G.Whiz

Seems to me that you could use regular paddles, but once you hit the limit, your car just ended up crashing 'cuz you couldn't make the turn. I think we played it this way once because we forgot to switch over the paddles to the racing ones. I could be wrong though...? ~G

Not sure about that, but you could always cut and paste into a new post. Otherwise, you could try contacting Admin -- they might be able to access posts and fix any editing problems... Something to do with the recent reno, perhaps? ~G

As a matter of fact, it is an odd number. It's also a prime number... (someone had to say it...) ~G

I think what is missing is the tech product that was the first computer most people owned -- the calculator. Sure, their a dime a dozen now (almost literally) but back in the day it was quite new. And of course, Douglas Adams would have been sad to find that digital watches are no longer a neat enough idea to get onto this list... ~G

I think it would be easier to fake a cartridge than to fake a price tag from the 70's/80's, especially since it would be quite obvious if the sticker had been added sometime afterwards...! ~G

Anyone see this? http://www.retroblast.com/newsitem.php?cid=3765

I think so. We never had the 5200 in Canada, so CV was really the only "next step" until the Nintendo arrived. We always wished that the Atari had better graphics, and here was a machine that had it -- nice, slick, great colour... I still think the graphics are pretty amazing, especially considering the time. When the CV came out, I thought that Atari would come back with something, but they never did. I got into computers and away from consoles, and sort of gave up caring at that point (I guess like so many others...) ~G

Although I agree that he would have cared about Atari as a company, not just a cash cow, there are no guarantees that he would have had any success if he had gone it alone. As has been mentioned in other threads, this was a brand new industry he was creating, and that in itself would have been a challenge. Distribution would be the most crucial aspect of the business once the system was created, and who better than Warner in the 70s? Perhaps rather than selling to Warner, it would have been a better move to bring them on as his distribution partner. That being said, it is rare that a technical genius is also a marketing/business genius. Even the quintessential example of this -- Steve Jobs -- is likely not a "technical" genius. Sometimes people forget that without Wozniak, Apple would be nowhere today. Even today you hear Jobs referred to as the concept man, the guy who knows what is technically possible and marries that with what people want. He is not the guy who delivers the final working product. In the end, I find it unlikely that Bushnell would have done a better distribution job than Warner, and that would have had a huge impact on the success of Atari. On the other side of the coin, once the ball was rolling I do think he could have led the company on to greater things rather than suck the main concept dry. 'Course all of this is water under the bridge. I think the thing I'm most surprised at is that he didn't buy the name back when it was available in the late 90s(?). But maybe he's happy enough with his restaurants and the general public's unwavering belief that he could have done better. Why test the theory if it means risking not being the hero any more? ~G

Last time I was in London (years ago now) Camden Locks had some retro shops and stalls -- mostly records and clothes, but if you have time to kill it might be worth a look... ~G

Heavy-Sixer box (original -- one owner), Canadian edition (French on one side, and says "Distributed in Canada by Paragon Entertainment") in fair to good condition with the original Eaton's price tag. I believe there is a warranty card inside, the original bubblewrap, and most (if not all) of the cardboard packing. But the system itself has been well-loved, the orginal joysticks are long-gone, though I believe the paddles are original... ~G

I never really got into the 2600/VCS thing. To me, it was always just "Atari". I didn't even realize there was a difference between "Heavy Sixers" and "Light Sixers" until finding this board years ago. But I do remember the 4-switches coming in, and thinking that the people who bought those were getting ripped off. So "2600" translates to "Atari" to "six-switch with the genuine imitation wood grain panelling" in my mind, and everything else a shadow of what went before. ~G

I'm semi-surprised that nobody said Combat. That was the first game I saw, and it just blew me away that you could play a game like that on the TV. We had an Odyssey (the original) but it didn't even come close to what the Atari could do. I was entranced... As far as making an impression, Combat by far made the biggest impact on me. After that I'd have to say Space Shuttle. It was amazing how it used all the extra switches, but what was most amazing is that most of the story was happening "off-screen". The limited graphics in Atari really helped here because you could imagine that you really were in the shuttle with a limited view of the outside world. You felt more in space with this game than any other I've played. ~G

Not sure about distribution, but this looks like the second-generation model, the Yoko Duo. First-generation Yoko Ono is much rarer... ~G

There's the Star Raider's controller too, though not really rare -- depending on what you mean by "flight controller" I would guess you mean this or Spitfire Attack... ~G

Can't say for sure back then about Atari specifically, but Sears in general has always charged a premium. Where I live, Sears was one of the few places to buy Atari games so that was the only place I could get them when I was a kid. Eventually though more places started stocking them, and they were less than Sears. Again, in Canada, there was no "Sears Atari", just straight Atari. So I believe that any price difference between Sears carts and regulars was simply because it was Sears... There are many, many people (especially older) who buy exclusively at Sears -- it's a brand name in itself. In Canada anyway, they are known for their customer service and the fact that they have one of the easiest return policies on big ticket items like electronics, appliances, etc. The Department Store is slowly going the way of the Dodo, as evidenced by some of the US big names (JCPennies? One of them went down...) and Eaton's in Canada. But somehow Sears manages to keep going... ~G