iwan-iwanowitsch-goratschin Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 I like Pigs in Space but Defender II is superior! You don´t own any protos of the games??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 I'd be interested in hearing more about Peek a Boo. Was Atari seriously considering selling games for babies or was it just one of those wacky experiments (like the mind reading game) that didn't work out? Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paranoid Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 Suggestion - Not only does this represent a piece of your life, but, you may be about to rediscover that part of your life and really enjoy it. You may want to hold off on selling until you're certain it isn't something that is priceless to you. All of us can tell you how much we regret letting our original stuff go as we grew up, and how much effort we have put into rebuilding those collections now in our adult lives. Just a thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Climber Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 Hello Bill I think you could easily get the $2000 but seeing as you are a former Atari programmer you could get even more if you put some kind of "certificate of authenticity" with it explaning how you got it and anything you know about it, us collectors love that kind of stuff, makes it even more unique. I remember Rob Fulop did this with some 2600 developing tools he auctioned off for charity a few years ago. BTW - Stargate was fun but Pigs in Space will always bring me back to childhood since it was one of the original games I owned and loved as a kid, Me and my kid sister easily put 1000+ hours on my cartridge, Thank you for the great memories Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classic Pac Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 All I can say is Amazing!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goochman Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 Stargate was the bomb - no game got closer to arcade perfect than that - better than alot of Atari 800 arcade ports! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayhem Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 Welcome Bill And like many others have said, Stargate was an excellent conversion given the limitations! What did you get up to after Atari out of interest? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockman_x_2002 Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 Stargate was awesome, but I never got a chance to own my own cart. I did have an opporunity once to get the game from a friend at college, but she never got around to digging the game out of her closet at home. As it often happens, we went our seperate ways, lost touch, and well... no Stargate. Though I have played it before. Again, awesome work on that one. And I'd also like to reiterate what Paranoid said. This thing is more than just history, but it's a part of your history. It's well worth thinking about whether or not you really want to sell it or keep it to play and enjoy as something to pass on to your kids, grandkids, and beyond. As a college graduate with a masters in computer science, with aspirations to do game programming someday at least on the side, I know it would be very difficult to give up something like that. It would be like cutting out a part of my own heart and selling it. Thankfully I was one of the few who actually kept my original Atari console (actually my brother's) in anticipation of this day. Somehow even back as a kid playing the NES and SNES I knew retrogaming would return. I just had no idea how true that would really turn out to be. Of course, in the SNES days as a kid, I didn't fathom the Internet being able to be the vehicle that brought retrogaming back to everyone's attention. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigsinspace Posted September 5, 2008 Author Share Posted September 5, 2008 ok i took your advice and posted it on ebay. now we'll see what is really worth. more picture up there as well for those who just want to see what it looks like Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Weis Posted September 5, 2008 Share Posted September 5, 2008 seeing as you are a former Atari programmer you could get even more if you put some kind of "certificate of authenticity" with it explaning how you got it and anything you know about it, us collectors love that kind of stuff, makes it even more unique. i agree 100%!! Welcome to Atariage Bill! Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homerwannabee Posted September 5, 2008 Share Posted September 5, 2008 ok i took your advice and posted it on ebay. now we'll see what is really worth. more picture up there as well for those who just want to see what it looks like Here is the link. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...y0%3D%26fvi%3D1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigsinspace Posted September 5, 2008 Author Share Posted September 5, 2008 Well thanks everyone -- like I said I worked really really hard on stargate at a time that most of the good game designer had left Atari and the rest were just hanging out and taking advantage of the lacks work environment. If I recall it took me about 3-4 months to develop the game but then it was my 4th game so I leveraged off a lot of knowledge gained from the first 3. I had the stargate arcade console right next to my desk so I was constantly comparing game play, sounds and graphics. I really wanted to minimize object flicker so if you notice they only flicker when to many are on the same row -- frankly I think the really game does that as well but with more objects on the screen. I finished the game and everyone thought it would be a huge success. So everyone wanted to be on my team (note: team members shared royalties). the graphic group was pissed at me because I did my own graphics. Atari was a way screwed up company at the time. Marketing and engineer were constantly battling over power. Marketing was dying to release the game but engineering wanted to show them who was boss. the game was done and so was I. way to many all nighters... yet the engineering manager said I had to make a change (once again, to get back at marketing). I had to add an attract mode to avoid screen burn. I gave them all of the facts in the world why my game was better than 75% of the games they had already shipped when it came to screen burn but they said it had to be changed and re-do all of the testing. bottom line I made the change and a week before it shipped the company got sold and all shipments stopped. It took about another 2 years before it ever hit the market. supposedly Williams wanted to much royalties and the company would not give it to them. at least that is the story I heard 2nd hand. then years later I heard they changed the name to defender 2 and recoded my splash screen. It is sad because I had worked so hard and by the time it shipped no-one seemed to care. It is so nice to hear that some dye hard 2600'er have played and appreciated the attention to detail I put into it. anyway -- you guys wanted a story -- there is one. Now for the folks saying keep the 2700. heck it has been sitting in my closet for to long. I would feel a lot better if someone else got a chance to enjoy it and it went to a good home. Hopefully it will be someone who takes it to some of the trade shows so others can see it as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigsinspace Posted September 5, 2008 Author Share Posted September 5, 2008 seeing as you are a former Atari programmer you could get even more if you put some kind of "certificate of authenticity" with it explaning how you got it and anything you know about it, us collectors love that kind of stuff, makes it even more unique. i agree 100%!! Welcome to Atariage Bill! Rick well I am not sure if I even know what a "certificate of authenticity" would look like. since this forum has been so welcoming to me if anyone buys it who is an arariAge member I will include a signed piece of paper that includes the story posted in my ebay add. not to interesting of a story but I still will guarantee how and where I got it. I hope that helps I am not much of a collector... speaking of which -- back in the day I did collect a lot of 2600 game carts. I would go to all of the stores when they were blowing them out and pick them up for $5 a piece. I wanted one of each. I also collected games that never saw the light of day. About 15 years ago I did something dumb. to save space I threw out all of the boxes. a collector friend later told me how dumb that was. OK I have a box of games. most are the one that go for probably $5 or less on ebay but I bet if I looked real hard we might find some supper rare ones. maybe even a few that never got finished and aren't out there. OK that is another project. given that it has taken me about 3 years to pull the 2700 out of the closet it might take a couple of years to look through the cartridge collection. that's it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nitrosport Posted September 5, 2008 Share Posted September 5, 2008 (edited) It's such an awsome piece of hardware!! One day, if I become wealthy, I will own one! Edited September 5, 2008 by nitrosport Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Climber Posted September 5, 2008 Share Posted September 5, 2008 OK I have a box of games. most are the one that go for probably $5 or less on ebay but I bet if I looked real hard we might find some supper rare ones. maybe even a few that never got finished and aren't out there. Those unfinished prototype games can be worth quite a bit also depending on what you have, might be worth finding them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigsinspace Posted September 5, 2008 Author Share Posted September 5, 2008 OK I have a box of games. most are the one that go for probably $5 or less on ebay but I bet if I looked real hard we might find some supper rare ones. maybe even a few that never got finished and aren't out there. Those unfinished prototype games can be worth quite a bit also depending on what you have, might be worth finding them OK here is few at the top of the box that I only have eprom version of. tempest pole position moon patrol joust krull kong marios bros slot machine those are just standard games. right? maybe the version I have are pre-released version? not sure even where I got these. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vintagegamecrazy Posted September 5, 2008 Share Posted September 5, 2008 Thanks for that story and for the pics and the great topic. Hope to see you around often as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bountybob Posted September 5, 2008 Share Posted September 5, 2008 (edited) ok i took your advice and posted it on ebay. now we'll see what is really worth. more picture up there as well for those who just want to see what it looks like Good luck with your selling on eBay. Hope you get a nice price for that for yourself Bill and thanks for sharing your memories and knowledge here on Atariage Any historical info from Ex Atari employees is like golddust here. Sorry to here that developing Stargate was so much Blood and Tears and the problems Atari was going through at that time It's a shame it got delayed getting to market also By the time I came across Defender 2 the 2600 was pretty much obsolete.I heard that Larry De Mar and Eugene Jarvis changed the 2600 title screen for Williams themselves don't know how much truth is in that though ?? Edited September 5, 2008 by Bountybob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted September 5, 2008 Share Posted September 5, 2008 OK I have a box of games. most are the one that go for probably $5 or less on ebay but I bet if I looked real hard we might find some supper rare ones. maybe even a few that never got finished and aren't out there. Those unfinished prototype games can be worth quite a bit also depending on what you have, might be worth finding them OK here is few at the top of the box that I only have eprom version of. tempest pole position moon patrol joust krull kong marios bros slot machine those are just standard games. right? maybe the version I have are pre-released version? not sure even where I got these. Tempest was never released. There are supposedly two versions of the game in existence, but the later version has never been found. Can you tell us if your version has a title screen? You can see it on my Tempest page (at the bottom): http://www.atariprotos.com/2600/software/tempest/tempest.htm Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Climber Posted September 5, 2008 Share Posted September 5, 2008 OK I have a box of games. most are the one that go for probably $5 or less on ebay but I bet if I looked real hard we might find some supper rare ones. maybe even a few that never got finished and aren't out there. Those unfinished prototype games can be worth quite a bit also depending on what you have, might be worth finding them OK here is few at the top of the box that I only have eprom version of. tempest pole position moon patrol joust krull kong marios bros slot machine those are just standard games. right? maybe the version I have are pre-released version? not sure even where I got these. I'm no prototype expert but some pics would probably help some of the more knowledgable minds around here to give you some feedback. The Kong and Tempest sound interesting, Tempest was never released and Kong? Donkey Kong? You might even have games that differ from the final version in some ways which are pretty cool and interesting. Here is a link to a good prototype website http://www.atariprotos.com/ Thanks for taking a look, prototype news is always very exciting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red 5 Posted September 5, 2008 Share Posted September 5, 2008 (edited) Thanks for the great story. I am completely fascinated by old Atari stories. And sweet mother of all things holy... If that's a newer / better / working version of the Tempest prototype I will cry. Edited September 5, 2008 by therealred5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HammR25 Posted September 5, 2008 Share Posted September 5, 2008 I don't see a Stargate proto on Tempest's site. How cool would it be if Bill still had a copy of his original finished proto without the attract mode? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted September 5, 2008 Share Posted September 5, 2008 I don't see a Stargate proto on Tempest's site. How cool would it be if Bill still had a copy of his original finished proto without the attract mode? I've never run across a Stargate proto before. A Roaring 20's proto would be neat to see too (before the name was changed to Bank Heist). Let me also add my voice to the chorus here and say that Stargate was an amazing game. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zonie Posted September 5, 2008 Share Posted September 5, 2008 (edited) Well man, you did a superb job with Stargate. You deserve more than a pat in the back for that. And this unit is absolutely cool. You should be able to get good $$ for it. I agree. I really liked Defender, since it was so different, but you hit a home run with Stargate. Any plans on doing some homebrews or Hacks? The ebay auction went up$150 in the time I took to read the ad!!! Edited September 5, 2008 by Zonie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustJeff2 Posted September 5, 2008 Share Posted September 5, 2008 That console, all cool with the prototype buttons, is worth $3,500+ in my book. Good luck. Wish I had the $$. As other have said before-- this is why I love collecting Atari. Stuff like this is constantly falling out of the sky! Amazing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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