Author Topic: GAMEBOX Multi-Game Platform TV Video Game Console -MAME- (Read 126758 times)

shin_akuma · « **Reply #40 on:** January 31, 2011, 10:36:43 am »

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RayB · « **Reply #41 on:** January 31, 2011, 02:15:31 pm »

"Now surprise show up" is one of the features. I would buy it just for that!

micky4fun · « **Reply #42 on:** January 31, 2011, 03:21:32 pm »

hi all

ok just got home had a very quick go , will give a bigger review in a few hours but for now here are the inside pics

mick

shin_akuma · « **Reply #43 on:** January 31, 2011, 04:20:08 pm »

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micky4fun · « **Reply #44 on:** January 31, 2011, 04:37:31 pm »

hi all

ok quick , very quick video on youtube now , bit shakey as trying to hold camera and play at same time ,
the video out seems to be a bit low in colour seems a little washed out , the video is as tv was set up for normal tv , so i could increase the colour , neo geo games seem smooth enough and very very little slow down when screen is very busy , not tried any games off of a card yet will do that next and see what the usb socket does

first 30 minute impressions is for $53 its quite good , but sound is tinny on neo geo games

mick

opt2not · « **Reply #45 on:** January 31, 2011, 04:50:39 pm »

Thanks for posting this! Got a few questions:

Is resetting the unit the only way to get back to the game select screen?

Are there any configuration options for the game select screen, like different layout, or view changes?

Do you have any way of accessing the rom's dip switches to change the game's settings?

micky4fun · « **Reply #46 on:** January 31, 2011, 06:18:22 pm »

hi all

first of all yep king of fighters 97 is on the unit and seems to run fine

the only way to get back to menu screen is by resetting unit
they are no layout changes at all , no dip switches at all , no access to game changes

and now the bad news , i cant seem to get anything to run apart from avi films from the micro sd card slot
it had a gameboy advance slot on other side of unit they call the game card slot , ive got a funny feeling this is the only way of getting other games onto the system , not unless anyone knows differant

so my second thoughts on the system is its ok if you want to play the games on it , drift out is nearly unplayable because of the dpad stearing to fast and the analog thumb stick is no better
errm lets hope there is a way of getting other images onto this

mick

shin_akuma · « **Reply #47 on:** January 31, 2011, 06:36:50 pm »

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micky4fun · « **Reply #48 on:** January 31, 2011, 07:09:35 pm »

hi all

ok there is no way of getting back to the menu without reseting that i can see , tried the middle lighten up button as well as all sorts of combonations , seems you just have to hit reset
maybe thats why its called reset , hahah

ok got gba games to work off micro sd card , but thats it , tried all sorts of file extensions , zipped and unzipped , looks like they may sell games on multi cart thing , maybe i dont really know ,
hopefully others will get theres soon to see if they can get any furtjer , i will post some more videos tomorrow of other games , but at the moment it looks like a 60 pre installed game console that plays avi's and gba game

mick

shin_akuma · « **Reply #49 on:** January 31, 2011, 07:18:47 pm »

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micky4fun · « **Reply #50 on:** January 31, 2011, 07:27:49 pm »

hi all

the 60 games are on internal memory , the gba slot is for the carts that it looks like they are going to sell , as the picture on the front of the box shows metal slug 4 on a gba type cartridge
so at the moment it seems reconise gba extensions and plays them games from the sd card , and reconises avi or mov files and plays them as movies , they well may be another file extesion it reconises to play other games but i cant figure out what that is at the moment , or like i say it only plays other games off of the gba slot on a gba type card

mick

shin_akuma · « **Reply #51 on:** January 31, 2011, 09:26:31 pm »

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Kokapetl · « **Reply #52 on:** February 01, 2011, 01:41:42 am »

is there any means of changing the flash memory? .. could you maybe post a quick video of navigating all of the setup options?

i'm highly considering using this thing to build a vertically oriented arcade cabinet using an old CRT television, how well suited do you think this would be ?
thanks.

micky4fun · « **Reply #53 on:** February 01, 2011, 04:39:32 am »

hi all

Quote

i'm highly considering using this thing to build a vertically oriented arcade cabinet using an old CRT television, how well suited do you think this would be ?

no i would not goto all that trouble of putting this in an arcade cab , a low grade pc would be more better than this i think
on playing the unit for a few hours , the neo geo games do seem to skip frames , very noticable on scrolling games , jumpy
sounds very tinny as well , even on avi,mov files , you get what you pay for , this is more for kids i think
still cant get any other games apart frm gba game to load from sd card , it has a small usb port on side , in instructions it says its for service mode
i tried to link to pc , pc found it , but could not load any drivers for it

so at the moment i would just rate this 5/10 and ok for kids , miles better using a pc emu

i am loading more videos on youtube now
full game list video

btw there are no setup options just the basic front screen you see in video

king of fighters 97

mick

Kokapetl · « **Reply #54 on:** February 01, 2011, 05:37:07 am »

yeah, looks like i'll go down the PC path once again then, i just thought this might end up being easier.
thanks

newmanfamilyvlogs · « **Reply #55 on:** February 01, 2011, 05:42:22 am »

Quote from: micky4fun on February 01, 2011, 04:39:32 am

i tried to link to pc , pc found it , but could not load any drivers for it

Would you go into device manager and look up the Vendor and Device ID it's reporting to the system?
http://www.troublefixers.com/identify-unknown-devices-in-device-manager-using-vendor-id-device-id/

You can ignore from step 5 on in that guide.

micky4fun · « **Reply #56 on:** February 01, 2011, 05:50:27 am »

hi all

Quote

Would you go into device manager and look up the Vendor and Device ID it's reporting to the system?

ok i will do , i am at work now so will do so later tonight
thanks

ok a few to look at , any requests ile do my best

mick

micky4fun · « **Reply #57 on:** February 01, 2011, 06:25:02 am »

hi all

Quote

Would you go into device manager and look up the Vendor and Device ID it's reporting to the system?

just manage to hook up unit on works pc , it returns USB/UNKOWN

?

MICK

newmanfamilyvlogs · « **Reply #58 on:** February 01, 2011, 08:26:14 am »

Would you attach a screenshot of what you're seeing? It still should return a ven and dev number.

micky4fun · « **Reply #59 on:** February 01, 2011, 08:45:51 am »

hi all

sorry my mistake , in all the frantic stuff of trying all files and swapping stuff about , i did not see this message at bottom of screen , i tried it in another usb port and windows does not reconise it

mick

newmanfamilyvlogs · « **Reply #60 on:** February 01, 2011, 09:16:28 am »

My guess is that they use a non-standard pinout on that usb socket then. I don't recall exactly what that message means... Would you mind still trying the steps in the guide I posted and see if there is an 'unknown device' listed there?

lodoss118 · « **Reply #61 on:** February 01, 2011, 10:35:15 am »

See if you can get street fighter 3 to work.

RandyT · « **Reply #62 on:** February 01, 2011, 01:13:23 pm »

Quote from: micky4fun on February 01, 2011, 04:39:32 am

no i would not goto all that trouble of putting this in an arcade cab , a low grade pc would be more better than this i think

I fully agree. It's a neat little device, but at current, it's pretty much one of those "game playing MP3" devices that are common from China. This one seems to put the monies normally associated with the LCD screens into a better processor, a wired controller and more plastic / PCB real estate.

The only bright thing I see here is that this unit uses the same processor family as the popular Dingoo, but a step up. I think the company is hoping for a similar following, with custom firmware, Linux, etc. being put out by enthusiast. If I had to make a prediction, I would think this was a good possibility considering the price point and capabilities. But what the company is claiming, doesn't seem to be there yet, unless there are a whole bunch of hidden options no-one seems to be aware of yet.

I was hopeful as well. $:-\$

micky4fun · « **Reply #63 on:** February 01, 2011, 02:03:57 pm »

hi all

sf3 is not on unit , tried a mvs file that did not work either , better wait to someone else a bit more clued up than me gets one , they might be how to do something , dont know how they are coing to put custom firmware on it though as it only reads gba or film files off of sd card , well lets hope anyway , think ile put mine away till some more news when others get one

mick

RandyT · « **Reply #64 on:** February 01, 2011, 03:03:51 pm »

Quote from: micky4fun on February 01, 2011, 02:03:57 pm

dont know how they are coing to put custom firmware on it though as it only reads gba or film files off of sd card , well lets hope anyway , think ile put mine away till some more news when others get one

That's pretty much what I did with mine. The mini-USB port on the side is obviously how they load the internal memory and firmware. But like most of these devices, there needs to be a bootstrap procedure of some nature to get to it. There is either a special, custom driver that no-one else has, or there is, as I have seen on some MP3 players, a button combo one needs to press at power up, which puts the device into "receive" mode. There is usually a special piece of software that needs to be used at that point as well.

Hopefully they will open it up to developers soon, or at least come up with a way to provide the functionality they describe on the box. It could be decent little gizmo with Linux on it.

shin_akuma · « **Reply #65 on:** February 01, 2011, 03:52:05 pm »

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micky4fun · « **Reply #66 on:** February 01, 2011, 04:10:26 pm »

hi all

instructions say without gamecard , that is gba style gamecard that plugs in the side , that only the internal games are only available ,
no i cant get any time or calendar to appear
sorry i have no photo copier

just wondering , if i can get old of one of those old gameboy or gba multi cart things that you can dump images on , will it reconize that and let you play other game formats?

RayB · « **Reply #67 on:** February 01, 2011, 04:24:42 pm »

Quote from: pinballjim on February 01, 2011, 03:42:33 pm

This thing is neat and all, and I gotta admit the idea of a 'MAME Console' is appealing...

but you can snag an off lease Optiplex for the same money.....

Size? With a controller? With TV output? All pre-configured?

micky4fun · « **Reply #68 on:** February 01, 2011, 04:38:05 pm »

hi all

video of unit

usb joystick ports on front , power a/v at rear , sd card port and mini usb port one side , gameboy style cartridge port on other side

thanks

shin_akuma · « **Reply #69 on:** February 01, 2011, 07:56:16 pm »

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Gavica · « **Reply #70 on:** February 01, 2011, 08:41:10 pm »

so wait, you cannot hook up a HD to the usb and load up more roms? you can only play the ones that are already built into the machine?

Jhabu · « **Reply #71 on:** February 02, 2011, 02:34:40 am »

Hi everybody

I am from France and I just arrived here.
Sorry for my poor english.

Thank you for this first review, it's great ! I ordered one on dealextreme but I haven't received it yet.

I sent an email to the gamebox technical support to have answers about games from sd card.

It should be a good idea to plug the box via usb on a linux system.

For french people I try to translate and compile informations on a french forum http://limited-edition.forumj.net/t5132-gamebox-arcade

Twimfy · « **Reply #72 on:** February 02, 2011, 07:01:44 am »

Just need someone to dump the flash either with a key or via USB. Once we know what's on there, it should be fairly easy to modify and put whatever we want back on.

micky4fun · « **Reply #73 on:** February 02, 2011, 07:48:22 am »

hi all

Quote

Just need someone to dump the flash either with a key or via USB. Once we know what's on there, it should be fairly easy to modify and put whatever we want back on

yep i think if some can do that and with a re-written emu code , it might be quite a good little machine for $53
has the flexability for using other controls on usb port , once new code is written ,
i think the internal memory is for unpacking the games on the gamecard you would buy for it , as i notice some of the file names in the menu screen end in .zip , and in the instruction it say files are compressed

so all we need now is people in the know getting one of these and getting to work with it , sound is still poor , but proberly re-writen the emulator will solve this

mick

iscariot · « **Reply #74 on:** February 02, 2011, 12:34:28 pm »

I'm with Jhabu

If we can see what's happening with that USB port we can most likely see what's going on inside the unit....my thought is that most likely they've got some sort of light weight linux running on that thing and a frontend, with the cart slot and the internal rom hardwired as paths to roms so that you get the extra artwork and the like.

shin_akuma · « **Reply #75 on:** February 02, 2011, 12:47:49 pm »

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RandyT · « **Reply #76 on:** February 02, 2011, 01:46:42 pm »

Quote from: shin_akuma on February 02, 2011, 12:47:49 pm

But is strange have not any menu to configurations,this way cant put other usb joystick,this will need configuration to work.

I'm not even sure that the ports on the front of the unit are real USB ports. I haven't done any real port testing, but I have tried a generic gamepad. Doesn't work. I have also plugged the included controller into a PC and the PC doesn't even sense that a USB device was plugged in. Makes me suspect that it's just using the form factor, but not the protocol. If this is true, it's going to limit it quite a bit.

iscariot · « **Reply #77 on:** February 02, 2011, 03:18:10 pm »

Have you tried plugging a PC keyboard into the first USB port and hitting keys to see what happens?

RandyT · « **Reply #78 on:** February 02, 2011, 03:26:15 pm »

Quote from: iscariot on February 02, 2011, 03:18:10 pm

Have you tried plugging a PC keyboard into the first USB port and hitting keys to see what happens?

Yes, nothing. The keyboard does not initialize the way it would on a PC. Just gets power lights.

micky4fun · « **Reply #79 on:** February 02, 2011, 04:03:02 pm »

hi all

Quote

I have also plugged the included controller into a PC and the PC doesn't even sense that a USB device was plugged in

ahh im running windows 7 32bit and it reconises gamepad as unknown device , it shows up in device manage as well as unknown , so it is a usb controller

mick


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