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Announcements       Thread starter misthalu       Start date Nov 30, 2017 at 12:02 PM       15      
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Well, officially the release date isn't till tomorrow as planned, but I might as well make the post now. (y)

8-bit Memoirs Issue #1 released! 8-bit Memoirs is intended to become a series of eBooks about how different authors experienced the computers and consoles back in the 8-bit era, written from the perspective of the kids we were at the time.

I'm proud to be able to present you with the first issue of 8-bit Memoirs, written by myself. :)

The computers and consoles I experienced back in the 8-bit era includes the Philips Videopac G7000, the Amstrad CPC and the Amiga. So the stories in issue #1 describes how I experienced (some of) the games on those systems, and how I experienced creating my own BASIC stuff on the Amstrad CPC.

My stories contain supplemental illustrations, screenshots and videos - and there's a 5-hour long playlist to accompany you while you're reading, consisting mainly of the Amstrad CPC music I made back then, but also some tracks by various artists of IndieGameMusic.com

I have wrapped all the stories in a somewhat retrostyled diskmag-like GUI, because I've always found diskmags extremely cosy myself, and my biggest wish is that 8-bit Memoirs will give you the same nostalgic relaxation that diskmags has given me in the past. I also wanted to boost the retro-feeling while you're reading, and I think the diskmag-like GUI helps doing that.

8-bit Memoirs is completely free!

Issue #1 is available as a 23 gb ISO file that you can download from www.8bitMemoirs.com

You can play this ISO file on your PC with any software media player that supports BD-J. I strongly recommend Cyberlink PowerDVD for this. Otherwise VLC is your buddy. (Although VLC is still in its early stages of getting BD-J support, so it's not the best way to experience 8-bit Memoirs at the moment. Expect bugs!)

Other devices should also play the ISO file, either from harddisk or from a USB: Devices such as the Popcorn Hour, or Dune HD Smart D1. In the near future you can also expect various software media centers, such as Kodi, to be able to play it.

The recommended way of experiencing 8-bit Memoirs Issue #1 is on a real Blu-ray player though. This includes the gaming consoles PlayStation 3 (and later) and Xbox One (and later).

But burning the ISO to a disc requires a Blu-ray burner, and not many people have one of those. You could buy one of course - they are exceptionally cheap nowadays - but that still only makes sense if you plan on using it for other things too.

If you don't want to buy a Blu-ray burner, but still prefers having a physical disc, then you can simply buy disc from me. It comes complete with printed label and cover for 17 Euro including shipping (regardless of your location). This disc can be bought from www.8bitMemoirs.com.

I can also send you a USB version for 23 Euro if you prefer, but you'll have to send me a message about that.

Thank you for your interest!

8-bit Memoirs eBook Issue #1 by Misthalu is Released!.png
 

Comments

Thanks! Glad you like it.

Be sure to spread the word on any retro-computer forum you might be using. :)

Small update:

VLC is improving. A few weeks ago (or so), I tried the latest nightly build on a Windows machine, and playback had improved. Might be worth a try now.

In other news, I learned about iboum.com; a site that contains a lot of info on various hardware media players, and lets you do a search specifically for players that supports full Blu-ray Java menus - and which therefor should be able to play 8-bit Memoirs from harddisk and/or USB.

Click here to see a list of (supposedly) supported hardware media players.

If you own one of those players and decide to give it a go, please do share your results. Thanks!

Update:

It's been brought to my attention that there are playback issues on PS4 with firmware 5.50. So I went to visit a mate to test on his machines, and sure enough.
The issue is this: After playing a video, the UI will freeze when trying to start the background music playlist again. It also happens on PS3 firmware 4.82.

This definitely did not happen on earlier firmwares. There's no way a bug like this would have escaped the extensive tests we did. So I'm 100% sure it's a firmware issue.
The question is: Should I just lean back and expect Sony to fix this in their next firmware, or should I try to make a workaround in my own code?

Does anyone here ever reach out to Sony when finding bugs like this? And does it have any effect to do so?
 
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