Jump to content

Justin

Administrator
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    7,791

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    357

 Content Type 

Posts posted by Justin

  1. Sega VR

    in Sega

    Posted

    @RadioPoultry and I got into a conversation in the chatroom last night about Sega VR, the long lost virtual reality headset initially developed for the Sega Genesis, and later for the Saturn and arcade machines. There hasn't been a lot of info about the Sega VR, although it appears a bit more info has surfaced in recent years.

    IMG_6792.JPG

    I remember seeing the Sega VR in video game magazines such as GamePro and Sega Visions the fall of 1993. It was right around the same time the Jaguar was about to drop, and although I was excited to see a Sega VR headset for the Genesis I was also hoping the Jag VR headset would trounce it. At the time it seemed to me that the Atari Jaguar would be a more advanced system that could better handle the demands of VR and would offer better games. However I've read the Sega VR was originally intended to be used with Sega Genesis games like Virtua Racing, which no doubt would've been an incredible experience. At least that's what you'd perceive it to be.

    What I remember hearing at the time was the Sega VR was delayed, and later canceled primarily due to people being disappointed in the actual experience not living up to what they had expected. This allegedly resulted from a combination of factors, namely: 1.) Insufficient motion tracking, 2.) focus group participants experiencing dizziness and motion sickness from gameplay longer than 20 mins, and 3.) poor video quality which severely hindered the experience from being truly immersive due to cost-effective low resolution screens, and the feel that you were looking at a moving movie screen from the back row, as opposed to being enveloped in an imax-like virtual environment. Maybe had the Sega VR been released McWill would have a nice screen mod for it 😉

    I remember by the fall of 1994 all VR talk had moved to Virtuality and the Atari Jaguar VR headset, and everything coming out of Sega at the time was about 32x and Saturn, with Genesis beginning to look more and more like the generation that was about to be left behind. More on the Sega VR can be found in this recent article from DesignNews:

    SegaVR.jpg

     

    From: DesignNews by Chris Wiltz

    The Story of Sega VR: Sega's Failed Virtual Reality Headset

    In 1991 video game giant Sega tasked its engineers with creating what would have been the first consumer VR headset. But the Sega VR was never released. Here's why.

    https://www.designnews.com/electronics-test/story-sega-vr-segas-failed-virtual-reality-headset/74451237860349

  4. Squad Challenge - Buggy Boy (Atari ST)

    in High Score Squad

    Posted

    awc_text_hss_squad_challenge.gif

     

     

    Buggy Boy
    Atari ST
    Controller: JOYSTICK / KEYBOARD / PLAYER'S CHOICE
    Difficulty Level: F1 Offroad
    Achieve high score to win challenge
    Play on: Real Hardware / Dedicated Console / MAME / Emulation OK! ✔
    Squad Challenge ends 11:59 pm PST March 31st, 2019

     

     

    Objective: Play for the highest possible score using the difficulty settings defined in the challenge. Post a photo or video of your score in this thread. Scores must be achieved between March 15th through March 31st, 2019. Screen captures are not allowed as they are easily manipulated for falsified scores. Multiple submissions are permitted. The player with the highest score at the end of the competition is the victor!

     

    Eligibility: Anyone can join in. All players are welcome!

     

    Play Rules: Games may be played on real hardware or emulation, using any controller or keyboard, following rules and game settings as delineated in the Squad Challenge. Enhancements, rewinds and hacked versions of this game are not allowed.

     

    Difficulty Level: Offroad. Press the F1 Key to select the Offroad course.

     

    Fair Play: Players should play fairly, be honest, and have fun! Falsified scores will result in your immediate removal from the site. It goes without saying that no use of cheats, hacks, cartridge frying, enhancements, rewinds, Photoshop, subterfuge, or any other unfair advantage is allowed. Everybody hates a cheater.

     

    More: To review detailed rules on how to play, please visit the High Score Squad page here: http://forums.atari.io/index.php/topic/1219-high-score-squad-how-to-play/

     

    Message: Welcome to our 54th Squad Challenge! This time we're playing our first ATARI ST Squad Challenge! Buggy Boy is a fun Racing game with additional objectives to complete in the course. Buggy Boy was nominated in our recent topic asking Atari I/O Members what games they would like to see in an upcoming Squad Challenge. Buggy Boy was suggested for the Atari ST as a fun game that will be easy to learn and difficult to master. A very special WELCOME to all ATARI ST players joining us for this Squad Challenge! I hope you have a lot of fun with this challenge and get in some good scores! P Buggy Boy ROM and Instructions attached below. Good luck!

     

     

    atari_league_world_championships_150.gif

     

     

     

    Buggy Boy.stx

  6. Squad Challenge - Super Mario Land (Game Boy)

    in High Score Squad

    Posted

    :pole_position_blimp_big: Congratulations RadioPoultry!

     

    Congratulations @RadioPoultry on an excellent run! Super Mario Land is possibly one of the most important killer aps of all time, which along with Tetris helped launch the Game Boy to stratospheric dominance. For many of us this was the first Mario sequel we got to play, and we really loved joining Mario in a new adventure of ancient ruins, giant crabs, flying stone heads and strange creatures! I can never see the stone heads of Easter Island without thinking of playing this game out by the pool. 

    Super Mario Land was our first GameBoy Squad Challenge, as well as our first Single-Life Run. I wasn't sure if we'd have a good turnout for our first Game Boy game, it was great to see so many of you jump in on this Challenge! @RadioPoultry won the Squad Challenge with a high score of 198,500. @Kid A was right on his tail with an incredible 181,390. @atarilbc brought his A-Game with his Lunchtime Unwinds, posting a high score of 87,510. @ThatBuffGamer posted an impressive 69,340. I showed up with @kamakazi20012, @Atari Creep and @RickR to post our best! Congrats to everyone who played! I'd encourage RadioPoultry to post his new high score on the Scoreboard, and maybe this Challenge can continue on! 

    Our next Squad Challenge will be for the Atari ST. 2019 will be changing it up in High Score Squad with new challenges for Lynx, SNES, Genesis, Master System, Atari ST, Jaguar, 5200, TurboGrafx-16, Intellivision, ColecoVision, Game Boy and much much more, in addition to the usual lineup of video game systems. We may even have an Arcade challenge! Be ready to play all of these game systems, we'll be breaking new ground with more interesting Squad Challenges coming up very soon and throughout the year, and we hope to see you there. Way to go everybody!

     

     

    SUPER MARIO LAND
    SINGLE LIFE RUN FINAL STANDINGS

     

    1   RADIO POULTRY             198,500

    2   KID A                                 181,390

    3   ATARILBC                           87,510

    4   THAT BUFF GAMER          69,340

    5   JUSTIN                               52,410

    6   KAMAKAZI20012             46,610

    7   ATARI CREEP                    38,200

    8   RICKR                                 15,680

     

     

    atari_league_world_championships_150.gif

  8. Squad Challenge - Super Mario Land (Game Boy)

    in High Score Squad

    Posted

    I did my best to compete on real hardware, which is always what I want to do, but sadly my Game Boy screen is on the fritz and I won't have time to repair it properly before the Squad Challenge ends. I managed to get 52,410 points playing on an emulator before I lost my first man. This is a great game and I would've loved to have kept playing! I might pick this game back up again and see if I can beat my score in the Scoreboard once I get my Game Boy working right, or at least get a substitute in my hands. Great scores all!

    My High Score: 52,410

     

    IMG_6248.JPG

    2019-03-14 20:46:14.406.JPG

  9. Retro Car Reviews

    in Retro

    Posted

    Cool thread, Rick. I've been subscribed to the MotorWeek YouTube channel for some time and have been watching this show since the '80s. Glad to see I'm not the only one! Side note: That GM CRT display reminds me a bit of Nolan Bushnell's ETAK early Nav systems for cars. It also makes me think of Dona Bailey who worked on Centipede at Atari and had previously done some assembly language programming at General Motors and had worked with cruise control and display systems. I wonder if there's a tiny Atari connection here.

  11. Shaving, Razor Blades & Men's Barber Stuff

    in Off Topic

    Posted

    On 6/26/2017 at 10:35 PM, RickR said:

    Great topic J!  We can all learn from each others' experiences.

    And yet more:  Make sure to really dry off your razors well after use, and they will last a lot longer.  A couple of wrist snaps, then wipe them backwards on a towel a few times.  I get about 3 weeks out of each razor head.

    Gillette is out here misleading people and effectively encouraging people to wear their blades out early. This video, which Gillette put out to instruct people on “how to clean and maintain your razor”, contradicts almost every point we discussed above. It’s as if this video was made for the sole purpose of addressing these points and knock them down one by one, under the guise of an instructional “how to” video about razor maintenance.

    Gillette is encouraging users to:

    1. Run water over the blades
    2. Not tapping your razor to dry it off
    3. Not wipe your razor blades dry

    This is the opposite of what we discussed above.

    I wanted to clean the soap scum off of my razor handle and went on YouTube to search for a video. It’s not the blade itself I want to clean mind you, it’s the little bits of soap and dry shaving cream that gets into every crevice of the razor handle. I thought I might need to soak it in CLR or something. Then I came across this video.

    I wouldn’t have thought twice about this, but having remembered our thread above this video seemed super cringy, and frankly devious. It’s as if they’re telling people “no no no! Don’t listen to this common, sound advice! We want you to wear your razor blades out and buy more.”

    🤔

     

     

  12. Battlestar Galactica

    in Television & Movies

    Posted

    49 minutes ago, RickR said:

    It was a great show for sure. 

    I'm one of those that really loved the "new" version a lot more than the old.  Removing all the "kiddie" elements really took it to a new level IMO.  Plus, it was great that they were able to take their time and actually finish the story this time.

    I don't doubt that. Especially regarding the "kiddie" elements. I've never seen much of the "new" version. I've said over in our Star Trek thread that the "kiddie" elements were some of my biggest complaints about Voyager. I loved DS9 and knowing Ronald D. Moore and some of the DS9 guys were behind the reboot of Battlestar Galactica made me think they probably took things to a new level and did a good job with really involved storytelling and long arcs. I'm glad to hear that you liked it, I'll have to check it out. I'm always hesitant with reboots but this sounds good.

  13. Battlestar Galactica

    in Television & Movies

    Posted

    Any Battlestar Galactica fans here? I always loved the original.To me this was the first time a Sci-Fi television show was put on the air with the production value of a feature film. I always thought it was tragic that the series was canceled after the first season. The Battlestar Galactica reboot of course was tremendously successful during the 2000s. I was more a fan of the original series but would love to hear from all Battlestar fans!

     

     

     

     

  14. Crazy Idea or Realistic??

    in Television & Movies

    Posted

    2 hours ago, StormSurge said:

    ☝️ Exactly.

    I get that things change & whatever pulls in advertising dollars is what these companies have to show.

    However, it's easier than ever to access the libraries of the "classics" (or at least what we deem the classics to be), so hopefully the rights holders, streaming services & carriers can find creative ways to deliver that content to the viewer. I'd GLADLY pay to have all of that consolidated.

    (And how lazy do I sound? Sure, I can watch Seinfeld anytime I want via Hulu or the DVDs, yet here I am whining that TBS doesn't show it anymore during the evenings. Like it's soooooo difficult to push a couple of extra buttons on my remote to pull them up.)

    My other complaint: Netflix keeps removing all of my movies and shows. Netflix has gone from the replacement for Blockbuster to wanting to be its own channel. I like Stranger Things and a few other shows. But what was once a $7/mo. commitment for unlimited movies and TV has now shattered into $11/mo. for kinda sorta some stuff that I might want to watch, but if I want all the stuff I used to have I need to get Hulu, Amazon Prime and everything else. When did TV become a car payment?

  15. Crazy Idea or Realistic??

    in Television & Movies

    Posted

    What I REALLY do not like is how all of these channels have homogenized into one big soupy mess of cable TV networks, as opposed to the very diverse array of 30 distinct cable channels that we had in the '80s and '90s. Most all cable networks are basically airing the same stuff and targeting the same demo. The variety and uniqueness is gone. Every channel that I used to love watching, that had it's own flavor and uniqueness is now a Viacom channel trying to be what TBS and USA Network have always been and just air Big Bang Theory reruns and reality shows.

    Nick at Nite and TV Land used to be "our television heritage" with everything from I Love Lucy, Alfred Hitchcock, Bewitched, Car 54, Mr. Ed, My 3 Sons, Best of SNL, SCTV, Bob Newhart, MTM, Taxi, Happy Days, Mork & Mindy. Later they added a few newer shows like Cosby Show, etc. Then one day I woke up and Nick at Nite didn't start until way after I would have been sent to bed as a kid and it was like Hot In Cleveland, Mommy-oriented reality shows and Big Bang Theory.

    Comedy Central used to be amazing. They still have some good original content, but the quirky niche feel of the first decade is long gone. The sort of unique programming that we would spend all weekend watching like Kids In The Hall, MST3K, Strangers with Candy, and a focus on stand-up comedy with shows like The A-List and Comedy Central Presents has gone away in favor of the latest laughtrack-free sitcom. 

    MTV rarely airs music videos. I guess it's all on YouTube now, and that's exactly where kids and teens are spending their time watching stuff.

    VH1 see above. "Music First" became Surreal Life, then Flavor of Love, and went on from there. That was like 10 years ago.

    TNN used to be "The Nashville Network" with a focus on country music and lifestyle. Mix in car racing, cooking and variety shows and you have a network. CMT took over country music I suppose, but it's the same MTV formula with hardly any music, and country stars in the same predictable reality shows. TNN became SpikeTV, and that went away and is now "Paramount Network" which is about as generic a name as you could possibly come up with for a cable TV channel.

    Court TV is TruTV. TruTV is comedy. Court TV was big in the '90s during the trial of The Menendez Bros, O.J. Simpson, etc. and later became TruTV which was reality shows like Hardcore Pawn, until they shifted to filling 90% of their airtime with Impractical Jokers. I love Impractical Jokers, I think the guys are brilliant. But it belongs on 1990s Comedy Central, not TruTV. Once again it's a shift away from a unique and distinct cable channel to a focus on light comedy.

    History Channel is aliens.

    Sci-Fi Channel is comedy.

    BBC is Sci-Fi. Lots of X-Files and TNG I suppose because Sir Patrick is British? Or due to the success of Dr. Who? So where do people go to watch Benny Hill, Absolutely Fabulous or whatever BBC is actually airing in Britain? 

    Adult Swim lost its edge.

    HBO airs Sesame Street. HBO has never really hit its stride again since Sopranos went off. They've had some excellent content at times but nothing that has surpassed what came before. At least HBO airing movies is still a thing.

    PBS is still PBS but Sesame Street is 30 mins, Mr. Rogers is no longer aired, nor are other classic shows that I grew up watching in reruns such as 3-2-1 Contact, The Electric Company, Reading Rainbow, Square One Television, etc. I understand these shows are older but these are perennial classics that ALL children should have easy access to, in a mixture of new and old educational programming for children.

    Discovery Channel is sharks and motorcycles so at least that's been consistent. Mythbusters had a nice long run, now I feel like Discovery Channel is between things, trying to find what will work best for them next.

    Nickelodeon used to be a lot more "kid-oriented" with super sloppy game shows, afternoon shows hosted live from Nickelodeon Studios at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida, lots of nicktoons and kids being kids. It seems like they've shifted towards more "trendy" shows with Arianna Grande. I'd rather kids were able to not have to grow up so fast and just enjoy being a kid.

    Cartoon Network isn't running much from Hannah-Barbera or Looney Tunes. I guess you have to add Boomerang to see that stuff.

    FX no longer airs It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, Louie, or any comedy programming. You've got to add FXX to get that. At least their original programming has been doing well.

    BET is a lot of reality shows. Again, doesn't matter if it's MTV, TNN or BET, all the music video stuff is gone, everything that's filled the void is all basically the same thing targeted to slightly different audiences.

    E! no longer has Joel McHale, E! True Hollywood Story, Joan Rivers or anything worth watching unless you're Keeping Up With The Cardassians

    Infomercials aren't even worth watching anymore on Sunday afternoons without Ron Popeil or Billy Mays.

  21. Squad Challenge - Super Mario Land (Game Boy)

    in High Score Squad

    Posted

    awc_text_hss_squad_challenge.gif

     

     

    Super Mario Land
    Nintendo Game Boy
    Controller: PLAYER'S CHOICE
    Difficulty Level: Default
    SINGLE LIFE: Achieve high score using only one life to win challenge
    Play on: Real Hardware / Dedicated Console / MAME / Emulation OK! ✔
    Squad Challenge ends 11:59 pm PST March 14th, 2019

     

     

    Objective: Play for the highest possible score using only one life and the difficulty settings defined in the challenge. Post a photo or video of your score in this thread. Scores must be achieved between March 1st through March 14th, 2019. Screen captures are not allowed as they are easily manipulated for falsified scores. Multiple submissions are permitted. The player with the highest score at the end of the competition is the victor!

     

    Eligibility: Anyone can join in. All players are welcome!

     

    Play Rules: Games may be played on real hardware or emulation, using any controller or keyboard, following rules and game settings as delineated in the Squad Challenge. Enhancements, rewinds and hacked versions of this game are not allowed.

     

    Difficulty Level: Default. There are no difficulty options for this game.

     

    Single Life Run: You are only allowed ONE LIFE to achieve your high score in this Squad Challenge.

     

    Fair Play: Players should play fairly, be honest, and have fun! Falsified scores will result in your immediate removal from the site. It goes without saying that no use of cheats, hacks, cartridge frying, enhancements, rewinds, Photoshop, subterfuge, or any other unfair advantage is allowed. Everybody hates a cheater.

     

    More: To review detailed rules on how to play, please visit the High Score Squad page here: http://forums.atari.io/index.php/topic/1219-high-score-squad-how-to-play/

     

    Message: Welcome to our 54th Squad Challenge! We're playing our first Game Boy Squad Challenge! Super Mario Land is a Game Boy icon and arguably the first killer app for the system. How high can you score on just one life? PDF Super Mario Land Instruction Booklet is attached below. Good luck!

     

    :mac: NOTE: Our next Squad Challenge will post 3/15/19 and we will be playing our first ATARI ST game in a Squad Challenge. Get ready!

     

     

    atari_league_world_championships_150.gif

     

     

     

    Super Mario Land.pdf

    Super Mario Land.gb

  22. Squad Challenge - Battlezone (Atari 2600)

    in High Score Squad

    Posted

    :pole_position_blimp_big: Congratulations Scott Stilphen!

     

    KA-POW!! Congratulations Scott Stilphen on an excellent performance! Battlezone is a game that we haven't talked much about lately and I think this game proved to be a lot of fun. It was great to see so many old faces jump in on this Challenge! High Score Squad is always at its most fun when the gang's all here. @Scott Stilphen won the Squad Challenge with a high score of 182,000. @RickR came in with his Slik Stick and a score of 91,000, @nosweargamer was right behind with 70,000 and @atarilbc flew in with 57,000. @Arenafoot, @kamakazi20012and @Atari Creep all showed up with their best! Congrats to everyone who played! I'd encourage Scott to post his new high score on the Scoreboard, and maybe this Challenge can continue on! 

    2019 will be changing it up in High Score Squad with new challenges for Lynx, SNES, Genesis, Master System, Atari ST, Jaguar, 5200, TurboGrafx-16, Intellivision, ColecoVision, Game Boy and much much more, in addition to the usual lineup of video game systems. We may even have an Arcade challenge! Be ready to play all of these game systems, we'll be breaking new ground with more interesting Squad Challenges coming up very soon and throughout the year, and we hope to see you there. Way to go everybody!

     

     

    BATTLEZONE FINAL STANDINGS

     

    1   SCOTT STILPHEN         182,000

    2   RICKR                                91,000

    3   NOSWEARGAMER           70,000

    4   ATARILBC                         57,000

    5   ARENAFOOT                    49,000

    6   KAMAKAZI20012           39,000

    7   ATARI CREEP                  33,000

     

     

    atari_league_world_championships_150.gif

×
×
  • Create New...