Andre LaMothe, a programmer and systems designer who's a bit of a superstar in the homebrew and DIY worlds (largely for his XGameStation, a user-programmable game console) has added another, more sophisticated model to his XGS stable, the Hydra. Where the previous system had been based on a simple, 8-bit SX52 processor, the new Hydra is centered around the more sophisticated, multi-core, 32-bit Propeller Chip, which is similar in concept to the PS3 processor (though not remotely in the same ballpark, if you go by the demo screens). The console comes with a mouse, keyboard, controller, 128K game card, and a blank "experimenter" card (which can be used to solder together your own custom add-ons). The system allows you to develop games on your PC -- though if you're any kind of real programmer, you'll do things the old-fashioned way and use the built-in BASIC to code right on your television while chugging Jolt and eating pizza.
posted Jun 27th 2007 7:14PM
Woah woah woah, how do they expect you to look at a TV for an extended period of time with something other than pop and pizza in hand?
Pop? You must be from Pittsburgh.
Nah we say pop here in dertoit. But we also have faygo too.
Sorry. Pop is the equivalent of soda, or whatever you call carbonated beverages wherever you reside.
its pop in cincinnati too
Wow, i definitely thought that pop was just a Pittsburgh word..
I can't wait to play Super Adventure Breakfast at Tiffany's
http://www.xgamestation.com/view_media.php?path=products/hydra/hydra_ss_22_large.jpg&title=HYDRA%20Game%20Development%20Kit×tamp=&caption=Hot+chick+bitmap+rendering+on+the+HYDRA+by+Robert+Woodring.%0D
$200 for this?
a GP2X would be a better buy, already has a lot of content, its portable but can be wired together with accosories to make a full 4 player console
Emulation FTW
Indeed, $200 seems pricey for such a weak console, especially given $250 for Wii. Hell all the previous Nintendo systems were $200, and judging by the screenshots (can't find any tech specs), I'd guess this is somewhere around SNES in capabilities.
Win, though, for having NES controller ports.
It's not just meant as a game platform; it's supposed to bring the chance to have a device where you can drill down to the bare metal, like we used to do on the early 8-bit micros.
This has been around for a long time on www.parallax.com. The whole purpose of this is for you to program for this; not for playing wii games...
programming can be more fun (& fustrating) than playing games...
http://www.parallax.com/detail.asp?product_id=32360
Don't have to tell me, I'm a hobbyist coder myself. Just, $200?