tyranthraxus

It will probably all go to the dump. Stuff like a record or baseball collection might be known to be valuable because 'dad obsessed over it' but unless the kids know a rare early Beatles pressing from a cheap 1980s reprint how can they be expected to filter through a large collection where most of the stuff was just common crap obtain for completeness sake? You need to make a detailed Will to identify the important stuff and where they might get good value for it. And name names as to who will get what if you think they will care about it. Otherwise it will just be destined to thrifts and the dumpster. My dad had the misfortune of being the oldest son, so my last surviving grandparent name him executor of the estate. It took nearly a year to deal with 80 years of stuff from selling the house & furniture, trying to be fair to other siblings and dealing with the boxes and boxes of books and knick knack 'collectibles' like her prized silver spoon collections (aka overpriced, worthless silver plate crap). A lot of trouble & time would have been saved if she had actually created a will and named names instead of 'it all goes to the kids'. Its likely that pop culture collectibles, will plunge in value as the collectors get older. There will still be a market for stuff but what will still be valuable to collectors far removed from the nostalgia is anyone's guess.

While Microsoft gets continual flack for the problems created by this backward compatibility it is really the key to their success. Game players are more tolerant of abandoning a system as the majority get quickly bored with the old games. People who bought IBM PCs in the 1980s did so for their business and had a lot of data they wanted to transfer easily (and not to mention keep using some key software). My mother used to work for the provincial government and I remember as late as 1999 her complaining about this ancient DOS software they were using for certain databases. The whole office was using Windows by that point but the government had paid a lot of money to have a custom database created in the early 80s because of the expense of moving that information (and buying new software) they kept using it for nearly 2 decades before finally paying for the switch.

Its a really good platformer. I presently own and recommend the Colecovision version but I first played it on the Commodore 64.

Seven Cities of Gold had a good and very faithful VGA updating in the early 90s. Its ripe for another update. I'd also like to see another Star Flight game. Of course the problem is that EA published all these games and didn't actually develop them. God knows what the legal quagmire over the rights to any of the early EA (or EOA as I called them as a kid) classics are these days. Even the classic Wasteland can't get a proper sequel!

You should check out the boards at lemon64 , not as busy but still a good little community to score a working Commodore. Unless you live in a small apartment there is no reason not to have both! What is it about $50 for a setup?

Too bad this magazine is impossible to find around here since they switched publishers. I still remember getting Might & Magic 1 for my birthday.

I never found the joysticks all that bad with Pac-man it was more of an issue with games like Pitfall 2. Making Pac-man a 5200 exclusive might've done the trick. The 5200 needed more exclusives to motivate the installed 2600 base to switch over.

The C=64 power supply was utter shite, the thing just overheats and dies. The Adam was rushed to the market very buggy. Apparently the later editions of the computer had solved many of the issues but the damage was done... The strange thing with the Adam design is that the printer is required because it contains the power supply. There is a power supply hack that can bypass the useless printer so you can just play the games. For all its faults there is still an annual Adamcon for enthusists. Not bad for a computer discontinued in 1985.

What is the source that the FAQ uses for that 'fact'? Are these comparisons from Atari & Coleco sales information? Or from reports from retailers? Using eBay as a guage, it seems there is more Coleco stuff on the market (144 vs 228 for CV). While that doesn't prove that Atari's 1984 sales were better than Coleco's it does suggest that they sold more volume over their brief life span. But the real reason Atari scrapped the 5200 is much more simple. It was canned because they were losing hundreds of millions of dollars.

Ahh Star Control 2, you are so right! The shame of forgetting that one! Scorched Earth is another great choice, really simple game but a lot of fun to play with friends. While not in my top 5, I think Warlords 1 & 2 were great, light strategy games.

I did many great sessions with Civ3 but like all the rest eventually lost interest. I played Civ4 last year and its great, its worth a purchase. When I got it, I got sucked back into the old Civ mentality and loved the familiar feel but with new challenges/differences. I played it so much that first week that I realized that something had to give. So I deleted it from the hard drive! Too damn addicting and I have too much to do these days!

Nice Mercenaries collector box and original Mechwarrior. I didn't know that they made a collector box for that game. Other than that swank watch, does it have any other interesting stuff with it?

Fallout (1997) - terrific post-nuke RPG game with a great skill system and story. The game a had a lot of comedy within it and a terrific 1950s inspired 'look'. I also remember the manual being quite well made as a mock "Survival Guide". Wing Commander (1992) - I remember this being a game that sold a lot of 386s. Besides great sound, graphics and game play, it was all the little things that put it over the top. The voice addition was a thrill back then, and I loved the shipboard activity. Duke Nukem 3D (1996) - Its hard to pick a single FPS but this would be the favorite of mine. Playing it was a lot like playing one of those tasteless 80s action movies complete with one liners! Civilization II (1996) - Improved on everything from the original, making it a more complex game but not going to far in micro-managing. Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries (1996) - This spin-off was a nice improvement of the original MW2 engine. I was more of a fan of the original MW which had you working as a mercenary. This game returned to that with a vaster selection of Mechs than the previous two game while maintaining all the action of the series. Honarable Mention: Empire Deluxe (1993) - spent a ton of time doing to hot seat multiplayer on this one but just not as memorable compared to the others in terms of wow factor.

What does that LED Space Invaders sell for these days?

The pic wasn't working for me but a quick google search will give you THE source of Tolkien games: http://www.lysator.liu.se/tolkien-games/ The sealed games might get some attention by manic collectors on eBay, you never know how it can go. But ordinarily I'm not aware of any of the Tolkien games being very valuable on the 64. I'm looking for The Hobbit for my collection. I feel its an under $10 game.

Found this completed auction for an Apple II game lot, buried in it was a holy grail of Ultima collections: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=130188784449 I would love to know what this would have got if it was advertised correctly on eBay. Not a bad price for a box of dirty old disks!

Very interesting item. I did a google search for this and the only thing that came up was a link to this discussion. What I like about it the most is that it uses the expansion port. One of the few instances of an interesting addition to a system with an expansion port. I'm going to flip through my meager comic collection for any ads about this. This item really seems like a one of a kind device.

Its a bit frustrating how eBay limits how far back you can search completed auctions. Yet old auctions that I either bid on or had in my watch list can be checked long after the disappear from the 'search completed auctions' list. Is there a setting or a trick to search eBay's older archives?

If there is ever another crash it will never see the same effects on the retail level as in 83-84. Stocks will tumble and companies might fold but games will continue to be bought and sold. '83 was a young immature industry. Now 25 years later everyone knows that games are here to stay, its the companies that sell that them that are temporary.

http://www.coleconation.com/

I like the 7800 more for the story behind its cancelation and then launch. If you like 8-bit ports of early 80s classics it does have fun versions of Ms. Pacman, Ballblazer, Commando and Joust. The Joust port I am particularly fond of on this system. Most of the other arcade ports are decent: Robotron, Dig Dug, Asteroids & Centipede all get the job done as far as I'm concerned but there is a certain blandness to the system overall due to its tiny library. While graphically inferior the broader selection and good sound effects of the 5200 have it beat. But if I had to lay some hate down it would be on the poor old Jaguar. Its a pretty sad-sack system. Yeah Tempest 2000 is freaking wicked but beyond that I was struggling to find anything interesting. At least the 7800 has a library that is mainly old arcade classics for a nostalgia kick instead of unknown games and belated sequels.

While I'm having a tough time thinking of any game that has affected how people view the world, games are an excellent reflection of the world and society we live in. Good art says something about the times they were made in and how that applies to today. Games like Missile Command, Raid Over Moscow & Red Storm Rising are great examples of 1980s fears of nuclear war and the 'Red Menace'. Could they have been made in any other era than the Reagan years? The progression of violence in games from robotic, to cartoonish to the gore fests of today could keep an academic busy.

Why is that when these failed projects happen the creator just can't be bothered to reply to e-mails or at least make an announcement of delay/cancelation?

I have that one. Its more of a coffee table book than a book on arcades and I think that is what I like about it. Lots of great photos in it and it has several good essays to accompany the pictures. Anyone have any other recommended arcade books? I've been thinking if getting this book: http://www.amazon.com/ARCADE-FEVER-Guide-G...d_bxgy_b_text_b but it looks like a bit of a mixed bag as far as content goes.

Yes. Art is supposed to be entertaining and make you think. Both apply to video games. But VG are more mired in commercialism and low brow art than even film. VG developers love to equate what they do is like modern filmmaking to try and claim some of the prestige we give that medium but I would argue that while they use similar mediums to view the product they couldn't be more different in their actual design. Its unfortunate that companies like EA and Activision which once tried to put a human face to the games now make them seem more and more the product of automatons. I would consider the obsolete interactive fiction that Infocom made famous as a unique art form. The early arcade games are art in terms of elegance and simplicity of controls & content. Modern games are just as art worthy but there is just so much copy-cat work and drivel that its harder to identify.