Preserving thousands of Flash games

[Preserving thousands of Flash games]

Back around 2000, I remember downloading several remakes of classic arcade games in Flash -- they are long gone, but I fondly recall playing them. Titles included Missile Command and Frogger.

[Kinect is back...tiny, $400 and only for PC]

I remember a while back seeing an interactive table for a restaurant. It was a touch sensitive display that could do things like show the menu and videos and games and such while you were waiting, but it'd also do things like signal the wait staff or you could just lay your credit card on a spot next to the image of the receipt and it would scan the card and process your payment. It seemed that they had thought of a lot of things for it to do as a table. But then I never saw anything about it again. It was something that seemed really cool, that had an application, but never was actually used (probably high cost). I'm pretty sure it was a Microsoft thing. Where's that?

 

I remember seeing something like that too, but only once. I don't remember the name of the establishment, only that it was in Bangor, Maine (and the food was not great, so we never ate there again).

[Retro collecting 20 years from now]

Just like how today is full of retro fanatics who prefer using flash carts & ROMs, future collectors will simply grab patches from other fans.

 

Many years ago, I bought a boxed copy of Daggerfall at a thrift shop. The previous owner had downloaded various patches and updates to a floppy disk, which was included in the box (together with the original CD, of course).

 

Now, there were some subsequent patches that I needed to download, but the idea was very sound.

[Donkey Kong Spinoff and Inspired games]

It is rather obscure, but Canyon Climber for the Coco is very definitely inspired by Donkey Kong.

[New Atari Console that Ataribox?]

So does anyone have reliable documentation on what Arcade licences these French trademark trolls actually have rights to? I know their position is to defend their rights even where they have none, but I thought the arcade titles was all a separate division spun off long before their holding company schlubs had any involvement. Was Tempest, Asteroids and Centipede different from the others? Best I can tell is they "may" retain rights to those 3 plus Breakout, Pong (Stolen from Magnavox and later settled), Warlords, Night Driver, and possibly Lunar Lander, Fire Truck, Missile Command, Black Widow, and Space Duel. If you asked them, I'm sure they'd tell you all that and more, then let you pay them to license them.

 

I do not have the citation handy, but BITD, Universal Studios managed to collect license fees from Coleco (and some other parties) for use of King Kong imagery in the Donkey Kong video games. Someone eventually contested this, and the Court held that the license agreement was invalid (as there was no copyright issue). I do not recall if Universal had to then repay the fees they had received.

 

My point is that a firm collecting license fees from intellectual property that it does not actually own has a long (if not honorable) history in the video game industry!

[What's The Deal With Gaplus?]

Did Gaplus receive wide distribution?

 

I was an avid teenage arcade-goer in the mid-1980s, yet I never saw it. I did play Galaxian and Galaga (at multiple places).

[Atari Art and Copyright]

I wonder why someone would want to buy the rights to Math Gran Prix. Odd

 

Was it sold separately, or as part of a larger bundle of properties?

 

I could see it being sold as part of a larger lot of more desirable IP (though paring it with Lynx games makes little sense, too).

[Was anyone here still playing PONG in the early 80s or later?]

I vaguely recall seeing a huge pile of the Radio Shack TV Scoreboards in the local store; this would have been ca. 1977. That said, the first video game system that my family bought was a 2600 in about 1981.

 

Around 1990, I saw (and purchased) two Pong systems at local garage/rummage sales for about $1 each. Both worked, but based on the amount of dust, tangled cables, etc., they had been in storage for a long time.

 

I do not recall ever having seen any in action (store demos or at a friend's house) before I bought mine.

[Article on French Classic Computer Collectors]

Other than the very occasional random items as part of a larger exhibit, Canadian museums generally* do not place much emphasis on old games and/or computer hardware. I do not know if that is due to lack of interest from curators, lack of artifacts in the collection, or some other cause.

 

I am interested to hear the perspective from Europe.

 

*I am speaking here of the major, Provincial institutions (e.g. New Brunswick Museum, Royal British Columbia Museum). The Canadian Museum of Science and Technology is obviously an exception. The now-closed (defunct?) Personal Computer Museum in Ontario was more of a private collection than a public facility, so I would not count it either.

[Article on French Classic Computer Collectors]

This article is rather more academic. Despite the title, there is no real discussion of museums; it is mainly about collectors and their attitudes. As a case study, it examines French (in France) collectors of classic computer hardware.

 

Vinyl Records and Old Computers as Material Culture: Perspectives on Collecting and Donations to Museums

Material Cultural Review Volume 80/81 (2014/2015)

[New Atari Console that Ataribox?]

Even if they did commit some environmental crime, this is not the same company. It's a French company which bought the name & from Hasbro, who bought the name from JTS, who merged with Atari Corp, who bought the name from Warner Communications. Chances are the trademark's current owners aren't responsible for any cleanup, & if they are good luck proving it in court with so many ownership changes.

 

Yep. While I do not know the specific law in whatever State we are concerned with, the general rule is that remediating environmental issues are the responsibility of the current landowner. That is why reasonable purchasers will check the history of a site before purchasing it. The current incarnation of Atari has nothing to worry about from the 1980s.

[White Case 2600 Jr. Found....]

Is there any information on the bottom of the case? That would be the first place to look for a label (either prototype or production).

 

I would also be curious as to how it arrived at the museum -- was it donated directly by an ex-Atari staffer or did someone find it at a garage sale? Provenance is important with documenting objects.

 

Lastly, what board revision is inside the case, and what are the dates on the chips? This would give at least an approximate date for when it was created.

[OnLive Streaming game console]

When I purged much of my collection last year, obviously all of my microconsoles went out,

 

Now that the supporting infrastructure is long-gone, is the hardware still usable at all?

[Earliest Mention of 1981 Atari 2600 Games in Newspapers]

I see that there are many advertisements from small retailers in small communities (rather than National or Regional chains).

 

Were the new games available nationally at the same time, or were they first available in larger centres before trickling down to smaller retailers?

 

I love that Allan's Jewelry & Loan Co. was selling "preowned" games as early as 1981. I wonder how large the selection was.

[Arcade conversion Rom Hacks?]

What I am wondering is are there any arcade rom hacks that can turn a 2600 into a home arcade and if someone wired up a coin mech would accept coin credits? I had the idea that home consoles can be arcades in their own right given arcade sticks a cabinet and monitor and given flash carts you can cycle between games without having to switch out any cartridges.

 

So, an Atari version of the NES Playchoice-10 system.

 

Some of the demo kiosks provide for time-limited play, so I would suggest starting with that hardware, and then adding a coin mech (presumably tied to the Game Reset switch).

 

Do you expect that a 2600-based game system will actually generate meaningful revenue?

 

You may also want to think about licensing issues. IP holders may not take kindly to using their games (homebrew or commercial releases) for this purpose.

[New to me Atari works then dosen't]

Did you check the solder around the joystick ports? It appears that a joint may be cracked and/or making an intermittent connection.

 

One of the first Atari 2600 consoles that I purchased had a similar problem with the power jack. It took me all of 5 minutes to fix.

 

I have no suggestions about the video issues.

[Bottom line for PS1 Classic?]

Is Wal-Mart internally consistent on prices? In other words, is it worth the effort to try a different store elsewhere in the city in hopes of landing a lower price?

 

To answer my own question, I made the long trek to a different Wal-Mart store yesterday.

 

There was a significant price difference -- the PlayStation Classic there was priced about $50 higher at Cdn$126! (US$95)

[Compute! Magazines.]

Speaking of type-ins, did Creative Computing also typically translate readers' programs to multiple formats like COMPUTE! did and apparently Family Computing also did?

 

I don't recall Creative Computing ever having done this -- of course that magazine was less focused on publishing program listings than was COMPUTE! (at least based on the issues I have seen). I do recall that as a Coco owner, I was frustrated by the amount of Apple II listings (and the almost complete lack of relevant content more broadly).

 

While it was a very niche publication, TRS-80 Microcomputer News had an interesting approach. It was not uncommon for the readers themselves to rewrite/translate/port programs and the magazine to then republish them. So, a game listing may appear for the Coco in January, and then the adapted Model III version would be published in May.

[Sega Mark III manual]

Have you tried searching for the title in other languages (e.g. Japanese)?

 

I'm not being sarcastic -- if the console was never released in Europe or North America, I would doubt that an English-language manual was ever produced.

[Emulation and Preservation: Beyond Games]

While most readers of AtariAge are interested in emulation so that we can play old games, it can also be used for recovering and migrating data.

Digital Archaeology and/or Forensics: Working with Floppy Disks from the 1980s

 

The case studies covered in this article include the Atari 8-bit, Apple II, and even IBM p-System disk formats.

[Bottom line for PS1 Classic?]

Some of the included titles interest me, but mostly I think that it is an interesting-looking collectible piece. Cdn$50 is my price point.

 

I won't be going to the GTA this year, so I will just have to wait for my local store management to get tired of seeing the piles of unsold stock.

 

Is Wal-Mart internally consistent on prices? In other words, is it worth the effort to try a different store elsewhere in the city in hopes of landing a lower price?

[Sega games.]

I also had the Sega Smash Pack series. This was my very first exposure to Genesis games as I never had the console.

 

Shining Force is included in this collection, but (as far as I am aware) it did not get re-released on modern hardware until the PS 3. (Unlike the Phantasy Star series, it was not included in the Genesis compilations on the PS 2.)

[Bottom line for PS1 Classic?]

Where are they all being sold for $50 CDN? That is a price I might bite at just for the controllers. I checked Walmart Canada and they are sold out online

 

As of yesterday afternoon, my local Wal-Mart had many, many units sitting on the shelf, but they were still priced about at about Cdn$76.

 

I too would buy one for Cdn$50, if only I knew where...

[Your first video game played ? owned ?]

The first game that I can ever recall seeing was a cocktail Space Invaders. It was at a pizza place somewhere near Cavendish, Price Edward Island, probably June or July 1979. I watched others play while we waited for our take-out order.

 

The very first arcade that I ever played was probably also Space Invaders; I can clearly remember playing one in a convenience store in Saint John, New Brunswick later that same year. It was just B&W; it dd not have the screen overlay.

 

In Spring 1981, my Father bought me an Atari 2600 with Asteroids (the second pack-in) and Donkey Kong; Asteroids was the first game that I played on it.

 

In June 1983, I sold the 2600 and purchased a Coco. The pack-in game was supposed to be Color Cubes, but the store was sold-out, so I picked Wildcatting. (This is more simulation than game, but still...)

[Sports games... worth collecting ?]

I am not a completest collector, so I have no interest in purchasing sports games at any price. The only exception that I make is the occasional hockey game. I have one or two for each of the PlayStation and PS 2.

 

As others have noted, the thrift shops are full of sports games, Wii Fit, and (around here, at least) music games -- frequently multiple copies of each title.