rbudrick

A classified ad may catch your attention, but it also catches way less attention than an article. If you can convince the paper to write an article, it'd be waaay better. They probably would if you just called and talked to a writer or editor. Most newspapers are pretty open to new story ideas, especially local legend stuff. Plus, it doesn't cost a thing. I think it makes far more sense to try this first, and if it doesn't work, go the other route. You just have to make it really compelling for them. Maybe bullet point a list of controversies surrounding the legend and email it to them. Hell, just show them this thread. You may not even have to do that...they might just like the story. Even better...the newspaper writer will get the documents from the town in doing the research!!! -Rob

WTF? You need 3 carts, 3 tvs, and 3VCSs to "play it?" Very, very strange. But it's OMG R4ARE!!!!! Where do I buy one?! -Rob

A metal detector would fire off at every step if it were at a landfill, imo. Anyway, I still am hoping somone will request the records from the town, as it would confirm what the landfill worker says. Considering that it's doubtful he's worked there for 23 years or more, his testimony may be a little off. -Rob

I had all three of these videotapes back in the day. I bought them atAmes department store. I think one of them had extra blank space on the end so I used it to record some videogame endings I did along with parts of an episode of Video Power. HA! what a dork. Wasn't Donn Nauert the one famous for doing that 4 word review of a game that was simply "Just another karate game?" -Rob

Wouldn't be the first time, that's for sure. As for the letter, I think something more professional might be in line. -Rob

Also, notice that there's a park there already. Oliver Lee Memorial State Park. You will also notice this off to the left hen you click on the little letter where the park is: LocalHikes - OLSP Dog Canyo... ... Canyon Nature Walk: Best Seasons: Year-Round User Groups: Hikers, Dogs, Ranger Contact: Oliver Lee State Park - (505) 437-8284 ... So, if there's guided tours of the park, Im sure the tour guide or even the park keeper will be able to tell you a bit a bout the place. Hell, call the ranger advertised at that number. -Rob

Holy crap...that really is the middle of nowhere. It's like 3-5 miles outside of town, by the looks of it! Looks almost like you have to drive over a mountain or something to get to it. Hmm, dunno. Looks like the top of a shack or house or something. -Rob

If it is, I estimate it covers about 4/10 of a square mile. BTW, anyone gonna submit for those records? If need be, I'll put in some money for a contribution, if necessary. I'd implore others to do so too. I just want to know who's going to do it so we'd know who to give the $ to, if needed. -Rob

Well, it's been a couple months. I figured this thread might use a good bump. Hoping for some news. -Rob

Reminds me of that headset for NES by Konami that you yelled into to fire. -Rob

I'd like to see a list of which VCS games are actually beatable. Here's some copies and pastes from my thread at DP (yes, other peoples' texts are copied word for word in some spots): http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=77659: Pitfall Pitfall II E.T. (it has an ending, but does start over, but so what...it's not like a score roll) Indiana Jones Private Eye Superman Adventure Swordquests (though some would argue a bit whether these 'end' so much as the quest gets finished) Haunted House Ghost Manor Mountain King (I think it stops, iirc) He-Man (I hear) Riddle of the Sphinx (I hear) StarMaster Star Raiders Solaris(?) Commando Rampage (?) Stellar Track Pole Position Enduro Xenophobe(?) Secret Quest Krull Porky's Airlock (never played this...I hear it's a quick game like Donkey Kong?) Phaser Patrol (?) Tac-Scan (according to the instruction manual, there are 15 theoretical levels of difficulty, but at the time of that writing, only level 7 was attained by the people at Sega) Atari Video Cube (?) Skateboardin' Crystal Castles (?) Crypts of Chaos? (?) Escape from the Mindmaster Dragon Stomper (Supercharger) Othello Video Chess Video Checkers (blah on these three) Homebrews: Thrust Marble Craze Debatable: 1st version of Demon Attack after wave 84, game freezes And then there's Activision games that STOP when you reach the the high score instead of continuing on: River Raid ? ? ? Can you think of others? Any corrections to this list? -Rob

Can anyone explain why a SMB clone couldn't be done on the VCS? So maybe they couldn't do the scrolling, but why not flick screen like SMB Special by Hudson on the Japanese computer systems? As for the text, big deal...just make it bigger. As for the sound, maybe a pokey chip or Pitfall II chip (or both, if possible) could facilitate that? Hell, I'd take it on the 5200 or 7800, if not the 2600! -Rob

So nobody's got a family member or a friend who is a lawyer and wants some publicity? Shit, get Jack Thompson on it! I'm sure he'd love a chance to show what an evil company Atari is for covering this up. I'm only half joking. :D -Rob

When I was a kid I played the crap out of this game. I'll never forget one Saturday in 1984 where I woke up in the morning and started playing it. I played it all day until dinner time, where my father got pissed I was still playing and promptly shut it off, causing me to cry and scream and tell my mom! Anyway, I was wondering how far the trophies go, since I never got that far in the game again. Every time you shoot 50 barons you get a golden trophy, right? Iirc, you get 5 and then you get a blinking bluish trophy. I think if you get 5 of those you got a blinking greenish one? My memory is fuzzy (22 years ago). But just how far do these go, and what colors are they? And since it's been so long, refresh my memory--since it takes 250 barons to get that first bluish trophy, does the next one come at 300th baron, or do you have to shoot 250 more? If it is the latter, did you have to actually shoot 1250 barons to get the first blinking green one? It can't have been that bad, was it? -Rob

I remember when I got my 5200 the first game I played was Pitfall II, because I was such a fan of the other versions. Man, was I in for a surprise when I found out how HARD the second quest is. I beat the first quest in about 20 minutes, probably died 2-5 times. But the second quest took me 4 or 5 hours!! It was totally rewarding to beat it though. Few games back then were beatable, let alone so much fun and depth. -Rob

Well, Bob Colbert wrote the VCS program Cheetah to use Game Geni-ish codes on VCS games, which I believe can be converted to .wav files and sent to the Supercharger, but I can't remember if it could hack roms that are .bin files and definitely not 7800 games. Then there's the ultra rare PGP-1, but that's another story! I've always wanted a true cheat device for the early Atari systems...I'm kind of surprised no one has made one yet. But yeah, can the CC2 be programmed to do that? -Rob

I do like the idea. Most of these city worker types are bureaucratic politicians that can dance the lingo of legalese at least as roughly as well as a crappy lawyer, so be prepared for opposition even in the above circumstances. This underlines our need for a real legal worker to get in on this. -Rob

What a douche. Hey, to hell with a dig. How about town records that it happened? How about these special conditions? There's SO much more the town can provide without violating any special conditions or actually digging. There's a whole lot more they can provide. Apparently, the city manager is confirming something was indeed buried there. Proof? Bah, who knows. But just the same, we are never, ever going to get further with this without a good lawyer or legal worker to dig through town records. Seriously, they aren't gonna let Joe Shmoe peek at those records without going through the proper red tape. Also, this city manager must be official and say in writing to cover his ass that there;s no way he'd allow it, but with the proper amount of cash, he may unofficially look the other way, heh heh. We may never get a dig, but a good legal worker is going to get 10x further with this than any of us. -Rob

A few years go I managed to snag for about $212 (w/ shipping) a CIB Chuckwagon, all in very good condition. She thought it didn't include instructions, but when it arrived, it had them. She didn't see them because Chuckwago instructions were printed on a single sheet, and it was wedged betwenn the internal and out layer of the cardboard box. And the best part of it all? Included was an original actual COUPON used to send out for the game. -Rob

Yep. Bump. It would be really cool if a documentary were made on this. It might be a fun project for University archaeology students...give them practice, you know? But seriously, wouldn't it be great to see a show on this that ends with a site dig and some real results? BTW, I'm sure the town has record of the exact spot to dig. With the right permits, I'd bet they'd let you dig on that spot. Any lawyers or politicians on the boards that would know the best way to approach the town about this? -Rob

For all those that think this topic has been beaten to death, there are many who are still very interested in it. If you don't like the topic, there's really no one forcing you to read or post. Though not everyone in the world who is interested in this topic is posting here, there are millions across the world who are interested, and would like to see this solved definitively, once and for all. I tend to think they outnumber the folks who would cry "dead horse." This is a topic of true historical significance, so no matter who doesn't like people talking about it, it should still be investigated until solved. What possible benefit would there be to just stopping all conversation on it? For those for this discussion, let's please carry on. For those against it, please leave those of us who are for it alone. Also, I wanted to point out that there has been far more evidence thus far to indicate the story is true than there has been to the opposite effect. To try to defame a local newspaper by saying they made up a story because they wanted to "sell papers" is bordering on slanderous, and is likely insulting to the locals. Sure, Atari could have been cheating on their taxes and just "saying" they buried this stuff (there's been plenty of evidence for other illegal activities at Atari at the time, so who knows?...Lord knows some shady people worked there at the time). But to defame a local paper in this manner without any evidence to implicate them is foolish and just shows one's willingness to needlessly remain in denial. There was an excellent idea posted before....if someone could convince the paper to ask people to come forward about the whole ordeal via a new article, it may help kill a worldwide local myth...that is truly a story for a small locality...it could very likely be important to the people who live there to get this. Just an idea, but plausible. Someone could call the editor...they love talking to people who might have a story. Another thing, why was no one diligently trying to contact the reporter? Hell, give me his/her phone number. I'll gladly try to call. -Rob

Nah. I revived it. Besides, someone woulda forgot about this ten years from now and made a new thread starting it all over again. Figured I'd start early. -Rob

Our best bet is to not let up on McQuiddy. Do not leave a message, do not send a letter. They are too easy to ignore. On top of this, she may be old enough to hav Alzheimers by now. Keep calling until someone answers. Leaving a message makes it annoying when you call back. Sure, they may have caller ID, but who cares. You work for an online international community of collectors, dammit! You're important! Call at a a different hour each day until you've covered all reasonable waking hours. Some WILL answer if you call enough. Even if they think you are a telemarketer, they'll answer to get off your call list. Keep calling, don't be shy. This is history...it must be done! There's other people from those articles to contact too. No word on any of those? Hell, I don't care, I'll call these people if you have the contact info. I'm on the phone all day at work (I work in sales...it involves some cold calling), so I'm certainly not shy about calling anyone. Lemme know a list of questions you want asked, and I'll call whoever you want. This has gone on way too long with no movement, heh heh. -Rob

Wow! Are all of Peter's maps there for the atari 8 bit computers? I really didn't recognize most of those titles, but they sure look cool...I really want to play a lot of them now... I just love maps to old games...especially those that most people have never seen a map to before (rarer maps, basically). I rememeber some time in 97 or 98 I mapped all of Pitfall out on graph paper, since in 15 years I hadn't beaten it (not even close). I wasn't sure until that very point how the caverns worked (they simply bring you 3 screens over). Once I mapped out each screen, and where the treasures were, a "best path" was easy! I always thought the problem with the game was the number of lives, but it's not...it's the time limit! It was weird, after I mapped it, I beat it in a day or two...I guess I just had a really defeatist attitude for 15 years, because I thought the game was impossible. Once I knew how to do it, I suddenly got extremely good at the game...I really don't know how else to explain it... -Rob

I received my CC2 the other day and it works great! However, I have many games that simply did not load due to not having a bank switching routine defined for them. I read the instructions as to how to get these to work, but it really was not at all clear to me. Could someone explain better how to do this? Thanks so much! -Rob