Ze_ro Posted December 16, 2001 Share Posted December 16, 2001 So how much of the book(s) does this game actually cover? Since it has a subtitle, I get the feeling that Parker Bros planned to make more sequels the same way they pimped out Star Wars. --Zero Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Stilphen Posted December 16, 2001 Share Posted December 16, 2001 Funny you should ask Actually, a sequel was planned, but I don't know of any subtitle for it (just simply 'Lord of the Rings II'). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted December 16, 2001 Share Posted December 16, 2001 http://www.classicnote.com/ClassicNotes/Ti...les/fellowship/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
popeal Posted December 16, 2001 Share Posted December 16, 2001 I love that this ROM finally is released. I know that some already mentioned this release and the movie release was a coincidence... I just love the fact that we have a game before the other systems do! Take that X-Box! Pope Al www.blowoutmagazine.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atarimastermarty Posted December 16, 2001 Share Posted December 16, 2001 When I saw that I was amazed. Thats really kool, but just out of curiosity, how much do you think that game would run for. My gues is anywhere $650 to $800 bux. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted December 16, 2001 Share Posted December 16, 2001 Ah, there were a lot of LOTR games released for 8-bit computers...and even more that had references to Tolkienesque characters/places. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted December 17, 2001 Share Posted December 17, 2001 I had a short look into the disassembled code. It still contains some debugging code, but seems to be nearly complete. Perhaps I can find out what pressing the button does (or should do) and what the player 0 difficulty switch is used for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted December 17, 2001 Share Posted December 17, 2001 quoteWhen I saw that I was amazed. Thats really kool, but just out of curiosity, how much do you think that game would run for. My gues is anywhere $650 to $800 bux. Are you talking baout the original prototype? Since it's the only one know to exist (although it's a pretty good bet there are others) and it's one of the most sought after 2600 prototypes (right behind Airworld), I'd say it would go for at least $2500 or so. Remember Elevator Action cost $3000 to get... Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubersaurus Posted December 17, 2001 Share Posted December 17, 2001 Man, I remember the old thread that people asked if this game would ever show up. I remember saying after seeing the digital press haul, I wouldn't doubt anything. Who would've thought that it would have appeared, and ironically, out of said haul? And most interesting, that it came out of nowhere just before the movie's release. Neat stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Night Phantom Posted December 17, 2001 Share Posted December 17, 2001 quote: Originally posted by Ze_ro: So how much of the book(s) does this game actually cover? The game seems to derive from part of the first novel in the trilogy, The Fellowship of the Ring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Stilphen Posted December 17, 2001 Share Posted December 17, 2001 quote: Originally posted by Thomas Jentzsch: I had a short look into the disassembled code. It still contains some debugging code, but seems to be nearly complete. Perhaps I can find out what pressing the button does (or should do) and what the player 0 difficulty switch is used for. Maybe you can see how the scoring system works too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snider-man Posted December 17, 2001 Share Posted December 17, 2001 Actually, I'd like to revisit the earlier suggestion of a manual contest. Now that we have the ROM, I figure having it on cart should happen soon enough. It was great having a Kabobber manual and label when I got it burned onto cart. How about we see a manual and label for this? (Although, the label would be easy since we have box scans to work from.) Alex, Albert? I'd be willing to toss up a pretty decent 2600-related prize for a winning manual if you want to front the contest. Any takers? "Snider-man" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted December 17, 2001 Author Share Posted December 17, 2001 quote: Originally posted by Snider-man: Alex, Albert? I'd be willing to toss up a pretty decent 2600-related prize for a winning manual if you want to front the contest. Any takers? Sounds like a good idea and the Kabobber Manual (yeah, the site is almost functional again!) came out extremely well. I don't think we'd be able to start this contest though until the middle of January, or so, given the holidays and other reasons that will become clear soon. But it is a great idea! ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ze_ro Posted December 17, 2001 Share Posted December 17, 2001 quote: Originally posted on Slashdot by xanthan: I used to work with a fellow who was in Parker Bros. during the Atari heyday and even into the PC gaming arena for a short while. What he says makes a lot of sense and it does lead me to believe it to be true... For each new game that came out, four were actually made. The reason for this was that it cost $250,000 to produce a game and about $3-4M to actually market and sell the damn thing. Thus, it was crucial that they picked winners. Looking at the type of games that Parker Bros. was coming out with, you can easily see how these games were not destined to be classics... The loss of developing 3 losers for every winner was covered in the returns made on the one game that was released. While it may still sound like a weird way to do it, the return on investment proved it to be the correct thing to do. They were able to release new games on a regular basis without worrying about a single game bogging down their cycle. Note for those who dispute development costs: The ratio of marketing costs to development costs still holds true for a lot of development that happens today for a variety of different products. A dozen cubicals of programmers is a lot cheaper than TV spots, magazine ads, distribution, packaging, art work, product placement in stores, etc... So we can see how it was entirely possible for a LOTR game to not be selected because by comparison to the other games coming out at the time, it sucked. How could such a classic suck? As someone mentioned earlier... How exactly are you going to get a 1,000 page book filled with rich imagery into a 4k cart running on a 2600? The people who would buy such a game (LOTR fans) would have held it up to a higher expectation and been disapointed. The rest of the world would have said "Lord of the who?" and ignored it. And *click*... There goes $4M down the drain... I disagree that the game sucks, and I really think Parker Bros would have released this game if it wasn't for the liscensing problems they ran into... but that's not the reason I posted this quote. I know better than to trust everything I read on the internet, but what this guy says makes sense... and if this is actually what Parker Bros did with their Atari games, then there's a decent chance that McDonalds and Incredible Hulk, and probably a bunch of games we've never even heard of before are actually out there somewhere in prototype form. Just something to think about. --Zero Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mountain King Posted December 17, 2001 Share Posted December 17, 2001 What a great find. Haven't played with the game too much but I'm gald it finally got dumped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted December 17, 2001 Author Share Posted December 17, 2001 quote: Originally posted by Voch: Is there someone at AtariAge who could send me an e-mail when prototypes are found? The e-mail is in the header of the profile file. Sure, in the future I'll email you the necessary Stella.pro information should we be fortunate to find any additional prototypes in the future. Thanks for updating the Stella Profile on your page so quickly! ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Stilphen Posted December 17, 2001 Share Posted December 17, 2001 I wonder if the Intellivision and Atari 400/800 versions were ever started. Do any catalog screenshots exist for either? Speaking of, is the catalog pic of the 2600 version real or a drawing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted December 17, 2001 Share Posted December 17, 2001 I can almost guarantee that the catalog picture is a drawing. Other than the mountian background (at the top of the screen) looks completely different (yes I know it could be a earlier version), the screenshot is just too pixilated to be real. I took a good close look at it too see if I could find that screenshot anywhere in the game and I noticed how grainy and pixily it was. Plus if you look at all the other screenshots in the catalog they're drawings too (especially the James Bond cart), so I can't believe this one would be different. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt Vendel Posted December 17, 2001 Share Posted December 17, 2001 Man you just made my Monday morning!!!! The guys in the office are gonna flip when they see this, as it is everyone is always coming over to my desk to see and play the video games I have on my laptop, wait till they see this and yeah Glenn your right, the graphics on this game are simply the best yet, Scott.... find the easter eggs dude!!! I'm sure something hiding in their and if anyone is gonna find them, it'll be you! :-) Thanks AA for a wonderful contributution to the community and extra thanks to the rom holders generosity in allowing you guys to release it! Curt Atari History Museum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+-^CrossBow^- Posted December 17, 2001 Share Posted December 17, 2001 Correct me unless I am wrong...but didn't Gandalf fall into the abyss with the Balrog before they got over the mountains and before getting to Rivendell. So in that theory Gandalf woulnd't actually be part of your part except at the very beginning. What I can't figure out is who the white figure is supposed to be that find in the woods from time to time. And how did you guys actually complete the game and make it to Rivendell with all the members including the mysterious white figure. I am pretty sure that the white figure can't be Gandalf as he is known as Gandalf the Grey until the 2nd book at which point he later comes back as Gandalf the White. But again, this is in the second book and not the first as this game is based one. So any ideas... My guess is Golum...but then that doesn't explain why Wraiths move away from you when you find the figure is interesting. Too bad you don't stay white for long. My guess is it could be Tom Bombadill as I recall the wraiths being scared of him or something. And Tempest is correct in that many of the Wraiths were semi defeated at the River with a torent of water. So technically they shouldn't be able to follow you beyond that point. Oh well, Pickiness is one of the reasons stated as to why this game was canned besides the Licensing issues. Great looking game though. Wish there was a way to access the map from any screen however, instead of waiting to be in a village or forest area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liveinabin Posted December 17, 2001 Share Posted December 17, 2001 Haven't played it yet (probably won't work on Mac stella yet), is it much like the book ie. nothing really happening for hours at a time, with precious little reward at the end? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metalkeir Posted December 17, 2001 Share Posted December 17, 2001 You must be confusing Rivendell with Lothlorien. Gandalf joins the fellowship in Rivendell and travels with them to Moria, where they meet the Balrog, as you said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voch Posted December 17, 2001 Share Posted December 17, 2001 quote: Originally posted by liveinabin: Haven't played it yet (probably won't work on Mac stella yet), is it much like the book ie. nothing really happening for hours at a time, with precious little reward at the end? Everything should work in Mac Stella (except for Pitfall II: Lost Caverns and some games with strange controllers like Mind Link, etc.) if you (1) have the latest Stella profile file unzipped into the same directory as the Stella application and (2) have increased the Stella application's memory allocation a few megabytes (to allow for the large Stella profile file). Mac Stella takes a few seconds to load each ROM as it parses the Stella profile file but games do work. Voch [ 12-17-2001: Message edited by: Voch ] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+-^CrossBow^- Posted December 17, 2001 Share Posted December 17, 2001 Hmm..I thought Gandalf approached Frodo first while at Bilbo's 300+ birthday party? Mind you it has been 15 years since I read the books and even then I was 12 when I read them. But I could have sworn that Gandalf was with Frodo and Sam and Pippen at the start. Then towards the middle of the first book Gandalf is felled with the Balrog. But I didn't think they were all the way to Moria by then? I thought it was when they came out of the Misty mountains I think they were called that the battle between Gandalf and the Balrog happened. I only remember it this way because I remember being very very upset at the time when I read it. I had read the Hobbit several times even earlier in my youth when I was 8 or so and of course Gandalf was The Man! So I was totally devistated when he seemed to be gone so quickly in the first book. To be honest, I really lost interest after that and can't remember anything from the second book anymore since I found it to be the most boring to read and get through. Third book I only really remember the battle at the end and of course the final struggle between Frodo and Golum on Mount Doom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost Monkey Posted December 17, 2001 Share Posted December 17, 2001 Gandalf was there at the beginning, but went off to take care of some other business...thereby leaving Frodo and the Hobbits to make it to Rivendell on their own. Gandalf meets up with them again at Rivendell and travels as far as Moria, where he falls into the abyss with the Balrog. Regardless, the game isn't EXACTLY following the novel anyway...the new film doesn't either... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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