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The Professor

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  1. Like
    The Professor got a reaction from sramirez2008 in Atari Video Music in Box   
    Just so there's a record of this for future visitors to this thread I'm posting the eBay photos below. The auction ended on Nov 16, 2016 , 10:44PM and the winning bid was $388.00
     
     



  2. Like
    The Professor got a reaction from alucardx in The Jag Bar   
    I think it's probably lost on people who don't remember it at the time just how big of a leap the Jaguar was in 1993 and how incredible the games looked when we first saw them in magazines. They were magical. I played Cybermorph for hours.
  3. Like
    The Professor got a reaction from PSVITAGAMER2012 in NEW AVP prototype found!   
    I guess that's all relative. I would say they're "new" compared to the version we've had for 15 years. It hasn't been discussed here yet and it's a pretty cool find so a post was made about it.
  4. Like
    The Professor got a reaction from PSVITAGAMER2012 in NEW AVP prototype found!   
    That really was my only point. And the insinuation that a nice big eye roll would make you a fanboy ticked me off in the context of the AVP Lynx article.
     
    I'm sure everybody here was in favor of honest reporting of the Chameleon/Mike Kennedy debacle and would appreciate what that meant
  5. Like
    The Professor got a reaction from PSVITAGAMER2012 in NEW AVP prototype found!   
    My issue isn't AVP, it's a fantastic looking game. My issue with the article is the claim that Lynx "was a horrible failure for the company". It wasn't the incredible success Game Boy was but I think it's pretty dramatic to say it was a "horrible failure".
     
    AVP would have been an incredible release. Much respect to the creators of the game and those who unearthed new prototypes
  6. Like
    The Professor got a reaction from PSVITAGAMER2012 in Lynx Lounge   
    Blue Lightning is one of the best games of that era for any system. Play Top Gun on NES then come play Blue Lightning on Lynx and it'll knock your socks off. It was uncommon in flight games to have that ability to fly so high above the clouds and sow low to the ground, to roll the jet and spin around with so much precision. Atari used Blue Lightning as its in store retail demo at Toys R Us, Montgomery Wards, Software Etc. and other retailers using a special demo card:
     

     

  7. Like
    The Professor got a reaction from 1Littlebeast in Nolan Bushnell tells the fascinating story behind ShowBiz Pizza Theft of Chuck E. Cheese Concept   
    We updated the Atari Arcade page this week more detail on the history of Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theater, including this GREAT video of Nolan Bushnell at Google, telling the fascinating story behind ShowBiz Pizza and the Chuck E. Cheese concept. More here: http://www.atari.io/atari/atari-arcade-games/#cec
     
     
     
    http://youtu.be/Dq_V0Vh2tN4
  8. Like
    The Professor reacted to dauber in The Atari.io collective 2600 joystick collection   
    In addition to the standard CX-40 and PainLine controllers, I have...
     
    This weird one, which I acquired recently in an eBay auction. The raised text around the stick says NEWPORT CONTROLLERS on the top and BISHOP, CA  PATENT PENDING on the bottom. It's a plain-yet-weird looking controller, but it works amazingly well:

     
    Also from the same auction is this thing I've never seen: the BC Blaster from B.C. Systems in Melrose, Massachusetts. The stuff I got in the auction was packed very poorly and the fire button broke off, but this morning I glued it back on with Gorilla Glue (and obviously I didn't glue it perfectly evenly!) and it's holding on VERY well. (Those of you who listen to either of my podcasts -- this is what I was talking about.) It's a very light controller -- the bulky fake wood box is virtually empty. Played it on both 2600 Asteroids and 7800 Asteroids DeLuxe to great success!

     
    And this is my UberArcade joystick made specifically for the 7800, but of course it works in anything that takes a 9-pin joystick. It's a fantastic 8-way joystick, but it's very frustrating on 4-way games -- very sensitive:

     
    Aaaaaaand, of course, the one I seemingly never shut up about: the Edladdin All-Play 4/8 Supreme 78. Lift up the panel and there's a ring you turn to alternate between 8-way and 4-way:

  9. Like
    The Professor reacted to jerryd in Lloyd Warman becomes VP of Engineering at Atari   
    Atari forum,
     There came a time when Al ALcorn had other things he wanted to do at Atari so
     he hired Lloyd Warman to take his place as the VP of engineering.  Lloyd had
     been an EE at Ampex so he would often become involved in hardware design and
     debug.

     When we were making some version of "Cocktail Pong" there was an assembly
     problem on the production floor.  I happened to be standing near him when he
     heard about it and he asked me to go with him to look at the problem.  There
     was some part that wasn't mounted good enough.  Someone suggested that we glue
     it and I said bad idea because glue will get all over and it's never a good
     idea to use glue in a production environment.  I volunteered to design a
     bracket to fix it.  On the way back to the lab Lloyd said "you will be my
     troubleshooter".

     He and I got along very well at work and socially.  We would go out to dinner
     and visit each others houses.  I got to know his wife and kids and he got to
     know mine.

     It was typical that a game company would only qualify one distributor in each
     city.  But crafty Nolan Bushnell set up a separate game company called "Kee
     Games" that seemingly had no connection to Atari. It was run by Joe Keenan a
     neighbor of Nolan.  The "unqualified" distributors were more than happy to buy
     games from Kee thinking they were "sticking it" to Atari.

     One day someone showed me an article in the paper that revealed the fact that
     Kee Games was actually a wholly owned subsidiary of Atari so there was no
     reason to keep the two companies separate so Kee Games was shut down and many
     of their managers and engineers came to Atari.

     After a heated meeting one day with managers from both Atari and Kee Games
     Lloyd told me someone from Kee Games fired one of Atari's managers.  Lloyd had
     attempted to defend the fired manager but the same person from Kee turned to
     him and said "you're fired too".

     Lloyd went to Nolan Bushnell later that day and complained that there was no
     reason for him to have been fired.  Nolan agreed and said he had a side
     project that Lloyd could do until he found a new job.

     Next post:  BUILDING ARCADES

    Jerryd
     
  10. Like
    The Professor reacted to Arenafoot in Super Cobra Arcade ROM released!   
    from John Champeau (Champ Games).....

     

    As promised, here is the ROM for Super Cobra Arcade (both NTSC and PAL60).  If you enjoy the game and would like to purchase a full copy, please visit the AA store for more details.  As always, the support is greatly appreciated!

     

    OBJECT

     

    The object of Super Cobra Arcade is to pilot your helicopter and traverse 10,000 miles (10 stages), avoiding or destroying numerous obstacles (tanks, rockets, UFOs, meteors, guided missiles, mines, etc.).  At the end of 10,000 miles, your mission is to capture the 'booty' (money) and carry it safely away from the enemy base. 

     

    OPTIONS

     

    There are 4 difficulty levels: NOVICE, STANDARD, ADVANCED and EXPERT.  Move the joystick left/right to select the desired difficulty or press SELECT.  Push the joystick up or down to cycle through the different screens (title screen, score table and high scores).  Press RESET or the fire button to start a game.  

     

    CONTROL

     

    Use the joystick controller to move your helicopter.  Press the fire button to simultaneously fire missiles (up to 3 at a time) and drop bombs (up to 2 at a time).  If the left difficulty switch is set to B (burst mode), you can hold down the button to fire up to 5 shots (3 missiles and 2 bombs).  Release and press again to fire up to 5 more shots.  If the left difficulty is in the A position, this is single shot mode (will fire up to 1 bullet and 1 bomb at a time).  

     

    2-button mode:  If you have a Sega Genesis gamepad connected to the left controller port when you power on the game, the message "GAMEPAD FOUND" will be displayed briefly on the Atari Age welcome screen.  In 2-button mode, push the B button to fire missiles and the C button to drop bombs.  

     

    GAME PLAY

     

    You start the game with 3 - 5 ships, depending on the skill level.  You earn a bonus ship at 10,000 points, 50,000 points, and every 50,000 points after that.  You also earn a bonus ship for successfully capturing the booty and carrying it to safety.  

     

    Maneuver your helicopter through the winding caverns, avoiding or destroying the enemy obstacles.  While travelling through the terrain, your ship will use precious fuel.  To replenish your supply, seek out and destroy the fuel depots.  If you run out of fuel, your helicopter will crash and you will lose a life.

    Rockets: fire up towards your ship.  Some rockets move much quicker than others.
    Tanks: stationary and fire bullets at your helicopter
    Guided missiles: launch in an arcing pattern towards your ship.  Be careful; on higher difficulty levels they will 'wrap-around' the side of the screen and appear on the other side.
    Spinning drones: Move in swirling patterns before attacking your ship.
    Falling mines: Drop from the cavern ceiling towards your ship.  
    Roaming tanks: Move along the terrain to avoid bombs while firing bullets at your ship.
    Meteors: Move very fast towards your ship.  They cannot be destroyed and therefore must be avoided.
    Shadow meteors:  Similar to meteors except they 'follow' your ship.  Unlike meteors, they can be destroyed if hit 4 times.  
    UFOs:  Move in unpredictable patterns trying to ram your chopper.  On later levels, they will also fire missiles that must be avoided.
    Maze: Navigate the tight corners of the maze while destroying fuel and avoiding rockets and tank fire.
    Base: Once you have successfully navigated the maze, you will need to invade the enemy's base and capture the booty ($).  To do so, destroy or avoid the enemy installations and swoop down towards the booty.  Pick up the booty by 'touching' it with your helicopter and then quickly carry it up over the mountainside away to safety.  If you accidentally destroy the booty or are killed by the enemy while carrying the booty, a message will be displayed saying that you must start the base stage over and try again.
    Each stage of 1,000 miles has 1 or more 'checkpoints'.  On the novice level, a faint beep is played when a new checkpoint is reached.  For every 1,000 miles travelled, a brief message is displayed marking your accomplishment.  If your ship is destroyed and you have a reserve ship, you will start at the beginning of the last checkpoint. 

     

    GAME OVER

     

    The game ends when all ships have been destroyed and there are no more in reserve.  When the Game Over screen is displayed, you will also be presented with an option to continue the current game.  To continue a game, press the fire button before the 10-second timer expires.  The game will then continue beginning of the last stage from the previous game (not that last checkpoint) for the current level (# of bootys captured), with the score reset to 0.  You are allowed up to 5 continues.  To start a new game, you can either press RESET from the GAME OVER screen or simply wait for the game to return to the title screen after the timer has expired and then press the button or RESET.

     

    HIGH SCORES

     

    If the score you obtained in your game exceeds the lowest score from the high score table (top 10) for the current skill level, the HIGH SCORE table will be displayed prior to starting

    If your score is greater than one of the top 10 scores for the current skill level, the high score screen will be displayed and your current score will be displayed in WHITE.  

     

    The high score table displays the top 10 scores for the current skill level.  If there is a Savekey or Atarivox plugged in the right controller port, up to 10 scores for each of the 4 levels are saved and restored.  To reset the high score table for the current skill level, press and hold the RESET button then press SELECT, then simultaneously release both buttons.  All scores will be reset to 10,000.

    scobrarc_FINAL_NTSC.bin
    scobrarc_FINAL_PAL60.bin
  11. Like
    The Professor got a reaction from Starbuck66 in Coleco Announces The Return Of The Mini Arcade Table Top Game   
    I want to be excited about this, and I am... but the current owners of Coleco have somewhat tarnished their reputation in my mind for a number of reasons, so I'm going to reserve judgement until after this is released. There seems to be a lot of activity recently with mini arcades, if anybody should be doing these it's "Coleco".
  12. Like
    The Professor reacted to jerryd in Ron Wayne, Apple Founder, comes to Atari   
    Atari forum,

     You probably know that Ron Wayne was a founding member of Apple Computer.  In
     fact if you look him up on the Internet he is called "The Fifth Beatle of
     Apple".  He and Steve Jobs worked together in the Atari engineering lab.  If
     you want to know his story you should get his book "Adventures of an Apple
     Founder".


     One day Al Alcorn came into the lab and showed us a resume he had received.
     It was from a man who designed pin ball and slot machines.  We all kind of
     snickered but Al said "I'm going to hire him because he will have a different
     outlook about games".

     A couple of weeks later Ron Wayne showed up in his signature sport coat, short
     sleeved white shirt, tie and slightly gray crew hair cut.  He was probably
     about 40 at the time.  Being the "older guys" he and I struck up a friendship.
     He asked me what I did and when I told him I make the prototype games he
     suggested that we work as a team where he would make the drawings and I would
     make the parts.  I agreed.

     For a new game we would start with about 10 possible shapes for the side panels
     of the arcade cabinet drawn by our art department.  Then we would have a
     meeting, which Nolan Bushnell attended, and try to pick one.  This is where I
     learned that deciding things by committee didn't work.  We could get it down
     to 2 or 3 and Nolan would pick one and that was it, meeting over.  Ron would
     go to work on his drafting board and after a few days start feeding me drawings
     for parts to make in the model shop.  Ron eventually took on the task of
     selecting the shape of the cabinet sides.

     One time when I was trying to assemble a game cabinet there was an interference
     problem.  I showed it to Ron and he said "it just proves the physics principal
     that no 2 solid objects can occupy the same space at the same time".  His
     comment rekindled my interested in physics which is still alive today.  After
     that I often bugged him for more "pearls of wisdom" about physics.

     A game that Ron and I worked on together was Gran Trak 10, the first driving
     game.  But due to some electronic design problems and miscalculation of the
     cost of manufacturing it was not one of Atari's instant financial winners
     although it eventually became a huge success.  Later I think I made the cabinet
     for Gran Trak 20 which was a 2 player version.

     When the prototype of "Gran Trak 10" was done we spent a few days checking it
     out and then I put it in my station wagon on a Friday afternoon and took it
     to Rooster T. Feathers.  It's a sports bar on El Camino Real in San Jose.  I
     think it's still there.  Atari had a deal with them where we could put a
     game in there for a few days and split the take.  Al Alcorn had done a similar
     thing at Tapp's Tavern with one of the early Pong games and got a call late at
     night complaining that it was broken.  When he got there he saw that the coin
     box was overflowing and the quarters had jammed the coin acceptor.  He knew
     they had a winner.

     I came back later that evening and there was a line of people waiting to play
     Gran Trak 10.  I got in line and when I started to play a lot of people
     gathered around to watch me use the gas pedal, shift lever, brake and steering
     to skid around the corners.  After all I had been playing it for weeks.  I
     emptied the coin box before I left,  came back twice on Saturday to empty it
     again and picked it up on Sunday.  The management wasn't too happy to see it
     go.

     The game shown in the advertising flyer for Gran Trak 10 on Wikipedia is the
     original prototype designed by Ron Wayne,  built by me in the model shop, taken
     to Rooster T. Feathers and ended up in Bushnell's office.
     
     Ron eventually became a very important part of the Atari team.  Besides being
     a design engineer he invented and implemented a complete part numbering and
     stocking system, moved into marketing and traveled all over the world
     qualifying video game distributors and was tasked with preparing an analysis
     of what it would take to produce a new generation of pin ball machines.

     Ron and I have recently reconnected after 40+ years and are working on a
     project together.  It has nothing to do with video games, slot machines or
     pin ball machines.

    Jerryd
     
  13. Like
    The Professor got a reaction from Arenafoot in Coleco Announces The Return Of The Mini Arcade Table Top Game   
    I want to be excited about this, and I am... but the current owners of Coleco have somewhat tarnished their reputation in my mind for a number of reasons, so I'm going to reserve judgement until after this is released. There seems to be a lot of activity recently with mini arcades, if anybody should be doing these it's "Coleco".
  14. Like
    The Professor got a reaction from RickR in Coleco Announces The Return Of The Mini Arcade Table Top Game   
    I want to be excited about this, and I am... but the current owners of Coleco have somewhat tarnished their reputation in my mind for a number of reasons, so I'm going to reserve judgement until after this is released. There seems to be a lot of activity recently with mini arcades, if anybody should be doing these it's "Coleco".
  15. Like
    The Professor reacted to Clint Thompson in Crumbs! in development for the Jaguar!   
    Check out what Rik has been working on now for the Jag after AstroStorm! A 3D-mazed looking Pac-Man styled game:
     

  16. Like
    The Professor reacted to dgrubb in Jaguar Pro Controller additional button encoding?   
    Cheers!
  17. Like
    The Professor reacted to Sabertooth in Jaguar Pro Controller additional button encoding?   
    IIRC - the Z,Y and X buttons map to keypad 7, 8 and 9 on the keypad. L & R map to 4 & 6.
  18. Like
    The Professor reacted to dgrubb in Jaguar Pro Controller additional button encoding?   
    Pardon the newbie question: I found the pinout and encoding scheme for the regular controller, but I can't seem to find a definitive statement about how the Pro controller encodes the additional buttons?
  19. Like
    The Professor reacted to Video 61 in Steve Jobs comes to Atari   
    never knew him or met him. but what you said about him is what i have heard from many, kinda cold but driven. good story though, like to hear about those days. they are gone now, to bad, it was good for america for sure.
     
     
    lance
    www.atarisales.com
  20. Like
    The Professor reacted to jerryd in Steve Jobs comes to Atari   
    Atari forum,
     One time Al Alcorn came into the lab and introduced a new engineer dressed in
     a toga and sandals named Steve Jobs.  He must have been about 19.  Like me he
     didn't seem to have a specific job for the first few weeks and just hung
     around the lab.  Then he started working on "Breakout".  Sometimes he would
     take his pad and go down to the local park for hours.  I think he came out to
     lunch with us a few times but he wasn't very social.  His bench was right next
     to mine but he was different and a tough person to get to know and get along
     with.
     
     Nolan Bushnell would often talk to us about his plan to get video games into
     people's homes using their televisions which eventually happened with the 2600.
     This could have sparked some of Steve's ideas.  I know he asked Nolan to back
     him financially with his plan to start a company and build a computer but
     Nolan wasn't interested.

     I went to see Steve years later when he was trying to get "Next" computer up
     and going.  As soon as I walked in he said "I don't have any jobs available".
     I told him I wasn't looking for a job and started to talk about the old days
     at Atari but he just wanted to talk about what he was into now and where he
     thought it was going. He was always marketing his new ideas.

     Many years later I was working for a company that was supplying some test
     equipment to Apple and I was loaned out to them for over a year.  I worked
     in Apple's Milpitas building.  I ran into Steve a couple of times but we
     didn't have much in common.  I was working there during the big earthquake
     that stopped the world series in 1989.  It was an "earthquake proof" building
     so is rocked and rolled the whole time with almost no damage.
     
    Steve ultimately proved to be one of the best marketers ever.  I'm glad
    to have known him.

    Jerryd
     
  21. Like
    The Professor reacted to jerryd in Castle Building at Atari   
    Atari forum,

     There was kind of a celebration in the lab one day when Nolan came in and
     told us that he had been awarded a patent for a "Video Image Positioning
     Control System for Amusement Device."   He said "this makes Atari the official
     originator of the video game".

     The only video games being made in those days were the large arcade type and
     Atari sometimes shipped up to 100 a day.  Every single one contained a TV.
     There were no monitors then so we might receive 100 televisions every day.
     We had a department called "TV MOD" where the picture tube and it's chassis
     were removed from the plastic case which was thrown in a large dumpster.  We
     eventually got a crusher to compress the plastic cases.  The chassis was then
     modified to accept the composite sync signal.

     TV mod was just one guy who wore his complete band uniform, including high
     hat and shoulder Epaulettes, to work every day.  He had an area against one
     wall about 15 X 30 feet, and began to surrounded himself with gray metal
     shelves. After he had put shelves all around his area he covered the back of
     them with the cardboard from the TV boxes.  When that was done he used a black
     felt tip marker to draw brick shapes on all the cardboard.  He had left an
     opening to get in and out and even that had cardboard doors with a cardboard
     spire on the top.  The whole thing looked just like a castle.  We eventually
     had to take it all down because we suspected there was some dealing going on
     in the castle.

     We had a bomb scare one time where we all filed out into the parking lot.
     While the building was being searched there were a lot of parties going on
     in Volkswagen buses.  Nothing was ever found but there were rumors that it
     was an excuse for NARCS to conduct a search.  It was the 70's in California.

     One summer the air conditioning went out and it couldn't be fixed for some
     time.  Nolan Bushnell came out to the production floor with his bull horn and
     announced that we would leave the large loading doors open, install some fans
     and that everyone could wear whatever they wanted.  The only exception was the
     people who were soldering had to have a towel on their lap.  The next day all
     the young girls wore bikinis.  The air conditioner was fixed in record time
     much to the dismay of many of the young guys.

     I see there is a picture of Nolan with his pipe tagged on the end of one of
     administrator Justin's posts.  We remodeled Nolan's office one time and put
     a large vent over his desk for all the pipe smoke.  I can still smell it now.

    Jerryd
     
  22. Like
    The Professor reacted to nosweargamer in Coleco Announces The Return Of The Mini Arcade Table Top Game   
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgK9toMddHA
     
    Thoughts?
     
    Update: A viewer pointed out that this appears to be a port of the GBA Robotech game. I haven't played it so I can't say if the game is any good or not.
  23. Like
    The Professor reacted to RickR in [SOLD] Refurbished 5200 Joysticks For Sale   
    All sold.  Thanks
     
    I have 3.  The following has been done to all of them:
    A new flex circuit (from Best Electronics) has been installed. Every part has been cleaned. Foil dots have been glued on to all buttons. Every button has been tested and works nicely. Just a note that I didn't replace any other parts, so these do have worn boots and various dings and dents.  Any cracked plastic was repaired with glue.  They aren't in the nicest cosmetic condition, but they do work, and they should work for a long time.
     
    I normally sell these for $30, but for Atari.io forum members, these are for sale for only $25 each (plus shipping).  Buy more than one and get a discount. 
  24. Like
    The Professor reacted to RickR in [SOLD] Atari / Sears Heavy Sixer For Sale   
    SOLD!
     
    For sale is a Sears Heavy Sixer in very nice condition.  It comes with a Sears branded set of paddles and a black Atari power adapter (I think most heavy sixers came with grey power adapters).  The paddles have been cleaned and are jitter free.  The console is in original condition and it works perfectly.  It has excellent picture quality. 
     
    I'm asking $75 plus shipping.  Or make me an offer or trade.  I promise to wrap this thing up in bubble wrap and ship in a large box.  That may make shipping a little more costly, but it will keep it from getting damaged.
  25. Like
    The Professor reacted to Video 61 in Qwak! Qwak! at Atari   
    awesome, that is where the idea for duck hunt came from on the nes. i wish i had the source code for Qwak.
     
     
     
    lance
    www.atarisales.com
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