Nah, consoles can be very profitable if you dont sell them at subsidized prices like the PS3, but with a profit, like the Wii. We could easily make this ITX-based console at a price that would allow us to break even on costs, or we could get some venture capital and actually make some profits out of it (and getting into the industry BTW). What it really amazes me is that NOBODY has released a portable console-ipod hybrid, like a GPX2 that you can download games like in LIVE or VC and play on the go. Seeing as it would be far cheaper to develop than say the PSP, and that it has no similar competition whatsoever....I'll say it could be a hit, seriously. So, who wants to be in my million dollar idea?;-)
Hmmm not really, you don´t need unlimited money at all. If I had some geeks at my side, I think a 1 GHZ processor, and a dual boot, as I have mentioned. And etc. in a miniITX wouldn´t be that expensive. Since there are tons of possibilities, and if "we" make the console "box" about 20(or 30 for that matter) centimetres tall, 50X50 centimetres aka. 50 square centimetres in acreage, then you could fit the whole shemoly inside of it. And why am I going into the metric scale ? because most of the world uses that scale. But anyway, I don´t think it is impossible to do what I have just said. So perhaps my measurements are perhaps on the wrong side, then I am still thinking, you don´t need unlimited money to come with it. And well, if you need dos programs, then Interesting DOS programs - Home Page is a great site for resources there. And Linux programs are easy too, to find. So unlimited money ? don´t be joking, "we" could even make a kit. So the people could put it together, and upgrade some of it. Why am I saying "we" is because I don´t know how many who is REALLY interested in it. But I am, and from my point of view. to me the possibilities are endless.
Well I'm still hoping for kevtris console to come in full production one day :nod: http://www.tripoint.org/kevtris/Projects/console/index.html
You are not the only one , I am one of those people who would spend 500 US dollars to get such a machine. Since it would be a smashing great machine
you don't need more than a 100 GBP capital to setup a private limited company in the UK at least ;p setting up companies is easy.
well it's just that consoles are made in large numbers. if the box cost you $100 to make and made 10,000 you'd spend 1,000,000. seems like a LOT of $$ to me.
That's why there's a MSRP (Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price)...even if it's a homebrew kit, the selling price would be more than the production costs (there's also development, prototyping, etc. to recoup). Unlike MS and Sony, there wouldn't be a reason to do lead lossing as this would be for a niche market, and it'd be more like game dev teams doing games on their spare time or whatnot, so game royalty recoup would be out of the question. So it might cost you $100 to make, but you'd probably charge $125 (for example).
That could get kinda messy if there's a sudden surge in demand. Plus, as stated before, costs of parts are cheaper in bulk. Since this would be for such a niche market, maybe only 100 need to be produced (plus dev/debug units if need be).
Simple. Make 10 for $100 each, sell for $125, you've made $200. Scale as needed. Doesn't sound like a lot, but that's how a small company does it. Start small, let it grow bigger!
well I know a guy who programs games for cell phones for a living, and him and many of those he works with would love to be able to make 'proper games' it's just that there isn't an infrastructure to support this locally, no one willing to take a chance and start a proper company, and programers just don't have the time or money to do it on their own. so I've been contemplating for a while - should I get a decent amount of money together (there's an off chance that I'd be in for some at some point in the medium term) - contracting a group of programers, and having them work on a few projects I'd love to get made. workforce is relatively cheap here - I think these guys who program games for cell phones earn 350-400 dollars a month which is a decent wage here - so maybe I could get them for even less money if they meet me half way. in the end if a game could come out of this, at the very least I'd have a very expensive quality homebrew/independently made game. since I am not in the biz and don't know much about anything, it would be an ego trip cast on a geniune wish to make a fun game. and if it worked out why not then start an independent company locally? if a 2D platform where being made, I'd love to contribute this way, maybe making the console a little more interesting. yes this is all highly unlikely, but I truely like the idea alot and if I had some support I'd definetly run with it.
No offense pal, but I know a guy who tried to outsource to argentina a couple years ago and came back with dire results to say the least... For what he told me, he couldnt find even one friggin software engineer down there, nor someone who was at that skill level. You guys may be cheaper but when the quality is low you need more people and more time get the job done, which its translated into more money in general, so at the end making a game in argentina could be even more expensive than in other countries. Plus I heard theres some backwards laws about taxes and labor in argentina, which is definitely bad for business. This guy I was talking about moved the entire operation to brazil, which not only has some kickass programmers, but its becoming a big player in the worldwide IT industry.
nah no offence taken, thanks for the info. these guys are working for ubisoft if I'm not mistaken. well it's a pipe dream, but I like the idea of having something custom made when paying for it's production. I'm wondering if the games industry will ever mirror the film industry to the extent that you could have an original game concept (script) written up and offered to games producers and be payed for it. I'm sure my ideas would be a drop in the ocean if this where so as so many would be up for it (armchair games designers), but maybe someone that's not otherwise in the industry could think something up worthwhile that would be made. would be interesting.
They didn't want anyone to know what the processor was, in the same way they didn't want you to know how any of the other hardware worked. As the processor they used could run the same code as the R3000 then they didn't have to tell you any different. They finally relented on the GTE, by allowing you to call the instructions inline rather than through a library. But they still didn't tell you the opcodes, the .o files had to be translated by another program. There is reasonable amount of evidence that Sony started out with a different MIPS-I CPU and they may have used a different one for System 12. smf
Can we all agree that having an internal hard drive (preferably 3.5") would be a good idea? 2.5" drives don't hold as much, are slower and cost more, while the opposite is true for 3.5" drives. And it goes without saying that running an app or game from a hard drive is the best option: hard drives are fast, hold a bunch and can be stored within the device itself. CDs\DVDs are slowish and die easily, and cartridges are expensive and don't store much.
who's going to develop for this system? if you make 100 what point is there for dev's to work on it? games are difficult to make and to spend all that effort on a product that *might* get 100 players seems pointless. assuming i'm a dev, why should i switch from programming for an already designed console (xbox, ps2) or my pc (millions of users) for this console yes i'm the official thread nay-sayer
