I have been working for a week in a project for iPhone and iPod Touch.
I ported the Chip-8 Emulator I already did for J2ME enabled cell phones to the Apple handhelds.
Chip-8 is an interpreted programming language used on the COSMAC VIP and Telmac 1800 8-bit microcomputers in the mid-1970s.
I decided to release the emulator completely free, bundled with several public domain games!! Get it from here.
I enjoyed the classic “Same” game in the past, that little game where you have to collect pieces of the same color in order to clear the board.
It’s a really addictive game and I thought it could be a good game for trying out the iPhone SDK so… I created Puzzle Star!!!
I have changed some things from the original game. The difficulty increases as you progress in the game and so does your score. When you finish you can send your score to a worldwide scoreboard to compete with players around the world!!
I have already sent it to the Apple Store and it’s now waiting for review.
This waiting is killing me!! 
I am a hardcore C++ fan and I really dislike Objective C.
I decided to take a look to the iPhone SDK and see if I can make some OpenGL programming using pure C++.
I found that it’s really easy to mix both languages in the same project. You can even mix Objective C and C++ code in the same file just by adding the “.mm” extension to your files, instead of “.cpp”.
Using the OpenGL ES example bundled in the SDK I made a wrapper in C++ that receives the iPhone events I need, like input and drawing.
I modified the example so it calls to my wrapper in every drawing and input event and then, the wrapper calls to my pure C++ objects.
I can now concentrate my efforts in writing the logic and drawing methods in pure C++ and see the changes in my iPhone 
And there let be buttons…
Like I already said in my previous post, I ordered all the buttons, joysticks and electronics at Ultimarc.
The buttons and joysticks are controlled by an IPAC interface, that we can connect to a PS/2 or USB port of our motherboard:
I am going to use some spare parts I have from my old desktop PC to build the CPU.
This is the motherboard (MSI K8N Diamond Plus), with RAM (2GB Crucial Ballistix) and processor (AMD X2 4200) already mounted:
The hard disk drive. Segate Barracuda, 320 GB for loads of ROMs!!
The video card. I think this NVIDIA Geforce 7900GT is enough for my purposes:
Some wires and connectors to setup the IPAC and the buttons:
The joysticks. I have chosen the E-Stick model because it’s easier to mount:
This little thing is the switch itself. It is mounted in the base of every button. We use the connectors shown below to plug it to the IPAC:
I am pretty sure you know what are this buttons for… 
Well, now begins the hard part: designing and building the cabinet itself from wood panels…
This week I’ve started a new XNA project and I had some troubles trying to configure the solution with Visual Studio, until I figured out how easy it was.
The point was creating a single solution with both Windows and XBOX projects on it. I also want a single shared folder for the sources.
I started creating a blank solution.
Then I added both XBOX and Windows projects to the solution.
To create a shared folder for sources I had to create a folder in the solution.
Then I added the sources contained in that solution folder in both projects as a link.
If you need to add additional files to the sources folder you must add them in the solution folder, and then add them to both projects always as a link.
And that’s all.
One of my current projects consists in building and old arcade cabinet entirely from scratch.
This would be a long process. I am planning to buy wood panels and cut them off to form the cabinet based on the blueprints I am finishing off.
I have the controls already ordered at Ultimarc, and I am currently preparing the computer I’m going to bundle inside the cabinet.
I have also a 21” CRT TV happily waiting to be dismantled and connected to the cabinet 
For running roms I’m using Mame, of course, apart of some other good emulators for Sega and Nintendo game consoles.
Paired with Mame I’m using Mamewah, which is a Mame front-end that let you browse your rom list with the arcade controls, rather than with a keyboard and a mouse. It let you use other emulators as well, so we can select any rom, from any emulator we have installed, without leaving Mamewah.
In the following posts I will be explaining each step of the construction of the cabinet.
Wish me luck
