Zwackery
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2
Posts posted by Zwackery
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Well I’ve had this preordered for a few months but Amazon today helpfully tells me it’s backordered.
They need the posters to change the look of all their new Whole Foods stores.
(I also got the backordered email from Amazon today.)
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Are those DC Star Raiders and Warlords graphic novels worth the $10-15 and time to read them or will they make me sad and regretful?
I own them. I found them to be interesting. I think I only paid a couple of bucks each for mine.
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Damn liberal media screwing it all up!
E.T. really isn't bad at all, and given that he only had a little over a month, kind of an achievement in itself.
One of the important things that E.T. should be noted for was the necessity for players to read the manual, something of a rarity for those "simple" Atari games.
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I finally had a chance to go by my LCS and pick up the set of issue #0. Turns out that one of the writers, Chris Sims, lives in Durham, so the store owners had him autograph several issues and saved one for me. Plus, I got a free Fireworld cart that a local used video game store had donated as part of the writer signing event. Not too shabby! (Turns out that the store also is promoting another video game comic, Little Nightmares, based on the recent PS4 release, specifically the artist Thomas Boatwright and his variant cover versions, and as issue #1 had just come out, he was there to promote the comic and signed my copy for free and gave me a free watercolor he had done of Six, the protagonist in the game. It was a wonderful cross-over day of gaming and comics.)
Anyhow, I am curious to see where Swordquest goes as a story. Clearly the creators and Dynamite have a lot of enthusiasm for the project (and Dynamite is still heavily promoting Tim Lapetino's Art of Atari, which is great.) I felt like the setup was a bit better than what I was expecting based on reading a summary.
My LCS also has a ton of issue #0 left (at least 50 copies).
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No idea. I haven't seen a CIB NTSC one listed in years and years (over a decade maybe). Really rare stuff seems to be a bit of a rarity today in the open market.
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Any one have the t-shirt that came with MASH? It was light green with the MASH logo on the front and 20th Century Fox games on the back. I had it. Not sure what happend to it. I used to wear it all the time.
I have a loose, used one.
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In an interview in Halcyon Days: Interviews with Classic Computer and Video Game Programmers, Warren Robinett, who was working on adapting the mainframe computer game Adventure into cartridge form for Atari in the middle of 1978, claims that he was directed, by new Atari president Ray Kassar, to modify Adventure in a Superman game to tie-in with the Superman movie (released December 1978) since both the film and Atari were owned by the same parent company, Warner Communications. Robinett said that he didn’t really want to do the adaptation, and so after a few weeks, his co-worker John Dunn volunteered to take the Adventure kernel and build a Superman game around it. The Superman game by Atari was released mid-1979, and nothing in the game, supporting documentation, or the game’s marketing makes reference to the movie (the artwork for the game box and label actually uses the DC Comics version of Superman). While there is little reason to doubt Robinett’s recollections, there is no official documentation to support the claim that the Superman game was intended as an official licensing of the film. Atari’s pinball game of Superman (1979), however, was expressly marketed as a tie-in for the film.
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Zero.
I don't buy reproductions.
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Does anyone know if these games were the inspiration for the Ready Player One novel?
I'm pretty sure Cline's childhood and Wikipedia were the inspiration for the novel.
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I enjoy ReCore, although it is not without its problems. The promo at E3 last year made it look fairly promising (and the fact that it is an Xbox One exclusive was enticing), but perhaps this also increased expectations for the game that the devs didn't deliver on. I picked up the collector's edition last month when amazon.com dropped it below $50 (it's now back over $80). I will get back to playing it once I finish up Horizon Zero Dawn and then get through ME: Andromeda.
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Another free code, 14 day pass:
NQD43-3F3DM-9D69F-43GF9-HCDH4
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I am no fan of sports games, but I quite enjoyed this presentation -- it was well-written and researched!
One question -- were the earlier sports games dropped from the line-up when the RealSports games launched, or did they continue to be sold?
Ditto, when the RealSports games were subsequently replaced by newer titles?
e.g. Football -> RealSports Football -> Super Football
All the titles continued to be sold (Football, RS Football, Super Football). Compounding this are the release dates across the lifespan of the console coupled with changes in Atari ownership and overseas sales of older titles (not just international editions but also things like the grey box re-releases).
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Also it looks like there are even more variant covers including one that looks like the actual Atari 2600 box!! Yes please!
Dynamite is notorious for multiple covers to their titles. It boosts sales, sure, and they are not the only company that does this, but it has gotten out of control in the industry IMHO.
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Please navigate to: http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/imr/2017/03/25/blocky-good-atari-and-their-realsports-brand
and watch a video slideshow along with a curated note about the RealSports brand. I'd appreciate your feedback.
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Yes, it survived. A few years later my 2600 got donated to a yard sale, but I had the adapter for my Colecovision, so that was the only loss (minus the boxes for the games, those got pitched before my senior year as my family was moving to another house...sadness at those lost boxes, but they have since been replaced.)
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Yeah, Activision games were $19 ($18.95, whatever). I remember that being really cool that they were so cheap.
I actually got both Pac Man and Defender early at our local Sears. Pissed off all my friends. I thought Pac Man was so lame, I sold it to one of my teachers shortly after I got it. I think it was $30.
Not to throw shade on anyone's memories, but like a lot of companies, Activision gave the retailers a manufacturer's suggested retail price, so the consumer cost will vary by store and location. I have a copy of Pitfall! with a price tag of $24.99 on it (from Skaggs). I also have Bridge ($21.95 from Movie World), Double Dragon ($25.00 from unknown), Fishing Derby ($19.94 from Murphy's), Seaquest ($1.99 from Revco, clearly crash-priced), Skiing ($21.95 also from Movie World), Stampede ($7.88 from Nichols), and Starmaster ($24.99 from Cosco).
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And the main cover with 3 variants:
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Here's some more info on the project (from the back pages of Red Sonja #3):
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Real sports baseball is full of shit. Every time I try to throw a decent pitch, it becomes an intentional ball or gets thrown into the outfield. The AI is extreme on defense.
Quite a number of different people have noted problems with the AI in the RS titles.
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Hey fellow AAers,
I'm working up a brief piece about Atari's RealSports brand. I've been looking at the differences between Atari's early sports games and the RealSports releases, and I'd like to speak a little more to the technical side of things. Namely, how did Atari use the same hardware to produce better games through improvements in the coding of the games? Additionally, how was the refinement in coding an attempt to deliver video game experiences that were more faithful renditions of the physical sports? I'd appreciate some help articulating these differences a bit more than my basic knowledge of Atari programming can articulate.
edit/follow-up:
Please navigate to: http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/imr/2017/03/25/blocky-good-atari-and-their-realsports-brand
and watch a video slideshow along with a curated note about the RealSports brand. I'd appreciate your feedback. Thanks!
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Witnessing the mounting profits reaped from video games by Warner Communications coupled with the rise of commercially successful third party software developers, film studio Twentieth Century Fox created the subsidiary Fox Video Games (with its trademark “Games of the Century”) to enter the lucrative gaming market. While unaddressed until now, the smash success of the Atari 2600 game based on The Empire Strikes Back (1980) – a film which was distributed by Twentieth Century Fox while the game was developed and released under license by Parker Bros. – probably helped motivate the studio’s decision to review their large film catalog with an eye towards game adaptation.[1] Since game development typically takes a substantial investment of resources, Twentieth Century Fox was looking for a shortcut to getting its name into the minds of consumers, and so it struck a licensing deal with another game developer, Sirius Software, to release the games it had already developed under the Fox Video Games imprint. These first four games – Beany Bopper, Deadly Duck, Fast Eddie, and Worm War I – were not based on any Fox films, but the releases did enable Fox to promote their line of video games, including upcoming releases based on films such as 9 to 5 (1980), Alien (1979), The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Entity (1981), MegaForce (1982), Porky’s (1982), and Six Pack (1982) as well as some non-film related titles like Crypts of Chaos, Turmoil, and Tough Enough.[2] Since Twentieth Century Fox had a large selection of science fiction films in its library – some from production and others through distribution rights – and since this genre lended itself to game adaptation and strong sales much more readily than other genres, a large number releases were derived from science fiction films: The Earth Dies Screaming (1965), Fantastic Voyage (1966), Flash Gordon (1980), and SpaceMaster X-7 (1958).[3] For Crash Dive, Fox used the title of its 1943 film and concept of a submarine but with a decidedly futuristic improvement over the original WWII vessel. Revenge of the Beefsteak Tomatoes appears to be inspired by Attack of the Killer Tomatoes! (1978). A few more titles were put into development but never released, including Alligator People, Planet of the Apes, and The Entity, although these have been discovered as prototypes. Both Porky’s and M*A*S*H appear to be Fox’s only games based on films outside of science fiction despite announcements of 9 to 5 and Six Pack.[4] Interestingly, Fox licensed one of its film properties, The Towering Inferno, to US Games, which itself was a subsidiary of Quaker Oats.[5]
[1] In turn, MCA/Universal Home Video noted Twentieth Century Fox’s video game success and planned to enter the market with games based on Dracula, Frankenstein, and Jaws, but these were never developed (Stern, 103).
[2] Purchases of the early Sirius games received a catalog featuring current and upcoming releases that also included a coupon for a free MegaForce movie poster.
[3] Flash Gordon was not a Fox property but was instead controlled by Universal Studios under license from King Features Syndicate, Inc.; it is unclear how Fox solicited the license agreement from Universal.
[4] Another Fox title, Bank Heist, reputedly started as an adaptation of Bonnie & Clyde but was altered during development. An examination of the game cartridge label art strongly suggests the origin of the game.
[5] Fox also attempted to further diversify itself by releasing a trio of games whose proceeds were intended for environmental groups: Save the Whales, Dutch Elm Defender, and Attack of the Baby Seals. Only the first was actually programmed, but it was never released and no money was sent to Green Peace, the named beneficiary (atariage.com).
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I feel so conflicted ....
On the one hand, I enjoy being pandered to for geeky things. I have a Pitfall! t-shirt from Target ... I love it, even though it's a nasty 50/50 poly blend, because it looks old.
On the other hand, this isn't really a canteen, is it? Is it useful? Would you drink out of it? Is it nicer than a plastic tchotchke with a Pitfall! sticker on it?
Yes, it is a fully functional canteen: metal rim with a plastic reservoir. (I'd wash it first before drinking out of it.)
The image is not a sticker. It is printed on cloth.
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Any other Looters on the board? I know I've been an active advocate for classic gaming gear with the company, and they've included some neat stuff lately in the Gamer Crate. This month was a nice canteen to celebrate 35 years of Pitfall!
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new Humble Audiobook Bundle has some gaming related titles
in Modern Console Discussion
Posted
https://www.humblebundle.com/books/hackers-gamers-geeks-audiobooks
The first tier is $1, second is $8, and third is $15. Titles include: