RickR

Enduro
Atari 2600
Difficulty: Default
High Score: 12,750
April 20, 2016

248: Tutankham

Great game.  What do they call those spinning wall things that you can't shoot?  They look really nice on the 7800 version.

I figured for $1 it would look good on the wall. Its one of the non collapsible ones with sound effects

Apologies for the delay in sharing, but I've had a good past couple of weeks trading here.
 
First & foremost, HUGE thanks to kamakazi20012 for cleaning my baby & installing an AV mod. So far, it works great! The picture is a little dark but apparently that's common. The fix is to run it through a VCR, so I'll give that a shot. It's crystal clear & the sound is fantastic. THANKS!
 

 

Retrogamer81081's thread about 2600 launch titles inspired me to assemble the fine nine together:
 

 
If I were to rank their scarcity, I'd say Basic Math is hardest to find, with Star Ship and Street Racer taking 2nd and 3rd place.  Blackjack and Surround were the only two I had in this style growing up.  Air-Sea Battle was the last one I added to my collection, mostly because I refused to pay more than a couple dollars for it.  I don't know why someone "P'd" on my Video Olympics -- my TV doesn't seem to think it's a PAL cart, so probably it just once belonged to Paul, or Pete, or Plaxico, and they wanted to make sure Joey Bagadonuts from around the block didn't take it and try to claim it was his.  The camera flash ended up highlighting a common text label fading pattern on Indy 500 -- it's fairly invisible to the naked eye in regular light.
 
I find what Atari decided to mark with a "TM" mark a bit weird.  They're unregistered trademarks, so they're not ultimately protected much by law, but... did Atari really think that TAG and ANTI-AIRCRAFT and STAR SHIP were distinct/important things/concepts worth trademarking?  I mean, I totally see wanting to protect/strengthen usage of brand-specific names like FOOZPONG and QUADRAPONG.  QUADRAPONG was even registered with the USPTO, though that was due to Atari releasing an arcade game with that name in 1974 (a re-brand of Kee Games' "Elimination").
 
But seriously, Atari -- nobody's gonna associate "TORPEDO" with you, don't pretend they will!  And nobody else even *wants* to use "SCOOP BALL", come on. 
 

 
Sometimes it feels to me like Atari had like five label designers working in five different offices, with only the briefest collaboration allowed.  Why is Star Ship the only one of the nine not to have the game title left-justified with its number?  Why the extra little space between "11" and "Indy 500" compared to the others?  Why is Street Racer's number 12 not flush with the left border, like all the rest?  Why does the TM symbol sit above the title text on Air-Sea Battle and Video Olympics?  Having the TM on the very far right end of the label didn't seem to bother them when it came to Street Racer...
 

 
Yet another question - why was the decision made to switch from the color borders (01, 03, 11, 12 are the only releases in this style) to the non-color ones?  To save money?  So that future releases would be more uniform-looking?  Because it was Thursday and Thursday was "try something new" day at Atari?  No idea.
 
In case you were wondering (and even if you weren't), the product numbers were originally genre-specific.  Atari seems to have abandoned this idea early on, but their first released games were grouped by game type:
 
Action/battle games -- 01 Combat, 02 Air-Sea Battle, 03 Star Ship, 04 Space War, 05 Outlaw
Racing/driving games -- 11 Indy 500, 12 Street Racer
Sports/athletic games -- 21 Video Olympics, 22 Breakout (I guess they figured it was close to tennis?), 23 Baseball, 24 Basketball, 25 Football, 26 Miniature Golf, 27 Human Cannonball (ehhh, sure), 28 Bowling, 29 Sky Diver
Strategy games -- 41 Surround, 42 Hunt & Score, 43 Codebreaker, 44 Flag Capture, 45 Video Chess.
Card/gambling games -- 51 Blackjack, 52 Casino, 53 Slot Machine
 
As far as I know, only three other cartridges with numbered end labels have surfaced over the years, and only one copy of each:

- "03 Space Mission" showed up on eBay in July 2005.  Space Mission was the original title for Star Ship.  See a very low-res photo from the eBay auction on AtariMania here, along with two photos from early advertising -- one which shows 03 on the end label, one which doesn't.
 
- "04 Space Combat" came to light on AtariAge a few months later, in Nov. 2005.  This (photo from 2600connection.com) was very unexpected as "Space Combat" was known as a Sears-only title (the Atari-branded version is titled "Space War"), so it's undetermined whether this cart is a marketing mock-up or prototype of some kind, or something else.
 
- "23 Baseball" popped up at AtariAge in June 2006.  Baseball was the working title for Home Run.  Like the others, it's unclear as to what this actually is as it does not look like a retail release.

I just wanted to show this one i love this game abd i bought it the day it came out. Still have the receipt and everything. The sales man talked me into buying the collecors box set. It was only an extra $20. Im glad i did it

Thanks to chas10e and the rjb i needed to add another shelf

Rick i sent him a video game brain

Nice stuff!  Good job guys.  What did you get Chase?

Another deal with the very great chas10e!! He also threw in one of those misprint end label pole position that i dont own yet. I always have great cib/boxes game deals with chas10e!!

From Mr. correagonzales.  He's a great trader.  This stuff is really nice.  I love the tiny footprint of the PSOne. 
 
 

I've got that exact GBA case here somewhere Lee.  i think it came with a little plastic cartridge holder, which left just the right amount of space for a GBA.  I'll have to find it and take a picture for you. 

What they most likely are, are charactor generators. Atari sold quite a few, and there were companies that used charactor generating cart sand disks. They were, and in some cases, still are used in airports, apartments, hotels, convention centers, etc. If you see a monitor or t.v. when you come in the front door, that scrools anouncments, that is what they are for.
 
I still get inquires from users, on getting them fixed, or the software fixed. but those systems are no longer supported by software companies that i know of. A prominent one was in Canada.
 
Lance
www.atarisales.com
 

I stumbled across these and found it to be intriguing! I wonder what exactly they used them for and how the phone jack connections work and with what. If I didn't have a million other things going on I would probably pick these up but hard telling how much they'll end up for. Typically I would say the XF551 drives alone would be worth it but seeing as how it was definitely constantly used, I wouldn't put much money on them being functional or at least much longer, if so.
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rare-Atari-Broadcast-system-130XE-customized-XF551-with-disks-/121951625046?hash=item1c64e21f56:g:ScsAAOSw8RJXCm3L

I got a digital controller recently, and it made a HUGE difference in the playability of many 5200 games.  Mine is the "Coin Controls Competition Pro".  It has a Y cable built in.  You plug that into the 5200, then a standard 5200 controller into the Y portion (you use the Start/Pause/Reset and keypad on the standard controller). 
 
Played River Raid and Berzerk and was amazed at the difference. 
 
The joystick itself is great, but the button placement is pretty bad. 
 
 

I got a digital controller recently, and it made a HUGE difference in the playability of many 5200 games.  Mine is the "Coin Controls Competition Pro".  It has a Y cable built in.  You plug that into the 5200, then a standard 5200 controller into the Y portion (you use the Start/Pause/Reset and keypad on the standard controller). 
 
Played River Raid and Berzerk and was amazed at the difference. 
 
The joystick itself is great, but the button placement is pretty bad. 
 
 

I got a digital controller recently, and it made a HUGE difference in the playability of many 5200 games.  Mine is the "Coin Controls Competition Pro".  It has a Y cable built in.  You plug that into the 5200, then a standard 5200 controller into the Y portion (you use the Start/Pause/Reset and keypad on the standard controller). 
 
Played River Raid and Berzerk and was amazed at the difference. 
 
The joystick itself is great, but the button placement is pretty bad. 
 
 

I got a digital controller recently, and it made a HUGE difference in the playability of many 5200 games.  Mine is the "Coin Controls Competition Pro".  It has a Y cable built in.  You plug that into the 5200, then a standard 5200 controller into the Y portion (you use the Start/Pause/Reset and keypad on the standard controller). 
 
Played River Raid and Berzerk and was amazed at the difference. 
 
The joystick itself is great, but the button placement is pretty bad. 
 
 

I got a digital controller recently, and it made a HUGE difference in the playability of many 5200 games.  Mine is the "Coin Controls Competition Pro".  It has a Y cable built in.  You plug that into the 5200, then a standard 5200 controller into the Y portion (you use the Start/Pause/Reset and keypad on the standard controller). 
 
Played River Raid and Berzerk and was amazed at the difference. 
 
The joystick itself is great, but the button placement is pretty bad. 
 
 

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.
 

 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/gaming/2016/04/08/first-look-book-celebrates-art-atari/82785834/
 
$39.95.  Looks like something that a lot of us here would love.
 

 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/gaming/2016/04/08/first-look-book-celebrates-art-atari/82785834/
 
$39.95.  Looks like something that a lot of us here would love.
 

 

Some finds I made at Goodwill yesterday. Not as big a haul as my last two trips, and there were several items left that I was unable to purchase.
 
Anyway, 007 Tomorrow Never Dies(PS1), WCW Nitro(PS1), a Gameboy Advance SP carrying case, and an extra Wii television cable.
For the life of me, I cannot figure out how the GBA SP case is supposed to work. As you can see in that first picture, there are no straps of any kind to hold it still, and nowhere to store games without them banging around, which seems dumb. I tried my GBA SP in it, but slides all around inside. Seems terribly impractical, if you ask me.