Tempest Posted August 3, 2004 Share Posted August 3, 2004 Details to follow shortly... Tempest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolenta Posted August 3, 2004 Share Posted August 3, 2004 Although Meltdown was shown at CES in 1983, this may not be an actual prototype that was found. At the same CES, Cumma displayed in Metawriter in which games could be downloaded to a cartridge and rented for a fraction of their retail value. When you were tired of one game you could take your Metawriter cartridge to a store and get a new game downloaded to it (erasing the original). At CES, Cumma displayed the Metawriter and the game they used was Fox's unreleased Meltdown! I even have the instructions for the game that the Metawriter printed out for me sitting around somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joesmooth Posted August 3, 2004 Author Share Posted August 3, 2004 This definitely wasn't a Metawriter cart (though I don't know exactly what they look like). It was a standard EPROM-based PCB in a standard black 20th Century Fox cart shell. Or, do you mean that someone might have just burned their own EPROM with the version released at CES? Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolenta Posted August 3, 2004 Share Posted August 3, 2004 Or, do you mean that someone might have just burned their own EPROM with the version released at CES? I dount if anyone whuold haev done this. If they did, they knew what they had and I'm sure more Meltdowns would have surfaced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolenta Posted August 3, 2004 Share Posted August 3, 2004 I dount if anyone whuold haev done this. If they did, they knew what they had and I'm sure more Meltdowns would have surfaced. Sorry about the typos. I noticed it right after I pressed SUBMIT and of course by then it was too late to change it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saikyo Posted August 3, 2004 Share Posted August 3, 2004 Details to follow shortly... Tempest Too exciting I hope this does turn out to be what its supposed to be! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted August 3, 2004 Share Posted August 3, 2004 I even have the instructions for the game that the Metawriter printed out for me sitting around somewhere I would love to get a copy of those BTW you played Meltdown (I read your write up in ABCto the VCS). What more can you tell us about it? From your description, it doesn't sound all that interesting... Also, can you explain a bit more what this Metawriter thing was? Sounds like the Romox ECPC cart thingy. Tempest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted August 3, 2004 Share Posted August 3, 2004 Too exciting I hope this does turn out to be what its supposed to be! You and me both! Tempest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolenta Posted August 3, 2004 Share Posted August 3, 2004 Also, can you explain a bit more what this Metawriter thing was? Sounds like the Romox ECPC cart thingy. From Phoenix 3 page 94: "Cumma’s process worked almost in the same fashion (as Romox). After purchasing a blank MetaCart in the format of his game or computer system, a customer placed the cartridge into Cumma’s Metawriter. He then paid a fee of between $1 and $15 to get his desired game loaded. Like Romox’s ECPCs, the MetaCarts were reprogrammable. In the Cumma system, which the company called an electronic vending machine, the retailer didn’t have to be involved in the downloading process. The Metawriter stood upright and displayed a fifteen second preview of each game as well as instructions. When a consumer purchased a game, the Metawriter printed the game instructions on paper for the customer to take home. There is an interesting footnote concerning Cumma Technology, the company behind the Metawriter. Its vice-president of engineering was Al Alcorn, the original programmer of Pong. Nolan Bushnell and Joe Keenan, two other former Atari alumni, also contributed heavily to the founding of Cumma. Both Romox and Cumma made money by selling blank cartridges, leasing Programming Terminals and Metawriters, and charging fees to software vendors for distributing their products. The software companies benefited because they received a royalty each time one of their games was downloaded onto a blank cartridge. They made even more money when a consumer purchased the cartridge of a game that he sampled from his ECPC or MetaCart. Unfortunately for both Romox and Cumma, the price of videogame cartridges had reduced to far less than what it cost a consumer to pay for a blank cartridge and a program. Neither system went national and both disappeared quickly. While Romox and Cumma had received the support of the software companies whose games they distributed, the third company that produced blank videogame cartridges didn’t get the support of anybody. Vidco International marketed a videogame recorder called the Copy Cart for 2600 compatible cartridges. Although the company stressed that the unit was intended only for use with its own game cartridges, US Copyright Laws allowed consumers to duplicate game programs for archival purposes. The Copy Cart sold for $59.95 and included one Vidco game cartridge and one blank cartridge. Additional blank cartridges sold for $15.95 each. Vidco’s system allowed users to copy any game that they wished without any royalties going to the vendors. In most cases the Copy Cart was impractical. People weren’t going to pay $15.95 to buy a blank cartridge when most cartridges were being discounted for five dollars apiece. However a few companies such as Atari were still developing new games and selling them at premium prices. Atari quickly filed a suit in Federal Court to block any sales of the unit. Atari won and the Copy Cart was removed from the stores." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saikyo Posted August 3, 2004 Share Posted August 3, 2004 Interesting, I wonder if those 15 second previews were also a ROM in some way? Maybe those could be preserved also? (If found of course) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted August 3, 2004 Share Posted August 3, 2004 Interesting, I wonder if those 15 second previews were also a ROM in some way? I don't think so. Programming those demos would have required quite some addtional work, where showing a simple video would do the job too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saikyo Posted August 3, 2004 Share Posted August 3, 2004 Interesting, I wonder if those 15 second previews were also a ROM in some way? I don't think so. Programming those demos would have required quite some addtional work, where showing a simple video would do the job too. Hmm so it would have worked kind of like a video jukebox then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted August 3, 2004 Share Posted August 3, 2004 At CES, Cumma displayed the Metawriter and the game they used was Fox's unreleased Meltdown! How did they get away with that? How did they even get the code? Tempest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolenta Posted August 3, 2004 Share Posted August 3, 2004 How did they get away with that? How did they even get the code? You got me. Maybe Fox signed up with them anticipating it as a release. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted August 3, 2004 Share Posted August 3, 2004 So did you play Meltdown at the show? What was it like? Any good? Tempest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lost child Posted August 3, 2004 Share Posted August 3, 2004 Cheers & bravos to theredeye, Joesmooth, Tempest, Curt Vendel, Steve (the shop guy) and anyone else who might have been involved! What a team! This thread really turned around once Frank got involved - I don't think any one person could take all the credit on this one. @theredeye: I'd like to hear more about how you smoothed over the shop guy! Heck, if there's not much story to tell, you could always make a good one up!... I've enjoyed everything I've read from you so far! :-) Oh, and by the way, when are you going to update the 13 beta days of Christmas?! j/k! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolenta Posted August 3, 2004 Share Posted August 3, 2004 So did you play Meltdown at the show? What was it like? Any good? I just checked ABC To The VCS (almost destroyed my eyes doing so, I can't wait until the new one's done!). Anyway, it pretty much describes how the game is played. As I said before, I liked the game but in hindsight it reminds me a little of Zimag's Dishaster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saikyo Posted August 4, 2004 Share Posted August 4, 2004 Details to follow shortly... Tempest Who is actually in possesion of the proto (If you dont want to be identified then thats cool! )? And will any screenshots be posted? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolenta Posted August 4, 2004 Share Posted August 4, 2004 And will any screenshots be posted? The sales sheet (which is mine from CES) that CPUWIZ posted on page 1 of this thread shows a screen shot. That's exactly what the game looked like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saikyo Posted August 4, 2004 Share Posted August 4, 2004 And will any screenshots be posted? The sales sheet (which is mine from CES) that CPUWIZ posted on page 1 of this thread shows a screen shot. That's exactly what the game looked like. Hmm it seems to be a mock-up, a real picture would be great, but if its too much to ask then thats cool as well! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adonick Posted August 4, 2004 Share Posted August 4, 2004 Could anyoen tell me exactly what happened to the cart? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted August 4, 2004 Share Posted August 4, 2004 Anyway, it pretty much describes how the game is played. As I said before, I liked the game but in hindsight it reminds me a little of Zimag's Dishaster Yeah I read the discription, but I just cant see how it would be that much fun. You just move the X and Y cursors to the atom and "shoot" it. Maybe when the action heats up or something it gets better? Maybe it has cool sound effects or music that makes it fun? Still, you've got to wonder why they didnt release it. Crash Dive has a later part number and they released that turd... Tempest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolenta Posted August 4, 2004 Share Posted August 4, 2004 I don't remember what it was about it that I liked back then. I liked Rush Hour at CES also and when I got it last year I asked myself what the big deal was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted August 4, 2004 Share Posted August 4, 2004 I liked Rush Hour at CES also and when I got it last year I asked myself what the big deal was. Funny how tastes change isn't it? I know that's happened to me on a few of my childhood favorites... Was the Rush Hour that got sold the same one you played at the show? Quite frankly I didnt care for it (you were going the wrong way! ) Tempest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.FoodMonster Posted August 4, 2004 Share Posted August 4, 2004 Could anyoen tell me exactly what happened to the cart? Yeah, I think a little bit of, I dunno... 'Filler' would do good until we get the whole scoop? Well, atleast I can ask Matt himself this saturday at Marvins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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