Hardware-wise, the console offers 4K of RAM and 64K of program space, with four channels of wavetable sound. Control inputs are setup for NES pads, but you could choose any similar input scheme since those old pads were just switches and not the complicated serial/analog stuff on modern commercial consoles.

The software is interrupt-driven, which prevents the programmer from having to count cycles, so it's not quite as challenging to program as an Atari 2600, but should still be fun. You can access up to 256 colors thanks to the resistor-ladder DAC setup while the AD725 handles the heavy lifting to convert the signal to a standard TV-compatible NTSC signal.

Overall, it looks like you write some code that results in a very NES-class game. For example, look at the video of Tetris running on the Uzebox below and you'll see that it's definitely capable of NES-class games.

[Thanks]

People have been making very simple pong type games using Microchip PIC microcontrollers for some time. However, due to the very limited power of the PIC, you typically don't see anything involving sound, moving backgrounds, more advanced gameplay, or animation.

John Sachs Beeckler decided to take PIC-based gaming to the next level, though. His design uses three PICs to sub-divide the tasks required for making a full-featured game. There is one master processor (16F877) which controls the overall system and performs the game logic, while two additional PICs (16F84 and 16F877) handle the graphics and sound generation.

The main code was written in C but the graphics generator is hand-coded in assembly to meet the strict requirements of generating the video signal (remember programming the Atari 2600?) The sound data is pulled from an external EEPROM and converted to the analog audio signal using a resistor network. The entire codebase fits in 8K of FLASH and efficiently uses the minimal ROM and RAM available on the PIC microcontrollers.

The code and design has been open-sourced, so you can download everything and use it in your own projects or to just build your own identical game if you want. One thing I'd suggest changing about the design is how he wired everything up -- what a mess! Check-out the Alien Slaughter home built PIC game system for more details.

For years, I've toyed with virtual robot battle games. Usually, these are called p-robots (pascal), c-robots (C), and use a text based simulation engine which just prints the names of the robots that won each virtual battle. These are a great way to practice your logical thinking and touch-up on your programming skills, but ultimately, they weren't very interesting to watch.

Robot Battle is a free program which takes the educational aspects of the older programs and bolts-on a nice graphical interface to depict the battles. This lets you watch your robot's behavior and aids in debugging and improving the algorithm. Robot Battle uses a simple, custom programming language, so it won't teach you an actual language's syntax, but it will let you hone your abilities to create logical operations and solve problems.

You can submit your robot into a world-wide massive competition or share ideas and code via the community forums. This tool is useful for everyone from rank beginners to seasoned programmers looking to have a little creative fun. You can get Robot Battle directly from the developer.

The famous author Andre LaMothe has taken it upon himself to teach the "black art" of console hardware design. He has many very well-written books, such as Tricks of the Windows Game Programming Gurus (I highly recommend this) and Tricks of the 3D Game Programming Gurus. Andre's credentials are well demonstrated.

That why, when he announced the XGameStation, I was interested enough to buy one. It's a great introduction to some of the techniques of game console design. The XGS uses a Microchip PIC-compatible SX microcontroller as the main CPU and generates the video signals line-by-line, much like the original Atari 2600 did with the Stella chip. In addition to a hardware kit, there is a companion book, which is available separately. The limited questions and support issues I have had regarding my XGS have always been very promptly answered -- one time, I even got a phone call direct from Andre at 11:00pm at night! I can't say that I've ever gotten that level of support before from anyone.

If the XGS package was not enough, a new product has been introduced which is based upon the 8-core Parallax Propellor microcontroller called the Hydra. It's aim more software focused than the original XGS. Between the hardware and the matching ebook, the user is educated on how to properly break-up a game engine thread so that it will efficiently execute on something with multiple cores. With the processing power available via the Propeller, the graphics and other functions on the Hydra are much improved over the XGS and are sure to please the user who's primarily interested in software architecture.

I don't currently have a Hydra, but it certainly looks like an interesting addition to my XGS and I think I'll get one when I get a bit of fun-money. The Hydra kit is only $249 for the USA version -- international versions with 220v supplies are a bit more.

I've always been interested in video games. As a kid, I used to spend hours on my Commodore 64 playing games, typing games in from Compute's Gazette magazine, and even writing my own games. Writing games was a lot of fun but even for a kid with unlimited time, it takes a lot of effort and planning to do anything halfway serious, let alone a full-blown game.

Fast forward to today. Video games are a gigantic business totalling nearly $30 BILLION in the USA alone. It's a very serious business where entire teams of dozens of artists, programmers, sound creators, and associated business support people work together to create titles with often cost multiple millions of dollars. It's a big gamble and tons of work.

However, despite the corporatization (is that a word?) of the industry and the exponential complexity of the games, it's still a field that many nerds, techies, and artists dream of working in. I recently discovered a site with lots of information on careers in the game design field, including average salaries, resources, and tips and tricks of the industry. I figured that, even if you aren't actively seeking a position in this field, it would still be of interest to read about it since I did.

The main site is www.gamecareerguide.com.

Here is a director link to read the game industry salary report.

The Getting Started section has lots more information if you're wondering how jobs are divided, what schools or classes are available, etc.

I think the site has some pretty interesting information. If nothing else, it can give you something to think about while you sit in your small cubicle doing boring paperwork at a large corporate job. Well, at least that describes what I'll be doing.

I started today with an e-mail from a friend which described several websites that were reporting stores were selling the new Nintendo DS Lite early, either accidentally or just because they don't believe in the silly delay when the units are in-stock.

I promptly called the local Target and Wal-Mart (as a last resort) and inquired if they were one of the stores that got the Lites early.

Target, with a helpful employee, informed me that they did not have any of the units in-stock yet, however some might arrive later on a "direct to store" shipment. He said I should try back around one or two PM.

I phoned up the two local Wal-Marts - one a normal dump and the other a Super dump. The first employee didn't even know what I was talking about. The employee at the Super store informed me that, even if they did have them, they would not sell them early as that's wrong. Nothing like a lecture from a Wal-Mart winner first thing in the morning.

At about 1:30pm, I decided that I'd head-out to Target to check in-person if the direct-shipment had any DS Lites and also grab some lunch. I cruised straight back to the video game lockup and what did I see? About 15 Nintendo DS Lites all lined-up in the locked cabinet. Within 2 seconds, I was following another guy, who had just performed the same check, over to talk to a clerk and get the cabinet opened. $138 later, after taxes of course, I was on my way with a brand-new DS Lite!

Upon returning to work, I informed some friends of my successful score and one guy decided he wanted a Lite also, so we headed back up to Target (hey, it's either ride along with him or sit at work - duh...) We got there at about 3:00pm and the shelf was suspiciously empty! The clerk who had sold me my unit was still there and we inquired about the missing stock and he said that the store manager had gotten upset and made them remove the DS Lites from the shelf until June 11th. Bummer!

I simply don't understand why Nintendo is enforcing this silly delay in selling the units. From reports on the internet, stores all over the country have these gems sitting in stockrooms just waiting to be sold. Why delay the release artificially for another 11 or 12 days? I just don't get it.

This is my first Nintendo DS (I'm upgrading from a Gameboy Advance SP) and I'm pleased to report that everything works great, there are no dead or stuck pixels, and the design of the unit is exactly as I was expecting: clean, thin, and elegant.

Anyway, I took some photos while unpacking my new, highly desirable toy, so that anyone who's interested can see what it's like while they count the days to the official release date.

The announcement that the yet unreleased Playstation 3 is going to cost $600 has been quite the talk of the gaming circles lately. Personally, I think that price is ludicrous despite the Sony president telling us all that it's actually "too cheap" The fact that it contains a BluRay drive, which is supposedly a major contributor to why it's so expensive, is about as much justification for me to spend $600 on a game console as buying a $250,000 Rolls Royce to get a woodgrain cupholder.

Alas, I'm sure all of the Sony/Playstation fanboys will be camping-out for weeks when the console finally ships and that's their perogative. For the rest of us, there are plenty of other consoles, both retro and new, which brings me to the story.

I'm sure that many of you readers once owned an Atari 2600, an Intellivision, or Sega Genesis. Obviously, back in the 1980's, there was no way even imaginable that 99.9% of our parents would have paid $600 for a game system, so the machines were centered around a much more reasonable $200 mark. But... what happens if you adjust the 1980's prices into today's horribly inflated US dollars? You get a much different story...

The Curmudgeon Gamer did just that. He calculated and graphed the prices of all of the production game consoles throughout history and stacked them up against today's seemingly unreasonable PS3. The results might surprise you. For example, that beloved Atari 2600 would cost $653 in today's dollars.

Of course, no matter how try to justify the PS3, it's still $600 and that's just simply way too much for a console that likely won't come with any games, and when you do buy the games, they'll probably be $60 each or more (I'm guessing more since the Xbox360 games are $60 and they don't use the hyper-expensive BluRay discs). In my book, that's simply a very, very poor value for the money. Give me another Atari 2600 from the local thrift store with a box of games for a total of $10 instead, or perhaps something more advanced like the wonderful 16-bit Sega Genesis! Then again, maybe all of those "Free PS3!" offers will come to the rescue for modern gamers...

In another fine example of a television commercial that is too prude for the USA, this commercial from Nintendo aired in Canada advertising their newest product at the time, the Gameboy Micro.