almightytodd

This website is all you need for all things E.T.... http://www.randomterrain.com/atari-2600-memories-et.html

Let he who has full source code of his own 8-bit computer emulator cast the first stone...

You need to find the file named, "mame.ini", open it in Notepad and find the line that reads, "rompath". Change it to the path where your ROMs are stored. By the way, don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet or not, but leave the ROMs zipped up! MAME knows how to read the files from within the ZIP files.

Are ROMs available for these? (...other than Christmas Carol, of course)

Nama, I am thoroughly enjoying your site. You have quite the collection of some very interesting 8-Bit machines there! I have some proof-reading items for you: On the Dick Smith VZ-200 page, last paragraph, the phrase, "even with it's cosmetically challenged appearance" should be "even with its cosmetically challenged appearance". An apostrophe is not used for the possesive form of "it". On the Commodore VIC-20 page, second paragraph, the phrase, "I sold both machine" should be "I sold both machines". And in the last paragraph of the same page, the phrase, "...like all retro computing communities it are made up friendly and helpful geeks" should be "...like all retro computing communities, it is made up of friendly and helpful geeks". On the Atari 400 page, second paragraph, the phrase, "...had written all over the caes..." should be "...had written all over the case..." On the Sharp MZ-80 page, second paragraph, you write, "The lack of an inbuilt low level language such as Basic...". Basic, or more properly, "BASIC", is actually a "high-level" language. A "low-level" language would be one that is closer to the binary language used by the hardware, such as Assembly language. All-in-all, your site is a very good read with a friendly, relaxed style. My very first computer was a Timex Sinclair 1000, which was essentially a ZX81 with an NTSC RF modulator, so I feel like I can really relate to a lot of your feelings and memories from that era. Well done!

You win!

What I find amusing is, that in the past few years since this thread was started, Batari Basic has become such a good development platform, a fairly decent game in the "Knight Rider" theme could be developed - even without "Hard Work" or "Team Savage"... Hooray!

I'd like to offer my well-wishes also for success in all of your medical treatments and a speedy recovery. Get well Soon!

I'm astonished... ...words fail me. Just when I start thinking the VCS has been pushed as far as it can go, something like this comes out and blows me away all over again. Wow...

Seems there should be something about, "There is no classic videogame system but Intellivision and Plimpton is its messenger"... ...Sorry, there's another "brotherhood" that's been in the news too much lately...

Sounds like a job for "HardWork"... ...just as soon as he finishes the Knight Rider project...

But Duane, tell us what you REALLY think... ...Maybe they were just pointing out that Rambo was the kind of guy who wouldn't bother to read the manual...

So I went and laid out this premise, and then failed to include the most obvious recent example, which is "Space Rocks"; an Atari 2600 game that blows away every other iteration of "Asteroids" on every other platform...

Hmmm, this topic could be subject to interpretation; depending on whether you only accept direct "licensed" ports, or if you're talking about comparable games within a certain "genre". For example, during the early years of the video game era, there were several "gun fighter" type games; all of which are put to shame by the 2001 Xype release of "Gunfight". Another example that comes to mind is the Atari "Starship 1" arcade game from 1977. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-4LcD95AOg&feature=player_embedded The Arcade version was superior to the 2K "Star Ship" cartridge #03 from Atari in 1977, but since then there have been several "Star Ship Command" type games that have gone well beyond the game-play, and complexity found in the original coin-op game; starting with Atari's own Star Raiders, and including Activision's "Starmaster", Imagic's "Star Voyager", and Arcadia/Starpath's "Phaser Patrol".

It seems sad that there isn't a decent 8-bit port of "Computer Space"...

I always liked "Pilot Wings". It probably has something to do with playing a demo in a store. But also, it "feels" more like a computer game than a quarter-swallowing video game. It has a fairly slow pace and rewards you with new challenges as you complete various levels of proficiency...

Commodore USA had a cool little mini PC for awhile but it looks like they discontinued it. The beauty of it was that it was a customized version of Linux designed to be connected to an HDTV and it had direct access to "C64 Mode", which made playing C64 games really easy. It looks like now they just have the classic C64 remix and the "VIC Slim...

That Amiga stuff still looks futuristic to me... ...it's like the future that never got here. I feel the same way about Atari ST gear...

I think I have to go with the TRS-80 CoCo 3 version...

My wife has MS and I go to a support group with her each month. One thing about MS that is hard to understand, is that it affects each person differently, and it progresses differently with each person. Another thing that needs to be understood is that just because you have MS, it doesn't mean you won't have other things go wrong like heart disease or cancer. I hope you will continue to participate here and continue to share your experiences. I think it enriches all of us to be aware of the different struggles each of us faces. If you're not currently participating in a support group, I would urge you to see if there is one near you. It helps to share experiences and just be there for each other when times are tough. There's no cure but there are many different treatments, so work with your neurologist to find what works best for you. I wish you well, my friend.

I always thought it was a PIE factory... ?!

I'm a computer professional with over 18 years experience. I have not attempted to program a game for the VCS in either bB or asm, but if I were to do it, I would start with bBASIC. Those who program in 6502 asm and understand the VCS video architecture have a level of brilliance that is difficult to understand. The two factors that may be missed in a discussion such as this are that: 1) there is a considerable amount of time that needs to be devoted struggling with asm to understand it before one can reach proficiency. Basically, you have to "think" like the 6502 CPU and the TIA chip and understand where each bit of data is going in eight bit chunks, between the registers, the tiny amount of RAM you have to work with, the ROM, and the TIA as you "race the beam" and draw the video elements onto the TV screen in real time. 2) The knowledge and understanding of asm programming is cumulative. The masters here who write all of these great assembly language games have devoted hundreds of hours to doing it, to the point where they can map things out in their head and rapidly see results in the development cycle of writing the source, running the assembler, loading the binary code into an emulator/debugger, and testing their changes. None of this is trivial. Starting with bBASIC first will not "ruin" you for learning asm later if you decide it's what you really want to do. It will give you a sense of what programming is all about and help you evaluate how much time you'd like to put into this new hobby.

I absolutely love this game and have no criticisms or suggestions at all for it. Well done Darrell!