Fort Apocalypse

This is the most incredible conversion I've ever seen in my entire life! There are no words available to express how cool this is! Now if we could only send it back it time...

http://a2central.com/?p=1611 Unbelievable. I thought it was a fine game, but who would have thought this would have been ported?

I'm guessing no one remembers the game with the cowboys that you had to wait for a very obvious glimmer (flash) in their eye before shooting them. Anyone know another forum/site where someone might know?

Some neat stuff here: http://www.recycledgaming.com/

I found some MOPPETT roms, and at least some of them (maybe all, if you can find the roms) are emulated (although not perfectly iirc). I had the same thought that they might be good for children, but turned out that I was wrong-- at least, despite my memory of once playing Noah's Ark years ago and it being "OK", I played it in an emulator and it sucked, and I'm pretty sure that even a 4 yr old would say it sucked. However, I'd recommend Ms. Pacman (maybe adjust the speed) and DigDug. And if you don't have a setup that is mega-easy to use, they are probably less likely to play it.

Hmm. Maybe not. American Laser Games had a few different laserdisc shooting games like that: * Mad Dog McCree (1990) * Mad Dog 2 (1992) * Fast Draw Showdown (1994) * The Last Bounty Hunter (1994) * Shootout at Old Tuscon (1994) However, I don't know which one had the "whites of their eyes" and used a large open projection screen. From looking at the youtube videos, I don't see any of them in which you had to first see the whites of their eyes (a really obvious glimmer of light that flashed from their face) on an old large projection screen before you could shoot them. Anyone know which one I'm talking about?

I think I may have found it, but I'm not sure. Is it Shootout at Old Tuscon? I could have sworn that it was not a cabinet game, but was a larger projection screen game (where the projector was in the front and you stood behind the thing and shot at a screen that was 3-4 ft away from you. Maybe it was a prototype? I can't find any pictures of the prototype. Also I didn't find any references to "shoot when you see the whites of their eyes".

Hey, I just had this memory from an arcade game I played in the early 80s (I think). (Edit: may have been late 80s) I remember it being an arcade game that was a shooter with a lightgun where the player had to shoot at (at least from what I remember) a projection screen. Basically it was a shootout in the wild west where you'd have to wait for the whites of their eyes (which looked like a flash in the eyes of the cowboy bad guy you were shooting at before you were allowed to shoot him). I would've thought it was a laserdisc game, but I don't remember seeing it in a list of any laserdisc games I've ever seen. It wasn't a cartoon (so it wasn't Badlands). It was live-action, somewhat like a movie filmed in the 70s/80s version of the old west. It was a fairly large game too iirc (as you'd expect from something with a projection screen). I remember being fairly nervous because you had to wait for the flash in their eyes and then shoot, and usually I'd get shot first. Anyone remember this game or remember the name of this game or anything about it?

Check this out!

As reported on: http://www.retrothing.com/2008/10/wicked-diy-arca.html A bartop MAME cabinet for, get this, $149.99!!! http://www.mameroom.com/ProductDetail.asp?ID=UABARTOPKIT Sweet!

That's like asking if a 2600 clone can be released legally. And we all know the answer to that one. The biggest hurdle would be acquiring the rights to ROMs. Potentially ROMs could be licensed from third parties like Activision. (Who, as I recall, owns much of the GOOD third party library including IMagic's titles.) Perhaps Activision would be interested in funding the FB portable project? Would it then only have Activision brand games on it then? Not that that's horrible. How many Activision titles were released for the 2600? They could more than likely all be built in, right? The problem I imagine would be that it would just be like the FB2 except without the Atari or 2600 name and with fewer games since the licensing costs for Activision games would be higher (even if Activision Blizzard were to sponsor it). That's just a guess though. I know that Activition and Jakks got together a few years back, so there could also be some existing contract that A/B has with Jakks that might keep them from doing that. I think just having the unit with some homebrew games, a few major titles thrown in if cheap enough, then sell other titles via a site where you could buy games legally or download new homebrew games (for free or for minimal cost), as well as easily register as a new developer and upload titles, then you might have something interesting. Add the ability for it to play Atari 7800 games and Atari 400/800/5200 games and you could snatch up that untouched market as well.

Hopefully, they'll release the FB portable without Atari's blessing. It would be nice to have the Atari logo on it, but it's not really necessary. Can that even be done legally? The 2600 is off the shelf parts except for the TIA, and that patent expired around 10 years ago. The TIA was covered under patent 4,112,422 "Method and apparatus for generating moving objects on a video display screen" filed by Steve Mayer and Ronald Milner on December 13, 1976 and granted September 5, 1978. So yes, anyone can do a 2600 clone legally. You just can't use the Atari or the 2600 brand names, and you have the issue Jbanes brought up on licensing. That was a big deal with the Flashback2 and why there were only the 2 licensed titles on there, as each license adds cost to the unit. And in this case, without Atari's backing *every* title would be licensed then. In theory then a company such as L.E. with the know-how and experience in such matters might be to create a 2600 clone with joysticks and paddles, include a bunch of homebrew 2600 games that had minimal/no licensing costs and allow new games to be loadable via USB/memory card? Then if there were a site (hosted by said company or an affiliate) that provided an easy way for users to download new games and homebrew developers to upload new games (for free with only a developer agreement to agree to before being able to upload new games), and developer tools were offered via that site with documentation to make it easy to develop new games... Is the issue just $? If you needed additional resources, I'd bet you could scrounge some up in the forums, etc. (For example, I could do some volunteer dev work if needed, and I'm sure there are a ton of game developers that would assist.) I might understand that there could be some fear of not being enough interest in such a product to justify putting your neck out on it, but considering that I'd bet a lot of the hard work has already been done or platform, the major two factors to worry about would be (1) would people buy into an open game development 2600 platform since the technology is so old (although the flipside is that bB-like development could make it much easier) (2) are people to budget conscious to buy in.

George Finstad and Joan Watson from CBC-TV's Marketplace to help you select the best video game unit for the 1976 holiday season: http://www.retrothing.com/2008/10/cbc-tv-hot-vide.html

From the iKit product presentation. Also here is a picture of "trendy seniors".

Specifications Processor Marvell PXA270 312MHz Operating System Linux 2.4.19 User Interface GUI : Proprietary plus Trolltech QT/E 2.3.8 Display Icons / Indicators - Battery signal strength - WiFi active/inactive/level - Bluetooth® active/inactive - Date & time Home screen: 8 icons - Email, launches Email application - IM launches Instant Messaging application - Web browser, launches browser application - Contacts, launches A-Z listing contacts - Multimedia, open 2nd level icon screen with - icons for, Video player, Music Player, File manager - Wireless, open 2nd level icon screen with icons for - BT, WiFi - iKIT, open 2nd level icon screen for Display settings, - Date & Time, Sound settings - Utilities, Open 2nd level icon screen with icons - for PC Sync Keypad - QWERTY/AZERTY + numeric keys, other - languages optional - 2 soft keys, 5 quick access keys, multi directional - key, power on/off key, volume up/down key - Backlight: White Speaker - 16 mm built-in, monophonic Memory Internal - ROM : 128 MB, RAM : 64 MB SDRAM - User data : 12MB, User media files : 23MB Memory External - Micro SD (up to 8GB) Display - 2.8 inch QVGA, TFT, 260 000 colors, landscape Camera - 0.3 MP fixed focus camera (Option) - Viewfinder: 15 fps, 16-bit color depth - Image format: JPEG, fine and standard - compression, user selectable - Digital zoom: Up to 3X smooth digital zoom with - 7 steps - Effects: Color, black & white, negative, sepia - Capture time: less than 2 seconds to return to - viewfinder mode after shuttered Vibrator - Built-in for use as an alert Dimensions - 95 mm (L) x 65 mm (W) x 15.5 mm (H) Weight - 113 g (with battery) Form factor - Clamshell Connectivity - Bluetooth® 2.0 with EDR, supports wireless - stereo headset - (A2DP) & DUN profile - WIFI® IEEE 802.11 b/g Connector - Mini-USB 1.1 used for charging, PC data exchange - and wired stereo headset. Browser - Web browser Opera Mini 4.1 Java - JTWI / JSR75 compliant Email Protocols - POP3 / IMAP / SMTP Instant Messaging - Support MSN Audio Formats - MIDI, WAV and MP3 Image Formats - JPG, BMP, GIF and PNG Video Formats - 3GP, MP4 and AVI format, Maximum size - QVGA - 25 fps video playback for QVGA size video - clips - Support full-screen display Contact List - Maximum 2 000 records Calendar - Maximum 1 000 events PC Sync - With Outlook 2000/2003 & Outlook Express v6 - (emails, contacts, calendar) Personal Features - Calculator - Media folder - Notepad - World clock - Alarm clock - Stop Watch - Countdown Timer Battery - 1050 mAh, Li-ion - Standby Time; up to 250h - Power-up Time; up to 3h (25% data download - per hour) - Gaming Time; up to 4h (java game) - Charging time: 2.5-3.5 hr to full charge from flat - with device power off Colors - Velvet Black, Satin White – other colours available - to order Box Contents - iKIT - Battery - Mini USB / USB cable - USB stereo earpiece - Charger - User guide and CD

IMOVIO iKit £99/€130/~$170-175? USD available Q1 99 http://www.comsciences.com/product.htm http://blogs.computerworld.com/call_it_a_s...as_a_cell_phone Possible gaming device, although not much there for controls except the keyboard.

I can't wait to use these with Stella! I know they're hardware and already have a topic, but I feel like a lot of folks don't see stuff in the hardware forum (I would've missed it): http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?s...1503&st=150 Buy them new for cheap <$15 USD here: http://www.legacyengineer.com/store.html ClassicGaming.com post where I first saw it here: http://classicgaming.gamespy.com/fullstory.php?id=154421 Digg here: http://digg.com/hardware/Hackable_Atari_26...le_USB_Joystick Slashdot vote here: http://slashdot.org/firehose.pl?op=view&id=1309157

Where else can the good word be spread? Did anybody Digg it yet? Consider it "dug": http://digg.com/hardware/Hackable_Atari_26...le_USB_Joystick Please digg. And keep on digging until you hit China.

Where else can the good word be spread?

Curt, you should update the top post to indicate the URL where people can buy it, as I'm not sure that everyone saw the link. Also, would it also make sense to offer it through ThinkGeek http://www.thinkgeek.com/index.shtml or Amazon http://www.amazon.com/gp/seller/sell-your-stuff.html ?

Please vote for this slashdot article about the joystick: http://slashdot.org/firehose.pl?op=view&id=1309157

If things move along nicely and the gods smile down upon us, we might end up getting a new Atari 2600 clone or an Atari 7800 clone and paddles to go along with it, so what you're asking for may not be necessary. That would be so awesome! Maybe the money from these joysticks will help fund that since Atari seems overly focused on new games, when classic games are a much better strategy for a struggling world economy that could use some cheap already produced sentimental classics.

Wow!!! Not very fast compared to other boards, but the size and featureset is awesome! Would just need a transformer that had a USB plugin to avoid using batteries or requiring another USB device to power it. I wish it weren't so darn expensive though, although that is cheap compared to other small boards!

Just ordered two! Curt and Marty (and whoever else helped out), you guys are awesome! I can't wait to get them, even if they come after Christmas! You guys rock! Hey, if you could send an email and let us know when we can expect them, that would be even more awesome (but otherwise I'll just keep sitting by my door and waiting). The best thing about these are not the cool-ass design, the fact that you can plug long cords into them, the fact that you could probably make them wireless via some sort of wireless USB setup, and even that they are the coolest joysticks in the world, but... they are cheap! Holy cow! The main reason I didn't get stellaadaptors was the price. You guys rock!

For anyone interested, there is a great topic posted recently here on classic gaming rigs: http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123026