you know what you're doing.

Yup if it aint broke dont fix it, while its a nice idea on paper it'd mean coders could end up having to make two versions of everything one for the regular cast & one for the one in the idea, thatd smack of PC problems of differing setups to a small degree.

HomerCIDAL · Post by **HomerCIDAL** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 5:21 pm

Ross L. wrote:
HomerCIDAL wrote:Challenging is nice, but availability for novices would be a huge plus. With so many people just now getting into modding for PC games, a console like what MethodGit proprosed would be a fantastic idea. I know nothing about coding...at least not enough to make a full game, but I do know a lot about level design for games like Quake 2 or Q3A and know how to work with the tools to make levels for those games. Getting a small team together to make a homebrewed project would be great and if it were fully supported instead of needing to use specialized tools that may not use the system to it's full extent, we could see some really cool stuff. Sega could make a larger profit beyond system sales by licensing libraries to make the games to independant developers. It could possibly work out well.
You think they would release those libraries to us at a reasonable price? *goes to bank and takes out a loan* lol

If it were an open source system to begin with and Sega did not intend to make games for the system...YES! That is what you get with the GP2X. There are no official games from the company...only homebrew and if it were supported by Gamepark with some libraries that work best with the system, there are a lot of people that could jump right in and do some incredible things with it.

HomerCIDAL · Post by **HomerCIDAL** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 5:49 pm

Unfortunately, I seriously doubt it. Sega probably won't even support the game developers that are trickling out software now as it is. To allow use of their internally developed libraries would drag them back into a lot of things they probably don't want to deal with anymore. It's a real shame too seeing as how the system is powerful enough to still do some amazing things.