The Professor

here is my Atari 5200 Asteroids prototype for your enjoyment. Asteroids part number is CX5201 and was the first game atari planned to release for the 5200 but they put the kibosh on the game because it didn't play well with the new 5200 joysticks. this is an official original prototype that came out of atari and is not a reproduction game. this is what Asteroids would have been had atari put it out in 1982. look at the game and you will see its not a big improvement or very different from 2600 Asteroids. it's the same Asteroids as the Atari 400/800 game. would this have been enough to entice 2600 owners to jump ship to the 5200? enjoy,
 
thanks,
 
lance
www.atarisales.com

My guess would be that it was made for a specific piece of software for some specific purpose.  The key is to figure out what software used that controller. 

Hey gang, trying to solve a mystery here and I thought I'd bring it to the forum and try to figure it out. So today I was at Pixelvault games run by my friend Armando and he had the strangest item Ive seen in the store so far. This was a red plastic briefcase that held a CDI 450 and a track ball controller, along with the power cord that had a euro plug and some interactive game. The case was not amateur work, this was milled to spec and almost perfect. Here is the mystery - Why would anyone go to the trouble to do this for a CDI? Just kidding, not really but second, Could this have been what a salesman would have brought in to show off the system? What do you think something like this is worth?
 
Would love to hear your thoughts.

ANOTHER DIRTY ROOM Ep. 12 : ATLANTIC CITY DOUBLE FEATURE : Slots, Sunshine and Roaches

ANOTHER DIRTY ROOM Ep. 12 : ATLANTIC CITY DOUBLE FEATURE : Slots, Sunshine and Roaches

That's a great point! I wonder if they don't have health inspectors going in. Some of the hotels are just a little messy but these most recent hotels should be condemned. They're like something out of a horror film 

ANOTHER DIRTY ROOM Ep. 11 : $40 NIGHTMARE : The Swan Motel Halethorpe, MD

Looks like an awesome time jmjustin! Thanks for taking us along on your adventure 

I second this.  This is a great post. 
 
The ride-through video of the mansion is really fun.  Your phone does video very well, especially given the low light. 
 
Sadly, we have nothing like this here because the weather can be iffy most of the year. 

So i went to six flags today and had a blast
 
Rode all the new rides. Played ome of the games.

We did too! Bought alot of my Atari games brand new around 1986-1989 for $4.99 each from there!

Me neither.

Most of our Caldors become Ames.

What a great score! That feeling is so awesome! Congrats!

Just finished eating breakfast on our cape cod vacation and saw an interesting store (Greg's used books), figured I'd kill some time while my wife went into a shoe store. Place was very cool, other than used books they had some records, movies, board games and best of all games. Picked up these carts, all pretty rare. It's not often I find carts I dont have in the wild, especially this many. Owner was very cool also.

It's a hot summer night. Battle of the Network Stars plays on the television, with actors like Ted Lange, Lou Ferrigno and Mackenzie Phillips competing against each other by playing tug of war and bicycle racing. It sounds like a moment from a time gone by, but it could also be an accurate description for this summer.
 
That's right — the '70s and '80s television pop-culture classic, Battle of the Network Stars (which premiered from ABC Sports in 1976 and continued for 13 years), will be revived when it returns to television on ABC. Battle of the Network Stars is a nostalgic throwback to the original series where TV celebrities blended athleticism with hilarious antics. The 10-episode summer event will pit teams of current and classic TV stars from multiple eras and different genres against one another in a variety of athletic games. Viewers can look forward to seeing a fresh take at some of the classic show's sporting events like Tug of War, Archery, Kayak Relay, the Obstacle Course and the Dunk Tank.
 
The original Battle of the Network Stars comprised of 19 specials that aired from 1976 through 1988. This summer, it's being brought back as a weekly television series. ABC recently announced the upcoming cast of celebrity competitors, and there are some serious throwbacks on this list! Barry Williams from The Brady Bunch, Jill Whelan and Ted Lange from The Love Boat, and Lou Ferrigno from The Incredible Hulk will compete alongside other classic stars like Charlene Tilton, Lorenzo Lamas, Mackenzie Phillips, Willie Aames, Danny Bonaduce, Erik Estrada and Larry Wilcox.
 
Another major difference between the revived version and the original is the teams will be comprised of different genres, rather than pitting the networks against each other. This time around, cops will be competing against doctors, and sitcoms will be competing against dramas.
 
The series will air 10 episodes throughout the summer on ABC.
 
 
 

 
From USA Today:
'Battle of the Network Stars' channels original series
The 1970s Are Here Again!
https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/tv/2017/06/27/abc-battle-of-the-network-stars-reality-competition/103143742/

It's a hot summer night. Battle of the Network Stars plays on the television, with actors like Ted Lange, Lou Ferrigno and Mackenzie Phillips competing against each other by playing tug of war and bicycle racing. It sounds like a moment from a time gone by, but it could also be an accurate description for this summer.
 
That's right — the '70s and '80s television pop-culture classic, Battle of the Network Stars (which premiered from ABC Sports in 1976 and continued for 13 years), will be revived when it returns to television on ABC. Battle of the Network Stars is a nostalgic throwback to the original series where TV celebrities blended athleticism with hilarious antics. The 10-episode summer event will pit teams of current and classic TV stars from multiple eras and different genres against one another in a variety of athletic games. Viewers can look forward to seeing a fresh take at some of the classic show's sporting events like Tug of War, Archery, Kayak Relay, the Obstacle Course and the Dunk Tank.
 
The original Battle of the Network Stars comprised of 19 specials that aired from 1976 through 1988. This summer, it's being brought back as a weekly television series. ABC recently announced the upcoming cast of celebrity competitors, and there are some serious throwbacks on this list! Barry Williams from The Brady Bunch, Jill Whelan and Ted Lange from The Love Boat, and Lou Ferrigno from The Incredible Hulk will compete alongside other classic stars like Charlene Tilton, Lorenzo Lamas, Mackenzie Phillips, Willie Aames, Danny Bonaduce, Erik Estrada and Larry Wilcox.
 
Another major difference between the revived version and the original is the teams will be comprised of different genres, rather than pitting the networks against each other. This time around, cops will be competing against doctors, and sitcoms will be competing against dramas.
 
The series will air 10 episodes throughout the summer on ABC.
 
 
 

 
From USA Today:
'Battle of the Network Stars' channels original series
The 1970s Are Here Again!
https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/tv/2017/06/27/abc-battle-of-the-network-stars-reality-competition/103143742/

That looks beautiful StormSurge. It strikes me as a very special place where one could live that classic lifestyle. I would love to see more of your life here. Upcoming events that you partake in, day to day life, and so forth. 

That looks beautiful StormSurge. It strikes me as a very special place where one could live that classic lifestyle. I would love to see more of your life here. Upcoming events that you partake in, day to day life, and so forth. 

It's a hot summer night. Battle of the Network Stars plays on the television, with actors like Ted Lange, Lou Ferrigno and Mackenzie Phillips competing against each other by playing tug of war and bicycle racing. It sounds like a moment from a time gone by, but it could also be an accurate description for this summer.
 
That's right — the '70s and '80s television pop-culture classic, Battle of the Network Stars (which premiered from ABC Sports in 1976 and continued for 13 years), will be revived when it returns to television on ABC. Battle of the Network Stars is a nostalgic throwback to the original series where TV celebrities blended athleticism with hilarious antics. The 10-episode summer event will pit teams of current and classic TV stars from multiple eras and different genres against one another in a variety of athletic games. Viewers can look forward to seeing a fresh take at some of the classic show's sporting events like Tug of War, Archery, Kayak Relay, the Obstacle Course and the Dunk Tank.
 
The original Battle of the Network Stars comprised of 19 specials that aired from 1976 through 1988. This summer, it's being brought back as a weekly television series. ABC recently announced the upcoming cast of celebrity competitors, and there are some serious throwbacks on this list! Barry Williams from The Brady Bunch, Jill Whelan and Ted Lange from The Love Boat, and Lou Ferrigno from The Incredible Hulk will compete alongside other classic stars like Charlene Tilton, Lorenzo Lamas, Mackenzie Phillips, Willie Aames, Danny Bonaduce, Erik Estrada and Larry Wilcox.
 
Another major difference between the revived version and the original is the teams will be comprised of different genres, rather than pitting the networks against each other. This time around, cops will be competing against doctors, and sitcoms will be competing against dramas.
 
The series will air 10 episodes throughout the summer on ABC.
 
 
 

 
From USA Today:
'Battle of the Network Stars' channels original series
The 1970s Are Here Again!
https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/tv/2017/06/27/abc-battle-of-the-network-stars-reality-competition/103143742/

Or, "Why I Can't Camp Out for Toys Anymore".
 
And, no, my home is not even close to what's described here & yes, there really is nothing here. But it is truly beautiful & special. I doubt there are many "true" communities that exist that can compare to the 250 of us who live here year-round.
 
http://nypost.com/2017/06/28/the-secret-new-york-island-you-need-to-buy-into/

Now that Tempest Elite is available for Sale and being shipped. We decided to make this a technical support thread. Tempest Elite is set up to by default to run on a stock Atari XL/XE computer with 64K RAM with standard 6502. We are not taking responsibilities for program conflicts caused from custom hardware upgrades other than VBXE or Stereo Pokey. Makes use of the RAM under ROM ($C000 to $CFFF & $F800 to $FFFF). Does not make use of extended RAM over 64K, like 130XE, RAMBO, etc. Does not take advantage of any 65816 upgrades or issues undocumented (illegal) 6502 instructions.
 
On Startup Tempest Elite checks for VBXE present in the $D640 or $D740 memory areas, if not detected, it will continue to load the standard Atari graphics and Player/Missile multiplexer sections into RAM. If detected, a VBXE blitter is loaded into RAM instead. The VBXE can be bypassed by holding down option key when the cartridge when turning the power on.
 
Stereo Pokey is checked in the $D210 memory area. Majority of the 2nd Pokey Chip upgrades use this area. I am aware of some custom upgrades that placed the 2nd pokey at $D280, or Quad Poker, or with COVOX chip. Tempest Elite does not support Pokey chips mapped between $D220 to $D2FF.
 
"CONTROLLER" + "JOY+UP" or "CONTROLLER" + "JOY+DOWN" is for joystick and the direction you need to press for the "super zapper." If your joystick works with standard Atari Games, it will work with Tempest Elite. Tempest Elite does not support extra fire buttons.  When the title splash title is on your screen. You can use the joystick to choose game options or use the console SELECT & OPTION buttons. However the joystick will only select "JOY+UP" or "JOY+DOWN." to choose other controllers, you will need to use the OPTION button to choose these other controllers. Space Bar or Escape Key toggles the pause. When using alternate controllers, Space Bar triggers the "super zapper" and only the Escape Key toggles the pause. Paddle Controller option moves the ship depending on how far the paddle knob is turned.
 
Trackball controller is based on CX-80 and WICO Command Trackball based on that 2bit code. Some of these have "joystick mode" also. Some people managed to hook up an Atari ST track ball that uses "gray code", which may work with the (Indy 500) Driving Controller option. If a trackball or driving controller is causing the game options to cycle through a rotation on the title splash screen, move the controller until it stops, or unplug the controller and plug it back in.

Some people had been asking about what the game looks like while playing on standard Atari-8-bit hardware vs playing on an Atari with VBXE. That along with differences between Tempest Extreme and Tempest Elite. I have attached some screen shots of the same level. In addition, I am including a screen shot from Tempest Xtreme. All from Web Number 6. Some differences between Xtreme and Elite are the scoreboard icons for Warp Keys and a Bigger Ship. Also I chose this particular web. The Xtreme version was 5+5+6 (16) to make up a triangle. Elite has 6 lanes to make up an 18 lane triangle.

I am glad that you like the VBXE support ideal. Now I am awaiting for feed back on the game play from real customers. We will answer any technical concerns about the game.
 
Here on some more screen shots. The levels with finer lines and sprites are what the game looks like while playing on a system with VBXE.
 
A few of the screen shots were taken from earlier development of the game. The ones with a narrower colon between the V and number are more recent. The yellow ship was also enlarged. This was so we can do the 3 green triangles in a row to indicate the Warp Keys.

Mason shot and edited his second video yesterday. He's checking out some plug n plays and the Scooby Doo one is actually pretty good.