timdu

FYI

We have selected a winner for the label contest. The winner is Brad Nuce (a.k.a. ManCaveArcade). He will receive a free game cartridge of ALIEN GREED 4! -Tim

The winning artwork for the label for AG4 has been chosen! It was submitted by Brad Nuce (a.k.a. ManCaveArcade). He will receive a free game cartridge of ALIEN GREED 4! Brad is also creating the box for Alien Greed 4. With Brad working on both the label and the box, the whole package is destined to be awesome! Brad designed a special box for me for MEAN SANTA and I think it his work is fantastic. I am happy to have Brad contributing to this project. More details soon! Tim

March 30, 2012 - UPDATE: Production has begun on making the 50 cartridges. There is still time to enter your artwork for the label contest, too... There are 8 carts of the boxed version left and 8 carts of the loose (no box) version left on the reserve list.

Time is running out for the label contest. Just a few more days to get your entry in...

I have updated the first post. More than half have already been reserved! Thank you everyone for a great start! -Tim

2600 Connection and Aegis Games to release ALIEN GREED 4 March 3, 2012 - 2600 Connection co-founder and publisher Tim Duarte (a.k.a. timdu on Atari Age) and programmer Chris Read of Ageis Games (a.k.a. atari2600land on Atari Age) have agreed to release ALIEN GREED 4 on cartridge for the Atari 2600 Videogame Computer System. This will be a special release - there will only be 50 game cartridges made. ORDERING INFORMATION: The cartridges will be numbered 1 of 50, 2 of 50, 3 of 50, etc. You can sign up to reserve a game. The price for a game cartridge complete with a full-color label and a manual along with a special box and a special pack-in bonus will be $40 plus shipping. These will be numbered 1-40. Boxes are being designed by Brad Nuce (a.k.a. ManCaveArcade) The price for a loose game cartridge will be $25 plus shipping. This will feature a full-color label and a manual. These will be numbered 41 - 50. Send a PM (Private Message) to timdu to reserve one of the 50 game cartridges. RESERVE LIST (as of June 22, 2012): 1. Chris Read (atari2600land) BOXED 2. Tim Duarte (timdu) BOXED 3. Brad Nuce (mancavearcade) BOXED 4. zodiacprime BOXED 5. Al Backiel BOXED 6. Russ Perry Jr. BOXED 7. Wonder007 BOXED 8. bennybingo BOXED 9. atarinut76 BOXED 10. TrekMD BOXED 11. ntavio BOXED 12. toymailman BOXED 13. bfstats BOXED 14. jeffgamer BOXED 15. lucifershalo BOXED 16. ianoid BOXED 17. phaxda BOXED 18. cvga BOXED 19. Marc Oberhäuser BOXED 20. Dan Skelton BOXED 21. gambler172 BOXED 22. Charles Gray BOXED 23. gaztee BOXED 24. Uberarcade BOXED 25. ham BOXED 26. cubelindo BOXED 27. FABombjoy BOXED 28. Rick Weis BOXED 29. Furor BOXED 30. Elw00d BOXED 31. Fyrman BOXED 32. mark t (BOXED) 33. FikapPacMan (BOXED) 34. RpgCollector (BOXED) 35. RayXambeR (BOXED) 36. chuys450 (BOXED) 37. neotokeo2001 (BOXED) 38. Andre81 (BOXED) 39. Liduario (BOXED) 40. Conny Jungholt (BOXED) --------------------------------------- 41. Necron99 (LOOSE) 42. LMB41 (LOOSE) 43. Stonic (LOOSE) 44. Godzilla (LOOSE) 45. Godzilla (LOOSE) 46. 47. 48. 49. Kenny Brooks Jr. (LOOSE) 50. Elw00d (LOOSE) LABEL CONTEST: We are also having a label contest for ALIEN GREED 4 Submit your entry and if it is chosen, you will receive a free game cartridge of ALIEN GREED 4! Send a PM to atari2600land or timdu. Be sure to include your entry as an attachment. JPG, GIF, PNG, or BMP file formats are fine. Contest ends: Saturday, March 31, 2012 at 11:59PM We hope to have the cartridges ready to ship and in the mail during the third of fourth week of April first or second week of May on Friday June, 1, 2012 A private message (or email) will be sent to each person on the reserve list at that time with payment information. BACKGROUND: ALIEN GREED 4 (ALIEN GREED ADVENTURE) takes place in a familiar setting to many Atari 2600 fans - it's in the setting of ADVENTURE! There are three other games as well that Chris has created. Alien Greed, Alien Greed 2, and Alien Greed 3. All of the games are parodies of the collector who is a completist, or one who "must have them all." You play the role of a little green alien, and in your quest to collect Atari 2600 game cartridges in the setting of ADVENTURE, you will run into many adversaries and obstacles who are out to stop you, including a dragon! Once your little green alien collects 20 Atari 2600 cartridges, a key appears. Grab the key and head to the yellow castle and you will enter the boss stage! There's lots to explore, so reserve your copy today! ALIEN GREED 4 is It is not a "hack" of Adventure (by Atari). ALIEN GREED 4 is a 16K NTSC videogame cartridge for the Atari 2600 and was programmed by Chris Read using batari BASIC, which was created by Fred Quimby. As a comparison note, ADVENTURE (by Atari), which was programmed and created by Warren Robinett, is 4K in size. For more info, check out: http://2600connection.atari.org If you have any questions, please let me know. -Tim

I am working with atari2600land on this and we are releasing the game together as a team. We have extended the label contest until March 31, 2012 11:59PM. We will announce the winner of the label contest after this date. More info at http://2600connection.atari.org/ag4.html thanks, Tim

This is one of my favorite Christmas specials. I am a big fan of Charlie Brown and the gang! A few suggestions: Take a look at this video on youtube: If you really want to be authentic and true to the cartoon, maybe you could change Lucy's color for her clothes... she is wearing a red hat and a yellow dress. Just being picky here though... you really don't have to do this... it is fine the way you have it. Some suggestions for expanding on this: Could you add Linus as player 2? Do you think there could be a second screen where Lucy or Linus or Charlie Brown has to try to throw a snowball at the can on the top of the wall to try to knock it off like they do in the cartoon? I'd love to hear that familiar and classic piano soundtrack of Vince Guaraldi's musical arrangement, but sadly I believe it is too complex for the Atari 2600. -Tim

If you want to keep it at 4K, perhaps you can remove the title screen. I don't think it is essential to the game. As for Rudolph, maybe you can make the entire reindeer to be the color red. That would signify him as Rudolph in my opinion. I think us 2600 gamers still have to use a bit of our imagination when playing our games...

I noticed Santa is always facing towards the right. Do you think you could make it so that when Santa is moving to the right he is facing towards the right as he is now. However, if you move left, Santa should be facing left. Is it possible to "flip" the sprite of Santa? Just a suggestion, it may just make the movement a but more fluid. I think the sprite can remain the same when Santa is moving up or down... just an idea that came to mind I wanted to mention to you. Tim

As I stated in in a different post in the main Atari 2600 forum, "It's funny how that was over 20 years ago when we started the print newsletters... everything was focused on mail order. There was this place PLEASANT VALLEY VIDEO GAMES... just came across their catalog. I've got to scan this and share it with everyone. Looking at the prices it is hilarious to see how cheap rare games were then..." Well, I scanned it today. Take a look at this catalog. if only I could go back in time and place an order! PLEASE DO NOT CALL THE TELEPHONE # OR WRITE TO THEM! THIS IS A CATALOG FROM BACK IN THE DAY 1990!!!! 1990! I do recall placing an order and getting the games. I was lucky. Many people got burned by PVV... http://2600connectio....org/pvv52s.pdf Enjoy! -Tim

Thanks for the compliments, Bill. Many of us are still around and I am always logging in to AA to check on the forums to see what is going on. Albert was also kind enough to give the 2600 Connection its own subforum under the Publications section. I'd like to utilize that subforum some more. Maybe we can start up some discussions about the newsletter. It's funny whow that was over 20 years ago when we started the print newsletters... everything was focused on mail order. There was this place PLEASANT VALLEY VIDEO GAMES... just came across their catalog. I've got to scan this and share it with everyone. Looking at the prices it is hilarious to see how cheap rare games were then... -Tim

I like Stella's Stocking. Stella is sweet! I also like Lady Bug. I think the artwork captures the essence of the game in a cartoon theme. But I think my favorite, and I may be biased here, is Mean Santa. I, along with GodzillaJoe, think Dan Skelton's concept of a kid with presents being held at gunpoint by Santa who has "snapped" is very cool and original.

Update: The two volumes are now available in a professional coil binding with a transparent plastic cover sheet and a black vinyl back cover page 2600 Connection #1 - #25 (Volume 1) : the first 25 issues. Price: $17 (and $2 shipping) and 2600 Connection #26 - #50 (Volume 2) : issues 26 - 50. Price: $17 (and $2 shipping) more info at: http://2600connection.atari.org/bi.html this offer is valid for U.S.A. addresses only Please send me a Private Message if you live outside the USA and would like to place an order. thank you Tim D.

I am reading up on the CAN SPAM Act , created by the Federal Trade Commission. Thanks for pointing this out to me. This was an honest mistake that I made and I did not realize that I was out of compliance. I did not mean to offend you. This was not my intention. Please accept my apologies for sending you the email.

I'm not going to stop collecting email addresses. I will, however, remove your email address from my database. You will not receive any future emails from me.

We have access to a lot of cardboard and packing materials... we also reuses boxes and packing materials. That gray foam that you mention... was not aware that it is gun packing material as you describe... I do know that gray foam is also used for shipping a lot of electronics parts (i.e. hard drives). In the past, I have bought bubble mailers... but I figure we may as well reduce expenses and be "green" and re-use shipping and packing materials. That's how we can keep the prices down, too. We are looking into printing labels a little differently. However, you are correct in that these current labels are different than the original 100 numbered cartidges of Mean Santa that were originally sold in 2009. In fact, # 90 of 100 is currently up for auction on ebay by the original buyer.... (starting bid is $39.99) eBay Auction -- Item Number: 130630637350 I am happy to see that my creation is a collector's item. Again, the goal here that we are trying to achieve is to get the cartridge out there to gamers at a reasonable price. -Tim

Yes. originally back in October 2009 only 100 numbered carts were sold. Once those sold out, we created the unnumbered release with a slightly different label and no box and a basic manual for $15. -Tim D.

Hello Atarians Mean Santa, the 2600 Connection newsletter's release for the Atari 2600, is still available on cartridge for $15 plus $5 shipping in the USA. I would like to mention that Stonic (Scott S) is now handling distribution for me. Yes, even though Christmas is over, holiday fun can still be experienced on your Atari 2600 with MEAN SANTA this winter. Take a look at our web site for more info: http://2600connection.atari.org/ if you have any questions, please let me know... Tim D. p.s. The game cartridge is also available in PAL format for our friends overseas. Send me a private message for more info. my id is timdu

I had a friend who is an electrician test the power supply with his fluke meter. I brought it to him, and he tested all the pins. Each one was 5.2V on the fluke meter. So I am assuming it is not the power supply. I am thinking of selling this 800XL and power supply... would someone be interested in buying this as is?

I dug my Atari 800xl out of storage and plugged it in and I got the red power light. So I figured I was good. I hooked it up to a small 13" TV and all I got was a black screen. No familiar BASIC blue screen that says READY. I also have an old color composite monitor and I was lucky to find the cable in a box that goes along with it. So I unhooked the RCA cable and connected the monitor cable and hooked that up and I get the same thing - just a black screen. Any ideas? is my 800xl now worthless? Worth trying to get repaired? thanks Tim

It does get louder when it is in the center and it fades as it is moving to the right. Nice! I like it. I am not sure if the 2600 can do a true doppler effect... do you think it can? I have to get my intellivision out of storage and hook it up to my TV. I have Beauty and the Beast and Demon Attack for INTV. I even bought some of the sticklers.... the attachments that go on the discs so they resemble atari 2600 style joysticks. I am glad you are working on this again! Tim

My best friend ran BBCS back in the day (1985). He configured it a bit to his liking. I recall hanging out at his house and we were in awe. We were hovering and watching the users dial in and create their accounts. One wise guy picked the Yukon time zone (instead of the Eastern time zone which we lived in) and lo and behold the BBS crashed. It was so frustrating... -Tim Haha! I did something similar once with FUKR.

I am considering displaying some of my Atari 2600 video game boxes. I esp. like the Activision ones. My son and my daughter sarah have been grabbbing them. I am wondering if there is a clear plastic case that you can fit a box in to offer some protection. Then I won't be so worried if they are handled. I see that The Videogame Authority actually grades the games.. http://www.vggrader.com/ but I don't think I want to do that... I see they have some parker brother star wars and the atari raiders video games pictured... I just can't seem to find if they sell the cases Just wondering if anyone has done this with their game boxes, thanks Tim