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trusty

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Posts posted by trusty

  1. Posted

    Back in the day, I was a loyal member of The Atari Club. I believe in the very first issue of Atari Age they talked about it. In the section, Game Grams, someone wrote in and said they had inadvertently found a 'dot' and wondered what to do with it. That's when the secret was revealed.

     

    I played Adventure non-stop for an entire weekend until I unlocked the secret. That single event was probably THE high-light of all my days gaming!

     

    SjN ;)

  2. Posted

    WOW!!!

    I LOVE IT CURT! I'm currently working with "the boss" to allow me to go ahead and place an order. I GOTTA have one of these!

     

    I've got a question though. Could you explain the 'Classic Arcade Sounds' feature that is mentioned on your page? I'm guessing that it cycles through all the games and plays the intros of each game. But I wasn't sure...

     

    Thanks for keep the dream alive!

    SjN

  3. Posted

    Random Terrain.... Paging Random Terrain...... :D

     

     

    Nah, ET doesn't suck. It's pretty fun, if you give it a chance. Not the best game out there, but certainly far from the worst.

     

     

    Absolutely 100% agree. ET gets it's flack from what I like to call 'The Wave'. One person said it sucked. Someone heard it sucked, so they said it sucked and so on, and so on... Is ET the best game in the world? Heck no. Is it the worst? Absolutely not. (Strawberry Shortcake anyone?)

     

    I actually bought it when it was first released and I still play it to this day. Yea, the holes piss me off but that's what they are there for. If the holes weren't there, complaints would start pouring in that the game was too easy! All in all, I never quite understood what all the ET bashing was all about.

     

    SjN

  4. Posted

    A buddy and I were talking the other day about Atari. The subject of its games came up and he asked me - Which game of Atari's would most likely be a smash hit if it were re-released today? After giving this some thought (a few days worth actually) I finally came up with an answer...

     

    WARLORDS

     

    If there was one game that I could think of Atari re-releasing, it would have to be Warlords. Warlords was hands down the most competitive multiplayer game that had been released. With the popularity of multiplayer games, it would be a SMASH HIT.

     

    Any other games that could enjoy a rebirth???

     

    SjN

  6. Posted

    Hehehehe.... This reminds me of when G4 raked the 2600 over the coals. Do these morons even know when the 2600 was at it's peak? Sheeesh! Even I would say that the NES all the way up to the XBOX completely blow the 2600 away graphics-wise.

     

    But what I would argue is that some 2600 games, even today, blow away XBOX games when it comes to gameplay. Too much attention is paid to graphics rather that building a truly fun game to play.

     

    For this reason, is still have a 2600 as a part of my entertainment center.

     

    SjN

  9. Posted

    Excellent find!

    I ordered mine a year or two ago and absolutely love it! Its amazing to see what all the gang does nowadays. Back in the day, these guys were superstars in the video game world. Its really cool to see that they are just your ordinary everyday people that "ahem" love to party and have a good time.

     

    Right now, I'm waiting to see what is going to happen with the 'Stella At 20' series that some kind folks here at Atari Age are working to get back into circulation. I've got my cash set aside to snag that DVD up!!!

     

    SjN

  10. Posted

    Well...

    Today's my birthday! My better half came down stairs with a present for me. Buried within the crumples of tissue paper was my very own Fossil Asteroids Watch!!

     

    I was so stoked! The packaging that the watch comes in is worth the price alone! Would it be better if you could actually play the game? Sure, but the coolness factor is undeniable. I'm loving this thing!

     

    My watch is 419 out of 5,000!

     

    SjN ;)

  11. Posted

    Looks GREAT!!

     

    The only thing that stuck out was when you went up to the Black Castle. You should enter the castle once you get through the door. The video showed you moving up through the castle until you got to the top of the screen.

     

    So, you gonna add the easter egg?

     

    Awesome job! I'll be keeping a close eye on this one!

     

    SjN

  13. Posted

    I will agree with the others, this has been discussed before. But I will disagree with people raking someone over the coals for posting a topic that has been discussed in the past.

     

    Personally, I think it's an important topic and each time I read one of these threads, I learn something new whether it's rumor, fact or whatever.

     

    With that being said -

     

    I'll say this AGAIN and then I will speak of it no more. I LIVED in Alamogordo from 1976 - 1984. No, I didn't work for Atari, No, I didn't participate in the burying of carts. But we did see the convoys of trucks heading down Whitesands Blvd that we could only assume were the gamers "Ark Of The Covenant". It's not every day that you see a convoy headed to the local dump over the railroad tracks as this rumor is making headlines. It was all over the news as well as the papers.

     

    Did I physically see the cache of carts? No. Do I believe there are Atari cartridges and other memorbilia buried there? Absolutely yes. The only convoys that ever rolled through town were usually military in nature. Holloman AFB is only about 7 miles away from downtown Alamogordo. So this was significant.

     

    I head back to Alamogordo from time to time to visit friends. It's about an 8 hour drive from where I live. The next time I'm there, I'll take pictures of where I remember the trucks going and I'll also see if my buds remember more than I do or if they know someone who worked at the dump at about that time.

     

    Just my two cents...

    'nuff said...

     

    SjN

  14. Posted

    I certainly can't assist with the editing process, but I'd like to offer any help I can.  If you'd like my Volume II, or if there's anything I can do financially to make it easier for you to undertake this project, definitely let me know.

     

    Well, the only costs I'd deal with would be purchasing a new BetaSP tape for the re-edited master, and then shipping all of the tapes back when finished. Plus a couple of blank DVDs. So that's pretty much negligible. Of course, the project still has to get the "go-ahead" for anything to happen. :)

    939588[/snapback]

     

    I too can certainly help. If you need anything like blank DVDs or other thing's, just hollar! I'll do whatever I can to help! If you need to contact me, just email me at [email protected]

     

    Of course, this is all depending whether a 'go-ahead' is given or not!

     

    Thanks for stepping up to the plate Nathan! And Mos, thank you for entertaining the idea. You'll soon see, there is a HUGE market for the material you have! I PROMISE.

     

    Trusty

  15. Posted

    I've been approached a few different times with the idea of putting in on VCD or dumping directly from VHS to DVD and I've always resisted.

     

    I feel that if it's going to go on DVD then it should be re-edited and something new added to it.

     

    I mean, in a couple years it will have been 10 years since I shot the original footage.

     

    From a business standpoint it's a waste of time for me to put this on DVD.  I didn't even sell out the original VHS tapes.  The amount of work it would take for me to put it on DVD would not be worth it.  I'd probably sell a dozen DVDs if that.

     

    I originally shot the footage with the intention of getting it on PBS or cable TV.  But that fell through.

     

    I also tried to license it for use in commercial emulation but it never happened.

     

    I think something like this is best discovered when channel surfing.  It's not something people go out of their way to see.  If you want to hear these stories, you can now go to a CG Expo and ask most of these people first-hand.

     

    So while the "event" aspect of the birthday cake et. al. at Nolan's place was special, the actual content of what they were talking about isn't that exclusive anymore.

     

    I've flirted with the idea of refreshing Stella at 20 by bookending it with interviews of homebrew programmers, to show the legacy.  But again, I don't know who would be interested.  The homebrew authors are all accessible online so you don't have to buy a DVD to hear what they have to say.

     

     

     

    I think I'll put this on Google Video eventually, since then Google handles the streaming.

    938126[/snapback]

     

    Whoa! We might be getting somewhere!

    Mos, with proper word of mouth advertising and posts regarding Stella At 20 on sites such as Digg & Slashdot as well as here on Atari Age and other classic gaming sites, I have no doubt that you would sell MUCH more than a dozen or so DVDs. There is definately a market for Atari lore. Just ask the development team for the FB2. Since the FB2 was announced, it has reverberated through the gaming community. Bottom line, the whole story behind the rise & fall of Atari and the trials & tribulations of creating the system & games is just too important to let sit shelved.

     

    It's actual history.

     

    You gotta think big. Your sitting on very valuable information. Let your mind wander. Imagine, selling your idea to Atari. Garnering a deal and having Stella At 20 packaged with every Atari Flashback 2!

     

    Those are the kinds of thoughts that make dreams into reality!

     

    By the way, you all have my vote on purchasing a Stella At 20 DVD. Hell, I'll even buy a few of them to give out to my friends. The more people that know about this, the more the demand will rise.

     

    Looking forward to it!

    Trusty

  16. Posted

    Okay...

    I can neither prove nor disprove the whole Atari Landfill legend as I didn't physically see the dumping of any carts. But I will say this.

     

    I lived in Alamogordo during "the operation". I remember the headlines and all of the talk around town. Alamogordo isn't a big place by any stretch of the imagination. News got around pretty easily. Word was that convoys of trucks made their way to the landfill that morning. Also, the landfill isn't 100 or so miles out of town. It is right across the railroad tracks just west of Whitesands Blvd. Trust me, I know I used to play there as a kid.

     

    All I know is that after this happened, we weren't allowed anywhere near the landfill anymore. Although it was illegal to be messing around out there, it was never really enforced strictly. Our days of building forts and finding a bunch of cool crap to drag home without getting caught were over. Something happened out there on that day. Was it the dumping of Atari carts? Who knows. But I'm inclined to believe that that is exactly what went down.

     

    Call me gullible.

    Trusty :roll:

  17. Posted

    One of my favorite tricks was to walk around the arcade dragging your feet on the carpet. Once good and 'charged', you could touch the coin slot with a quarter and it would spark you a free credit!!

     

    It didn't work with alot of the coin ops, but when it did, LOOK OUT FREE GAMING!!

     

    Those were the days...

    Trusty

  18. Posted

    I'd love to get the Stella at 20 set, but it'd be the next best thing to impossible to find.  I wonder if it would be possible to obtain permission to produce it on DVD?  It wouldn't be difficult to remaster it to DVD and create a nice interactive menu for it.  But who owns the rights?

    937965[/snapback]

    I'd imagine that Glenn Saunders / Cyberpunks still owns the rights, but I got the impression that "Stella at 20" didn't sell nearly as well as "Once Upon Atari" on VHS (I hope I'm wrong about that), so they might have concluded that there isn't enough demand to make a DVD release profitable. I'll tell you something, though: I'd scoop up two DVD copies in a minute if it is ever released in that format, especially if there are some special features (along the lines of remarks/interviews that were cut, etc).

    937999[/snapback]

     

    I'm inclined to agree with you. Stella at 20 most likely didn't sell as well due to many factors. One being advertising. Scott West Productions was able to get the word out about their DVD. I personally discovered this little gem in a Maximum PC magazine (If I recall correctly). I have since posted it over on digg.com to help in spreading the word about Once Upon Atari.

     

    For what it's worth, I just fired off an email to Scott West Productions to see what their perspective on the whole 'Stella at 20' situation is. Who knows, maybe Scott West Productions can turn some screws and make Stella at 20 a DVD reality.

     

    It's worth a shot if anything. Maybe if we all turn up some heat, we can get the gears rolling again. Here's some email addresses. (Haven't tested Randy's & Glenn's yet)

     

    Randy Crihfield (Hozer Videogames) - [email protected]

    Glenn Saunders (Cyberpunks) - [email protected]

    Scott West Productions (Once Upon Atari) - http://www.onceuponatari.com/contact.html

     

    I'll let you know what Scott West Productions comes back with

    Trusty

  19. Posted

    Yes, Missle Command is easily one of my favorite carts of all time (As my avatar suggests). Fulop truly did a genious job on this game.

     

    Now that you mention in, I too enjoy the Atari 2600 version of MC more versus the Arcade version!

     

    Gotta run, I'm going to go get my Missle Command on!

     

    SjN

  21. Posted

    When thinking about Adventure, there is one very important thing you have to do first. Take ALL of the other Adventure/RPG style games you know of today (Baldur's gate, Neverwinter Nights, Dungeon Seige etc...etc...etc...) and put them out of your mind. Now go back to Atari Adventure. This game suddenly becomes one of the most fascinating games ever conceived.

     

    You see, Back in 1978 when Adventure was first publshed, there was no such thing as an adventure/RPG video game. Wait a minute, I take that back. I seem to remember a game for the TI called Venture or something like that. But it was no where near on par with Atari Adventure. This game in my opinion, is single handedly responsible for online RPG style games as we know them today. That makes for quite the fascinating game and the reason I still, to this day place Adventure on the top of my list.

     

    Finally, we come to sentimental reasons. I remember as a kid reading Issue number 1 of the Atari Club's magazine Atari Age. In the section titled "Game Grams", The very first mention of a 'dot' was leaked to the Atari masses. Thus begun an Adventure within Adventure. Hours were spent combing through the catacombs and and mazes, not to play the game to it's logical conclusion but complete an Indiana Jones style quest for an object that was priceless to gamers. The infamous dot. Needless to say I found it!! And unlocked the Secret of Adventure all on my own.

     

    Adventure is a great game once you get past the "Game theory", graphics and overall gaming mechanics that we have today...

     

    SjN

  22. Posted

    Keep the faith, I did not. My original Atari (I had the Sears Tele-Game) broke long ago. I ended up getting a Coleco Gemini to continue my love of Atari. It wasn't my choice to get the Gemini. I was at the mercy of my parents on that matter.

     

    When things slowed down in the Atari arena, I went the Sega Master System route and then on to the Genesis. Shortly after that I was all about PCs.

     

    Then one day I went back to my parents house to collect some of my things that I had left in their attic. As I was going through it, I came across all of my issues of Atari Age. (I own the complete set ;) ). This sparked my Atari addiction once again. I went to a local used electronics dealer in town and found a complete Atari VCS. I snatched the whole thing up for around 25 bucks!

     

    One area where I did remain faithful was with my cartridges. I still own all of my cartridges along with the boxes they came in as well as the manuals, catalogs and flyers. As a kid, I used to tack the boxes on my bedroom wall. I had an entire wall covered with Atari boxes. I'd love to do that again but my wife will have no part of that!

     

    To this day, I have my Atari VCS connected to my 52 inch bigscreen and I game quite regularly. One thing I still need to do is score some of these homebrews. I have yet to play any of them!

     

    Thanks for the great question as it really got me thinking about the glory days of Atari.

     

    SjN

  23. Posted

    Thats what I thought!

    There was no way this DVD couldn't have been mentioned. When I searched for it, I entered my 'Once Upon Atari' query into the search field on the main forum page. I came up with tons of hits but none reverencing what I was searching for.

     

    Sure would love to know if Scott West Productions is planning more of these. After all, he calls it a documentary "Series".

     

    On a side note, does anyone know if those guy occasionally hang out over here at Atari Age?

     

    SjN

  24. Posted

    Okay,

    After multiple searches within the Atari Age Forums, I have so far failed to turn up any hits on Howard Scott Warshaw's DVD- Once Upon Atari.

     

    I'm having a hard time believing this has never been discussed before.

     

    Well, in the rare event it truly hasn't been discussed, Once Upon Atari is an Uncensored story of what really happened behind the scenes at Atari. If you grew up during the Atari phenomenon, then you remember the insane times we had with our precious 2600's. Heck, even if you weren't around during Atari's heyday, it's still AMAZING to witness the birth, life and death(?) of the worlds most FAMOUS console gaming system.

     

    The DVD is crammed with interviews & stories from the actual game designers, engineers & programmers that were there. Enjoy stories from Rob Fulop (Missle Command / Night Driver) Howard Scott Warshaw (Yar's Revenge / E.T) Nolan Bushnell himself, Todd Frye (Pac-Man) and the list goes on and on....

     

    If you haven't heard of this priceless gem then you have GOT to go to Scott West productions and snag a copy of Once Upon Atari! You will NOT regret it!

     

    Here's a Link - Once Upon Atari

     

    SjN

  25. Posted

    Great Post Raiu and I agree. Except for your landfill theory. Here's why -

    First off, the cartridges were transported from El Paso, Texas not California.

     

    - Rumor has it the carts were deposited into two holes thus dividing them up.

    - Steamrollers were used to crush the carts. Compacting = more carts /cubic foot.

    - Snopes.com has verified this as true (For what it's worth).

    - I personally lived in Alamogordo during the 'operation'. It was all over the news.

     

    SjN

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