And now for something completely different…

March 10th, 2010

One of the best things about having a smartphone is being able to use one’s own sound effects and tunes as notification sound effects (“notifications”) and ringtones – without having to pay some sleazy company for the privilege.

I’ve lost no time in turning some of my favorite video game sounds into ringtones for my Android phone, so for those of you who don’t mind looking like an overgrown kid in a room full of strangers, I offer my “notification” and ringtone collection, so far.

Notifications include Start Tune (King’s Valley 2, MSX), Coin Pickup (Super Mario Brothers, NES), Ring Pickup (Sonic the Hedgehog, Genesis) and Heart Pickup (Vampire Killer, MSX). Ringtones are Start Tune (Antarctic Adventure, MSX), Level 1 Tune (King’s Valley 2, MSX) and Coda (SD Snatcher, MSX). They’ve been recorded using OpenMSX, Gens32 and NesterJ.

And if chiptunes float your boat, I can’t recommend Kohina enough.

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Posted in Android | No Comments »

Android Market Seeding program

March 5th, 2010

A couple of days ago, I and a number of other Android developers received an email claiming to be from one of Google’s programmers. The message is posted here in its entirety, and basically thanks the developer for writing Android apps, and offers a free Nexus One or Droid phone as a “thank you” for having an app on Market that fits a specific set of criteria.

Having seen all sorts of scams in the last 15 years, and judging by the content of the message as well as the form, I was immediately skeptical. But a large number of sources (here are a few) claimed that the message is legitimate, so after several hours of consideration, I went ahead and applied for the program. I’ll post more if I actually receive the device.

Well played, Google. You just made it very difficult for me to use any other phone (not that I wasn’t sold on the platform already).

UPDATE: Today I received an official confirmation that the information was received and confirmed.

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Posted in Android, Rant | No Comments »

fMSX PSP version 3.5.40 released

March 1st, 2010

It’s been almost two years since fMSX PSP last saw an update, so today seems as good a day as any to release an updated version. New in this release:

  • PSPLIB updated to latest version
  • Images are now saved under PSP/PHOTOS/fMSX PSP
  • Virtual keyboard updated, option for “toggle display” mode
  • Screenshot previews in file browser

This release also significantly improves the save state format by adding versioning, and automatically switching the emulated machine to the system specs appropriate for the save state (no more cryptic state loading errors). To clarify, say you save a game in MSX1 mode, then switch to MSX2. In earlier versions of the emulator, unless you switched back to MSX1 prior to loading state, state would refuse to load. If you changed other features, such as memory sizes and video mode (NTSC/PAL), you would have to remember the specific setup for the game, or the game would not load. In 3.5.40, save state format includes all the necessary system data, and will automatically switch to the appropriate setup. This is the normal behavior in most other computer emulators, such as Fuse and VICE.

That said, please note that only new states will benefit from this – while fMSX PSP is backwards compatible, previously saved states will only load if you restore system setup prior to loading, as before. Of course, if you never switch from the usual setup (MSX2, 128kB, NTSC), this whole discussion is probably moot :)

Download

Posted in Release, fMSX | 7 Comments »

Spark version 1.0 emitted

February 26th, 2010

The very much real Spark is now out. You can find it at its official website, as well as on Android Market (link is Android browser-specific). Here’s the complete feature list:

  • Support for multiple accounts
  • Account summary
  • Game history
  • Achievement statistics
  • Message composition/message review
  • Friend status, summary, management (add, remove, approve and reject friends)

The application is free.

Posted in Release, Spark | 8 Comments »

Spark developments

January 22nd, 2010

I never really posted the full list of features in Spark, so I thought it proper to do so now. Features that will definitely be in the application:

  • Support for multiple accounts
  • Account summary
  • Played games statistics
  • Achievement statistics
  • Message composition/message review
  • Friends list
  • Friend summary (bio, location, rep)
  • Game comparison
  • Friend management (add, remove, approve and reject friends)

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Spark, Update | 3 Comments »

New features in Spark

December 18th, 2009

Some new developments on the Spark (gsDroid replacement) front – see screenshots below. Specifically, the look of the app has changed to a lighter theme, and a message viewer has been added.

I’m getting a small, but considerable number of reports of logins failing for certain users.This issue is difficult to debug, as it involves people’s usernames/passwords, and I’m not quite sure how to deal with it delicately. If you’re currently experiencing an error with gsDroid and want to help troubleshoot, I’m planning on putting together a testing application to investigate the problem. You will need to run the program and provide credentials. It will write some files to the SD card, which you can then review and forward to me via email.

Because Spark will use the same authentication method as gsDroid, if gsDroid is not fixed, Spark will have the same problems. If you can help with testing, please send me an email, or post a comment here (include your email address if you do).

UPDATE: This has been fixed.

Posted in Spark, Update | No Comments »

Icons, icons everywhere

December 14th, 2009

The successor to gsDroid is coming along nicely. I’ve managed to shear off a significant amount of time in the processing phase of the data fetch by among other things, performing bulk inserts. The end result is a significant reduction in the amount of time needed to populate list of played games – from ~32 seconds down to about 16 (on a 3G connection, with a list of 60 games). This assumes that you’re fetching the list of played games for the first time – for subsequent refreshes, update time is a lot shorter (few seconds).

The other news is that icons for games, achievements, and friends have been added, as you can see in the screen captures below. Of course, they will result in longer fetch times, but they’re optional, and can be disabled.

Posted in Spark, Update | No Comments »

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