Official BlackBox News Thread

blackbox_dev · Post by **blackbox_dev** » Sat May 20, 2006 5:48 pm

Took me long enough to get this thread into the public, but here goes!

May 20, 2006

The International BlackBox Team includes:

■ iam7805
■ Triton
■ Jeroen
■ XPCPortables
■ Skyone

And theirs some other less important people (but still important) too:

■ Fanboy
■ Harshboy
■ joevennix
■ Codeman
■ NES_Fanatic

This is my logo for the BlackBox:

(Reminds me of Tux for some reason)

And Triton made one also:

Controller design will be posted soon, just waiting for Triton to approve the changes I made to it.

Specifications that are known as of right now:

■ 8-bit processor running at 40mHZ
■ Uses cartridges

The disc format is a proprietary format called "GameTrax". The data is stored on the disc using audio tracks. The cartridge interface is a very simple serial interface (serial EEPROMS).

Krepticor · Post by **Krepticor** » Sat May 20, 2006 5:51 pm

Sooooo What are you trying to accomplish?

wallydawg · Post by **wallydawg** » Sat May 20, 2006 6:08 pm

Just so you know, a company called BlackBox already exists too. They were part of the 2K sports games and now work with EA, at least for their NHL games.

Sounds like fun on a bun nonetheless.

blackbox_dev · Post by **blackbox_dev** » Sat May 20, 2006 6:15 pm

I don't find that company on Google. Searching BlackBox comes up with the Linux window manager

Harshboy · Post by **Harshboy** » Sat May 20, 2006 6:31 pm

Need more help? I can help you

Kurt_ · Post by **Kurt_** » Sat May 20, 2006 6:51 pm

So is the system done? Or is it all theoretical right now and you decided to name it and give it a logo first?

Surely you must have SOME part of it done before naming it, right?

So what do you have done? Do tell!

(Sorry if I seem to be lacking in knowledge, I haven't had internet for 2 weeks!)

blackbox_dev · Post by **blackbox_dev** » Sat May 20, 2006 6:52 pm

No, its definatley not done. And the only parts i've designed are the power supply and the controller signal encoder.

Post by **Triton** » Sat May 20, 2006 8:30 pm

here are some very prelimanary sketches of the appearance of the system and the controller. these are not final but dont look to bad in my opinion, i also say we should vote which logo is better! lol

Harshboy · Post by **Harshboy** » Sat May 20, 2006 9:01 pm

Just a few revisions:

daguuy · Post by **daguuy** » Sat May 20, 2006 9:07 pm

dude i was just making the most flipping amazing "B" ever but then gimp froze. i'll see if i can make it again because it would be a really gnarly logo.

Post by **Triton** » Sat May 20, 2006 9:16 pm

the controller is pretty good but i dont dig the console too much, i will revise mine some more but yours is too...crowded lol

XPCportables · Post by **XPCportables** » Sat May 20, 2006 9:18 pm

woah! thats friggin awesome. I hate it when people beg and i had hoped that I would never find myself doing so but can I pleeeeeeeeeeeeease help in the design dept. I have got many Ideas as I have been trying to design my own console using x86 hardware and a linux distro. no luck with that so far but i would like to help out.
EDIT: here is a quick video I made in my early days of CG animation, that shows off my console design. http://www.freewebs.com/xpcportables/xpcom.AVI

Fanboy · Post by **Fanboy** » Sat May 20, 2006 9:25 pm

My idea for the controller... No, it's not upside down, but that's where I got the idea... An upside-down Gamecube controller... Just shrink the little circle things, add a trigger next to one and move the L-&-R buttons... It also has a little paddle thingy! There's a rather large switch on it that moves it from Reg. Controller to lightgun, for different gameplay or mini-games... Hope you like it... The only thing I'd need help with is the lightgun area, y'know, pinnouts and response and stuff...

blackbox_dev · Post by **blackbox_dev** » Sat May 20, 2006 9:29 pm

anybody who wants to help can. i will select the best designs after.

edit @ fanboy: wow thats shweet!

joevennix · Post by **joevennix** » Sat May 20, 2006 9:34 pm

Like the name, reminds me of the Redbox from the 90s that people used to dial out of pay phones for free.
I have a picture of a controller I designed in anger after finding out that the Controller S felt so damn uncomfortable, I'll try to find it. Thank god for 3rd party accesories.

EDIT: Whipped up another one. The controller can actually pivot on itself. I guess you could interface this with a pot for in-game control, or you could just throw it in there to meke the controller more comfortable, which was my original idea.

Also, notice my post count. 404 ERROR