Open and DIY Game Consoles

Two Linux based systems are coming out that are aimed at consumers for general computing, education and gaming.  The Rasberry Pi has been making a lot of headlines because of its low cost (< $35 US), and a recent games.com blog predicts it could cause a social gaming explosion.  Another highly anticipated system is Pandora, which is not cheap at 375 EUR, but offers portability.  If you can't wait a few months for these to be available, you can build your own console by connecting an Arduino to a  GameDuino, or get build the entire console yourself with and XGameStation or Uzebox kit.

Raspberry Pi

Pandora

GameDuino

XGameStation

Uzebox

Want to experiment with Linux? Get a Didj!

Now that the Didj has been discontinued by Leapfrog, it is sure to be on sale for much less than the cost of a similarly featured development board for Linux.  You can find all of the datasheets, reference material, and source to do your Linux experimenting at the eLinux.org Didj wiki page.  Below is a teardown of the toy and some processor specs, you can download the full datasheet from the site.

• 32bit CPU Embedded Architecture : 533MHz ARM926EJ with 16KByte I-Cache and 16KByte D-Cache.
• High performance 3D Graphics Accelerator
• USB 1.1 Host Controller, USB 2.0 Device, 4Ch UART
• LCD Controller, 8Ch DMA, Timer, Interrupt Controller, RTC
• SD/MMC, I2S, I2C, SSP, ADC, GPIOs, PWM, Power Manager

Leapster's Latest Handheld ARM-Linux Gaming Platform

Leapfrog is promoting the Leapster Explorer as an all in one platform for gaming, e-books, videos and educational content.  It can also function as a camera and video recorder if you purchase a camera accessory.  It has an ARM processor, 512MB of flash storage, a 420x420 pixel 3.2 inch touch screen, 3D graphic processing, and a flash engine for applications and video.  The image below is from an explorer review by Nicole Tanner at whattheyplay.com

The release of this new product seems related to the news that Leapster is discontinuing the Didj, another ARM processor based Linux gaming system that has been on the market only 2 years.  The Didj announcement isn't going over well with parents on the Leapfrog community forum.  Leapster2 owners are also upset that the cartridges will not be compatible with earlier products.

26 Year Old Bug Fix

"The new product design you are working on will end up in a dumpster in 10 years." I read that years ago in an engineering magazine. The point was to think about the environment, but I was more shocked to realize my hard work would soon be worthless. It made me strive to design products that will have value well beyond the warranty period.

An unlikely area for product longevity is computer games because of the continuous advance of graphics technology. It may be partly nostalgia, but classic games live on. Surprisingly, its not in remakes with modern graphics, but in ports of the originals to new platforms like flash or mobile. Here is a flash Super Mario (also see Game Developers Compete to Give Mario Intelligence) or this Pac-Man for your cell.

The use of emulators like MAME with the original code means even the flaws are ported. Usually cheats are added to give unlimited lives or invincibility but now the bugs are being fixed as well. That code review and test cycle that was skipped 26 years ago is being done by volunteers. Don Hodges found and fixed a huge bug in Donkey Kong shown in the video and another in Pac-Man.

Thanks to Paras for sending me the link.

Game Developers Compete to Give Mario Intelligence

As part of the IEEE Games Innovation Conference, there is a competition to build the best AI to play the classic Nintendo Super Mario Bros. game. You don't need to attend to enter the contest, just join the Mario competition google group and you can download source code to create your AI (called a controller or agent) that plays the game. The organizers want to use the competition to compare different methodologies so be creative. They are calling for submissions based on

• artificial evolution
• evolutionary neural networks
• genetic programming
• fuzzy logic
• temporal difference learning
• human ingenuity
• hybrids of the above

This reminds me of the Terminator TV series where a computer designed to compete in chess acquires an artificial intelligence that eventually threatens humanity. If you enter watch out for cyborgs and time travelers.

IEEE Gets in the Game

The IEEE Consumer Electronics Society is holding its first Games Innovation Conference in London on August 25-28, 2009. Focusing on both technology and creativity in games this international conference is for almost everyone involved in creating and studying games including 'researchers and practitioners'...'from different disciplines in acedamia and industry.'