Switch

I was reading this article a couple of weeks ago, and sure was tempted in getting one...

Yes, I am a weak individual to g33k-marketing, I know this... 😅

So... I ended up shelling out the wet stinky, and it is on its way in the post 😋

Ubuntu on Nintendo Switch

Yes. Indeed. It will be used to do what its supposed main function is... But, I will also tinker and experiment with this gadget to my hearts content 😅 😎



Update Monday, May 28th:

Oh HELLZ YEAH!

Nintendo Switch Red/Blue JoyCons

Nintendo Switch + 8Bitdo NES30 Pro Bluetooth gamepad

Retro-gaming

I've been itching to write this blogpost for a while...

I'm an avid retro-gamer, as well as a contemporary gamer. My emulation-antics took off in the late 90s when I started getting nostalgic about old DOS-games from the late 80s and early 90s. For the most part, DOS-emulation was pretty accurate even in the early days.

But these days emulation is pretty much a native thing. CPU-cycle-imitation and other emulation-techniques have pretty much reached the runtime-levels of the actual systems they are emulating.

I don't favor the new idea of releasing limited special-editions of consoles, like the NES classic mini and the SNES classic mini, when you can build a COTS-computer (or even use a deprecated laptop/desktop), load it up with RetroPie and ROMs, and you basically have a multi-emulation box that runs EVERYTHING, and can be CUSTOMIZED.

If you go for a Raspberry Pi 3, such a system could even cost you as low as $30 (apart from cables and gamepads / arcade-sticks, then it would cost you a minimum of $50).

Sure, a few people argue that the RPi3 is a fad, or that the SD-card gets worn out so it's not made to last, etc.

Well, a $30 credit-card computer isn't really that hard to replace, and SD-cards are a dime a dozen these days and are even getting cheaper, not to mention quite easy to back up (making a copy-image on your computer harddrive / usb-drive).

Sure you cannot for example use exotic console-hardware, like the microphone gamepad for the Japanese NES. Nor can you play roms made from FX-gamepaks (Nintendo addon-technology to render pseudo-3D on the SNES). Then again, would you want to? Hey, if that's your thing, have at it. I don't give a flying f**k...

Emulation is king - imho.

Console-gaming

Two words: corrupt, busted.

I lost all my consoles in a lightning-strike back in March, and after using most of the money meant for replacement-consoles on my computer-upgrade instead; I'm NEVER going back to console-gaming ever again...

They're completely overpriced, the games are as well and games/apps get slower patching than any other gaming-platform.

Not to mention the hardware is usually 2-3 years behind current PC-hardware, and usually under-powered as fuck. Actually, current-gen consoles (PS4 / Xbone) also utilize "Radeon-based" graphics (graphic-accelerators), which is severely sub-par compared to almost any other graphic-solution.

Nope!, spank you very much...

FUCK. CONSOLES.

SteamOS

Steam OS in it's early stages. Fairly straightforward installer actually no need for command-line magic or anything. It's a modified Debian GNU/Linux 7.1 ("Wheezy") distribution, maintained by Valve.

Bootscreen.

Live-CD installer, loading components.

Installing SteamOS base system.

SteamOS desktop, after exiting the Steam for Linux client.

Xbox 360 S - 250GB

Ok, jeg ga meg til slutt på en del av mine sterkt uttrykte avskyelser (proprietære systemer, som f.eks.: Google Android, PSP, PS3). Men, jeg nekter fremdeles å kjøpe/bruke PC-produkter fra Microsoft/Apple :P jeg krever mer tilpassingsmuligheter. Rett og slett.

Nå om det er sagt, må jeg innrømme at Xbox 360 har en del å by på, men jeg holder fortsatt mest med favoritten fra de siste 5 årene; PlayStation 3, som er suverent overlegen både på lagringsmedia (Blu-Ray + erstattbar intern 2.5" harddisk), grafikk- og prosessor-ytelse.

Men nå har jeg da bestilt min første Xbox 360 Slim 250GB (nei, jeg har ikke snudd på mine prinsipper, men kan fint godta at det fremdeles finnes konkurranse-dyktighet i andre deler av teknologi-bransjen, og gjør mitt for at bransjen fortsetter å vokse ;) - les: jeg ble fascinert av Halo og en del andre spill som er dedikert Microsoft-plattformen. Og nå som jeg faktisk har ressurser til å fordype min "nerdeskap", så gjør jeg det, fordi jeg kan ;D

Xbox 360 S fikk også god vurdering i norske nettaviser.
http://www.itavisen.no/845560/test-xbox-360-s

Happy Gaming Peepz! :P

---

Tillegg Fredag 6. Aug, 12:48 GMT+1:

Har nå spilt på maskinen og brukt det medfølgende Xbox LIVE Gold månedsabonnementet en drøy uke.

Må si jeg likte veldig godt spillene "Left 4 Dead 2" og "Mass Effect". Valve kan fortsatt lage spennende konsepter med herlig grafikk, og Mass Effect var en suveren blanding av RPG/FPS (Role Playing Game / First Person Shooter).

Skal nok definitivt anskaffe meg 2-ern av Mass effect, og 3-ern når det kommer.., ble veldig glad i det spillet. Var akkurat som å treffe en gammel kjenning, følte jeg hadde spilt det før å greier :) gøy.

Galaxy Game

Galaxy Game was one of the first coin-operated game-machines around (now known primarily as arcade-games).

It was developed by a Stanford University grad named Bill Pitts and his highschool friend Hugh Tuck. They based the game on Spacewar!, which was developed in 1961 for the PDP-1 and later ported to a variety of other platforms, while Galaxy Game was developed on a PDP-11/20 with a vector display.

I read an article about the game featured on Google Blog, which then inspired me to write about it since I'm quite fond of antique computer games and/or programs.

If you want to know more about this inspiring game, read this article from the infolab@Stanford.

On a side-note: arcade-games have evolved exponentially over the years since the 1970's. Arcade-games in the 70's were mostly nothing more than flat computer-programs designed to entertain people.

To give an example, most games in that era were simple (not as in "non-complex" though) 2d graphical interactive computer applications, like "PacMan" or "Galaga" (allthough Galaga didn't appear until the beginning of the 80's, it still resembled games from the 70's), while as arcade-games in our day and age are usually *NOT* simple and *NOT* 2d-based. But rather, they are powered by complex 3D computations, complex audio modulation and some even contain libraries to emulate physical environments to appear more realistic to the gamers. To achieve this realism, arcade-vendors now have to design and implement accelerated hardware into their arcade-game machines, which, given the current economic status of the world, is quite an expense.

I basically foresee that the arcade-market is going to slow down the coming years, which is kind of sad in my opinion. Arcade-games have been the gaming industry's testpads for upcoming game-features since the late 80's. But since we now have the Internet, there is no longer a strong demand for physical gaming machines.

Instead we have emulators, virtual machines and high bandwidth for which to connect the core-software to the game-data online, or locally. The possibilities are endless.

Nytt liv i PSP leiren...

http://www.dagbladet.no/2009/02/24/kultur/spill/playstation_2/playstation_portable/motorstorm/5020515/

Sony slipper nå PS3-spillene "LittleBigPlanet", "Assassin's Creed", "Motorstorm" og "Rock Band" til PSP-formatet.

"- Det er mange store utsagn i spillbransjen, men vi er selvsikre når vi sier at 2009 vil bli et spennende år for PSP. Våre fans har krevd store PSP-spill, og i år vil vi levere igjen og igjen, uttaler markedssjef Mark Hardy i SCEE i en pressemelding."

SCEE => Sony Computer Entertainment Europe