ContentThe DVI-to-HDMI cable arrived today after a two-week wait, and I thought I’d share the 8-bit joy. While I bought the cable to watch downloads on the big screen, the unexpected bonus was a 3-inch tall Mario, in all his high-definition digital glory.
And Samus:
Those are photos, not screenshots.
What isn’t apparent from the pictures alone is that those are the original NES game ROMS from 1985, displayed on a high definition 1080i plasma television. The aspect ratio is corrected to 16:9 widescreen and the signal is all digital (hence the HDMI cable). Unfortunately the audio isn’t digital, as my PowerBook doesn’t have optical out… I tried using AirTunes and AirFoil, but the audio latency was too high.
And no retro revival would be complete without a shot of the best arcade game of all time:
The games run beautifully, even emulated on my relatively slow Mac. I’m running Nestopia with Emulator Enhancer for the NES games, and MacMAME for Galaga.
The sad thing is that those 8-bit games are still more fun than just about anything that’s come out in the past 20 years. There are exceptions of course, but honestly SMB3 still stands the test of time, and the same can hardly be said for most modern games…
I’m not going to waste money on an XBox 360, by the way. I’ll write later as to why not.