Voting is up for DarkSofts Neo Geo Multi Cart Design.

xsq said:

oh man, at this point they're just hurting other potential projects that might have/have been good.

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Good point, by now their multi device rather reminds this:



Competition is good thing, but Darksoft's handling of his own project made a lot of people buy the NeoSD. So at this point, he's an adversary turn advertiser.

Razoola said:

I think neosd summed it up quite well there, although I would say that while not serious issues by any means, neosd/neodev were aware of areas that did need improoving in the neoSD, and they did just that in following firmware releases. What really did help them was opening the neosd up for review by independant third partys before release (myself and others). it gave fresh eyes on their pre product and they took on board what was hilighted rather than rubbishing it.

The biggest error darksoft made in relation to his neogeo device was right at the beginning. He did a poll asking for the type of device people wanted. The result of that poll was clear, people wanted a device to be like the neoSD rather than a device with RAM. I am unsure why he did not listen and went againt opinion. In my view, if that poll was not done I am not sure the situation would be like it is today with the neosd released and another competing product still trying to be made ready for release.

I think even more people can see now that darksofts creation still neeeds to go a very long way before it can stand along side the neoSD as a truely competing product. It might get there eventually but even after the latest video its clear there is a long long way to go for them.

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Raz,

The main issue there is that the guy who designed the hardware had no idea about how Neo Geo software works, this has plaged theyr development. I would say aswel that the layout of the pcbs is terrible aswel among with the memory selection. We have discussed the layout with some friends of us that design devices for big companies and all they say the same, the layout is done by someone that never worked with such kind of memories. This Ram memory type is hard to handle hardware and software side, even for experienced engeneers.

When we designed NEOSD, the project leader knew pretty well the Neo Geo architecture, he did Neo Geo emulators a decade before NEOSD so he has deeply knowleage about how the hardware and software works. He just designed NEOSD schematics taking everything he knew in mind, another engeneer did the layout based on his schematics and a third engeneer did the FPGA code following all his directions.

This is how a project is done, you canｴt just put there 3 guys and tell them : make me a pcb, make the the fpga code, make the 68k code. You need a project leader that knows every single aspect and can answer any questions from Hardware and Software layers.

So they put themselves into this flashcart dissaster without knowing how the hard/soft works and started doing parts. While developing it, they started to see the limitations of theyr design and instead of go back to the paper and redesign it, they tried to skip those by ... removing one slot, adding double menu loads and so.

35 Secconds everytime the cart starts is a complete joke, most users will be discouraged to play anything to just waiting 35 secconds to get the game selection menu. I canｴt imagine myself a single time waiting 35 seccods just to see a menu and decide what i want to play at. Where is the advantage there ? Living every day with that is a pain.

Waiting 35 secconds looking at a black screen while flashing without knowing if the the device is handged or working, is a no sense aswel.

The menu is a complete dissaster aswel, they just put a lot of options there that are a no sense, the backup ram handling is a pretty good example about just put lines in a menu when you can just automatize this so the user wont need to loose the time doing it by hand. The menu gives me the sensation that they just wanted to add things to hold the argument that it has more things than NEOSD.


Sumarizing : they never have listed to the market, they just thought they knew much more about what users wanted than the whole user base that was doing requests in the oposite direction.

After we released NEOSD, they had a pretty good oportunity to redesign theyr hardware and software based in the feedback our customers have posted here and at other places. They decided to not listen and spent a year trying to fix theyr mess. So now they have loosen another year of sales and i would say the oportunity to work in something to compete with us.

At the end of the day, no one there has experience in company management and software/hardware development teams lead.

Alex,

I'm only here for the gangbang... +1...

xROTx

Most if not all of the sound issues in the video can be attributed to my pcb. It has some sound issues as can be heard when I boot the pcb in the vid. It happens with regular Neo carts too.

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Finding another MVS board must be hard, it isn't like they produced a gorillion of these.

neosd, yup and they have exactly the same issues with their CPS2 device in my view. Yes it works but how is it as a product.....

Its a shame really as in my view there is space for a competing / complementing NeoGeo multigame flash cart but I feel they do not have the team to do it, well let me rephrase that... They do not have the people in place to deliver something that would truely do the NeoGeo platform justice. Maybe they will proove me wrong but its been over a year already and it is not progressing as I would have expected.

but its been over a year already and it is not progressing as I would have expected.

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About 24 months since they did the poll actually... and we saw nothing of their product until 3 months after the Neosd announcement...

I like to keep tabs on stuff...

xROTx

neosd: word of advice. keep it professional. you dont want bickering and taunting to bite you later. you beat them to market. people seem to like it. thats a win. let your product stand on its own. you are representing your product. i've seen less destroy bigger projects.

cdamm said:

neosd: word of advice. keep it professional. you dont want bickering and taunting to bite you later. you beat them to market. people seem to like it. thats a win. let your product stand on its own. you are representing your product.

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Neosd is Spanish man... Hot temper and all...

I do agree with ya' Chris pal... but after all the shit Darksoft has been giving Neosd and his team over 10 months... I suppose it's OK to vent a bit...

xROTx

PS. Consider it nerd therapy...

EDIT: Don't worry... I'll keep my eye on it...

if they want to talk shit let them. they've talked me out of wanting to buy their stuff. ever. i dont care how original, cool, or unique it is.

if they talk shit and neo sd takes the high road, it speaks volumes. especially if darksoft wants to keep talking shit. the only reason they could have for acting the way that they do is because they're running scared.


ps- i know hot tempers. i'm from a family of italians. the spanish are like our minor league farm club. they one day hope to get to our level.

cdamm said:

neosd: word of advice. keep it professional. you dont want bickering and taunting to bite you later. you beat them to market. people seem to like it. thats a win. let your product stand on its own. you are representing your product. i've seen less destroy bigger projects.

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cdamm, i just have expossed facts from a tech/busines perpesctive. Yes, its my personal opinion and i have interests that are oposite to them.

Fact is that everyone is free to put theyr money where they want. I am not here telling others : donｴt but it or buy it.

Belive it or not, i can live with competition as long as its fair and honest. Part of me still has this "Lawyer for poor causes" tare that makes me to be upset and forces me to get involved when i see someone cheating to others.

They are just trying to cheat on people on a really nasty way since day one.

I am just tired about this fake comparsion road they are taking.

Alex,

neosd said:

In the meainwhile, we will have another more year with those videos shooted in the darkness showing nothing more than glitches and shame.

Someone should donate those guys a few bucks so they can buy a proper camera and a light bulb. Or even better, they can open the window and let some daylight show there, this seems recorded in Transylvani ratter than Poland, on the next video Dracula will show there performing the metal slug dance ... while dancing Beverly Hills Cop tune

BTW, if they need a name for the device here are my two suggestions :

Now Loading Station
Glitching Station
.

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This sort of stuff is what I'm talking about. This is what you need to lay off of. Be pro. Don't drop to their level.

I've taken some shit too personally myself. To my own peril. Let your work do the talking.

cdamm said:

This sort of stuff is what I'm talking about. This is what you need to lay off of. Be pro. Don't drop to their level.

I've taken some shit too personally myself. To my own peril. Let your work do the talking.

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You are totally right on that point, it was not necessary at all

Alex,

i'm glad i have both their neosd's.
@neosd:let those guys behind,you know better.

NeoSD, out of interest, how long did the project take you from start to release? It appeared and was released so suddenly, but it was obviously a lot of work before the big reveal.

I just thought it would be interesting as a comparison, considering Darksoft have been working on theirs for 2 years and it's still not ready.

MattBlah said:

NeoSD, out of interest, how long did the project take you from start to release? It appeared and was released so suddenly, but it was obviously a lot of work before the big reveal.

I just thought it would be interesting as a comparison, considering Darksoft have been working on theirs for 2 years and it's still not ready.

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Hello,

This is a really hard to answer question.

From the total working hours, we never did the mats, we just put any needed working hours to finish it.

The wole project until release day took about one natural year. But as i have stated, we put much more than 8 hours a day, we worked weekends, hollydays and so. It may have been ended about 1.5 years until release day at 8 hours a day. And another 10 months working about 10 hours a day, weekends, hollydays and so until we got it perfect (1.6 version)

Also, we had a different technical aproach and a different team. We only worked with senior engeneers, everyone here is about 40 years old. This is people with childen and a wife asking for money, you guys know how this works when you have famility, kids need to eat ... So we payed everyone else, never offered work by sucess or asked anyone to work for free. All was payed upfront, not when we started to sell it (this includes salaries, chips, production, shells, mold, company fees, and all that party)

Well, it has been a pile of work, i don´t have much more to say. We are happy with the final product and with the users not asking for refunds, no much more to say than that ...

Alex,

Neosd...

I am impressed by the effort involved pal... Glad it's worked out well for you and your team....

HOWEVER... I do sometimes feel the need to edit your posts over spelling mistakes and grammar

xROTx

Rot said:

Neosd...

I am impressed by the effort involved pal... Glad it's worked out well for you and your team....

HOWEVER... I do sometimes feel the need to edit your posts over spelling mistakes and grammar

xROTx

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Rot, you will notice my english is worst some days, this happens when i am exausted.

We have been 2 weeks without stock and we got another batch yesterday, i been working until 2am and today i woke up at 8:00 to get everything shipped by monday.

I am really tired, i should be with my familly at the beach house, but i am at the city flashing kof2k3 ...

neosd said:

Rot, you will notice my english is worst some days, this happens when i am exausted.

We have been 2 weeks without stock and we got another batch yesterday, i been working until 2am and today i woke up at 8:00 to get everything shipped by monday.

I am really tired, i should be with my familly at the beach house, but i am at the city flashing kof2k3 ...

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GO OUT! RELAX!

FAMILY >>>> Weirdoe nerd customers...

Tell them to wait...

xROTx

Rot said:

GO OUT! RELAX!

FAMILY >>>> Weirdoe nerd customers...

Tell them to wait...

xROTx

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That's BULLSHIT. Don't listen to 'em, Alex.

Love,
Weirdo nerd customer

I'm confused...which loads quicker Darksoft's multi or the NGCD?

Neodogg said:

I'm confused...which loads quicker Darksoft's multi or the NGCD?

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One more thing for yodd to test once this is out, lol. Use 3 slots with kof 2003, metal slug 5, and Game X vs. a CDZ with Game X and see how often the CDZ wins from cold boot. Not really a fair comparison, but it would be interesting nonetheless.

i'm impressed how much works go in this project,even more like you said your team are around 40y old,like me.
i can imaging build such a flashcard from the ground is a hell of a job.
they must known the ins and outs of the mvs and aes very good.

cdamm said:

neosd: word of advice. keep it professional.

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dis iz N-G.COM!

fille1976 said:

i'm impressed how much works go in this project,even more like you said your team are around 40y old,like me.
i can imaging build such a flashcard from the ground is a hell of a job.
they must known the ins and outs of the mvs and aes very good.

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If you look at their CPS2 device for example, given the lack of features... That was more about knowning the ROM pinout. In effect that device is nothing more than a glorified eprom emulator. The same can be said for some other works of theirs. NeoGeo on the other hand requires the replacement of NeoGeo hardware logic if your going to design a replacement cart PCB like the NeoSD.

I guess thats one area I have to give darksoft some credit at least. They did not go down the root of their device requiring a doner MVS/AES cart for their hardware to plug into. If it did I suspect they would have completed their thing a year ago, on the other side, this is why after so long they still do not have a really stable glitch free prototype built.

heihachi said:

One more thing for yodd to test once this is out, lol. Use 3 slots with kof 2003, metal slug 5, and Game X vs. a CDZ with Game X and see how often the CDZ wins from cold boot. Not really a fair comparison, but it would be interesting nonetheless.

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Haha. I actually thought about putting up a video "NEOSD vs NeoCD load time challenge". Would be good for a laugh.