8 ms·

Gamebuino: a retro portable game console project based on Arduino

41 points by autoreleasepool 12y ago

Donzo 12y ago
Looks awesome. How do I get one?
- nacs 12y ago
  There's a shop on the linked site: http://gamebuino.com/shop/en/ http://gamebuino.com/shop/en/ 35 euro for the "Starter kit": http://gamebuino.com/shop/en/home/1-gamebuino-console.html http://gamebuino.com/shop/en/home/1-gamebuino-console.html
Sir_Substance 12y ago
"Create an account to buy!" Eh, I'm not that interested in it. NEXT!
- autoreleasepool 12y ago
  I agree with your sentiment. It's a shame for such an interesting product. I actually haven't bought one yet for your exact reason. I only decided to share because I couldn't find a single post about Gamebuino on HN. I understand that they might want emails, but why not get them from PayPal? It doesn't help that the site and its webforms are also entirely unencrypted. I really want to let them know that this is what's stopping me from purchasing. I might email them.
  - Sir_Substance 12y ago
    When you do, tell them I'll buy one if I don't have to make another account for a single shot purchase.
  - freehunter 12y ago
    The creator of this should partner with Adafruit or a similarly reputable shop.
icefox 12y ago
Is there a way to sell games that I make?
mafuyu 12y ago
There are a ton of these type of Arduino devices on the market[0], although this one seems pretty featureful. I think for something like this to be successful, it needs to be low cost, open-source, and have strong libraries and documentation for beginners. Products like this also tend to have a small, tight-knit community of enthusiasts. Holding a contest with prizes is often a good way to pull in users. Seems like a very cool project! [0]: http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardEsplora http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardEsplora http://shop.evilmadscientist.com/productsmenu/tinykitlist/100-meggyjr http://shop.evilmadscientist.com/productsmenu/tinykitlist/10... http://www.arduboy.com/ http://www.arduboy.com/ http://belogic.com/uzebox/index.asp http://belogic.com/uzebox/index.asp
- sombremesa 12y ago
  There's also the strangely named Lamestation http://www.lamestation.com/ http://www.lamestation.com/ And look, it has a Flappy Bird game!
- vanderZwan 12y ago
  There is also the GameDuino 1 and 2: http://excamera.com/sphinx/gameduino/ http://excamera.com/sphinx/gameduino/
- georgeecollins 12y ago
  I'm glad someone mentioned the Esplora, which I have used a couple times now as a control unit for a robot but would work fine with an LCD as a portable game unit. Really, why you would build a game device off an Arduino instead of a Raspberry PI makes no sense to me. A PI is going to run circles around an Arduino at the same cost. I gave my kid a Raspberry PI with an SD Card with Scratch on it. It's a cool way to show how to make games.
pronoiac 12y ago
Huh, by the name I guessed it was an emulator, and Arduino seemed underpowered for that.
zokier 12y ago
I wonder what the once quite vibrant dingoo scene is up to these days. Based on quick google it seems that the cheap fun hardware is discontinued and no more available.
- DanBC 12y ago
  They moved to GCW Zero http://www.gcw-zero.com/ http://www.gcw-zero.com/
  - fit2rule 12y ago
    Don't forget the Open Pandora: http://openpandora.org/ http://openpandora.org/ Dingoo was after Wiz, which was after GP2X, which was after the GP32 .. But it seems there are two splits now, one the 'high end' and one the middle ground .. can't wait for Pyra!
    - DanBC 12y ago
      OpenPandora seems great! It's a bit confusing. At least, the DragonBox shop (In Germany, but official supplier for the UK) is pretty confusing, especially on mobile. The PandoraGHz with screen seems to be out of stock, while the screen-less Pandoras and the less powerful Pandora Classic and PandoraRebirth are still available. They seem a bit expensive, but maybe that's just me. (Pandora Rebirth is €370!)
    - zokier 12y ago
      Pandoras are different class than Dingoos, considering that Pandora seems currently to sell for $300-$500, while Dingoos were more like $50-$80 iirc. Price is kinda important factor and the reason why I recalled dingoos because they are closer to same price bracket with these "Gamebuinos".
IshKebab 12y ago
Seems like an mBed would be way more suited to this than Arduino. They're cheaper, more powerful and the code is better written. There's no requirement for 5V here (which is the only real reason to use an Arduino these days).

Donzo 12y ago

Looks awesome. How do I get one?

nacs 12y ago
There's a shop on the linked site: http://gamebuino.com/shop/en/ http://gamebuino.com/shop/en/ 35 euro for the "Starter kit": http://gamebuino.com/shop/en/home/1-gamebuino-console.html http://gamebuino.com/shop/en/home/1-gamebuino-console.html

Sir_Substance 12y ago

"Create an account to buy!" Eh, I'm not that interested in it. NEXT!

autoreleasepool 12y ago
I agree with your sentiment. It's a shame for such an interesting product. I actually haven't bought one yet for your exact reason. I only decided to share because I couldn't find a single post about Gamebuino on HN. I understand that they might want emails, but why not get them from PayPal? It doesn't help that the site and its webforms are also entirely unencrypted. I really want to let them know that this is what's stopping me from purchasing. I might email them.
- Sir_Substance 12y ago
  When you do, tell them I'll buy one if I don't have to make another account for a single shot purchase.
- freehunter 12y ago
  The creator of this should partner with Adafruit or a similarly reputable shop.

icefox 12y ago

Is there a way to sell games that I make?

mafuyu 12y ago

There are a ton of these type of Arduino devices on the market[0], although this one seems pretty featureful. I think for something like this to be successful, it needs to be low cost, open-source, and have strong libraries and documentation for beginners. Products like this also tend to have a small, tight-knit community of enthusiasts. Holding a contest with prizes is often a good way to pull in users. Seems like a very cool project! [0]: http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardEsplora http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardEsplora http://shop.evilmadscientist.com/productsmenu/tinykitlist/100-meggyjr http://shop.evilmadscientist.com/productsmenu/tinykitlist/10... http://www.arduboy.com/ http://www.arduboy.com/ http://belogic.com/uzebox/index.asp http://belogic.com/uzebox/index.asp

sombremesa 12y ago
There's also the strangely named Lamestation http://www.lamestation.com/ http://www.lamestation.com/ And look, it has a Flappy Bird game!
vanderZwan 12y ago
There is also the GameDuino 1 and 2: http://excamera.com/sphinx/gameduino/ http://excamera.com/sphinx/gameduino/
georgeecollins 12y ago
I'm glad someone mentioned the Esplora, which I have used a couple times now as a control unit for a robot but would work fine with an LCD as a portable game unit. Really, why you would build a game device off an Arduino instead of a Raspberry PI makes no sense to me. A PI is going to run circles around an Arduino at the same cost. I gave my kid a Raspberry PI with an SD Card with Scratch on it. It's a cool way to show how to make games.

pronoiac 12y ago

Huh, by the name I guessed it was an emulator, and Arduino seemed underpowered for that.

zokier 12y ago

I wonder what the once quite vibrant dingoo scene is up to these days. Based on quick google it seems that the cheap fun hardware is discontinued and no more available.

DanBC 12y ago
They moved to GCW Zero http://www.gcw-zero.com/ http://www.gcw-zero.com/
- fit2rule 12y ago
  Don't forget the Open Pandora: http://openpandora.org/ http://openpandora.org/ Dingoo was after Wiz, which was after GP2X, which was after the GP32 .. But it seems there are two splits now, one the 'high end' and one the middle ground .. can't wait for Pyra!
  - DanBC 12y ago
    OpenPandora seems great! It's a bit confusing. At least, the DragonBox shop (In Germany, but official supplier for the UK) is pretty confusing, especially on mobile. The PandoraGHz with screen seems to be out of stock, while the screen-less Pandoras and the less powerful Pandora Classic and PandoraRebirth are still available. They seem a bit expensive, but maybe that's just me. (Pandora Rebirth is €370!)
  - zokier 12y ago
    Pandoras are different class than Dingoos, considering that Pandora seems currently to sell for $300-$500, while Dingoos were more like $50-$80 iirc. Price is kinda important factor and the reason why I recalled dingoos because they are closer to same price bracket with these "Gamebuinos".

IshKebab 12y ago

Seems like an mBed would be way more suited to this than Arduino. They're cheaper, more powerful and the code is better written. There's no requirement for 5V here (which is the only real reason to use an Arduino these days).