BleemPods

Prophet][ · Post by **Prophet][** » Mon Oct 11, 2004 7:32 am

Does anyone know who now has the 2 bleempods made? I know someone on this site had one then sold it. I'ld like to talk to them so I can get info on them to put up on a speical part of devcast I'm making.

Disheveled DrFreeze · Mon Oct 11, 2004 10:47 am

whats a bleempod?

Matt · Post by **Matt** » Mon Oct 11, 2004 10:51 am

IIRC isnt it the hardware that lets you use Playstation memory cards

Disheveled DrFreeze · Post by **Disheveled DrFreeze** » Mon Oct 11, 2004 1:16 pm

iirc there are mmc's wich can be used on both the psx and the DC, i dont know it it allows for both systems to use the same saves, but it is a two system compatible mmc

Post by **Quzar** » Mon Oct 11, 2004 2:56 pm

DrFreeze wrote: i dont know it it allows for both systems to use the same saves

they dont.

tom61a · Post by **tom61a** » Mon Oct 11, 2004 3:13 pm

Bleempods are designed for Bleem!Cast, to enable the use of all the buttons and sticks on a PSX pad. Most other PSX to DC controller adapters only adapt as many buttons/sticks as there are on the DC (i.e. no distinct L2, R2, or second stick). Since the Bleem!Cast was not the multi-game emulation pack they were orginally planning, the idea got canned and the devices never manufactured.

TheWanderer · Post by **TheWanderer** » Mon Oct 11, 2004 5:47 pm

The Bleempods are similar to PS1--Dreamcast controller converters, in that they allowed the use of PS1 Dual Shocks (with vibration function) on the DC. The good thing about these, as opposed to the cheapie ones that are readily available on eBay, is that they would correctly map every button, and allow you to play the games as if you would on PS1. Even all the shoulder buttons would work, in conjunction with the bleempacks. Unfortunatley, when $ony sued bleem's a$$ off, the whole thing was scrapped, and only two proto-type "Bleempods" exist. If I remember correctly, they were also signed by Bleem's creator. A person came by Dreamcast History and sold one to a member there about 8 or so months back; I can dig up the topic.

Edit: Here's the DCH topic: http://www.dreamcasthistory.com/dreamca ... bleem+pods

It gives some background on what they are. Not sure who bought this, and sweaterfishdeluxe hasn't been around those boards for awhile, but you could try PM'ing/emailing him.

Post by **Quzar** » Mon Oct 11, 2004 6:12 pm

I remember sweater fish. iirc he wasnt able to sell it. he tried to sell it here too.

Prophet][ · Post by **Prophet][** » Mon Oct 11, 2004 10:02 pm

yea, he sold it. I'm tring to get into contact with him to see him he knows who he sold it to.

Zealous zerotype · Post by **Zealous zerotype** » Tue Oct 12, 2004 10:12 pm

I was going to buy it,but spent all my money on my mom for mothers day.So chances are he still has it.

riva16 · Post by **riva16** » Wed Oct 13, 2004 5:42 am

Now that I think about it... I wouldn't mind having BleemCast for Metal Gear Solid if anyone has it? I'll pay $10 - $15 for it shipped... Just the BleemCast disc...

Matisfaction · Post by **Matisfaction** » Wed Oct 13, 2004 10:01 am

I got mine for ?1.99 from Ebay so try there

Rand Linden · Post by **Rand Linden** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 12:59 pm

quzar wrote:
DrFreeze wrote: i dont know it it allows for both systems to use the same saves
they dont.

Um... no.

There were a couple of later ones that allowed the use of PS1 MemCards on a DC.

i.e. you plug in a PS1 memcard, and b!DC uses it in PS1 format, without doing anything special.

Also, the DC recognized the bleemPod (and the memcard!) and if you formatted the PS1 memcard from the DC's menu, it would format it as a DC memcard, and then any DC title could it as if it were a DC one

Finally, if you formatted a PS1 memcard with a b!DC title, it would format it as a PS1 memcard instead of a DC-format one... just like on a PS1.

And, yes, if you formatted it with the DC's menu first, THEN used it in b!DC, it left it as a b!DC memcard format.

... and you guys thought this stuff was all pretty simple, eh ?

Rand.

edit: Whether or not the one that SweaterFish has is one of the later ones, I don't know... the earlier ones only allowed the extra buttons.

Post by **Quzar** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 2:00 pm

Rand Linden wrote:
quzar wrote:
DrFreeze wrote: i dont know it it allows for both systems to use the same saves
they dont.
Um... no.

There were a couple of later ones that allowed the use of PS1 MemCards on a DC.

i.e. you plug in a PS1 memcard, and b!DC uses it in PS1 format, without doing anything special.

Also, the DC recognized the bleemPod (and the memcard!) and if you formatted the PS1 memcard from the DC's menu, it would format it as a DC memcard, and then any DC title could it as if it were a DC one

Finally, if you formatted a PS1 memcard with a b!DC title, it would format it as a PS1 memcard instead of a DC-format one... just like on a PS1.

And, yes, if you formatted it with the DC's menu first, THEN used it in b!DC, it left it as a b!DC memcard format.

... and you guys thought this stuff was all pretty simple, eh ?

Rand.

edit: Whether or not the one that SweaterFish has is one of the later ones, I don't know... the earlier ones only allowed the extra buttons.

DrFreeze was referring to the devices that are a PS and a DC mem card in one, not the bleempod, which i think you may have thought he was referring to.

if you werent mistaken though, that is amazing that one of those cheap-o things could do that.

Rand Linden · Post by **Rand Linden** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 3:01 pm

You're right, quzar -- my bad -- he's thinking of the other cards.

And, yes, there were a couple out there that claimed to work on both, but weren't very reliable on either unfortunately.

The device I had was rather long-ish, and had two connectors (PS1 on one end, and DC on the other).

Rand.

DaMadFiddler · Post by **DaMadFiddler** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 5:51 pm

Rand Linden wrote:You're right, quzar -- my bad -- he's thinking of the other cards.

And, yes, there were a couple out there that claimed to work on both, but weren't very reliable on either unfortunately.

The device I had was rather long-ish, and had two connectors (PS1 on one end, and DC on the other).

Rand.

It's really too bad this type of thing didn't end up working in a market sense; think of the possibilities.

Cartridge adapters don't seem like they'd have been too far from reality--a commercial GBA emu with a Maple bus adapter for the games, for example (look at the Advance Game Port for a good real-world example). Something like that may very well have seen decent sales had the DC survived. Also, there was a time when I'd have paid good money for a Castlevania edition of Bleem

Rand Linden · Post by **Rand Linden** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 11:05 pm

The biggest problem with DC peripherals has always been that they were unreliable.

Basically, the "low-cost-import-made-in-taiwan-or-whereever" versions of the MemCards, etc. etc. etc. were basically made by watching the communications and then just playing back the same data ... or something like it.

The problem is that these days, communications protocols are rarely simple enough to just "play back" the data... and that's why lots of programs just don't work correctly with the vibration, or memcards, depending on what's plugged in, etc. etc.

Infact, that's probably true of most stuff out there, not just the DC.

Rand.

SuperMegatron · Post by **SuperMegatron** » Fri Oct 15, 2004 12:35 am

Rand, I am guessing that you guys were able to forsee the death of the dreamcast,and that caused you to divert R&D money to other projects outside the dreamcast area but if the Dreamcast had stuck around what kinda of things would you have brought to the market?

Post by **Quzar** » Fri Oct 15, 2004 12:38 am

One of them that was being tinkered with was an N64 expansion for the Expansion port. Or at least I remember him hinting at that in an old discussion somewhere....

SuperMegatron · Post by **SuperMegatron** » Fri Oct 15, 2004 1:00 am

quzar wrote:One of them that was being tinkered with was an N64 expansion for the Expansion port. Or at least I remember him hinting at that in an old discussion somewhere....

Didn't Rand say once that he wasn't 100% conviced that the dc couldnt emulate the ps2 ? I may be way off on that so if I am dont get pissed at me.