almightytodd

Get well soon Chicky. We all love you.

I just moved my copy of Moose O'Malley's "Computer Space Simulator" from a Windows XP machine to a new Windows System 7 machine with Norton anti-virus software on it. The Norton protection jumped all over it - wouldn't let me run it, recommended blocking it and removing it. Any ideas why? I think there's some code in it that may be connecting to his website automatically. There's a link on the splash screen that you can double-click on when the game opens up. Anyone else had any problem with this game?

Jobs is the most inept engineer on the face of the planet, The Woz was the real genius (I grew up around them, Jobs is an asshole, and all he ever did at Atari was trouble shoot arcade games in the middle of the night) And from what I hear from friends that work at Apple, he's still an insipid and petty jerk... As for the boards... I'm honestly not sure, I'm just a collector/gamer, not an expert. Bump... Dammit! I need some closure! Wikipedia says Apple computer started in 1976, so that suggests that work done at Atari by Jobs and Wozniak would have been before then. I've heard that when Jobs and Woz developed the Apple 1, they brought the idea to Atari to be the manufacturer for the Apple II, but it was rejected as too expensive and not the direction Atari wanted to go. This would have been pre-Warner Bros/Atari buy-out, correct? I always found it ironic that when Atari finally did enter the home computer business, Apple was their chief competitor and then went on to be the 8-bit computer maker that survived after IBM entered (...or established the standard of...) the PC market. I'm thrilled that there are people on this forum with actual knowledge about this stuff...

For me, it's more time consuming than anything else. For the cursors, I use a shareware program called, "RealWorld Cursor Editor". It does a nice job with creating animated cursors. I've added some more theme elements and included them in the attached ZIP: PolPos2Theme.zip I created a Space Invaders background screen to go with the Space Invaders cursors and screen shots: Here's how the two themes look on my desktops on my two computers at work: I also did a 7800 Pole Position II theme with some nice animated cursors and this background: I should probably record some sounds to make this theme complete. I'm thinking it'd be fun to do a Flashback 2 screen that uses the main menu selection screen for the background, but I'd have to take a photo of the television screen. I'm thinking I'll try to pick up an FB2+ when they come out, so maybe I'll wait on that. I'm glad to see these are being downloaded...

Did you really do these hacks? I'm only asking because it's been done, and it seems like a bit of a shame to go to all that work only to end up with something that looks identical to work that was done 10 years ago... My favorite Space Invaders hack is the "Deluxe" one done by Nukey Shay: Beyond getting the graphics right (including the alien death explosion), he adds a spinning saucer that's even better than the arcade version, plus different sounds and the "two-shots at once" trick that could be done on the original hardware using the power and reset switches.

Here's a screen shot of Chinese Chess on the Senario 101 in 1 plug-n-play: After playing it a few times (I have yet to win, not sure if I ever will...) I noticed that after each move there are characters being written at the top of the screen. This seems to be a bug - perhaps some diagnostic code that was left in place when it went to production. The result of this is that in a prolonged game, the top of the board begins to be over-written with these characters. I have mixed emotions: On the one hand, it's kind of a shame that the first time I find this game in a version I can play on my TV set, it's defective. On the other hand, I feel clever that I know enough about the game that I was able to "stay alive" long enough to notice it...

...But what about ?

Hey everyone, I really enjoy using these Atari theme elements that I created for my Windows XP 1280 x 1024 desktop at work. The "Combat" theme is the most complete, with matching wallpaper and animated cursors. I don't have a similar Space Invaders wallpaper image, plus SI wasn't one of the titles included on the FB2, but I really like the SI cursors so I've included them as well. I have 4 .wav files to use for various Windows sounds (warning, error, exclamation, beep, etc.), plus two more for Start Up and Shut Down (I used the musical cues from Crystal Castles). Screen savers can be a touchy subject for work, because they are executable files that can be used to hide viruses and spyware. So what I do, is use the built-in Windows Slide Show screen saver, with the Combat or Space Invaders screen shot images, which simulates the Atari VCS color-cycling routine, which was I believe, the ORIGINAL screen saver! I'm particularly proud of my Wallpaper image I "Photoshopped" (PaintShop Pro, actually) a photo I took of my Heavy Sixer and FB2 on top of a screen image from a Combat "Tanks" game. Since the screen image was in GIF format, the image took on a dithered look that I think is actually an enhancement. The blue background on this Flashback 2 picture matches the background color for the standard Windows XP Blue scheme, so it blends nicely with the desktop. Enjoy... Atari2600Themes.zip 2600_ScrSvr_Images.zip SI_ScrSvr_Images.zip

I picked up the Senario 101 games plug-n-play at Walgreens and tried it out tonight. I agree that it's a pretty decent mix of games. It lists "Chess" but it's actually Othello/Reversi. However, the "Chinese Chess" game is a pretty good looking version of the actual game of Chinese Chess (Xiang Qi). I'm excited to find yet another computer opponent to crush me at this game.

Well, it looks like there is at least one request that the Discovery Channel Myth Busters take a look at this. It's not really their "kind" of myth to confirm or bust though, since they usually work the angle of "could it be done"... ...in this case, "Could earth-movers, dump trucks, and cement trucks bury millions of plastic game cartridges in the desert"? Well of course they could... ...the question is, "Did they"?

Asteroids, Space Invaders, Battle Zone, Q*Bert... These are classic games I played as a teen and young adult. I felt like I could never get to where I was really good at any of these, because to get in the amount of practice I would need would require an expenditure of more money than I had access to, or was willing to devote to that purpose. Now, years later, I have access to these classics again - through emulation, ports to home systems, and MAME. In theory, so it seems, if I were willing to devote enough time to any one of the above mentioned games, I should be able to get progressively better, shouldn't I? And yet, as I play them, I don't feel like my playing (...or the resulting score) is even remotely near the level of skill that I recall observing demonstrated by the arcade "Masters" of almost 30 years ago. Is that just the way it is? Is there just some kind of "twitch zen" that some players have and others don't, propelling them to the tops of the high score lists? Fortunately, I'm not a particularly competitive person, so I can still derive a great deal of pleasure from the game play itself, even with the knowledge that my skill would not impress anyone and would be laughed at by any group of serious gamers. Just wondering how many here have had a similar experience?

1977 - Atari VCS heavy sixer... ...Our family gift (Mom, Dad, myself and three brothers). One of my brothers and I "tested" it a few days before Christmas and then carefully re-packaged and re-wrapped it.

Why not follow a business model that actually resulted in success and create a Coleco Flashback 2? Plug 'n' play, built-in games, 40 bucks at Target...

Oh, and the 6502 and 6507 processors were made by MOS Technologies, not Motorola... ...but yeah, overall a good, positive article focusing on what a long and wonderful life the 2600 has enjoyed and how it has gone well beyond its original expectations...

Hey Stephena, I just wanted to chime in with a big THANK YOU for all of your hard work on this. I'm a programmer/analyst by profession, but I wouldn't even know where to start in taking up a project like this. I see by the notes in your profile that you started just wanting to be involved in maintaining the Linux side of things, but you've ended up supporting upgrades for all systems. Your work has resulted in my ability to enjoy the classic games of my youth on my computer, as well as to try out the awesome growing assortment of home brews and hacks. I have no criticisms and no requests. I just want to give you my thanks. THANK YOU !!! THANK YOU !!! THANK YOU !!!

First of all, my apologies if there is already a thread discussing this title. As you can imagine, trying a search for keywords "Wii Play" results in a thousand hits; none of which is specific to the game, "Wii Play". Our family, like most, bought this game as a means of gaining more value during the purchase of an additional controller... ...er, Wii-mote. The implication is that these are head-to-head games that you're going to want to have two controllers for, which is why the game is sold as a disc/Wii-mote combination. But the thing that surprised me, is that I find some of these games to be really fun to play alone, for an old-school, casual gamer like myself. My lifestyle just doesn't lend itself to the kinds of modern games that require a serious investment in time. But with Wii Play, if I find I have 15 minutes or so to kill, I can fire up the Wii, and have a quick game of billiards, or play the tank battle game that reminds me of a sort of combination of the original Atari 2600 Combat, and the tank battle game in Tron. I grew up with video games. I was 17 when our family celebrated Christmas 1977 with a Heavy Sixer. I've watched as video games made their way into people's homes, first as a "play for free" alternative to coin-operated games, then turning into time-consuming, isolating, alternate reality quests that were not as appealing to someone who has a pretty full life. Then, online gaming became the craze, but then again, the advantage went to those who had more time to put into playing... ...to paraphrase the line from South Park's "World of Warcraft" episode - "How do you kill something that has no life"? I felt like Nintendo really got it right when they introduced the "Get off the couch and play together as a family" Wii console. I'm happy to find that it can also provide some good fun for one without a huge investment in time. It ranks right up there with my Flashback 2...

...and don't even get me started on Iran (eye-ran? No, ee-ron) and Iraq (eye-rack? No, ee-rock). To be fair, it's hard to figure out how to pronounce made-up business words when there's so much inconsistency in the pronunciation of "real" English words. I'm sure many of you have already seen this English Pronunciation Poem...

So help me understand the process here... ...I've read that Space Invaders was the first commercial game that used a CPU instead of TTL. But SI didn't come out until '79 and I have several ROM images that I play on MAME that are earlier than that (...including some Cinematronics titles), and they reference early 8-bit CPU's (6800, 8080, Z80, and 6502). So did the engineers program these games using CPU-based prototype systems, and then re-engineer them to be manufactured using TTL? I seem to recall some folklore around Steve Jobs having a position at Atari doing this type of engineering, and being paid bonuses on reducing the number of chips used. (...an additional part of that folklore as I recall, is that he actually had the "Woz" doing the work, but he was taking the credit... ...and most of the money.) Is any of this correct? Or just video game Urban Legend?

Is it too early to start thinking/fantasizing about a Flashback 4? I vote for a unit that connects to your TV, but plays Arcade coin-op games by Atari and Kee Games from the birth of videogames to 1979. It was a time when there was a transition from TTL-based hardware to the first 8-bit microprocessors; the 6800, 6502, and the Z80. The screens were all in black and white and the game play was simplistic. I would like to see titles like Computer Space, Pong, Space Race, Tank, Drag Race, Sprint, Canyon Bomber, Crash 'n' Score, Destroyer, Dominoes, Gran Trak 10, Night Driver, Starship 1, Stunt Cycle, and Fire Truck. Perhaps I'm one of the few with such a sense of nostalgia and sentimentality for this period of videogaming, but I'll never know unless I ask, right? With the Flashback covering 7800 and 2600 titles, the Flashback 2 covering 2600 titles with perfect accuracy, and the FB3 planned to get into the realm of early Atari home computers, it seems to me that the early arcade titles remain as a significant part of Atari history to be preserved.

I have to say, that is truly awesome. Pre-microprocessor-based videogame technology.

I think it may be generational. I grew up with Atari. My kids grew up with Nintendo. Their complaint with Atari is that the games are too short. My complaint with Nintendo is that the games are too long. My son would rent a Nintendo game from Blockbuster on Friday, disappear for the entire weekend, then announce that he'd finished the game so we could return it on Monday. It reminds me of the World of Warcraft episode of Southpark, where they ponder the question, "How can you kill something that has no life"? One year, I spent a summer playing Half Life, for 30 minutes a day... ...in God mode... ...with a "walk thru" and it still took me three months to get to the end. I'm thrilled to have found Atari Age, and to have so much fun playing all the new homebrews that come out. If I play Nintendo at all, it's with an emulator so I can use the function keys to save program state when I come to tricky parts.

I'd like to add a second for Computer Space. Also, I've been trying out Night Driver on MAME lately and I'm fascinated by the dynamics of how the reflectors are bunched together in the distance, and then become spaced farther apart as you get closer to them. I've read that the idea for a "driving at night" game was born out of necessity of accommodating the limited graphics capabilities of the time - it seems like a very clever solution to me. I would hope that with its reputation as a "sprite-shifter", the 7800 graphics hardware would be able to move each of the reflectors in a way faithful to the arcade version. The gear shift aspect of the game could be accommodated with moving the joystick forward or back to "bump" up to a higher or lower gear like on a motorcycle.

For me, the "spirit" of the original Atari system, isn't in cartoon-type games, but in more abstract games like "surround". Video actions that didn't mimic things in the real world, but created entirely new things. I think if there's anything new I'd like to see in a 2600 game, it would be something like that. I noticed that one of the first homebrews was "Okie Dokie". It's an interesting kind of puzzle game rather than an action game. A couple of the action homebrews I like are "Elevators Amiss" and "Fall Down". Those games are a little more sophisticated and "cartoon-like" than the early 2K ROMs, but still original and fun.

The way I see it (...or choose to see it), the only chance you have to challenge your very first Atari VCS as the BEST GIFT EVER, is to compare it to a $40,000 luxury sedan. But seriously, who's getting a $40,000 luxury sedan as a gift? So to take it a step further, there is NOTHING that can possibly hope to compete with the experience of getting an Atari VCS for Christmas. Your only hope for consolation, is to attempt to evoke a similar emotion, by leasing a $40,000 luxury sedan for $349 a month (...after coming up with the $3,529 due at signing) as a "gift" to yourself. This commercial is of particular interest to me, because our family-gift for the Christmas of 1977 was a Heavy Sixer, shared between myself and my three brothers. Our parents ordered it through a catalog, and when it arrived, it was wrapped up and put under the tree. One of my brothers and I found ourselves home alone a few days before Christmas, and thought it would probably be a good idea to "test it", prior to the big moment of opening it on Christmas day... ...after all, we wouldn't want to spoil Christmas by finding out that moment that we had a faulty unit (...save that experience for a few years later, when families were opening up their Coleco Adam computers...). We carefully undid the tape on the wrapping paper, opened up the box, took out all of the components, set it up, and enjoyed a few rounds of Combat. Then we put everything back just as we'd found it, wrapped it back up, and no one was the wiser. I'm sorry, I don't think even driving a Lexus could compete with those memories...

I'm still not sure. The picture is supposed to be of his "set-up", not necessarily a picture of him engaged in a game session. It would make sense for them to "mock-up" the screens rather than just show them all black. It could just as easily be a hoax though. I think the more determining factor would be the accompanying story than the picture itself.