Gemintronic

I knew that TVs are only partially off so it can listen for the signal from your remote. Well, my 360 still has enough juice while "off" to power USB devices! I even used a USB battery recharger with no problems.. well, except that the darn thing is using up that much juice while off. My solution was to use those new-fangled surge protectors with master control outlets. Meaning, when my TV turns off the surge protector knows to REALLY shut the juice to everything. An example of such a surge protector is the APC™ Power-Saving Essential SurgeArrest Surge Protector.

Sounds like a complicated issue. I remember seeing a list of rogue anti-spyware companies and that was VERY helpful. Maybe a "Search Engine" where you type in the name of a suspect company and get results? @rmaerz: Sorry, looks like you'll have to click over to the Colecovision section. I wouldn't want to give these guys more free advertising as OldSchoolRetroGamer says.

I had real problems with 4k so this is amazing to me! I personally like games that feature scrolling. Shows that the 2600 can have some of the niceties the NES enjoyed. The B dying "animation" by falling off screen is a nice touch too. As a side thank for sharing source. I know it's common on AtariAge but not so much outside this community. Allows me to appreciate AND learn from your work

I think yer talkin' about Blaster the Autobot right? Soundwave was the Decepticon Walkman. RAMPAGE EJECT!! Anyway, I thank the OP. Good movie games are true rarities and I would have missed this one without his post.

I personally chose not to allow Sony to take away features that I bought. Firmware 3.21 is the offending update. If you own a slim PS3 then you don't have to worry - no Other OS in the first place. Firmware 2.50 disabled Java Homebrew so don't update if you dabble with BD-J games. The problem now is they've taken the PSP route and forced you to upgrade in order to play the newest games. Red Dead Redemption on up will kill your Other OS. Generally, for me, the added features haven't had an impact. I updated previously because, hey! new features are better than none. Still, what scares me is that occasionally these updates brick your PS3. Doesn't happen often, but I don't want to be the "lucky" one.

@Beoran: Just remember Red Dead Redemption was the first game to force the Other OS crippling "update" The nice thing is us consumers who won't pay $60+ dollars on a new release are still safe in the bargain bins.

Well, if I can play House of the Dead in HD then the light bulb is okay. Sega clued in to this gadget?

Mulling over possibilities for an Atari 2600 RPG. I've got a basic data structure for a password system thought out. I just need to choose between styles of play. * Phantasy Star Battle layout? * Final Fantasy 1 Battle layout? * Dragon Quest battle Layout? In Dragon Quest you never see the Player sprite so they could be used elsewhere. However, seeing the character on screen like Phantasy Star and Final Fantasy does seem to connect the game player with their character better. I can have the characters exit "stage left" after their turn and a new character moves onto the screen for his. The other possibility is to create the first Nethack clone. Hmmmn..

The one constructive thing Hyper_Eye mentioned was the ignore button which I will find and use in cases like this. Didn't mean to have an off-topic point-by-point debate with random strangers. It's funny he mentioned calling a Mod as it was tempting. The first clue to stop was: clearly other members knew that if someone didn't use restraint a pointless off-topic debate would ensue. the second clue to stop was: This is a que to swallow your pride and accept the other person not only doesn't want to debate but realizes he irritated you. Again, a clue to stop. If I was a politician and "not sorry" and playing favorites then take a step back and post elsewhere. Notice no one else thought it necessary to continue off-topic despite my opinions. If you had stepped back from the keyboard maybe you would have gotten that I too have had modern consoles fry and wished to commiserate with the poster on his loss. You say expect a response but in AtariAge I expect a constructive, positive response. If you can't do that don't. You can't win a debate with a fool. Save your breath for someone you find worthy. In the meantime lets stop hijacking this poor mans thread. Lets end this with a happy note - his PS3 works.

I see some excitement going on in the Colecovision section over companies that sell copyright infringing titles and homebrew without permission. Instead of getting all excited and depressed and, well, whatever, we should make a list of known offenders and just don't purchase from them. Pin the topic. Double check when the companies start to comply and remove them.

@Hyper_Eye: The polite thing to do is accept an apology. On a more constructive note I'm glad the reflow worked! Yeah sure. You didn't touch a nerve with me. I'm simply pointing out your desire to condemn one product against the failure of one you prefer. You don't use tacky names in reference to the one you are slamming and say you have no preference and were making a general point. "Someone posting their PS3 died? I better respond and note that my PS3 is still working and I have had two Xbox 360's, which I will call XBunk *snicker*, fry." Maybe you aren't a fanboy but you clearly favor one over the other and felt inclined to go there despite the OP not mentioning any desire to play 360 instead, that they even own a 360, or intend to purchase one as a replacement for their broken PS3. Not that it wasn't inevitable but you happened to snag the prize.

Is there a naughty list that one can refer to for companies that violate copyright laws and cheat homebrewers?

If constants get stable one could do: const won_game = 0 const has_chalice = 1 dim boolean = a if boolean{has_chalice} gosub way_sandwhich Sadly I still don't have any really good reproducable patterns for my constant use crashes.

Er, and what's the problem? We all know copyrighted works are copyrighted works. Like Mickey Mouse, everything has at least 70 years of protection. We can't mess with Nintendos IP. We can't pirate their games or infringe on their copyrights. Just don't buy the guys product and stay clean kids. Buy a Retrode and legally rip your ROMs. 'Nuff said.

The second Candybar cart shipped out to the PANIC guys who own the box art and trademark for CandyBar. The co-founder actually wanted to pay for his cart but that's just silly. All I'd like is A. A post on their blog with a shout-out to AtariAge and B. find out where they printed those awesome Atari 2600 cart boxes. Managed to stir up jwierer (developer of VisualbB) and Grand Master Random Terrain about a more evolved music composer/notation module. Mario Paint is the dream but I'll take tones dragged-and-dropped on a timeline or MIDI file to Batari commands any day.

Thanks for the very in-depth report! That gave me everything I need to know. Nothing wrong with your english either I couldn't tell English wasn't your native tongue, er, pen?

Same here. Local store wants $100 dollars. Not gonna pay that much for a game where death comes from 5 foot drops.

Indenture for the Atari 2600 is the most awesome full circle of gaming possible!! Adventure 2600 -> Indenture DOS -> Indenture+ for 2600. It's like finding out Triple Cheeseburgers and Mountain Dew cures cancer! EPIC WIN! NOT JUST an e1 CAN: e1WILL!!!!!!!!!

I think it is funny that someone posted about their PS3 dying and the first response is someone trashing the 360, calling it names, and making sure to note their PS3 is working. It's okay! He wasn't dogging the PS3. He wanted to play it and he is sad it broke! I also didn't see anything in the OP in reference to the 360. To the OP, sorry your console broke. No matter the console it is a major disappointment when it fails. Is this the console PS3 vs. 360 flame wars I've heard about? I'm sorry if I touched a nerve. I think BOTH suck compared to my older consoles. No Sony Fanboy or Micro-softie here! My point was this generation consoles seem to overheat and die. I'm not thrilled to hear a fellow AtariAge member having his PS3 die as it doesn't bode well for me either. Again, didn't want to start a flame war. I realized it's a touchy subject and still posted my experiences anyway. Sorry.

@Random Terrian: How many cats and plungers should I order for accurate sound effects? http://www.rockstargames.com/grandtheftauto3/petsOvernight/ Thanks guys for even considering my idea. I know we can squeeze better music out of the Batari users with a little more visual music composer.

Yes I am. Enemies will have to be players 0 and 1 drawn in different positions and collisions will have to be determined by coordinates. And of course drawing the players in two different locations will cause them to flicker with the screen. You might try using a technique I used for my CandyBar game. I used playfield pixels for the pink color in the Chefs face. Maybe you could use that for Mario and or the enemies.. just move the playfield pixels with the sprites. Tradeoffs: Unless you increase the resolution of the playfield the movement is choppy since you have to move the whole sprite a playfield pixel at a time. Also, you're always "colliding" with the playfield pixels coloring your sprite so hardware collision is out.

Thanks for the response! Yeah, I know nothing about sheet music either. Notes on a bar is good enough for me. Here is a VERY rough idea of what I'm talking about:

LOL. See, the problem with Random Terrain having an awesome sense of humor is that I've got a vivid imagination. I actually started to think about the equipment and files needed to achieve cat-in-toilet -> WAV2MIDI and AutoHotKey for conversion into Batari commands. Padded gloves and a good microphone are a must. Well, if status quo is deemed "good enough" I think I'll suggest a new item in the settings tab for an external music editor. Less work for jwierer. If you can't please them all give them a button for their own tool.

The music rocks I must agree! I occasionally crank the beta up just to listen to the music. Er, that is until the long duration high notes wear down my patience. All I'm saying is that, despite some harsh limitations graphically and musically, this is a great achievement so far

Absolutely. For me, music composition is visual as well as aural. The notes have different shapes related to duration. Higher or lower notes have varying height values. Seeing the patterns in note combinations is critical to composing a tune. A virtual keyboard ala VisualbB is an important first step. The next logical leap (for me) would be a music bar system. Anywhoo, I think I'll try learning enough about Excel to convert notes from a .CSV file. Pending jwierer getting excited about coding the music system further I think a more realistic route is to: A. Find the best "Mario Paint" like MIDI composer and B. Find a good conversion route between the MIDI format and Batari BASIC. Any more feedback would be great. Panky the Panda got me excited over what the 2600 can do musically! http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/145482-panky-the-panda-new-wip-homebrew/