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      Atari launches replica 2600 console to go with all its replica 2600 cartridges

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Tuesday, 22 August, 2023 - 21:02

    If you read about Atari issuing a new cartridge of a new Atari 2600 game and your first thought was, "What am I supposed to play this on?" there's an answer for you. Today, the company announced the Atari 2600+ , a $130 retro console with a cartridge slot that can accept vintage and modern Atari 2600 and 7800 cartridges, plus a $25 CX40+ joystick and $40 CX30+ paddle controller bundle that appear to more-or-less faithfully re-create the originals.

    All items are currently available for pre-order and will ship in November 2023. The console includes a 10-in-1 game cartridge with Adventure , Combat , Missile Command , Haunted House , Yars' Revenge , and a few other 2600 games.

    The Atari 2600+ takes its design cues from the early-1980s revision of the original console, with fake wood grain on the front and four control switches. But Atari says the console is only 80 percent as large as the original console, "making it easier to fit into modern living spaces." The console also has an HDMI output and uses USB-C for power.

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      Nintendo, ticked by Zelda leaks, does a DMCA run on Switch emulation tools

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Monday, 8 May, 2023 - 17:18 · 1 minute

    Princess Zelda holding a Master Sword

    Enlarge / Tools with great potential often require great effort to unlock. In Zelda games, that usually means a number of Heart Containers. In the emulation underground, you need title keys, shader caches, hotfixes, and a willingness to download from some sketchy sites. (credit: Nintendo/YouTube)

    Perhaps woken by news of its next premier first-party title already looking really impressive on emulators , Nintendo has moved to take down key tools for emulating and unlocking Switch consoles, including one that lets Switch owners grab keys from their own device.

    Simon Aarons maintained a forked repository of Lockpick , a tool (along with Lockpick_RCM ) that grabbed the encryption keys from a Nintendo Switch and allowed it to run officially licensed games. Aarons tweeted on Thursday night that Nintendo had issued DMCA takedown requests to GitHub, asking Lockpick, Lockpick_RCM, and nearly 80 forks and derivations to be taken down under section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act , which largely makes illegal the circumvention of technological protection measures that safeguard copyrighted material.

    Nintendo's takedown request (RTF file) notes that the Switch contains "multiple technological protection measures" that allow the Switch to play only "legitimate Nintendo video game files." Lockpick tools, combined with a modified Switch, let users grab the cryptographic keys from their own Switch and use them on "systems without Nintendo's Console TPMs" to play "pirated versions of Nintendo's copyright-protected game software." GitHub typically allows repositories with DMCA strikes filed against them to remain open while their maintainers argue their case.

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      Plex adds game-streaming as paid add-on, completely botches the landing

      Sam Machkovech · news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Tuesday, 26 January, 2021 - 22:57 · 1 minute

    Plex adds game-streaming as paid add-on, completely botches the landing

    Enlarge (credit: Plex)

    The streaming-hub app Plex has long endeared itself to a certain kind of media consumer—one who'd prefer to rip and stream their own purchased content from a home computer instead of relying on subscriptions. But while Plex has experimented with new features and media options over the past decade-plus, this week sees the service take its first-ever stab at interactive media. As in, games.

    Plex Arcade is now live as a paid add-on service, and it promises to let you stream your existing, classic gaming library from a home PC to a variety of Plex-compatible devices. That means you can put your favorite classic game ROMs next to your music, TV, and film libraries, and you can beam those to compatible devices, either at home or afar. For some users, this is a dream scenario: centralize your classic games on one device, then access them everywhere, instead of having to manually set up each phone and set-top box with emulators and ROMs.

    But Plex Arcade's first day is a bumpy one, and even if the service patches things up, it's a clear reminder why streaming classic games from a hub computer isn't nearly as handy as streaming other media.

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      Irena Genesis Metal Fury is an upcoming shoot 'em up for the Sega Mega Drive

      Liam Dawe · news.movim.eu / GamingOnLinux · Monday, 18 January, 2021 - 13:40 · 2 minutes

    Sega Mega Drive (Sega Genesis)? That's not a piece of Linux gaming hardware last I checked? No but Irena Genesis Metal Fury is a new game coming for the retro console and will provide the ROM file for your favourite emulators.

    Here's the thing: I'm a huge retro fan and I grew up with the Sega Mega Drive so it always holds a special place in my early gaming years and helped me really appreciate games. Irena Genesis Metal Fury looks awesome too and the developer, White Ninja Studio, aren't ignoring Linux either.

    First, take a look at their trailer:

    youtube video thumbnail
    Watch video on YouTube.com

    You can actually grab a demo ROM file from the ongoing Kickstarter campaign , and they provide a link right on the page to grab the BlastEm emulator for Linux and Windows. Always nice to see a developer take notice of Linux enough to provide everything you need right there. It will support the real hardware too.

    Seems popular too! Against their goal of €35,000 they've managed to raise over 38,000 and the crowdfunding campaign has 22 still left to go.

    More about the gameplay:

    During the game, the player can collect different power ups to upgrade their main weapon and equip two modules; one increasing firepower and one to create a magnetic shield protecting the ship from enemy projectiles.

    Depending on the situation, it's possible to adapt your ship’s speed to three different levels with a button push. You can set the default speed in the options menu according to your preference. The current speed is indicated on the HUD in the right of the screen for better visibility.

    During the progression, there are dangerous mini-bosses. It will be necessary to be well armed and know the different patterns in order to win the fight and continue the stage.

    As the player destroys enemies, the special attack bar will increase. Once fully charged, the special attack can be used to clear the screen of all enemies through a powerful four dragon attack inspired by The Revenge of Shinobi.

    Know what else is interesting about it? It's built with open source tech too. They're using SGDK , an MIT licensed development kit for the Sega Mega Drive.

    Find the Kickstarter here and try out the demo in your favourite emulator.

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      Make way for an $80 handheld that runs Ubuntu with the ODROID-Go Super

      Liam Dawe · news.movim.eu / GamingOnLinux · Monday, 28 December, 2020 - 10:41 · 1 minute

    Looking for a little gaming on the go or perhaps something in bed? The upcoming ODROID-Go Super announced recently sounds like quite a useful little Switch-styled device.

    Going on sale in late January for $80, this is the next-generation of the ODROID-Go Advance which Hardkernel announced back in 2019. This time the ODROID-Go Super will feature a bigger 5 inch screen with tough tempered glass for protection, a higher resolution at 854x480 and also a bigger 4000mAh battery. On top of that a bunch of hardware design changes also went in including being pre-assembled instead of a kit, dedicated volume buttons, a second joystick and more smaller changes.

    19535137781609151418gol1.png

    Seems it will have no wireless chips built in, but they did mention better support for USB Wifi and Bluetooth plus the micro-SD slot has been changed to the nicer spring-eject style rather than needing you to push and pull.

    The question is: what are you going to use it for? The answer is of course - emulation.

    As for the actual system specs compared with the older ODROID-Go Advance, they say it will have very similar specifications and performance so it seems it's mostly the new design you're getting here with the better screen and battery. This means Ubuntu 20.04 along with EmulationStation for the front-end.

    $80 for a pre-made dedicated on-the-go emulation unit? Seems pretty sweet.

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      DOSBox Pure for RetroArch aims to make retro DOS gaming real easy

      Liam Dawe · news.movim.eu / GamingOnLinux · Tuesday, 22 December, 2020 - 11:04

    Want to play old DOS games easily on whatever Linux machine you're using? RetroArch now has a new fork named DOSBox Pure and you can give it a test now.

    There's various launchers out there and guides for running DOSBox but the simplicity offered by RetroArch for retro stuff is great. Having that same easy of use available for DOSBox sounds pretty fantastic to me. DOSBox Pure has a lot of nifty features too like loading from zip files, mounting from inside zip files, save states and rewinding, controller mapping, cheats support and quite a lot more. It's a nicely advanced fork of the original.

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    Watch video on YouTube.com

    Want to give it a go yourself? You can now, as the Libretro team announced that it's ready for public testing along with a version for desktops and also Raspberry Pi (Arm7) so you could do a little DOSBox gaming easily on your fancy RPi setup - something I will admit I need to now try out.

    DOSBox Pure itself can be found on GitHub .

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      DOSBox Staging has a rather large new release out with 0.76.0

      Liam Dawe · news.movim.eu / GamingOnLinux · Friday, 4 December, 2020 - 16:32 · 1 minute

    DOSBox Staging is the fork of the original emulator with an aim to modernize it and give it some more advanced features, with the latest release out now.

    An important project because DOSBox itself is a vital bit of free and open source software, one that has enabled us not to lose out on thousands of classic games. Ensuring that it keeps working on modern systems using modern features with DOSBox Staging is awesome.

    This release is a big one covering many parts of it enhancing "the quality of audio emulation (GUS, built-in MIDI, PC speaker), improved support for PowerPC and POWER8 architectures, and a healthy mix of usability, documentation, code quality improvements". They go into a lot more detail in the lengthy release notes , which make for an interesting read.

    I'm a huge retro fan, which regular readers will know quite well by now. So with the inclusion of built-in GLSL shaders to emulate the visual look of an analog CRT monitor, I couldn't be happier with this release. Seems like it works quite well too:

    3252179401607098996gol1.png Jazz Jackrabbit (Holiday Hare 1995 Edition) - showcasing crt-fakelottes-flat, source: DOSBox Staging

    Even if I don't want to play it like that now, it's interesting for historical purposes. Perhaps more interestingly though, is that they've even added in integer scaling (pixel-perfect) option for OpenGL, which should make playing the classics just that little bit nicer especially on Linux as it allows for a resizable window now too.

    6326520321607099230gol1.png The Lost Vikings (1993) with integer scaling, source: DOSBox Staging

    Plenty of other exciting features included for retro gamers, worth taking a look.

    See the release notes of 0.76.0 here and on GitHub .

    Did you know you can use DOSBox with Steam Play on Linux? Thanks to Boxtron , another open source project, you can run almost any game on Steam that uses DOSBox quite easily.

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      Awesome 3D emulator for the NES '3dSen PC' adds more iconic game support

      Liam Dawe · news.movim.eu / GamingOnLinux · Friday, 30 October, 2020 - 14:27 · 1 minute

    Still can't believe my eyes as I try out games with 3dSen PC, with it converting classic NES games into 3D and it just feels like magic.

    Currently in Early Access, this amazing emulator is truly like no other. In real-time it converts your favourites into full 3D with a properly adjustable camera. In action it's pretty incredible to see and far more than a fun gimmick, it really does make games look and feel different.

    Due to how it works, game support is limited as each needs to be setup so that 3dSen PC can understand what it needs although the list is growing. As of the latest release the developer has hooked up official profiles for Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, Solomon's Key and Fire 'n Ice.

    Here's a quick look at Castlevania II: Simon's Quest in 3D using 3dSen PC just to demonstrate:

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    Watch video on YouTube.com

    It's not perfect of course and accuracy can be improved further, along with stuttering issues at times when new scenes are loaded in but it's not finished and will no doubt improve during Early Access.

    You can find 3dSen PC on Steam . Additionally, you can attempt to make your own 3D profiles using the free 3dSen Maker standalone companion app on itch.io .

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      Turn your favourite NES games into 3D with 3dSen Maker, for 3dSen PC

      Liam Dawe · news.movim.eu / GamingOnLinux · Wednesday, 26 August, 2020 - 10:28 · 1 minute

    Back in June, the awesome emulator 3dSen PC was released, which gave us a whole new way to play classic NES titles into fully 3D environments. Now, you can make profiles for your favourites.

    Honestly, it's a bit like magic. It works, very well too and genuinely looks really cool. One of those things that comes along and just blows your mind technically. Not only 3D, it also has modern gamepad support, saves states and things you would expect from a modern emulator. Need a reminder on how it looks? Check this out:

    youtube video thumbnail
    Watch video on YouTube.com

    The problem is, each NES game needs a special profile for 3dSen PC to work with. This can be time consuming, so 3dSen PC released with a limited amount of supported titles.

    However, Geod Studio just released 3dSen Maker free on itch.io so anyone can download and create their own profiles and tweak them to their liking for any NES title they can get their hands on. It includes profiles for SMB, SMB3, Legend of Zelda, Micro Mages as references to get you started and see how ready-made profiles work.

    Have a look at the 3dSen Maker example video:


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