Alex

There are quite a few original games. We keep the modern hacks separate from the main database here. You can see the original games currently in development here. Finally, go here and select "Modern" from the rarity menu. These are original games that have been produced in the last several years. Often times there is a limited edition with special packaging followed by a standard edition sold by Hozer as mentioned above.

Good point. I guess they don't really do anything new, they just do more and faster. I suppose third and fourth generations are somewhat alike as well except for power, although it would look silly to to have the 7800 and SNES in the same generation. Maybe in the grander scale they won't look so distant one day.

This has been discussed many times on Usenet and elsewhere, but what do you consider a "classic" system? How do you categorize systems? By processor? Year? Gameplay? Do you use the term "NeoClassic"? Personally, I think terms like "classic" are ultimately problematic, because the X-Box and Gamecube will one day be "classics" to today's children. Atari systems will be "antiques". "Classic" is really a constantly evolving genre. So, how about we break videogames down into more defined eras... First Generation: Pong and it's varitations, beginning with the Odyssey 1 in 1971. Ends around 1976, although some First Generation style systems are produced after that. Second Generation: The first programmable systems. Fairchild Channel F, RCA Studio II, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Intellivision, Colecovision, Vectrex, Arcadia, etc. Third Generation: The second wave of programmable systems. NES, SMS, Atari 7800. Fourth Generation: 16-Bit systems. SNES, Genesis, Turbograf-x. Fifth Generation: 3D gaming arrives. Saturn, Playstation, N64. Sixth Generation: Modern consoles. Playstation 2, X-Box, Gamecube. Comments? Obviously this list is not all-inclusive and doesn't even touch computers. Just curious as to what you guys think beyond just saying "classic". Interesting that as the industry has matured there are fewer competitors...

Well, it's just for fun, it's not an official document or anything. I think a lot of people consider NES, SMS, and Turbo classic. It's interesting to see the results anyway. There are many ways to divide up systems into classic/neoclassic/whatever, and you will never get everyone to agree. I take your point about the C64. I included it because I think a lot more people consider that a gaming computer than the Apple II and Spectrum. Okay, I don't really know about the Spectrum in Europe, but it didn't have much (any?) presence here in the US. So, what poll would you like to see? I wasn't trying to define what's classic and what isn't by that poll.

Heheh, well I don't see any reason why there should be any flaming. It's just a matter of opinion. I agree the crash was very important, but it presents its own set of problems. What do you consider the 7800, is it classic? Do you consider when it was produced or when it was really released (pre/post crash)? Also, wasn't the Famicom released in Japan before the US crash? So it would be considered classic by that definition, unless you take an ethnocentric viewpoint and only consider the US release. I don't expect people to agree on all this, I just want to hear some more opinions.

If you haven't already, give Trillian a try. It's a multi-client IM, allowing you to talk to AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo, etc. all in one program. Trillian

Well, I think the only glaring example is Sunrise Glacier Patrol, that you mentioned in another post. I don't know how that ever made the various lists in the first place, but I've been searching for anyone who owns that for a couple years now. I'm convinced that it doesn't exist, until someone proves me wrong. Other than that, I think most of the misconceptions out there are people just trying to get more money for their games, becuase it's pretty easy to educate yourself these days. Most people who claim CtCW is a "holy grail" don't really care that it isn't, they just want to get the most money they can. There's not much you can do about it. Air Raid is funny though, it may be the rarest production 2600 game in existence. I've seen more Magicards and Video Life's for sale than Air Raid. In fact, I've never seen an Air Raid for sale in all my years, although I heard that Adam (BuyAtari) bought one recently from another collector. Eli's Ladder is another one that's super rare (I've only ever seen one for sale, in the old Devin Knight auction) that isn't talked about too much. It's hard to beat a dog food company selling an Atari game, which is why the notoriety of CtCW persists, IMO.

Just to clarify, this is a VCSS game, not a VCS game. The VCSS is a simulation program that Khryssun wrote - it's very cool but VCSS games won't run on a real 2600 or 2600 emulator. They're made to look like 2600 games and give a similar gameplay feeling (VCS *Simulator*). Just in case anyone was confused...

That is weird. It's definitely not the standard Frogger or Frogger II. The seller is in Canada, so maybe it's a pirate game (lots more black market games were sold in Canada). Frogger is one of the most cloned games around, someone on this board posted a picture of 10 or so different pirate Froggers once.

Yeah, if you're talking worldwide, it's pretty much impossible to get a complete set. I'd say the total number is in the thousands, with hundreds of those being really hard to get. It's a good idea to start with just the games that interest you. Then when you get beyond that, try completing company sets - all the Activision games for example. That actually gives you an achievable goal while still being a challenge. And it makes for a nice, neat collection. Have fun!

It's called the Roklan Unroller Controller. It's not actually a track-ball, but a joystick with an unusual interface, notice it doesn't rotate all the way. They're fairly unique, and not too common, but they don't usually sell for a lot when I've seen them on Ebay. Maybe $5-$8 each as a guess. If you collect controllers they're a pretty good find.

Awesome, Glenn! This is perfect timing to announce our...er...um...you'll see.

It was sold with a box and manual at CGE, and I believe it's sold out. You can probably get it on cartridge sans packaging from Hozer.

We don't have a set timetable, but I'm sure it will be a work in progress for some time. The next couple weeks are going to be really busy for both of us outside of AtariAge, so it'll probably be slow for a little while, then you'll start seeing scans, ROMs, more entries, etc.

What I'd like for sure is the box where it says "Not for Resale" etc. on it. I don't know if the console itself was any different, or just the box. Eventually we want to have hardware online, complete with pictures of the hardware, box, and manual just like the game archve. So any of that you can do would be great, but the most important part would be the box. Do you notice anything different about anything else?

I don't know how far you want to take your web development, but you might want to consider ditching frames and using a server-side include of some sort. It accomplishes the same thing as frames, without the technical and (IMO) aesthetic shortcomings. See if your server supports PHP, it's a great language.

Yes, eventually we'd like to have scans of the storybooks and MP3's of the records, so that people can listen to them via the site. I actually have one of them on tape I think, so that would be easy enough to get into MP3, maybe I can do it this weekend. Someone sent that tape to me, although I can't remember who it was off-hand. I was going to send them a tape of what I have, but I've never been able to dump my vinyl to tape (or CD or whatever) yet. So anyway, if you feel like converting them to MP3 or sending us a tape dub or whatever, we'll put it on the site.

I should clarify my response. I don't mean that non-games shouldn't be included. I'm talking more about demos like the Happy Birthday cart, the sinking ship cart, the Hozer Demo cart. These have been made on cartridge form, but do you guys want these included? In some cases it's just a single screen title or something, not much to it. We're going to add a few more modern titles to the site tonight, so I guess if you see any tomorrow that we're still missing that you think should be included, let us know. We'll be adding Video Time Machine, SoundX, Stella Sketch, and a few others.

I have several records, both 45 and LP. I just don't have a turntable, but one of these days I'll go to a freind's house and put them on a CD. Here's some more information about the Kid Stuff records: Kid Stuff Oops, I meant 45, not 33. [ 11-01-2001: Message edited by: Alex ]

Hi Guys, We will be ignoring PAL no longer! Seriously, we just started add PAL and other international games to the database, and that will include ROMs. It'll take a while, but hopefully this will eventually become a good PAL resource for you.

Albert answered most of these, I'll answer a few more. First of all, that list lumps released games, prototypes, PAL titles, and everything else all together. That's fine, but that's why a few of them didn't show up when you look in our list (which separates them by region). Go to our advanced search page and make sure to include all regions. For example, Bogey Blaster and Universal Chaos are listed under the European region as PAL. Cabbage Patch Kids, Rush Hour, Snowplow, and Impossible Game do not exist that we know of. They would be prototypes at best (definitely never released), but nobody has announced finding these games before. Some of the modern titles need to be added, although they aren't really games and it starts to become questionable what we should include. Should we include demos? Personalized carts? Stella Sketch should definitely be added, and maybe SoundX, but I'm not sure about the others. Video Time Machine is an animated clock - neat, but do you guys want it added? It's up to you. Oh, and Ikari Warriors we have listed as PAL. We need to add an NTSC version, which we had been trying to verify, but it will probably be a 9 or 10. The PAL version isn't too tough to find though, which is probably what he's listing. [ 11-01-2001: Message edited by: Alex ]

quote: Originally posted by Jet Boot Jack: One of the first games I worked on: http://xlent.nostalgia.pl/software/games/z/0007.html For Atari I developed this game: http://xlent.nostalgia.pl/software/games/c/0068.html Whilst at Harlequin I produced this game: http://xlent.nostalgia.pl/software/games/p/0054.html Whilst at Atari I also saw loads of stuff which never made it: XE Winter Games (packaging and ROM) 2600 Black Lamp (100% finished) 2600/7800 and XE UFO (based on the Gerry Anderson series of the late 60's) The full version of Dracula for the Lynx (the released game is only half of the product, but Atari cut back on ROM space.......) sTeVE Can you tell us any more about these, especially Black Lamp and UFO? What types of games were they? Who programmed them? For what company? Thanks, I've never heard of these before.

quote: Originally posted by Tyrant: ROFLMAO is very standard netspeek, it stands for R olling O n the F loor L aughing M y A rse O ff. Oh, and btw, why do I now have a star under my name? not that Im complaining hehe, but I've never quite understood some of the ubb's more intricate workings. Oh, and can one of the admin/moderators make me up a dig dug picture with the arcade colours please? I'll send an image if needed. [ 10-29-2001: Message edited by: Tyrant ] Hey Nick, The stars are just for fun - the more you post, the more you get. I'm not sure what image you want exactly, but if you have something in mind you can send it to [email protected] and we'll get it set up.

There is another batch that will go up next week, including the Phoenix proto. The auction page has more details.

Yes, we're definitely thinking of scheduled chats defined by cron-jobs as opposed to a perpetual chat room. I'm not terribly experienced with chat though, what types of features would people prefer? Multiple rooms? Private rooms? Preferred times? We'll probably use Java, is there any particular applet that people have used and enjoyed? Would you prefer an IRC interface, or a self-contained chat? My girlfriend is a Java programmer so I will be putting her to work on the site finally, heheh. She can write one from scratch, but if there is something that's already popular she can customize it easily enough. [ 10-29-2001: Message edited by: Alex ]