Jump to content
Have You Played Atari Today?
2600|5200|7800|Lynx|Jaguar|Forums|Store  

Mikebloke

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content Count

    786

  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by Mikebloke

  1. Posted

    15 hours ago, orange808 said:

    Of course it isn't.  The entire narrative was invented by little children that came of age in the NES era. 

     

    The ones that played ET at the time were too young to play it (they didn't have any gaming skills) and understand it (read the instructions).  That age can vary wildly.

     

    The others played it in the NES era and "Atari suckz cuz the NES rulez and the Atari graphicz be so badz".

    This is the case with loads of things. I watched "the video game years" on amazon a year or so ago and it was fairish right until the NES came out and then it was super fanboyism. Sega games like Phantasy Star got a brief mention while vague unoriginal NES games got entire segments. The series also had a bunch of animations, 90% of which were NES themed and maybe 1 was sega. Reality is the late 2600 games were amazing given the capabilities of the system. Compare the last games to the first ones! 

    • Like 3

  2. Posted

    On 8/2/2019 at 12:39 AM, The Mr. Video said:

    Really the best option is to use a VCR hooked up to a capture card. But another method (which is the one I use) is to use a DVD recorder and a couple of DVD-RWs.

    Pretty much this. There is some USB tuner devices for picking up analogue signals but the one I bought stopped working after awhile. It was a big shame as it was a single device that captured RF consoles. 

     

    Now I use my old method : RF to VCR, scart from VCR to hdmi adapter. Hdmi to capture card. Unfortunately this gives a less than true picture as its upscaled, but it doesn't make a lot of difference for most people. I still plug in direct to TV when playing casually, but this is what I do for footage capturing. 

    • Thanks 1

  4. Posted

    2 hours ago, Ashevent said:

     

    I don't understand why such an obscure system that what..5 of us collect for?..lol. still holds such high prices for a few carts as well. I'm 3 away from the whole library and i'm saddened to realize i'll never finish the first consoles library I had as a child. I've seen high numbered carts on eBay for YEARS, way to high priced, never sell and...the vendors just keep them on at inflated prices.oh well hopefully one day. 

    Are we all looking for slot machine, poker and checkers??? :D

  5. Posted

    On 8/4/2019 at 5:45 AM, jefframsey said:

    I am thinking about configuring mine with the top level folders like Originals, Homebrews, Starpath, Prototypes, etc. and then alphabetical folders inside of those folders.  Thoughts?

    Nice, another UNO user! I also have Development for my own coding tests, though I'm still pretty new into it.

     

    Under Homebrew I like to split it further:

     

    Demakes (games from newer or "better" consoles such as Zippy and Princess Rescue)

    Hacks (revisions of existing games such as Adventure edits)

    Arcade (ports like "Gotcha")

    Original (new games)

     

    My prototypes is usually a mess of a folder because I don't really touch them that often, so its just loose.

  6. Posted

    Sorry, this is probably more for @e5frog I had a few questions.

     

    1) Is the wiki editable by anyone other than yourself? I imagine its probably protected for a reason, which I totally understand!

    2) There is a number of example code in the wiki, which has been immensely helpful - when it can be made easily working. I am attempting to try Full Screen Picture but I'm finding I'm missing some included files that the code references. I've scoured the wiki to find some of the code, and I think I've found what is intended to be multiblit.inc and picture-palette.inc but I'm missing code for blue, red, green and multicolor .inc files.

    3) There is a number of difficult areas in the wiki to understand which code / programs is used for what, for example some is intended for dasm, some for F8tool, etc - some links is now broken too - I'm happy to try and help with some of this reformatting if that would be helpful.

  7. Posted

    On 7/26/2019 at 1:22 AM, atari2600land said:

    Just got backgammon in the mail today. It's a great version of it. My grandpa taught me how to play backgammon, so I knew what to do. If only I could play against the computer. Or if Grandpa was still alive. We still have his actual backgammon set. It's in the den closet. And with that game now added, I need a bigger box to store my games in.

    Backgammon has been one of those games I just never understood. I actually have it on a number of consoles now, including the Videopac and the CD-i, but which one was it that actually helped me learn the rules? Yep, the Fairchild Channel F version! I don't know why but my mind was always so fixed on the triangles of the board and I could never understand the significance. The fairchild version it is simply lines, and ironically that was all I needed to understand it.

     

    I recently started reading some articles on Jerry Lawson so I'd be interested in anything else Fairchild Channel F related. Was there ever much information on Zircon when they took over sales and technical issues? I find that tends to be a bit of a dead zone of information too (I've seen some of the promotional material during the transition, but that's it).

  8. Posted

    I'd be interested in any retro coding streams but I might not be around when its live due to time differences / work / vermin (children).

     

    I would do it myself but I'm not competent enough yet in anything homebrew related.

  9. Posted · Edited by Mikebloke

    Nevermind, I worked out that if I downloaded regular mess from http://www.progettosnaps.net/mess/ and ensured the channelf cfg file was in the directory it just seemed to work if I loaded that first then selected the rom in the media folder.

     

    I feel like the controller style in 68 is better if intended for a real channel f controller, I don't feel like on a PC keyboard there is much difference between the two, but holding the button down on a real controller will feel more comfortable.

  10. Posted

    On 7/9/2019 at 6:55 AM, atari2600land said:

    Where do I put the BIOS files?

    EDIT: Never mind. Got it running.

    How did you get it running under a new mess / mame setup? I've been trying for half an hour and I haven't got a clue how to get a game working on either of them.

  12. Posted

    Update: I've now figured out how to do a basic read of key presses. I've tested this by making several playfields and then setting it depending on key pressed. I've included the file for running in an emulator.

    This merges my knowledge from looking up pacman_10 and also test_controls and merging them. This is actually the first time I've coded the assembly lines myself predicting what it would actually do (and it working!) so I'm super happy with myself.

     

    I use Mess to test these files out and play much better homebrew games.

    To try what I've done load up the file in your emulator, then hold console keys 1 or 2 (in my mess this is 1 and z) to see the different playfields.

    My next goal is to save this as a variable so you don't have to hold down the key, I can then tidy some of my code up and work on actual gameplay.

    counting.bin

  13. Posted

    I got to hand it to them, although these things will never have everything we want (ie, all the games) its still reasonably impressive. From the disappointing PS1 mini this one actually has some promise, yes its probably more niche, at least here in Europe but its genuinely the first one I'm tempted to buy [brand new].

    • Like 1

  15. Posted

    8 hours ago, zezba9000 said:

    Its pretty sad these aren't being made anymore. Really wish packrat could make them.

    If you only care about games and not development there is the C7061: http://packratvg.com/o2c7061.html

    Doesn't support custom games though.

    Unfortunately for me it is more for development / homebrew purposes, I only need 45: Morse in the UK releases now, got everything else :( If I ever get too much money to throw around I might get one of the multicarts, but for now I'm good.

  17. Posted · Edited by Mikebloke

    Shame about the democart bids. I am extremely nervous these days about bidding anywhere before the end on anything rare, though I assure you I will never be bidding that much on a cart like that so I'll never be in competition! The democarts is an interesting item and would love them, but I'm not prepared to pay the price of an entire complete commercial collection for it. 

  18. Posted · Edited by Mikebloke

    I think we're ready to get past the "retro or modern" labelling, previous poster has tried to split it into categories, I think something a little more broad reaching and long lasting could be something like this:

     

    Antique: Early pinball, redemption games, pre-WW2 arcade games etc. While not video games as such, and certainly not home systems they represent anything that is considerably rare and old enough to be a specialist purchase. You probably have to go to an expert to get these restored/repaired - or be a strong enthusiast yourself.

    Vintage: Electromechanical arcade machines in the 60's and 70's, and anything that uses RF signal. My logic is this: As a child I knew about tuning in stations to get systems to work, it was just something I needed to do to get it to work, kids these days don't need this, they'd have to have "special" knowledge to get a system working. Vintage systems and machines is not the purchase of the casual user, if you are buying this kind of stuff, you want to keep / play it out of a genuine interest or collection building.

    Retro: My logic for using this word is below. This is for the NES, Master System, Mega Drive, SNES, PS1 and the Turbografx - these have (or about to have) mini/classic versions which is intended as nostalgia. Most people who buy the original consoles too at this point do it for nostalgia (I've sold plenty of consoles to people who aren't collectors, but rather people around my age who wants to play the old games again in the way they remember). Although Saturn / N64 doesn't have classic versions, I think they still fit into this category.

    Pre-Modern: I find it hard to label what PS2 and Dreamcast should be in, its a common problem I think so this category is for them.

    Modern: Last gen and current gen, PS3 and 360 still have some services so I think they should be still counted in this.

     

    My logic on the wording is this:

     

    Antique: Usually left for things that is a 100 years old, its not always so strictly applied. Video games is not 100 years old yet, but early arcade and pinball machines are - and they exist as precursors to the home systems. On wikipedia it is described as: "is an item perceived as having value because of its aesthetic or historical significance" and " is usually an item that is collected or desirable because of its age, beauty, rarity, condition, utility, personal emotional connection, and/or other unique features. It is an object that represents a previous era or time period in human history."

     

    Vintage: Immediately after wikipedia's definition of antique it has: "Vintage and collectible are used to describe items that are old, but do not meet the 100-year criteria.". The use of the word vintage for objects is relatively modern, and there is debate about how old something should be before it classifies. Most say at least 20 years, which would easily match the kind of consoles that I included. I think Vintage also helps to suggest that there is some degree of interest / knowledge that is now deemed specialised. Remember, we're all getting older!

     

    Retro: The use of the word retro now has many uses, but in most other forms outside video games retro usually means a quite specific style, or use. I think we need to get out of the use of the word retro to mean a broad range of non-modern games as there is certainly a variety and history we can now explore. Retro in the designer / interior world tends to mean anything from 1950's to 1980's, but its more than that - its the idea of it being functional and chosen by design in a modern period. Take the guy in the UK who lives in the 1940s styled house and hosts school trips - he lives retro despite the fact he could clearly have a flatscreen tv, a microwave and wifi. He chooses not to. Similarly, nostalgia is flooding the market with mini/classic machines. This isn't particularly for the collector or enthusiast, we feel its too limited with "only" 20-40-60-100 games, but rather for the casual players or prior gamers who say things like "oh man do you remember sonic the hedgehog!!!".

     

    Pre-Modern: Ahaha, I think this is pretty much the "whatever is left" category. I think I too struggled with the PS2 period, it was quite instrumental time for the gaming industry, not just the PS2 but the other consoles too. Dreamcast had functional internet use, PS2 had DVD playback, X Box had... whatever it had and Gamecube had loads of accessories. I think Wii probably fits here too now, as its services is now completely dead.

     

    Modern: The average user has these, they double up as home entertainment machines. In fact, like mine, they are probably used MORE for watching TV than playing games. PS3 is a cheap blu ray player, X Box One's is for kids playing fortnite, which ever console you have, you or someone else in the house probably use YouTube or amazon or netflix on it.

  19. Posted

    I have a ps3 and xbox 360. Ps3 I do have some nice games on, but it's mostly for playing ps1 games. 360 was mostly for twitch, now broke. BBCi player, now broke. Amazon prime, working just if you favourite on a pc first and Netflix, which still seems to update its look and work most of the time. 

     

    I have played a considerably little amount on 360, its a dvd player (yep, don't tend to buy blu rays yet) which also gets on Netflix. My wii got used for the news, weather and browser now and then, wii u is more for gaming. 

     

    I've avoided ps4 and xbox one completely, and now with a new gen out next year I don't see the point in upgrading. This means I've completely skipped a generation. Why? Because except for a few ps4 exclusives I cry a little about pc often has the games even if it's delayed, but I can soup up the graphics even on my aging laptop. I'm starting to now hit "medium" settings in games so I'll be due a new computer soon, but again it's an question of console or laptop and I'll probably go for laptop. 

     

    The cdtv, cdi, 3DO and the other 32 bit consoles that tried cd playback, I think that's what the ps3 and 360 generation perfected, the home entertainment machine. Until I no longer turn it on, there is no reason to upgrade. Other people will want to keep up with the latest stuff and that is fine with me, but I'm happy to slow down. 

     

    Also, the ps3 360 and wii generation is only just coming to a close, in fact I think ps3 has died first with just fifa and just dance available now for the others, but this was what, 2005 the start of the generation? It's a stretch to say the mega drive is still "current" but the previous generation (ps3, 360) has had a long run. 

  22. Posted

    Hi there, I was trying to work out controller inputs for my own game when this came up. I've given it ago and first playthrough seems to work fine.

     

    On the second though (no console reset) I got to hole 4 and then "bumped" into an object here. I think its registering as a sandtrap as its going slower and giving me the "oh no" sound.

     

    I have uploaded a screenshot and a rough area (its probably a square!) which seemed to be registering as a sandtrap

    hole 4 playthrough 2.png

  23. Posted

    3 hours ago, atari2600land said:

    I added sandtraps in the engine. In this version, you'll start on hole 10 (but it says hole #2) with a sandtrap to test with.

     

    golf44.bin 8 kB · 0 downloads

    I think this can work, the slowed down power meter is good, I'm still thinking if it goes half the distance when you hit the ball while in a sandtrap that would give you the feel of it being in a bunker but it'll be interesting to hear what other people think.

  25. Posted

    7 hours ago, atari2600land said:

    My first attempt at an ending song. Let me know what you think. At the title screen, if you press fire in this version, it will go straight to the ending screen with a score of 00.

    golf43.bin 8 kB · 0 downloads

    My uneducated ear says its good. I did wonder when it first goes high then drops low whether it sounded a bit off tune, but when I let it repeat a few times I don't think it grated on me at all.

     

    For 9 more holes, sand dunes in grey which halves the output of the power meter? I assume the power meter would still go to full (maybe half speed?) but go half the distance when released if you start on the sand dune to represent having to chip it out of sand.

     

    (you can tell I have no clue how golf works)

AtariAge
Forums
Store
General
Follow AtariAge

Copyright ©1998-2021 AtariAge

×
×
  • Create New...