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Kazeta: An operating system that brings the console gaming experience of 90s

kazeta.org

41–50 of 164 posts

Re: Kazeta: An operating system that brings the console gaming experience of 90s

#41
My kids play the N64 more than the Wii because the Wii is quite frustrating to set up and maintain batteries and controller connections. The Switch is even more awful, but they’ll play it handheld. The PS5 is complex but generally straightforward. It helps that the controllers are big and we have a nice, clean charging dock for them. The Switch charging dock is finicky and annoying with the tiny controllers.

I think my immediate feedback is that the game cards could be a lot bigger. Anyone out there want to make a ridiculously beefy SD card adapter and corresponding slot? Or maybe even one that interfaces like a puck/block with some keying and locking.

But overall this is 100% on target for my 6 and 8 year olds. They want to play games, not operate a console.

We take them to a Retro Gaming night every few months and I’ve noticed that the X-in-1 consoles (even the brand names) are rarely touched, and all have laminated cards desperately attempting to tell kids how to get into a game. The console UX is paramount.

Re: Kazeta: An operating system that brings the console gaming experience of 90s

#42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's an OS that mounts/searches all drives (such as an SD card reader) for the first available KZI file which is a format that describes how a specific game is run (the runtime, additional gamescope options, etc). I hope it also supports putting multiple games on one cartridge and choosing between them at boot time? Don't see a reason to waste a multi-gigabyte SD card on a single ROM of a few megabytes.

Practicality is exactly why we abandoned the old designs.

Yep, but we didn't realise what we were throwing out.

Having a tangible thing somehow makes it mean more, think about picking out a record or CD to play and leaving it to play as opposed to scrolling through infinite music to choose what to play.

Re: Kazeta: An operating system that brings the console gaming experience of 90s

#43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's an OS that mounts/searches all drives (such as an SD card reader) for the first available KZI file which is a format that describes how a specific game is run (the runtime, additional gamescope options, etc). I hope it also supports putting multiple games on one cartridge and choosing between them at boot time? Don't see a reason to waste a multi-gigabyte SD card on a single ROM of a few megabytes.

It’s more romantic to have each game on individual cards that you can touch and feel rather than cramming a bunch of them onto one card. When you hold a game cart in your hand, you can close your eyes and imagine holding that entire game’s essence in the palm of your hand, you can see it and picture it, and in this sense it’s no longer just bits of data, but rather an entire world just waiting to be explored. These p…

i can't say i totally agree with you, but i love your opinion nonetheless =)

Re: Kazeta: An operating system that brings the console gaming experience of 90s

#44
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CDs specifically are obsolete, but games on optical media are still a thing. Unlike ROM cartridges, which AFAICT died with the GBA in 2008.

While they’re flash rather than rom, the switch 2 still supports physical distribution media.

I was under wrong impression that it doesn't. They really muddied the water with those other "game-key cards".

Re: Kazeta: An operating system that brings the console gaming experience of 90s

#45
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Practicality is exactly why we abandoned the old designs.

Yep, but we didn't realise what we were throwing out. Having a tangible thing somehow makes it mean more, think about picking out a record or CD to play and leaving it to play as opposed to scrolling through infinite music to choose what to play.

Thank you. Why do so few people understand this?

Re: Kazeta: An operating system that brings the console gaming experience of 90s

#47
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Practicality is exactly why we abandoned the old designs.

Yep, but we didn't realise what we were throwing out. Having a tangible thing somehow makes it mean more, think about picking out a record or CD to play and leaving it to play as opposed to scrolling through infinite music to choose what to play.

or a book vs Kindle

Re: Kazeta: An operating system that brings the console gaming experience of 90s

#48
post #45
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, but we didn't realise what we were throwing out. Having a tangible thing somehow makes it mean more, think about picking out a record or CD to play and leaving it to play as opposed to scrolling through infinite music to choose what to play.

Thank you. Why do so few people understand this?

Because it's not fucking practical. You do it once, it's cool. You do it twice, all right. You do it three times, it's annoying. Most people live in tiny apartments and are overworked, when they have a moment to play games, the "click to run" experience is vastly superior over searching for something in a mountain of plastic that could've been a chair or a plant instead.

I think that what you really want is going back to pre-internet times when access to media was limited, so every single piece of media had value. You had one casette, you'd listen to it back to back because there was nothing else. Nowadays media feel meaningless not because they're not put on physical plastic, but because you have infinite access to it at all times. Some people argue that you could try to restrict yourself to some specific subset, but deep down you'll always know it's just a theatre.

Since I accepted the fact that I hate most of humanity and 99% of commercial products are slop, I started valuing things much more. The rush of "wow I found something that isn't slop" mimics the old feeling of getting a new disc.

Re: Kazeta: An operating system that brings the console gaming experience of 90s

#49
post #45
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, but we didn't realise what we were throwing out. Having a tangible thing somehow makes it mean more, think about picking out a record or CD to play and leaving it to play as opposed to scrolling through infinite music to choose what to play.

Thank you. Why do so few people understand this?

It's completely subjective. It's not an uncommon feeling, but it's far from a universal truth. Some nerds like collecting cards, some like stamps, some like dolls or statues. You like collecting and holding data storage devices. People derive meaning and joy from different parts of life. There's not an understanding being missed, but a difference in preference.

Re: Kazeta: An operating system that brings the console gaming experience of 90s

#50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's an OS that mounts/searches all drives (such as an SD card reader) for the first available KZI file which is a format that describes how a specific game is run (the runtime, additional gamescope options, etc). I hope it also supports putting multiple games on one cartridge and choosing between them at boot time? Don't see a reason to waste a multi-gigabyte SD card on a single ROM of a few megabytes.

It’s more romantic to have each game on individual cards that you can touch and feel rather than cramming a bunch of them onto one card. When you hold a game cart in your hand, you can close your eyes and imagine holding that entire game’s essence in the palm of your hand, you can see it and picture it, and in this sense it’s no longer just bits of data, but rather an entire world just waiting to be explored. These p…

I have fond memories of looking at all my GameBoy Advance games stacked up on the shelf as a kid now and then. The idea that there's a little world in each individual one I can dive in to brought great joy. I totally get you. Sure there were custom carts back then to stuff 100 games into one cart but I didnt ever feel like getting one even back then, sucked a little of the joy out of it for me.
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