Clint Thompson

I saw this posted elsewhere and didn't think it was real at first. Did some research and surprised that it is and kind of surprised it took Nintendo this long to do it. So much for the Analogue Nt now eh? I'm guessing this is the size of an actual NES cart so, I could see it being problematic trying to make that work ;-)

No offense to anyone looking forward to the portable but what a shitty design. I guess something is better than nothing but it's definitely not in the Atari spirit at all, just a cheap re-purposed shell that looks like you could play Street Fighter Turbo on it, not Missile Command. I'm guessing it cost all of $8 to make and everything else is profits. Yay, Go Atari....

More interesting bits from the Checkered Flag source code: (or at least I think it's cool to read, though the rest of you may disagree lol) ===================================================================================================== ; temporary track for testing things on - just a f*cking huge oval Track10:: start -150000,0,0 flaginit %001100000000000000000 ; long white lines, warnings, barriers both sides ; flags are :CCLDW----PTTB----PTTB straight Obstrw objrel Obibridge1,0,0,0 straight Obstrw straight Obstrw objrel Obbuild2,20000,0,0 straight Obstrw ===================================================================================================== ===================================================================================================== ;track 7 - arctic run [or is that arctic roll :~) Track7:: start 10000,-200000,$100 flaginit %011100000000100000001 ; flags are :CCLDW----PTTB----PTTB ;============= STARTING STRAIGHT manbars Obvhill01r,0 ===================================================================================================== ===================================================================================================== Track_slow:: ; amount of speed to keep when off track for each track dc.w 9 ; green valley grass is not too bad for slowing dc.w 9 ; river mouth dc.w 6 ; desert pass sand slows a LOT dc.w 9 ; deep wood dc.w 9 ; the hole dc.w 9 ; island hop dc.w 9 ; the gorge dc.w 12 ; concrete canyon concrete is not very slowing dc.w 6 ; sunset strip dc.w 8 ; arctic run powder snow is bad for speed ===================================================================================================== ===================================================================================================== ; This should cover most eventualities, but one thing is worth noting : ; landscape features such as rivers will need to be coded separately in all likelihood, ; so there probably needs to be the option of passing these kind of features first, and then ; adding the rest on afterwards, reserving space of course. ; Also, the main list (trees buildings etc) will include the data for the cars, the wheels of which need to ; have 'rotation' set up, so the generator needs to pass the appropriate address for the spinner. ; At the same time, the cars address can be set up - these will probably best be placed after the other data. ; The starting positions need to be fixed somehow as well - probably using something like the trigger points. ; Additional item : ; to allow changing between different barriers / but using as little extra data as possible, we now have : ; New barriers [bar-left] [bar-right] - where barrier codes are object codes ; entered simply by setting an extra bit in the command code - and then placing the two bytes after it. ; this will : a) if bar-left and bar-right are both 0, clear a flag in the flags register and ; set the left and right bar codes (two bytes in vardefs) ; otherwise, set the same flag, and set the bar codes ; the mods to tgen will then go as follows : ; 1. modify the decode stage to take account of the above extra bit incorporation ; 2. allocate space for extra codes and additional flag ; 3. modify output stage to check for special barrier codes when about to output the barriers ; 4. modify pre-scan stage to allow for remote possibility that special barriers are not on stream 6 ; Further addition : ; to allow sensible easy entry of the large scale landscape objects such as lakes, ; which are defined as a combination of fixed sized (grid) objects, we add a grid command and a ; set of extra commands to go with it. The grids are axis aligned and data is entered in x lines through z. ===================================================================================================== ===================================================================================================== given target x,z, and current x,z and current direction y' calculate the steps of length 'speed', decreasing by 'brake' per step, that will pass through that point facing in the direction y" difficult huh ? cut down version is to say : 1. target speed is known, so we just take the distance to target, and divide it by the average speed, which will tell us how fast we need to brake and the number of steps involved - approx. 2. the total turn required is known, so it is reasonable to simply request that the turn step is the total turn divided by the number of steps since this process will repeat every frame, there is no need to worry about cars driving off into the sunset, as they will check and recheck their positions so frequently. however all this is doing is making sure the car is facing the right way after a # given number of steps not making sure its in the right place. this will require much more thought possible quick solution : if the standard solution above produces a average direction - that is current direction plus target direction over two - then this can be compared to the actual required direction to hit the target however, steering is not maintained in current data block, which is not going to help matters if steering was maintained, then what ? maximum steer is already defined, so perhaps the steer assigned could be the amount needed to pass the required direction [to hit the target] after half the steps =====================================================================================================

I really would like to be able to compile this source code for Checkered Flag - have the linker and madmac program to compile it all I think and while I'm no coder, it would be fun to go in there and disable or alter things to see how it improves performance possibly. Windows 7 isn't a very nice environment for a lot of these old programs so I'll have to pull out the XP box again.

I honestly want to believe that at one point, Checkered Flag DID look like that in the beginning but it does make you wonder why the early screenshots were included in the source code discovered. When JSII was around, I posted a picture of Red Line racer showing modem support as well but I have no idea where that went and is probably long but lost, not that it matter, just that it was cool it was being considered. Even if no one would've wanted to play it lol...

Yeah, regarding Checkered Flag: (notes from the source code itself, and this was just months before its release!) "Noted within AI: " BIG bad BUG - didn't make sure loop counter was properly initialized !!!!!" "; make finished cars do one slow lap - actually want to park, so needs more thought" "count car because its active; slow routine - needs to be faster" " check for local blockages and adjust target if anything to avoid - must be made faster !!!!!" " there really should be a detailed position analysis tool here, but left out for now" Noted within MAPROT: "; initial trial for rotating map ; rotate map onto main display screen ; using A2 for destination, scanning pixel by pixel, line by line, across a 128*128 zone of main screen ; using A1 for source, scannin at a fixed angle across the" Noted in OUTER.GAS "should these processes by managing subsequent sections ? or should it all be top level management ? *so much uncertainty* " Noted in PDRAW.GAS "; new program for producing a simple structure for drawing a polygon. ; ideally will work using the same blitter code as the old version, but ; with out the endpoint system. ; originally included z-buffer - now removed COMPLETELY" Noted in SCRNSHOT.S "; screen shot program, which reads the object list and copies everything into a known empty screen area ; the following rules are used : ; 1. test that object is an unscaled bitmap - otherwise finish ; 2. test that object is NOT RMW - otherwise skip ; 3. test whether object is 16 bit CRY ; if so then use blitter, with transparency on ; if not, perform full expansion using 68000 ; note that blitter could be used for 1 bit objects - and since these are the only other sort I use, its worth considering" Noted in SHADOWS.S: "; this is really nothing at the moment, but the intention is to allow proper shadowing as follows: ; 1. when building the complete 3d structure in the track generator, allow an extra stream, the shadow stream, ; of exactly the same size as the buildings stream. ; 2. taking each polygon of the object in turn, project its points onto the ground along the sun direction, and ; create a new object, which can then be used for the shadows. ; note that only polygons which are facing the sun need to be used (test by assuming viewpoint is sun - ie take the ; object zero point, and subtract $10000 sun vectors from it to give a viewpoint) ; because we assume a distant source, giving parallel rays, we can project without using the viewpoint. ; However the shape projected could be a problem, as overlapping will cause non-constant shadows, which would be silly. ; this is no problem for a cube - each faces shadow should match perfectly with all others - but in the case of a building which ; is non-convex, there will be problems. ; The obvious answer is to perform clipping of each new shadow polygon against the old shadow polygons, although perhaps a better ; solution would be to change the drawing routine to allow concave polygons. Then the solution is to combine the polygons into ; one, which would require the same process as for the clipping, but would cut the drawing time slightly." Noted in SKYFILLS.S: "; modified sky blanker, to generate, using the blitter, a controlled, simple, linear colour gradient from pure blue at the very top - off the screen - ; down to white at the centre line, with a fixed intensity - preset - and then continue from there to green as currently used for the foreground, with ; the intention of reaching pure green in 16 lines" Noted in STRIP.S: "; This is INTENDED to do a blit of a strip from a 320*256 screen - the sky background from checkered flag - into a 2048*32 area. ; Whatever colour is in the top left corner of that strip will be taken as background - that is, replaced by zero to leave transparent. ; The position to write to will be determined by the current position - which can be calculated direct from the current direction " Noted in ZCLIP.GAS: "Poly_draw:: ; hopefully re-written to properly z-cli" Noted in REDSOUND.INC: "; This is the file containing macro calls for the Chequered Flag / Red Line Racer game sound system""

...now that I have proper time to respond... Yeah, I can't really see the absolute need to upgrade but at the same time could see the pressure from the PC market - but, this is just the nature of consoles. To say the PS4 isn't powerful enough to me seems completely untrue and consoles are still quite a ways off from pushing 4k anything so I'm not sure about this magical, incremental upgrade being the answer to anything. And unless Sony is going to pull a quick one over everyone last minute, the PSVR headset is still only a 1080p device. I think people outside of Sony will step up to the plate and see the PSVR as a perfect platform to create unique console only VR games to make money from. I haven't exactly kept up with the MS side of things but I don't think MS is working on anything at all, right? Maybe they'll figure some way to have the Rift work for the Xbox One? I'm still really hoping that the PSVR quickly becomes cross-platform for both the PS4 and PC. More thinking of this generations hardware vs. what the Jaguar was going to offer some 20 years ago: No built-in mic and/or headphones. I guess it's not such a bad thing, not forcing gamers to use your included headphones and mic but the Jaguar VR was the complete package or total deal. Mic and headphones included so you didn't need any extra accessories. Though, again with today's endless amounts of mics and headphones or headsets, just like a keyboard or mouse setup, people have different tastes and desires. I already know the headset I'll be getting to use for the PSVR, permitting it'll work without a hitch and that's the Skullcandy Crushers. I haven't really seen much of a blip about the concern or worries or ill-effects of disclaimers of what VR can or could do to you - outside of making you puke from motion sickness. You're not required to sign a death waiver to play VR today like the massive worry was some 20-years ago. Really makes me take a moment to reflect on how hilarious the Virtual Boy was from Nintendo as well and what the hell they were thinking exactly. Maybe others saw that if Atari couldn't pull it off with a brand like Virtuality, then who could? Combine that with the Virtual Boy and it just meant complete death for the idea of VR, at least for that time frame.

Take it back - there's no way I'm paying $40 for a loose copy of Club Drive lol - Jaguar prices have truly gone completely insane. It feels like seeing a Combat for the 2600 listed at $20.

If you were an early adopter of the Jaguar like I was, what were some of your expectations and how did you feel it compared to reality once you managed to get the console/games? I think the one game I want to focus or emphasize on is Club Drive. I spent a lot of time looking at the back of the Jaguar box only to imagine which game I could get next and Club Drive always seemed to stick out in a positive light. I'm not really sure what I was expecting but the picture on the back of that Jaguar box sure made it seem like something far more grand. Thankfully I didn't pay full price for Club Drive. Actually, I think I ended up doing a trade for some other games I had at the time, by that time probably sometime in 95. What a goofy game. Completely destroyed my hopes/expectations of what that game was supposed to be. While strange, it was fast and I do remember even attempting to do a 2 player very briefly, though I'm unsure who it was with. It didn't last very long, it just wasn't very fun plus you couldn't really make out anything. Revisiting some screenshots, I don't remember the Atari building in the game and may have to check it out again just for that reason alone lol

Think I'll pass on that one lol

Like the old school Jaguar postcards you would receive in the mail for promotional games - may include one for fun as a pack-in with features listed or outlined on the flip-side if it makes it that far. Pretty sure I gave the name away with this one...

Not sure which way I want to go with it but the black looks really nice and no matter what, they're going in frosted cases.... I really have a thing for Cosmic Smash using vellum paper (theirs is white or more frosted) for their insert and am going that route as well I believe only using the red variant, unless it turns out to be overly difficult. So frosted case with transparent red paper - think it looks cool, photos don't really do it justice. Obviously the logo is way too high and this was just a test print...

Yeah, it was running on your standard PS4 and it didn't seem like it was struggling at all but it shouldn't, since the resolution is cut in half per eye, 960x1020. Really unsure about the direction for NEO or as to why. I guess I'll check it out when I know more about it and around that time.

$399 if you already have the camera but the $499 package gets you the camera, 2 controllers for the hands, PS VR Worlds and the processor device for the headset to connect to the PS4.

...back in 1994 when Atari first announced that it was going to release the Jaguar VR, I couldn't wait but obviously it failed to launch. Today, my excitement in Virtual Reality has once again been fully revived. Sony has got this - we will finally be able to play Virtual Reality at home at an affordable price! While it's a different feeling coming from Sony, it's still a really cool product and they've definitely done their homework with a realistic target price and package that many more consumers can afford than a gaming computer setup. The headset is incredible - futuristic, lightweight and completely responsive. There was no noticeable lag and the unit functioned near flawlessly for me - the only hiccup or minor complaint I had is about the focus near the edge of the lenses but it's easily overlooked once you start really playing the game. Maybe they'll make modifications or changes before it's released yet, I don't know. You can't adjust the focus though, which seems like a drawback but otherwise it was great so maybe it's really not needed. The FOV is also amazing and much better than I was expecting and even better than what I remember with the Rift DK1 I played in Wisconsin a few years ago. You'll completely forget you're even wearing the thing about a minute in, it's that good. I got to check out Battlezone and was kind of surprised to see the title on the PS4 actually but what really grabbed my attention was Rez Infinite and to learn that it's a VR title really makes my teeth sweat! =D Back to Battlezone, the game seemed simple for the most part and while you really didn't use the headset for more than anything but to look around - looking up to see the drones overhead to shoot with your machine gun or blast the tanks in front of you was stupidly fun. Anyways, not to get carried away and drag this post out but in short summary, the PSVR has completely met my expectations and I'm sold on getting one! My last console being a 360 as I saw no real reason to get an Xbox One and while I've been interested in getting a PS4, wanted to wait until the PSVR comes out since I'm more of a PC gamer. Which may beg the question am I going to bother with a Rift? I plan on getting one just not currently and may actually get the PSVR before the Rift. Can't wait to see all the cool things released for this headset!

Toying with packaging options like metallic silver foils and transparent cases/sleeves:

Now we have gaming computers with more RAM than people know what to do with =D

Thanks for the feedback, your words are appreciated. The images are really large so it's kind of tricky - with one being upwards of 600k unnecessarily so and without trying to compress the images so they look terrible this is the price you pay. It also shows that the 2MB of the Jag is very quickly proven to not be nearly enough to match the true capabilities the machine has to offer. This is sort of a testing ground for much bigger projects, not necessarily aimed at the Jaguar at all.

Who says the Jaguar isn't capable of pumping out some incredible visuals on-screen? ;-) As it stands, it's nothing more than a hi-res slideshow with potential for being used as a game in some poker fashion, most likely. Being that there are no card games on the Jaguar, I figured it would be kind of fun to toy with the idea of using high resolution computer rendered photos and a simple enough idea that is feasible on the Jaguar while utilizing the massive amount of space available on the Jaguar CD. Feel like the output is really nice considering the hardware running on an NTSC TV as well. This is being worked on as a test with multiple people involved - I'm just collaborating the entire project as I've always wanted to do something fun for the Jaguar. I've decided to go at it on my own and try to do it all myself, so that's the current plan. Ran on real hardware. Ideally what I'm hoping for: •12 playable characters (64 would be nice but unreasonably high) •Multiple viewing angles per scene utilizing Jaguar keypad •Randomzed alternate character locations/settings •Licensed intro music and newly created MOD music for playback during gameplay •24-bit resolution graphics utilizing the highest capabilities the Jaguar has to offer •(4) unlockable characters and other Easter eggs •Save game progress utilizing Memory Track *Possible FMV Cinepak cut-scenes •Randomized game splash or startup screens •Special packaging features for collectors •Licensed Customized Font *character dialogue during gameplay may be possible but isn't currently planned *character voice audio dialogue potential but isn't currently planned This is more or less a feeler to see what everyone/anyone thinks of such a game or project. Any and all feedback welcome may it be positive or criticism. This has been an idea now for over a year that is slowly coming to fruitation in a very basic sense and while I make zero projections or promises that it will ever be released, there are two artists involved, a music mod maker, a programmer with working game code and myself attempting to throw it all together with overall direction, packaging and connecting the dots. Not the actual title name but the name is set. Would love to hear everyone's thoughts in any light, shape or form...

I was thinking about this over the weekend, not sure why it came to mind but it struck me. Still think Slime World and Robosquash are my favorite games for the Lynx!