Deleto

There will be a Vectrex, and I'll be there too! Not bringing anything to trade, just my regular books with pictures from previous meetings, and a bunch of magazines and books for people to read. And I'll bring a Dreamcast fishing rod with games. I want to try life-size Marine Fishing on the beamer! Roloff

You should all know that making artwork that has enough resolution to be blown up to poster size takes quite a lot of work and patience, even when you do an 8x11 and have that blown up (which won't look to good when done at most copyshops). Making it in Illustrator or anything else vectorbased would be great, but it's a pain in the ass if not impossible to alter images based on scans or photographs or whatever that's pixelbased. So you could easily do artwork like the old AcTiVision boxes in Illustrator but not any of the airbrush art stuff. Now I know someone who has a stack of original 10x7 cm slides from the Atari graphics dept. with photos from the original artwork... Those would make perfect posters and have enough resolution to do billboard sized stuff. Although it's only the original artwork, not the graphics around it that make it a label or box.. if he can still find them.. Oh, he lives in NY and has ATARI as a vanity plate..

I've been collecting VCS games and memorabilia since 1996 I think. I never played the VCS when I was little, only later at a friend's say in 1986 or so. I have around 650 games, I'd say 500 unique, 300 boxed. I stopped collecting over two years ago when it was inpossible to find anything 'in the wild' here in Holland and had to rely on buying and too much hassle tradewise (you know those trades that involve 4 or 5 persons to get something you want). I've also been active in the community since '96, on #rgvc, CGExpo and for Digital Press, writing and doing research, which I still like to do. One of my showoffs is a signed E.T. Loaner Cartridge, can't say too many people have a signed one, so that's quite unique. Another thing I'd love to show off one day is my 35mm film collection of videogame related trailers and commercials (yes, I have to theatrical ads for the VCS from '83) and then finish the show with my 35mm CinemaScope print of TRON.

Ugh.. okay, here's the final word on this. Pirates were produced in mass quantities in Taiwan as well as in Brazil, but the Brazillian ones stayed in Brazil (until recently). The Taiwanese manufacturers sold their PAL and NTSC ROMs (often soldered on Atari PCBs! that were probably surplus stock from a Taiwanese PCB plant), casings and sticker labels to anyone who would buy them. The only thing the seller had to do was box 'em. Zellers (Canada) put them in Zeller boxes, Froggo (USA), in theirs, Action Hi-tech (Australia) in their boxes, Rainbow Vision (New Zealand) in theirs, and Quelle (Germany & Holland), Suntek (Germany) and Hot Shot / Goliath in theirs, and so on and soforth. This is the theory Marco and me have come up with after puzzling for years and years. It's obvious that some companies have one mother company (probably based in Hong Kong) with many subdivisions. There are many ties between some of the above. So the PAL Zellers was not sold by Zellers in Europe, but by stores like Quelle and Bart Smit. They came in the exact same red boxes with "2600 Compatible", but not the little white Zellers tag. So they were probably printed at the same (Asian) printer even! I love the Canadian Puzzy game. There's gotta be more. Like "Le Bobby va à sa maison". Man.. my French has really drifted away. Be prepared when we unleash the Foreign Atari 2600 section in Digital Press Guide #7, with 2000+ titles. [ 05-16-2002: Message edited by: Deleto ]

I've had a page devoted to the 2800 for 5 years now. You can see a translated ad and a list of available games at: http://www.atarihq.com/pal-division/2800.html Most of the top collectors have the unfolded 2800 boxes that originated the Atari graphic design dept. in Sunnyvale, that were auctioned off by best Electronics 10 years ago or so. Actual 2800 boxed games are extremely rare. This is because Japan has had no culture of re-using items until recently, and no market for second-hand things (no thrift stores, no yard sales, no fleamarkets, etc.) People would just trash and buy new things. I do have a shrinked 2800 Raiders of the Lost Ark from Japan. The Epoch stuff is new to me.. Wow, it's awesome!

I've had a page devoted to the 2800 for 5 years now. You can see a translated ad and a list of available games at: http://www.atarihq.com/pal-division/2800.html Most of the top collectors have the unfolded 2800 boxes that originated the Atari graphic design dept. in Sunnyvale, that were auctioned off by best Electronics 10 years ago or so. Actual 2800 boxed games are extremely rare. This is because Japan has had no culture of re-using items until recently, and no market for second-hand things (no thrift stores, no yard sales, no fleamarkets, etc.) People would just trash and buy new things. I do have a shrinked 2800 Raiders of the Lost Ark from Japan. The Epoch stuff is new to me.. Wow, it's awesome!

I've seen a picture of a Mexican woman sticking labels on AcTiVision carts. These were on a tape roll. Haven't seen uncut sheets. There are quite some posters for individual games. AcTiVision's Beamrider came with one, I think Phoenix did, there's a fold out catalogue (what is it, guide to the stars) in some of the silver boxes from Atari, Inc. and I have a beautiful stunning silver poster for .. oops, this is all out of the top of my head.. Star Raiders I think.. I've also seen a display stand for ET. There's mobiles for quite some games like Missile Command, Star Raiders, Hounted House and Super Breakout.

What's with all this rarity crap? You want a game or you don't want it (or need a game if you're a completist). You should be happy to own a game because you've been looking for it for a long time, because you like it's gameplay, or because it brings back great memories, not because someone designated a number to it. How many visitors came to the CinciClassic? Sounded like a great bash. For all you handheld & VFD lovers: there's a great book available (at Amazon) called Electronic Plastic and I can assure you it's worth the price. Rarity is 9, only 500 copies were printed (initially).

H.E.R.O. Please.. Although my all-time favorite AcTiVision games is Tennis. Not sure though how that ever could be redone.

Hi Markus! Ich habe vieler Atari-kollektor's von Deutschland am meine European Collector's List: http://atarihq.com/pal-division/europe/ . Er ist auch ein Classic Gaming Sammler/tausch-börse im Frankfurt am Main dieser November 24. Tschuß, Roloff

I am a big follower of the Marco Rarity Thesis. And of the Roloff Rarity Thesis (Rarity Schmarity). In Europe there is no such thing as rarity. First off, the VCS was only released in a couple of countries. Some of these countries sold the VCS and it's games from '77 to well into the Nineties, some only for a limited time (like Denmark). A country like Germany had a huge market for pirated and semi-pirated games, and had limited sales of actual games by ATARI or AcTiVision. Then within a European country different rarities exist, depending on which big warehouses bought what, were certain games got distributed to, and such factors. Please keep this in mind when mentioning something as "This is easy to find in PAL".. In my almost 10 years of collecting, me and collecting friends here have found around a total of around 13 X-mans. Some in beautiful conditions, others with screwholes exposed and the ROM falling out. Oddly enough (or perhaps not), all of these were found in fleamarkets in and around Amsterdam. My buddy Marco, who has been scouting the rest of the Netherlands, has not been so lucky. Nor have I ever heard of anyone finding an X-man outside of Amsterdam (okay, maybe one or two) in Europe. So how rare is it then? Same goes for Gas Hog (and Bumper Bash). These have been spotted often in Holland (mostly in bad conditions) and Germany, but nowhere else. In teh US, Bumper Bash, Gas Hog, Mangia and Master Builder were only available through the Columbia Music House mail-order service, although I believe some had a short shelve-life. That would make it rarer. But then let's say a 10,000 of each cart were produced and sold in all of the US, and 1,000 for Europe (=Holland & Germany) We know there are over 1,000 VCS collectors in the US, and less than 100 in Europe. This means only 1 person in the US is entitled to one maybe two, but in Europe, the chance of a collector picking up 5 of these is more likely. So I find it very hard to rate these games with a number. For the record: I have yet to find a Gas Hog.

Yup, that's the one. Once I have it telecined and on a DigiBeta I'll digitize it and make a nice QT with Sorenson of it. I have a great one of "The Fly", but it's 20 megs (hey, hi-band hi-quality, 2 minutes)..

It's all true, I witnessed all the beating, titty-signing and did all the drinking in Philly. And nothing beats the pure joy you get from seeing Big John dying in his laughter, face all swollen - oh man the fun we had! I miss you guys. To get back to the DPG format discussion: I do remember the posts and rants about putting DPG in a binder, and I can't remember I was against it, I'm all for it! DPG is getting too big, and too much has been left out in the last addition. But then again, now that DP has the possibility to sell it through other channels (because of the ISBN number), a nicely glued & bound book would be better looking. Then again, some custom logo-silk-screened binders would look awesome too. Just order what you like and fill 'er up. Then again, I would've never been that much enthousiastic about some other systems (than the VCS) or classic gaming in general if it wasn't for media like DP magazine, the web, chatrooms and the great rants and lists in the DP Guide. Maybe there should be a basic set and then add ons (like all the post-1985 systems). Someone has also mentioned shipping different volumes, one with US releases and one with the others, but I think that's BS. However, I could think of these: Pt. 0. Intro, Index to all volumes, A-Z Psychopedia, Booklist, magazinelist, memorabilia, other stuff, etc. Pt. 1. Atari 2600, 5200 & 7800 Pt. 2. INTV, Coleco, Vectrex, O^2, Channel F, Fairchild, all the other old stuff. Pt. 3. NES, SNES, Famicon, SMS, Genesis, TG-16, LaserActive, etc. Pt. 4. C-16, Plus-4, Vic-20, C64, MSX, Atari 400, 800, 1200, XE, XEGS, Speccie Vol. 0 would come for free as a basis. All would be bound. One volume might be bigger than the other, and thus have a different price. Also, pt. 1. would need a larger print run than the others. Some parts (like 2) would hardly need any updating, maybe once every three years, or you could put those updates in the Pt. 0, which could be updated every year. And here's the catch: all these parts contain different Lores (non-system specific) and other sidelists of fun, so a true videogamer fan would just get them all! Some thought hey? What do y'all think? This would be more sellable than binder-parts (which'll rip out of the binder in no time), you could more easily bring them to places, or read them in bed, and they would look better on a shelf. If we would opt for a binder: Joe, please let me get you European binders. They have 4 rings instead of 3, which makes them sturdier. I'm sure it wouldn't be a problem for the printer to drill/punch 4 holes. There's ways man.. As for the cut-in tabs, I've thought about that as well, would be very cool, but it would probably add $2 to each book, and take 1/2" off the side of your page, never the less, it should be a new feature of DPG7, regardless of it's form. [ 11-12-2001: Message edited by: Deleto ]

Besides collecting anything connected with the ATARI 2600, Vectrex, Pac-Man, I also collect airsickness bags (I have spares to trade!) and trailers and ads on 35mm. I'm putting together a reel with trailers of movies with videogames in the plot (TRON, CLOAK & DAGGER, LAST STARFIGHTER, JOYSTICKS, THE WIZARD, LAWNMOWER MAN), as well as ads. I currently have an ad for several Atari VCS games, named "The Fly", as well as an add for Parker Bros. I have yet to get the PB one transferred to tape ( I have the Atari one on a DigiBeta), but from what I've seenit features a kid, the firebrigade and a burning building (the sound on my Steenbeck doesn't work). I also have some more modern ads for N64 Perfect dark, Looney Tunes, MechWarrior 3, a generic PlayStation 2 one, and Star Trek: DSP ad. Can any of you remember other classic ads from around '83 (The ATARI one I have was screened before RETURN OF THE JEDI)? I've also heard there's a PB one with Popeye, and some Intellivision ones.