DegasElite

Nice! I like this time-lapse pattern.

https://arcadeblogger.com/2016/07/15/atari-tempest-photography/
 
   

Oh, wow. Somehow, I never saw any of the "Brutus" episodes, so I didn't know any of this. In school, I remember a day when there were a couple of guys talking about Popeye, and how "the best episodes are the ones where he takes down Brutus." I said, "Who's Brutus?" And they said, "He's the big strong guy who is always trying to beat Popeye." My response was, "Actually,his name is Bluto, not Brutus." And that turned into quite an argument. I assumed, as usual, that I was correct and they were wrong (I was more educated in television than they were, so I just assumed they had a faulty memory). Now that I've seen this video I realize that we were both right the entire time, and now I feel stupid. I wish I could remember who those guys were so that I could apologize to them.

My only complaint is that it takes a long time to finish (I've yet to get past level 2, FWIW) and there doesn't seem to be a way to pick up where you left off if you turn the console off...doesn't take advantage of the HSC to mark your spot, and as far as I can tell there's no password system. The warps (or at least the warp I found!) are helpful.

Curt recently posted an update about the XM.  Things are moving forward, albeit slow. Unfortunately, he recently had yet another heart surgery but he has recovered already.

Agreed.

Crystal Quest is the type of game the 7800 needed in the 80's! 

My schedule recently changed so that I have every other Friday off. Lucky me, I went to the P.O. box this morning to find my long awaited copy of Bentley Bear's Crystal Quest. Starring Bentley Bear of Crystal Castles and Atari Karts fame, this Pokey enhanced game was originally intended for the long-delayed XM add-on. Atari Age and Bob DeCrescenzo finally decided to move forward and put it out with the Pokey chip instead. I've avoided playing the rom via emulator as I wanted to be surprised. Early impressions are that this is one great platformer for a console starved for that genre. It also strikes me as one of the most ambitious homebrews undertaken on the 7800. I can't wait to play more.
 
Have you played Crystal Quest? What are your thought?
 

Hi, all,
 
Does anyone have access to palettes that simulate the Atari 8-bit graphics schemes on Photoshop CS3 Extended for Mac OS X? I have that for my iBook G4. Thanks.

I heard that before the cyberamics in 1979 that there were the portrait bots on the stages. I've seen and helped discover a video of them on Amazon Video. Ever since I first joined the CEC fandom in late 2014 I was always trying to find out what happened to these portrait animatronics. I know there is one surviving G1 (Early 1977) Chuck that was also used as a prototype for a talking walkaround. There is also a G2 Chuck and Crusty (Late 1977) that a guy in Colorado owns. There was several other bots that are assumed to be destroyed but can't be confirmed at all. Heck most of didn't even know there was a G2 Crusty until 2012 so that means that there could be several other bots out there. If there are any former PTT employees here that know anything about how they did go away. I would like to know. One more thing to note is that they are made out of latex and fiberglass.

It looks more like arcade Zaxxon than the original A2600 port of Zaxxon did. I like it. Thanks.

It looks more like arcade Zaxxon than the original A2600 port of Zaxxon did. I like it. Thanks.

Hi guys, I host the Atari 2600 GBG podcast (why did I pick such a long title). Normally I try to solicit feedback for homebrew games in the forums, but I totally forgot in this instance (it's been a busy summer so far). Have you played Space Raid by Oscar Toledo Gutierrez? It's basically a port of Zaxxon that actually plays in mock 3D 3/4 view or whatever it is. You can find it here: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/217250-space-raid-2600
 
Also here: http://www.nanochess.org/space_raid.html
 
I'll be recording the episode about 7 hours after this is posted. Thanks in advance for your feedback!

Truth be told, the Jaguar didn't need games texture mapped to death gaming - it just needed the VR headset released with some solid, fast-paced polygon/gouraud shading goodness going on and I still think it would have had something to truly set it apart from the rest of the consoles at the time.

If the hype is to be believed, 2016 is the year of VR. Oculus, Samsung, HTC and Sony are all poised to launch projects that will take gaming and entertainment to new levels. Many consumers are eagerly awaiting the new tech while others dismiss modern VR as a gimmick. We'll just have to wait and see how this new phase of VR pans out but this isn't the first time we've been down this road. The early to mid-90s saw a rash of VR projects and peripherals promising a more interactive gaming experience. Most of these were utter failures. Atari, for their part, partnered with Virtuality, a firm specializing in immersive arcade games, to develop a consumer level head mounted display (HMD) for use with the Jaguar - Jaguar VR.
 

 
The Jaguar VR was shown in '95 and one Jaguar game, Missile Command 3-D, was developed with the unit in mind. Two versions of the prototype were built; a low-res version and a high-res version. The tech was notable for its utilization of IR headtracking . Ultimately, Atari pulled the plug on the project as it was clear that the Jaguar was failing and the cost and quality of the VR platform left much to be desired. Of the handful of prototypes produced, only three are known to remain in existence today. However, the display technology that Virtuality developed for Atari was soon licensed and repackaged into two products that eventually made it to retail; the Philips SCUBA and Takara Dynovisor. Released in 1997 for about $300, the SCUBA and Dynovisor could be used with any composite video source. The units did not feature headtracking; instead, users used standard game controls to guide the action on screen. Worn on the head and supported by straps, both the SCUBA and Dynovisor are somewhat cumbersome and uncomfortable to wear. An automatic shutoff interrupts viewing every 30 minutes to help avoid eyestrain.
 
I recently received a Japanese market Takara Dynovisor in good working condition. Over the next week I am going to play some Jaguar games that I think may be suited for this kind of device and provide some notes on my experiences. These won't be full reviews, but just a summary of my impressions of the effectiveness of the Dynovisor in providing an enjoyable and immersive experience. I'm going to start with Missile Command 3D since that game was designed for HMD. Other games I'm considering are Tempest 2000, Zero 5, Doom, and Hoverstrike:UL. If you have other suggestions or want to share your own impressions of the Dynovisor or SCUBA, feel free to post here.
 

 

This is really cool Tempest 2000 arcade cabinet conversion done by Jeff Mathews at Classic Arcade Restorations, for Eric Clayberg. Eric posts:
 
 
You can see more photos here: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+EricClayberg/posts/24S4MoGoCns

True. But, I hope that the next name is a little better because "AtariBox" sounds like it almost infringes on "XBox." I know it doesn't, but the names sound too similar right now anyway.

Not as bad as the CatBox for the Jaguar.

Oh. OK. I am glad of that fact. "Ataribox" sounds tacky to me anyway. 

I am currently working on learning how to port my prior Atari 8-bit releases to the Atari 5200. The possible games include: "Amok Bots", "Delta Space Arena", "Laser Blast X", "Megaoids", "Secretum Labyrinth Kings Gold", and "Venture". I have to remind everyone this is a work in progress as I learning what is going with the game running on the 5200. Crashes often and tracing what is going on can be frustrating. I am trying to figure out how to read IRQ keypad. First thing I did was get it to the point of getting the games own title screen to come up on screen so I know the program is set up to all the 5200 memory address correctly. There  will be announcements when the game is done and beta tested. We have my own trusted beta testers. Chances are these games will not be available for awhile so I ask everyone to be patient. I will post updates and announce when the games become available.
 
"Secretum Labyrinth Kings Gold" will be an enhanced version of the freeware/demo that was released on the Atari 8-bit. I am going to put in a few extra things that are not in the 8-bit version to make purchasing it worthwhile. "Secretum Labyrinth The Legend" required a 64K ROM and a 64K Atari Computer. From what I can see, there is not any bank switching cartridges available for the 5200. I know about the 40K Bounty Bob cartridges, but no one has those anymore.

Myst was the reason I bought a Jaguar CD.
 
People like to hate on that system, compare it to a toilet, whatever. If you played Myst on the Jaguar when it was first released you knew it was the best version of Myst you could get your grubby hands on.
 
The Jag Bar is awesome btbfilms76, keep it coming!

Oh, yeah. The programmer of the game "Space Rocks". I will check his site out. Thanks.

If they can do it way better than the Nokia N-Gage, then I'll be interested.

The last 2 years at the Houston ArcadeExpo, Darrell Spice Jr. from Spiceware has done presentations about how to write & program for the Atari VCS/2600. His site is http://spiceware.org/  I know there is a program called Batari to write programs but there's some other program that Darrell uses. If you watch his presentation its listed in there. 
 
Hope this helps you.

curently there are three atari game systems that have basic complier language (which is basically when you type up a code basic language then you run it into complier to make bin(or rom ) format):
BatariBasic for 2600:http://atariage.com/forums/forum/65-batari-basic/
7800 basic for 7800: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/222638-7800basic-beta-the-release-thread/
Raptor Basic + for the Jaguar: http://atariage.com/forums/forum/161-raptor-basic/
 
I programed in bBasic and its prettty simple I recommend that you get ide V bBasic it will help program a lot faster.