Cap5750

Hehe...boy does that bring back memories. I remember getting out of school (college) for summer vacation and I couldn't wait to get home. But after a few weeks when I had found a job which was normally some kind of factory work (lived in a small town) and as time wore on, I began counting the days until I could leave to go back to school. Don't get me wrong. I love my mother and I still had a lot of friends, but it just wasn't the same. And to the original poster...when I made my comment about the 'spam' I didn't mean to take anything away from you on your 1000th customer. I don't think I'd ever get that many. I have a hard time selling stuff even if it's old...which is why I've bough about 3 or 4 2600s, a couple of 7800s and over 200 games just this week by itself! 'Course now that my collection is beginning to grow, maybe I'll be on here more selling/trading my dupes to fill in gaps. Cap

I know I don't officially win, but I won so I'm the winner of the won object only I didn't win it because to win you have to hit the reserve to win which I didn't do so even though I won I didn't win. Got it? Cap

On the search results screen, after searching for Taz, you can click on a link to the manual. However, if you go to the Tax title page, the manual scan is not available. Thanks, Cap

This was sort of being talked about in another thread, but the title had nothing to do with it, so to be fair to everyone, I've put it here..in it's own thread. Anyway, I'll try to keep this someone short. I've expressed interest in writing a program similar to that of Movie Collector (Available at www.collectorz.com) in which you could add games to your collection via the use of an online query (using the atariage database). In doing so, the program would download all images for you along with other information. Someone (sorry I forget the full name, but I think it might have been Emperor Jess) mentioned that a program called Cart Commander already did much of this. So this afternoon, I went to the website, downloaded it, and checked it out. Brian, the author, has done some fine work (though I found a couple of bugs which I e-mailed him about already), but the program doesn't do everything I've been thinking about. I've also mentioned to him what I was doing so who knows where this will all lead. Currently, I'm going to move forward with the project. If nothing else, I'm doing it for my own benefit. If I happen to finish the project (or at least get it close), I would certainly allow it to be made available or if Brian were to want to incorporate my ideas into his program, I'd go for that too. My only thing is I'm really only concerned about Atari right now (and to be further specific the 2600 and 7800). Some thoughts on how this will work and some of the features: 1) Data will be stored in an MS Access database. I know I know...M$!, but trust me when I say you WOULD NOT need MS Access to use the program. 2) Ability to add games via an online query to atariage.com. Data pulled would be: A) Title B) Company C) Label D) Rarity E) Region F) TV G) Cart images H) Manual images I) Box images J) Screen shot(s) K) Model Number L) Year of release M) Media Type N) Number of Players O) Controller P) Staff Q) Game Notes R) Did you know? S) Tips, Cheats, Easter Eggs U) Related Links V) Appears in Catalogs W) Related Titles Some of this might be a bit tricky to "parse" out, but I'm sure it can be done. All images are actually downloaded and stored on your HD (So you can even view them offline). Currently, I've already put together some code that, given the URL of a box scan page, will pull out the front and back images (if applicable) and store them. Thanks for listening, Cap. PS: Hey..wow! I'm a space invader guy already!

Well it's just really odd that this has come up. Guess what? This evening, I'm looking at going, going gone for Atari systems and see a CX2600 with 42 games. I check it out. The person leading the bidding is well below what I'd pay and it hasn't reached the reserve yet. I win the auction with my bid, but it still doesn't reach the reserve. So, I e-mail the guy and ask him if he'll sell it to me anyway. At the same time, he e-mails me asking if I'll take it for more then what I bid. So then I had to e-mail back in which I told him, I'd go as high as my max bid (which was only $5 less then what he wanted anyway). So far...no answer. Oh well....who needs another atari 2600 anyway? Even though this model is the same one like I GAVE AWAY when I was probably around 14 because most of the switches wouldn't work anymore.

Albert, No problem. As for the label thing...shortly after I posted that message, I found a URL in another thread where a guy has what he calls...something like the huge list of label variations. Anyway, thank goodness I go back to work next week. Somehow, I've managed to get this bug and I've now bought 3 more 2600's, 2 7800's, 15 joysticks, 1 set of paddles, 1 star raider touchpad and about 166 games. That about doubles my game collection and way more then doubles my system collection. I don't think my wallet can handle much more...must stay away! And finally...sorry for rambling....but in the atari 2600 forum someone mentioned how we keep track of our games. I mentioned I liked a program (for my DVDs) called movie collector. In it, you can add a movie by doing an online query from imdb.com. I indicated at some point, I might be interested in doing something similar for Atari stuff. Well, as of right now, the bug is strong, and that's the tinkering I've been doing with VB. In about an hour I have it to where if I search for a game, it'll give me the various URLs (box scans, cart scans etc) from the web page. Also, it'll detect the box shot page and (haven't finished this part yet -- Currently it only parses out the image URLs) download the images to your hard drive (which could then be displayed in the database offline). Do you guys have a problem with me doing this? I wouldn't think so (it's just like doing it over the internet and causes no more traffic then normal), but it's only fair that I ask. If not, what kind of interest do you think there'd be in such a program? Hopefully, I can keep my interest up long enough to finish it of course. Take a look at http://collectorz.com/fsmovie_features.php to see what I'm thinking of... Cap

Okay, I'm really really tired...it's 4:17 AM and I'm still up so forgive me if this doesn't make sense.... However, I was sitting here tinkering with one of my favorite prototyping tools (gulp..VB!) with a show called Pulse on a channel called G4. Now we just got this channel this week and I already like it a lot. Remember the show starcade? It's on there. Anyway, something was said or I heard something that made me turn around (I think it may have been a mention of classic gaming). Now I don't know who it was, but they were talking with a bunch of different people at CGE and I could have sworn at the bottom of the person's picture they were talking to as I turned around I saw the words atariage! Can anyone confirm this is what I saw? I sat and watched the remainder of the piece. Looks like I really missed something and will have to plan on attending sometime. Cap

Phil, Just make sure if I'm a customer, you never contact me. I hate when I buy something from someone and then they think I'll want to buy something else. Of course you can really start a ruckus if you contact the people through e-bay! This actually happened to me today. I received an e-mail from some guy (who I didn't even buy from) who said he saw I was looking to purchase atari hardware and that if I wanted, I could have him put me on his list. How dumb. He got reported to [email protected] pretty fast though. Just my opnion...others may relish the idea....be carefull. Cap

Looks like it's split. Hehe... Of course, you can look at this: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=1373442743 Darth Vader? See the buy it now price? Hmm...don't think I'll be bidding on that anytime soon. Cap

Lonesome, Here's a pic of the hardware that I got..er..I'm getting. According to the description and the pic, there is a power adapter. Cap

Currently I use excel to keep track of my stuff. I'm a programmer by trade though so eventually, if my interest stays high enough, I'd like to write my own. It would be great if it could be like Movie Collector where you can do an online query. That is, I could type in combat and tell it to use the Atari Age database. It would then download all of the information (Title, Year, Description, scans, etc) into the database on the users machine. They could also keep track (optionally) of where they got the game and how much they paid for it. Thanks, Cap

I don't sell anything on ebay, but I wouldn't think it would matter, but I'd stick with the reserve. Take my perspective as a buyer, if I see something with a reserve and it hasn't been met yet I may or may not bid on it depending on if I really want it or not. Still, I might be encouraged to place a bid even if it is below the reserve. Why? I've seen a few times where the auction ended, the buyer and seller got together and worked out a deal. On the other hand, there could be an item that has a high minimum bid. It might actually scare me away. Versus if there isn't a high minimum, I might bid on it and then keep bidding in the heat of competition. Some things I'm sure you know, but that I consider more important are, 1) Include a picture...as clear as you can get it. If I can't see what it looks like, I'll never place a bid. 2) Include a listing of the game(s). If you do have a picture, but I can't make out what the name of the games are (especially if there a lot) and there isn't a description, again, I won't bid. 3) Don't try to pull wool. Okay, I'm not the most serious collector, but I do know that Combat isn't ultra rare! In the last two days alone, I've seen sellers trying to tell me that Ms. Pacman, Empire Strikes Back, Frogger and Combat (yes Combat) are all extremely rare and hard-to-find carts. Funny...in my small collection, I don't have a Ms. Pacman...but I do own 2 ESB, 4 Froggers and 2 Combats. If I see something like that and a if someone is bidding a lot of money, I'll usually e-mail them and tell them that they can get the cart a lot cheaper. 4) Keep the price real Ok...maybe it's because I'm not a serious collector, but I'm not paying as much for an Atari 2600 game as I would an XBOX, PS2, or PC game. Now if it is one of the extremely rare carts and I wanted it, I'd do it. But I'm not about to give you $5 for pacman or $12 for E.T. My general rule of thumb is no more then $2...again unless it is extremely rare...but since I'm not a serious collector, I've never had to worry about that. Cap

Just wanted to thank the folks who handle this website. Now granted I've had my Atari (or at least some version of it...I gave away a 6-switch woodgrain system many moons ago) for ages so I know carts like Space Invaders, Pacman, and Combat are not going to be really rare. But where the site seems to shine (many places, but one in particular that I'm happy with) is the rarity guides. So far, my collection is farely thin...you know back in the days when you're growing up, you don't have a lot of money to fork out 20+ per game. I do remember the later stages before Atari went away buying up quite a few for .50 apiece at Oddlots and other various thriftstores. Even still, my collection is only around 200 carts. But today was a good day when I picked up 2 2600s, 1 7800, 85 2600 games and 5 7800 games. I already have the 7800 games in my collection so I'll probably use them for trade or something, but I'm hoping the 2600 games will begin to fill in some gaps. So far, after going thru about 90% of my collection (not counting what I got today), here are the highlights.... 2600 - Spacemaster X-7 rarity 6 is the rarest cart I have. I got this in a box of games from a co-worker (who knows his atari stuff but his wife wanted it out of the house. Originally I was storing it for them while they moved into a new house. In the end, I gave them a gen 1 DVD-Rom drive for the whole shebang). Starpath Supercharger with 4 games and (though not great condition) the boxes the came in. I haven't checked the rarity on this stuff yet, but I know from other sites that usually people will give just about anything to get one. I also got this from the co-worker I mentioned before in the same deal. 7800 - Ballblazer with the red end label and rarity 5 is the highlight here. I have 35 of the 68 7800 (listed) carts including two (Scrapyard Dog and Ninja Golf) which are still in the original box. So not the best collection in the world, but not a bad start I don't think. Oh and a couple of oddities. I did notice in the rarity guide that it lists Missile Command (upper case end label) which I have 3 of. But I also have one that shows the end label in lower case which isn't in the rarity guide. I'm presuming it's still the same? And finally, this was just an odd thing to me that I just happened to notice. I have two Donkey Kongs (Coleco version). Nothing special right? Well, on the backside, one says 'Made In USA' and the other says 'Made In Hongkong'. Doesn't look like it effects its rarity, but I just found it rather amusing. Thanks for listening! Oh...and if anyone has any dupe 2600/7800 carts they want to sell cheap-cheap-cheap...lemme know. Cap

lonesome: I don't know the exact shape of it, but I may have one (I just picked up 2 2600s, 1 7800 and 90 games today on ebay for a fairly decent price). I was initally thinking of trading it for carts that I need in my collection (with the 90 games today my total collection only amasses about 200 or so ). Keep me posted in this thread and when I receive the other one we can discuss what to do Cap