Difference between revisions of "Main Page"

Blog

Subscribe to the feed now! [RSS] [Atom]

Leave comments on the talk page (click "Discussion").

<startFeed />

Code Comparisons Like Mom Used to Make

Dimitri recently used CloneSpy to look at Game Boy (regular, not color) games. In case you don't know, CloneSpy is a code comparison program that predates our own; it was originally written by Thomas Jentzsch back in 2000 and was aimed at sorting out Atari 2600 ROM dumps.

There are significant differences between CloneSpy and our program. Our program only looks at two files at a time, while CloneSpy goes over all files in a directory. Our program writes shared data like hex strings to an output file. The user then has to search for that data on his or her own in other files, perhaps using a program like Effective File Search. CloneSpy does all this itself, but it's a mystery as to what shared code is being found unless you want to disassemble the ROMs later and investigate for yourself. This may not be a big deal when it comes to 2600 games, but it becomes a problem when dealing with more complex games. For example, CloneSpy grouped together puzzler Rock'n! Monster!! and Super Street Basketball. Upon further examination, it turned out both games were by different developers, but they do share a music composer, which means they likely share the same sound driver. That likely triggered CloneSpy's reaction.

As for the rest of our Game Boy run, CloneSpy mostly grouped variants of the same game together. There are some interesting findings, however, like a chunk of Tose games and a chunk from a potential mystery developer (see GDRI-009). See the full results here.

[read more...] -or- [leave a comment...]

More Blog Changes

I just installed an extension that allows you to post comments in the same manner you would on any other blog. To accommodate this, blog posts from here on out will be placed on separate articles which will be embedded on the main page and subsequent archival pages. All these changes are being made to help broaden the role of the blog. Not only will I write about what's going on with the site, but I will also attempt to write about old games and gaming history. I know what you're asking yourself: Do we need another site writing about old games? No, but the posts here will have that special GDRI twist - trying to find the stories behind the games, digging into obscure games, and perhaps even changing conventional wisdom about certain things in gaming's past. Stay tuned!

[read more...] -or- [leave a comment...]

Blog Changes

The "front page" of the blog is now on the Main Page. If you have subscribed to the blog feed, you will need to change the address in your reader or resubscribe.

The LJN Mysteries: X-Men Part 2 and Some Other News

X-Men Part 2:

• According to Japanese Wikipedia, software company Bothtec merged with Quest in 1990. It separated from Quest in 1997, "but it is merged in the B B M F that performed a capital tie-up on May 1, 2009, and the company will become extinct."
• In this old 2ch thread, post 832 says Dungeon Kid (FC RPG from Quest and Pixel) shares a piece of music with the FDS version of Relics (published by Bothtec). Post 856 suggests Pixel and Bothtec may have been in the same building.
• We know Pixel did stuff for Quest, but what about Bothtec?
• I previously pointed out a cheat in FDS Topple Zip which involves entering "PIXEL" as a player name to become invincible.
• The shared music between Dungeon Kid and Relics is not a solid piece of evidence. Composer Masaharu Iwata, who went on to work on several Pixel games, would have been a Bothtec employee when he was working on Relics, going by his profile. He was probably still with Quest when he did Dungeon Kid. He worked for Quest (post-Bothtec merger) for a year before becoming a freelancer.
• Relics does have a X-Men vibe to it...maybe.
• It's possible I read this old post from ArnoldRimmer83 long before he contacted me a couple days ago.

Other news:

• The Hitoshi Akashi interview is slowly coming along. I keep procrastinating editing it, and I still have more questions.
• Thanks to PingvinBlueJeans for sharing his research of "pre-Crash" developers with us.
• Judgment handed down by Judge Hashimoto from the Osaka District Court regarding the Ikegami/Nintendo/Donkey Kong case. Of course, it's all in Japanese.
• Read GDRI's past LJN exposé posts in their new permanent locations:

The LJN Mysteries: X-Men

LJN and...Atlus? UPDATE!

LJN and...Atlus?

<endFeed />

Links

• GDRI on Twitter
• GDRI on Mixi (Japanese)
• SMS Power
• Video Game Rebirth
• AtariAge
• Lost Levels

More...

Did you know...

<randomArea > ...Atlus developed games for LJN? ...Sega had a development studio in the midwestern United States? ...Zippo Games developed both NES Wizards & Warriors sequels? </randomArea >

Blog archive

Newest-to-oldest

6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1