Mazerati Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 i know Keith is paranoid about getting sued when an intellivision game looks or plays like another famous game but Christmas Carol is original and one of the best games on the system and i can't see why it wouldn't be included on the flashback....is there any possibility this could happen on a future flashback? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intvnut Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 (edited) My understanding is that the original Intellivision Flashback was under time pressure to meet a particular launch date range. You might notice that no homebrews were included on this iteration, and noticeable portions of the Intellivision catalog were also excluded. Presumably, much of that will be on a Flashback 2, if we're lucky. I'm just thrilled that the first iteration even made it out. :-) I hope we as a community have an opportunity to get some homebrews (including Carol) on the next one. I've offered my technical services to Intellivision Productions for the next one, should there be one, and so far we seem to have gotten off on the right foot together. Edited January 4, 2015 by intvnut 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 Like intvnut mentioned, I think it had to do with time constraints. I can tell you that nobody approached me to discuss the possibility of including my game in the Flashback; but when I found out that the device was being produced, I jumped to volunteer it. Alas, the games list had already been picked, so it was too late anyway. Keep in mind that there are also some technical considerations. The emulator needs to be devised or adapted to the hardware, and then tested with EVERY SINGLE GAME included to ensure it works properly and without serious problems. It very well could be that the emulator they were using works exceedingly well for old titles that follow production constraints of the time, such as 4K or 16K ROMs; and that it was never intended to support anything else. For games that have been around for almost 30 years, and well understood, those constraints could have been built into the emulator software. Christmas Carol, by contrast, uses almost 38K of ROM. More importantly, it is an "unknown variable" in their equation: it's relatively new, possibly unknown to them; the code and engine is opaque to them; it has never been tested in their emulator; and comes from some guy they've never heard from. I also hope that future versions of the Intellivision Flashback not only include more of the classic licensed games, but some of the modern home-brew classics. How cool would that be? -dZ. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freewheel Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 It's because CC was distributed via more than 30 copies. There just wasn't the demand. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 It's because CC was distributed via more than 30 copies. There just wasn't the demand. What do you mean "via more than 30 copies"? Are you saying that the game was not included because there was no demand for it? Sure, that could be the reason; the game is rather unknown outside the small AtariAge Intellivision community. Although I could imagine Christmas Carol making the Intellivision Flashback more attractive than, say, Horse Racing or Las Vegas Roulette. -dZ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freewheel Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 What do you mean "via more than 30 copies"? Are you saying that the game was not included because there was no demand for it? Sure, that could be the reason; the game is rather unknown outside the small AtariAge Intellivision community. Although I could imagine Christmas Carol making the Intellivision Flashback more attractive than, say, Horse Racing or Las Vegas Roulette. An early morning joke in poor taste, aimed at inferior products with exclusivity deals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 An early morning joke in poor taste, aimed at inferior products with exclusivity deals. Oh shoot! I can't believe I missed the reference. Good one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freewheel Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 Oh shoot! I can't believe I missed the reference. Good one! Yeah, at first it may have looked like a real dick insult towards CC, or yourself. Consider it the exact opposite 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+JasonlikesINTV Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 Including Carol would be a huge win win, IMO. Obviously James would get huge exposure, but from a marketing perspective Carol would be perfect for a 2015 holiday release of the FB2. It's new. It's holiday themed. It's worth making it work. You get a win! And you get a win! ....Oprah... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freewheel Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 I think there are probably a half dozen homebrews that are obvious inclusions to the FB2. The only questions, really, are a) will AtGames approach people, and b) will people be reasonable about licensing fees. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intvnut Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 (edited) It's because CC was distributed via more than 30 copies. There just wasn't the demand. Zing! Yow! (And yes, I got the reference.) FWIW, I did submit a couple test ROMs at one point, and the only feedback I got was "They didn't work. They give a blank screen." And by then it was too late, with no time to debug. If/when the FB2 comes around, I will probably need to be a little more involved than that to get the games I'm involved with working on there. As mentioned elsewhere in the thread, the emulation has to be tested with every game. As an emulator writer, I've been on the receiving end of discovering game-specific quirks. For example, Dreadnaught Factor crashing because its initialization race condition fails in the emulated Intellivision, or the penguins skating away from their assigned positions on the Thin Ice title screen due to a minor error in calculating the Overflow flag... It took forever to get MTE-201 to pass 100% cleanly. Edited January 4, 2015 by intvnut Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Lathe26 Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 What's that old software adage? You'll spend 10% of your time on the first 90% of the software and 90% of your time on the last 10%. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intvnut Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 (edited) What's that old software adage? You'll spend 10% of your time on the first 90% of the software and 90% of your time on the last 10%. Actually, you spend your first 90% of your time on the first 90% of the software, and the other 90% of your time on the last 10%. Edited January 4, 2015 by intvnut 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jointfilms.com Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 what I don't understand about the whole licensing and home-brew issue is that the ColecoVision Flashback has Imagic games on it and either it or the Atari one has home-brew games on it. So why not the Intellivision having a few Imagic titles or home-brews? I for one would've loved having Christmas Carol on the Flashback. But hey beggars can't be choosers right? We're lucky to have it at all. I'm sure if a 2nd one is released we'll get a whole slew of games we're hoping for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intvnut Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 what I don't understand about the whole licensing and home-brew issue is that the ColecoVision Flashback has Imagic games on it and either it or the Atari one has home-brew games on it. So why not the Intellivision having a few Imagic titles or home-brews? I for one would've loved having Christmas Carol on the Flashback. But hey beggars can't be choosers right? We're lucky to have it at all. I'm sure if a 2nd one is released we'll get a whole slew of games we're hoping for. I imagine they'd like to sell a Flashback 2 at some point. If you put the whole catalog on the first one, what's left for a second one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jointfilms.com Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 I imagine they'd like to sell a Flashback 2 at some point. If you put the whole catalog on the first one, what's left for a second one? true. I agree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACFinPGH Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 They could just re-release the original Flashback, in silver and black, and claim it has "more games, better graphics, improved reliability" and of course the all important "LED on/off light" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freewheel Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 They could just re-release the original Flashback, in silver and black, and claim it has "more games, better graphics, improved reliability" and of course the all important "LED on/off light" Yeah! Just add the world's worst power button implementation and let's ship this baby as the FB II! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intvnut Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 They could just re-release the original Flashback, in silver and black, and claim it has "more games, better graphics, improved reliability" and of course the all important "LED on/off light" More games*, better graphics**, improved reliability***. *Except those 3rd party ones that don't work now. **If you count the System Changer ***If you don't bump the Reset switch during a heated game ;) ;) ;) Yeah! Just add the world's worst power button implementation and let's ship this baby as the FB II! Don't forget the controllers! Gotta get the full flat-keypad, hard buttoned Intellivision II experience! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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