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Game Industry News

Made-in-Singapore Mini Retro Arcade

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Yappy Arcade Console

Arcade gaming has evolved tremendously over the years. Today, golden age of arcade gaming maybe behind us with the proliferation of gaming consoles and PC games. But that does mean we have to give away that part of our memory.

OpenBuild SG, the affiliated local counterpart of  OpenBuild in US, has been working on a mini arcade machines running on Raspberry PI and Emulation Station. They have been refining the model for some time churning out prototype after prototype. They are now ready to put these awesome big boy toys in your home! Called the Yappy Arcade Console, the machines allow you to play games from the Nintendo classics all the way to PlayStation One games.

We went down to their OpenBuild workshop at Ubi to have a look at the entire building process. All these machines are handmade by Yap, who is one of the founder of OpenBuild SG. From purchasing of the parts to cutting of the wood and finally to the assembly of the machine, all these are done in this workshop. You can check out Yap’s blog post for more details on how he build the console.

Left: Yap, the man behind all these mini arcade machine. Right: Our victorious editor Jax who just beat Yap at a game of Street Fighter.

This mini arcade console has a 10.1″ screen and a joystick with 10 buttons. Sufficient inputs even for your PlayStation games. The machine can be plug straight to your wall plug. It comes with a pair of 4Ω 3W Speakers and the brain of the machine is a Raspberry Pi Ver. B+ rev 2.

The console feels authentic to me. It is amazing how technology enable us to shrink down the good old arcade machine into this mini form loaded with way more games than a single classic arcade console. Of course, the craftsmanship deserves praises as well. While I am no expert in this field, I wouldn’t have guessed that the Yappy Arcade Console is built by hand in a workshop. It seems like the real deal to me. However, given that it is a mini arcade console, we advise against inviting your friends over for a game of bishi bashi.

Inside the gut of the machine

OpenBuild SG is now having a promotion selling these machines in limited quantity at SGD 399. After which, the price will increase. OpenBuild is willing to sell to fellow GameTrader.SG members at SGD 399 for another additional 50 sets. Just tell them that you are a member of GameTrader.SG and they will honour the price. The price of SGD 399 maybe on the high side for the younger gamers out there especially if you compared with a PS4 console which costs around SGD500 plus. However, given the price of the parts which take up bulk of the costs, the price maybe justifiable especially for the craftsmanship. Even if you don’t play it, it does look like a good piece of art to display at your geek corner.

If you wish to purchase one, you can drop a SMS  to OpenBuild SG at +65 9113-1344. Yap is usually too busy in the workshop so a message will work best. You can also visit their workshop too at 65 Ubi Road 1, #01-87 Oxley Bizhub 1, Singapore 408729. Do check with them first before coming down.

Oh yes, there is also a two player version! You can contact them for more details. Happy to report that I beat Yap at Street Fighter. +1 for GameTrader! We will schedule a rematch soon.

The 2 player version of Yappy Arcade Console

PS: This is not an advertisement. Purely sharing this awesome machine with fellow GameTraders 🙂

Game Industry News, General

Welcome to the Matrix. VR gaming is real.

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VR is coming to PS

More than 10 years ago, there was a game called Kid Chamelon on Sega Gensis. The game is set in the future where people no longer play game using controller and screen but they would enter a machine to play game in virtual reality. Fast forward to today, VR gaming may indeed become the mainstream way of playing games in a year or two.

So is VR gaming the future of gaming or a hype? I’ve got a chance to try out the latest Sony PlayStation VR at the GameStart Asia game convention held at Suntec this weekend.

What is VR gaming?

Put it simply, it is as simple as putting 2 small screens near your left and right eyes respectively via a head mounted device. Each screen shows what a left and right eyes would see similar to how 3D glasses work. Voila! You are now transported to a whole new world! With a controller, you can move and interact in the new world and get totally immersed in virtual reality. More details here for those who are interested.

Who is in the VR space?

Virtual reality (VR) has been made popular by a company call Occulus with their Occulus Rift headset funded on Kickstarter. Since then, many other companies are getting into VR.

Google with their famous low-cost Google Cardboard which is essentially a cupboard head mount for your Android phone to be placed over your eyes similar to the Rift.

Microsoft announced its own Hololens in Oct 2015 slated for shipment in 2016. Hololens however is a mix reality headset. Wearing it still enables you to view your actual physical surrounding with its transparent glasses. At the recent E3, Microsoft has demo-ed a Minecraft gameplay using Hololens.

If Microsoft is in the game, you bet Sony is. Sony’s very own VR headset, originally called Project Morpheus, was announced way back in 2014. It is now known as PlayStation VR and of course it will be powered by PlayStation 4. This is the set that I’ve tried at GameStart Asia.

Other notable mentions include HTC Vive and Samsung Gear VR which is essentially an Occulus Rift design to fit over a Samsung Galaxy  S6 or Note 4.

The experience at GameStart Asia

PlayStation VR

The PlayStation VR booth is undoubtably one of the most popular booth at GameStart Asia. I was given a chance to try the famous Summer Lesson PlayStation VR demo .

For those who don’t know about Summer Lesson, it is a demo built for the PlayStation VR where you meet this virtual blonde girl who asked you to teach her Japanese. Yes, it maybe weird and creepy for some, but I am absolutely certain that this makes having a virtual girlfriend even more real for some Otaku. You really need to experience this yourself.

After being ushered into the demo area, a crew member helped me put on the headset and earphone. While the screen is supposingly HD at 1920 x 1080 ( 960 x 1080 for each eye), the display is not as clear and sharp as I would hope to be. Also the headset has to be at a ‘correct’ angle for it to be in focus. A few times I was fumbling with the headset with my hand trying to get it to focus probably. To be fair, it could be because I am wearing glasses and that the set could still be a prototype.

Aside from the display, the entire experience is really immersive and surreal! The demo started with a beautiful blonde lady asking you to teach her Japanese. You reply using head gesture, nodding or shaking your head. Additional control via PS Move is detected by the PlayStation Camera setup in front though it is not available on this demo.

Your potential virtual girlfriend

The girl was sitting beside me asking me to teach her Japanese. When I tried moving in closer to her, she actually shifted backward saying that I am getting too close! Wow! What a surprise! She is actually aware that I am there. There is also a moment when she bends in front of you and that really makes me feel that she is just beside me. Talk about an immersive experience!

I don’t have the opportunity to try out other demo, one which you are involve in a heist and get to use PS Move to shoot and another where you get to swim with a great white shark. The wait at the queue was simply too long. But overall, it was a memorable experience like your first time watching a 3D movie.

VR gaming is coming

Yes that is right. VR gaming is real and it will likely transform the way we play game today. I believe that console games will first take the lead with PlayStation VR and Hololens leading the way towards VR gaming. However, we have yet to try the headset on for a prolong period of time. Problem with such technology is that people may experience discomfort or giddiness over some time and this may affect how well gamers adopt this technology.

Nonetheless, we are excited about this piece of technology and hope to be able to review a full game on the VR or Hololen soon when it is out hopefully by next year.

PS: Check out Tow Kay New’s vlog on the actual event below:

Game Industry News, Game News, GameTrader.SG's Comments, General

Console War in Singapore

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Being an avid gamer myself, the topic of console war is always close to my heart. Before I reveal which camp I belong to, let us take a look at the new dashboard I have created using figures from www.gametrader.sg. Approximately 60,000 game posted on the platform from Jun 2010 to Aug 2015 are visualized in this dashboard.

Some key points to note on launch date of some consoles in Singapore:

  1. Feb 2012: PS Vita launched in Singapore
  2. Jan 2013: Wii U launched in Singapore
  3. Dec 2013: PS4 launched in Singapore
  4. Sep 2014: Xbox launched in Singapore after a year it was launched in US and Europe.

Who is leading the console war? Our 3 charts below can provide some indication:

1. Market Share

Market Share

Based on the number of posts on GameTrader.SG, market shares of PS4 has increased tremendously from 2014 to 2015. It is now at 44% of the combined numbers of posts of PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. Xbox One is the tiny portion over at the bar chart for 2015 which account for 2.58%.

A point to note is that PS4 has close to a year head start compared to Xbox One which was release in Sep 2014. Desperate for getting their hand on a next gen-console, gamers may not have the patience to wait a year for Xbox One and have move on with PS4.

2. Price

Price

Price of PS3 and Xbox 360 games have been declining steadily over the years. With the launch of the new PS4 console, we see a greater drop in PS3 game pricing. The average PS3 games also cost about 35% of a PS4 game.

While Xbox 360 game is the lowest among the XBox and Playstation family, Xbox One game remains slight pricer than PS4. Could price be a reason why PS4 popularity is higher? Anyhow, a quick check on Qisahn for the game Watch Dog shows that Xbox One and PS4 price is the same at $39. Perhaps the data could be bias since trading for PS4 game is a lot more than Xbox One.

Nonetheless, it is good to know that game prices are decreasing over the years!

3. No. of Game Titles

Game Titles

The number of game titles definitely plays a part in the popularity of a console. Again, we see the number of titles traded on GameTrader.SG for PS4 is about 4 times more than Xbox One. Without a doubt PS4 titles are stronger than Xbox One. However, most big titles Metal Gear Solid V, Grand Theft Auto 5 and Final Fantasy 15 are usually available on both platforms. At least what we can conclude is that more titles are being traded on GameTrader.SG for PS4 compared to Xbox One.

Other findings

If you have time to play with the dashboard, you will be able to find other interesting insights. For example, pre-owned game cost about 35% less than the brand new counter part and average of preowned PS3 game can be as low as $22. Of course, some games are even cheaper depending on the seller.

Have fun with this dashboard! You can try it here.

PS: You should be able to guess which camp I am now 😛

 

Original Post by jaxxie.me on 2 Sep 2015.