Jump to content
Have You Played Atari Today?
2600|5200|7800|Lynx|Jaguar|Forums|Store  

Rik1138

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content Count

    78

  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by Rik1138

  1. Posted

    The prototypes were donated to the National Videogame Museum.

    http://www.nvmusa.org/

    (This is where my handheld game collection now lives...)

    I know the guys that run it if you want to ask about anything, but I'm not sure they've done anything with the prototypes other than display them.  Only one of them seemed like it might have a playable game in it, but I don't think they've risked opening it up.  :)

     

    I have pictures of all of them, I can post them if you just want to see what they got...

     

    Jay also has some great stories about a color version that was being discussed, a higher resolution one (32x32 or maybe even 64x64...), and a 'projector version', basically the same thing we have now but you could shine light through the screen and project it on a wall...

    I don't think any of those got past the 'we are talking about it' stage, but it is cool that they were planning ahead with new versions...

     

    • Like 1

  2. Posted

    I've dug out about 10 consoles (think I still have more), and was surprised to find that many of them are still playable.  Most of the problem was just the polarizer on the back turning weird colors...  :)

    But they aren't perfect, so will probably still get enough to replace them all.  Then I won't have to worry about them in the future.  :)

    (And likley sell a few...  I was keeping them as 'backups' or parts, but I won't need that many anymore.)

  4. Posted

    2 hours ago, [email protected] said:

    Soon all the crappy LCDs will be replaced!   And that score!  I can't seem to get that last block as it keeps cycling the same pattern.  I have to figure out to get the ball to move to a different angle.

    Let the ball bounce off the paddle at an angle, left or right.  Don’t move the paddle.  If the ball doesn’t hit a block, it will come down exactly on the opposite side of the paddle and reverse the same path.  It will just keep going back and forth without you moving the paddle.

     

    You can also ‘walk’ the ball all over the screen this way.  Let it bounce off the paddle to the left, move the paddle exactly two spaces to the right.  The ball will bounce to the left again, but shifted over two spaces. This way you can get it next to the last block before holding the pattern to make the ball shift.

     

    But watch it closely when it hits the top of the screen.  After 3-5 cycles, it will move differently off the top of the screen (shifting by one block).  It will now either miss the paddle by one block, or hit the center of the paddle...  so you have to be ready.  But now it’s bouncing along a path one block over from where it was. If you do this where the ball is just passing next to the last block, you have a 50/50 chance of it shifting in the right direction to hit it and bounce back up when the new block wall appears.

    • Like 1

  5. Posted · Edited by Rik1138

    Finally got my collection out of storage...  Most of it at least.  I know I have a complete set of sealed cartridges too, somewhere...

    I was also surprised that almost all of the boxed ones are playable, the LCDs on some even look new.  The worst problem on a couple of those is that the gray polarizer under the LCD has that 'water stained' look.  Even my original that I received in 1979 is starting to get that (see the score below, looks like water drops on it...)  The boxed one on the very left I received for Christmas in 1979, and the complete set of games right next to it I got as they came out (except Baseball, got that during a $9.99 closeout sale just to complete the collection.  :)

    The loose ones range from barely playable to completely black.

    Definitely going to backlight one or two, and replace the bad LCDs.  Will probably buy a few extras just to have ready...

    And I nearly got 200 on my old Block Buster...  Gotta get the last block of a level from the top so the ball gets trapped by the new level and then clears out half of it.  Then get the ball bouncing through it from one side of the paddle to the other until the programming shifts the ball position (which will happen above the blocks) and that nearly clears out the remaining ones.

      Microvision_Collection.thumb.jpg.60f666af8494c97de6eef3253bd7095f.jpg

    Microvision_Score188.thumb.jpg.8c11a2979a652b3363b52a3d08b34872.jpg

    • Like 3

  9. Posted · Edited by Rik1138

    You know, when it comes to modding one Microvision for my personal use, I don't really care about being able to undo it...  I'd just love to have a backlit one like that no matter what hacking I have to do inside!  Unless I'm in the minority on that, bring on the mod, don't be shy about a little plastic removal.  :)  (After all, they really aren't that rare or expensive anyway...)

     

    Of course, I have a dozen or so of these things, so I have room to make sacrifices...  (I probably wouldn't modify the one that was my original from 1979, but that's for sentimental reasons... but one of them is getting sacrificed for a light mod!)

    • Like 1

  10. Posted

    I know it's a touchy subject, but I have, honestly, been curious as to why it's an issue at all...  Is it just the excitement of having something you know isn't even out there in the 'ROM scene'?

    I know people that have prototype arcade games like this and they claim they will NEVER sell them, under any circumstances no matter how much money is offered.  So the (false) theory that releasing the ROMs will hurt the value of the original prototype doesn't even apply to them.  But they still don't want to.

    And sure, I get that they have no obligation to release them, but that isn't a REASON...  If they chose the prerogative of not releasing it, I'm just generally curious as to the reason why (again, I understand that it isn't even any of my business, but just asking an honest question as I don't think I've ever seen anyone actually answer it)...

     

    If anyone here has a prototype of any kind that isn't 'released', and you are never going to sell it (at least, that's your intent), why wouldn't you release it? (And, if you make the assumption that releasing it wouldn't hurt the value of the original prototype, same question)  (Of course, this is assuming the conditions of you getting it from the previous owner don't stipulate that, as is the case with at least one owner of MM2, the only person to ever give me a straight, honest answer to the question of releasing the ROMs...)  Again, no judgement, not trying to start an argument or convince someone to release something, just genuinely curious...  Even if the reason is just 'I like having something you don't', that's perfectly fine. I'm also not familiar with the 'inner circles', so if it's an arcade Illuminati type of thing, then I guess it just is what it is.  :)

     

    I've only been in that situation once having found an unreleased Dreamcast game on a Katana system I bought (Dreamcast development system).  I chose to share it with the community as it wasn't doing me any good just sitting on a hard drive...  Turns out it wasn't really playable anyway, but I didn't know that at the time as I needed help converting it to a format that could be emulated or burned to a disc (the Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator).  But at least there's proof the game was in development, and anyone that wants to look at it, can...  But I didn't buy the Katana knowing there was anything on it, so it's not quite the same as if I specifically bought a MM2 machine or something knowing it was rare.

  14. Posted

    17 hours ago, [email protected] said:

    Thanks!  I feel like I got booted! 🤔  I was at the point of no return to stop now.  I've been working really hard with the vendor on this.

     

    I wasn't trying to take the guys project.  He just never responded to messages or forums posts.  No idea.  Does he not get notifications?

    No idea on the notifications, but he set his OWN timeline of dates to meet, and he failed to meet the second one (shipping the game to the vendor).  Then he didn't respond at all for months, although he had logged into the forum almost every day.  He could have just taken a few seconds to post 'Still here, hang on' or something.

     

    He posted this mid-April:

    Mini update because my deadline is up... I did some investigation into shipping prices to China - the conclusion is that all methods are expensive. Anyway, the plan is to send this out tonight.

    That was sending the console to China.

    He posted a week later talking about how the screens can get damaged, but no comment about NOT shipping the game out on the night he said he was going to...

    And then he suddenly re-appears now, 7 months later, and apparently STILL hasn't shipped them the console, thus missing his own deadline by 7 months.

     

    Ah well...  I'll need about 10 of them, so whenever they are ready...  :)

    • Like 1

  15. Posted

    I guess I'd just be curious to know WHY that would be the case then?

    If I got a Marble Man machine, and wanted to release the ROMs, what would be the reasoning for checking with other owners first?  Even if they are my friends...  It's none of their business what I do with my copy of the game.  And it isn't going to hurt the value of a game that there's only 3 or 4 of out there either (and those are owned by people that, by their own admission in this case, will NEVER sell them, so what do they care even if it did?).

     

    I understand there were special circumstances surrounding MM years ago, but just in general for a prototype or rare game...

    • Like 1

  16. Posted

    On 11/2/2020 at 5:06 AM, mr_me said:

     

    What are the circumstances  that rom files for a prototype goes from being not shared to shared?  I imagine there would be a consensus among all those in posession of a prototype.

    Likely either a current owner of one of the prototypes having a change of heart and releasing them, or a prototype changing hands to a new owner that doesn't care.

    (Or a previously unknown prototype shows up)

    I don't think there is any kind of 'vote' between proto owners, unless they all happen to be friends or that was a condition of ownership between them all...

  17. Posted

    22 hours ago, negative1 said:

    Yes, of course, that's what originally started it.

     

    But there was only one person constantly going on and on every single week it seemed.

     

    That person has been banned.

    Oh, got it...  I didn't even realize he had been banned...  That explain the quietness around here.  :)

     

    • Like 1

  18. Posted

    22 hours ago, negative1 said:

    I only remember one person that was predicting it was coming out, and they've been banned.

    Supergun was the one saying it was going to come out in November, and he was going to remind the person that owns the game in Florida that he said he'd release the ROMs by the end of the year at Free Play Florida in Nov (if it happens).

    Not that I'm actually expecting ROMs to be released even if Free Play does happen, but that's where all the mayhem came from in this thread...  :)

     

    As far as I can tell, Supergun hasn't been banned...

  19. Posted

    On 9/24/2020 at 7:51 AM, [email protected] said:

    So, sample money has been dropped 🤑, the LCD spec has been created,  drawings made, 2 sample types are being build.   They will drop the sample LCD's into the 2 working MV's electronics for testing.  Then, send some videos.  If everything is acceptable,  samples will be shipped for further testing.

     

    Have them turn the contrast all the up and all the way down to make sure the LCD works in the same range...

    I think it should go from very hard to see, to way too dark with 'just right' right about in the middle...

    • Like 1

  20. Posted

    I believe all of the games were released on the TMS1100 though.  The ones that were on the 8021 originally were re-programmed for the TMS1100, so any kind of 'multi-cart' would only have to deal with emulating a TMS1100 to at least get one version of every game.

     

    I like that cartridge that Russian guy made with the ROM-less TMS1098 (a TMS1100 that can read the ROM data from an external EPROM), that would be pretty easy to put a DIP-switchable ROM in it...  But that chip is nearly impossible to find.

     

    The other issue is the control panel, since that's usually blocked off except for the keys you'd use.  Maybe just leave them all exposed with printable overlays or something...

    (Oh, and then there's the screen overlay, which is needed for many of the games....)  It gets difficult quickly...

    • Like 1

  21. Posted

    Yeah, I've shipped a working one from the US to Germany and US to France with no problems, and I've imported them from every country where they were made with different languages on the packaging (UK, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands and I think Poland).  I've never received one non-working that was shown to be working before it was shipped...  Although I have received some that were known to be bad that looked a little worse by the time I got them (but that applies even to domestic shipping...).

     

    But I could see that one bad trip in a hot (or humid) truck could do it...  Maybe where I live that 'opportunity' doesn't come up...

    • Like 1

  22. Posted

    7 hours ago, BigO said:

    I wonder why that is. They have a working device, other than the display, so can imperically determine all of the attributes of the signals being applied to the LCD: voltage, frequency of state changes, polarity reversal, etc. Other than current draw, I'd think everything is right there. But, I'm not an LCD engineer.

     

    I've connected up LCD's out of other toys (not suitable for putting in the console) and they seemed to work fine, so I doubt there's any super-magical-secret-sauce involved. It may just be that the technology has changed so much that nobody knows how to duplicate the old methods.

     

    In China, surely the necessary reverse engineering skills could be found. That level of work might be prohibitively expensive though.

    Maybe just to get them working first time...  But yeah, 5-11 had new LCDs manufactured without ever sending a Microvision.  They didn't work perfectly (wrong contrast range), so he was going to send them a unit for testing.  But they were able to make them first...

     

    I've had many Microvisions shipped overseas, and of those many, a fair number of them worked.  It's hard to say exactly what makes these things fail, especially quickly like that...

    But they could at least start the glass manufacturing.  I assume (although I don't fully understand what makes an LCD work in different contrast ranges) that the change would have to be the chemical makeup of the LCD liquid...

     

    This is probably also the simplest LCD every.  It's literally one glass design, then you rotate a second piece 90 degrees and stick them together.  And it's just 16 straight lines... 

    • Like 2

  24. Posted · Edited by Rik1138

    On 9/16/2020 at 8:35 PM, [email protected] said:

    I found the pics in his posts. I tried to do a quick search but there are so many posts I couldn't find it quick enough.

     

    I think that was just the photos of the prototype LCDs.  I've been following this thread since the beginning, and the first mention I recall of backlighting was from you on July 22nd.

     

    5-11 had some assembly photos posted here, but it was just the LCD itself, no lighting.

    There's a piece of foam behind the LCD it looks like (been a while since I took one apart), could that be replaced with a very thin EL sheet?

    (And it wouldn't need the reflective piece either...)

     

    https://atariage.com/forums/topic/275386-microvision-replacement-screen-project-pre-order-purchase-here/?do=findComment&comment=4028998

    • Like 1

  25. Posted

    11 hours ago, [email protected] said:

    The big issue is building the separate backlight unit.  We can't figure out how it was done in the pics 511under posted.

    Maybe 511under could share some info on that.  There isn't enough room in the LCD cavity for both.  Maybe it's lit from the sides.

    Where did you see pics from 511 that had backlights?  I don't think that was even discussed before you joined the conversation.  He was just making straight LCD replacements...

    I've never seen a picture of a backlight of any kind for Microvision yet...

AtariAge
Forums
Store
General
Follow AtariAge

Copyright ©1998-2021 AtariAge

×
×
  • Create New...