Author Topic: Anyone wanna pool their money and get a Rev dev kit? (Read 9825 times)

ShyGuy · « **on:** February 23, 2006, 04:48:57 AM »

http://revolution.ign.com/articles/690/690730p1.html

Interesting that Nintendo is selling them so cheap. $2,000 is really inexpensive. I bet at that price, we will see some of the gameboy developers release Rev titles. Considering the amount of shovelware on the GBA, I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing.

animecyberrat · « **Reply #1 on:** February 23, 2006, 05:49:26 AM »

Im so in, me and my friens have been wanting to make a video game for a Nintendo system since back n the SNES days, we started so many but never finishe dbecause SNEs hardware got outdated and we didnt want to learn N64.
At that price I oculd easily afford one by the time the final kit is available.

So if anyone who knwos anything about makign video games wants to get serious and start a studio with me send me PM. This news is just one more reason to put faith in Nintendo for next gen.

Artimus · « **Reply #2 on:** February 23, 2006, 06:04:12 AM »

Certain posters on this board amaze me, merely because they somehow manage to get up in the morning.

capamerica · « **Reply #3 on:** February 23, 2006, 06:17:14 AM »

If $2,000 is infact how much a Revolution dev kit is going to cost thats going to be great for 3rd party developers. We could see the Revolution getting a ton of games.

Me and a couple of my friends were planing to create a GameCube game we had most of the planing done, but then we found out how much it was going to cost for a Dev kit and the game kind of went on the back back burner. We figured we would try to make a PC version first but that just didn't give us the motivation as doing a GameCube game did. But with this price the game might come back from the dead!

Pale · « **Reply #4 on:** February 23, 2006, 06:26:07 AM »

If they are only 2 grand, I expect there to be several other hoops to jump through besides writing a check.

MaryJane · « **Reply #5 on:** February 23, 2006, 06:51:01 AM »

Yeah i'd have to agree with pale on that. I don't think a dev kit is something they'd sell to just anyway, they did say they'd like to see games come from new sources, but i bet they want you to be a legitamate company, and not someone who's going to use their kit to produce mock revs in china. (nothing against the chinese, but it is bootleg capital).

KDR_11k · « **Reply #6 on:** February 23, 2006, 07:23:18 AM »

Unless Nintendo changed policy they only sell those to established developers that "have proven that they can keep trade secrets". That's what it said on their developer page.

BlkPaladin · « **Reply #7 on:** February 23, 2006, 07:32:06 AM »

Yeah that is their policy. I hope they will lax it a bit because I will be looking into it at GDC.

Ian Sane · « **Reply #8 on:** February 23, 2006, 07:33:58 AM »

Cheap dev kits is one thing but there are other issues. How good are the dev kits? I vaguely recall complaints from devs that Nintendo's dev kits usually suck and are overpriced. Well maybe the overpriced issue has been fixed but what about the suck part? On the N64 Nintendo hid information from third parties so that their own games turned out better. Has that sort of crap been stopped? How much are Nintendo's licencing fees? If they're still higher than everyone else's then cheap dev kits won't mean squat. Don't devs only use kits for games started prior to launch? I heard once that once the console is out they just use the console itself. So a cheap dev kit's nice but a third party doesn't save money if Nintendo rapes them on licencing fees. We need to see more of the picture.

BlkPaladin · « **Reply #9 on:** February 23, 2006, 07:38:58 AM »

Nintendo's fees are the same as Sony's at least this generation they were. The first three kits were not that great from the article. But the "good" one doesn't come out until E3. As for hiding some information I think that went out with Yamaguchi, the same with the liscensing fees. It does sound at least currently they want developers to make games for the console so that may mean they are will to share most of their information.

There are some tricks and tecniques they may not share if they deam it reveals company secrets. (Its kind of dumb but this happens all over the development community.)

IceCold · « **Reply #10 on:** February 23, 2006, 08:27:27 AM »

On the N64 Nintendo hid information from third parties so that their own games turned out better. Has that sort of crap been stopped?

Well I'd say so, judging from the fact that they're even going to other developers to give ideas on how to use the NRC for their franchises.. And like Blk said, the third party mistreatment was from the Yamauchi era; Nintendo is a lot more friendly towards them now. And, I don't know if he's right that the licencing fees were the same as Sony's this gen, but if so, you can't keep using the argument of Nintendo charging more for the fees..

jakeOSX · « **Reply #11 on:** February 23, 2006, 09:51:18 AM »

with kits this cheep, i think we'll see an indy revolution scene pop up. at least i hope so.

remember? someone (reggie i think) meantioned single person dev companies being able to make rev games? and with the download service, you could have a no-physical-item sort of distribution.

now does that mean there will be 1000 alien homind knock offs?

well, i hope so. =)

Artimus · « **Reply #12 on:** February 23, 2006, 10:55:51 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: BlkPaladin
Nintendo's fees are the same as Sony's at least this generation they were. The first three kits were not that great from the article. But the "good" one doesn't come out until E3.

I think it says the 'good' ones are out now, its just the final ones that come out around E3. That's pretty good for a November launch. 360 final kits weren't out until the summer (August?). They seem to be on a good schedule for November.

attackslug · « **Reply #13 on:** February 23, 2006, 11:36:25 AM »

Ian, I wouldn't fret too much about Nintendo keeping secrets from devs this time around, seeing as some of the best looking GCN titles were made by 3rd parties (RE4, etc).

Aussiedude · « **Reply #14 on:** February 23, 2006, 01:34:29 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Ian Sane
Don't devs only use kits for games started prior to launch? I heard once that once the console is out they just use the console itself.

Yeah right , what absolute BS!!

Dev kits contain in general (based on many years experience developing real time programes for telecommucations testing, plus coding some basic games for windows and os/2)

- a compiler, so they can write code in C, C++, linked assembler routines etc
- software debugger so they can fix the code and analyse it for speed.
- probably also a real time hardware debugger.
- modified hardware so programmes can be downloaded from a server/pc etc, probably with breakout box for connection to a logic analyser.
- step by step so they can analyse each frame on an screen with each line of programme excecution

Ceric · « **Reply #15 on:** February 23, 2006, 01:46:27 PM »

I know the developer unit for the Gamecube the biggest difference was it has a removable harddrive. This saved a lot of time and money on development cost because you could do rapid testing and you didn't have to have one of the custom disc made for you just to test. I wonder if the Rev's developer unit is the same way with a hard drive instead of the disc.

Aussiedude · « **Reply #16 on:** February 23, 2006, 01:53:13 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Ceric
I know the developer unit for the Gamecube the biggest difference was it has a removable harddrive. This saved a lot of time and money on development cost because you could do rapid testing and you didn't have to have one of the custom disc made for you just to test. I wonder if the Rev's developer unit is the same way with a hard drive instead of the disc.

YEs it would probably have something like that for semi-final testing, although it would probably need some sort of software/hardware control to slow it down so it would act like a DVD in terms of access time etc. I would imagine they would use the HD on the server for normal testing.
Maybe they just call up a DLL and tell the software its running from a HD and that does all the adjustment.

Ian Sane · « **Reply #17 on:** February 23, 2006, 01:54:42 PM »

AussieDude thanks for the clarification on what's involved with a dev kit. I see how it works now.

Strell · « **Reply #18 on:** February 23, 2006, 02:42:32 PM »

Step 1: Fail to understand the English language.
Step 2: Learn of cheap dev kit.
Step 3:

?
Step 4: Profit.

31 Flavas · « **Reply #19 on:** February 23, 2006, 03:59:49 PM »

Your slashdot humor is of no use here!

Strell · « **Reply #20 on:** February 23, 2006, 05:01:13 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: 31 Flavas
Your slashdot humor is of no use here!

Score: -1, Not Funny

31 Flavas · « **Reply #21 on:** February 23, 2006, 05:05:11 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Strell

Score: -1, Not Funny

In Soviet Russia, Score mods you!

Strell · « **Reply #22 on:** February 23, 2006, 05:40:49 PM »

Touche', good sir!

couchmonkey · « **Reply #23 on:** February 23, 2006, 05:52:34 PM »

Hey, cheap dev kits are good news, Nintendo is trying to get every developer out there to try it out. Smart, I say.

animecyberrat · « **Reply #24 on:** February 23, 2006, 09:02:47 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Artimus
Certain posters on this board amaze me, merely because they somehow manage to get up in the morning.

if thast was a crack at me #*^#$ you!

if not nevermind me...

Anyways I wasnt joking at all I have been looking into making video games for along time, I have some knowledge and I haev made my own games in the past. YES I did start development for a video game way back when SNES was around, we actauly got pretty far too but by the time we had enough done to show the game around the N64 was already released and we didnt have apublisher.

I DO own my own record company though now and can use that as a way to enter other markets.

Anyways I just thought that if they make it really easy to make games for their system and maek ti THAT CHEAP than I have more of a reason to consider it.

I treid getting n64 kits when it was still popular but they wouldnt talk to me because I didnt have a publisher.

And liscensing fees are IRRELAVANT they are per unmit cost, so it only cost yo money based on how much product you order, or how many games you manufactor. It was like 8 dollars per disk for GC is what we were told.

N64 ws a lot more expensive but again it went back to cartridges soting mroe to make.

On the other hadn 3D0 had 3 dollar per disk liscensing fees and that didnt help them much, and their dev kist were 10,000 dollars apeice.

News:

Author Topic: Anyone wanna pool their money and get a Rev dev kit? (Read 9825 times)