The Night Phantom

No, you went to the main universe; this universe that we are trapped in is the frightening alternative.

Thanks for the news, Albert! I had fun with the earlier version and look forward to the cartridge. By the way, at one point the “Game Notes” section of AtariAge’s Skeleton entry still mentions “spiders” instead of “skeletons”.

*avoids looking at NE146’s avatar*

Atari Corp. (sold off by Warner) continued to make Atari hardware. It was later bought by JTS, which sold all its Atari assets to Hasbro—including, presumably, any hardware-related intellectual property. In turn, all of this was sold to Infogrames; so, presumably Infogrames does have whatever Atari hardware rights might still exist. However, the guts of the 2600 can be made with nonproprietary off-the-shelf parts, and I believe there was a court case between Atari and Coleco over Coleco’s Gemini that established that Atari did not have exclusive rights over making 2600-compatible systems. So, anyone should have the legal right to make a new VCS. However, marketing it as an “Atari”, a “2600”, etc. would likely step on Infogrames’ trademark rights. Just come up with an original name and you should be fine.

To my mind, popularity is more intangible than a quantity of units sold: it’s about things like enjoyment and loyalty. If we could measure those things, perhaps we’d find that the ol’ VCS is still on top after all.

Perhaps you could modify some Playaround games for the ladies—they might enjoy your vibrating joystick...

As I’ve recounted before, I once had a dream that was all numbers:

You’re right: Russ isn’t forced to use Outlook—at least, on his personal time. In fact, I bet he doesn’t. The virus-spawned e-mail messages he is inundated with are coming from other computers, many of which I am sure do have Outlook and its lousy, virus-welcoming architecture. I experience the same problem he does, and it’s the programs other people are running that contribute to the problem, not the ones I am running. Accordingly, a better car analogy would be Microsoft producing an Outlook car that occasionally spewed shrapnel at innocent bystanders, even if they wouldn’t buy a Microsoft car if it were the last automobile on Earth.

Tonight I decided to play some Space Invaders, so I hooked the VCS up to the TV, set the TV to channel 3, inserted the cartridge, plugged in a joystick, flipped the console’s power switch to “on”...and watched as Space Invaders appeared on screen for a split second before being replaced by video snow. My mind raced. Was the console broken? Was the power switch loose? Had I accidentally dislodged the power cord? And then I realized...I hadn’t even plugged the power supply in. Yet the VCS had come on, for a moment. Such is the mighty power of Atari 2600.

Going by the cart label, I wonder if it’s Aquatak. (Its label shows a whale, which might be the “fat fish”.)

I’m with AtariDude: I don’t keep a cartridge in the VCS when I’m done playing, since that would make it difficult to fit the dustcover on snugly. This afternoon I played some games, and the last was Beany Bopper. I also played E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Super Breakout, Gopher, Ms. Pac-Man, and Star Voyager. (You may now call me Admiral. ) And I played some Supercharger games: Fireball, Communist Mutants From Outer Space, and Frogger. Yay!

Poor Stan. Maybe a few slices of pizza and a good nap will cheer him up. Or a nice rousing game of Entombed or Yars’ Revenge.

I disagree. As I’ve said before: clearly the current games have more complex or realistic graphics, but I do not believe these things ipso facto constitute better graphics. Many VCS games’ graphics suit their nature and purpose exquisitely. THat phrase was also tongue in cheeck, but I also see what you're saying.. By the same token, if a VCS game really sucks, frequently its graphics reflect this explicitly.

I disagree. As I’ve said before: clearly the current games have more complex or realistic graphics, but I do not believe these things ipso facto constitute better graphics. Many VCS games’ graphics suit their nature and purpose exquisitely.

NX-01. The Excelsior, NX-2000, debuted in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (in which it was to soon undergo tests of its transwarp drive) and returned, redesignated NCC-2000, in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. (Mental imagery of the ship was also seen in the Voyager episode “Flashback”.)

I should think that, of everyone here, a person with your avatar should be in the best position to formulate an answer.

Actually, I’ve been curious...did the various Star Wars carts start commanding higher prices once the movie “special editions” (1997) and/or prequels (starting in 1999) came out or at least started getting much advance hype?

Yeah, check eBay sometime.

...Or trying to get the ark’s pedestal to rise all the way to the top.

*mind boggles at thought of 16-player Warlords or Video Olympics*

At last, a joystick just for Ms. Pac-Man!

Dude, we’ll party like it’s 1977!

Nah, Gunstar, that’s too much work. If something goes wrong with my systems or games I’ll just ask the matter replicator for a replacement...or else bypass physical artifacts entirely in favor of a complete reproduction in the holodeck.

It should be the spaceship, but I always thought it looks like a Space Invader. Perhaps the Yar’s is not the only cameo appearance in this game!