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Hornpipe2

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Posts posted by Hornpipe2

  3. Posted

    I'm working on a title theme for one of my 2600 games, and in search of inspiration I hit up YouTube to hear some of the highest quality soundtracks produced for the system. A lot of 2600 games have a simple melody or catchy riff, but I wanted to put together a playlist of 2600 videos that really push the TIA to the limits with a full-blown song.

     

    Most of these are demos from various scene parties, because it's hard to find actual games that put as much emphasis on the music, but there's still a few on here (Pitfall II, Stella's Stocking, Thrust, BMX Airmaster).

     

    http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=00238661C71E403A

     

    If there's anything else you guys think should be on here, let me know.

  5. Posted

    Nice RPG collection... I'm not that big into the genre any more, but seeing Skies of Arcadia Legends made me smile : )

     

    Is it forgivable that I have never heard of Wild Arms, much less that it's such a productive franchise?

    I've never played it, but the

    is one of the best video game songs of all time. OF ALL TIME.

  7. Posted

    Your idea only seems to cover one-way communication. It that's your goal, it should work. I don't think the voltage levels will be affected enough to matter unless the total cable length is very long.

     

    If you want two-way communication, you need to be careful about contention if you are using the same lines for input and output.

     

    I personally used a protocol that allows two-way communication with up to (in theory) four consoles but my demo is only for two:

     

    http://www.atariage.com/forums/blog/134/entry-5561-2600-lan/

     

    Something like I did could be expanded into token-ring type of network with one master and several slave consoles.

     

    It occurs to me that FIRE can't be used for this purpose, it's input-only. That leaves four Digital buttons, hence up to 4 consoles.

     

    I had thought that the first player to start up a game would be the "host", and claim Pin 1 for itself. Subsequent players attempting to "join" would listen for a period of silence on Pin 1, then attempt to negotiate with Host to figure out which pin they should claim (2-4), and mark that for Output. They could even start to drive the pin and other consoles would refuse to take a pin where they recognized the "claimed" pattern.

     

    Once that's all worked out, Host would just do sync pulses during VSYNC and expect everyone else to get with the frame. Each VCS would then manage its own game state, then at end of frame (or start) each would send and pull updated position information like so:

     

    foreach i in (num_bits)

    set bit on pin[my_pin]

    read entire joystick state into byte

     

    After that burst of comms each console can go do its own thing unpacking that data into X,Y coords or whatever.

  8. Posted

    Question:

    How much can the up/down/left/right/fire pins on the 2600 joystick port drive? If there was a direct connection from Pin 1 on VCS 1 to pin 2 on VCS 2... could VCS 1 set its ports for Output, VCS 2 for Input, and then they could transmit data?

     

    Since there are five digital lines, it makes sense that we could use a dumb cable to link 5 VCSs together by simply tying each set of five digital pins together in one big star. If I rigged a cable which tied Pin 1 on five jacks together, is it conceivable that VCS 1 could successfully drive VCS 2-5 inputs... or is some kind of repeater necessary (not a problem as there is 5v available which could theoretically drive amplifier logic chips, but still...?)

     

    I'm currently planning a 16k cart of minigames for use on 2 to 5 linked Ataris ("AtariLAN Party!", patent pending patent pending), but I need to nail down the technical issues on the link cable first before I get in too deep.

  9. Posted

    I would say the way to sell these would be to see how many fit in a flat rate box and sell them by the set, or in quantity in flat rate boxes. Like $30 for 15 games shipped or something like that, with a large flat rate box being $14 or so to ship. You have to simplify these operations or else the headaches and time will overwhelm you.

     

    This seems like a good idea. Take one of each, put them in a big box, and sell lot after lot on eBay?

  11. Posted

    Is it possible for a new sticky thread to be added to this forum? I think it'd be useful to have a thread where people can report what model/brand of camera they're using to take their collection pics. My own camera sucks horribly for the task compared to the quality I see dished out by others, so over the next few months I'm going to be going out to purchase a new one - and this would possibly help decide what I buy!

    Try this instead, I just posted it:

     

    http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/152128-tips-for-taking-good-photos/

     

    Hopefully it can be sticky-fied : )

  12. Posted · Edited by Hornpipe2

    I love love love seeing pictures of people's game rooms on here, but as many of you know, the pictures often don't do justice to the room itself. We've spent so long putting everything in its place and building up a nice collection, so it would be great to let your pics show the detail you've invested.

     

    The good and bad news is, it's not your camera - it's you! At the little 640x480 shots of a still-life in a room we post here, your camera is fine. Bad news because you can't just buy a new camera and get better shots... and I know how much we all love new toys. You'll just take the exact same shots with a newer piece of gear. Good news because you can fix some of those problems right now!

     

    So here are three simple tips anyone can apply to get better looking photos now. I'm a hobby photographer and I've found that with just a slight change in methodology, the quality of your photos will improve drastically. Try it next time and just see what you think. In fact, these are widely applicable to any photos you shoot, but it's especially helpful for when you have a lot of time to set things up - like, say, pictures of a gameroom!

     

    1. Ditch the flash. Find out how to disable the flash on your camera NOW. For all we care you may as well stick a piece of black tape over the darn thing. On-camera flash (not the external kind you stick in the hotshoe on top) suffers from two big problems - #1 it's very weak, failing to illuminate anything more than about 4 feet in front of your camera, and #2 it shoots in the same line as your lens looks, which means all your objects look super flat (with those garish "dark wall shadows" behind everything). We don't walk around with head lamps on all day, so we're not used to seeing things being lit from that angle. The end result is that stuff close to the lens gets full-blown white shininess, while things further away end up not being lit at all, and turn out dark dark black when the camera attempts to compensate for your poor setup choices.

     

    One great way to illustrate people's obsession with the dinky flash attached to their camera is to go to a concert and watch the crowd. People who are hundreds of feet away from the stage still fire away with the flash perhaps hoping the light will reach the band. Not a chance. Enjoy your brightly-lit images of the backs of people's heads : )

     

    "But it's too dark to take pictures without flash!" Then put some more lights in! Open window shades, and turn on overhead lights and lamps. Seriously, why use that little 1 inch square strobe to light your whole room? (If things are still too dark, you will want to take your camera out of Full Auto Mode and get the shutter to stay open longer, letting more light in. This is a slightly more advanced topic and could take some experimentation, but I'll elaborate if you want.)

     

    2. Put the camera on a tripod. "My photo is blurry" is 99% of the time NOT a focusing problem, it's a problem of "camera shake"! Even if you think your hands are rock solid, you'd be amazed at how much they move in the time it takes to snap a photo - especially indoors, where the shutter must stay open much longer to compensate for the reduced light. If you don't have a tripod, bum one off a friend - or just set the camera on a solid surface. Then turn on the self-timer, press button, and wait. That way the act of pressing the button doesn't disturb the camera. Bingo, instantly sharp photos. Here's an area where a cell phone camera might let you down, as many don't offer self-timers or tripod mounts. I'm sure you could rig something with rubber bands or whatever if that is all you have to work with.

     

    3. Fill the frame. Your subject is the SNES and games on the shelf, right? Then why are you standing 10 feet away from it? Get close. Put your camera into "macro mode" and get closer. Zoom (but never digital zoom). Check the viewfinder not just for your subject but also what's around it, and make sure you're not accidentally getting your dirty socks in the corner of the frame.

     

    Hope that helps. I'd be glad to contribute more later, but this should help people correct the initial problems with their photos.

     

    ETA: This was fun to write up. I may try making a short video later just for fun (same info). Then someone can come tell me how to make better videos!

    • Like 2

  16. Posted

    Yeah, you would really need to find a group of trusted friends to play with instead. Open bnet is a cesspool of hackers, cheaters, and players like you who are pleasantly surprised to find that it works and then disappointed that it's not any fun.

     

    I did briefly work on a hack to fix some of the bugs in Diablo, though I don't think it will let you play on bnet any more if you try it: http://diablofixed.wordpress.com

  20. Posted · Edited by Hornpipe2

    At E3 in May 2000, Harmon Leon of the now-defunct gaming site DailyRadar.com set up a booth that featured an Atari VCS with a Combat cartridge plugged into it. The unit was wrapped in aluminum foil. Leon announced through his megaphone and using a hand-lettered sign that this system was actually a new game called CyberBattle 2000, and he enticed several conference attendees to play it (Leon 2000). A humorous review of CyberBattle 2000 appeared in DailyRadar.com after the conference, which read, in part...

     

    http://gamestudies.org/0601/articles/montfort

     

    This (somewhat lengthy) article from 2004 takes a more academic approach to analyzing Combat, and makes an effort to correctly place the game in a historical context while providing a solid review. Recommended if you've got the time.

     

    As a side note, whenever the AtariAge store comes back online, it might be fun to stock T-shirts with a hex dump of Combat on the front.

  21. Posted · Edited by Hornpipe2

    @Rom Hunter

    Karate was from '83 not '82, also it was reissued by Froggo in 1987, it was orignal releaced by Ultravision. Courtesy of the outstanding website known as wikipeida.

     

    And now Wikipedia is corrected with a citation : ) I had wanted the reference link to work but apparently Digitpress is blacklisted? What gives?

     

    ETA: never mind, some cracked out drama going on with that, according to the ban log. Too bad as this would be considered a legitimate source.

  22. Posted

    Thanks once again for putting this all together - the extra ~ marker is a great help in picking out Originals. I'm currently working on One 4k Multicart to Rule Them All and ran across some of these which I think should have a tilde but don't. You may want to tack one on for a hypothetical V6.

     

    Air Raid (Men-A-Vision) (PAL).bin
Air Raiders (Air Battle) (1982) (M Network, Larry Zwick - INTV) (MT5861).bin
Atlantis (Lost City of Atlantis) (1982) (Imagic, Dennis Koble) (720103-1A, 720103-1B, IA3203, IX-010-04).bin
Atlantis II (1982) (Imagic, Dennis Koble) (720103-1A, IA3203).bin
Pepsi Invaders - Coke Wins (Coca-Cola, Coke & Pepsi) (1983) (Atari, Richard Maurer, Christopher H. Omarzu - Coca Cola).bin

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