AtariKee

Re: "frying" I SWEAR that I heard that term as far back as the 80s used for jossling the cart in the 2600 slot while it was on. Not that I'm questioning the origin of the quote, as I have no idea who Russ Perry Jr. is, but I thought I read that term in a magazine at one time. I just wanted to mention that due to having read the "Did You Know" on the front page.

The arcade collector community will bash this book to kingdom come, as they did a similar book a few years back. Do a Google groups search in rec.games.video.arcade.collecting for "price guide" to see what I mean. I'm willing to bet that they've already started in on this book. Just warning you that none of the hardcore collectors price their collection based on a book, and will give your book treatment akin to bounded toilet paper.

Will this cost $79 like the rest of Songbird's game releases? If so, you can forget about me buying anything from this "company" in the future too. Songbird's prices are absolutely ridiculous.

Stay AWAY! Stay FAR away! Believe me, Pole Position machines are a nightmare. If something fries on the board (and it's usually on the video board), you may as well pull the monitor and torch the rest. You'll never find anyone to fix them. Having said that, I've got one that's been sitting in a laundrymat, on 24 hours a day (with fans blowing on the boards and the 2- ARII boards) for over three years without any problems. But that's just a fluke. I have sold or destroyed many more dead ones. If you do pick one up, I wouldn't pay more than a couple hundred dollars for one. $300 tops if the monitor is nice and bright or freshly recapped. Just prepare yourself for the eventual death of the game. Good luck!

What a drag. But I guess it was a long time coming. I feel the REAL Atari Games died when the last coinop (SF Rush 2049) was released. So, although this is sad, it's more of a "kick when you're down" bummer to me. Brian Deuel Webmaster http://www.orubin.com

I downloaded it and read some of the manual, but I have't really dove into it as of yet. It seems similar to Multimedia Fusion, but more powerful in that it lets you dive a bit further into it and write some code. Once I finish the shooter Im working on, I may explore it further. I played a shooter that someone wrote using Game Maker, and I was very impressed. Kee

I *had* a number of Atari vectors, but I got tired of working on that old junk. Vectors just refuse to stay running. If I want to play the games, I'll just play them in MAME. The ones I can't play in MAME I still own, like Breakout, Anti-Aircraft, Steeplechase, LeMans, and Stunt Cycle. Besides, I like designing/programming games more than I like playing them

quote: Originally posted by Cassidy: I used to read the RGVAC boards, and met some great people there, but was flamed for selling some games to pay for grad school. No one here is out to make a fortune, but we all know things cost money. Amen. I got SO tired of the constant whining about being "ripped off" on RGVAC that I quit reading that group. Whenever you try to sell anything there, you get a ton of lowball offers or "your price is too high you crook" type crap. Some of us fall on hard times occasionally and need to raise money to take care of our families, and as such, some games (i.e. Tempest) cannot just be given away. But that's exactly what a lot of those people want you to do, and will harass you constantly. In the past 2-3 years, arcade game collecting has become a tedious and unenjoyable hobby for me. As a result, I have sold the majority of my games with a couple of exceptions. I believe a lot of the jealousy and hostility that comes with collecting arcade games has to do with the scarcety of the parts involved, and some people would backstab their best friends to get ahold of them (trust me; it's happened to me). I've been collecting console stuff for some time now, and have never experienced this sort of disgusting hostility. Now that I'm concentrating strictly on console games, I feel free and happy with my hobby again. I doubt I'll ever buy or sell another arcade machine again. I'd rather destroy them than sell them now (and I have). Sad but true. Ok... this got a bit long-winded, but I guess I needed to get this off my chest. Take care and happy collecting! B

Well, sign me up! As soon as I figure out the syntax and play around for a while, I'll attempt a game idea that's been stewing in my head for years. Keep up the great work!

Cool stuff, but I think we could do without the spam everytime we play one of the homebrew games. Maybe once or twice is enough. After that it gets annoying. But good work nevertheless!

quote: Originally posted by Fretwobbler: No doubt you'll be wanting to copy it when it arrives and get it for free like you want to get un-watermarked Atari related photos from other peoples websites. Yep. You called it, my man. Nothing I want more for free than a crappy compilation of classics that I can play on my genuine 2600, put out by a company that has published some of the worst games (read: all) since the golden era ended, for a console that is nothing better than a PSX with better graphics, a DVD player, and the SAME CRAPPY GAMES DONE OVER AND OVER AND OVER. My question is, what the HELL does '3d' have to do with classic games anyway? Yep. You read me like a book, sir.

i.e. "We're going to ruin another collection of classics!"

Favorite: Crazy Climber/Tempest tie Least Favorite: fighting games and first person shooters ..... ugh

In NO way was Hasbro able to, nor Infogrammes able to, capture the true magic that was Atari. In my mind, Atari died in 1984 when the Tramiels bought out, bastardized, then ruined the company. Atari Games lived on with the legends of game design, but somehow it wasn't the same. So these lame-os can plaster as many logos on their crappy me-too console garbage and call it Atari all they want, but it never WILL be the true Atari. Atari is dead. Long live Atari!

There are two interviews- one with Tony Miller and one with Chris Oberth, both whom worked at Stern in the 80s. You can find both of these at http://www.arcadehistory.com