New Ebivision Power Off! Game and Contest

[Albert]

http://webpages.charter.net/hozervideo/atari/power.htmlRandy at Hozer Video Games has announced that he is now taking preorders for Ebvision's latest Atari 2600 game, Power Off!, as well as a contest to help promote the game. Evil Robots have taken control of the computer section of your ship. Deactivate them by tapping out all of the energy nodes before they detect you and roll you over! Hozer will be pre-selling Power Off! until November 1st, at which point he will mass mail the carts to everyone who bought one. The first person to send Hozer a secret message that appears when you finish the game will receive $50 and a game of their choice from Hozer Video. Visit Hozer's Power Off! page for more information. Good luck!

[Scott Stilphen]

Hello, what's this? Escape from Supercade reborn! So I'm guessing we can forget about Van Burnham making good on that promise...

[DEBRO]

This is so close to my Climber 5 port to the 2600 it's rediculous. Oh well, I guess I'll still continue and use it as a learning experience (which it defintely is).

[rolenta]

Hello, what's this?  Escape from Supercade reborn!  So I'm guessing we can forget about Van Burnham making good on that promise...

 

Hey, I have a contract from her that she never made good on! join the club!

[moycon]

What's the scoop???

 

Sounds like some folks have tangled emotions about this?

Was this the game that was supposed to be released in conjuntion with some book or something??

[rolenta]

What's the scoop???      

 

Sounds like some folks have tangled emotions about this?

Was this the game that was supposed to be released in conjuntion with some book or something??

 

Van Burnham attended CGE2K to promote her book Supercade, which was to be published in October 2001. While at the show she revealed her Atari 2600 game Escape From Supercade, which was written by the guys at Ebivision, and would be released in conjunction with the book. She also had a raffle and 50 or 100 people won free copies of the game upon its release.

 

My history with Van goes to when she asked me to write the chapter about the 2600 for the book. She sent me a contract which said I would receive five copies of the book as payment.

 

The book was released last October and I never received one copy from Van. MIT Press sent me a copy after I wrote to them but Van never fulfilled her part. I have received several emails from her saying that she would mail the books once she recieved them. Then she wrote saying that she would order books from Amazon and send them to me. I still haven't received any. My last email to her, which I sent last month, has gone unanswered. I wrote that email to her after I saw her picture in the book Opening The XBox. She's standing with XBox designer Seamus Blackley on hands and knees proposing to her. Next to them, holding the ring, is Bill Gates. I wrote to Van saying that now that she's hognobbing with the rich and famous, maybe now she could send me my books. As I said, that email has gone unanswered.

 

I am not the only one who was screwed by Van. In addition to me and Seamus (she had his baby a few months ago), several other writers, including Steven Kent, Lauren Fielder, and Joe Fielder, informed me that they too hadn't received books that were promised to them in their contracts. Lauren wanted to get us all together to sue Van but realized that it just wasn't worth it.

 

Meanwhile, those who were promised Escape From Supercade games, naturally never received them. And as Scott said in an earlier post, Power Off! is apparently that game.

[Snider-man]

To follow-up with Leonard's post - and this is only an assumption, mind you - I bet the Ebivision guys got screwed over too. They probably had the game ready and she renegged on paying them for programming it/assembly or something. Since it's rightfully their game, they probably decided to release it in some other form, Van be damned.

 

As said, this is just an assumption, but I bet I'm not far off.

[Albert]

When I posted this news it didn't even dawn on me that this was the same game promised to everyone at CGE2K. I think Alex also had one coming to him also. This game has come up in a few discussions, but to my knowledge not a single person has ever received their copy. I'm guessing the Ebivision guys never got paid, and probably got tired of waiting and thus decided to release the game. Maybe someone with the inside track will post more details..

 

..Al

[Atari 7800.com]

No matter what the legal background surrounding the situation of this new game may be, it sounds like it's a pretty nifty game! It's wonderful to see any new releases for the 2600 at all, especially considering the system is 25 years old. We are lucky to have releases of this calibur. I wish the guys at Ebivision the best of luck with the new game. If there is anything I can do to help promote it, please let me know.

 

And Leonard, I feel your pain..

 

 

Best,

[Scott Stilphen]

I bumped up an older thread which talked about this game. It's still on the main page - here's the link to it: http://www.atariage.com/forums/viewtopic.p...=11940&start=25

[mos6507]

For the record, here is a screenshot of Escape from Supercade:

 

 

 

Add me to the list of those who were promised a cart. I gave her a copy of Stella at 20 in exchange for a cart.

 

Actually, here is a picture of me talking to her.

 

 

The last I heard from her she told me there was going to be this launch party for her book and I was invited and the cart was going to be officially released there. Never heard back.

 

I sent off an email or two much later on and didn't receive a response.

 

It's really strange that a few months after her book came out she would pretty much disappear. If she were pregnant, that would explain it. But she still had obligations to take care of. At the very least, we deserved a simple explanation. Becoming suddenly inaccessible to classic gamers while getting all groupie-like with the modern game industry movers and shakers (the way she used to get all groupie-like at the CGEs) makes me wonder whether she's really just into this stuff for the attention. I don't think that's the case, but without any clarification from her, we're left to speculate.

 

In my case, no money lost, but others I guess aren't so lucky.

[JCroniger]

I'm pumped about the new game. I love their earlier releases and look forward to this one too. It's too bad so many people got ripped by this lady. It sounds like she's short on cash and is sticking all the people that helped her. You would think that she would have some copies of the book lying around. People never cease to amaze me!

[digitalpress]

I've been in touch with Van since that time.

 

Not sure if you know the history but she met up with Seamus Blackley, got married and had a child.

 

Funny how "real life" can take over sometimes. I really like Van, and I do hope she makes good on her promises to this community.

[rolenta]

she met up with Seamus Blackley, got married and had a child.

 

And I have heard two conflicting rumors from several sources. One was that Van never married Seamus and the other was that she has split up with him. Don't know if either is true or what it has to do with anything, but I figured I'd add it.

[Scott Stilphen]

Regardless whether or not she's married, this game was shown at the CGE2K.....over 2 years ago. Sorry, but she needs a better excuse (several, in fact) to cover her backside on this one. Not to mention sticking people like Len, who have legal contracts with her.

[Burgel]

My history with Van goes to when she asked me to write the chapter about the 2600 for the book. She sent me a contract which said I would receive five copies of the book as payment.

 

The book was released last October and I never received one copy from Van. MIT Press sent me a copy after I wrote to them but Van never fulfilled her part.

 

This whole thread is depressing. I know it isn't much, but I have a copy of Supercade in perfect shape that I would like to give you if you want it. Not much compensation for your troubles, but I'm afraid its all I can do. It's quite sad that situations like this arise.

[rolenta]

This whole thread is depressing. I know it isn't much, but I have a copy of Supercade in perfect shape that I would like to give you if you want it.

 

Thanks for the offer but I already have a copy that MIT Press sent me. It's the principal of the thing here. I don't know how much Van made on the book but I'm sure that MIT Press didn't reneg on her contract.

[DEBRO]

Am I seeing things...where is the HMOVE comb effect in this game? Am I just missing the HMOVE lines in the screen shots? Is it masked by the black background and the scanline right after the platform is drawn? I notice the players don't actually reach the top of the platform, they are off by a scanline.

[Cybergoth]

Am I seeing things...where is the HMOVE comb effect in this game? Am I just missing the HMOVE lines in the screen shots? Is it masked by the black background and the scanline right after the platform is drawn? I notice the players don't actually reach the top of the platform, they are off by a scanline.

 

HMOVE lines _can_ be avoided. Search the Stella archives.

 

For example, there's no HMOVE lines in Gunfight although I'm obviously repositioning the sprites after the status display.

 

Greetings,

Manuel

[Nostalgic]

Am I seeing things...where is the HMOVE comb effect in this game? Am I just missing the HMOVE lines in the screen shots? Is it masked by the black background and the scanline right after the platform is drawn? I notice the players don't actually reach the top of the platform, they are off by a scanline.

 

The ways to avoid HMOVE lines (as far as I know) are:

 

1. Black background

2. Very careful timing so that there's no need to use it

3. Write to HMOVE on _every_ scan line so that there's just a black bar on the left of the screen. Popular in Activision games.

[DEBRO]

HMOVE lines _can_ be avoided. Search the Stella archives.

 

For example, there's no HMOVE lines in Gunfight although I'm obviously repositioning the sprites after the status display.

 

Greetings,

    Manuel

 

But you're using GRP0 and GRP1, right? When I reposition a player I get the black comb effect. I'm doing HMOVE on each scanline (ala Activision) to "black them out" though. Of course I'm going to search the archive on this, it may save me some cycles

 

Edit:

I just got back from the archive. I see what you did now. You did HMOVE on cycle 74. Pretty clever.

[Cybergoth]

I just got back from the archive. I see what you did now. You did HMOVE on cycle 74. Pretty clever.

 

I think it was Brad Mott who first discovered that unusual TIA behaviour. I'm currently not sure wether any of the classic games do that, but there's certain homebrews like Thrust using this technique.

 

Completely HMOVing the left side certainly is another way, as well as overlaying a black quad-width ball. Or declaring them being 'referees' like in Pele Soccer

 

And thank heavens, the Star Fire background is pitch black anyway

 

Greetings,

Manuel

[supercade]

This whole thread is depressing. I know it isn't much, but I have a copy of Supercade in perfect shape that I would like to give you if you want it.

 

Thanks for the offer but I already have a copy that MIT Press sent me. It's the principal of the thing here. I don't know how much Van made on the book but I'm sure that MIT Press didn't reneg on her contract.

 

 

I was stunned and saddened to discover this thread.

 

I'd like to go on the record to say that I received a total of eight copies of my own book from the publisher. These were all given to contributors and friends I saw at a game industry event a few weeks later. I expected, and was supposed to receive, many more (I believe my contract called for 30) and never, ever did. My own father had to buy copies from their bookstore.

 

The copies I sent Leonard from Amazon, at my own expense, were certainly not bought with profits. Supercade was a labor of love. Period. And the fact that I had a photo-op with Bill Gates doesn't change that.

 

I had considered Leonard a friend and yet he stabbed me in the back, trashing my name in public forums. Over what? A few books? That is truly depressing.

 

More important, I have not abandoned this community or this hobby. It is true that I have a family now, which takes priority... but I have also been working tirelessly on my next project these past few years, which I hope to discuss publicly soon. I think you might like it.

 

As for the game, I had every intention of making those cartridges. Unfortunately, the company I was working with to build the carts went out of business and I have not been in a position to make them myself. There is no mystery or grand scheme. Just life.

 

Thanks to all of you who read Supercade. Hope you enjoyed it...

 

xoxo van

 

 

ps. If anyone feels cheated out of their free game, I'd be happy to send you one of the hundred brand new red box copies of Atari 2600 Venture I have in the garage that I bought for the cartridge cases. Please feel free to contact me at "escapefromsupercade(at)gmail.com" with your mailing address.

 

You can also find me at www.myspace.com/vanburnham

 

Game on.

[ninermaniac]

Woah! This thread was dug deep! I am sure the guys who participated would try to pry open thier minds and remember this but man. This was 6 years ago. I can't even remember last week.Lol

[bjk7382]

Someone busted out the time machine!! I still have this book collecting dust on my shelf. Bought it at bargain basement prices off ebay, and bought the game from Atariage many years ago also.

 

So you going to finally come thru on your contracts?? (what other reason would there be to dig up a 6 year old thread) Oh, I see, your just trying to plug your new project that is going to screw more people over. Makes me want to burn my supercade book just for spite.