We need an XPORT port of the Vectrex emulator. We have videos and artwork ready, but no proper emulator to use them on. The emulator for the box is not an XPORT one and is very limited. I can't imagine that it would take somebody who knew how to code things long to do this at all.
Hook me up.... I'd love to be able to release the Xtras for this emulator in March as well.
Full Version: Seriously... Who's Going To Port The Vecrex For Me?
I'd love to see a port too. Vectrex is a cult machine.
At the time, players had to stick a transparent layout on screen to colorize their games. I wonder if someone could add a custom background feature to an hypothetical port.
At the time, players had to stick a transparent layout on screen to colorize their games. I wonder if someone could add a custom background feature to an hypothetical port.
I was thinking the same thing. That would be sweet.
I don't see why it couldn't be done. You could replace the keyboard code with displaying the layouts on the screen and the user could control the transparency of the layout like they can do with the keyboard now.
I don't see why it couldn't be done. You could replace the keyboard code with displaying the layouts on the screen and the user could control the transparency of the layout like they can do with the keyboard now.
Doubt anyone will pick this up. I seen a similar post about a year ago that didn't get much attention. Here is how to do it if anybody wants to take a stab.
How to port to the xbox
How to port to the xbox
Yep.... That was me about a year ago.
I figured I'd throw it out there again.
I figured I'd throw it out there again.
Now I really want to see this happen. I found a pretty thorough collection of box/cart scans for this system that need to be cleaned up.
not me... i'm only here for comic relief.
QUOTE(tristanx @ Dec 30 2009, 06:15 PM) 
not me... i'm only here for comic relief.
Just in case anybody thinks this is a worthless endeavor, please read the following about the system. It's truly unique.
Now seriously people... I'm thinking this would be an awesome addition if somebody could find someone with the skills to do it. Our XPORT emulators already contain the ability to display a keyboard over the game screen and even control the level of transparancy.
If we could wrap the XPORT interface around the Vectrex with this knowledge and the overlays, we could create the first home console to give the real feel of playing a system I never heard of before this project that a bunch of kids got on Christmas when I was 3 years old.
The emu out there seems to work perfect to me. It just needs to be wrapped in XPORT's code now. I won't say I know how much effort that takes because I don't know enough about it to speak on it. I can only say that I'm not saying that I'm too busy to learn because I'm out playing soccer, but because I've been spending all of my free time in the last 3 to 4 years working on the Xtras project I plan to share it with everyone when it's done.
Hope somebody answers this cry to arms.....
~Rx
QUOTE
The Vectrex is an 8-bit video game console that was developed by Western Technologies/Smith Engineering. It was licensed and distributed first by General Consumer Electric (GCE), and then by Milton Bradley Company after their purchase of GCE. It was released in November 1982 at a retail price of $199 ($430 compensated for inflation); as Milton Bradley took over international marketing the price dropped to $150 and then $100 shortly before the video game crash of 1983. The Vectrex exited the market in early 1984.
Unlike other non-portable video game consoles, which connected to televisions and rendered raster graphics, the Vectrex has an integrated vector monitor which displays vector graphics. The monochrome Vectrex uses plastic screen overlays to generate color and various static graphics and decorations. At the time, many of the most popular arcade games used vector displays, and GCE was looking to set themselves apart from the pack by selling high-quality versions of games such as Space Wars and Armor Attack.
Vectrex comes with a built in game, the Asteroids-like Minestorm. Two peripherals were also available for the Vectrex, a light pen and a 3D imager.
The Vectrex was also released in Japan under the name Bandai Vectrex Kousokusen.
While it is a mainstay of disc-based console systems today, the Vectrex was part of the first generation of console systems to feature a boot screen, which also included the Atari 5200 and Colecovision.
The Vectrex was the first system to offer a 3D peripheral (the Vectrex 3D Imager), predating the Sega Master System's SegaScope 3D by about four years.[4] Also, early units have a very audible "buzzing" from the built-in speaker that will change as graphics are generated on screen. This is due to a lack of shielding between the built-in CRT and the speaker wiring and was eventually resolved in later production models.[citation needed] This idiosyncrasy has become a familiar characteristic of the machine.
Several companies offered or included Vectrex software in their products or promotions. The liquor company Mr. Boston gave out a limited number of customized cartridges of Clean Sweep. The box had a Mr. Boston sticker on it. The overlay was basically the regular Clean Sweep overlay with the Mr. Boston name, logo, and copyright info running up either side. The game itself had custom text, and the player controlled a top hat rather than a vacuum.[citation needed]
Some of the Vectrex's games feature unusual qualities or innovations, and new games are still being produced today by homebrew video game programmers.
The game built into the Vectrex, Minestorm, would crash at level 13. However, on some machines the game would continue much farther, with levels containing very unusual characteristics. The game would come to an ultimate end at its highest level, in which more mines were laid than would hatch. Consumers who complained to the company about the crash at the 13th level received a replacement cartridge in the mail. Entitled MineStorm II, it was the fixed version of the Vectrex's built in game. However, not many wrote to the company about it due to no advertisement of any sort, making MineStorm II one of the rarest cartridges for the Vectrex system.[citation needed]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vectrex
Unlike other non-portable video game consoles, which connected to televisions and rendered raster graphics, the Vectrex has an integrated vector monitor which displays vector graphics. The monochrome Vectrex uses plastic screen overlays to generate color and various static graphics and decorations. At the time, many of the most popular arcade games used vector displays, and GCE was looking to set themselves apart from the pack by selling high-quality versions of games such as Space Wars and Armor Attack.
Vectrex comes with a built in game, the Asteroids-like Minestorm. Two peripherals were also available for the Vectrex, a light pen and a 3D imager.
The Vectrex was also released in Japan under the name Bandai Vectrex Kousokusen.
While it is a mainstay of disc-based console systems today, the Vectrex was part of the first generation of console systems to feature a boot screen, which also included the Atari 5200 and Colecovision.
The Vectrex was the first system to offer a 3D peripheral (the Vectrex 3D Imager), predating the Sega Master System's SegaScope 3D by about four years.[4] Also, early units have a very audible "buzzing" from the built-in speaker that will change as graphics are generated on screen. This is due to a lack of shielding between the built-in CRT and the speaker wiring and was eventually resolved in later production models.[citation needed] This idiosyncrasy has become a familiar characteristic of the machine.
Several companies offered or included Vectrex software in their products or promotions. The liquor company Mr. Boston gave out a limited number of customized cartridges of Clean Sweep. The box had a Mr. Boston sticker on it. The overlay was basically the regular Clean Sweep overlay with the Mr. Boston name, logo, and copyright info running up either side. The game itself had custom text, and the player controlled a top hat rather than a vacuum.[citation needed]
Some of the Vectrex's games feature unusual qualities or innovations, and new games are still being produced today by homebrew video game programmers.
The game built into the Vectrex, Minestorm, would crash at level 13. However, on some machines the game would continue much farther, with levels containing very unusual characteristics. The game would come to an ultimate end at its highest level, in which more mines were laid than would hatch. Consumers who complained to the company about the crash at the 13th level received a replacement cartridge in the mail. Entitled MineStorm II, it was the fixed version of the Vectrex's built in game. However, not many wrote to the company about it due to no advertisement of any sort, making MineStorm II one of the rarest cartridges for the Vectrex system.[citation needed]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vectrex
Now seriously people... I'm thinking this would be an awesome addition if somebody could find someone with the skills to do it. Our XPORT emulators already contain the ability to display a keyboard over the game screen and even control the level of transparancy.
If we could wrap the XPORT interface around the Vectrex with this knowledge and the overlays, we could create the first home console to give the real feel of playing a system I never heard of before this project that a bunch of kids got on Christmas when I was 3 years old.
The emu out there seems to work perfect to me. It just needs to be wrapped in XPORT's code now. I won't say I know how much effort that takes because I don't know enough about it to speak on it. I can only say that I'm not saying that I'm too busy to learn because I'm out playing soccer, but because I've been spending all of my free time in the last 3 to 4 years working on the Xtras project I plan to share it with everyone when it's done.
Hope somebody answers this cry to arms.....
~Rx
After reading your post, I watched this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8eZOJr5rs4
I had no idea that the vectrex was something that cool (thought it was another terrible pong and a few other bits machine).
Learned something new today, hope someone with the skill and motivation to do this turns up
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8eZOJr5rs4
I had no idea that the vectrex was something that cool (thought it was another terrible pong and a few other bits machine).
Learned something new today, hope someone with the skill and motivation to do this turns up
I own two Vectrex systems. Got them on eBay in a bundle for a good price a few years ago and I have one in my office. People love to stop by to check it out.
Honestly, its going to be hard for the Xbox to reproduce its "feeling" well. There really isnt anything like it out there. Well, Virtual Boy is cool/weird too, but kinda annoying at the same time.
I'd recommend people who are interested just buy one if you can afford it. You can usually get one in decent condition for between $50 and $100. Set up alerts on Craigslist and I bet you'll find a deal eventually.
VecFlash is awesome as well and should be purchased. Its worth the price and the developer is an awesome guy.
http://www.richard.hutchinson.dsl.pipex.com/new_page_1.htm
Honestly, its going to be hard for the Xbox to reproduce its "feeling" well. There really isnt anything like it out there. Well, Virtual Boy is cool/weird too, but kinda annoying at the same time.
I'd recommend people who are interested just buy one if you can afford it. You can usually get one in decent condition for between $50 and $100. Set up alerts on Craigslist and I bet you'll find a deal eventually.
VecFlash is awesome as well and should be purchased. Its worth the price and the developer is an awesome guy.
http://www.richard.hutchinson.dsl.pipex.com/new_page_1.htm
I'm sure that it will be very hard to ever completely emulate the Vectrex experience. I never even heard about it until I started doing work here and it really looks like a cool little machine. I should pick one up someday.
On a bright note, I just found out from my brother that the Virtual Boy and the games I had bought him are among the only things that remain of my (and my 2 brothers) video game collection as we grew up. It turns out that the Virtual Boy was the only thing we had that they wouldn't take in for trade.
It reminds me of when my uncle took this rediculous looking bike/rowing machine my Grandma had not used for years to Play it Again Sports thinking he was doing a good thing by saving it from the trash heap. The kid there told him that they'd take it if he gave him a $20. He said they already had 3 of them and they had to pay customers to haul it out of the store for them.
So it's cool that I still got one unique system that cannot be perfectly emulated with today's "Main Street" technology and abilities. I actually bought all that for my bro back in the day. I figure since he sold everything else that wasn't his, he owes me.
I still think there is some great potential for the Vectrex on the box though. I don't know if you play any emulators where you need to see the keyboard, but on the ones that support it if you press the left joystick down it will display a virtual keyboard. The transparancy of this keyboard can be turned from 100% opaque to 100% invisible. I really think that if some kind soul were to find the time to wrap some XPORT code around a Vectrex source, that we could really get close to a virtual "dramatization" of how the Vectrex experience played out.
Huh.... I was just remembering that toy my brother and I would get from some school fundraisers when we were little kids. I think it was called "Stickeeze" or somthing like that. They were little cutouts you removed from rubberized sheets that you could stick on mirrors or glass and they'd come right back off easily. I wonder if somebody who made those just took Vectrex overlays and a festive cookie cutter set and just went to town?
Wow... I'm rambling.....
Anyways... how's things DM?
On a bright note, I just found out from my brother that the Virtual Boy and the games I had bought him are among the only things that remain of my (and my 2 brothers) video game collection as we grew up. It turns out that the Virtual Boy was the only thing we had that they wouldn't take in for trade.
It reminds me of when my uncle took this rediculous looking bike/rowing machine my Grandma had not used for years to Play it Again Sports thinking he was doing a good thing by saving it from the trash heap. The kid there told him that they'd take it if he gave him a $20. He said they already had 3 of them and they had to pay customers to haul it out of the store for them.
So it's cool that I still got one unique system that cannot be perfectly emulated with today's "Main Street" technology and abilities. I actually bought all that for my bro back in the day. I figure since he sold everything else that wasn't his, he owes me.
I still think there is some great potential for the Vectrex on the box though. I don't know if you play any emulators where you need to see the keyboard, but on the ones that support it if you press the left joystick down it will display a virtual keyboard. The transparancy of this keyboard can be turned from 100% opaque to 100% invisible. I really think that if some kind soul were to find the time to wrap some XPORT code around a Vectrex source, that we could really get close to a virtual "dramatization" of how the Vectrex experience played out.
Huh.... I was just remembering that toy my brother and I would get from some school fundraisers when we were little kids. I think it was called "Stickeeze" or somthing like that. They were little cutouts you removed from rubberized sheets that you could stick on mirrors or glass and they'd come right back off easily. I wonder if somebody who made those just took Vectrex overlays and a festive cookie cutter set and just went to town?
Wow... I'm rambling.....
Anyways... how's things DM?
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