Re: Exclusive interview about Konami and the S.C.C.
Hello ! As webmaster of the MSX Games Box, Phil receives so much e-mails ! And so comes an interesting e-mail from a French guy who worked at Konami in the States, especially for the S.C.C. soundchip. We have send the questions by e-mail and this guy has answered by the same way. These are really his answers, we have only ordered the questions to get an introduction with his work at Konami and an end with the MSX come-back. Benoît Le Martien - http://www.marsupone.com - Redécouvrez les plaisirs de l'ordinateur MSX ! - Original Message - From: Collin van Ginkel [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, June 02, 2001 2:37 AM Subject: Re: Exclusive interview about Konami and the S.C.C. Hi, This is probably the foggiest interview I've ever read.. a lot of things don't add up.. it's all a bit strange. Where did you guys dig this dude up? Greetz, Collin -- For info, see http://www.stack.nl/~wynke/MSX/listinfo.html
RE: Exclusive interview about Konami and the S.C.C.
From: Sander Zuidema [EMAIL PROTECTED] SONY Corp. was a major obstacle in the large-scale development of the S.C.C.: too much competition and too much danger to work on a project that was staying on sand (crackers made too much damage to the MSX standard: in Europe, cracked games arrived 6 months before the official cartridges this killed the MSX standard in France). --- Shall we end the Martos discussion now? :) I wasn't here while Martos discussion... but read again the interview. It says (if I remember well, since I read it only a bit) that sales of Konami games were increased with megaroms (Nemesis2 and so on). Then if I'm not wrong, Martos 1st crack was Penguin Adventure (a bit earlier in time). That's the reason you can't blame Martos. But I think I said it to you once (or was it to Anne?)... Why playing cracked games by Martos or others when you could buy those games (original) from Japan? Just import, and play originals :) And remember that our market never was good enough for Japan sellers (and it'll be the same if new MSX is released (as Takamichi said)). Not only the piracy is the problem... :( Regards, Saeba -- For info, see http://www.stack.nl/~wynke/MSX/listinfo.html
MSX mouse
Hi I said I had schematics for pc to msx mouse. I forgot to give the url: http://homepage1.nifty.com/anikun/ JP -- For info, see http://www.stack.nl/~wynke/MSX/listinfo.html
Re: Exclusive interview about Konami and the S.C.C.
Hi, As webmaster of the MSX Games Box, Phil receives so much e-mails ! And so comes an interesting e-mail from a French guy who worked at Konami in the States, especially for the S.C.C. soundchip. We have send the questions by e-mail and this guy has answered by the same way. These are really his answers, we have only ordered the questions to get an introduction with his work at Konami and an end with the MSX come-back. I understand.. but he says some weird things like: From 1993, Konami placed us on new projects and I came back to France to follow all this up from far. I received from time to time one or two cartridges coming from Japan as well as the already-cracked games from Spain. I continued to crack them so I did not lose the hand on it and sent them to Sacramento to say it was not worthwhile anymore to send cartridges to test and that pirated copies were already there Konami then moved out of the MSX scene in Europe. So Konami moced out of the MSX scene in europe after 93? Sure A big drawback of the MSX standard was that you needed whatever the machine you were using to ensure all software was compatible with former versions and with all MSX computers Sure, just like the PCs we now all use (well I'm using a Mac, but a Mac is mostly backwards compatible too) The MSX Games Box: Could Konami be interested in this new project? Well they have already put their new suits on and contacted their old teams from 10 years ago they contacted me to be their consultant in France. So Konami is forming the old teams again? Surely this guy must be mistaken or he didn't understand the question? Now I'm confused :) Overall, foggy! :) Greetz, Collin -- For info, see http://www.stack.nl/~wynke/MSX/listinfo.html
Re: 2 mapper speed question
] 2. The internal mapper is (in many cases) located in a higher slot the ] external mapper is located in. When the system boots up, the first slot ] with RAM is used (except for MSX turbo R, which for some reason always ] selects the internal memory mapper). So using only the largest mapper is by The MSX turbo R selects the internal mapper, because access to the internal RAM is significantly faster then to external RAM in R800 mode. If the R800 runs a program from internal RAM, it runs approximately 6 times as fast as the Z80. However, it the R800 runs the same program from external RAM, it is only approximately 2 times as fast as the Z80. Kind regards, Alex Wulms -- Visit The MSX Plaza (http://www.inter.nl.net/users/A.P.Wulms) for info on XelaSoft, Merlasoft, Quadrivium, SD-Snatcher on fMSX, the MSX Hardware list, XSA Disk images, documentation, Japanese MSX news from Ikeda and lots more. -- For info, see http://www.stack.nl/~wynke/MSX/listinfo.html
Re: Exclusive interview about Konami and the S.C.C.
] was staying on sand (crackers made too much damage to the MSX standard: in ] Europe, cracked games arrived 6 months before the official cartridges this ] killed the MSX standard in France). ] --- ] Shall we end the Martos discussion now? :) ] ] No. If the cracked version always arrived earlier than the official one, ] this is a big lack of competence of the softwarehouses. I fully agree with this standpoint. I really hate the fact that American and Japanese companies always tread the rest of the world as something that they will serve later. We always must wait at least half a year or sometimes even a year before something is released outside the US or JP. If it is released at all outside those regions. It is exactly the same with movies in cinemas and even worse: with DVD. There, the film industry has even made a f*cking region code to divide the world and protect their ridiculous, monopolistic, distribution policies. Kind regards, Alex Wulms -- Visit The MSX Plaza (http://www.inter.nl.net/users/A.P.Wulms) for info on XelaSoft, Merlasoft, Quadrivium, SD-Snatcher on fMSX, the MSX Hardware list, XSA Disk images, documentation, Japanese MSX news from Ikeda and lots more. -- For info, see http://www.stack.nl/~wynke/MSX/listinfo.html
Re: Exclusive interview about Konami and the S.C.C.
I understand.. but he says some weird things like: From 1993, Konami placed us on new projects and I came back to France to follow all this up from far. I received from time to time one or two cartridges coming from Japan as well as the already-cracked games from Spain. I continued to crack them so I did not lose the hand on it and sent them to Sacramento to say it was not worthwhile anymore to send cartridges to test and that pirated copies were already there Konami then moved out of the MSX scene in Europe. So Konami moced out of the MSX scene in europe after 93? Sure Effectively .. there's a chronological problem. The question was about the Konami strategy in 1988. We all know that the Konami productions of 1989 and 1990 (the last ones for MSX) were very difficult to find officially in Europe. After that Konami had moved from MSX zone to the arcade zone. I think that this French guy talks about the same problems of piracy in the arcade zone in 1993, but these problems were real in 1988 for MSX. A big drawback of the MSX standard was that you needed whatever the machine you were using to ensure all software was compatible with former versions and with all MSX computers Sure, just like the PCs we now all use (well I'm using a Mac, but a Mac is mostly backwards compatible too) The MSX compatibility is a real compatibility : if the programmers have produced a game or an application that respects the MSX Book rules, a MSX 1 game or application work without any problem on a MSX 2, MSX 2 + or MSX TURBO-R It's not really the case in the PC world, especially in the Windows environnement : a Windows 3.1 program can not really work with Windows 95. Between Windows 95, 98 and 2000, it can also happen that a program gets problems with a new version of Windows. That's not compatibility ! The MSX Games Box: Could Konami be interested in this new project? Well they have already put their new suits on and contacted their old teams from 10 years ago they contacted me to be their consultant in France. So Konami is forming the old teams again? Surely this guy must be mistaken or he didn't understand the question? Now I'm confused :) Overall, foggy! :) Greetz, Collin I agree with you : the answer for this last question is really foggy. I don't know if this French guy speaks about MSX or about the new projects of Konami (old MSX games in Java format). I suspect confidentiality problems to explain this lack of precision. But this is also the problem of the real attitude of Konami about the MSX revival: is Konami really interested by this project ? Actually, we don't know the answer maybe ASCII selfs doesn't know the answer ! Benoît Le Martien - http://www.marsupone.com - Redécouvrez les plaisirs de l'ordinateur MSX ! -- For info, see http://www.stack.nl/~wynke/MSX/listinfo.html
Re: 2 mapper speed question
Alex Wulms wrote: ] 2. The internal mapper is (in many cases) located in a higher slot the ] external mapper is located in. When the system boots up, the first slot ] with RAM is used (except for MSX turbo R, which for some reason always ] selects the internal memory mapper). So using only the largest mapper is by The MSX turbo R selects the internal mapper, because access to the internal RAM is significantly faster then to external RAM in R800 mode. If the R800 runs a program from internal RAM, it runs approximately 6 times as fast as the Z80. However, it the R800 runs the same program from external RAM, it is only approximately 2 times as fast as the Z80. So a 1MB or 4MB external memory mapper, will not be very useful for a turboR with GEM? Greets -- For info, see http://www.stack.nl/~wynke/MSX/listinfo.html
Re: MSX mouse
I said I had schematics for pc to msx mouse. I forgot to give the url: http://homepage1.nifty.com/anikun/ One of the instructions says that I should refer to http://anikun.hoops.ne.jp/page3.htm , so I visited. Quick look told me the hardware that Anikun is explaining, including the PS/2 - FM towns, assumes use of his PIC converter which is a complex programmable box. His apps and hardware allows use of optical and wheel mice. However, in my personal opinion, whole this huge idea is very complex. Takamichi -- For info, see http://www.stack.nl/~wynke/MSX/listinfo.html
MEP ROM section
Hi all, When Arnaud quit the MSX Emulation Page, I have taken over the system rom section. It became accessible immediately. Now it's always accessible at http://meproms.cjb.net/ GreeTz, BiFi Visit my Home Page at www.bifi.msxnet.org mail me at: [EMAIL PROTECTED] FTP: ftp.bifi.msxnet.org ICQ #36126979 -- For info, see http://www.stack.nl/~wynke/MSX/listinfo.html
Re: Exclusive interview about Konami and the S.C.C.
On Sat, 2 Jun 2001 07:00:08 +0200, Sander Zuidema wrote: This is a chicken-or-the-egg discussion we had many times. Are there no games because of the copying or is there copying because there are no games? I think at least a little of both. Brazilian MSX users could have united and contact Japanese software houses, so they would release software in Brazil. Nope, our market were closed, and no external products for computers were alowed. The only way was these soft houses creating shops here, and produce the software here. - AbraçOS/2, Daniel Caetano /| | | |\ Personal: http://www.danielcaetano.com/ \| ___ |/ OS/2:http://www.quasarbbs.net/daniel/ \/ - \/ MSX: http://www.fudeba.cjb.net/ | | Nao se compra um relacionamento no supermercado... -- -- Mas tambem nao se coloca prazos como em aplicacoes de banco! -- For info, see http://www.stack.nl/~wynke/MSX/listinfo.html
OFF - Backward compatability
On Sat, 2 Jun 2001 14:47:40 +0200, Benoît Delvaux wrote: The MSX compatibility is a real compatibility : if the programmers have produced a game or an application that respects the MSX Book rules, a MSX 1 game or application work without any problem on a MSX 2, MSX 2 + or MSX TURBO-R It's not really the case in the PC world, especially in the Windows environnement : a Windows 3.1 program can not really work with Windows 95. Between Windows 95, 98 and 2000, it can also happen that a program gets problems with a new version of Windows. That's not compatibility ! He was talking about hardware compatability with software, not software compatible with software. BTW, I use PC with OS/2. Version 4.5 runs all programs made for OS/2 1.x, OS/2 2.x, OS/2 3.x and OS/2 4.x. So, the lack of backward compatability is a Windows problem. And it only exists because the users accept this. M$ says: It's not possible enhance keeping compatability and the users accept. But this excuse used by M$ is a lie! It's just a way to sell again and again all programs. But I think this is a lot off topic. - AbraçOS/2, Daniel Caetano /| | | |\ Personal: http://www.danielcaetano.com/ \| ___ |/ OS/2:http://www.quasarbbs.net/daniel/ \/ - \/ MSX: http://www.fudeba.cjb.net/ | | Nao se compra um relacionamento no supermercado... -- -- Mas tambem nao se coloca prazos como em aplicacoes de banco! -- For info, see http://www.stack.nl/~wynke/MSX/listinfo.html
RE: MSX mouse
The schematics are clear and easy to build with lowcost. And programming the PIC chip is quite easy, it takes only a PC with a serial port and some simple components and freeware software. But to build the device the PIC programming source is required and I cannot find that on this apge. -Original Message- From: JP Grobler [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: 02 June 2001 11:18 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: MSX mouse Hi I said I had schematics for pc to msx mouse. I forgot to give the url: http://homepage1.nifty.com/anikun/ JP -- For info, see http://www.stack.nl/~wynke/MSX/listinfo.html -- For info, see http://www.stack.nl/~wynke/MSX/listinfo.html
Re: MSX mouse
Hi The source a .hex file is in the .lzh archives Serial mouse: p9bm2tmc.lzh Ps2 mouse:ps2m2tmc.lzh I have both and have translated the readme files in them to english via altavista. Mail me if you want them. I can also mail just the binary etc. JP [EMAIL PROTECTED] On 2 Jun 2001 17:24:26 +0200, in local.msx.int you wrote: The schematics are clear and easy to build with lowcost. And programming the PIC chip is quite easy, it takes only a PC with a serial port and some simple components and freeware software. But to build the device the PIC programming source is required and I cannot find that on this apge. -Original Message- From: JP Grobler [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: 02 June 2001 11:18 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: MSX mouse Hi I said I had schematics for pc to msx mouse. I forgot to give the url: http://homepage1.nifty.com/anikun/ JP -- For info, see http://www.stack.nl/~wynke/MSX/listinfo.html -- For info, see http://www.stack.nl/~wynke/MSX/listinfo.html
