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Tubular Gearhead

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Posts posted by Tubular Gearhead

  1. Posted

    I was just playing Yars' Revenge last night and noticed that my cartridge appears to have another label below the front and end label. the cartridge is the Atari Corp. red label variety, NTSC, and is in otherwise very good condition. It looks like the labels underneath the red ones (front and end) are black. It is the standard "late model" cart w/o the spring mechanism and with the holes under the label.

     

    Does anyone have any ideas why my cart seems to be a retread? :-D :ponder:

     

    I can try and post a picture or two tonight if anyone is interested...

  7. Posted

    This might be stating the obvious but, why don't people just ask questions actually in the auction, i think ebay does have this facility and ask them to email you an actual picture (not the one in the auction) of the cartridge version they ACTUALLY have

     

    If they (the seller) still insists in blatant lying and defrauding people (i.e claiming it is the rarer version) just sue them for miss selling the item and b, sue them for miss representing the item

     

    It does not surprise me that ebay will allow sellers to knowingly miss lead bidders or miss sell their wares

     

    That's exactly what I did (not sue, but open an Ebay case), and it worked for me. :thumbsup:

  9. Posted

    Just an update to my earlier post about the green Polaris stock photo...

     

    Last night I got an email from Ebay saying they would decide on my case since the seller still hadn't replied after one week of an open case. Within 20 minutes, I got another email saying that my entire purchase price + shipping had been refunded to my PayPal account (I get to keep the blue labeled Polaris they shipped). :thumbsup:

     

    I was pretty impressed with Ebay- I was shocked to get a full refund- I just wanted the seller to contact me and figure something out. Maybe they were ashamed that they lied in the first place about the picture being the actual item (I had asked them before I bid). :roll:

     

    Anyway, pretty cool to have my money back.

  10. Posted · Edited by Tubular Gearhead

    You're right, it's not any different than Supercharger. It divides the userbase between people who bought the console, and people who bought the console AND the additional hardware. If the hardware were included in the cartridge, then you'd be increasing the userbase.

     

    I understand what you guys are saying, and it is a valid point. But overall, I personally have always wanted to see larger, more elaborate games that push the 7800- especially an adventure one (Midnight Mutants only goes so far...). Back in the day, Nintendo, with their very deep pockets and resources was able to put more memory and processors on the cartridges like we are talking about, and make the 7800 look pretty bad (and the NES really good- unfair advantage). Atari's own effort with ram and pokey saw limited use, and was too little too late to show people what the 7800 could really do if given the same attention as some other company's games. I really want to see what Maria can do!

     

    To put all the extra ram, improved sound and whatever else in a large portion of 7800 homebrew games today is just not as economically feasible as the the 7800XM solution. I am sure there will still be many homebrewers who write games for the stock 7800, but I am looking forward to larger games on the XM, and I still hope someone will do a 7800 Adventure!!! :lust:

  11. Posted · Edited by Tubular Gearhead

    I have a case open right now on Ebay with a seller that won't respond to my emails. I won an auction for the green label Polaris after confirming with the seller that the picture was of the actual item they would ship (great condition from the picture). They shipped me a dirty, worn blue label Polaris. :x

     

    5 days after alerting Ebay- still no response from seller and they have other items for sale :roll:

     

    I don't like sellers who use stock photos...

    • Like 1

  12. Posted

    I have bought protective cases from a seller on Ebay and I am really satisfied with them. The protective poly cases fit most Atari boxes perfectly!!!

     

    For reference, type this number into Ebay to see what I mean...

     

    ID # 330387683276

     

    These are the ones I use- they are about $1 each, but you can get a great deal if you buy in bulk. ;)

  13. Posted

    These days, the tiny market for 7800 games mean the cartridges themselves have to be as close to free as possible. The 7800XM provides a way to accomplish that. It allows homebrew games to offer the same hardware that, historically, would have been found within the cartridge itself (and the YM chip is a bonus), but users only have to buy it once. If the hardware enhancements were still buried in the carts, users would end up paying over and over again for the extra RAM and POKEY chips. This way, they only have to buy the enhancements once.

     

    +1 Well said.

  14. Posted · Edited by Tubular Gearhead

    I don't understand all the 7800XM killjoys. There is a long history of video game peripherals meant to expand a system that lead to games that are not playable (or playable with all features) w/o the expansion. I presume we all know this. Supercharger, Intellivoice, the Voice, Adam, 32X, Jag CD, and I am sure many, many others I am forgetting about. Not to mention, Curt and team decided to go very conservative and include only features that were possible back in the time after the 7800 was released. I don't know all the details, but from what I have read there was even debate as to whether or not to include the Yamaha sound chip- but since it was around in 80's arcade machines- it got the go ahead. The 7800XM even uses the casing as designed for expanding the 7800 (high scores or keyboard? whatever...) way back then. Seriously. I mean, how much more Atari and period specific can it be?? :roll:

     

    As said already, you don't have to buy it if you really don't want to support it- but let's not discourage game development for it... :D

    • Like 1

  15. Posted

    But massive memory or a (co)processor are different. Those became available and affordable just now. They are like putting a new chassis and engine to a old Ford-T model.

     

    I would recommend reading up on the exact specifications of the 7800XM and the direction Curt and the designers have taken. Everything was available back then, including 128k. That is all I will say.

     

    This topic has been addressed over and over in the 7800 threads and it is best taken there. Once again, sorry for the highjack :)

  16. Posted

    Where "it" is "Not a 7800". Hooray for intentionally fragmenting the player and programmer base, I guess.

     

    Seriously guys, how is this any different than the Supercharger for the 2600 when that came out? Back then, you want to play "The Official Frogger" or other supercharger games, buy the Supercharger. Same principal. The 7800XM will only increase the possibilities available for the 7800. And just like the example above, the games can be made larger and more elaborate...

     

    I see all of this exposure as only increasing the fan base, not dividing it.

    • Like 1

  17. Posted · Edited by Tubular Gearhead

    Yes, and that's why I don't quite get why, in 2010, there is such a buzz around 7800 expansion module and (my god) new software written for it instead of focusing on original hardware...

     

    The question "why" has been answered in the many threads about the 7800 expansion module. This project addresses many of the shortcommings and unrealised dreams of the 7800 using old original drawings and ideas that could/should have happened back in 1984 under different management, budget, etc...

     

    When one really gets into all the history and promiss of the 7800, you can really see how this new project is very much in alignment with what could have been. And now we will have it!

     

    Oops, sorry to highjack this post- I guess we should get back on track...

    • Like 2

  19. Posted · Edited by Tubular Gearhead

    Looking at some of the sellers recent buys I come to the conclusion that they are either a teenage girl or a very strange teenage boy.

     

     

    Well, the seller did choose the name "limpwrist86"... :D :ponder: :roll:

     

    BTW: When the auction was active, I very politely notified the seller that it was a CV cart twice, and that it was unfair to the potential buyer to list it as a 2600 cart. They never responded.

     

    I wonder if someone on here bought it?

  20. Posted

    "am I the only one still waiting for my multicart??"

     

    No, you are not the only one waiting, I ordered a Pac-Man cartridge several months ago.

     

    @Fredric: Hang in there. Sometimes it is hard to see your way out of depression when it hits real hard. Just try and think about things the way you want them to be and know that more often than not the hard times will pass.

     

    You do amazing work with the Channel F, and we are all thankful for your efforts.

     

    I hope you feel better soon...

  22. Posted · Edited by Tubular Gearhead

    @ Algus: Agreed, Atari and Coleco did do a good job of making the cartridges they produced for the same game look different, as in the Donkey Kong example. Another example would be Galaxian by Atarisoft. With some of the 3rd party games however, sometimes you need to be an expert on every detail of the label, direction of text, etc. when the seller has only one picture or so. I am refering specifically to some of the more rare games by Parker Brothers, Xonox, Spectravision, etc. This is all part of the hobby, and I think most of us enjoy the details.

     

    The real problem I have is with sellers saying the game has been "tested" as a 2600 cart. How did they test it???? Don't they remember which machine it was so they don't list "Rare Star Wars the Arcade Game for Atari 2600" and you receive the Colecovision version? :sad: And like Rik, I have also alerted the seller, but in many cases they leave the description as is (many are thankful and change it).

     

    In a nutshell- Yes, only buy from Ebay if there is a good picture and the seller confirms it is of the actual item and you know the differences (the point of my post).

     

    Rant over. :)

    • Like 2

  23. Posted

    Ok, so this has happened more than once on ebay and it is starting to bother me. I see a rarity 5, 6, 7, etc. game and the seller is listing it as a "tested rare Atari 2600 game" and you look carfully at the picture and it is a Colecovision cartridge. I send an email to the seller just to double check and alert them that there is a difference, I explain how to tell, and I get no response. Here is a recent example i.d.# 320618517627. If you look at the picture it sure does look like Q*bert's Qubes for the Colecovision, right? Unfortunately I am very familiar with what the Colecovision one looks like because I bought it as a "tested rare Atari 2600 game" a few months back (congratulating myself on the great deal I got). In that case the seller was very cool and when I told him what I received he refunded half my money (I kept the game) :| . I am seeing this all the time on ebay. Has anyone else ever purchased a "rare 2600 game" only to get a Colecovision cart?

    • Like 1

  24. Posted · Edited by Tubular Gearhead

    I see no reason to not believe that Best developed this modification from something that was done years ago. There are several different ways to build a simple video amplification circuit for the 7800; I developed mine prior to reading about the "easier video mod". One of my goals was to have crystal clear video in both 2600 and 7800 modes so the solution I came up with was to get rid of the entire rf circuit, separate the chroma signals (stock they are blended and the result is a compromise in color and image quality) and use the old channel select switch to choose between 2600 and 7800 modes. I was able to tailor the modification to have bright, non washed out colors in both 2600 and 7800 modes with individual brightness pots for each (the stock luma ladder values have been optimized for the one stage amplification circuit).

     

    Anyway, the point is there are many ways to get composite video out of the 7800, and I think it is very possible that some engineer modified the console Best found. :)

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