SNESp and a discussion in aesthetics

[MM007]

Phone has a good point in that the cases looking good will impress those with little technical knowledge.

You guys have a point that you care more that it works and is fun than that it looks good, and that not everyone has the skill or supplies/tools to make a super nice case.

[extremesonic]

another reason many don't buy the pre-made kit is beacuse they like extra features, better battery life, other screens/sizes. The pre-made case limits you. Many try their best here, ones you consider ugly, or "a piece of" may have been their best effort, or the best looking case they could mkae with time/budget. It not like we go out and say "hey lets not make a nice looking case". Anyone who has made a portable here has(more or less) tried their best with what they had. So I find this thread pointless, every does try and make the portables pretty and sleek, it just doesn't alwasy turn out that way, so its no reason make this thread about how we don't try and make nice cases becuase we do. I know you not attacking people or going on an ego trip of I'm great you suck, but I really dont see the point in this thread besides an ego trip. Also if this was more directly about cases so I'm going to move it to the case thread

PS we are all proud of what we've acomplished here, I don't know why you'd think otherwise.

[minkster]

I understand Phone's point about presenting portables in a nice fashion by making them look nice so other people could admire them. Some people prefer to just make a portable any way they can. It is their own form of art, no matter how crap the outcome is. The point I'm trying to make is that the work put into ones project makes it special to them, and I feel that it is important to respect their work whether it looks nice or not.

When I'm done with my NESp and figure out the hardware problems I have, I will eventually make a nicer case myself, but as of now I'm more focused on getting the console to actually work off of batteries which is a big accomplishment in itself.

Phone, your portable looks very nice, but realize that this forum is hardware hacking and not an art class.

[Phone]

I'm in no way an artsy-type guy, but I can see the stereotypical "form vs effort".

I'm impressed with Trintron's case. Is it the next iPod nano? No, but it looks good and is damn cool.

extremesonic: I never said I didn't appreciate anybody's case. You're trying to form a counter-argument where there is no original argument. I used Turbo Tax 1.0's SNESp as an example, with his permission nonetheless.

[Turbo Tax 1.0]

with his permission nonetheless

indeed no one get mad at the guy i did give him permission in a pm

[Triton]

hey, just thought i would point out my name only has one N, its Triton , and thanks im glad you like it

[soundwave]

Maybe he meant Trinitron, I think that's a line of monitors put out by Dell.

[Triton]

trinitron is a line of TVs by sony isnt it?

[nos_slived]

It doesn't matter if you asked Turbo, because you're talking about everyone. It sounds like all you're doing is telling people that their cases are inferior to yours, despite the fact that you didn't even really make yours. Putting the premade pieces together does not mean that you made it, it means that you assembled it. I think a person should be happier with something they make, than with something they buy. Does a mother prefer a macaroni card made by her 6-year-old son, or a store bought card? A loving mother would usually prefer the macaroni card. There's a name given to people who care more about what's on the outside than what's on the inside, it's "shallow"...

BTW, Trinitron is one of Sony's lines of TVs and computer monitors.

[Turbo Tax 1.0]

this thread has made me think a little and i have realized my case isnt exactly the most appealing in the bunch so i think i may make a snesp mark 2 in a couple months with a hipgear screen and have it be as small as possible maybe even inside of a game gear or useing metal strips as sidewalls like ben does

[Gamelver]

you know what I think? as long as you think your portable looks good enough, then that's all you need.....the only exception to this is if you're selling them (like SOME Gamelvers around here!!! ) and you want them to look good to everyone. but if you're simply building this for yourself to play games, it can look however the hell you want it to look......building portables shouldn't be a way to gain popularity or respect or anything, it should be done to play your favorite videogames wherever you want !!!

you do have a point, though. if you can make your case look nice, then it's usually a good idea to do so, because it'll just make you feel like your portable is more professional and just made better . but if you don't give a shaving cream (heh heh...old language filter word )....then by golly, SCREW IT !!!

[G-force]

First off, I'm not a very big SNES fan at all. That's why I haven't made a SNESp. But just because I haven't made one, dosn't mean I don't like seeing a new SNESp. Why? Becuase it's all about the craftmanship. Who cares what system it is if the portable has an awesome design. I think a good case is a big part of making a good portable unit. A portable with a bad case is like having a supermodel wear a trench coat, it dosn't look good and it dosn't complement the true beauty of the portable (or supermodel...I kind of lost track of my point.). Maybe comparing portables to custom PC's would be better.

Anyways, if you can make a good case (and you can very easily, just look at atkfighters portables made only with only an exacto knife.) you should. It will make people look and notice it, even if it's not turned on. Plus, making the case look cool and still be functional is probably 90% of the fun! It's almost like some crazy puzzle. Odd shaped pieces, differnet variables, functionality, it all makes for quite a fun time.

I myslef have gone through many cases, discarding them at near completion, simply because I didn't think I would play it very much if I made it that way (Yep, I've been hiding my cases from you guys! HAHAHA!). If something looks bad, feels bad, has a low play time, any of those kinds of things, people won't want to play it. Hence why making a good portable is tricky. If even one thing dosn't feel right in it, you might have to start all over again (I did this with my NESp quite a few times...).

That's just my opinion. Looks and functioanality make the portable. If you can manage to get both of these worlds in, you have one heck of a portable.

[Phone]

It doesn't matter if you asked Turbo, because you're talking about everyone. It sounds like all you're doing is telling people that their cases are inferior to yours, despite the fact that you didn't even really make yours.

I wasn't implying, and you weren't to infer, that everybody else's case is inferior. I took a cheap (read: expensive) way out because I did not wish to use my friend's mill and measaure everything down to the tooth and nail.

This is a discussion.

I did use an extreme example (Turbo Tax's Play-Doh-looking, but functional, case). Were my intentions to frown upon the entire community? Never, and never will be.

G-Force and Triton have posted was I was looking for.

nos: If you really want to get into symmantics, nobody can ever "make" something. Matter cannot be created or destroyed; only crafted.

[x24]

Alittle off topic, but the portable looks tiny there compared to the pictures in ben's book, i was worried it would be huge even in my hands but it doesnt seem to be the case with you, phone, is it comfortable to hold on to? welcome to the forums btw..

[Life of Brian]

I say we can all reach a happy medium here by making as much of the case out of transparent plastic as possible. That way, people will focus on the work you put on the inside and it won't really matter what you did for the case

...but then my frequent short-cuts and hot glue fixes would be there for everyone to see. Hmm... maybe I should rethink this.