Dev kit for the ill-fated Nuon system (aka Project X) Here: http://www.nuon-dome.com/hard_devkit.html Incidentally, I still have that near-complete NUON system + games bundle that I was trying to sell a few months back!
thank you very much i had been searching for the name and what is was called before it was canned and from i heard about the first time(for years !) , thank you
My pleasure! The most memorable thing about Project X was the logo they made depicting a huge X crushing Mario and Sonic beneath it! Also, for those who are curious, Project X/Nuon actually went under another code name---- Merlin.
Wow, thanks for the pics! By the way, the NUON SDK was avaible for download to everyone,I should have it somewhere. And I heard the NUON ran on several SIMD DSP's or something, but the board actually looks quite clean.
Yeah, the NUON SDK kit has been out for a few years now. One of the annoying issues with the SDK is that it lacks a decent debug tool...homebrew developers would lament about having to burn a disc each time they wanted to test/debug their code. From my recollection though, another big limitation is that a homebrew developer using the SDK could not create true NUON dvd's...only small CD-R programs which could only be run on the Samsung N-501 model. I guess the dev kit and correct burner is the only way to go in that regard. That also explains why there hasn't been much in the way of new independent software on the Nuon aside from the customary ports of Doom, pong and Snake.
I'm so angry my player can't run homebrew. I've got one of the Toshiba SD2300 units, and while it is an excellent DVD player, I just wish I could homebrew apps or set it to region-free. The Samsung N-501 may be the only model capable of running code from CD-R, but it seemed like almost every Nuon model except mine had some region-free trick.
But on Nuon there're just those games? Ballistic Bust-A-Move 4 (Unreleased) Crayon Shin-Chan (Korea only) FreeFall 3050 A.D. Iron Soldier 3 Merlin Racing Space Invaders XL The Next Tetris Tempest 3000 I would like to find the BAM 4 and crayon shin chan is it possible to find other unreleased games?
BAM4 was for all intents and purposes complete, but VM Labs lacked the funds to release it. I was after a copy of Crayon Shin Chan for a while, but it's hard to find and the other thing is it WILL NOT play on an NTSC Nuon player. There were a few other games rumored to be in production (Activision announced 3 games--mahjong, a Star Trek PS port, and one other) and even rumors of EA coming on board were circulating. A few other Playstation ports were announced, but again, nothing playable has surfaced.
it was a combination DVD-Player and Game playing device - i.e. you bought a DVD player and there were some specific games that could be bought to play on it.
It was more or less a licensed technology from VM Labs that they hoped to include in many brands of DVD players. Toshiba, Samsung and RCA used the processor/technology in several of their DVD models. The Aries processor basicallly replaced the standard video decoder in the DVD player (thus enabling some neat features while playing back standard movies like on-the-fly changes, strobe effects, smoother rewind/fast forward, etc while also giving it the ability to play the Nuon games. When you think about it, had VM Labs received better funding, perhaps this infiltration method of getting their technology into as many different DVD players could have worked to some degree as Sega, Sony and Nintendo used a closed console method where they built the box and maintained the software. VM Labs figured the best way to compete was to get the NUON tech into as many DVD players as possible...let the big names like Samsung and Toshiba build the hardware while paying VM Labs a license fee which would free them to focus on gaming and further R&D design on the Aries processor. It could have worked, but poor timing and lack of further funding sealed VM Labs' fate. Incidentally, Sega themselves were looking at this very same option of scaling the DC technology into 1 or 2 chips and including DC tech into a variety of DVD players and embedded devices. There was an interview with Charles Bellfield in one of the last few issues of ODCM who stated that the DC technology was very scalable and could even be improved using this method, as well as Sega's future being that of a content provider....it was easy to see that they were ready to pull the plug on the existing DC which in fact happened shortly after that issue hit the newsstands.
Why wouldn't it? Korea (if that is where it's from) is NTSC too. Or does it not work on Region 1 players? That might make more sense as Korea is 3. Where Nuon games region-specific, then? And more importantly, are any of the games *good*? I remember hearing good things about Tempest 3000...
It won't work...it's been confirmed by a few who managed to snag a copy. Region lockout or encryption or something. Are any of the games good? In my opinion, yes. While I personally HATED Tempest 3000 due to its needlessly soupy visuals and overly busy backgrounds, many have lauded it as a worthy update to the Atari Jaguar game. My favorite games were Merlin Racing and Iron Soldier 3. Merlin Racing was a capable kart racer that I found far more enjoyable than Mario Kart 64 and it featured a fun adventure mode to extend the life of the game. IS3, while hard to find, was insanely fun. Just don't expect Dreamcast or Xbox visuals and performance and you'll have fun.
