Sega GameGear - Flash Back

In the early 90’s Nintendo was dominating the handheld video game market with the GameBoy that featured a simple yet effective monochrome display, Sega responded to this by releasing a back lit full colour displayed handheld system called the Game Gear also known as Project Mercury during its development. The Game Gear '1uped' the GameBoy in terms of technical specifications but wasn’t the first colour handheld system on the market at the time as the Atari Lynx and the NEC Turbo Express had beaten Sega to the punch.

What and When

The Sega Game Gear is essentially a portable version of the Sega Master System but with an increased colour pallet plus stereo sound available though the use of head phone. It also featured a more ergonomic design when compared to its competitors at the time. Consumers literally got their hands on the Sega Game Gear in Japan late 1990 followed by North America and Europe in 1991, Australia was last on the release list as systems hit our shores in 1992. Sega discontinued the system five years down the track in 1997 but Majesco stepped in and kept the Game Gear flame a light by continuing to manufacture the system in 2000. Although it was ascetically identical to the original and the issue of the screen suffering from a low refresh rate with fast paced games was improved, unfortunately the Majesco version wasn’t compatible with some previous accessories like the TV Tuner.

Even though the Game Gear out classed the GameBoy technically with a backlit colour screen, this extra performance came at a cost as the Game Gear chewed away at the six AA batteries that were required to power the system. If alkaline batteries were used an average of five hours game play was achievable which paled in comparison to the GameBoy’s average of 35 hours, battery life was one of the main reasons Nintendo didn’t move on to a colour screen as battery technology wasn’t as strong as it is today. Lithium-ion batteries were not mainstream at the time, this was a common problem with handheld systems that featured backlit colour displays of this era. To combat the power consumption issue Sega offered many alternate power source options (see accessories for more information) but this issue did deter many consumers.

Sharing the architecture with the Sega Master System made it easy for developers to port over existing tiles to the Game Gear, which over time built up a game library of around 300 titles all of which are region free which is common amongst most handhelds, and by using the Master Gear accessory over 200 more Sega Master System titles can be used. Not limiting the selection Sega and third party developers tried to cover most genres giving users a decent variety of games to choose from.

Accessories

With most portable handheld gaming systems manufactures like to offer a good variety of accessories to enhance and complement their systems. The Game Gear continues that tradition by offering a very good variety of peripherals to choose from. As you would expect with a handheld system the usually carry cases, screen magnifiers, system to system link cables, and aftermarket cheat devices were available. To compensate for the Game Gears bad habit of devouring AA batteries Sega has offered numerous power supply options which include a car adaptor, AC mains adaptor which doubles as the charger for the two variants of rechargeable power packs. One rechargeable power pack is separated from the Game Gear unit that can clip onto a belt, while the other integrates with the Game Gear its self but adds to the over all weight of the unit.

The Game Gear TV Tuner allows the Game Gear to receive a public broadcast television signal, which at the time was appealing feature consider the prices of portable colour TVs. The TV Tuner was region specific with each being geared towards the broadcast signals of its release region, plus compatibility was reduced to specific versions of the Game Gear, units that have a serial number beginning with a letter were be compatible with the TV tuner.

To further expand the Game Gear’s already extensive library the Master Gear converter allowed owners to play existing Sega Master System games, this was done with ease thanks to similar architecture shared between the two systems.

Variations

• Sega Game Gear


• Game Gear Black


• Game Gear Blue Released in 1993, with the game World Series Baseball


• Game Gear Gray 2000 (Reproduced by Majesto)


• Game Gear Coca-Cola RedJapanese release in 1994, bundled with Coca-Cola Kid game


• Game Gear White

Game Gear Specs and Media

• Main processor: Zilog Z80(8-bit)


• Processor speed: 3.58 MHz(same as NTSC dot clock)


• Resolution: 160 x 144 pixels


• Colours available: 4,096


• Colours on screen: 32


• Maximum sprites: 64


• Sprite size: 8x8 or 8x16


• Screen size: 3.2 inches (81 mm)


• Audio: 3 square wave generators, 1 noise generator, stereo sound through head phones only.


• RAM: 8 KB


• Video RAM: 16KB


• Internal Power: 6 AA Batteries


• External Power: 9V DC, 300mA, 3W


• Dimensions: 20cm x 11,3cm x ?


• Weight: ~400g


• Units Sold: 11 million

Sega Game Gear US Commercial

Sega Game Gear Japanese Commercial

Sources

wikipedia youtube cyberiapc racketboy

Sony Playstation - Flash back

The Falling Out

Back in 1988 Sony and Nintendo formed a joint venture to create a CD-ROM add-on for the Super Nintendo. An add-on drive was to be created followed by a stand-alone combination unit called the Playstation, but due to some financial disagreements Sony backed out of the project quickly. Sony, not wanting to waste all their research and development, decided to utilize what they had from this failed partnership. They took a stab at the video-game console industry on their own and the Playstation was born.

A design sketch of how the CD ROM add on may have looked like

What & When
p>After the Sony-Nintendo deal fell through, Sony travelled their own path by releasing the stand-alone 32 bit Sony Playstation with CD ROM as a storage medium. First off was the Japanese release in December 1994, followed by North America, Europe, and Australia nearly a year later. The Playstation’s direct competition for the time was the slightly more expensive Sega Saturn, and with the Nintendo 64 being over a year a way, Sony had the opportunity to dig their claws into the videogames market. Not long after released to the world, Sony had the first system since Atari's 2600 to top the charts in America, Japan and Europe simultaneously.

Being a CD ROM based the Playstation relied on memory cards to store save game data.

The Playstation’s phenomenal success was derived from a good combination of attributes. These included the well-known and respected Sony brand name, a lucrative corporate bank account, undercutting the Sega Saturn’s price at launch, a veritable selection of launch titles, solid graphics processing and easy to use Application Program Interface which allowed developers to harness the hardware quickly. By providing easy to use development tools combined with Sony’s already established CD pressing infrastructure, the Playstation was backed up by a very extensive library of games quite quickly, which gave it an advantage over the Nintendo 64’s somewhat limited selection of titles. On the downside the Playstation suffered from a barrage of shoddy titles jam packed with full motion video rather than quality game play, so the ratio of good quality games vs. quantity wasn’t in Sony’s favour.

By opting for a common media it wasn’t long before the Playstation suffered from piracy. Sony made an attempt to combat this by using black-coloured plastic discs that are only transparent to the infrared radiation used by the Playstation’s laser. In addition to that a four-character region code was stamped into the disc during production. However, all of this was in vein up against unauthorized mod chips that circumvented all of Sony’s security measures and region locking.

These days the majority of Playstation 1 titles are compatible with the Playstation and there’s a good selection of PSN games available for down load that will keep the nostalgia alive for time to come.

Playstation Specs

• CPU: 32-bit RISC (33.9MHz)


• RAM: 2MB, 1MB Video RAM


• Graphics: 3D Geometry Engine, with 2D rotation, scaling, transparency and fading and 3D texture mapping and shading


• Colors: 16.7 million


• Sprites: 4,000


• Polygons: 360,000 per second


• Resolution: 640x480


• Sound: 16-bit 24 channel PCM


• Units shipped:102.49 million

Variations

The PSONE with ‘Dual Shock’ controller

Watching the Playstation franchise evolve through its three generations has been interesting and one noticeable trait throughout the series is Sony’s common tendency to refine and re-release its products. This all began with the first Playstation. Over time Sony gradually reduced the number of external connectors and ironed out various hardware faults, and with each re-release a new product code was issued.

The rear of a Playstation with all connections

A special edition Net Yaroze was released. Dressed in black the Net Yaroze was basically a scaled down version of a Playstation developers suite aimed at the hobbyist programmer. In conjunction with your own suitable personal computer the kit including everything you need to get started.

Net Yaroze kit Contents

• 1 Black Net Yaroze PlayStation console


• 2 Black PlayStation controllers


• 1 AC power cord (with UK plug; in France an AC adapter was also included)


• 1 AV cable


• 1 euro AV adapter


• 1 Net Yaroze boot disc (A greenish PlayStation CD-ROM)


• 1 Net Yaroze software development disc (A CD-ROM containing development tools for PC)


• 1 access card (a black memory card-like dongle, required for booting in remote-controlled mode)


• 1 communications cable (a serial cable used to link the console and the computer)


• 1 "Start Up Guide" manual


• 1 "Library Reference" manual


• 1 "User Guide" manual

The core console wasn’t the only part of the Playstation that received the redesign treatment. Originally the first Playstation controller was made up of four shoulder buttons, four buttons on the face that use shapes for key reference and a “love it or hate it” sectioned D-Pad. This control pad was replaced with the DualShock controller that had additional dual analogue joysticks and an integrated rumble pack. Sony and their consumers must be pleased with this design because not a great deal has changed throughout the series apart from a few technical enhancements to cater for the changes in various game designs.

Ridge Racer

Gran Turismo has sold over 10 million copies

Sources cyberiapc wikipedia youtube

Nintendo 64 Flash Back

Each week Nintendo Wii owners wait in anticipation for the next crop of Virtual console titles to appear with many hoping for Nintendo 64 titles to emerge, although Nintendo seem to be drip feeding them to us recently, and even though they hold the highest price tag out of all the games available we still desire them, is this because the Nintendo 64 titles are graphically superior to anything else we can download form virtual console or is it because the Nintendo 64 title library holds many unforgettable classics?


What and When

The Nintendo 64 is the result of Silicon Graphics and MIPS Technologies working together to produce a low cost SGI-based system destined for the home console market, originally rejected by Sega’s hardware team but snapped up by Nintendo, this technology along with other supporting hardware is what makes the cartridge based system tick. It was a gutsy choice on Nintendo’s behalf deciding to continue with the cartridge format when the competition at the time has opted for the CD-ROM storage medium, so N64 games were restricted by storage capacity and increased production costs, but benefited from super fast load times and the difficulty of illegal reproductions.

Many casing variations were released.

Nintendo first announced their new up and coming console in 1994 as the Ultra 64 backed by strong software support from Rareware and Midway, and some may even remember the arcade versions of Cruis’n USA and Killer Instinct sporting the Ultra 64 logo and claiming that the same architecture in the arcade unit was what we would be expected in Nintendo’s next console but there were major differences between the two. So while Cruis’n USA and Killer Instinct were still gobbling up coins in the arcades the lucky people in Japan got to experience the newly renamed Nintendo 64 console in the comfort of their homes in June 1996, and released a few moths later the USA, followed by the PAL versions in the first quarter of 1997.

The Controller

Nintendo surprised us all with their bizarre controller design although it wasn’t the most aesthetically pleasing controller, there was logic behind Nintendo’s madness. With the N64 controller having three so grips you could comfortably grasp it in various ways depending on what style of game you were playing, Nintendo integrated both digital and analog controllers (which has become a standard with later released video game systems), with the analog stick working well with games that have you immersed in a 3D environment.

There’s a six button layout on the front of the controller, four of those buttons are "C buttons" which work well for changing viewing angles on games that require it, a “Z” button below the analog stick that can simulate a trigger action, along with the traditional shoulder buttons.

Even though game progression information can be stored on the game cartridges the N64 controller has an expansion port for the use of memory cards for larger files or data transfer, not only can it support memory cards you can add an extra dimension of gameplay by using the N64 rumble pak to feel those crashes and kicks. The icing on the cake for this system was that four controller ports were built in as standard.

N64 Controller pak and Rumble Pak

Top Games

Even though the Nintendo 64 didn’t have a massive library of games when compared to the Playstation, it did make up for that with unforgettable quality titles, some of these are available for download for the Wii via the shopping channel. Below is hand full of the more notable titles.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Super Mario 64

Goldeneye 007

Perfect Dark

BanjoKazooie

System Specs and Media

For those that have to know all the numbers and details here’s the list.

• CPU: 64-bit R4300i RISC (93.75MHz) / 64-bit data paths, registers with 5-stage pipelining


• Co-processor: 64-bit RISC (62.5MHz)


• RAM: 4MB (36Mb) upgradeable


• Graphics: Pixel Drawing Processor (RDP) built into co-processor


• Colors: 16.7 million (32,000 on screen)


• Polygons: 150,000 per second


• Resolution: 640x480 pixels


• Sound: 16 to 24-channel 16-bit stereo (up to 100 PCM channels possible)

An extra 4MB of RAM could be added to the N64 for titles that required it

Silicon Graphics Tech Demos

Nintendo 64 promotion

A compilation on N64 commercials

Sources wikipedia gamespot consolepassion cyberiapc youtube