I ordered a Sony home computer system from the 80s from Bas and Ditta and had it refurbished and expanded a little to suit my needs.

Z80 CPU
256Kb RAM
128Kb Video RAM
2 Slots
2 Controller ports
RGB Out
720Kb Floppy drive

MSX2 goodness in Sony form. What other computer systems feature a green power button?

[ DEC . 22 . 2010 ]
 
Way back in the golden age of video games, the humble racing game was nary more then a line on either side of the screen with an amorphous blob in the center to denote your "car". And you know what? It was damn fun to play.

In the ensuing years, the genre pulled itself up by it's proverbial boot straps, dusted itself off and started down the road (pun intended) to refinement... Adding better graphics, physics based handling, simulating realistic weather and track conditions and emulating the driving behavior of famous drivers.

The MSX is a home computer system much like the AppleII, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, BBC and Commodore 64. Home computers were first developed in the 70's to be able to compete with the hugely expensive PCs that were available at the time. Home computer systems were relatively cheap and could easily outperform the PCs in terms of graphics, sound and versatility. Read more below on how to actually use games, disks and files on these (old) wonderful computer systems.

Zippy RaceFrom the guys who brought you the Mr. Chin MSX conversion, comes Pyramid Warp/Battleship Clapton II, which ships next week and Zippy Race, which is accepting orders now. Each game is $60 and comes boxed with a manual. I'm looking forward to mine.

Check out their Website for more information on the games, with more details on the announcement below: http://www.colecovision.dk/collectorvision.htm

Pyramid Warp/Battleship Clapton II: http://www.colecovision.dk/coll-warp.htm

Zippy Race: http://www.colecovision.dk/coll-zippy.htm

Mr. Chin for ColecoVision (2008)Another upgraded MSX conversion for the ColecoVision is now available for pre-order, this time, Mr. Chin, originally created in 1984 by HAL Labs. Check out all the details over at the AtariAge forums, here. I put my name of the list! Also, be sure to check out some of the other games mentioned in that thread and the author's profile--you'll see lots of screenshots for some downright amazing already released or forthcoming ColecoVision developments that really take the system to new places!

BAZIXBAZIX, the company that is about to launch the 1 Chip MSX device has launched it's Retrogaming Website Woomb.net which is an English counterpart of a popular Japanese online retrogaming platfor called 'Amusement center' Finally a gaming platform also available in European territories. Woomb focuses on gameplay, guality and fun factor according to the website. Games originally released on the old home computers and consoles can now be played on ordinary Windows PC's with aid of a 'Launcher program', which probably will feature emulation technology. As BAZIX acquired the liscenses of the MSX system, this platform is the first to have games made available for through Woomb.

I don't think this has been posted here yet, so here goes. For those that were fans of the old MSX computers, this promises to be something that will help recreate that old MSX magic.

http://www.bazix.nl/onechipmsx.html

Sunrise MSX Game ReaderOne of the first USB cartridge readers called the "MSX Game Reader" from Japan, is currently available (also under the Sunrise USB-GAMEREADER name as an alternate English supplier), and essentially allows you to play real MSX cartridges on a standard Windows XP PC. The product comes with the MSXPLAYer, which does a good job with emulation. However, the latest version of the freeware blueMSX, 2.6, now supports the device as well. This is great news for those who want the MSX experience without having to maintain an MSX computer or even multiple systems for maximum compatibility (MSX 1, MSX2, Turbo-R, etc.), so the more options, the better (I only have a Sony HB-F1XD MSX2 computer myself). It's unfortunate then that the hardware is so relatively expensive, but perhaps this will inspire others to implement related technology for other classic systems as well.

Spike Supersports Title Screen (Vectrex): Image from Martijn Wenting's developer blog...Or so goes the tagline to the blog, d3singer.com, which, despite the tiresome "leet-speak" (which I refuse to ever learn, thank you very much) in the title, is an intriguing development diary from Martijn Wenting of the Netherlands.

I first "knew" of Martijn from frequenting his Vectrex News Website, which not only obviously provides news on one of the most unique videogame systems ever, the Vectrex, but also a plethora of related information and software tools for the highly collectible unit. Fairly recently he decided to document his software development activities in blog format, and, for those who wish to develop for classic systems or are just interested in programming or even classic systems in general, it's terribly fascinating. He's into everything from the Vectrex (natch) to the ColecoVision and MSX systems to the Atari 2600, GameBoy and beyond.