[My PS3 Doesn’t Play PS2 Games :(]

A friend told me it would before I bought it which I thought was pretty cool because I have really come to love the wireless controllers on the PS3. I have the 80gb model.

 

Well I tried playing tales of the Abyss on the system and got an error message about the media being unreadable.

 

I downloaded and installed the PS2 software for the PS3 and rebooted the system and tried again but still no dice.

 

I checked online and was directed to a search form where you can punch in a game title and see if it is compatible with the PS3. It told me Tales of the Abyss should work fine so I am not sure what the deal is.

 

I have heard that PS2 functionality was being stripped out of the hardware in the PS3, but that the system could still handle it through software emulation. It’s a major bummer after all the bragging about the specs from Sony it can’t handle a last generation game. I still love my PS3 but it would be nice to keep the PS2 in the game room where it belongs.

[Monitor a folder?]

Three thoughts come to mind based on your post.

 

Is the reason you are converting all the downloads so they can be played on the Xbox 360? I had a major problem because I had almost 2 terrabytes worth of anime on my server that wouldn’t play on the 360. I ended up using TVersity to act as a multimedia server that encoded the video on the fly (as you watch it) to play on the xbox without altering the original files. This was the only practical way to watch all this anime without trying to re-encode each one.

 

It sounds like you are looking into some sort of Macro process. It can probably be done but would require a lot of trial an error. Especially the monitoring part. A friend of mine used to write bots for MMORPGs and there were so many checks the program had to perform to do something as simple as monitor health, let alone read a file name, but it can probably be done.

 

The easiest way would probably be to get some sort of VNC software so you could just remote admin your PC and manually convert the videos. It would take a lot less time and know how then a custom macro.

 

Good luck man, sounds like an interesting problem.

[Started Building my First MAME Arcade Machine]

I finally had a chance to start working on the MAME Arcade system I am building. It’s a small profile arcade machine that will fit on or next to my desk in my game room. I originally started designing it back when I lived in an apartment and didn’t have the room for a full sized cabinet. I finally bought my first house this time last year, but still really wanted to build the mini arcade system.

 

My original plan was to build a true “miniature” arcade machine, but do to budget and availability of parts I had to put the Mini Arcade on hold.

 

While the system will be setup like a full fledged Arcade Machine running MAME, it will also support console play with the ability to hookup to a TV for all the classic console goodness. Here are a couple pics of the progress so far.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I will hopefully be getting some more work done on it this weekend. I posted an article with all the pictures of the construction so far, along with details on the build in my latest blog post.

 

Pictures – DIY ROM Arcade Machine Construction – Part 01

 

I still need to order a couple more parts from Amazon and finalize a design for the controller. The picture of the cabinet with the controller piece in place is just a place holder until I have worked out a design. Once I am finished it should be able to play pretty much any Arcade or Console game.

 

One other thing I need to do is find a good place online that sells controller parts so I can get that all squared away. If anyone has any recommendations for that I would appreciate the help!

[What games are you playing on SNES?]

I'm always partial to Zelda - A Link to the Past, but also loved the Original Mario Kart. Earthbound, Super Mario RPG, and Final Fantasy III were also awesome games!

[Best Emulators for a Home Built Arcade Machine]

Thanks for the recommendations.

 

I am much more familiar with standard console emulators than Arcade Emulators, so I’m glad to get some good advice on which ones would work best for a home arcade machine.

 

I have added the ones you mentioned to my notes. My system specs are not incredibly high on this first system. Mainly because I am working on a budget but also because I am trying to build a smaller profile system.

 

Motherboard - INTEL BLKD945GCLF MITX ATOM CPU

Memory - Crucial Technology 1GB DDR2 PC2-6400 240

Video Card - EVGA e-Geforce 6200 PCI Graphics Card

Hard Drive - Western Digital 5000AAKS 500GB SATA II 7200 RPM 16MB

Power Supply - AGI 350W P4 Power Supply W/2 SATA Connection

Operating System - Windows XP Home OEM SP3

Montor - ACER V173B 17″ LCD Monitor

 

I figured this was a pretty decent setup for my first DIY Arcade System. After researching it more and checking out some of the other projects people have done, I already have ideas for other systems I would like to build in the future and I will probably create a more heavy duty hardware setup down the road.

[Best Emulators for a Home Built Arcade Machine]

Hey all. I am currently working on a project to build my own Arcade Machine and was wondering what peoples opinions are of the best Emulators out there. I plan on having the Arcade Machine handle as many different system as I can get running on it, and I will be designing a custom frontend for loading various emulators, so I want to make sure all the ones I am running are the best ones available.

 

I have been messing around with various emulators for different systems, but it takes awhile to thoroughly test each one and as soon as I think I have found the perfect one, the sound is off in a game or it has various other graphic anomalies.

 

What emulators do you guys use for different systems? I have been so tied up lately in the design and planning of the Arcade Machine that I have not been able to square away the emulator side of the system yet. I appreciate any feedback or suggestions you may have for this project.