Comments 283

Re: Dedicated Romhacker Converts More Than 80 SNES Games Into FastRom

gingerbeardman

@Sketcz it depends, honestly. If the game was CPU-bound during busy times then it will see an improvement: an example would be Mega Man X3. The faster CPU mode of FastROM mostly means data can be shifted from the cartridge more quickly, so it depends how much transferring of data to/from the cartridge the game does. Think of it as widening the bandwidth to/from the cartridge. In some games these patches even fix problems with the original FastROM implementation! Top work by KandoWontu.

Re: MSX Co-Creator Kazuhiko Nishi Teases MSX0 Cartridge Reader

gingerbeardman

I find all this Nishi MSX stuff a bit disingenuous. This MSX0 device is an off-the-shelf unit made by M5. Only his software is "new" and even then it's based on open source. All the other "new" MSX hardware is designed by a a Russian guy who lives in Switzerland. Suffice to say, Nishi is just running PR and marketing vapourware on all this. Let's see something ship!

Re: Random: We Need This Japan-Exclusive Pingu PlayStation Controller

gingerbeardman

What the viral thread and subsequent coverage missed, because it’s not obvious from the photo they used, is that the controller is meant to be placed on a table and used sparingly. Ideal for small children or anybody with accessibility needs.

It has a hold switch that can be used to lock certain buttons as being pressed, and the Pingu characters aren’t just for decoration: the position of their feet cause the whole controller and its button face to be perfectly horizontal/flat when it’s resting on a flat surface. That’s also the reason it has shorter handles.

To hold, it feels a bit bulbous. Not bad, but not how it’s meant to be used.

Source: I own one

Re: Feature: The Making of Super Play Magazine

gingerbeardman

I loved Super Play. Getting each new issue was like getting a letter from a Japanese pen pal. So good!

Also, I've got the DVD of Super Play scans. They're good, but it's a real chore to find anything as the scans are low resolution JPGs with no index or contents, rather than PDFs with full text search. I'd love to see the project redone in a way that makes the material searchable so it's easier to find that elusive review/advert/article. Or at least an index of all the content generated and merged with the JPGs to create PDFs. Any chance? I'd be willing to help.