pocketmego

Fist of all, welcome Captain... And since you're new i'll even let that whole Chopper Command thing slide. Actually, you make some very valid and humorous points, it will be fun to have you here. I especially liked your thoughts on Midnight magic. I never got the River Raid thing either, but there is NO denying it was a HUGELY successful game. I remember every person i knew including myself who had a 2600 had the thing. think it being a plane game, VS a space ship game might have made it a unique commodity at the time. Now, let me see...other overated games... Ms Pac-Man - Basically it's famous because it was the one that DIDN'T suck. Ms. Pac-Man on the 2600 was hugely successful because it was an actual adaptation of its source material and not a mutant. That's more sad than cool. Space Invaders - After the 5th wave in any varient of the game, its the same thi ng pretty much over and over again. So if your good at it, you pretty much play until your sick of it. Megamania - Why is this so popular? Pick any other space invaders style shooter for the 2600 and I think you'll find a more enjoyable game than this one. The enemies are very abstract and unapealing, the scrolling can make a sailor vomit, and the the game play ramps into tedium very quickly. Its Ok, but I'd rather play Demon Attack, Galaxian, Gorf, Spider Fighter...etc... That's pretty much all I got. -Ray

I posted this in the 2600 forums, because of the 2600 specific material. But, it features a lot of classic game programming personalities. Its interesting in that the Atari programer and Steve Kitchen look like stereotypical computer geeks, yet Trip Hawkin's and Bill Budge look like they walked out of a Sear's catalogue. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLpP2uh-zmE -Ray

This is a clip from a 1984 TV show featuring a nice long segment where Steve Kitchen explains Space Shuttle and how it operates on the 2600. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLpP2uh-zmE There is also a bunch of other stuff featuring a few retro games and personalities from just prior to the crash. Best line... "How did you fit all that in the 2600?" -Ray

Ok, I gotta ask, how did it help kill Atari? -Ray

So what was the deal with the Super Charger anyway, how did it work? What is it? -Ray

It's the other way around for me. I have never seen the Pole Position cartoon, but I used to catch Turbo Teen all the time. I miss 80s cartoons too. What's wrong with watching anime? Nothing at all, if its good Anime. But what the kids are watching these daysd hardly qualifies as good Anime. Also, there is something to be said for variety. When we were growing up there was certainly anime, but it was mixed nicely with other product as well. There is very little of the same creativity and balance in todays cartoons. -Ray

Simon, Now, that you have shipped out your various pre-orders, when might we see the non-special editions in the AA store? -Ray

I almost had the hack so that when you touched an enemy you took a point of damage, the enemy died, and gameplay kept going. It was much more like the original game. There were some quirky bugs introduced by the changes and I didn't have the patience to iron them out. Some day I will make an adventure game based on what I learned from Wolfenstein. It may or may not be the same genre, but it will be the real deal. I know that starting from scratch I could pack at least 128 different room layouts into an 8K catridge. I would also be able to add features like the uniform and guards that can shoot from the original game. Cheers! Rob Rob you are such a tease. If you have any intentions of making this, I'll pre-order right now. -Ray

You're telling me. The only thing kids seem to want to watch now is Anime. -Ray

Apparently not $%%#@^%$^%. Just kididng, it should be fun as hell playing through until I do find it. In any event, everything else that makes this game cool (because I don't like Venture much at all) is all you guys and I really do want y'all to do another one. Perhaps your take on the original sequel, Beyond Wolfenstein VCS. -Ray

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjIfmRO_LHk Chuck Norris reads hs own top 10 list. -Ray

You should make a video of yourself doing that! I'd be interested to see how they do all the characters... For those of us, who will never see any but those first 4 or 5 thugs. -Ray

For the record, World of Spectrum does NOT count re-releases. Although I guess its easy to assume that they are counted. OK. Here we go.. Halls of Zatress - MIA (unlisted) Centipod - Author - Julian Skelly Zombie! - MIA (unlisted) - maybe Zombies!? Author - Andrew Esmond Advanced Lawnmover Simulator - really?? Steve Davis Snooker - Author - Mike Lamb. - I'm not sure which 'original' snooker you refer to. Penalty Shootout - MIA (unlisted) Forest - Author - Graham T/ Relph Big Boxing - MIA (unlisted) Shooting Range - MIA (unlisted) Digger Doug - MIA (unlisted) In addition, Star Soft did two titles: Froggy - Author Karl Brazier - MIA Theif - Authors/Publishers - Ducky & Starsoft MIA (unlisted). In addition, as has been pointed out, the original was not written in BASIC. If you have denied distribution of your titles, feel free to PM me & I will get the denied status verified. However, denied titles are still listed in the WoS database - for example Codemasters The point is Ray, that this guy may or may not be claiming the hard work of others. How would you feel if you created something only for others to take credit? As can be seen from the known titles above, the authors are all different. As for the unlisted MIA's - I won't be pushing to get them added to the database just yet I can't argue on this one. Its a very fair insight and a good post. I do believe proper creators should be creditied properly. -Ray

LMAO!! Chuck Norris doesn't wear a watch... HE decides what time it is. -Ray

I beat the game last night and I have to say the last couple of levels do get pretty freakin' intense. I was sorry to see it end, I am definately hoping for another installment. -Ray

Turboteen was one of the truly Bizzaro cartoon ideas of all time. From start to finish, one wonders who had such and idea, how could they have possibly sold such a thing, and how it EVER made it on the air? -Ray

After, making it known how brilliant I thought Hunchy 2 was, it would be most shameful of me not to mention the other title I picked up from Atari Age. So here is the review I have already submitted to the Atari Age store... When I played the original Wolfenstein VCS, which was little more than a Venture Hack, I thought it was a glitchy piece of crap. At this point you should be thinking, "I'd like to see you do better!" However, the reason I used such strong language in describing what I thought of it was that the problem was it retained too much Venture and not enough of what this game really needed, its own flavor. The idea at its core is very brilliant, use the Venture engine to create a gaming experience similar to that of the classic computer game Castle Wolfenstein (not to be confused with Wolfenstein 3-D by ID software). Plus it takes a very insightful person to remake a 20 year old computer game using 30 year old hardware. I am thrilled to say that as of the newest rendition of this game, Wolfenstein VCS: The Next Mission is everything I would have hoped for in the original and THEN SOME! The gameplay is smooth and not at all glitchy as with its predecessor. In fact sprite collision and movement is so smooth that I once almost got caught by one of the big SS Icons on the main screen and was able to avoid capture by the fact that the little dot that represented me just fit in the small space where the icon is clipped to make a square a circle on the VCS. That, my friends, is numbers perfect collision detection. The colors and movement of the icons really make it feel like a very tense scenerio your facing. I could totally play this game with the Great Escape playing in the background, because it makes me feel just like Steve McQueen as I am sneaking through the darkend halls of this old castle, ever watching my back for the next Nazi menace to grab me from the shadows. A fun adventure, with great atmosphere, and obviously created with a lot of love and care for the finished product. Wolfenstein VCS: the Next Mission is a MUST for any 2600 collection and a Future Classic. -Ray

Bruce Lee, so easy and so fun. It would look pretty good on the VCS too. -Ray

Good choice and I can certainly see it. The Sword Quest games were HYPED like MAD, with all the comica and full spread D&D style artwork. Ironically had they designed Swordquest to play more like the later Secret Quest it probably would have been a massive hit. -Ray

Wow. You're kinda late to the party. Fights already over, we all made up, and we're eating peanuts and having beers. So I'm just gonna ignore this shot after the bell rang... have a nice day... I just didn't want you to feel like I was calling you stupid, Paranoind, I'd never do that to anyone. It wasn't meant as a shot, I promise. -Ray

No. No it isn't. Open up the tzx file in the Spin tape browser and you'll see a 13K long piece of machine code at the end. That's why there are Randomize USR commands in the BASIC - they call the machine code sections. Oooookay. This is just getting too weird for words now. Unless you really are ex-Your Sinclair and PC Zone writer Duncan MacDonald, of course. See you later Mr Mitty. *backs slowly away from thread* This thread has no offcially lost me. I don't even know who Duncan MacDonald is. Even if I did know, I don't think I'd care if Kizza was or was not this person. All the guy said was he wrote a couple of games here and there . Geez, he never claimed to be freakin' Clive Sinclair, or anything. Y'all need to just chill. -Ray

Answer me this... Put these three in order in importance to game developers when considering market demographics for a new game... Europe, Japan, The United States... Of course designers and publishers want to maximize their sales, and the European market will not be ignored... But success OR failure in Europe does not define *survival* in a ultra-competitive market... Japan and the United States can make or break you... Europe is just graavy... Ignorance, indeed... some people need to actually think before they start typing flamebait around this place. The term ignorance is not meant to be any kind of flamebait. I mean, being on the "World Wide Web" and laying some sort of priority claim to American and Japanese marketing is a sign of ignorance. The business community is global and that is something that any first semester business class will teach you, almost immediately. I'm not claiming you are a stupid person, but your marketing knowledge is based ona certain amount of ignorance as to how business works. -Ray

Everything you guys are saying about the crash is pretty much on the money and I certainly don't dispute any of it. But, one of the MYTHS that grew from the crash has always been that ET was a collosal failure and brought Atari crashing down with it. Atari being the biggest fish in the sea caused a dominoe effect that tore the industry apart. Few people tend to mention Ray "the great Satan" Kassar as the real cause of Atari's troubles from day one of his tenure. The slimeball even cashed out his own stock in the company before announcing the companies weak spots on the stock exchange. I don't know if its possible to hate a historical figure but every time i read something about kassar, I really hate that bastard. In any event, i still say the one game that sank an industry myth nwould have been born with or without ET. If not Pac-Man then some other game would certainly have eventually been branded as "Worst Atari game of all time" or "Industry Killer." I'm just wondering what that game might of been had it not been ET? -Ray

Hmm, it used a different logo. I looked at a few clips and saw nothing that says Namco. Did DiC license the game or just attempt to "steal" the name? Good questions. All I can say is that when I was a kid, I remember this thing being on when I was in 1st grade. Kids pretty much associated it with the video game and it never really came into question that it wasn't based on the game. Now, however, one looks at it and wonders if indeed "name theft" was what DIC did. It does make sense, the game was popular, the name wa sa generic racing term. You pretty much put anything with fast cars out and people would make the obvious associations. Thee is a guy on Youtube who does a pod cast all about 80's shows and even he assumed it was based on "the Atari game". It was also on the same years and channel as Supercade. Food for thought indeed. -Ray

I am of the camp that believes that ET actually gets a bum rap for "causing" the crash and killing Atari. As has been stated many times ET is NOT a great game, but it is far from the worst Atari game. So, if ET had never been made, what game would have gotten to be the fall guy instead? It would have had to be a game, because no corporate suits or game designers would ever admit to their own mistakes and short comings to admit that the industry had become a leaky boat and NOBODY was hadneling the buckets to bail the water out. I'm thinking Pac-Man would have taken the bullet that ET got. People would have claimed that if they had made a better and more accurate version etc etc... Anyone else care to speculate? -Ray