onmode-ky

I thought I'd make a post with all the ToysRUs.com links for AtGames 2014 plug-n-play system preorders (originally first referenced in the Intellivision section's topic for their Flashback): - ColecoVision Flashback - Intellivision Flashback - Atari Flashback 5 - Sega Classic Game Console 2 Each product entry has our first public picture of the system and the box (in the case of the ColecoVision Flashback and I think also the Sega CGC2, the box shown is a placeholder, not final). Also, we didn't know how many games were going to be in each system before these box images popped up. Amusingly, the CV Flashback is the only one that attributes manufacturing to AtGames--but even then, it's written as "AT Games" instead. The others claim Mattel, Atari, and Sega for manufacturer. onmode-ky

You need only wait a little bit. AtGames' licenses for Intellivision and ColecoVision include mobile apps. Incidentally, the main thread for this over in the AA Intellivision section is over here. A main thread for the CV Flashback finally opened up in the CV section over here. Well, not quite the same thing, but in 2004, Jakks Pacific did release the Atari Paddles TV Game plug-n-play system, which includes the 2600's Video Olympics and its big bunch of Pong variants. Granted, the system was only available in 1-player and 2-player versions. But, it was still very much worth getting. onmode-ky

Speaking of that Kickstarter, the AA thread for it is where I first mentioned AtGames' ColecoVision deal, including both the Flashback plug-n-play system and a mobile app. At the time, though, it didn't attract anywhere near as much attention as this thread is doing now. Buzz for the Intellivision Flashback has been much greater. I'd thought someone in the AtariAge ColecoVision community would spin off a topic specifically for the CV Flashback, but I think the closest we came until now was Pixelboy's April Fool's joke. But hey, better late than never! onmode-ky

In case anyone didn't already download to their PSV what they wanted to download of their PSP/PS1 PSN library . . . you've missed your chance. It turns out that this unannounced opening of the gates was actually an accident. The gates have been closed up again. Check your download lists, and you'll see certain PSP/PS1 titles once again not available to download to your PSV. Clearly, it isn't a case of absolute unplayability that's kept those titles off our PSVs all this time, but rather either legal or QA clearance technicalities. If you managed to download everything you wanted, good for you. Personally, I didn't download anything, because I'm perfectly happy with playing those titles on my PSP, but I imagine there are others who are cursing themselves for not downloading when they could have. onmode-ky P.S. Oh, hey, this is my post #555! Like a phone number in a movie or a TV show. How glamorous!

It sounds like you're under the impression that Atari actively shaped how the Flashback line developed across the various iterations of the series. This is not the case. For no iteration of the series was Atari the primary driving force. Even when they were the ones providing the funding (i.e., FB1 and FB2), they were not the ones in the driver's seat: FB1 - "Hmm, so you Legacy Engineering guys want to make a 2600 mini-console that's fully Atari-branded? I dunno. It sounds awfully risky, an untested market. How about you make something similar but quick for this holiday season--yes, this holiday season--and if that goes over well, you can do the 'real thing' next year?" FB2 - "Good news, Legacy, we'll go ahead with funding your project! I know you'll do a great job!" [post-FB2, Atari corporate seems to have chosen to move their focus away from retro gaming, until a cereal company knocked on their door . . .] FB2+ - "You're saying General Mills wants to commission a special run of Flashbacks? Well, hey, if they're paying for it, sure!" FB3 and beyond - "So you AtGames guys want to make a new Flashback system of your own? That sounds pretty good. Now, you're going to develop and make it, but Atari still gets sign-off, right? Okay, great, let's do that." It was always someone else coming to Atari with the idea. The differences between the Legacy productions and the AtGames productions came about because different people worked on them, and Atari just gave their approval to the final products. For them, it wasn't about pushing the Flashback series forward, making it even better for the hardcore retro gamer audience; instead, it was someone else's idea that just sounded good for the company. Did Atari want them to make a good product? Presumably yes. Did they want to make sure it was better than what came before? Well, yes, but their only metric for "better" was "more games." All the other details were in Legacy/AtGames' court, however they wanted to handle it. To put it simply, Atari was never proactive when it came to the Flashback line. They owned the name, but it wasn't their baby. Just some timeline rearrangements: AtGames has been doing Sega stuff since ~2005, long before they ever got their Atari license, and while you're right about them now working on both ColecoVision and Intellivision products, your ordering is a bit unusual--the Intellivision one was actually known about for something like a month prior to the ColecoVision one and seems to have much more buzz here at AtariAge than its CV sibling. Both should be coming sometime this year (along with new editions in the Atari and Sega lines). onmode-ky

To clarify, this was not an update to the PS Store itself but rather just download lists on the PSV now allowing you to download all your PSP/PS1 purchases, instead of some entries saying you can't download them. The PSV's view of the PS Store continues to omit a large number of PSP/PS1 titles. E.g., no Crash Bandicoot games, no Spyro games. Can you give an example? It sounds like you're saying delisted games have been relisted--but that makes no sense, since delisting comes from contract expirations and such. Well, okay, games sometimes get taken down temporarily if exploits are found in them, but I assume that isn't what you're referring to. So far, Sony hasn't updated their Store cataloguing to allow all PSP/PS1 titles to appear in the PSV's Store, but they might get around to it someday. . . . onmode-ky

We actually have a pretty long thread about just that system over in Dedicated Systems. I've had a little bit of experience with it myself. I recall that I didn't particularly like the poor ergonomics of the base. And no, I never did get any info on what kind of microcontroller the system used, nor any confirmation on whether it was made up of ports or ran on emulation that happened to rearrange the display to fit a landscape-orientation screen. The only thing I can tell you about the hardware is that it has an 8-MB SDRAM chip. Heh, my collection of plug-n-play systems is the main reason I didn't get this one. Bandai decided to release this system made up entirely of games that had already been released on Jakks Pacific's plug-n-play systems. Sure, Jakks could not claim theirs were emulated, but they were largely ported quite well. Bandai's system thus offered only 2 enticements: the form factor and the bookmark at Board 255 of Pac-Man. The bookmark was interesting for a while, but overall, it was just not worth their MSRP to me. You have your details confused. The first Golden Tee Golf plug-n-play system, from ~2006, was a 2D, overhead-view game produced by Radica and developed by FarSight (currently best known for Pinball Arcade, but yes, their history includes this and, on an unrelated note, also Action 52; go to their website and see for yourself). The second Golden Tee Golf plug-n-play system, from 2011, was a 3D, on-the-course-view game produced by Jakks Pacific and developed by HotGen. I've played the latter and thought it was pretty good stuff. onmode-ky

Actually, the FB1 is not emulation. As mentioned by others, the games on it are ports to the new hardware--and ports (newly programmed code that runs on a different hardware architecture from the original) are not the same thing as emulation (existing code that runs through a translation program on a different hardware architecture from the original). As far as faithfully reproducing original look and behavior, both techniques can be done well and both can also be done poorly, but they are fundamentally different. The Flashbacks that do utilize emulation are the AtGames-produced models, i.e., from FB3 onward. Being the first is not an excuse that the FB1 can fall back on, because it wasn't the first plug-n-play system to attempt to recreate the 2600 experience. Bootlegs aside, the first were the 2001 Activision TV Game from Toymax and the 2002 Atari TV Game from Toymax purchaser Jakks Pacific--both of which systems have their own unhappy reputation among retro gamers--but the excellent 2004 Atari Paddles TV Game that jaybird3rd mentioned also predates the FB1, having beaten it to market by a few months (summer vs. fall). Again, as mentioned before, the FB1's excuse is that it is the product Atari decreed had to be developed within a short time frame before they would give the green light to the system which Legacy Engineering really wanted to make. So, as with many other examples in gaming history, its flaws stem largely from being rushed. Well, technically, it didn't prove that. I get what you mean, and I certainly agree that the Atari Paddle TV Game was very well executed, but it was not a NOAC, so it doesn't entirely support the statement. My research a few years ago indicated it was most likely built on a 65C816-compatible 16-bit microcontroller from Winbond (presumably the same as the other early TV Games systems, including the Atari joystick model), possibly the one mentioned in this AtariAge post. I'm not a game programmer myself, but it does at least seem like a chip that's more akin to the SNES than the NES would have an easier time doing, well, most things. So, not using a NOAC in that case may have been an advantage as far as mimicking the 2600 successfully. Again, I don't disagree with your basic statement, just that the Paddle TV Game may have had an easier path to travel than a NOAC-based system would have had. onmode-ky

I've been neglecting to post about this for too long, but the Kickstarter for Flying Hamster II: Knight of the Golden Seed has been underway for a couple of weeks. Whereas the original Flying Hamster, initially released as a PSP/PS3 Mini, then on smartphones, then on the PSV as Flying Hamster HD, was purely a side-scrolling shooter "cute'em up," the sequel is explicitly described as a spiritual successor to the Wonder Boy and Monster World games (see the trailer). The initial funding goal is for a PC release (both on Steam and in DRM-free form), and after polling their backers so far, the first additional platform, via stretch goal, was revised to be a PSV version of the game (personally, this is how I want the game, too). Also of note, former Konami composer Michiru Yamane is on board to contribute some music to the game, along with a second famous composer whose name hasn't been revealed yet. Go, Flying Hamster Newton! Swing your sword! Spit your, uh, spit! We believe in flying hamsters! Or at least one. onmode-ky

I can't tell if you're aware, but in case you aren't, that very person is active here at AtariAge, Curt Vendel. Well, he wasn't solely responsible for everything, but he was the lead hardware engineer and the primary driving force behind the project. His firm, Legacy Engineering, developed the 2004-2010 entries in the Flashback series for Atari to put their name on and sell. So, hehe, you've really come to the right place. onmode-ky P.S. I have to say I'm amused that, at this moment, Curt's profile's count of Likes received is LEET (1337).

I suppose this is a remake of the 80s original rather than a port (the same could be said of the Gizmondo version, of course), but Trailblazer was released as a PlayStation Mini, a download-only PSP game playable on both the PSP and PS3. It's actually one of the most graphically impressive Minis, with very colorful effects and slick polygon graphics. onmode-ky

This is just conjecture on my part, but maybe they wanted to but couldn't. The firm that produced the NOAC Intellivision plug-n-play systems was Techno Source, but the actual coding and manufacturing were done by a company in China. Maybe they only wanted an all-in-one, software + hardware deal, rather than a) having to work with someone else's code that might have issues with their NOAC and b) having to take a smaller payout. Just a wild guess, though. onmode-ky

Indeed, this isn't the first time that such an idea has been proposed. onmode-ky

Most of my PS3 use lately has actually been participation in some limited-time events in the Asia and Japan regions of PS Home, but I poked around in the North American one lately and noticed some interesting new Atari-licensed avatar items being sold. In addition to the expected caps and shirts for avatars, there's a CX-40-shaped hat, a 2600-shaped backpack, a backpack shaped like a 2600 cartridge (different game between the male and female versions; one was Yars' Revenge, I think), and, most amusingly, avatar companions in the form of the CX-40, Yorgle the Yellow Duck Dragon, the Combat tank, and the Centipede. So you could run around in Home with Yorgle chasing after you for old times' sake. The companions are $3 each, and the other stuff ranges between $1.50 and $2. These aren't the only Atari items in Home, some actual games (bundled with furniture items like a 2600 console or an upright, cabaret, or cocktail cabinet) having been made available about a year ago, running on Code Mystics' emulation. Even funnier, I recall that one of the rewards you could unlock if you got Adventure was a Yorgle suit for your avatar. So, now it seems you can be Yorgle chased by Yorgle. I typically avoid spending money on online-only things, so these won't be going into my shopping cart . . . but I may not be able to hold out much longer on the Scramble and Super Cobra arcade cabinets (also running on Code Mystics' emulation). I'd been hoping those would make it to the PSV's Home Arcade as cross-buy purchases, thus not requiring Home login to play, but it doesn't look like that's happening for the second wave of Konami games in Home. onmode-ky

I'm honestly not sure what you're seeing (and thus what you're upset with), regarding the volume of ads on your PS3. You say "2/3 of the screen on the PS3" and "similar to the 360," yet you also say "ad scroll"--the ad scroll on the PS3 is just some text in the upper right corner, hardly 2/3 of the screen. When you turn on your PS3, are you seeing a full screen of "What's New" panels, rather than just the little text scroll in the upper right (which is made up of the captions from the panels)? Because if you are, and those big "What's New" panels are what you want to get rid of, you don't need to subscribe to PS+ to do it. Just go to the XMB's Settings column, go to System Settings, and switch "Display [What's New]" to Off. That's it. No more screen full of ads when you turn on your machine. The XMB will default to whatever disc is in the drive, or if it's empty, to the Games section. That settings option's been around ever since the firmware update that added "What's New" in the first place. Now, if you are in fact very annoyed at the little bar of text scrolling in the upper right corner, then I'm, well, a bit surprised it bothers you so much. It's so small, and if you really want to get rid of it, you could always just make a wallpaper that's all white right at that part of the screen. The text would blend into the wallpaper, and it would never be noticeable again. onmode-ky

Velocity expanded into Velocity Ultra only in terms of assets; the game content itself, even the bonus zones and mini-games, was the same as before, which should tell you just how big it was as a Mini! Enough meat for a Platinum Trophy even back then! I couldn't get it until I cut my fingernails to a more button-friendly length, and then it wasn't too bad (on the PSP, I mean, as I haven't actually gotten around to Ultra yet). In case you aren't aware, the sequel, Velocity 2X, is currently in development (PSV/PS4). Look it up! onmode-ky

16,140. The collision detection in this game is terrible. I'll get stuck on objects constantly, yet I'll also run over pick-ups and not pick them up. Ugh. onmode-ky P.S. I forgot to respond about this in the Jumping Jack topic, but no, I actually never did discover the secret bags of money in each level. That was a lot of points I missed out on.

I've heard of this game for years, but this is my first time ever playing it. It took a good while before I found usable key mappings. I first mapped the running buttons to the left and right face buttons on my Rumblepad 2, but using my right index and middle fingers on them (like playing a trill on a piano) for some reason didn't get read by the game properly; my first three tries led to Game Over with 0 points! Eventually, I gave up on the gamepad and resigned myself to the keyboard (I'm sorry, keyboard!). It took a good while to understand how to run the hurdles (i.e., don't stop mashing the buttons while in mid-air), and I got past the hammer throw once on a fluke. However, I don't really know what I'm doing in the high jump, and my keyboard has suffered enough. My fingers, too. 45,780 onmode-ky

Strange game. 57,470. onmode-ky

The annual American International Toy Fair was a few days ago, and after poking around the Internet for news from it, I finally did find some news related to plug-n-play . . . but not related to classic gaming. AtGames doesn't seem to have announced or shown anything relating to their Intellivision and ColecoVision projects, but Jakks Pacific did reveal a new branch to their TV Games plug-n-play line: Hero Portal. As noted in a press release shown in this February 15th blog post (text search the page for "hero portal"): I found pictures and a brief video showing the product (or rather a prototype) in action at Tom's Guide. It looks like the initial rollout this summer will consist of (cross-incompatible) editions based on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, and DC Universe properties. Basically, these are budget renditions of Skylanders and Disney Infinity, built on other IP; the Mattel Hyperscan concept returns to the toymaker arena, with newer technology. At this point, I haven't found out who's actually developing these games and what kind of hardware they run on, but I'll be on the lookout for that info. Incidentally, I added some newly discovered info about a pair of finished but unreleased ~2007 plug-n-play projects to my website yesterday. onmode-ky

SoulBlazer, could you take a look at the Kickstarter project for the Life of Pixel PC/Mac/Linux/iOS/Android port (from last year, canceled just before it would have ended) and give me your analysis? I've never understood why it attracted so few backers, even with a goal of only 10K pounds and a full breakdown of what the money was to be used for--admittedly not part of the original description, but rather in the first update. Is it really just that platformers don't perform well on Kickstarter? Or people don't like being asked to fund [expanded] ports of existing games? So disappointing, that Kickstarter, in light of how much fun the PS Mobile original game is. And that's coming from someone who doesn't even like platformers. onmode-ky

I've been pondering using one of those Micro-SDHC-to-Memory-Stick-Pro-Duo adapters with my PSP, but I've read accounts of this setup resulting in very slow read speeds. Is that what you're talking about? XMB icons loading/scrolling is very slow? What speed class are the Micro SDHC/SDXC cards that you guys are using with your PSPs, anyway? I'm wondering if using one of the Class 10/UHS-1 cards (where the packaging claims range from 30-40 MB/s for read) can mitigate any latency that the adapter may be introducing. Can anyone comment on that? onmode-ky

It would depend on that specific emulator's level of fidelity. The emulators that the FB3 and FB4 run reproduce the 2600 experience much better than the FB1's reprogrammed ports, but I've heard that there are some significant bugs in them. For example, when running Battlezone, the radar display sometimes doesn't show enemies, and enemies sometimes don't make sounds. Well, an emulator is also based on the original brains of the system. Whether via one-chip hardware consolidation or software emulation, it's an effort in abstracting the original system's components into a new format. Errors in fidelity can materialize in both paths. Consider that there are multiple revisions of the FB2's Michele 2600-on-a-chip; each successive one fixes bugs that were in its predecessors. Right now, the Michele has a higher degree of fidelity than the AtGames emulator, but if AtGames puts some effort into isolating and fixing its bugs, there's no reason their emulator can't someday match the Michele. onmode-ky

My version of MAME doesn't support the ROM set linked in post #1, but I went searching for a set compatible with version .144 and got it to work that way. 57,755 I don't understand how this game works. . . . It took me a while just to notice that the attract screen tutorial used the left and right directions on the stick to do something. onmode-ky

Well, I had fun with it . . . but then, I played it with a mouse. In fact, I've always thought it was meant to be played with a mouse. Not so? It really doesn't seem like a gamepad kind of game. Now, X-Wing and TIE Fighter, those were definitely flightstick games--yet I had a friend back then who played them with a mouse, and did well! onmode-ky