On January 25th, 2005 we started the finale of the megapoll in search for what our visitors consider to be the most important MSX news of 2004.
IOMBCC entry 4: Hello World!
The fourth entry to the IOMBCC (International Obfuscated MSX-BASIC Code Contest) is none other than the classic example everybody who ever started to learn a programming language encountered: Hello World!!.
GXSCC is a MIDI player that allows you to play MIDI files with a wide range of SCC-style sounds. As of today, the GXSCC synthesizer is also available for KbMediaPlayer, a Japanese media player capable of running several file formats, including KSS using MSXPlug.
GFX lib for C
Source: MSX BR-L mailinglist
Rafael Jannone has released a GFX library for C with several compiled examples, such as a star scroller and even a simple, yet fast scrolling basis for a shoot 'em-up of which you can find a screenshot on the GFX lib website. From the looks of it, this library is a novice MSX developer's dream coming true.
MSXPro - Updates
The active Brazilian website MSXPro, which contains a lot of information on hardware projects, has been updated with a tutorial on how to install an ACVS 2.0 kit, which is used to upgrade a Gradiente MSX1 to MSX2. The tutorial comes with many pictures, which gives you a great look on this Brazilian MSX computer.
Dear Blue by Hackurl
Hackurl has released an SCC arrangement of the song 'Dear blue' from Konami's arcade game Salamander 2.
UniPT2Player - Release 1
Surgey Bulba, the developer of Vortex Tracker II, has released a new version of his Universal .PT2 player for MSX and ZX-Spectrum. This new version is a bit smaller, more optimized and includes PT2TIME, which can be used to determine the song length of a .PT2 file. You can find the UniPT2PLayer in the 'programmers' section of his website.
Since last week, the website of Sargon is temporarily offline. The website itself was very much outdated and a thorough update was announced, but due to a crash of the server HD, Sargon decided to take the site offline until the new site is ready. When this new Sargon website will be ready is yet unknown.
PT3 Tools - Update
About a month ago Vincent van Dam and Alfonso D.C. released a set of PT3 Tools for MSX. As of today, this package of tools has been updated.
