Atari 2600 Boulder Dash (R) Announced!

[Emehr]

Has alot of ppl on here bought 2 copies? I ended up only buying one.

 

I just bought one. Not sure what I'd do with a second copy. I guess I could put it on a shelf, but I could always do that with the box of my first copy.

[tremoloman2006]

Its hard to believe that there is anything too sell right now .There was soo many people saying that they would buy this if its ever done for years on this forum, (I have been lurking and never actually posted anytihng ever on 2600 forums till now) And they have to sell more than one copy cause seems theres not enough interest?? I was checking this thread every day thinking I could miss it by minutes or hours if I missed the release...I bought my copy.. Maybe if people supported the programmers more than they would get the "games they want for there collection/obsession"

 

The $81 price take (+$6/$12 shipping) is a LOT of money for most of us. You have to be a big boulderdash fan to shell out the cost of a good 2600 collection for one title.

 

I sold off some dupes to pay for mine and used my store credit earned by donating a lot of 2600 shells.

[Andrew Davie]

The $81 price take (+$6/$12 shipping) is a LOT of money for most of us.

 

Yes, it's quite a high price. I just want to correct your figures, though -- the game is $75 not $81.

Shipping is then added to that price.

Cheers

A

[Fr0st]

I did the same, sold off a lot of dupes and stuff I needed to clean up to sell off to pay for it. I was very relieved and surprised that I had the money ready to spend when the time came. It was also an eye opener as to how much I could get for a lot of the crap I have lying around in boxes!

[atarifun]

How much did First Star Software want for their cut of the action on this one?

Was it by the cartridge or flat rate?

 

Just curious.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

How much did First Star Software want for their cut of the action on this one?

Was it by the cartridge or flat rate?

 

Just curious.

You will understand that we cannot talk about such details here. But the amount was very significant.

[+Random Terrain]

How much did First Star Software want for their cut of the action on this one? Was it by the cartridge or flat rate?

 

Just curious.

 

You will understand that we cannot talk about such details here. But the amount was very significant.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l91ISfcuzDw

[VectorGamer]

When is this cart going to ship?

[Rhod]

+1

[Thomas Jentzsch]

People are working on it.

 

Meanwhile Andrew and I use the time to do some extra polishing. So you are not waiting for nothing.

[ColecoDan]

People are working on it.

 

Meanwhile Andrew and I use the time to do some extra polishing. So you are not waiting for nothing.

 

 

WHOOOW! What are you doing to my cart!!!!

[RF14]

Wow. This game looks great but overpriced. $89 is a lot. You can find Atari 2600 consoles cheaper than this.

[Dino]

you can find consoles cheaper than most R5+ games. We are also talking about different markets. One is for a brand new, newly developed item under licence. The other is a second hand item that is very common to find.

[SoulBlazer]

I'm sure they don't want to charge that much for the game also, but I'm sure the licencing to make the game from First Star Software was not cheap. The developers don't want to say too mcuh about it, but I would guess that over half the cost of the game is due to licencing.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Wow. This game looks great but overpriced. $89 is a lot. You can find Atari 2600 consoles cheaper than this.

$89? How do get $89? The price is $75 (plus $6/$12 shipping).

[+Propane13]

This will sound like a stupid question but--

I know that Boulderdash can be hard (especially since the amoeba can randomly generate, I think).

 

Is the game verified to be beatable?

[Andrew Davie]

Is the game verified to be beatable?

 

The levels are identical to the original, except for some changes in the intermissions to make things viewable on the smaller screen.

The physics is, as far as I am aware, the same. The timing/speed is the same on all levels as on the original.

All levels on the original are verified beatable.

 

We have tested and confirmed all caves are beatable on most levels. There are probably a few high-level caves we have not tested.

 

The short answer is "yes". If you play well enough on this version, you can win any cave on any level. On many of the higher levels, though, you have to be pretty damn good.

 

Cheers

A

[Andrew Davie]

I'm sure they don't want to charge that much for the game also, but I'm sure the licencing to make the game from First Star Software was not cheap. The developers don't want to say too mcuh about it, but I would guess that over half the cost of the game is due to licencing.

 

I'd like to head-off any speculation on this issue. The price is what it is. It's a balance between a number of factors, including production cost and of course licensing fees. First Star Software's licensing was reasonable enough -- otherwise I would not have entered into an agreement with them. If this means the final product cost is too much for you then of course, don't buy it. I am very sure that those who do are getting more than their money's worth. This has taken nearly a decade to program so you're only paying for, what, $8 per year of development. It's actually a teriffically fun game to play, with very few concessions to being a '2600 game. Anyone who feels, after buying it, that it's not any good -- well, I'll buy their copy back off them. So please, no more price grumbling!

 

Cheers

A

[bomberpunk]

what's the chances of this game being reworked into a port of the original NES Bomberman (at some point in the future)? i'd pay just as much for that!

 

<=== HUGE BOMBERMAN FAN!

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Maybe not by us, but maybe by someone else.

[ColecoDan]

I think Atari developers have spoiled you guys with cheap pricing and free downloads. Crying that $80 bucks is expensive. If I ever find the bolder dash for colecovision it is going to cost me close to $200 for the cart alone. If a CIB ever comes around it could be anywhere from $350 - $1000 depending on bidders wallets.

Most colecovision programmers games are $40 - $60 and they sell out fast which if you have to buy them afterwords can be expensive as well. We still have games that people sit on and won't release from the 80's demise but Atari has most of those out and about. So every once in a while you have to pay a little more for a game. If you can't afford it then I suggest you find a new hobby because prices as the years go on are not going to go down, they are going to go up.

[rolenta]

I'm not complaining about the price and I ordered mine the day they went on sale. I'm just curious why the 5200 version, which was limited to 100 copies and created with the permiission of First Star in 2006, was only sold for $40.

[ColecoDan]

I'm not complaining about the price and I ordered mine the day they went on sale. I'm just curious why the 5200 version, which was limited to 100 copies and created with the permiission of First Star in 2006, was only sold for $40.

 

5200 has better hardware and less limitations, I am sure it was a lot easier to program that version. Hence it probably didn't take 8 yrs of their lives.

[jaybird3rd]

I'm not complaining about the price and I ordered mine the day they went on sale. I'm just curious why the 5200 version, which was limited to 100 copies and created with the permiission of First Star in 2006, was only sold for $40.

Two possibilities occur to me. The first is that the Atari 5200 version is merely an adaptation of the original Atari 800 version developed by First Star (since the hardware in both platforms is nearly identical), whereas the 2600 version is a completely new implementation which had to be written from scratch. The second is that, because of the limitations of the 2600, the 2600 version requires bankswitching support and other hardware features in the cartridge which the 5200 version does not, which adds to the production costs.

[Albert]

I'm not complaining about the price and I ordered mine the day they went on sale. I'm just curious why the 5200 version, which was limited to 100 copies and created with the permiission of First Star in 2006, was only sold for $40.

 

As has already been mentioned, getting Boulder Dash to run on 2600 hardware is a pretty remarkable feat. Not just programming (although that is, by far, the bulk of the hard work involved), but the hardware is also complex. We're using a unique version of the Melody board that powers the Harmony Cartridge to create this run of Boulder Dash carts. These boards are expensive relative to boards used for typical games. There are also a fair number of parties involved in this production, and I'm guessing the 5200 version was simpler in this regard. And the label, box and manual production are going to be top-notch. And there may be some "goodies" included beyond that.

 

..Al