MarauderIIC, you'd make a great DCDevver:
Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2005 10:43 am
Ahem. I think the time has come for you to get a Dreamcast and join us! Now is the part where I get to persuade...
The Dreamcast, first of all, is Sega's 128-bit console. It is in the same gaming generation as the Gamecube, Xbox, and PS2.
Programming for a Dreamcast is the must fun thing I've ever done. Just the "OMG I'm coding a console!!11``" factor is enough to make it awesome. It's just such a joy to see something you make be played on a console.
You have the Dreamcast's PVR (3D hardware) which can do some pretty badass things (pwn your standard SDL and other graphics API stuff). One of my favorite things is the hardware. I love finding out about maracas, fishing rods, rumble packs, memory cards, etc. The Dreamcast offers so damn much that you can do with a game--anything you could dream of.
It's not hard either. It's going to be exactly the same as what you're used to, but you need to learn how to use the PVR to do your drawing (and other minor hardware things).
The Dreamcast is dirt cheap ($25 here).
There's just so many things you can do with it that I can't even describe...
Anyway, if you do get one, I'll send you one of my two coder's cables free. The coder's cable allows you to send your compiled executable and stream data to your Dreamcast through your serial port. I have the DC Broadband adapter ($110 for my birthday), which is like 100X faster (and a second coder's cable for backup).
So that could be saving your around $40 right there. Oh, and the fact that Dreamcast accessories (Visual Memory Units in particular) are cheap as dirt. I've got like 10 and about 10 controllers, 2 consoles, every brand rumble pack ever, fishing rod, maracas, 2 keyboards, 2 mice, DDR mat, BBA, 2 extension cords, 1 Sega Saturn/PSone/PS2/PC Keyboard->Dreamcast converter, and a couple 4X massive memory cards.
Also, read your PM.
The Dreamcast, first of all, is Sega's 128-bit console. It is in the same gaming generation as the Gamecube, Xbox, and PS2.
Programming for a Dreamcast is the must fun thing I've ever done. Just the "OMG I'm coding a console!!11``" factor is enough to make it awesome. It's just such a joy to see something you make be played on a console.
You have the Dreamcast's PVR (3D hardware) which can do some pretty badass things (pwn your standard SDL and other graphics API stuff). One of my favorite things is the hardware. I love finding out about maracas, fishing rods, rumble packs, memory cards, etc. The Dreamcast offers so damn much that you can do with a game--anything you could dream of.
It's not hard either. It's going to be exactly the same as what you're used to, but you need to learn how to use the PVR to do your drawing (and other minor hardware things).
The Dreamcast is dirt cheap ($25 here).
There's just so many things you can do with it that I can't even describe...
Anyway, if you do get one, I'll send you one of my two coder's cables free. The coder's cable allows you to send your compiled executable and stream data to your Dreamcast through your serial port. I have the DC Broadband adapter ($110 for my birthday), which is like 100X faster (and a second coder's cable for backup).
So that could be saving your around $40 right there. Oh, and the fact that Dreamcast accessories (Visual Memory Units in particular) are cheap as dirt. I've got like 10 and about 10 controllers, 2 consoles, every brand rumble pack ever, fishing rod, maracas, 2 keyboards, 2 mice, DDR mat, BBA, 2 extension cords, 1 Sega Saturn/PSone/PS2/PC Keyboard->Dreamcast converter, and a couple 4X massive memory cards.
Also, read your PM.