Yeah, right… Not even close! That VBA is cool, though it’s missing a d-pad, and possibly some sort of stereo display.

Yeah, way to go, lameboy. Keep up the good work (but don’t use all your free time on it 😉

One thing: I was playing it on the bonus disc, and it seemed to only let me walk in one cardinal direction at a time. (I don’t know if this is in the game or this implementation, because I never got into it on the NES.) It was quite disorienting for me, since I’m used to LttP and the Oracle games which have diagonal walking. My suggestion: upgrade the walking algorithm, please! Maybe you could make it an option for “purists.” *shrug*

Later,
RunnerPack

Just because they don’t plan to take advantage of the 2 screens for stereoscopy, doesn’t mean a 3rd party or hobbyist can’t.

As long as the screens are equal in size, capabilities, and vertical position, it shouldn’t be hard at all. It’ll just be a bit harder to fuse the two images. Although, depending on the shape of the device, it might be possible to fashion an HMD from it.

I definitely think their idea of two completely different images is retarded, but anything with even the capability of stereoscopy is okay in my book.

I’ll wait until i’ve seen it to pass judgement.

RunnerPack

Even though I see you guys regularly on #virtualboy, I want to make sure everyone knows I LOVE THIS SITE!!! 😀
Keep it Virtual, everybody!

It’s not really a “tutorial” per se, but I’ve been updating David Tucker’s VB technical document. Some day I might release it…

I’d be glad to help out on the “supa-dupa” doc, though! 😉

RP

1) Check the voltage at the end of the AC adapter.
If it’s not 6-15VDC, get a new adapter and/or go to step 4.
2) Check the voltage at the terminals (on the tap) that connect to the VB pad.
If it’s not 6-15VDC, get a new tap and/or go to step 4.
3) With the pad’s switch on, check the voltage across pins 5 and 6 on this diagram:

If it’s not 6-15VDC, get a new pad and go to step 5.
4) If you can’t get a new adapter or tap, perform “trafo mod” and proceed to step 5.
5) VB ON!

Hope that helps…

PS: The VB also requires a certain amount of current to run. I’m not sure what the minimum is, but 800mA to 1A should be a safe bet, even with “other stuff” attached (e.g. possible future expansion devices, etc.)

– RunnerPack

Post Edited (09-12-03 07:09)

Here’s one to NOT play: Vexx

STAY AWAY FROM IT!!! BAD GAME!!!

Here is the form I want the VB2 to take:

1) Console (i.e. not “portable.”)

2) VGA output standard, _maybe_ (HD)TV as an _option._ Am I the only one that realizes how _cheap_ old (S)VGA monitors are?!?!

3) Anaglyph mode standard, shutter-glasses and (eventually) HMD/dual-projection as add-ons. Anaglyph glasses are _free,_ (!) which solves the “Other people can’t play with me/watch me play!” argument!

4) Use GC controllers, (including GBA linking) to SAVE ME (the consumer) MONEY!

5) Networking would be cool, but not really necessary. VB link port a MUST! And, INCLUDE THE FREAKING CABLE, THIS TIME!

6) Stop trying to prevent hacking; it won’t work! Make it open, instead!

Thank you for reading. Please pass this along to anyone you know working at Nintendo. 😉

Sincerely,
RunnerPack
Post Edited (08-23-03 06:17)

I also think it’s a nice idea (in theory) but it’s slightly flawed, and not exactly new…

One of Mr. Yokoi’s other inventions, the “Game & Watch,” used an LCD sandwiched between a reflective background layer and a transparent foreground layer. Both of these layers had images printed on them, making a nice “parallax” effect such as you described. Granted, in your system there would be more, and they would be active, rather than fixed, but still a similar idea.

Also, unless you also go by “pmboy2000,” this guy thought of it, too: http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/3D_20Kube

As for using LCDs: Though I’m not 100% sure, since LCD’s use the polarity of light to decide whether the light is transmitted or blocked, I don’t think you can even stack LCDs. Even if you can, it would have to be the transmissive kind, not reflective like the GB(A) panels. Otherwise, not enough light would get to the reflector (and back out) to be able to see anything.

And since even the most expensive transmissive LCD passes much less than 50% of the light, this probably wouldn’t work, either.

However, there do exist so-called “holographic” displays which are transparent, but which don’t use polarization to achieve the image. While not yet (AFAIK) commercially available, they would not only allow this display technology, but also increase both the total number and visual quality of the layers, because:

A) They use an extremely thin refractive coating which can be placed on a similarly thin transparent sheet to achieve their effect, and:

B) They use laser interference rather than transparent metal electrodes to control the pixels.

I’d like to put some links here, but I can’t find any. It seems like I first read about it in Popular Science, though…

Anyway, I hope you can figure it out. It sounds really useful and (potentially) inexpensive.

As an aside, I recently found out that most LCDs polarize green light at one angle and red and blue light 90 degrees from that. Apparently, if you look at a green/magenta anaglyph (most anaglyphs are red/cyan) on an LCD (or an LCD image projected on a polarity-preserving screen) through glasses made of crossed polarized lenses, you can see in 3-D, but with much less cross-talk than with regular colored filters.

As soon as I can get some polarized filters, I’m going to try it on the GBA. If it works, I’m porting VB Wario Land! 😉

Later,
RunnerPack

Post Edited (08-23-03 06:22)

1) KR155E tried changing the font sizes to no avail… I’m not giving up, though 😉

2) As you can see, we’ve begun replacing the checkboxes with the VB Wario Land rocker switch, but it still needs polishing.

– RunnerPack