2015-03-30 21:58:19

the evo was pretty mutch a consolised windows pc, mutch like pippin was to the macintosh.

be a hero and stop Coppa now!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Dkm … DkWZ8/edit
-id software, 1995

2015-03-31 01:38:34

@assault_freak, Those are computers. If they let you brows the internet, that automaticly makes it a computer. If it were a game console, it would only let you play games.

"On two occasions I have been asked [by members of Parliament!]: 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out ?' I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question."    — Charles Babbage.
My Github

2015-03-31 22:22:15

the ps3 is marketted as a gaming console. but it also functions as a blue ray player and music player, and allows you to watch videos, movies, tv shows, etc and browse the internet. I don't see how browsing the internet makes it a computer... otherwise all the smart phones would not be called smart phones... notice the word phone, not computer.

Discord: clemchowder633

2015-04-01 18:33:37

and then there is this new breed of console called a microconsole (the ouya being an example), which is essentially a smartphone-like device marketed as a console. Most of these beasts are android based, so there is the possibility of talkback being on those, but who knows. most of these are not made by big electronics manufacruters like sony, but rather by independent developers (e.g. audio game devekopers() so It would be nice for one of the devs here to have a microconsole available, at least.

be a hero and stop Coppa now!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Dkm … DkWZ8/edit
-id software, 1995

2015-04-08 15:08:41

Hi Ethin.
Sounds really like a nice idea.
How would you make a legal console for blind players, which can play console games such as Playstation games, XBox games, PSN games etc? i don't think that would be legal if you found a way to do this. If those games can't be played, what kind of games would you then imagine such a console should be able to play?
Then, such a console should also be able to function as an accessible dvd player, blueray player, cd player, music player and movie player from the internal storage, music services and movie services like the Playstation and XBox, accessible tv like the XBox one, web browsing and all the other features like a playstation and an XBox, which turns your tv into a smart Tv. If those features wouldn't be made for a console for blind, how should such console then live up to the modern standards? I mean, what would the point then be for such a console? Just my thoughts.
I like the idea, and I would love to help by testing such a device.

Best regards SLJ.
Feel free to contact me privately if you have something in mind. If you do so, then please send me a mail instead of using the private message on the forum, since I don't check those very often.
Facebook: https://facebook.com/sorenjensen1988
Twitter: https://twitter.com/soerenjensen

2015-04-08 16:41:18

Perhaps their could be a keyboard accessory (mutch like the dreamcast had), which could esenstally turn the console into a cheep computer.

be a hero and stop Coppa now!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Dkm … DkWZ8/edit
-id software, 1995

2015-04-08 16:53:02

I miss narrow-purpose devices.
(The mini USB port in my PACMate is malfunctioning. And we just replaced the battery. sad )

看過來!
"If you want utopia but reality gives you Lovecraft, you don't give up, you carve your utopia out of the corpses of dead gods."
MaxAngor wrote:
    George... Don't do that.

2015-04-08 19:37:38

DID YOU hear about the sonus interactive console? It's about to hit the prototype stage.b

be a hero and stop Coppa now!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Dkm … DkWZ8/edit
-id software, 1995

2015-04-08 20:18:42 (edited by Genroa 2015-04-08 20:19:44)

Pi with raspbian or other Linux OS on it by default exists smile
With your modified OS would limit player liberty so it's not à problem smile

2015-04-08 22:49:14

I'm tinking about using rasbian as a first step. Yes, it'll be a basic Linux console, but it will be for the blind. I'll try to enhance boot speeds so it boots much, much faster, but that will be difficult. Getting about 24 GB of RAM, plus the skills to shrink the initrfs file to a small enough file so that it boots faster will be difficult.

"On two occasions I have been asked [by members of Parliament!]: 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out ?' I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question."    — Charles Babbage.
My Github

2015-04-08 23:28:49

Do you really need 24GB of RAM?

看過來!
"If you want utopia but reality gives you Lovecraft, you don't give up, you carve your utopia out of the corpses of dead gods."
MaxAngor wrote:
    George... Don't do that.

2015-04-09 01:25:58

No. Tat's an estimate.

"On two occasions I have been asked [by members of Parliament!]: 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out ?' I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question."    — Charles Babbage.
My Github

2015-04-09 02:38:31

are you sure you don't mean 2.4 gb?

be a hero and stop Coppa now!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Dkm … DkWZ8/edit
-id software, 1995

2015-04-09 06:37:51

Ethin, there is absolutely no way you would ever need 24 GB of ram for a Linux OS. I should know because I have a number of machines that run on a lot less. I have a system with only 1 GB that boots up fast enough with a full Gnome desktop so 24 GB is absolute overkill. Especially, if we are talking about a shell based console without a graphical user interface.

Sincerely,
Thomas Ward
USA Games Interactive
http://www.usagamesinteractive.com

2015-04-09 15:39:42

Hi ethon
It will cost millions of dollars
I think gaming consoal is a good idea.
So now first thing
you have to add at least thousands of people in your company.
2
something which I have felt that sited people are not helpful in india.
So they will help you you have to think about that.
again the thing have you decides where you can collect more fund
The idea is ausam
Most of your games are free and you have developed them through your own fund.
I think when reality soft have more people they can work hard.
Thanks
Ishan

life's battle do not always go to the stronger and faster man,
But sooner or later who win the one who thinks he can!

2015-04-09 19:39:41

Ishan, I happen to disagree. It wouldn't take millions of dollars to develop a gaming console for the blind. One could probably crowd fund the entire thing and do it on a fraction of that cost. A lot would depend on how many people are working on the project and how much they charge to work on the project. Personally, I wouldn't expect any more than a half a dozen people to pull this off. Definitely not the thousands you think are needed here.

I actually did some research into building a custom gaming console and cost wise it wasn't too bad. The hardware can be gotten fairly cheaply and if one powers the unit with an open source operating system such as Linux it really brings the cost of the console down on the software side of things. The main issue I found with building such a console is the amount of time it will take to develop the console, write the software that is needed, and to write the tools that will be needed to create the games for the unit. That all takes time and isn't all that fun to do.

Sincerely,
Thomas Ward
USA Games Interactive
http://www.usagamesinteractive.com

2015-04-09 22:47:19

I would like to point back at my questions in post 30. What's your thoughts regarding to all this? And I hate to ask. What's the point of developing a console for blind, if each game have to be made specially to this console? Maybe roms could be added so we could play mainstream games?

Best regards SLJ.
Feel free to contact me privately if you have something in mind. If you do so, then please send me a mail instead of using the private message on the forum, since I don't check those very often.
Facebook: https://facebook.com/sorenjensen1988
Twitter: https://twitter.com/soerenjensen

2015-04-10 02:01:25

@Slj, There's a problem with ROMs, though, and that is this:
A ROM cannot (and I repeat: cannot, cannot, cannot) boot on an actual computer. The PS2 did it in a fashion that I am unfamiliar with, and am not willing to research. On a raspberry pi, it would be especially difficult because I'd have to modify the motherboard firmware and install my own firmware, and I am not accustomed to writing firmware. So no, PS2/PS1/PSP games will not be playable  on this console (at least the first one until someone helps me out with this issue). However, once I find out what modifications that Sony did to their console, I'll figure out a way that byth this consoles games and PS3/PS4 games can run side-by-side, although I may have to release two types of consoles - the new accessible one and the one with Sony's modifications, but still accessible.

"On two occasions I have been asked [by members of Parliament!]: 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out ?' I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question."    — Charles Babbage.
My Github

2015-04-10 04:16:49

Hay,
WHat about making it a dedicated system with kodi and the tts addon.

be a hero and stop Coppa now!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Dkm … DkWZ8/edit
-id software, 1995

2015-04-10 08:41:48

SLJ, you raise some interesting questions, and I'll do what I can to answer them because I do think they are certainly something anyone interested in building a custom console should be thinking about.

As far as the legality of building a gaming console that can play Play Station, Xbox, and other mainstream games forget it. There is no way Microsoft or Sony would allow a third-party developer and distributor to create a competing console. They would have that person in court and be suing him/her five ways to Sunday before they knew what hit them. Technically it could probably be done by developing some sort of game emulator, but not legally by any means.

The same legal restrictions apply to mp3s, DVD movies, etc. Although, it is merely a matter of downloading and installing the proper media codecs those aren't exactly free. Microsoft has to pay royalties in order to play those formats in Windows and I imagine Sony has to on their Play Station consoles as well. So the developer of said console is going to be paying through the knows to support all sorts of media formats if they want them because the media codecs aren't free and need to be properly licensed. That is why for various reasons Linux distributions do not come with them installed with a stock install and need to be downloaded and installed separately. All those media formats come with expensive strings attached.

As to the point of such  consoles I think the idea here is for a small portable device to play accessible games. However, the costs involved in making one up to the modern standards of an XBox, Play station, or Wii are prolific if one wants to have a feature for feature comparison given all the licenses and costs involved in creating the various media players and/or emulators. Personally I'm not sure a console is worth it given that a decent laptop can do more and one wouldn't need to worry about all those legal licence's and entanglements.

Sincerely,
Thomas Ward
USA Games Interactive
http://www.usagamesinteractive.com

2015-07-25 02:07:04

While an accessible game console is definitely long since overdue, I'd say unless you know exactly what hardward you're gonna use, experimenting could be even more expensive than licensing alone. I was gonna recommend the arduino platform as a start but that's ground 0 for such a platform.
1. While it's a good starter platform for making devices, it is definitely experimental and not designed to make anything official, especially considering the code for the device's programmed software can be taken right out of it, I don't think you'd want that unless you license the console under gpl something that is next to impossible including all those codecks.
2. The adafruit wave shield and other audio boards can only play one sound at a time. Yeah, no.
I'd say Raspberry Pie is a good starter but again, you still should know where to start hardware-wise first.

2015-07-25 05:16:03

Considering that I've always preferred playing games on my PC and never owned a console. It would have to be well over and above what a PC can offer to get my interest.

2015-07-25 07:57:42

I find that the only difference between a PC and a Console is that, other than potentially building a closed ecosystem, a Console provides static hardware spec's for developers making it easier to develop for and reach a target audience. Building for many different PC spec's can be a pain. Having a set guide, language, tools, or API to help make development and porting easier would also go a long way too.

I'm remind that Peter Meijer is creating a Sonifying Kit using Raspberry Pi's for the non-sighted community, it would be easy to swap out the SIM card to potentially turn it into an Audio Console for example. This could prove mutually beneficial, since it could then be both a Non-Sighted assistance device AND an audio gaming console, increasing its appeal to your potential audience, assuming it gets off the ground. You can find the spec's and discussions on his kit here: (https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/view … mp;t=49634)

As for multiplayer, you could always attach a WiFi dongle or an ethernet cable. I think Meijer's kit has a hand held controller as well but i'm not sure if it uses haptics, the whole kit is aimed to be priced at 100$.

-BrushTone v1.3.3: Accessible Paint Tool
-AudiMesh3D v1.0.0: Accessible 3D Model Viewer

2015-07-27 22:10:48

Hi Ethin,

I think it's a very good idea. If you do get it developed, make sure to make it adaptable for sited people after the blind like it. It could go a long way to reducing discrimination against blind people. Of course it won't have an immediate effect, but even small things like this can go a long way
Best regards,
Thunderfist.

2015-08-07 20:13:53

I'll see about it, thunderfist.

"On two occasions I have been asked [by members of Parliament!]: 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out ?' I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question."    — Charles Babbage.
My Github