tcv

I used to know how to do this in Photoshop using the Indexed Color mode. Thanks for posting how to do it in Gimp!

I've seen Atari 8-bit screen shots that are quite large posted through one of the Retro blogs I follow. But these are not in-game shots. Let me look around Google Reader to see if I can find one or another... Ah, yes, they are the "wallpaper" posts at The Retroist.

Demon Attack and Circus Atari are my constant faves. I've never lost interest in either of them after all these years!

Think about it, though. If you were a programmer back then and are still active in the field, would you really want it to come out if you deliberately tanked a game? What would your current employer think if he read it online someplace? Nobody is ever going to admit they were involved in any of the shady rumors that are circulating even if they are true. So how do you find out the truth? This sounds a lot like the argument you hear in sports. "Oh, that guys wants a trade so he's puttin' on the brakes this year." Someone always points out that these guys are athletes and they want to perform at their top all the time. I think the same is true of programmers. They wanted to do the best they could with the resources given to them at the time.

There was an ad with Atari?!?!?!!?!?

AA's forum software is actually pretty good, but all of them lack something. I started online with BBSs and the experience was a bit different. You would login and check new messages on all forums by pressing a command in a menu or submenu. (Usually 'N'.) You proceed through the messages posted since you were last on. I've longed wished that someone's forum software implemented that but I don't know if it would fly today. I find the current way of showing the primary topics and clicking a link to see the latest difficult. I often wind up with me missing what I would have preferred to read. Here's an example: I login and click New Posts. While I am reading, someone post something new in a topic on Page 1. Once I get through, say, Page 3 and click to mark them all as read, the message in the topic on Page 1 does now show up when I next request new messages. This isn't a criticism of AA. It's pretty much the same everywhere.

Ha! These are awesome. Keep 'em coming!

I suppose you want to know if it could be done from a technical standpoint. I imagine it could if there was a proto for the 2600. The key, at least for me, would be to duplicate the controller experience. IIRC, it was a trak-ball game, was it not? And the faster you rolled the trackball, the faster the clown moved. You NEEDED that analogue style speed control many, many times. So, that would be the big plus!

Can you take current pics of your recent work?

Look, dude. You can always claim this was by design. The name of the game is IMPOSSIBLE Mission. Were it to be named POSSIBLE Mission, then you could call it a bug. But, seriously, you're not supposed to be able to solve the mission. I was never able to solve the C64 version. Now, this kinda was because I was an impatient jerk, but that's irrelevant. In a sense, I suppose, I did Stay Forever.

Well, that's a toss-up. I suppose I'll go with Circus because it was in color.

Certainly nothing they do could be as bad a Harley Davidson Televisions. (It was a branded TV in the 90s. Can you say, "Over diversified?" Can you say "brand confusion?")

Well, for me, it's the sound, the physics, the paddle controller, the way you can aim fairly well, the "lights." It's a neat game.

DEAD THREAD IS .... ALIVE!!!!!!!!! I was thinking about this over the last couple of days. This is my favorite Atari 2600 game of all time. Is there any kind of data published behind it? Like who made it? What was it a port of exactly? Did anyone try to make something with a similar feel on more modern hardware? (Not so sure about Clowns and Balloons linked earlier in this thread. Losing the see-saw seems to me a big minus.)

I don't know any better and am just curious: why that fast a cpu? Certainly they weren't running the original servers on 900mhz CPUs?

I also am curious as to why Centipede - granted, a well-known title produced by Atari and decently ported - was selected. Probably because one of the ad people read somewhere that females and males both loved centipede, so they thought the commercial would appeal to a wider audience. Could have also simply been a matter of cost. I imagine that whatever they showed they'd have to pay someone to show it. Who owns Centipede nowadays? Atari, Inc.? I can't keep track anymore...

That's hot.

The Original Big Wheel

Yes, but the other title makes it seem like it's a Seattle event when it's their annual Christmas set. I've not seen the Atari one live yet. I've seen the Big Wheel one a couple of times and a doll one today.

That John Davidson sure had a lot of hair. Huge. How'd he stand up? Heck, I hear that's how he died.

Second-to-last contestant wanted to smack the shiznit out of the machine. That would have been incredible.

Hey guys! What's goings on here? What's cougar talking about? I'd like someone to rehash the entire argument. What's obvious again?

I've said it here before, I do remember feeling some disappointment but that didn't stop me from playing it. I was never very good at the original Pac Man anyway. It's probably my least favorite arcade game.

It's a series of commercials. I think they're just tapping any big nostalgia toys. For example, here's one with a "Big Wheel".. http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=J2qS2FAN3HI Agree! That's really all this is. If the big nostalgia item were cans of sardines then you can bank on a Lexus ad showing a kid getting huge cans of sardines for Christmas. It just appeals to nostalgia. They could really make it about anything, as long as it's going to engender pleasant memories in the audience.

At this point, it's classic online behavior: Complainers out-post Complimenters 50-to-1.