SpiceWare

it's so common it got a special name

64,130 - fun, challenging game

Thanks. This thread's a lot more interesting after adding a some of those irrationals to the "Ignore Users List".

Cybergoth has a blog entry on Nebulus and there's a few links in the follow up discussion to pictures of the artifact version: http://www.atari7800.org/screenshots/Tower_Topplerscreen.htm http://vormedia.com/?p=235

1,834

I wasn't that invested into it - I even added ATASCII support to my MusicTerm software so I could call one of my friend's BBS. In Corpus Christi there weren't that many BBSes, so everybody called them all regardless of platform and we often had large get togethers at the beach, for Rocky Horror Picture Show, Skating, etc. When I moved to Houston I called a couple Atari BBSes and they freaked out when I posted the number to my BBS. That it did

Most likely a reset button so you wouldn't have to power cycle the machine. I'm not that up on what's been done lately for the Commodore. I have an MMC64 in my C=128. It lets me load software off an SD card, but it only works in 64 mode. This is similar but will work with any Commodore with the serial connection. Yeah, though it's been a while since I've downloaded any. Typically if you google on gamename D64 you'll find it. D64 is the extension used for 1541 disk images. Can also use T64 which means tape image. Don't know, but I am on the waiting list for a Vic Mega Cart There wasn't that much software written specifically for the 128 - one of the downfalls of it being 99.9% compatible with the 64. Here's an . I also wrote a Space Invaders clone back in the day for the 80 column display

Just tried to correct a few mistakes certain AtariAge members keep repeated about the VIC. Their rabid hatred of all things Commodore means it's not possible to discuss things with them, so I've decided they're not worth anymore of my time. Yeah, the 800 would have been nice, but was well out of my price range. As it was, I was very surprised my folks were able to go halves on the VIC20 and Datasette. I spent a lot of time coding on it, as well as gaming, and it ran a BBS for a number of years before I retired it after I rewrote my BBS software for the 64. It was surprising how many people would not believe that the VIC could run a BBS.

What's this I see here, Classic Gaming General, oh, a forum here that's not Atari specific. What's - this, more - non-Atari - forums? Seems the moderators don't agree with you. It's fine that you don't like Commodore computers - but to pretend the VIC had "Little to nothing available for it" when a quick trip down to KMart yielded numerous hardware and software options is, well, pathetic. It certainly lowers the credibility of your opinions.

you're quite like the Commodore people you so distain - blinded in your bias.

Yeah, my HDTV (from 2001) doesn't like the signal from my VCS or Genesis Nomad. I think it depends on how picky the TV is about signals that are out of spec. Analog equipment is more forgiving.

Don't wish to have an Atari, other than my VCS that is. I just find it interesting that so many of those that are "upset with those biased Commodore owners" are in fact so biased themselves that they refuse to see any value in other systems as shown by their views on the VIC 20. Nowhere has anyone said the VIC said to be best technology, but to call it insignificant is misguided at best. Hell, even Linus Torvalds got his start on a Vic 20.

That's either funny or willfully ignorant. It was a poor choice in late 83, I know I wouldn't have purchased one then. It was, however, a fine choice 2 years prior. way to miss the point.

Nice way to gloss over the 500+ on tape pissant eh? Atari had a 2 year head start and yet the Vic was the first break a million - hardly insignificant. Of course during that time frame even the Atari had everything on cartridge or tape as floppy drives were still extremely expensive and rare. Sure 5K wasn't much, but it was easy to add more RAM (and no soldering required). Mine had 32K of RAM when I ran my BBS on it. There were 64K expansions available for it as well.

that part wasn't directed at you. I understand, my point is "the best tech" comparisons often target specific features but gloss over "the complete package". It's easy to say BETA is better because of the picture quality, but just as easy to say VHS is better because of recording time. For most recording time is very important, picture quality less so(especially back when everything was RF). So from a "Complete Package" viewpoint, VHS ended up being the best technology for most people. It's quite like this entire topic, "the Atari is better because of colors, the C= is better because of sprites" or "the Atari is better because of POKEY, the C= is better because of SID". When taken as a complete package, the Atari was better for some, the Commodore for others. I think the biggest factor of "the complete package" in the whole Atari vs Commodore boils down to price, an often overlooked "tech feature". When I got my first computer in 1981, it was a VIC 20. Price was $299. In contrast the CoCo was $399 and Atari 400 was $499. The difference doesn't sound like much today, but using an inflation calculator that boils down to $699, $933 and $1167 in 2008 prices. There was another factor in my decision - I hadn't yet heard about the VIC 20 and was originally going to get a CoCo. I spent the summer of 81 working at my grandparents to raise half the money for it (my parents were paying for the half for Xmas). We happened to be in the neighboring town and went into Radio Shack as grandma wanted to see this newfangled thing I was saving for. The CoCo was turned off and when I asked the guy working there if he could turn it on he said "I can't, there's a password that has to be typed in exactly or it will ruin the computer, and I don't know the password". I knew he was lying as by that point I'd already been using Commodore PETs for a year at my high school. I had considered the Atari 400, but I didn't have enough money and I really didn't like the membrane keyboard.

No availability of software? Per Wiki's VIC 20 entry 1st tier software? Hadn't heard that term before, I imagine you mean First Party? First party would be Commodore Third party would be others. The few I have are from Thorn Em, Imagic, Parker Brothers, HesWare and even Atari. In this instance, you're the one that needs to deal with it Are you sure you did In the small town I grew up in, software such as the above was readily available at KMart.

That's the thing though, when the VCRs were first coming out the only connections on the TVs was RF. Via RF the image difference between BETA and VHS was so small as to be meaningless, but the time difference major - you couldn't leave for the evening and record a 2 hour movie via BETA, but you could via VHS. By the time video connections where added to TVs, when it would have made a difference for BETA (because by then it also supported longer recording times), VHS had already won the market.

52,920 tip - hatch the red chicken last. The graphics sure looks better in Eggs than in Scrambled Eggs, nice 3-d effect on the eggs, player and fences.

MAME OS X ver 0.124.

Not true. While BETA was slightly better in the picture format(250 vs 240 horizontal lines), it wasn't that noticeable on the average consumers TV(remember, everything was hooked up via RF). Contrast that to where VHS was noticeably superior, no matter what TV you had - it could record 2 hours while BETA was limited to 1. Sure Sony extended the recording times later(as did VHS), but by then it was to late. It's hardly possible to say that 4% better picture detail makes BETA a "far superior tech" in comparison to VHS's 100% better recording time - recording time is part of the tech And back to the topic at hand - seems that some might be purposely misunderstanding the "1 million VIC 20s sold" - the statement was that VIC was the first computer to sell 1 million, but that wasn't the end of it - they sold 2.5 million in all by the time Commodore retired the machine. Sure its hardware may not have been as technically advanced as other systems, but it was hardly a failure. You wouldn't say the 2600 was a failure because it's hardware was so limited compared to other video game systems, would you?

41,200

Sweet! I don't remember when I submitted my order, but I received the confirmation email from Brian on Jan 29th @ 11:20.

I'm back! My Atari's finally set up again now that the repairs from Ike are done and my new office furniture is in place. 1535 I probably won't get too many games in for a while as I still have more work to do on my study. I set up the computers and laser printer first, then the "game center" which contains my Atari, Sega Nomad, VIC 20 and Amiga CD 32. They're all hooked up to my C= 1084S via an S-Video switch box. Everything else that belongs in my study is still in boxes or piles in various places around my house. You can see a few of the boxes by the game center.

Using the PS2 to USB joystick adapter helped a lot - it took a week for me to increase by 2,600 points, yet after a few rounds with the PS2 adapter I gained 23,200 points! Needless to say, the game is once again interesting I found it at Fry's for $20. It supports 2 controllers and is an HVG2 PS2 to USB Converter, Model PS203.

The d-pad seemed worse due to 8 directions. I'm running some errands today, will hit Fry's and Microcenter to see if they have a Playstation Controller->USB adapter. I'd seen them before, just don't recall where.