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4-Play Review Background Information I just wanted to provide a little background information about why I'm doing this review. I originally purchased four Bliss-Boxes several years ago at $100 a piece to allow my wife and I as well as our children play games together. These were the first four Bliss-Boxes that were ever made which is why they look a little rough around the edges. I recently found out about the Kickstarter campaign and contacted the developer to ask if I could demo the hand built proto-type he showed off in his video. He accepted my request and sent me the prototype to test out and post a review about. So, I hope you enjoy the review. What is a Bliss-Box and 4-Play? Bliss-Box was the original PC to USB Adapter that was made to connect a variety of video game controllers to your computer. These were boxes custom built to order and made by hand in a garage. He even had to mold plastic sometimes if a suitable connector wasn’t readily available. Here is an example of one of the original Bliss-Boxes I bought several years ago. The only limitation was you had to buy 1 Bliss-Box per controller being used, so if you were playing a 4 player N64 game, you would be required to have 4 Bliss-Boxes. The image below is one of the Bliss-Boxes I bought several years ago. It’s a little rough around the edges but it gets the job done. The 4-Play is commercialized version of the Bliss-Box with the added bonus of being able to connect and use 4 controllers at once. This is basically like having 4 Bliss-Boxes in one small adapter.The smaller compact size was accomplished by using HMDI input (controller connects to the 4-play via an HDMI cable) instead of having an adapter for each controller mounted on the box. It’s a much smarter design. Please note the image below is of the proto-type (case & circuit board) that I’m doing this review on. This product is still subject to change in color and design. Here is a closer look at the circuit board For being a proto-type, everything appears to be very professionally done and manufactured with quality products. I saw a few comments on some of the forums advising that the 4-Play looks cheap and appears to be made in china. After holding and testing the 4-Play, I have to disagree. It feels like a solid product. It’s not too heavy but it feels sturdy to the point where if I happened to drop it on my tile floor, I don’t think it would break. What kind of controller ports does the 4-Play support? • PC-FX • SNES • Wii Remote Expansion Port (Nunchuck, Classic Controller, etc.) • NES • Game Cube • Saturn • Nintendo 64 • Turbo grafix 16 • Dream cast • PC engine (6 button turbo gafix 16) • Pippin • PlayStation (1 and 2) • Vectrex • DB9 (Sega Master System, Sega Genesis, Atari 2600, etc.) • Jaguar • DH15 (Atari 5200, Neo Geo, etc.) Please note that the Virtual Boy port is also supported by the 4-Play, however I did not receive that cable so I was unable to show a picture of it. The cables and connectors are very solid and indistinguishable from those found on the actual consoles. If you are a completest and require 4 or each type of controller you are looking at 68 total cables (4 players x 17 cables). If you are concerned how much space this will take up in your home, then I have some good news for you. All 68 cables and 4-Play adapter can easily fit in a small shoe box. How well does this device work on the computer and was it easy to use? I was very impressed with how easy the product was to use. You literally just plug your controller into HDMI cable adapter which plugs into the 4-Play, then plug the 4-Play into a USB port on your computer and that’s it. You have afully functional game pad. You will still need to set the input selections in an emulator just like you would with any other gamepad. See the below example of how to do this. • In Kega Fusion, select “Options” then “Set Config” • Navigate to the “Controllers” tab and change port 1 from “Keyboard” to “Bliss-Box” • Click the “Define” button to input the controls (↑↓←→ A B C X Y Z Mode & Start) • Click on the “Apply” & “OK” buttons That’s it, you are good to go! Each emulator has its own method of selecting inputs so the set up will be slightly different based on the emulator you are using. Please see the video below for a demonstration of me using the 4-Play with an emulator. In the video, you will see me showing off the auto-pausing functionality, hot swapping controllers, as well as verifying the updater and that fact that it supports multi-player without any special requirements. I apologize about the quality of the video, this was the first review I’ve ever done. I realize the TV is hard to see, but you can still see the characters moving on screen when I’m using the controllers. What controllers did you test? After the video was done, I tested out all the controllers listed below just to see how well it handled different official and third party controllers. I was impressed because they all worked perfectly. I didn’t have issues with any of the controllers seen in the image below. • NES • Super Nintendo (Official & third party version) • Nintendo 64 • GameCube (Original and Wavebrid version) • PlayStation 2 (Original and Street Fighter version) • Sega Genesis (Official 3 button, Official 6 button, 3 other third party versions) • Sega Saturn • Sega Dreamcast (Official US, Official PAL, & third party version) • Neo Geo • PC-FX • Also pictured are the original 4 original Bliss-Boxes that I purchased, just so you can see how much the product has evolved Pros: • Very small compact size compared to the original • Allows 4 controllers to be connected at once • It’s ready to use right out of the box, no special software required with the exception of firmware updates • Auto-pause if controller is disconnected • Hot swapping capabilities • Easily upgradable via firmware update • Future proof /expandable (all that is required is a new cable and a firmware update) • Each port is independently upgradable so they can run different firmware’s if needed • Price - at $125 for the full package and all the cables this is a steal compared to the $400 it would cost to buy 4 Bliss-Boxes • Supports complex features like -- PS2's pressure sensitive buttons -- Force Feedback -- Communication with Dreamcast LCD screen (currently, no emulators support this… yet) Cons: The 4-play has a reset button that is next to the HDMI port. The reset button is hard to find because it’s very well hidden. I had to contact the 4-Play developer to find out where it was located. It’s only used to reset the device if you’re controller isn’t recognized or if you are upgrading the firmware. Once you locate it, it becomes a non-issue. I spoke with the developer about this and they advise it will be more clearly labeled on the final product. In order for this product to be manufactured / mass produced, the Kickstater campaign has to reach $150,000. If you are reading this review I making the assumption you have or are looking for a USB adapter. If that’s the case, then I strongly recommend this over other products based on its versatility, price, usability (no software), and quality. If you have any questions or need any clarifications about anything in this review, please let me know. Links: • Kickstarter • Bliss-Box / 4-Play Homepage • High Resolution images from this post can be downloaded here • Controller Compatibility List • Button Layout / Configuration

Lighty, I used a work around to get my videos to play. I am not sure if this is the same way others have done it. I know of two ways. First, the "TV Advert path" route that Hansolo spoke of. That path is in the 'Advanced Emulator Setup' section of the setup wizard. http://www.gameex.info/wiki/index.php/GameEx:Advanced_Emulator_Setup_(Setup_Wizard)#TV_Advert_Path You would want to create a file called TV Advert or something and then route the above path to that file. I believe this will create a link in the game itself, meaning I believe these adverts are specific to a game file and would be accessible inside the menu after you have selected the game from the emulator area. In the same spot as the manuals and cartridge art, etc. There aren't that many videos, at least that I can recall. It's been awhile since I looked into that though and I know EmuMovies is constantly improving their selection of game art options. Second, which is a little more tedious, is to replace your snap artwork for the emulator into a video. When you setup an option for a logo for a specific emulator, you have a choice between a JPG, PNG, etc. or a video. You need to place the video in the link listed below. You need to go to your main GameEx file in your C drive or where you have it. Then you place the video file into the logos folder of the theme you are currently using. You can then route the logo path in the emulator setup to the video. This will then play that video when you are trying to select from the emulator menu. The below is quoted from the wizard in regards to the logo section for the emulator you'd setup: Logo: The name of a PNG or JPG Image or video file without the extension and path that will be shown on the Start Page when the emulator is selected. This image must be in the Program Files\GameEx\themes\[selected theme]\Media\Logos folder. Note there are a selection of images already there for most emulated Systems.

Hi Charles, I think you may have missed nullPointer's... point The reason you are experiencing these issues with MAME is that you currently have it setup as a standard emulator which is not the recommended way to use MAME in GameEx. MAME has it's very own dedicated section in GameEx, separate and very different from standard emulators. You can find it here: Setup Wizard> Custom > MAME Settings You will most likely see that, when you load this section, all the paths are pointing to the Demo files. You need to change all these to point to your own MAME.exe, roms, media etc. Once you have done this, you need to boot GameEx, navigate to the real MAME section and click on Update List. This will take some time, but once it has finished all your MAME dreams will come true (including the list containing game titles instead of rom names). To avoid yourself any confusion i would also disable your MAME setup in the standard emulator slot before loading GameEx after your changes, otherwise you will have two mame lists. I believe it is emulator slot #1 in your setup, so go to: Setup Wizard> Custom > Emulator Setup, In Select Emulator, choose which slot you have MAME set in (like i said i believe you put it in slot 1), Change Enabled to No. If you can follow all that then you'll be on track to getting MAME alive Of course, don't hesitate to call back if there's anything you don't understand. Good Luck.

Lighty, are you a member of emu-movies? emu-movies, along with full set of mame extras will go a long way to giving you exactly what you are looking for. Additionally, much work is constantly continuing to bring more features as these to the table. A project started by Draco, then spearheaded by stigzler aims to bring developer information and logos to the mix, with a publisher project probably not far behind it. There is all kinds of cool stuff like this going on all the time. In addition to the GameEx Media Projects, I would suggest you poke around a bit in the User Projects area, and at the emu movies site. <edit> The suggestion being, most of what your describing is contributor driven, then incorporated into the front end. The content has gotta to be there first though, and as your post proves, there is plenty of data, videos and graphics collecting/creation and organizing that must occur beforehand. More hands are always welcomed on these projects, and if your so inclined, get involved with one that best suits what you are interested in.

Not a problem! SMS2169... that question may be above my pay grade. I don't use the auto download option, because I had already made custom file paths for all my artwork prior to that option coming out. I just download new stuff as I need it from the EmuMovies program with the lifetime subscription. I imagine I could just see what each file is named by default by EmuMovies and rename my files to match those. I just haven't taken the time to do that, as it's just been easier for me to download new stuff as I want it. I don't recall if the auto download gets all the artwork or not. If it did, you would just need to locate the file where the TV Adverts are in your emulator directory and then route the TV Advert path to that file. Again, like Dazzle stated... they won't just play automatically. It's a menu item inside the menu for each game. It would be like selecting Pitfall in Atari. You then have the choice to play the game, view the box art, view the cartridge, view the manual, etc. By adding the TV Advert, you would just add a menu option here that would play the TV Advert, when you select it.

You need to un ecm those files with Ecm tools

Real DMD Video for "Stargate (Gottlieb 1995)" Also uploaded to FTP server (Other Uploads/sigma415/...) (Click on GIF above for preview animation.) Copy AVI file from ZIP into "C:\PinballX\Media\Visual Pinball\Real DMD Videos\" Stargate (Gottlieb 1995) REAL DMD VIDEO 1.0 sigma415.zip