almightytodd

Here's an idea I haven't heard kicked around... ...now that pretty much everyone has made the transition to HD TVs, how about a plug-n-play with an HDMI connector for playing vintage arcade vector-graphics games? I'm thinking Battle Zone, Tail Gunner, Star Castle, Asteroids (of course), Lunar Lander, Rip-off, and of course, Tempest. A digitized version of a vector screen on an HDTV isn't exactly like the real thing, but there are a lot of us who would like to share the experience with our kids. I used to love playing "Space Wars" with my brother on a machine at a local college. All of those different options to try for strong-gravity, no gravity, reverse-gravity, no-drift... ...it was awesome.

Impressive, yes... ...it's no "Space Rocks", to be sure... But I think Space Rocks gets some kind of processing assist from a Harmony or Melody board with an ARM processor on it... Here's the Space Dual menu: ...and here's the game-play: I think when discussions regarding pushing to the graphical limitations of the 2600 were held here before, the consensus (...not counting Demos) was that "Solaris" was at the top (...or that may have included story and game-play as well... ...I'm not sure). But since we're talking hacks/homebrews here, I would have to point out the Dintar816 Pac Man as very graphically impressive, along with Joe Musashi's Donkey Kong VCS, and pretty much everything done by SpiceWare.

Apologies to those who have read this sentiment from me posted before: The Flashback that I'd really like to see would be a sub-one-hundred-dollar recreation of the original "insanely great" Macintosh computer. The computer for the rest of us... ...for the rest of us... ...those of us who weren't so fortunate in 1984 to have a spare $2,500 lying around ($5,681 in today's dollars!) to spend on the new computer that was going to change the world. I can almost experience it here, but how great would it be to have an actual Apple-blessed product with a few real, licensed applications? Of course I know it will never happen... ...but it's a nice dream...

You're absolutely correct. They mention that E.T. carts made up less than 10% of the carts they found and that many of the titles buried there were top-sellers.

I just finished watching "Game Over" on Netflix streaming. What a great ride! The summary at the end of the film really connected with me - that for many people, Atari was their introduction to computers and the new technologies that surround us today in our everyday lives. That is certainly true for me. As soon as I finish making this post, I'm going to pay my gas and electric bill online, then update my shopping list and forward it to my smart phone before making a quick trip to the grocery store! I'm also glad to see HSW getting the recognition and accolades he so richly deserves from peers and industry professionals who "get it", and see beyond the myth of the "worst Atari game ever made".

Bob and Curt; you guys have done so much for AtariAge and the Classic Video Game community. It is so sad (and just plain wrong) that there has been ANYONE who has given you grief about anything. You two (...and FlashJazzCat, for that matter) are the very epitome of this Wiktionary definition: Proverb no good deed goes unpunished Beneficial actions often go unappreciated or are met with outright hostility. If they are appreciated, they often lead to additional requests.

...and 'Merica!

I had a $30 Amazon gift code from Christmas so I pulled the trigger on an Inty Flashback. I was debating between it and the ColecoVision, but I keep reading bad things about the controllers and game selection in this thread. Besides, I'm pretty happy with emulation for the ColecoVision but I haven't really taken the time to get a good Intellivision setup going or collect ROMs.

I use mine with Windows XP as an emulation platform. It runs MAME, Stella, Altirra, ProSystem, NES, SNES, Intellivision, and ColecoVision emulators reasonably well. I have it connected to my Sony CRT TV so I can get the full "time-travel" effect. I also have it set up to multi-boot into Bodhi or Lubuntu Linux, but with only 256 Mb RAM it doesn't run those very well. Additionally, I can access my office computers (CORE i5 PCs) via Citrix and it actually runs FASTER than running a Citrix connection from my CORE DUO machine with Windows 7.

Intel has announced plans to release a quad-core Atom-based computer-on-a-stick later this year. For less than a hundred bucks, it will come pre-loaded with Linux. For about sixty bucks more it will have more RAM, more SSD memory, and will be pre-loaded with Windows 8.1. This thread seemed to reach the conclusion that the most pain-free approach to building an emulation PC should use some version of Windows. The new device, dubbed the "Compute Stick" seems to imply a more "ready to go" device than what we've seen with Beagle bone, Raspberry Pi, and the host of various Android plug-and-play sticks. It will include Bluetooth and WiFi, connect directly to your high def display via HDMI, and is powered (or charged?) through a USB port. I have been a big supporter of the idea of repurposing off-lease desktop computers as a way of getting inexpensive Windows computing power and supporting sustainability for aging technology, but if this product lives up to its promises, it could be a game changer...

BennyBingo with the first post two years in-a-row! Well done!

While I would hope for success for any video-game/nostalgia related food service operation, I can't help be reminded of yet another of Nolan Bushnell's failed enterprises.

Best wishes to you and your family for the new year.

I will agree with you that the CV Pac Man Collection is a more accurate reproduction of the arcade game play. If I recall, the author had access to the disassembled ROM, and the arcade version used the same Z80 CPU that is found in the ColecoVision. However, to fit the graphics into a landscape orientation NTSC signal, some compromises were made. PacPC and MsPacPC have the capability of running full-screen in Portrait orientation (...I apologize for the poor quality of the photo - it is a screenshot of an MP4 video). I haven't played the Namco Museum versions to be able to comment on those. If the question were limited to NTSC signal home versions then I would agree that the CV Pac Man Collection is best.

Sorry guys, PacPC rules. It's in portrait orientation and the sounds are killer. The only thing at home closer to the real thing would be MAME.

I find this discussion interesting and I'd like to weigh in. I was an enlisted U.S. Navy sailor from 1985 to 1993, and a struggling young father of three. There was certainly no place in my budget for a home computer system that would have cost the equivalent of $2,000 of today's dollars; which includes the ST, Amiga, anything IBM and anything Apple. My younger brother, on the other hand, was single, still living with our parents, and working at a Federated Group retail store right around the time that Atari was working on a deal to acquire Federated. So he was able to get an Amiga 1000 system that he used mostly for gaming. He got me an Atari 7800 a few years later. He also added to our family's collection of 2600 games, most of which ended up with me (along with our family's original 1977 heavy sixer). My feelings about all of these events were clouded by my perceptions of video game and microcomputer technology. I was a teenager during the 1970s, so I lived during the Atari Age - I played "Pong" and "Computer Space" on the original hardware when they were new. As stated before, our family had an original 1977 heavy sixer - it was our family Christmas present. Everybody knew the best coin-op games were Atari... ...and for some reason "Kee games" seemed to be pretty good too. In 1977 three major microcomputers became available; the TRS-80, the Commodore PET, and the Apple II. The TRS and PET each came with a monochrome video monitor. The Apple did not, but it featured a color display output and it could be hooked up to your television set. Still, it cost twice as much as the TRS-80. Anyway, to me the Radio Shack and Commodore computers seemed more like "real" computers to me, because their monochrome video screens looked more like the 80-column video text character display terminals I'd seen used in time-sharing systems. When the Atari 8-bit systems came out they seemed more like Apple computers to me; but better in every way (...same CPU, more sounds, more colors, more memory, lower price). And then the IBM PC came out. The thing is, you didn't just "buy" an IBM computer; you bought components and built a "system". I don't remember the exact prices but as I recall it went something like this... "Oh, you want an IBM PC? Sure it's $1,200... that buys you desktop unit, motherboard, and 16-bit CPU. Oh wait, you want to power it up? You'll need a power supply! That's 300 bucks! Now you'll need some RAM, 50 bucks for every 8k...". The same pattern follows when you add a floppy drive, monitor, keyboard... ...was PC-DOS a separate charge? It wouldn't surprise me. Anyway, by the time you ended up with an actual "system" that could actually boot-up and run some software, you'd be in the neighborhood of $4,000. Commodore tried to compete with this with their "CBM" "Commodore Business Machines" line and I found myself kind of rooting for them. These were "real" computers with 80-column monitors and disk drives. They were outside the price range of something for the home, but still offered small businesses an option to the IBM solution for substantially less money. But it seemed that this advantage was overcome by the saying that "nobody ever got fired for buying IBM". Besides that, within a few years the PC clones started showing up with software compatibility with the IBM machines; offering all of the advantages of IBM without the high cost. Meanwhile Apple upped the ante by producing the Lisa, with the Motorola 68000 chip, the Graphical User Interface and the concept of the Office Suite. But the $10,000 price tag was over-the-top. The Macintosh followed, at a price that was at least "reasonable", but if you'll recall, the initial 1984 256K Macintosh couldn't really do anything. Which brings us to the Amiga and Atari ST. The Amiga seemed more focused to me. It wasn't "trying" to be an IBM or a Mac. It was it's own thing. It was a machine that spurred the imagination. I was a computer to make using a computer "fun" again. In that way, it had more of the "spirit" of the Atari 8-bit line; although it was more than game-console with a keyboard. The ST on the other hand, seemed rushed (because it was). It could emulate (sort of) an IBM PC or a Macintosh. I recall a Computer Chronicles episode where an add-on circuit board was demonstrated that would allow it to run Macintosh software slightly faster than a real Macintosh... ...provided the Macintosh software was written correctly. But you had to decide if you wanted a Mac-like monochrome display, or if you wanted color. If you decided on color, then you were stuck with a lower resolution desktop that seemed more like an evolution of the Atari 8-bit line. I also realize that the situation for all of these machines was different outside of the U.S. It seems to me that the issue of cost for both IBM and Apple was magnified outside of the states, making both the Atari and Commodore machines more accessible. One aspect that I frequently find absent from discussions like this one, is the role that the used computer market played in the disappearance of Commodore and Atari computers. My first "real" computer (I had a Timex/Sinclair) was a 486 PC clone hand-me-down from work, when all of their PCs were upgraded to Pentiums. I'm sure that a lot of other out-dated PC ATs, 386s, and 486SXs had a similar fate. These machines needed to go somewhere. A used PC-compatible from work had two other advantages over a shiny-new 68000-based computer; I already new how to use it, and I could probably get some software for it. In the days before the Internet, Moore's Law really mattered for businesses and they had to upgrade all of their equipment every three years in order to even run the latest software. I'm sure I'm not the only person who experienced this kind of circumstance.

If consumers would all stay home on Thanksgiving, retailers would give up on these "extended Black Friday" strategies and give their employees a much-deserved day off prior to the start of the Holiday shopping rush. However, many consumers feel they have a competitive advantage over other shoppers they know will be supportive of retail workers. It sounds a little bit to me like the Prisoner's Dilemma...

That's a great story... ...I think we've all had similar experiences.

I'm perfectly satisfied with 100% emulation. That being said, if you have the space, the patience, and the money to enjoy the real thing on real hardware, that's great! Enjoy!

Back in the day, for the first VCS releases anyway, I always thought the color cycling was a concession to Mom and Dad who might have thought twice about hooking up this new gizmo to their expensive color TV set after seeing how the screens of the coin-op arcade games were all burned-in (...and they were all black & white in those days). I don't know if anyone has done any experimenting to see just how long an Atari game would need to be left on to create burn-in on a color CRT screen, but the color cycling offered that extra layer of comfort and the assurance that the engineers at Atari were showing consideration for their customers.

With my Atari Flashback 2 and 4, I find myself doing the same thing... ...but with a PC running Stella hooked up to a CRT TV... ...gotta have my Space Rocks, Donkey Kong VCS, and Pacman 2600

Has Anita Sarkeesian weighed in on this yet?

Saw these in Walmart yesterday: \ It seemed like an odd place to display them. I was looking for them along the toy aisle where they had a plug-and-play Walking Dead shooter. I just happened to go to the section of the store for computer peripherals to see what is new with WiFi routers (I have a 7-year-old LinkSys), and there they were with the keyboards and gaming head-sets.

Very cool...