~llama

How hard is it to find a Model 100 in good shape these days? I've heard they're great but never had one. If they're built as well as the PC-2's, I'm sure they're all holding up pretty well.

The Game Gear arrived today in all its AA-killing glory. Awesome! Thanks so much for doing this!

Would this be like the Basic Programming and Magicard stuff on the VCS? If so, that could potentially be very interesting, especially with the XM's added RAM.

Wow. That looks incredible so far. Inspiring as a n00b homebrew programmer, but it's kind of like listening to the Beatles while trying to record an album: so good it just kind of makes you want to quit.

If that was your first post ever to AtariAge, (1) welcome and (2) you should get some kind of medal for that idea.

"Strands of Gold" sounds like a Mystique game.

Yeah, I think the material on the site is strong enough to stand alone, without the Google news stuff.

I think the PC-2 is generally regarded as the pick of the litter, but it's also the only one I have any experience with.

On second thought, the guitar thing is probably a bad analogy, other than to say that they cost a lot of money because, well, that's how much they cost. As for the limited run homebrew thing, factor in writing and editing a 150+ page book of essays and having "leather casebound, foil embossed ... with color detail" copies professionally printed into your price, and while $500 is probably more than enough to cover it, you'll still probably want to sell it for more than the average homebrew sells for. I dunno. I agree that $500 is a lot of money, but I don't think the fact that it's a limited run of cartridges is the only motivating factor behind the price. I guarantee you that the book costs an order of magnitude more to produce than the Atari cartridge. I guess I also don't really get the venom directed at calling it "art." I'm not saying that in a condescending way, either--I genuinely don't understand what's wrong with calling something a piece of art with the Atari 2600 as the medium. Is that not allowed? Too pretentious?

I was pretty amazed that graphical games are even possible on the thing, given the nature of the display. It's a really cool little machine, if you've got the patience to type everything in. I don't have any of the accessories for it, or I'm sure I wouldn't have to type the things in, but hey, that's the old-school spirit anyway, right? Typing in BASIC programs, hoping you don't have a typo on line 120 that blows the whole thing up?

This site is a pretty cool resource: http://www.pc1500.com/

I've got one of these, which I think is awesome. Typing in games isn't so fun, but once you get them typed in (after an hour or so of trying), you can get it to do some fun stuff. Does anybody else here have one of these? How rare are they? I picked mine up for $10 a couple of years ago.

herewith, some disorganized thoughts on this topic: Everybody hates the fact that it costs $500 (myself included, because I'd love to own this), and is doing all sorts of general moaning about "what passes for art these days" and such, but I think it's an interesting idea You see the same kinds of discussions on forums for musicians. "Why does Guitar X cost $4000 when I can get Guitar Y that plays and sounds just as good for $499?" Well, because Guitar X is Guitar X and Guitar Y is Guitar Y. A lot of times, what makes a guitar expensive is (1) where it's made and (2) how much people are willing to pay for the name on the headstock, and if people are willing to pay the sticker price, what's wrong with that price? The fact that Guitar X costs $4999 isn't going to price people out of being able to buy Guitar Y. I understand the concern about this sort of project bringing people into the homebrew scene who are looking to make money, but I don't think that's going to happen here. Ian is a writer, with his own audience (I really enjoyed Racing the Beam, FWIW) and this thing comes with a book of essays--what was the last homebrew game that came with a bunch of essays? Or a 152 page book? I would imagine the printing costs of the book have something to do with the price. I think this project is something else--not "just" a homebrew game aimed at enthusiasts. (I use "just" in quotes because I think homebrew game authors are just as creative as any other artist, and their work just as valid). It's sort of aimed at a different audience of people, and that's why it's priced the way it is. The whole package is what's interesting to me--the fact that the game has a companion book. I find something about that depth of thought and the commitment to take Atari programming seriously as an art form very compelling.

I won the Game Gear! Time to rapidly deplete some AA batteries!

I just played this in Stella for a while. Super fun I agree with the comments about the difficulty of lining up a vertical shot being much more difficult than a horizontal one, but I sort of see that as part of the game's panic-inducing strategy. This game is great at building tension, creating a feeling of entrapment. Good work! I'm interested to see where this one goes!