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strudders

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Posts posted by strudders

  5. Posted

    The DP website only states that they originally hired a local artist and that She also did work on arcades for a local arcade manufacturer but that they then later found another and more professional artist later. It is the later artist that you are looking for.

     

    http://www.digitpress.com/archives/cc_commavid.htm

     

    Hi, yes, that's the one. I think the local artist was used for the early version of Cosmic Swarm (there was an excellent version done by the later artist for Europe but I think it was only used in adverts) and Video Life. It's the "more professional artist" I was interetsted in. I did see that Digital Press article. It appears to have the most info about CommaVid in general.

  6. Posted

    Like most of us, I've always loved the Atari 2600 artwork used on the boxes/labels. Tim Lapetino's book was a major event when it came out - shedding light on so many artists and their work.

     

    One publisher's artist seems to be a mystery though - that being Commavid.

     

    The early artwork (Video Life, Cosmic Swarm) is nothing to write home about but I love the style of later games like Mines of Minos (a real hidden gem game in my opinion) and Cakewalk etc.

     

    Searching around the internet I can't find any mention of the artist though. Looking at the signature on some of the boxes gives some pointers, but I'm not particularly good a deciphering these.

     

    Probably the clearest example is on Minos below:

     

    29357153_1869948746389712_95212897895796

     

    Does anyone have any info on the artist or want to take a stab at guessing the name ?

     

    I'm pretty certain the first name is 'Jack' but the second is not clear enough - maybe 'Bray' or 'Berry' ?

     

     

    • Like 1

  8. Posted

    I know there is thread on what people have been playing lately but I wanted to start off another with a 'diary' format. I'm interested in the details of your Atari session. What did you play and in what order. Were you alone or with family/friends ? Did you have some tunes on - if so, what ? Did you have some snacks/drinks ? Etc etc

     

    I'll make a start:

     

     

    August 7th 2016

    Fancied some loud music and arcade action. Weather was hot and kids were driving me crazy so I took myself off to the 'man cave'.

    Blasted out some Red Hot Chili Peppers. Seemed fitting to let some steam off and loosen up.

    Played Galaxian first. My go-to shooter. Didn't get near my high score as a series of foolish mistakes (getting caught in corners) ended my game.

    Next up I popped in Ms Pacman and got a couple of hundred off my high score and I wasn't really trying. I find I play any form of Pacman better if I don't stress.

    Last up was a nice easy game of Asteroids on game 1. I just kept the music loud and blasted rocks till the score rolled.

    Felt much happier after. Job done. Thanks Atari.

    • Like 1

  12. Posted · Edited by strudders

    Having to sell a couple of rare items to pay a car bill :_( Starting off with this one. Just wanted to post a link here just in case anyone was looking for this rare cart.

     

    Don't hesitate to ask questions here or via eBay.

     

    Cheers

     

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/ATARI-2600-Out-of-Control-cart-and-manual-R9-Extremely-Rare-by-Avalon-Hill-/252028419219?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3aae107c93

  13. Posted

    It's a shame. I've been buying from them for years and the service just gets worse.

    No replies to email. Very slow to ship (and expensive too).

    Also, no new stock for ages.

    For people like me (who live outside of US but collect NTSC), eBay is only way to go now.

  17. Posted

    Someone else may be able to comment with more knowledge (god knows the others on this thread know more that me :D ) - but it may be worth adjusting the variable resistor R211. You can locate this using the Field Service Manual which is freely available on the net.

     

    It certainly cleaned my image up as far as 'ghosting' goes but you have to be careful that you mark a reference point of the original position just in case.

     

    Maybe best to see if others agree first though !

  18. Posted

    Not really sure I understand what your issue is from the pics.

     

    I live in the UK and collect mainly NTSC. I've got a 4-switch woody that I modded and it's fine. When I say fine, it has some 'blurring' as you'd expect (I use a CRT though so that may be artifacts from that).

     

    Maybe you could take some better full-screen images to show what the issue is ? Maybe you're expecting too much from the image clarity ?

  20. Posted

    My six year old has been a fan of Dark Chambers for a couple of years now. The good thing about it is you can play co-op and help each other. I mostly shoot the monsters, he gets the treasure and keys. It helped him learn the basic movement and tactics as well as learning about how to share and help each other.

     

    He is also a big fan of Smurfs, probably because of the colorful graphics and nice music. The jumping is a little tricky though.

  21. Posted · Edited by strudders

     

    Thanks for the response. If you think of it, let me know how it works out for you and your son.

     

    It's also cool to see it has been downloaded by others. Hope everyone finds it useful!

     

    Just wanted to let you know that I printed your maps and the color ones available on Atari age for my 6 year old son and I to play this evening. Yours ended up being the most useful as it shows the recommended path to take.

     

    Anyway, we finally made it to (and through) level Z ! Only on easy level though.

     

    Did a big high-five when we made it. I was mostly glad to get him to focus for so long on it. He did ask to switch it off at about level 'R' ! The cheek is that he is always the one nagging me to play the game but then never has the stamina to finish it :roll:

     

    Such a shame there is no real 'ending' to the game. I guess that wasn't common for games of the era.

     

    Just wondering - what happens if you finish it on the hardest level ? Does it still loop back the start ? (or level H or whatever the start of the hard level is).

  23. Posted

     

    Back in the day, I enjoyed this game so much I played it a lot but, like you, got frustrated at the later levels. So, I did a quick-and-dirty walkthrough on loose leaf paper. Went digging through my archives, and here it is:

     

    attachicon.gifDarkChambersWalkthru.pdf

     

    On each level the DOT represents the starting point, and the BOX is the exit. Hope it helps you and your son finish the game.

     

    That's cool, thanks !

     

    I'll have to print this and give it a try. It's great that you still have it !

  25. Posted

    Yeah, nice box art that helps add atmosphere to the game. Even managed to get a boxed copy with no annoying yellow "Atari Advantage" star on it the other day so you get to see the whole picture.

     

    Unfortunately for me, I play this game a lot as my 6 year old loves it and always wants to play two player with me :sleep:

     

    It's sweet though and I've probably taught him a lot about not being selfish by playing this with him as I have to explain that we share the food and weapons found so we have equal health/power.

     

    I've told him that we are not playing it again until we print the map of the last few levels out as we have made it to the last level a couple of times but died.

     

    It could do with a few improvements to make it more exciting and also a proper 'ending' (as I hear it just loops).

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