x=usr(1536)

That man appears to be suffering from a particularly painful shart.

Adding to Half-Saint's comments above: The only dedicated 2600 I've owned (I'm not counting the 7800 currently in storage) was an Irish-market, Irish-manufacture 2600jr. It was used in Ireland on a PAL television, and only had RF output - no SCART, S-Video, or composite. As far as I'm aware, this was the standard model for PAL markets. I believe (though I could be mistaken) that there were SECAM 2600jr models made with SCART output. However, my understanding is that those models were specific to the French market, where SECAM was the TV standard and SCART connections were required for A/V devices designed to connect to a television. SECAM and PAL are not directly-compatible, though they are close in spec - a SECAM signal will generally display on a PAL TV, though likely with no colour and distorted sound. As this relates to the original conversation: coax (as mentioned previously) is still used in Europe for free-to-air television. The European antenna connector (aka the 'Type F', IIRC) connector is a push-on, not screw-on, device as it is in the US. It is not the same form factor as an RCA connector, and it's difficult to confuse (or mistakenly connect) the two. Having said that: Half-Saint, I suspect that your 2600 is having a hardware issue. If your TV is still capable of tuning free-to-air broadcasts, it should be able to tune into the 2600's signal. My guess is that the RF modulator is shot, but first check that the TV can handle analogue RF signals; some newer ones may not be able to. Given that it looks to be in sync with the 2600, I'm guessing that it can - but Internet diagnoses can sometimes be wrong, especially now that I live in NTSC-land

True, but the main issue that I remember was with how the video was compressed on some titles. What I mean by this was that compression appeared selective in the sense that (in some cases) areas within the same frame that were considered to be of interest received less compression while ones that were not received more. The Naked Gun was where I really picked up on this - I owned it on (original) VHS at the same time as we had it on CD-i. I recall that in one scene, the characters in the middle of the frame (which would have been the camera's focal point) were pin-sharp, but everything around them was horribly pixellated. On VHS, it just looked like a VHS-quality frame. I'm willing to admit that my memory of a system we had over 25 years ago may be flaky... But that particular disappointment sticks in my mind. At the time, we had two TVs in the house: a 13" and a 27". The CD-i looked about the same on both, only smaller or larger, respectively. It was better than VHS, but not terribly dramatically so. Having said that, neither TV had SCART; both were being fed by RF. The difference was noticeable, but perhaps not as much as if it had been using a better input method.

That looks really, Really, REALLY close to (if not the same as) the font used in Preppie!. .

Hey now... I use cheats in MAME all the time. Don't lump me in with That Guy.

This gels with my memory of how Philips pitched the CD-i very heavily as an edutainment device. The adverts seemed to always take great pains to point out the two things that the CD-i was intended for: somehow making you smarter through the miracle of CD multimedia, and the supplementary miracle of playing back movies stored on a digital disc. Games always seemed to be mentioned briefly and in passing. Granted, that is how I recall it being marketed in Europe; I really don't know how it was advertised in the US or elsewhere.

These are good points, and worth keeping in mind. It really isn't a bad system, just one that wasn't the greatest. Then again (and this is in fairness to the CD-i), it was never meant to be in heavy competition with home computers or consoles of the time - it was really more of a consumer electronics device. Granted, the 'consumer electronics' description could also be applied to home computers or consoles, but I'm classing the CD-i more in the category of VCRs or DVD players when I say that.

Honestly, I'd pick the Jag over the CD-i, and ultimately did. This isn't to say that you shouldn't get one - believe me, I completely understand acquiring devices that weren't successful simply because they're interesting - but I'd like to share some of my perspective on the system. The one that we had was on loan to us from Philips; my father was working on the video production side for some of the games. I was actually pretty excited when he said that they were sending one to us: there had been a lot of buzz around the platform, but I hadn't yet seen one in action and thought it could be a really great replacement for VHS. When it arrived, there were some games packed in (the only one I remember is 7th Guest, which was still in production at that stage; the discs were hand-labelled) and three movies, the only two of which I can recall were Top Gun and The Naked Gun. Note that this was a non-retail unit, and we were required to (and eventually did) return to Philips. All it really ended up doing was becoming one of the most forgettable systems I ever used. Other than what I've described in this thread, once the initial novelty value had worn off there just wasn't much there in the way of substance. It literally left next to no impression on me. As something of a stepping stone from tape to DVD, it's something of a footnote, but not the kind of footnote that is likely to make you say, "hmm, interesting" after reading it.

For Atari 8-bit music, I'm surprised nobody's mentioned The Last V8 yet. Always thought that apart from being a very well-done chiptune, it fit well with the scenario that the game was set in. Oh, and the first Spy vs. Spy game. Something about that one really got into my head when I was a kid, and I occasionally find myself humming bits of it. I don't consider in-game music to necessarily be a must-have, but for some games it definitely is. Gyruss and Moon Patrol were already mentioned, and they're also titles where the music adds to the gameplay.

That's the one I was thinking of. Thank you!

The CD-i that we had was a no-SCART model, but with the MPEG decoder card. Having said that, it was a PAL model being used in a PAL region; I have no idea if you'd run into problems running a machine designed for 50Hz power cycles on 60Hz. Probably not, but I'm just not qualified to comment on that one. The MPEG card is no great shakes, by the way. It works fine, but video playback makes it very clear where compression losses were considered acceptable. Not advising against getting one, necessarily, but there are also other things you could spend the money on. Probably only worth it if you're trying to build out a complete CD-i collection.

Watching the video, this really is shaping up nicely. You've put some excellent work into the game. One thing I noticed: the video shows it playing on video only, arcade AI. Which arcade game (and, if possible, version) is the AI based on? Grouping the ghosts seems very easy, which is why I'm curious. Used to own a Baby Pac-Man. Love the game, but it was much harder than those options allowed!

This is ringing bells in my brain, though I can't quite put my finger on why. But I know I've run across this before as well. What were the circumstances in which it was behaving strangely, and what was the strange behaviour? Any chance of tracking down that listing you mentioned?

Hi! For anyone unfamiliar with my position over the past several months regarding the Ataribox or AtariVCS, I'm going to open this post by stating that while I currently am (and have consistently been) a wholly-admitted skeptic regarding Atari SA's ability to bring this device to market, my intent behind posting here is to open up the floor to points in favour of the device that might, at the very least, give me additional food for thought regarding my own opinions concerning it. Quantitative arguments ('It's better at X than Y is because...') generally work better for me than qualitative ones ('I like how it looks'). Having said that, I have always been warm to the aesthetics of the device, if not necessarily the execution behind its development and marketing. If you just want one because it looks cool, has a Fuji on it, or the wireframe interface is neat, that's fine and I get it - but it's easier for me to understand someone else's position when I can evaluate reasonably definite aspects of their argument against ideas that I might hold. I'm not asking for proselytysing, evangelism, or a defence of your opinions - those are your own and as far as I'm concerned you're entitled to hold them without justification, much as I am mine. But I truly would like to hear ideas that may bring me to considerations that I had not previously taken into account.

This, right here, is the reason for the existence of the last 275 or so pages of this thread. If Atari SA had really wanted to make a product that wasn't going to be ridiculed by respected tech news outlets before there was even a working prototype on display, they could have based a good chunk of their game plan on the criticism and analysis offered early on in this thread. But they didn't. I'm actually OK with this, though, because I tend to read The Register pretty much daily, and it livens up my reading when I see that they're commenting on the AtariVCSbox on days when I've read through all of the recent BOFH episodes.

Colour me impressed. This has always been one of my favourite games in the Pac-Man series, and it's great to see it getting a home port. Kudos!

True, but Elio has at least managed to do one thing that AtariVCSboxCorp, Inc. hasn't - build working prototypes (note the plural).

This is an astounding release. Thank you, and I'm really looking forward to playing it!

They did it the same way that Horst Breistoffer smuggled people out of East Germany in one.

Bonus points for recognising the Dale, a car with (for anyone unfamiliar with it) a bizarre history behind the company that made it. Nice to run across someone else who knew what it was. And as for Elio... I was really hoping they'd be able to pull it off. Not enough to give them $1000 to see if it happened, but enough that I figured one could make for a decent commuter / canyon carver. Much like the Volkswagen GX3, it's not at all likely to ever happen. Also, tacos.

Preface: my experience with this was with both Irish- and UK-market TVs. I haven't lived in either country in 20 years, and while Irish-market items were generally the same as UK-market items, there were occasional minor differences. I'm also getting older and my memory isn't the greatest, so take this for what it's worth VHF was less common on Irish- and UK-market sets, but gradually became more common from the mid-'80s onwards. However, I don't recall ever buying or seeing a device designed to connect to a TV (computer, VCR, or DVD player) via RF in that part of the world that didn't use UHF for its output. IIRC, my 800, 800XL, various STs, and 2600jr. all output on UHF 36. One exception I will add to that: VideoSenders. These were essentially designed to take the RF output from a device and broadcast it to a TV within a couple of hundred foot radius; the couple of those that I had would let you change the broadcast frequency (not channel; spent a lot of time fiddling to get them on-channel) via a couple of screwdriver-adjustable pots. At least one of them had a UHF / VHF switch and separate pot for the band you were setting it to transmit on.

Send me a PM. I was a latecomer to the 2600 (didn't get one until around 1994/1995), but started out with an Odyssey2 in 1979.

There is a problem with the term 'hater': it's a blanket generalization, and it's one that makes it so very simple to overlook the nuances of why someone may not care for (or about) a particular <insert noun here>. I'll openly admit that I don't hate the reanimated marketing exercise of a corpse that is Atari SA. But I certainly do have utter contempt for them, and that contempt is rooted in their actions. There is no hatred; to hate them would be pointless. 'Hater' is a term that only works for people who view others in and as stereotypes. Stereotype someone, and it's a lot easier to reject them, their values, and points of view out of hand. No reasoned argument or consideration of their perspective is necessary, because you just can't talk to 'their kind'.

Well, I for one am glad to see that there's finally a thread to discuss - in complete and total seriousness, and without any taco references whatsoever - the AtariVCSbox. That never happened in the first 75-plus pages of this thread, where we did nothing but mercilessly and needlessly ridicule it from the outset. The complete lack of critical thinking applied in that time to the brilliance of a machine that doesn't exist in a production-ready form, is expected to be funded by its potential buyers. and that has no developers behind it is just a crime - a total crime, I say! Finally, there is a place for free-thinking individuals who haven't come under the control of Big Taco to congregate and speak in nothing but hushed, reverent tones for what will undoubtedly be the next revolution in things you can plug into your TV that suck down power for no terribly justifiable reason, even when switched off. Assuming that they're actually built, that is. Shut up and take my money, AtariVCSboxCorp, Inc. Even if you're a shower of hucksters with a track record of raging failure behind you, I'll still blindly hope that one day you'll bring us that unicorn that farts kittens, rainbows, and money.

This post had me wondering about something that had crossed my mind years ago, back when I still had my 800: were any cards ever released that replaced the OS card or CPU board? I believe that there were a couple of different revisions of the 10K ROM, but that's not really the sort of thing that I'm thinking of - something more along the lines of a completely different OS, or a Z80 card for running CP/M, etc. would be closer. These are items I don't remember ever seeing or hearing about, so if anyone knows of anything it'd be interesting to hear about them.