almightytodd

Install program for a Computer Space "simulator" is here... It's "simulated" not "emulated", because Computer Space was done all in hardware without a microprocessor. Read Curt and Marty's book for the details... ...By the way, the first time I attempted to load this simulator onto my Windows 7 machine with Norton anti-virus, it was flagged as malware; even though I'd been using it for years on XP with no ill effects. I think the code had something in it that attempted to hook into the developer's web-page and report back to him how many times his game was installed. His web page doesn't even exist anymore, so I'm not sure what's up with that... If you really meant to talk about "Space War", I believe the original paper-tape binary has been translated to a ROM file, which can then be loaded into a PDP-1 emulator. The Wikipedia entry for Space War says this: Code simulating Spacewar! has been included with Microsoft XNA Game Studio Express.[8] The game is available as PDP-1 source code and in emulation on the web. A version of Spacewar! was developed by Valve and put on Steam to show the capabilities of the Steamworks API. The program is named SteamworksExample.exe, and can be downloaded by going to the url steam://install/480.

...Reminds me of the scene in "Back to the Future II" when Marty walks past an antiques store and they have a Macintosh in the window...

I just discovered this game in emulation today. I've played many versions of it including the MAME of the original and the Atari arcade version (Orbit), but the Vectrex port is the first one I've encountered with a single-player mode and an A.I. opponent. Some of the other Vectrex titles are interesting interpretations of arcade games such as "Rip-off" and "Star Castle". I find it interesting that the Vectrex designers chose the portrait orientation when most vector-graphics arcade titles were landscape.

With possible exception of the original 800; which in my opinion was just years ahead of its time, the XEGS is the one Atari 8-bit machine that I really regret never getting. It looked cool and had the ideal blend of "toy" and "real computer". At first release, it was sold for a reasonable price for the time, but at that time in my life I was unable to afford any personal computing entertainment device. A few years later when things were looking up for me economically, my son had reached the age where it was important for him to get in on the home video-game experience, and at that moment, the system to have was Nintendo.

Great thread, guys...

I'm 53 ($35). I was 17 ($11) in December 1977 when our family got a Heavy Sixer VCS for Christmas. I spent my teenage years in video/pinball arcades during the transition years when video games went from discreet components to microprocessor-based, and everything was in black-and-white. I was a young father during the early 80's so the only 8-bit machine I could afford was a Timex-Sinclair. I got a 7800 around 1988. Graduated college with a Computer Science degree in '92 and went to work programming PCs. It's been mostly emulation for me ever since...

Quoting myself in another thread... "I sometimes wonder if one of the hazards of becoming an executive in a wildly successful corporation is that once a thousand-dollars becomes a trivial sum of money for you, you find it difficult to understand how there can be so many people for whom that kind of money is not trivial..." It is similar thinking that prompted this exchange between Orth, the MS executive, and Manveer Heir, senior gameplay designer at Bioware: "...not everyone lives in well-connected areas. Try living in Janesville, WI or Blacksburg, VA," tweeted Heir. "Why on earth would I live there?" Orth responded. Yes Mr. Orth, and why wouldn't I have a job as an executive in a major corporation with a six-figure salary? Maybe it's because we live in an economy that is structured in such a way that not everyone can be an executive and have a six-figure salary; in fact most people can't; the vast majority of the people who buy your products can't. I think one of the things that caused Bill Gates to be so driven to keep Microsoft in the top spot, is that he realized that in the harsh reality of capitalism, current preeminence is no guarantee of future success. History is littered with companies that were at the top only to be knocked off by some other company that found a new way to do something better. It happened to Atari; it happened to IBM; hell, it happened to the entire nation of Spain! Maybe there's hope for a more just and equitable future yet... ...but I'm still going to remain a pessimist. Has Richard Stallman had anything to say about any of this?

Well, thanks to some time to kill while at the emergency room waiting for my loved ones to be seen, I've finished the book. Rather than stick to a strictly chronological coverage of Atari history, Curt and Marty instead approach several different Atari technologies that were being developed in parallel during the era between when Warner Communications entered the picture and when Jack Tramiel bought the consumer division. They tell the stories about the ideas and the people behind them in a wonderful level of detail. The explanations of the departures of the Atari pioneers such as Bushnell and Acorn are much more detailed and interesting than the typical historical treatments that oversimplify with statements like, "The Warner executives did not get along well with Bushnell so he was fired". It's so much more complicated than that and I feel like I have a much better understanding of what really was happening now. I'm not an Atari collector, but in my opinion, no collection of Atari games, consoles and/or computers would be complete without this book.

Amusing, but it repeats several of the inaccuracies that have been corrected in Marty and Curt's book...

I like the way you're thinking... ...I was wondering about similar issues in one of my first posts when I joined Atari Age in 2007... http://atariage.com/forums/topic/103856-screen-orientation-for-arcade-game-ports/?do=findComment&comment=1259811

Not Crossbow? I recall there being a coin-op version that used a trackball... I suppose I could be mistaken...

I feel a little guilty that I delayed in ordering my copy while so many who jumped on the list very early have yet to receive their copies. I'm about 1/4 of the way through it on the first night though. I really like the narrative writing style. It just flows. It's so very well done. It's not as negative towards Nolan Bushnell as I thought it would be. It avoids painting the characters as "heroes" or "villains". It's so much more complicated than that. It's real human beings making decisions with limited information, and with all of the failings and frailties that we all have. It looks like Bushnell made a lot of real dick moves in those early years - but at the same time, he was surrounded on all sides by other businessmen making dick moves. And I haven't even gotten to the part where Warner takes over... Again, a big "Thank you" to Marty and Curt for this monumental contribution to the story of America.

I followed some links from the Atari.com Arcade Developer site and ended up here... (Requires HTML5 compatible browser) http://www.createjs.com/#!/EaselJS/demos/game

Has anyone played around with this? http://atari.com/arcade/developers Is it just an HTML5 development platform with some Atari/Microsoft branding? From what I've seen of it, it appears to rely heavily on Object Oriented Programming concepts and pre-built libraries and APIs. The Batari Basic tutorial video I saw looked a lot more approachable so far as going from game concept to finished game compared with this. I'm just curious as I haven't heard any discussion or interest in this.

Are you including all of the 2600's hanging on the wall of each Fridays restaurant in that calculation?

No, they are not. The Flashback 2 and 2+ consoles and controllers were done by Legacy Engineering and are of generally higher quality.

Albert, thank you so much for all you do for this site. I enjoy my time here more than anything else on the web and I can tell this really is a "labor of love" for you. I guess with that said, I really should subscribe. I'll get around to it, but in the meantime, I want to again thank you.

Have you ever been face-down, in the mud, and been kicked in the head with a steel boot? Of course you haven't, no-one has, it never happens. Forget I asked... ...Municiple bonds, Ted. I'm talking Triple-"A" rating...

There are plenty of tablet devices made just for kids: Tabeo Polaroid Meep Kurio LeapPad2 But doesn't your child deserve the very best mobile computing experience that can only come from a genuine Apple product?

#Envy...