Scott Stilphen

In looking through some Analog mag issues, I saw this ad for Blackhawk. I remembered I was always curious to how it looked, but never bothered to order it. Damn, what a lousy game It's glitchy as hell. So the ad says you have to fly to an embassy to pick up hostages ala Choplifter and fly back to your carrier. It also mentions features like color or b&w (Ooohhhh) and pause (Aaahhh). You supposedly can select which difficulty level to start at. Well, I can't find the color/b&w option or pause. The *only* button that does anything from the title screen is the fire button, which starts the game. SELECT changes the threat (?) level and OPTION lowers it one number (when you hold it down) but releasing it puts it back up a number. I've flown as far north as I can until I ran out of fuel and I see the same buildings, tents, and airstrips (?). Attempting to land anywhere does nothing, but I noticed the background color for the text changes to white when I'm over something, and if I hang around in that area long enough, I immediately appear back at the carrier (as though I was killed). Pressing Fire shoots the cannon (and changes the counter) and pressing fire+down launches a rocket. Even the score counter shows glitches. If you run out of fuel and crash, you have to reload the game since there's no way to restart! Your chopper will slowly drag itself back to the carrier (spinning all the while), but you can still shoot, though. I did notice that if you fly down instead of up, you'll fly off the "map" and into random graphics data. After a few minutes, you'll find the name of the game on the ground. If you keep flying and crash, your spinning chopper will keep going south. Usually the game will completely crash out, but once the title screen appeared, only this time it was glitched out.

Old newsgroup post of mine from 10 years ago: https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rec.games.video.atari/Ipchr6TACGc/PgfFzHiBxCsJ There's a clip Van Halen's "You Really Got Me" on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRQ9Csb_Er0 There's also a few threads over in comp.sys.atari.8bit (just do a search for "van halen"). I remember getting a copy of this back in the day from a software catalog ("Marrs" or something like that), which is long gone, and I don't have a copy on my PC (if anyone has it, can they send me a copy?). It might have also been available from Antic's catalog at some point. I know there were at least a dozen or 2 digitized song samples at the same time the Van Halen clip appeared.

http://www.ataricompendium.com/archives/interviews/michael_becker/interview_michael_becker.html This interview was a long time in the making, but I think it was worth the wait.

You realize you'd only start seeing savings from this after running your system constantly for a full year, right? The cost of the part (plus shipping) is approximately the same you'd save from running your system 24/7/365.

Ask Rik at http://handheldmuseum.com/ If anybody would recognize it, it would be him.

Just to reiterate Ross' comments regarding the naysayers, the only "currency" that has any value from here on out is hard evidence (sources, paperwork, etc) - evidence that everyone can research, investigate, and otherwise use to <ahem> vet information. Or to state it more succinctly: "Put up or shut up."

Just posted these on my site: http://www.ataricompendium.com/archives/interviews/interviews.html Ross interviews: B.J. West Carrie Tahquechi Dan Hunter Lee Actor Richard Costello and Ted Tahquechi.

Starship 1 designer Ron Milner let slip the secret, and Ron, Ed Fries, and Michael Albaugh (another former Atari alumni) helped to figure out the sequence to trigger it: https://edfries.wordpress.com/2017/03/22/chasing-the-first-arcade-easter-egg/

Here's some from a local newspaper, proving that the game was indeed available a few weeks earlier. Btw, I'm not sure why this thread is in the Arcade Life section since the whole Pac-Man Day event was about the VCS version

Here's a few more.

I have a photo of the box for the Kingsway on my site: http://www.ataricompendium.com/faq/faq_vcs_system_kingsway.jpg That PAL version of Commando Raid looks pretty funky - http://www.atarimania.com/game-landung-in-der-normandie_s10819.html

Was Funvision definitely from Spain? I've heard Japan, Finland, and Australia as possible locations. The FHC was created by VTech, who are based in Hong Kong. The box for this 2600 clone is definitely from Japan, and the logo is the same found on the Funvision VCS games: http://www.ataricompendium.com/faq/faq_vcs_system_funvision_gemini.jpg Btw, the controllers were with this Funvision 2600JR clone called the Hi-Score MK3: http://www.ataricompendium.com/faq/faq_vcs_system_hi-score_3.jpg

Would't it have been a grand idea to wire up those Walmart kiosks to use some of the TVs just to the right?? Nah....

Is it possible to like a post more than once? Well put, LD. Too many history books have been filled with opinions, when all they should have included were facts, and history books w/o a list of sources to back up their information are worthless and should be placed in the fiction sections of every library. Sources of information should be available to all, and not just a select few. Both Ross and myself are doing just that, so that people can truly verify information for themselves should they choose to.

Nice job with that, Justin. I particularly like the side "wings"

http://www.ataricompendium.com/game_library/atari_tube/atari_tube.html

There's a thread on KLOV about it, and a Kickstarter page: https://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=399785 https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1461917284/play-atari-pong-in-your-coffee-table

Hope the owner puts up a video of it running. FYI: Leftover Hi-Way sit-down cabs were used for the sit-down version of Night Driver.

List updated

*** This is sold ***

Here's a link to the interview on my website: http://www.ataricompendium.com/archives/interviews/ed_fries/interview_ed_fries.html

I see a screenshot of Donkey Kong...

Fixed link. There's a link to an excerpt from Brian Bagnall's excellent book "On The Edge: The Spectacular Rise And Fall Of Commodore": http://www.ataricompendium.com/faq/bagnall_vcs_keyboard.pdf Soon after PVI was formed, Jack Tramiel heard PVI approached Atari and filed a ("exploratory") lawsuit against them, claiming they stole trade secrets. PVI were forced to disclose details of their VCS project. Tramiel insisted that was his product, and pursued the case. The Graduate was ultimately cancelled by James Morgan when he took over as the new Atari CEO in 1983. An ongoing lawsuit against PVI by Commodore was likely the main motivating reason for its cancellation. PVI eventually won, but it cost them several years and approximately $300,000. There were 3 other companies that worked on VCS keyboard peripherals, only one of which was released: Entex: http://www.ataricompendium.com/game_library/unreleased/unreleased.html#piggyback Unitronics: http://www.ataricompendium.com/game_library/unreleased/unreleased.html#expander Spectravideo: http://www.ataricompendium.com/game_library/unreleased/unreleased.html#compumate

I see a few comments about how Nolan was wasting money on creating Sente. Sente was a company originally called Videa which Nolan simply bought. See my interviews with former Videa/Sente designers Howard Delman, Lee Actor, and Roger Hector for more info: http://www.ataricompendium.com/archives/interviews/interviews.html What Nolan was really hemorrhaging money on was Axlon, and it was something that ultimately cost him everything, including his home.

Would love to know if you have anything VCS-related in your cache of material, Lance (btw, best wishes for a speedy recovery). The story of the 3 remaining dealers buying everything (?) in Atari's final days is one I've heard before, and Atari still lives on through you 3. I agree, the $100k Atari was originally asking for each game was absurd, knowing that Atari likely didn't pay anywhere that much for them. I suppose you could have waited until nightfall, trespassed onto Atari's property, and stole the items... but that would be illegal