Cube Technology

[taizou]

I just came across this while looking for info on some of those VRT systems - a company from Shenzhen called Cube Technology (立方科技有限公司) which claimed to have "16bit TV game ,100 different types of games." this led me to their alibaba page naming Wise Wang as a contact .. and how could I forget a fantastic name like that. its the same person named in the EmuVT emulator credited to DJ-Jungle. unfortunately there was no sign of a website at that point, until I found this, which lists it as www.cubetac.com (and also claims they develop "18-bit" games. hmm). but that's down.


What isnt down is their new site: http://tec-cube.com
complete with a game list! so it looks like we have a developer for those weird games from the MiWi. *and* apparently the hacks from the Arcade Action 101 in 1 etc, even the ones credited to Macro Winners or Inventor (which is kinda odd, because the MW ones definitely seem to have been created by a different team.. maybe they obtained the, uh, "rights" to Inventor's hacks in 2004 somehow and just set about making some of their own to add to the set?).

btw I love that even the game list on their damn website has repeats in it.. and unmodified copies of japanese games mixed in there (Volleyball even still says "Nintendo" in the screenshot). old habits die hard i guess

now judging from the fact that Wise Wang works for them, and they were at some point called "Cubetac", I wonder if this company is some kind of offshoot from Jungletac.. their website does say (via google translate) "The team was founded in 2004, 2008, changed its name registered as "cubic Technology Limited." ". so the team might have existed within Jungletac before going off on its own.

theres also a seemingly connected company called Shenzhen Biikoo (深圳市碧空科技有限公司) which, in all english sources, seems to be a manufacturer of various telecommunications stuff, but Chinese pages like this one mention game development for various VT systems. old archived versions of their no longer existent website seem to show them only moving into games in 2008 (and even mentions EmuVT) so maybe, for some reason, the ex-jungletac people had connections within Biikoo and used that as kinda launchpad for Cubetac/Cube Technology?

[codeman38]

Hm, there's definitely a connection between Cube Technology and Macro Winners. Check out the mascot of Cube's matching game...And not only did they develop the weird original games we had actually seen footage of on the MiWi, but they also developed the "Newly Released 24 Games" for the MiWi too.They also had a definite connection to Advance Bright - see this screenshot.Y'know, I think Pro Genius is a hack of Flappy. Dunno what makes me think that... (Also, "PRESS STAST".)

[Awesome Panda]

codeman38

Dec 30 2010, 07:35:52 PM

Hm, there's definitely a connection between Cube Technology and Macro Winners. Check out the mascot of Cube's matching game[/quote]Wait, isn't YMK also one of the names on the top 10 screen of Helli-Mission by (the inappropriately named) Nice Code? (there's a video which shows it here)

BTW, are those other characters in the game other toys in the Andy Brown series or something, or were they just made up for the game?

codeman38

 

Y'know, I think Pro Genius is a hack of Flappy. Dunno what makes me think that... (Also, "PRESS STAST".) [/quote]

I think the level design kind of gives that away.

[codeman38]

Also, I'm noticing several credits in these screenshots to a company called "YMK". Wonder if that's another name for CubeTac or what?And wow, yeah, you're right: YMK was indeed credited as one of the "nmae"s in Helli Mission.Bobby Go! is even more impressive of a Mario hack than Pandamar. Wow.Hm, no wonder. Maybe Helli Mission isn't Nice Code's work. CubeTech lists it on their site. Also, "PREEE START"!Blatant copyright infringement ahoy! I don't think Disney or Hudson endorsed that one...

[Awesome Panda]

codeman38

Dec 30 2010, 07:51:11 PM

Maybe Helli Mission isn't Nice Code's work. CubeTech lists it on their site. Also, "PREEE START"![/quote]I've got no idea at this point. Hell, at this point I can't even tell if the game uses the same sound engine as Nice Code's games.

Codeman38

 

Bobby Go! is even more impressive of a Mario hack than Pandamar. Wow.[/quote]
Given the laziness of Pandamar, that's not saying much. Also note that the main character is called XDW.

Codeman38

 

Blatant copyright infringement ahoy! I don't think Disney or Hudson endorsed that one... [/quote]
All I'll say is, thank God they spelled the name right. :lol:

Also, I think Smart Andy is a hack of the homebrew Bombsweeper game.


Looking through that site more myself, I'll just point out the less obvious hacks and some random things I noticed while looking through them.

The Elevator Action hack has Spy Vs Spy in the title for whatever reason I can't determine.

Maze Trooper(?) is a hack of Duck by Bit Corp.

Cimi Home is a hack of Onyanko Town.

Van 1 looks like a less awful version of the Inventor hack.

Space Arrow is a hack of Zunou Senkan Galg, and the font on the title screen looks very similar to the Robocop logo.

F1 Race appears to be a hack of, well, F-1 Race. The glitchy-looking scrolling makes that especially apparent.

Baseball looks like a glitched up version of the Nintendo game, and I'm not exactly knowledgable on the sport but last time I checked those extra lines weren't supposed to be there.

Winter Cup appears to be identical to Ice Hockey, for what I can tell from that screenshot.

And it appears that in the midst of all of the Inventor hacks at the bottom, a hack of Xiao Ma Li is present. Looks the same though as far as I can tell.

[taizou]

i notice theyre taking credit for "Russia" (the bubble based tetris clone that goes under about ten other names) which I always thought was Nice Code.. especially with that music that shows up in so much of their other stuff. and "Fruit" uses the same font NIce Code always used. But those two are also kinda unique in that theyre vt02 (ie standard famiclone) games that arent hacks or just plain stolen.

[codeman38]

So Helli Mission was definitely developed by Cube Tech... and yet, the copyright is definitely owned by Waixing. So I guess Waixing bought games from both Nice Code and Cube Tech.And yeah, I'd always thought "Russia" was Nice Code as well. I'm just getting confused now...

[taizou]

That might explain some of Cube Tech's hacks (the newer ones that are credited to "Winners" on my 88 in 1 joystick) being on the 222+23 in 1 multi mentioned in this thread - i thought it was odd at the time because I thought they were made by Macro Winners. but that multi is by some Fuzhou company which kinda smells like a front for Waixing, so itd make sense if theyd bought games from Cube before.

[Awesome Panda]

Wait, if Helli-Mission was made by Cube Tech, then wouldn't that mean the other games on the Vii (in the games section at least) were made by them as well? I'm pretty sure the Slalom hack is by them at least, which I couldn't find on their website. On the other hand, Autoboat Contest looks like a Nice Code game more than anything, so I guess companies bought games off both of them for their Famiclones or something like that.

[taizou]

well in the Vii's case it looks like Waixing bought games from both Cube and Nice Code .. and maybe made a few themselves. then licensed the whole lot to the company that actually made the console. Or something like that.

but that still doesnt explain Russia and Fruit being on their website. i dunno, maybe Cube bought them from Nice Code in an attempt to move away from just hacking shit. or maybe they just forgot which games they actually made - listing stuff stolen from Nintendo among others doesnt seem to bother them too much.

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taizou

Dec 30 2010, 08:48:03 PM

but that still doesnt explain Russia and Fruit being on their website. i dunno, maybe Cube bought them from Nice Code in an attempt to move away from just hacking shit. or maybe they just forgot which games they actually made - listing stuff stolen from Nintendo among others doesnt seem to bother them too much.[/quote]Given all of the Inventor and official games they have listed, I wouldn't be surprised if they stole the games myself. Also, some of these hacks appear to be lazier than a Sonic recolour, (wait, is that even possible?) which suggests that they might be made by either Cube or a different company. Then again, Cube's hacks lead me to think it might be the latter.

[taizou]

well I think some of their hacks were kind of inherited from Inventor, and some they just made themselves.. if Nice Code is a successor of sorts to Inventor, they might have abandoned the hacks around that point and sold/given the rights (as much as they could *have* rights to something thats basically stolen) to Cube, and Russia/Fruits just sort of got mixed up in that.. I dunno though.one thing that strikes me looking at their game list is, at least with their non-hacked games, they seem to have made much better use of the VT03 than Nice Code or Jungletac or Waixing or whoever - Cube's pretty much look like actual 16-bit games rather than just slightly enhanced 8-bit like everyone else's. and their VT168 games dont seem to be as reliant on stolen graphics as others' 16-bit efforts (unless theyre just stealing from more obscure sources I don't recognise). i guess they must have hired a decent programmer and graphics artist sometime after 2004.. now all they need to do is hire a musician and they won't have to steal *anything* anymore.

[codeman38]

Waixing definitely bought games from Cube-- the Waixing version of Zuma is indeed the same one listed on Cube's site. Like, literally, it even has Waixing's copyright registration number.Speaking of Waixing connections, check out the guy on the title screen for Soccer Ball. He's clearly a close cousin to the guy on the 8-bit Vii's "Penrlty Kick". This despite the fact that they're completely different games, even.

[Awesome Panda]

codeman38

Dec 31 2010, 06:18:19 PM

Speaking of Waixing connections, check out the guy on the title screen for Soccer Ball. He's clearly a close cousin to the guy on the 8-bit Vii's "Penrlty Kick". This despite the fact that they're completely different games, even.[/quote]I like how the background on the title screen looks like the one the Coca Cola logo uses.

Also, Cat Vs Dog looks just like one of the games off the Cyber Arcade Centre, even has a similar HUD and such.

And having just looked at Edacious, I had to LOL at the title screen.

[codeman38]

I'd wondered if "Harry" on the MiWi was supposed to be some sort of Harry Potter knockoff. Well, my question is answered: on the CubeTech site, the game is listed as Harry Peter.

Wonder if they changed it because of the near-copyright infringement or the unintended double entendre? Probably the latter, since they used music from a freaking Chemical Brothers song in one of their games...