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Scott Stilphen

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Posts posted by Scott Stilphen

  3. Super Huey UH-IX Prototype Cart for Atari XL / XE

    in Atari 8-Bit Computers

    Posted · Edited by scott.stilphen

    Are you sure you have a prototype?  I can't tell from your video, but if you type something, does it appear onscreen?  Look in the lower-center where it says "flight lesson mode".  The first 3 letters of "flight" should change to whatever you type.  If you type "ASN", the window will change to "enter assn".  If you type "POW", you'll power up the chopper and see all the text highlighted.  The manual is on Atarimania: http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-super-huey_5163.html

    The last page mentions an offer to get a complete map from Cosmi, but Atarimania doesn't have a copy of it.

     

    Btw, on the cockpit screen, there’s always a line along the bottom-center that constantly flickers.

     

    There's a complete walkthrough video on YouTube showing how to power up the chopper:

  4. NSG's Atari 2600 Easter Eggs

    in Atari 2600

    Posted · Edited by Scott Stilphen

    I used Scott Stilphen's map to beat Fathom back in '02, 

     

    I created that map for the first issue of Jeff Adkins's newsletter, Classic Systems and Games Monthly, way back in October 1991, using my crappy Okimate 10 printer and Atari Artist (attached). 

     

    Here's more notes about the game:

    http://www.ataricompendium.com/game_library/easter_eggs/vcs/26fathom.html

     

    I interviewed Rob Fulop years ago, and he mentioned Fathom wasn't a particular favorite of his:

     

    http://www.ataricompendium.com/archives/interviews/rob_fulop/interview_rob_fulop.html

    post-1089-0-40851900-1489696330_thumb.png

  10. foxbat

    in Atari 2600

    Posted · Edited by Scott Stilphen

    The info Rom Hunter posted came from me, in an email conversation I had with Keithen Hayenga.  Here's all the current info I know about this title:  http://www.ataricompendium.com/game_library/unreleased/unreleased.html#foxbat

     

     

     

    Although "Foxbat" is NATO's name for the Russian MiG-25 fighter plane and Electronic Games touted it as an air combat game, the 5200 version was planned to be a strategy game.  A 1981 Canadian brochure lists this with the same product number as RealSports Baseball and states that it would be available in December (1982).  It also notes the title is a trademark of Dark Horse Productions.  Mentioned in Electronic Games in June 1982 (page 25), incorrectly stating that Foxbat was the original name for Raiders of the Lost Ark!  Also mentioned in Electronic Games, September 1982, page 38 - "One of last summer's biggest hits - as both a film and a Marvel-created comic - was the Lucas-Spielberg creation, 'Raiders of the Lost Ark'.  So anxious was Atari to get this hot title into its 1982 catalog that Atari bounced its promising air combat contest, Foxbat, into the following year's schedule."  Also mentioned in issue 5 of A.N.A.L.O.G. (pg. 37) and listed as two words ("Fox Bat").  Keithen Hayenga talked about this at CGE14 and mentions it was to be a tie-in to a movie that would have been similar to Wargames, but was cancelled when that movie was released.  From Keithen Hayenga: "Yes the producers of Foxbat originally wanted a 2600 game because that was where the money was at.  I'm not for sure who was ever assigned the title because I think almost all of the 2600 programmers just said they weren't interested.  When they asked me, I said yes, but I was only interested in doing 5200 stuff."

  11. What ever happened to the Swordquest prizes?

    in Atari 2600

    Posted · Edited by Scott Stilphen

    I've done more research on the SwordQuest games than anyone else in the hobby.   Here's my SwordQuest Revisited article, which is a compilation of everything to date:

     

    http://www.ataricompendium.com/archives/articles/swordquest_revisited/swordquest_revisited.html

     

    I also recovered the SwordQuest Archive of Adventure website that Lafe Travis created in 1997, which featured Russy Perry Jr.'s solutions for the first 3 games in the series which originally appeared in the 2600 Connection newsletter:

     

    http://www.ataricompendium.com/archives/articles/swordquest_archive_of_adventure/swordquest_solutions.html

     

    My Revisited article was meant to be a companion to the AoA. I also created the interview webpage for the Michael Rideout interview (on Digital Press).

     

    After reading Eric Grundhauser's article (which btw, features some of my photos but doesn't credit me for them) and seeing that he quoted Vendel and Goldberg, who are less historians and more historical revisionists, I expected it would include some incorrect and/or unproven "facts".

     

    "Earthworld sold around 500,000 copies, and around 5,000 players ended up submitting their answers to the final tournament. "

     

    In the Volume 2, Number 10 issue of Atari Life (Atari's internal newsletter), CED Product Manager Joel Oberman claimed more than half a million EarthWorld cartridges were sold in the U.S., and of those, only 1% - 5,000 - were semi-finalists.

     

    According to Robert Ruiz Jr., who created the "Adventurer's Club" in 1984, over 4,000 entered the contest.

     

     

    "Work had begun on both the game and comic book of Airworld, which would have been patterned after the I Ching, but neither was ever created,"

     

    Should have said neither were either completed.

     

     

     

    "Vendel confirmed that Bell had in fact melted down the amulet for cash. "

     

    Was this confirmed with Bell himself?  If so, why is there no proof of it online?  Why has this never been mentioned anywhere?  As of now, it has NOT been confirmed.

     

     

    "As to the Crown of Life that would have been given to the winner of the Waterworld competition, Vendel says that it was awarded, but during a semi-secret tournament, the winner of which has never been revealed. “Under contract, Warner was obligated to complete the contest for Waterworld, because players had submitted correct answers, and the game was sold to the public based on the fact that whomever solves the puzzle in the game would be awarded a prize,” says Vendel.
     

     

    “They held a very quiet, non-public contest with the 10 people who solved the Waterworld contest. The crown was awarded to the third prize winner.” While we could find no hard evidence of this contest, Vendel says the contest had to take place by law."
     
    Again, where's the proof behind this statement?  If someone won a $25,000 crown, you better believe we would have heard about it before now, either from the person who won it or someone who knows them.  Also, the SwordQuest Challenge was a nationally-advertised contest.  Vendel's claim that the WaterWorld contest had to be completed for the sole reason the game was released and people submitted entries for it doesn't ring true because the contest was comprised of FOUR games.  Each game's contest was part of reaching the overall contest- to win the sword!  Why else would Atari have paid off the winners of the EarthWorld and FireWorld contests if they legally didn't have to (because AirWorld was never released)?
     
    From Michael Rideout:
     

     

    "When Atari discontinued the contests, Steven and I each received compensatory checks for $15,000, and the 15(?) WaterWorld qualifiers each received compensatory checks for $2,000(?). I'm not positive about the number of WaterWorld qualifiers, but I believe it was 15 (see the next paragraph). I'm also not sure if the $2,000 figure is correct; it may have been $3,000 or even $5,000. All of my notes and documents related to Swordquest are stashed in a box somewhere, and it was over ten years ago, so my memory is a bit hazy."
     
    So if Atari indeed had some "super secret" playoff, what of the rumor of Atari paying off the WaterWorld finalists?   If Atari paid off the 10 finalists at least $2,000 each, that would be nearly as much as what the Crown was valued at!
     
    But again, no finalists have ever come forward to corroborate this semi-secret, non-public playoff, and IMO until someone does, this is just another unfounded rumor.
     
    Finally, as to the whereabouts of the remaining prizes, there lies the ultimate rumor.
     

     

    "So what did happen to the Philosopher’s Stone and the Sword of Ultimate Sorcery? Vendel told us he got the scoop from a former member of Warner management. “Once Atari was sold, those prizes languished at Franklin Mint,” he says. “At some point Franklin Mint disposed of them. They were not retained, because why would they retain the prizes? It’s a lot easier just to smelt it back down and turn them into gold coins or other things they could sell.”
     
    The Philosopher's Stone was housed in an 18K gold box, but the stone itself was actually a large piece of white jade, and not something that could be "smelted back down".  If the remaining prizes ended up back with the Franklin Mint, I'm surprised nobody there would have the foresight to hold on to them because, even though their base materials would always fluctuate in value, the prizes themselves would have eventually been worth more, being they would always be unique, one-of-a-kind items.
     

     

    "According to Vendel, the rumor stems from an Atari employee who did see a sword over the mantel, but it was a family heirloom, not the Swordquest sword."
     
    For one thing, that rumor stems from Vendel himself, from a post Vendel made on the rec.games.video.classic newsgroup back in 1998:
     
     

     

    Curt Vendel
     
    4/13/98
     
    Other recipients: ah...@freenet.carleton.ca
     
    Hi Bill,
        Go to www.atari.nu, goto the Atari Archives Section and read the
    Other Atari Projects area titled: Atari SwordQuest, you'll find out
    quite a bit, also if you decide to play the game, there is also a link
    to the SwordQuest Solution Site, also go to www.atarihq.com, there is an
    interview with the winner of the Fireworld contest.
     
       In breif, Earthworld and Fireworld were widely released, both
    contests were run, WaterWorld was only released to Atari Club members
    through Atari Age magazine, since it was released in limited quantities
    and the company was in the middle of being sold, the Waterworld contest
    was cancelled, as to what happened to the crown prize is unknown,
    AirWorld was never started and as for the Knowledge Stone prize, that
    too is unknown.   However I found out several months ago from a close
    friend of Jack Tramiel the former owner of Atari, that the $50,000 sword
    of ultimate power is hanging over his fireplace in his home in
    California.
     
    Curt
     
     
    So which story is it, and who was involved?  Was the unnamed person a close friend or an Atari employee?  What's the person's name?  Were they a man or a woman?  lol  He offered no other information other than it was a close friend... or an Atari employee.  In my experience, you need to identify your source(s) of information, so that others can independently verify the information, because without that, your story is just that - a story - and it has no value or meaning.
     
    Vendel also claimed in his RGVC post that the WaterWorld contest was cancelled and that AirWorld was never started.  See my Revisited article for statements from Tod Frye regarding how far he got with programming AirWorld (20% completed, by his estimate):
     
     
    All I know is, if Tod Frye - the person who CREATED the SwordQuest contest to begin with believes the prizes ended up with Jack Tramiel, then until I see some definite proof otherwise, at this time that's the story.
     
    Lastly, the Atari-Warner Bros.-Franklin Mint connection was found by John Hardie, as he mentioned in his Michael Rideout interview:
     

     

    "Epilogue: Shortly after this interview, my research turned up a few more facts. I could never see the reasoning behind having the Franklin Mint design the prizes. I made a couple of calls to them and discovered that they were owned by Warner Communications at the time. There was the link. I spoke with someone in the Public Relations department who checked to see if any records were kept as to the current whereabouts of the prizes. Unfortunately, they had no records at all on the matter. The gentleman who designed the prizes was still with the company but was not available for comment. Recently, it was brought to my attention by a friend, that the remaining prizes in the contest are now in the possession of Jack Tramiel, who as we all know, bought Atari from Warner Communications. Whether he cancelled the contest as part of cost-cutting measures he was implementing at the time or he just took a liking to the prizes remains to be seen..."
     
     
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