G.Whiz

They do have some good snippets once in a while. You're right about the used car salesman thing though. After a while, the articles alternatively repeat and contradict themselves, so you just don't know what to believe any more. I think that the writers who write the articles always have the best intentions, but once it is fed through the editorial system at WD it gets all slick and shiny -- and therefore suspect. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend WD to a beginner writer, as long as he/she didn't treat it like a "bible". And I always liked their interviews -- I have a classic one somewhere back from the 80s (first issue I bought I think) that features Ray Bradbury. There are not many venues today that have in-depth author interviews, and I would still pick the magazine up today if it had a feature on an interesting author. ~G

Of course it can be done semi-permanently by just moving the connections at the board (and lots of folks have made lefty sticks that way), but we were discussing the pictured stick with the added switch. There was also at least one company back in the day that made plug-in adapters to turn a normal stick into a lefty, and it wouldn't surprise me if some players also made their own. All it would take would be the proper connectors and a short length of cable with enough conductors. Another possible method would be to simply add another button to the stick, though it may be difficult to find one small enough to fit above the cable exit area. Now that you mention it, I think someone in the day came out with a joystick with two buttons so that you could use it right or left handed. The original Commodore joysticks (which used the same Atari 9-pin) simply put it in the middle, if I remember right. Sort of like an orange "space bar" so that it was easily reachable using either thumb. ~G

Sounds like an advertisement right out of Writer's Digest. So if I ever use the word in a book, it's going to be Legos because that is how I have always heard people say it. Writer's Digest: Holding writers back for more that 85 years. You know, I was just thinking about the whole branding thing in Writer's Digest the other day. Haven't read them much since the early 90's -- about the time they started printing article after article about how your short stories, etc. shouldn't say "He grabbed a Coke" but "He grabbed a cola" etc. Seemed to me at the time that is was a strange thing for a writers' magazine to promote since this obviously stifles creativity... But it just occurred to me a couple of days ago (don't know why I was thinking about it, but I was) that along with those articles came a lot of ads. And voila, there's the answer: put in a couple of articles "promoting" brand copyright and protection, and collect a bunch in revenues. Of course, I don't know if this makes me feel better or worse about Writer's Digest... ~G

Ah yes, missed that pic somehow. You can see the one wire (red? - colour blind, so I never would have been able to be an electrician, not a good one anyway) connected to the button contact. Actually, to make it a lefty, it would probably just be a a matter of reconnecting the wires to different posts. This would permanently make it a "lefty" stick, but then most left-handed people these days are permanently-so anyway... ~G

More than almost any other -- like the seven listed in the 1-7 positions? Okay, aside from the fact that almost any "top 10" list is open to ridicule, revolt, and revulsion, this seems a little too trite. Interesting concept, but it doesn't quite fly. I think a better approach would be to ask today's game developers what their influences are -- just like people ask bands who influenced them. That would get you a more accurate picture of the "biggest impacting" games. And although I'm not really an E.T. fan, I agree with other commenters here that it was not the cause of the crash... ~G

Is it possible that is switches the joystick for left-handed use? I remember some of my left-handed friends used to turn the joystick upside down -- it worked, but you had to remember to go left for right and vice-versa. Maybe the switch allowed you to play with the stick upside down, with the controls still being right side up...? ~G

The problem with this is that according to the Urban Legend no one hardly bought E.T. and those that did were returned...but we all know that is complete and utter BS. The first production run of E.Ts was about half of the number of Pac Man produced....and yet amazingly enough E.T. is one of the most common carts today. How is this possible? I know all my friends had E.T. when I was a kid, none of them returned the cart. Does anyone here remember even having a friend that returned their copy of E.T....or even a friend that didn't have a copy? Atari had such a hard time moving E.T. carts, they ordered a 2nd production run 6 months after the supposed burial. That's actually my point. The market was saturated, the production run was too high, and the stores simply set them back *as if* they had been returned defective just to get rid of them and get their money back. But I am not limiting this to just E.T. carts -- I agree that the "urban myth" part of the story focuses too much on that. This would have included all titles. The "collapse" would be like the stock market -- sales started to slow, store owners panicked and looked for a way to get rid of quickly-devaluing stock, and returned the carts by the only method available: by saying they were defective. This returning en masse created havoc within Atari about what to do with all these "worthless" carts. Store them (with all the expense involved) and hope the market bounces back? Or just dump them and get the (probably much-needed) tax write-off in a declining year? Again theory, not fact here. But a theory that fits the facts as we know them... And again, this is only part of the whole crisis. Atari was mis-managed on many levels, the business model was not flexible enough to survive in a flattening market, third-party carts and companies were on the rise and in many cases beating Atari carts, a general recession in the '80s... the list goes on. The "urban myth" in my view is the "why" of it: E.T. was not the best game (nor, for that matter, was Pac Man). It took the fall for the whole industry, and unjustly so -- or at least inaccurately so. It is like saying that Yoko Ono broke up the Beatles -- she was a symptom (if you must call her anything), not the cause. The Beatles were well on their way to imploding years before Yoko or Linda or anyone else came onto the scene. E.T. was Atari's Yoko. Someone or something had to be blamed for the collapse even though the truth was simple: "This Too Shall Pass." ~G

Another thing to keep in mind is that these would have been the cartridges that Atari had on hand. The carts that were in retailer's hands ended up in warehouses and clearance racks as (according to my understanding) it was not common practice at the time for game companies to accept the return of unsold merchandise This may be true, but I think that it is very telling the way that Atari put it at the time. It was something along the lines of "these carts were all returned defective, however once in a while a customer erroneously returned a cartridge that was not defective." In other words, stores saw they couldn't move their inventory, marked the carts as "defective" and shipped them back to Atari. That's my theory anyway, though I think it is just a part of the overall crisis... ~G

If it was an early game, the only thing I can think of is Air/Sea Battle set on the B&W option. There are two-player variations where one person is the plane and another is a battleship...? ~G

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure Atari Canada wasn't formed until the Tramiel era. Didn't Irwin Toys distribute Atari's games in Canada? Can't say who distributed the computers. And yes, I never saw a 5200 in Canada. I did, however, see both 7800 and XEGS stuff in Toy City. Well that would explain why I don't remember seeing it here -- the 7800 probably came out after my time and probably had limited distribution. All we had here really was Sears, Eaton's, Consumers' Distributing, Zellers, and the odd record store. Remember the day when record stores also sold stereo systems? They tried bringing in video games -- I saw Colecovision at A&A (I think) next to a full stereo system complete with smoke-glass cabinet on one side, and a huge poster for Peter Gabriel's "So" on the other... But Atari distribution in Canada -- that's an interesting question! I just checked my original box (Sunnyvale Heavy Sixer) and it has the Warner Company logo, as well as a line that says "Distributed in Canada by Paragon Entertainment Products" in Montreal. All my cart boxes are stashed somewhere, so I can't confirm that this was always the case, but it appears that it was in the beginning. I didn't even know there was such thing as Atari Canada. ~G

I don't remember seeing the 5200 or 7800 when I was a kid -- did they sell them in Canada? I remember the Colecovision coming out, and I know I would have remembered the new Ataris since I had it right from the start. We're kind of isolated here (especially back then) so maybe they didn't reach this city...? Still, you'd think I'd remember them from catalogues! Maybe they were like the computers, just didn't take off here... ~G

...I heard two yesterday, actually. First one was on an old episode of Never Not Funny (Episode 28?) when the gang was talking about old video games. Then the second one was on Rick Mercer last night with his Canadian Tire spoof and the Playstation 3. (Actually, that Sortastation looked pretty cool -- and it comes with a tire gauge!) Strange the way that Atari still comes up in normal, everyday conversation... ~G

Hey, what about Man Goes Down!? I know when people talk about it, they don't use the exclamation mark, but the winning cart label has it... http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?s...3689&st=175 ~G

That's two exclamation marks. The question clearly stated "an exclamation mark" -- singular. Bit of a technicality, but unfortunately it just won't fly for this contest. ~G

There you go: based on Scott Jones' description of boozing and breakdowns, you could call it "Desperate Soused Guys"... ~G

Some great ideas floating around here. I think that the biggest hinderance is the fact that the site where the cartridges are supposedly buried is now a park. Sure, you could get that ultrasound technology thing going, but all that might confirm is that there is a layer of concrete down there -- hardly unusual for a city dump. And I doubt that the city would let you strip-mine it for a treasure hunt. The second-biggest hinderance is location. The Mythbusters go on the road on occasion, but usually only in the near-vicinity. Their New York trip was the only notable exception that I know of -- and hey, that was a party weekend in New York, not the middle of the desert. On the plus side, Jamie and whats-his-face are likely gamers (or at least used to be) and were probably around in Atari's hey-day. This topic would more than likely interest them on that level, if the idea ever got past the producers and into their hands. I think that if anyone approaches Mythbusters, the request should touch on several key things: - Based on the numbers we have heard (number of trucks, amount of cement, etc.) is the "myth" possible? - Scientifically, could relic carts bulldozed, buried, and cemented for 25 years survive in a workable format? - Could ultrasound be performed to find a large amount of cement that matched the numbers mentioned above? - If so, could a "selective dig" be performed to drill in a localized area, either a core sample or a narrow well-like hole, that would do little to disturb the surrounding area but might find some helpful clues? The fact that Atari's 30th is coming up next year might tweak their interest as well. And even if not everyone has heard the myth, everyone has heard of Atari. You could also add in a dash of "how long will modern technology last" before it physically breaks down. I remember when CDs came out, nobody was really sure how long the discs would last before they deteriorated. Some said 20 years, some said never. Here's an example of a test for the physical lifespan of plastic and silicon. Ideally, it would be great for them to find the buried cache, recover some carts, and try them out on an actual system (have to be a Heavy Sixer though...!). It would be the best game of E.T. that anyone has ever played... ~G

---- Is this a difficult task to take the plastic off the mircoswitches? Problem with my 10 joysticks, is maybe 1 doesn't move to the left but all else is fine, or it was working till i took it apart. or the fire button takes, poorly... or the angles are weak etc... only one seems completley cashed... The plastic isn't attached to the switches, they just make contact with the board and press down to make the connection. There are four contacts altogether (plus one for the fire button), and diagonal movements are made when two contacts are pressed at the same time. Ingenious system, but crappy execution -- the plastic stick broke very easily. For example, for the joystick you have that doesn't move left, the left plastic contact is probably snapped or at least cracked. From my experience, no amount of glue/tape/fix-it materials of your choice will ever get it back to 100% since it really does rely on the integrity of the whole piece of plastic. But take one apart, see for yourself. You can actually test the boards themselves by plugging the stick in after you take it apart and try clicking down the domes. If everything seems to work, then you know the board is fine. (But don't click too much -- not good after a while for the stick or your thumbs.) Hope this helps. ~G

How 'bout E.T.? Seriously though, I think celebrating the 30th anniversary, you need to do a cart that came out 30 years ago. Of those that fit the bill, I think that Combat is the best representative. It came with the console, after all, and was probably the very first game that everyone played (of those who played right from the start, I mean). Do a 30th of PacMan when the time comes (if you must) as well as Space Invaders and Yar's, but for now Combat has to be the clear representative. ~G

Oh, looks like we got a troublemaker here -- right, consider yourself reported... ~G

Yeah, I went with Night Driver too. I think that this poll will be (literally) polarized between those who got an Atari early and those later on. Night Driver was one of the first driving games -- the first, I believe, from the driver's perspective -- and it did a great job with the limited graphics. Best of all, it was fun to play. I know that this is probably a poll on driver-perspective games, but for the record I think Indy 500 beats any of these three racing games hands down. But then head-to-head games usually do... ~G

Or, How many Tramiels does it take to screw up a light bulb? ~G

I played with that idea too: expanding it for more rooms, menaces, and options. (I may get around to learning how to program when I'm retired...) However, I'm not sure how easy it would be to pull it off. A big part of any game is the "balance" - right number of dragons, right size of map, right number of items, etc. In Adventure, you could be chased by two or three dragons at the same time. just by chance. Challenging, but not impossible to deal with. But if you had six dragons wandering around (for example), and all happened to attack at once, that could get frustrating. Too much frustration leads to bad game play. You could do levels as well, but that upsets the balance too. Essentially, you are creating several different Adventure games, rather than one big one -- which sort of defeats the purpose. You also get into the "accomplish this before that happens" which is popular in some games today, but again gets away from the original intent of wandering without limits. This is just a couple of examples. Adventure is perfectly balanced, which is one of the big reasons it is still popular today. It is necessarily short (due mostly of course to Atari's limitations) but to broaden its scope threatens the balance. Certainly worth the attempt though, and I'd love someone to be able to pull it off! ~G

Add one letter... OMEGA DRIVE --> VIDEO GAMER ~G

There's the Star Raider's keypad. And Activision Space Shuttle used the console switches (quite ingenious really. Almost exactly like the real thing, except the shuttle never had wood grain... And I don't think the real astronauts were allowed to use the console overlay.) ~G

I think that was the whole point, to give parents an "educational" option for their children. When computers first came out, and indeed through into the '90s, education was also pushed as a major benefit for having a computer. As a parent now, I can see what the allure would be, but what's wrong with unadulterated fun? But let's not forget too that at the time, this was very new technology that had no real precedent. Remember when the Internet came out, and all the concerns about the "evils" of wasting time in chat rooms, children accessing questionable sites, online scams, etc.? Those still exist, but there is a much more mature method to dealing with those problems rather than the head-in-the-sand approach. In the '70s people started to question the effects of TV on children in general, and a new machine that could make a kid even more addicted to TV would be seen as a possible "evil". Atari recognized this (one of the few things they actually foresaw) and met the perceived need -- much to the chagrin of millions of kids... ~G