TI-99/4A : Console or Computer?

[TI-99/4A : Console or Computer?]

The TI 994/A was a computer, because that was what it was designed to be from the beginning. The fact that it can use joysticks and play games doesn't negate the fact that it was designed by TI to be a home and business computer.

 

The Odyssey2 was not a computer, because it was originally designed only to be a game machine. It had add-ons available in Europe that would make it into a rudimentary computer, but it's design was as a glorified pong machine. The fact that it has a keyboard doesn't automatically make it a computer. The membrane keyboard was only for game input that couldn't be done with a one button joystick.

 

The cold hard facts are that the TI was a computer because that was what TI designed it and marketed it to be. The Odyssey2 was a console because that's what Magnavox called it and marketed it to be.

[BATTLESPHERE GOLD AVAILABLE????]

Man, i've been dying to get a copy for years, but I won't pay double or triple it's original price on eBay. I'd like to believe that they are putting together a new batch. It would be a good way for Thunderbird to get revenge on those here whom he believes did him wrong, by de-valuing everyone's copies of BS and BSG by putting out more and lowering the game's rarity. . . .

 

 

By the way, that link doesn't work.

[question about the 2800]

Sorry to go off-topic here but I just had to say: hey intvgene, great avatar!

[New xbox controller for FPS]

Has anyone noticed that the controller has a little LCD screen on it? Are you sure this is for the Xbox, or is it some old photo of a prototype Dreamcast controller?

[How to fathom the totally random store 'freebie' policies?!]

I got like a 6 foot by 4 foot Windows XP Professional box from office max.

 

I'm not sure i'd want to be in the same room as that thing. Always feeling a palpable sense of evil in the room all the time..... the scent of brimstone in the air........ your monitor starts bleeding....... you get the creepy feeling that not only is the box watching you, it's logging what applications you use and what web sites you're going to.......

[CDI Games: Do anybody Care?]

I've always thought about getting an old CDi just to fill out my collection. How many software titles came out for it, and how many of them were actual grown-up games? The only games I can think of are Burn:Cycle and another one I played at a Best Buy on a CDi with the MPEG module that had a cheezy American anime style intro, and the game was basically you flying through a FMV city shooting aliens. That's about all I remember about the CDi, except for those Phil Hartman and Burn:Cycle TV commercials.

[WTB: Atari XE/XL/Computer Carts or Cassettes]

Here's a question i'd like to know the answer to: will the SIO2PC cable work on a Mac using the software through Virtual PC 6/XP? I've got a USB to serial adapter. Has anyone else tried this kind of set-up?

[Look inside the Jag2....]

What do I do with this? Is it software? My Mac can't make heads or tails of it.

[A little history from Wal-Mart.]

In my area, we ended up getting a HyperMart. It was a joint venture between Wal-Mart and another company. The HyperMart stores were prototypes for the Wal-Mart Supercenters. And back then (late 80's), they carried Atari 2600, 7800, and XEGS carts. That's where I bought all my XE labelled games from when they marked them all down to $2.50! I didn't have much money, though, so I couldn't go crazy. I did also pick up some cheap 7800 games there, too. The HyperMart was eventually renamed Wal-Mart, and they got rid of a lot of cool stuff, like the HyperMart's well stocked arcade room.

[anybody else recognize this game?]

Damn. I'd really like that copy of Triad Stone. But I just don't do eBay. I only have one LaserActive LD-Rom game, Pyramid Patrol. I use the LaserActive mainly to play Genesis/Sega CD games. I believe I once read that the Genesis/MegaDrive add-on would let you play imported games without adapters, but I don't own any import Sega CDs or carts to try it out.

 

The LaserActive was a nice machine, just totally mis-priced for the marketplace. The player cost $1300, and the Sega and Turbo modules cost $600 each. Nobody's going to pay $1900 to play Sega CD games when a Genesis console with CD add-on would cost a little over $300. $1900 for really clear full motion video? Yikes.

[TI-99/4A : Console or Computer?]

The CDTV wasn't a game console, per se. It was more of a multimedia device. I remember seeing some cool Psygnosis graphics demos on one. Too bad they charged so much for it. It cost something like $800. Nolan Bushnell designed it for Commodore, but it was a huge bomb.

 

The CD32 was a game console (that could be turned into a computer) that was based on the AGA chipset.

 

I have about 300 Amiga game disks collecting a thick layer of dust right now. I haven't hooked up my ol' Amiga 1000 in years. I also bypassed the NES and Genesis era because of my Amiga. One of these days, i'll hook it up again. But right now, I just don't have enough room. Too many consoles, never enough room. . . . . .

[FINALLY i got them 3DO Woody Woodpeckers]

Uhhhhh..... When I click on the link, all I get is gibberish.

[TI-99/4A : Console or Computer?]

I wish the Amiga had been made into a game console. Ever play Robocop 3D? Imagine being able to play a FPS with flat shaded polygons in 1986! The NES wouldn't have a chance against that kind of technology.

 

 

 

I had broken down in Shreveport, LA back in 1988, and the Goodwrench dealership my car was at was being entirely run from TI 994/A computers with Peripheral Expansion Boxes! I always thought that was so cool, from a TI user's viewpoint. Too bad their repair work ended up burning out my alternator and making me break down in the middle of nowhere.....

[Bought a broken xbox at the flea market]

This reminds me of a story.

 

A friend of mine worked at Computer City in the late 80s to early 90s, a guy came in and the sales people talked him into buying a high end 486 (the newest thing at the time) and a load of extras, costing something like $7000. A few days later the guy brings it back in complaining that it doesn't work, and he wants his money back. They give him a full refund, and they put the computer back on the shelf without even a quick visual inspection. A week later, another customer buys that same computer. Later that day, he brings it back complaining. He wasn't complaining that it wasn't working, he was complaining that the computer had been gutted and a cheap clunky 286 was inside the computer's case. The first guy swapped out all the internals and put in his junky mobo, and got away clean. He apparently paid cash, so they couldn't track the thief down. The moral of the story? People suck. Always check and test returned equiptment. If people have the opportunity to screw you, they will take it.

 

I just hope this story doesn't give anyone here the idea to buy an Xbox, gut it, and return it with a brick inside.....

[Favorite Label Artwork?]

Data Age's game boxes all looked great. Too bad they spent more on cover art than on game design and development. . . . . .

 

I'll look at a lot of 2600 game box art and I wish that games nowadays would look that cool. Consoles now have the ability to create games that look like those old game covers, but it's like a lot of imagination has just dissipated from the game industry nowadays.

[The hardest Atari 2600 game]

I did make maps but I still ran out of energy and oxygen before getting halfway through the game.

 

What was the ending of Secret Quest like?

[Activision's + Atari's Cheapskate Antics in the Latter Years]

INTV did it for their later Intellivision games. Almost if not all instruction manuals went to black & white, along with the cart labels. In fact, not all the cart labels are the same size and quality, because they were always trying to get the cheapest deal they could. They also got rid of overlays if the game didn't absolutely need it.

[ATari 2600 giveaway free games for anyone]

Got the games today! Boxed, sealed copies of Super Football, Battlezone, and Kangaroo. I already have Battlezone, but not the other two. But i'm not sure if I should open them. I might just put them on a shelf and cough up $200 for a Cuttle Cart 2, then play the ROMs through that. I'm not sure if it's right to take off the shrink wrap of a game sealed 20 years ago. It's like a little piece of history, and every year there's less and less shrinkwrapped 2600 boxes out there....... On the other hand, I like the 6 language Kangaroo box, and i'm dying to know if it's instruction manual is done in multiple languages too. Plus i've never played Kangaroo on the 2600 before. One thing of note about the Kangaroo box - that's some ugly cover art! The same with Super Football! Kangaroo's art has that 70's look, and SF just looks generic, like something they paid a high school student to make. But Battlezone's art - perfect. Tells you at first glance what the game's all about. I wish I had a poster of it.

 

Thanks again, Atarian7!!!!!

[How much would you pay for a SMS?]

I bought an old SMS with something like a dozen games or so for about $50. And I found all the games to be dull. I just couldn't get into any of them. I've bought 3 or 4 games since then, but none of them engage me. I honestly can't even remember what any of the games were. I guess i'll have to dig it out of storage and try to stir my memory.

[TI-99/4A : Console or Computer?]

The TI had good looking games because Texas Instruments was good at making great video chips. The TI 994/A's graphics chip was later adopted by Coleco for the Colecovision and also for the Spectravision/MSX computer line. I've got some games on floppy that really take advantage of the TI's gaming power. But in the end, it was a computer. Just because it could play games doesn't mean it's a console. You might as well say the Apple II and the Atari 400 are consoles too in that case.

[The hardest Atari 2600 game]

Nobody's mentioned Secret Quest! That one is seriously hard to beat! I've only found maps and walkthroughs online that go up to the 5th space station. It doesn't look like anybody's ever gotten farther than that! It's a great game, it just gets too challenging too quickly. I wish there was a cheat code that would keep you from running out of oxygen and energy.

 

I actually finished Survival Island. But then, I used the maps that came with Stella Gets A New Brain. I doubt I could have made it through without them.

[FrankenAtari?]

The old Atari repair center that number's for used to be in Arlington, TX, not too far from Six Flags. When I was a kid I saw a local news report on the place. It closed down at the beginning of the Tramiel era. I think it's an office furniture store now. I occasionally dream of going into the place, looking around the building, and finding cases of games and hardware sealed up in a wall or hidden cubby hole or something...... I can dream.....

[TI-99/4A : Console or Computer?]

It was designed as a computer. Game consoles don't cost over $1000 when they first come out. The TI came with BASIC built-in. It wasn't the greatest machine for games, anyway. The TI 994/A was trying to get into the business market that the Apple II was king of. It was never designed or created to be a game console. If you've ever tried programming a game in TI Basic, you'd know that. S..........L............O...........W............. Just one of the many design quirks of the good ol' TI.

 

 

Hey Paul, i'm pretty sure I have that catalog somewhere! I remember when Triton still made color catalogs. I didn't have enough money to buy most of the stuff I wanted out of it. I have a few of those games, though.

[DOOM.... how many ports WERE there?]

I read about the Doom on a cube when I was on the Nuon-Tech.com's forums a couple of years back. It was one of an assortment of demos they created to show off the hardware's power.

 

Tapwave's upcoming Zodiac portable game player/Palm OS PDA/MP3 player is getting a port of Doom II.

[Who here is getting an N-GAGE?]

The third day after it came out, an Electronics Boutique sales guy told me that they sold 10 in the first two days. It's a little more popular than they thought it would be.

 

The console from Tapwave is now called the Zodiac. The best thing about it is it's GIANT screen. I poked around their web page last week at http://www.tapwave.com/ and they have some pretty interesting looking games. In the end, i'd rather have a PDA to play games on than a cell phone. A PDA would come in more handy for me. I have zero use for a cell phone (telephones aren't my favorite form of communication) but I could occasionally find use for a PDA.