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Atari Voice Controller?


darthleppard

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Are you sure on that? I too have heard of Atari anouncing the development of a voice controller unit back in 83. It was mentioned in a gaming magazine at the time but all that was said about it was some three lines of what it did and that it was in suppossed development. Admittedly it probably never left the drawing board but I am sure Atari toyed with the idea. Anyone else heard of it?

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Access, known for computer games like Beach-Head and Leaderboard, marketed a voice control of a sort.

 

The LipStik was a simple headset mike you would piggyback on any "standard" 9-pin joystick plug. Make a loud noise into the mike and the fire button would activate. Kind've like The Clapper!

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Access, known for computer games like Beach-Head and Leaderboard, marketed a voice control of a sort.

 

The LipStik was a simple headset mike you would piggyback on any "standard" 9-pin joystick plug. Make a loud noise into the mike and the fire button would activate. Kind've like The Clapper!

847248[/snapback]

 

I remember something like that for either the SNES or Genesis, can't remember which. I always though it was an absurd idea; I mean, who wouldn't feel like a complete idiot sitting there playing and shouting, "Bang! Bang! Bangbang!"

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You are right. I too remember a voice module for the SNES I think. It was either that or the Mega Drive. Like the Atari 2600 proposed version it sounded like too much hard work to be of any actual fun.

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I remember reading about this controller. This, and the Space Age Joystick were originally developed by MB for the TI 99/4A computer, and then Atari licsensed it.

 

I know I saw it in either AtariAge magazine, or one of the many video game magazines of the day.

 

EDIT: A bit o info on it here:

 

http://www.atarimuseum.com/videogames/cons...tari2600jr.html

Edited by Inky
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  • 9 years later...

That's not an "Atari lipstick" and it's not 2600 specific. It was a product from the late 80s put out for multiple computer systems and consoles, and it's not really "voice control" setup. Already discussed in this thread here:

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/226000-my-video-about-the-mbx-system-milton-bradley-1983/

 

Here's the original ad:

 

 

post-160-0-87154000-1419391729_thumb.jpg

 

As for the original question, yes Atari was working with Milton Bradley on a voice control and synthesis module for the 2600 called the 2600 Voice Commander. You can see the original announcement here:

 

http://atariage.com/catalog_page.html?CatalogID=38&currentPage=2

 

And here is the proto unit:

 

post-160-0-06360000-1419392013_thumb.jpg

 

It was ultimately cancelled, and Milton Bradley decided to release it on their own as the MBX system for the TI 99/4a. The only thing that survived from the Atari partnership was Atari's release of the controllers for it as their "Space Age Controller."

 

post-160-0-46209500-1419392128_thumb.jpg

 

 

 

Edited by Retro Rogue
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Retro Rogue (Marty) used one of my photos from the 2600 Connection web site hardware FAQ and slapped a little AGH logo on it.

 

Here is the original:

 

http://www.2600connection.com/faq/vcs_nr/vcs_nr.html#voice

 

Just want to point out the source on this photo.

The original photo was borrowed from Leonard Herman.

The photo is from Atari's June 1983 Consumer Electronics Division press kit. Here is the original scan of the full photo. Scanned it in 2008.

 

post-291-0-23256200-1419605423_thumb.png

 

 

This hardware device would have been very cool if it was indeed sold and released.

 

 

 

 

Just want to give credit where credit is due and cite the source....

 

 

Tim

 

 

 

 

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Retro Rogue (Marty) used one of my photos from the 2600 Connection web site hardware FAQ and slapped a little AGH logo on it.

 

Here is the original:

 

http://www.2600connection.com/faq/vcs_nr/vcs_nr.html#voice

 

Just want to point out the source on this photo.

The original photo was borrowed from Leonard Herman.

The photo is from Atari's June 1983 Consumer Electronics Division press kit. Here is the original scan of the full photo. Scanned it in 2008.

 

attachicon.gifVoice Controller.png

 

 

This hardware device would have been very cool if it was indeed sold and released.

 

 

 

 

Just want to give credit where credit is due and cite the source....

 

 

Tim

 

 

 

 

 

 

I did no such thing. The photo was on AGH from before I ever got involved, back when Keita and John Hardie were running it in the 90s. They "slapped the AGH logo" on it back in 1998. I simply grabbed it off the AGH server (which has a large collection of such material dating back to '98) to quickly share. In fact, here's the archive.org save that shows the server upload date of Feb 2 1998:

 

https://web.archive.org/web/20031022034928/http://www.atarihq.com/museum/2678/hardware/

 

Going back to even 2002 on the original 2600 connection site, I don't see where this image even existed on yours:

 

https://web.archive.org/web/20020329060618/http://2600connection.atari.org/

 

In 2012 I still don't see it:

 

https://web.archive.org/web/20120519080516/http://2600connection.atari.org/index.html

 

Finally when you moved the site to your own URL in 2013 and revamped it, it shows up.

 

https://web.archive.org/web/20130702082236/http://www.2600connection.com/faq/faq.html

 

 

Regardless, you want to make accusations about me make sure you have the facts.That's conduct I'd expect from Scott, so it figures.

Edited by Retro Rogue
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I have a space age controller love it.

too bad mb didn't make a voice controller for the 2600 it would have been good.

the closest thing was the tv pow games that was featured on various kid shows on tv

where the kid on the phone would say pow to make fire missile shoot at target.

(but I think that was just a person on one end pressing fire when they word pow was

said)

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