mick_aka
Kickin' it lively!
"Mick is moderately adequate."
Joined: April 2007
Posts: 9,817
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XBL: mickloaf
PSN: mickloaf
Nintendo ID: segamick
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Post by mick_aka on Dec 24, 2008 20:08:29 GMT
The production costs of an optical based system are massive compared to something like the NES which you can almost fit onto a single FPGA.
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Post by chizzles on Dec 25, 2008 2:56:33 GMT
They could still affoard to sell them for the same price companies sell "Famiclones" for though And make profit! However - Nintendo don't let third parties manufacture famiclones, the companies that make them exploit legal loopholes. In some countries they wouldn't get away with it! Although SEGA could always release something like the Nintendo iQue. A retro games player system that emulated the NES, SNES and N64 and took games sold on SD cards for a super low price.
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mick_aka
Kickin' it lively!
"Mick is moderately adequate."
Joined: April 2007
Posts: 9,817
Location:
XBL: mickloaf
PSN: mickloaf
Nintendo ID: segamick
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Post by mick_aka on Dec 25, 2008 4:54:18 GMT
They could still affoard to sell them for the same price companies sell "Famiclones" for though Well... no. My point above was that incorporating a CD-Rom drive into a console is a damn site more expensive that a cart slot. Aside from that a single chip powerful enough to emulate the Saturn's 9 would have to be considerably more beefy than any famiclone's FPGA, and would make the system ridiculously expensive, meaning that a copy of the original board and components would be the most viable option! So you would be looking at the re-manufacture of motherboards, sourcing of chips or viable replacements for chips that have been out of manufacture for some considerable time (with less powerful systems this can be bunged onto an FPGA as mentioned above), the re-manufacturing of the Saturn's CD-Rom unit and finally the re-manufacture of cases. Trust me on manufacturing costs, I know of where I speak. All this for a system which would sell for at least £250 (based on the minimig re-manufactured Amiga 500's costing £150 for just a motherboard!) made in small numbers, and that would be marketed to one of the smallest and most niche gaming markets on the planet... And how many of even the most dedicated Saturn owners would drop £250+ on an unofficial re-manufactured Saturn? Famiclones can be made cheaply, in bulk, and sell heavily to many markets (nostalgia, retro gamers, small kids, poor families etc.) A Saturn clone could achive none of the above.
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Post by chizzles on Dec 25, 2008 8:02:30 GMT
They don't have to emulate them though.
I doubt it would cost that much to manufacture a Saturn on a chip, the Dreamcast on a Chip system used in the Aurora and Atomiswave was used because it was cheap.
The PS2 slim uses a PS2 on a chip.
You are telling me they can't manage a Saturn?
plz.
Besides, there are DVD players out there that cost less than Famiclones. And DVD players are more powerful than a famiclone in almost every aspect!
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mick_aka
Kickin' it lively!
"Mick is moderately adequate."
Joined: April 2007
Posts: 9,817
Location:
XBL: mickloaf
PSN: mickloaf
Nintendo ID: segamick
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Post by mick_aka on Dec 25, 2008 17:19:09 GMT
You are telling me they can't manage a Saturn? I have at no point said it can't be done, of course it can! Regardless of processing power the more processors you incorporate onto one chip, the more expensive the chip. For example my mobile phone is considerably more powerful than say a 1970's 4 processor DEC PDP setup, but lacks the I/O to handle direct hardware emulation of the system. And we are talking 'emulation' as putting a system onto an FPGA is pure hardware emulation though a custom chip. What I'm trying to say is that from a business point of view the system would be prohibitively expensive and profit margins & sales very small, making it unlikely that any company would manufacture it.
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Post by chizzles on Dec 26, 2008 20:24:36 GMT
But companies have manufactured and sold clones of very obscure systems in the past.
I like to think of them as the Ferraris of the console clone world ;p
Mini MSX's are a good example!
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Post by superdeadite on Dec 27, 2008 12:43:37 GMT
Well here in Japan you can buy the "1-Chip MSX." Its a very nicely built unit, although it can only play MSX ROM Carts (no floppies, no cassettes). However they retail for 20,000yen, and its just the bare console. You have to supply your own controller.
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mick_aka
Kickin' it lively!
"Mick is moderately adequate."
Joined: April 2007
Posts: 9,817
Location:
XBL: mickloaf
PSN: mickloaf
Nintendo ID: segamick
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Post by mick_aka on Dec 27, 2008 19:26:22 GMT
Yeaaaaaaa, bargain! I'll take 10!
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