4cade
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Posts posted by 4cade
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12 hours ago, youki said:
Interesting video. i liked a lot the part on the Ultra-vision. I did not like the part on the other youtubers also.
But i think few consoles compatible VCS are missing in your list
Or may be you cover only the US market?
Glad you liked it, youki. I was really jazzed to do the Ultravision section, and I think that broke some news as well, as I wasn't able to find any other sources that linked it to the CreatiVision. And you are certainly correct, there are consoles missing from the list - my original idea was about how many of these options were in competition with each other - that the same consumer could've bought so many VCS options in different sizes, shapes, brands and such. Since some of these variations likely didn't make it out of the US, I focused on that market; for example, the Intellivision System Changer was cancelled so quickly, I doubt it had much or any international presence. Also, as it's not an area I've explored much, it felt like another huge chunk of research an running time on an already long video - and it seemed to me that international variations was a big enough topic to possibly be it's own video down the road.
As for the youtubers, as I said to TPR above, I respect your thoughts and appreciate the feedback, even if negative. I'll just make two points - first, to reiterate what I said - it was not a call-out. I admitted the same thing myself, so I wasn't calling them out anymore than I was myself; I encouraged viewers to check them out. I'll add that I'm subscribed to all of them - I've been watching Gaming Historian for years and hardly find this one error to be a blemish on his body of work. Everyone makes mistakes - I've already posted a correction to the pinned comment of my video (I mistakenly said the 7800 came out in 1987 when it came out in 1986). But I'll add that more importantly, it was relevant to the story as it illustrates just how common the misconception was. I'd seen the "Atari was made from off the shelf parts" long ago and like many others, took it for granted and mistakenly believed it for years. But if that doesn't sway you, no problem - sorry if it detracted from the video for you.
And thanks for your positive comments, as well as the question on international variations - during my research, I stumbled on a 2600 from Ireland and was surprised to see it was the 2800/Video Arcade II design, so yeah, looking at the int'l variants could be cool. But with the amount of countries/regions to research, it seems like it'd be a little tough to do.
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17 hours ago, NIAD said:
Im not so sure that it is “common belief” seeing as it is widely known and has been reported on both BITD and more currently that Coleco and Atari settled instead of going thru a long and protracted legal battle. Seems more like just some misinformed information being passed on by those that you detail.
Well, you raise a valid point - I don't have a source for that, and don't know of any way to find it in a statistical sense. So, this was based off of my personal experience of sources I found, and gamers I've talked to (in person, in forums like this, and in FB groups), and how commonly I heard the misconception. I'm not saying no one knew the truth - even Wikipedia is technically correct - they mention the TIA chip, and that Atari/Coleco settled, and Coleco became a licensee - but they omit the context of Coleco claiming it was off the shelf parts, and that the TIA was not off the shelf but custom-designed. One more note - I've posted this in some FB groups, and I've had two replies of "that's what Atari gets for using of the shelf parts" (I'm assuming they just commented and hadn't watched the video). But I'm sure to more knowledgeable retro gamers, it may seem like old news.
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2 minutes ago, TPR said:
Yep. It's just my opinion. It turned me off from your videos. Just being honest. You didn't get a sub out of me. But I'm just one person so hopefully that won't matter too much in the grand scheme of things.
Fair enough, TPR - I appreciate you giving critical feedback without attacking me personally, so I do appreciate your thoughts; sorry it didn't live up to your expectations, maybe I'll be able to earn that 'sub' another time.
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1 hour ago, TPR said:
I thought the video was pretty well done, but I have to be honest, I actually stopped watching after the part where they "called out" the other YouTubers. I get the part about debunking a myth, and I for one appreciated that completely, but there was really no reason to call out those other content creators as I'm sure they weren't spreading that information on purpose, and including those clips didn't actually add anything to the video other than making the creator look kind of obnoxious. If I was one of those other content creators that had their footage used (I'm assuming) without permission in this video, I would consider giving a copyright strike to take that down or have the guy re-edit the video without those clips.
It's a shame, because I actually really liked the video up until that part.
Thanks for giving it a chance, and I'm sorry you feel that way. After their clips, I went out of my way to say that I wasn't attacking their channels - that I believed the same thing, and that I recommended people checking out their channels and provided links to do so in the description and pinned comment. Also, I reached out to all of them to make them aware of the video and that it wasn't intended as an attack on their work. I thought that would be obvious, I mean one of them is Norm, the Gaming Historian - the dean of YT video game history docs. So far, three of the youtubers in question have responded to me, all three of them positively. Still, you're entitled to your opinion, and I thank you for sharing it. However, the clips I used were short and clearly qualify for Fair Use copyright exception, so a copyright strike would be a violation of youtubes TOS. But again, thanks for giving it a chance.
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While researching my documentary on the many types of Atari VCS hardware, clones, and add-on adapters to allow other systems to play Atari, I had to include the attempted cartridge adapters from Cardco and Protecto that were advertised in the early 80s, but of course ended up being vaporware.
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It was one of the most audacious moves in video game history - when Coleco commandeered Atari's massive game library, giving the already attractive console an even stronger position in the marketplace, challenging the very concept of "console exclusive games". The common belief is that in the ensuing legal battle, Coleco won in court, due to the Atari VCS being built from standard "off the shelf" parts, and thus there was nothing to infringe upon. However, it's a misconception that isn't true. In this video, I tried to correct the record regarding the myth, and to tell the story of Coleco's multiple variations on Atari hardware.
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When I was an Atari kid in the early 80s - I was shocked when my neighbor showed me his ColecoVision Expansion Module. It was a challenge to the concept of console-exclusive games. And as we all know, several other clones and adapters would follow, even Atari's own and the 7800 backwards compatibility, not to mention Atari's own redesigns like the Video Arcade II and Jr. I put together a video trying to tell that story more comprehensively, including a debunking of the myth that Coleco won their lawsuit against Atari, due to the VCS being "made from off the shelf parts" - a myth that's still a common misconception today.
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Yeah - note the tray to store a cart on the left side - never seen that in any IM's before
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I was researching through some old video game mags and found this pic in the March 1979 issue of Interface Age - the admin of the APF Facebook group said it's probably a prototype, but no one seems to have seen this before. Sorry for the blurry pic, if anyone has a better copy of that issue, please post it!
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On 3/22/2017 at 6:06 PM, save2600 said:
The *one* thing Atari freely gave up and didn't enforce by way of litigation. How ironic. And it's not just Superman III… plenty of other movies, TV shows, documentaries, radio spots, etc. use Atari's Pac-Man sounds for various things. Coleco's Donkey Kong sounds too.
Actually, Atari was still owned by Warner Bros. at the time and so that's probably why they used it/got it for free
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Hey, I've been searching online but can't seem to find release dates for the games. I found one source with dates which I've linked below, but they list all games as October, 78 - the launch of the console. And I assume it's unlikely that they had their entire library of all 12 games available at launch - that would certainly be a notable, never-discussed, 'first' in gaming history if that were true. But I guess it's safe to assume they all came out within a year? Perhaps as the computer add-on was where they turned their focus? Or maybe a couple were released in early days of the Imagination Machine?
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Agreed, @mr.bill - love the cab art and the glass art - normally not a fan of it covering up part of the screen, but it's perfect in this case
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On 11/15/2018 at 6:10 PM, NE146 said:
Oh my first "favorite" arcade game was definitely Space Invaders. But prior to that.. I just recall playing the various B&W games like Sea Wolf, or Pong, or Electromechanical games. I was too young to play them consistently.. it was only with my parents and we did it all together or something. The one that sticks out in my mind though is Killer Shark.. which (thankfully) was shown in the movie Jaws so I can remember the name and reference it.
I just remember my dad holding me up and trying to shoot the shark and the red blood when you shot it. I guess that memory would make it count as a 1st fav. 
Yeah! When I was probably 7, I started going to the local arcade at the shopping center my mom worked at, probably 79 or 80, maybe earlier, but they had a few old EM games there and I freaking loved Killer Shark, it was actually kind of graphic/violent for me, but it's one of the first games I remember after cashing in a dollar of quarters, it being a primary one to check out and see if anyone is playing, and was one I played everytime I went. Like you, I also wasn't tall enough, the arcade had a few step stools, but sometimes they were all being used and one time I stupidly dropped a quarter without realizing there was no step stool; I told a stranger passing by what happened and he could have my free game and he offered to pick me up, holding me while I played. Yeah, that got awkward, but I look back and think "could have gone WORSE!" Ah, the 70s, it was a different time...
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On 2/3/2020 at 1:50 PM, flip said:
Is that not what @ekeefe posted about? The cartridge runs in Emma 02 (cart is called computer.st2) if you want to see it "action", but it's fairly cumbersome to use, having to type is code via the keypads, byte by byte and without a way to save it. You don't need extra RAM, but you only have about 200 bytes to play with...
FliP
Do we know what year the programming cart was created? I followed the threads to those pics/scans ekeefe posted of the cart and instructions but couldn't find more info.
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2 hours ago, CatPix said:
Several games on the 1292 have been programmed with an "absolute" positionning of the sprite, think like how Pong paddles move or how the rotary joysticks on Atari works.
With those games, a centering stick mean that it goes back on the middle of the screen, making games like Bowling impossible to play.. or reall difficult
Ah, thx for the clarification. Werid!
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Plus $5 shipping...
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On 2/10/2020 at 9:19 AM, CatPix said:
Many games on the 1292 AVPS console have been programmed with the fact that the joysticks are NOT autocentered (which make many games harder to play on the Interton VC 4000 since it got auto-centered sticks) and again a joystick can't emulate this.I am not sure I follow - why would games be harder to play on the consoles WITH the centering sticks?
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@DanBoris - wow, that's a great video. To be honest, I wish I'd seen that video when I was making the documentary; I used some YT vids for visuals of Blip, but that video had a much better view of the inner workings! Yeah, it was some impressive old school engineering that went into Blip, probably the most advanced of the mechanical Pong games (up until the post 2000 projects like the Atari cocktail table)
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On 4/9/2020 at 7:25 AM, mr.bill said:
At one point I owned nearly every vector, but I sold off my cosmic chasm, boxing bugs, warrior, barrier, tailgunner 2, and starhawk. one of my favorites is solar quest. It also has a mirrored background. aztarac is also a cool looking game.
Dude, Barrier was one vector game I never saw back in the golden age, and was quite surprised to discover it in recent years; I actually covered it briefly in a YT video on the late 70s LED games, because VectorBeam/Cinematronics basically ripped off the Mattel Football gameplay for their game Barrier! Exact same game play!
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1 hour ago, mr_me said:
If you're old enough you would have seen the mechanical pong games from the 1970s. A friend had the marx tv tennis (not sure what it was called in canada). At that time, I thought it was weird. The ball had this odd movement. Back then we were impressed with the new field of electronics and video not mechanical toys no matter how ingenious they are.
Yeah, I was 5 in '77; while most of these games were previously unknown to me, I vividly remember Blip the Digital Game, that was such a hot toy. I hear you on kids not being impressed with EM toys, lol - our family got an Atari Super Pong dedicated console in '76, so I'm sure I'd have been perplexed by TV Tennis too. But, that DID come out in '74 before Pong was in a console, I bet it might have impressed some kids if they'd gotten it right away, but yeah once the LED games hit the scene in '77, kids were all about the tech games, not EM games.
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While the recent Atari Pong cocktail table has been a bit of a hit, a lot of people don't realize there's a history of trying to convert the Pong video game into old school electro mechanical arcade games, console games, and even handhelds - and has game play precursors that trace back to the dawn of arcade games. Just one more aspect of how important Pong is to arcade and video game history!
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Hey, @chopperthedog, I have a question - while this was the era of woodgrain, I saw a YouTube video about a dedicated Pong that actually was encased in REAL wood - anyone here know of a real wood console? I think the one in the video was Video Olympiad.
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On 3/14/2020 at 11:18 AM, mutterminder said:
I do have an old TV that I can't test them on via RF output but I'm almost more inclined to mod them all to composite video. They've been out of circulation so long, that I'm thinking I should restore them and put them up for sale.
Very cool, mutterminder. Be sure to post some pics if you do this!
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On 3/12/2020 at 12:56 PM, chopperthedog said:
If you need pics or anything hit me up. I have the boxes for the radio shack, speedway and pong sports IV units.
Hey, thanks Chopper! Glad to make your acquaintance. In truth, when it comes to dedicated pongs, I wish I could find a collector that had dozens, maybe a hundred, and just dive in and test each one, making a master list of which models had better or interesting controls & features. But since that's unlikely, I'm working on some other Pong material. Despite it being one of the most recognizable games in history, there's still a lot of un-mined material there about how Pong affected video game history. Right now I'm trying to finish up my doc on perhaps the strangest genre of Pong - the history of MECHANICAL Pong games!
Or may be you cover only the US market?
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The Story of the Expansion Module & Gemini - & the Myth Coleco Beat Atari
in ColecoVision / Adam
Posted · Edited by 4cade
Hey, not only do you have a pretty sweet set-up, I found your channel on YT and was kinda blown away to see GALAGA! being played on the PET computer! I assume that's modern homebrew? Dude, give me more info! As for the Intellivision System Changer - sorry I didn't see yours but I was happy to include that, as it was a small but critical element of the history of the time. It really added to the anger at the time of the lack of the 5200 adapter.