jhd

Personally, I have literally never seen one and I was unaware of their existence until finding references online. Given that the hardware is more than 45 years old, the number of still working consoles is going to be very limited, and most of those are going to be held by harcore collectors. When I started collecting video games in the late-1980s, it was still possible (though unusual) to find Pong systems. These are of a similar vintage, albeit produced in much larger numbers, and I have not encountered one in decades.

If it was established as authentic, the price would be significantly higher!

Some of us especially value our personal privacy, so hard pass on this idea. Personally, I fully expect to be found when my neighbours eventually complain about the smell. Back on topic, my impression is that Keatah is only about in his mid-to-late-50s, so probably a bit young to have suffered a major health crisis.

There is no way to completely turn-off the screen border. It may be possible to switch it to the same colour as the screen background; have you tried a different graphics mode? It's been a really long time, but, if memory serves, PMODE 4 has two options: black and white and black and green. The Coco does not include a screensaver mode; that may be a function of the monitor.

Does anyone have an estimate as to (approximately) what it would cost to purchase a sufficiently large block of Atari stock so as to be able to challenge Wade's control of the company? Alternatively, it may be possible to buy enough stock to raise the price sufficiently that he will be unable to purchase the full 50%.

All the more reason to go and play it while you still can! There used to be an excellent Vietnamese restaurant located close to my apartment. Sadly, the owner retired and the establishment closed. I ate there many times, but I still lament the fact that I will never again taste their lemongrass chicken.

Thank-you for sharing these! Reading the review makes me think that Hobo was significantly "inspired" by Activision's Freeway and Keystone Kapers.

Are there any ICs inside? If the case can be (carefully) opened without doing any damage, one could check the date codes. This would answer if it was an original or a reproduction.

Slightly O/T, but what about buying a Jaguar console as solely an investment? Does anyone expect that prices will continue to climb into the future? It may be worth buying a console and just keeping it untouched in secure storage for a few years (or even decades). If someone is young enough, this strategy could pay-off in a big way.

There is much relevant public information available to be reviewed (e.g. city directories, company registration records), however these sources are not available online so it would require someone physically in the area to do the research.

Lots of things are safety preserved in private collections. I know that I have many things that will be made publicly available upon my death.

If the entity that owns the copyright cannot prove its ownership and/or it does not have the resources (or desire) to pursue a civil action, then there is nothing stopping someone else from using the material. It is all a question of the level of risk tolerance that a company is willing to embrace. If memory serves, Imagic is in legal limbo due to unpaid fees and taxes, and so it has no legal standing to bring a lawsuit. It may still own the copyright, but it is in no position to do anything to enforce those rights. Think of it like a person who is in jail and someone decides to loot their house while they are incarcerated. The homeowner may not be aware that this is occuring, and even if they were, they would have no ability to stop the activity. Yes, the actions are technically illegal, but there is no realistic chance of consequences, so have at it. In addition, lawsuits are expensive, and even having a good cause of action does not mean that someone will be successful. A defunct company will not (by definition) have any assets, and finding third-party funding for a copyright lawsuit with a limited chance of success is going to be a significant challenge. Someone could, for example, release a modern compilation of Mythicon games. These titles are still, technically, protected by copyright and doing so doing so would potentially expose the publisher to an action for breach of copyright. In actual practice, the chances of this happening are extremely small.

What are the games? Are there any obvious differences from the released versions? The presence of a ROM (rather than an EPROM) makes me suspect that these are nothing special. There may be some value in comparing the part numbers on the ROM chips with the "official" versions.

For what it's worth, I once had a PC with a no-name ISA joystick expansion card. (This was not a sound cart or a multifunction card; it only had a joystick port.) This thing jittered so very badly that it was almost unplayable. I tried several different joysticks and the results were the same. I attributed the problem to cheap or out-of-spec components on the card.

Thank-you for sharing the video footage. The graphics are quite impressive -- one of the best that I have seen in a Coleco game -- but the gameplay looks rather limited. Do we know if this version of the game is finished or still a Work in Progress?

Without knowing the jurisdiction where this event occurred, it is difficult to say anything definitive about the sentence. There are some other inconsistencies, however: First, I am curious why a teenager would "steal" information from a corporate computer system. What possible value would it be without mechanism to sell it to a competitor? Identity theft was not really a thing in 1984, so payroll data (name, address, SSN) would not be very useful either. There was no "dark web" on which to sell this information. Second, I find it very odd that a serving prisoner -- even in juvenile detention -- would have access to current video game magazines, much less that the prisoner would be allowed to submit a letter thereto. Lastly, here in Canada, it is very unusual for a minor to receive an adult sentence. This would require a serious act of violence like murder or multiple assaults. Computer hacking would not come even close to qualifying for an adult sentence. Theoretically the letter writer could have had a very lengthy juvenile criminal record and done a significant amount of damage to the corporation, but still the sentence seems excessively (and unrealistically) harsh. Also the phrase "chance for probation" makes no sense. Someone is sentenced to probation instead of jail. A prisoner is released on parole after serving (normally) two-thirds of its sentence. Parole and probation may place similar restrictions on an individual, but they are legally different concepts. All in all, it is my opinion that this letter is not real.

This just triggered a long-forgotten memory of my first professional job. The chairs in the office boardroom were vividly Teal! I do not know who choose them; they were there when I started ca. 2000. Our Executive Director loved the colour, but her judgement in many things was questionable. Now I wonder what happened to that furniture. Long after I left, the organization first relocated to a smaller office and then it entirely ceased to exist.

So, the value of the game has already dropped precipitously (as it it no longer unique) and it has not yet even been offered for sale... 😢

Well, some people refuse to buy from Amazon, so this is an option for them.

I have utterly no interest in buying this game, but I would love to see some gameplay video or, at least, screenshots. Given that there looks to be a production label, I wonder how many of these cartridges were produced.

Speaking as a fellow Canadian, there are effectively two options to order directly from American sources: 1) Obtain a mailing address in a nearby border town and collect the parcels yourself. (I am located about 120 KM/75 miles from the border.) 2) Use a commercial forwarding service to receive your parcels and then send them on. Obviously both of these options add expense and inconvenience, but they are the only way to order products directly from most American firms.

Is offsite storage available -- can you rent space somewhere else or store things with friends and family members? For many years I stored about 50 boxes (including books and video games) in my Parents' house and later in a rented storage unit as I was living elsewhere in the country.

The Internet Archive has cover #2: https://archive.org/details/Video_Games_Computer_Entertainment_Issue_53_June_1993

Lots of book projects are announced but never finished. The late Jerry Pournelle, for example, promoted many more forthcoming books than he ever actually released. It was amusing reading the ongoing excuses for their non-appearance on his website. There is also the late Curt Vendel's Business is War that presumably will never be finished either. Given Warren's advanced age and the fact that he is (presumably) now retired, I do not expect that this manuscript will be released. @polyex I have obviously not seen the drafts, but I assume that by "politics", Warren was referring to internal corporate machinations at Atari rather than his personal political beliefs and values. The former topic is of niche interest, but I cannot imagine that anyone cares about the latter.

I am not the target audience for this hardware -- I did not have an Atari 8-bit growing up and Altirra is adequate for my needs -- but I am very happy to see that the current incarnation of Atari is actively pursuing the retro customer.