MSXPC 20th anniversary edition, USB ROM Cartridge Reader and MSX Magazine 2 announced

Source: RetroPC

Our friends of RetroPC found a very interesting flyer on the ASCII booth during the WPC Expo 2003. These scans reveal some interesting announcements.

First of all, it is confirmed that indeed this autumn/winter a new MSX Magazine - permanent preservation edition - will appear on the Japanese market. It will contain a new version of MSXPLAYer, which also can emulate the MSX turboR computer system and MSX-DOS2. This new MSXPLAYer will be offered for Windows PC's, Linux, PocketPC2002, PocketCosmo and other platforms. On the ASCII WPC booth one can already see MSXPLAYer running on a Sigmarion3. Also many interesting MSX games will be supllied with this magazine. What makes it extra interesting for people outside of Japan: this Magazine gives a lot of attention to the activities of the MSX Communities in the Netherlands, Spain and Brazil. There will even be some 'community-software' on the CD-ROM.

Another leaflet shows a picture of the USB ROM cartridge reader. With this device you can connect MSX Cartridges to your PC using an USB port. Games on the cartridge can then be played on MSXPLAYer. Interesting addition: the USB ROM Cartridge reader mentions MacOS. Maybe there will be a MacOS version of MSXPLAYer as well?

But, the flyer keeps the best for last. MSX Association has announced a new MSX computer. Well... not really. This is not the one-chip-MSX we are expecting in the future, but just a limited edition gadget for the real die-hard fans. The 20th anniversary MSXPC is an ordinary Personal Computer, but it is cased in a casing like the zero footprint PC, making it look like many popular MSX computers like the Panasonic FS-A1. But this MSXPC also has MSXPLAYer inside and a cartridge slot to which you can connect your MSX cartridges. Simply put: if all works like we expect it does you buy a new, modern PC and an MSX turboR all at once.

All in all this autumn could become a very intersting and important one for the MSX Revival. It did not bring us the real one-chip-MSX yet, but with ASCII mentioning sales figures of 35.000 copies for MSX Magazine 2, the USB ROM cartridge reader, the MSX Robo Education project and the very limited edition MSXPC, who knows what the future might bring.

Relevant link: Retro PC - Scans of the ASCII flyers