https://modretro.com/blogs/blog/the-future-is-retro
Looks pretty cool. Plus, Palmer seems like an ok guy: https://archive.is/LMNJF
Oculus founder Palmer Luckey donated $100,000 to fund Donald Trump’s inaugural celebrations through shell companies named after elements from classic video game Chrono Trigger, The Washington Post and Mother Jones report.
He's rich enough that I doubt he's out to make a quick buck or grift nostalgia. He's just doing what he enjoys now. He certainly wasn't the first person to hack together a VR headset either (he used a lot of free advice and build instructions from the VR forum he was participating on before starting Oculus) but props to him for actually making a business out of it. Ideas are nice but successful execution is far more important.
That is something that MANY people don't think about or downplay. It's not enough to be right or to have the right idea. You also have to put in the work, put in the follow through, and add a bit of luck too.
Compatible with cartridges. So the competition is a real Game Boy Color device (good condition non-lucky price around $60 - $70, plus a no-case-mod drop-in IPS screen replacement for another $60).
Or an Analogue Pocket for $220, when they are available for sale, that can also be docked or play other machines' games like the Game Gear or TG16, or even hacked to run ROMs off the SD card.
Or, if real carts aren't needed, one of those handheld gaming devices like the RG35XX for around $50 - $70 that run Linux + Retroarch and can play pretty much every pre-Dreamcast console game ever (and even most DC/PSX/N64 games).
He might be a fren but it doesn't sound like he really wants to sell a lot of these.
There's also the 2005 GBA SP. Compatibility with GB/GBC carts and link cable, already backlit. Probably a bit cheaper than GBC + IPS screen. As long as you don't mind the tiny form factor and lack of IR. But you can also play GBA games.
This Verge article https://archive.is/f442r goes into some detail and compares with Analogue Pocket. I've never used one.
I did just preorder one of these Chromatic things.
Meh, unless Nintendo gets off its ass and starts manufacturing their old platforms again, I'm happy to see these sorts of projects emerge. Preserving the original form factor and the libraries is the modern day equivalent of making sure the library of Alexandria gets preserved.
Publishers: "But if we burn the library down you'll buy all our new games!"
Maybe we should be burning down the publishers then.
Hmm. I'll allow it.
Two knocks against it:
3….2….!
Yeah, that’s gotta happen right.
My pipedream for a device like this is a tiny plasma screen, since plasma displays are the best of both worlds between LCDs and CRTs. But plasma displays stopped being manufactured a long time ago, whether it would even be possible to shrink them down to that size is questionable, and they're power hogs, which is obv the last thing you want in a portable device.
Although I don't know why an OLED or AMOLED screen couldn't be used, they're even more efficient than LCDs and just plain better in every way.
The problem with retro gaming isn't the cost of the device, it's the cost of the games as they become rarer, get bought up by collectors and succumb to wear, tear and rot.
He'll probably get the attention from Nintendo alone for selling a Game Boy compatible device because they hate emulation (unless they're profiting from it) but also because Nintendo doesn't want a lucrative second hand market, they would prefer you play games on a Switch and it's successors while keeping them locked behind a paywall so they can generate revenue forever more.
I wish him well but I can foresee the big N paying attention to him with a cease and desist.