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Thanks to Atari Age, who point to the AtariProtos site's new information about the unreleased Mind Maze for the Atari 2600. The writers have spoken to original designer Howard Scott Warshaw, also famous for Yar's Revenge and the cataclysmic E.T. for Atari 2600, and "...apparently Mind Maze was based on the unproven theory of ESP (Extra Sensory Perception) and was an attempt to create a mind reading game for the (also unreleased) Mindlink controller." The updated preview, based on a recently unearthed prototype, reveals: "Supposedly, the headband was to read the player's Alpha and Beta waves in an attempt to help predict their actions. However, since the Mindlink was really just a sensor that detected muscle movements in the player's forehead, this was complete bunk."

Thanks to EGM for their feature subjecting today's children to yesterday's gaming classics, as they "...rounded up nine children of the PlayStation generation - ages 10 to 13 - and forced them to play titles from the '70s and '80s." Games the kids comment on include Pong ("I would never pay to play something like this"), Tetris ("Which button do I press to make the blocks explode?"), and, evilly, E.T. for the Atari 2600 ("Didn't they bury this game in Mexico or something?")

Thanks to AtariAge for its new story revealing a long-lost Atari 2600 prototype for a Dune game has been discovered, almost 20 years after it was scrapped. The game is "based on the 1984 movie of the same name [from Frank Herbert's books]" and "was to be an action/adventure style game similar to Atari's classic Adventure", but, according to an in-depth analysis at AtariProtos.com, "only preliminary coding had been started before Jack Tramiel shut down 2600 game development and fired most of the staff." Still, what other game you know depicts Baron Harkonnen as a smiley face?

Thanks to AtariAge for its new story revealing a long-lost Atari 2600 prototype for a Dune game has been discovered, almost 20 years after it was scrapped. The game is "based on the 1984 movie of the same name [from Frank Herbert's books]" and "was to be an action/adventure style game similar to Atari's classic Adventure", but, according to an in-depth analysis at AtariProtos.com, "only preliminary coding had been started before Jack Tramiel shut down 2600 game development and fired most of the staff." Still, what other game you know depicts Baron Harkonnen as a smiley face?

Thanks to Nintendojo for posting the latest in their series on classic games that deserve to get resurrected in updated form. The latest instalment picks out Combat for the Atari 2600, "...one of the first genuine 'deathmatch' games around", but earlier picks include Fortress of Narzod for the Vectrex, and Shadowrun for the SNES, of which the author says "...the style of this game, plus its rudimentary squad-based combat, makes this a natural for an upgrade."

Thanks to AtariAge for discussing their first title to be published for the classic ColecoVision console, called CVDRUM. According to their site, "CVDRUM is a new ColecoVision cartridge by E-Mancanics, based on popular software and hardware drum machines, that enables the user to create up to 9 different one measure musical rhythm patterns.. which can then be arranged.. [and] looped for musical performance. The tempos are also close enough that it can be used in concert with Paul Slocum's Atari 2600 SynthCart." The cart will be unveiled at the Austin Gaming Expo on July 26th.

Thanks to AtariAge for discussing their first title to be published for the classic ColecoVision console, called CVDRUM. According to their site, "CVDRUM is a new ColecoVision cartridge by E-Mancanics, based on popular software and hardware drum machines, that enables the user to create up to 9 different one measure musical rhythm patterns.. which can then be arranged.. [and] looped for musical performance. The tempos are also close enough that it can be used in concert with Paul Slocum's Atari 2600 SynthCart." The cart will be unveiled at the Austin Gaming Expo on July 26th.

Thanks to GamePro for running a new article discussing the recently announced guest list for the Classic Gaming Expo, to be held in Las Vegas on August 9th-10th. Honored guests include Franz Lanzinger (the designer of Crystal Castles), Warren Davis (the creator of Q*Bert), and Howard Scott Warshaw of Yars' Revenge (and E.T.!) fame, alongside more than 40 other classic gaming heroes, plus retro bleep soundtracks from the Micromusic crew. The Intellivision TV Game system we covered a few days ago will also be making its US debut at CGExpo.

An anonymous reader writes "Anyone want to learn how to program the Atari 2600? 128 bytes of RAM, and you feed the TV each scanline yourself! There's a tutorial running on AtariAge. So far, its being updated every day. Good stuff." Sure, it might not be the most practical of platforms, but what other 20 year old platform is so dear to our hearts?

Thanks are due to AtariAge, who have put a number of new classic gaming newsletter scans up on their site. Particularly good are those for the US Activisions Newsletter, and its UK counterpart Activision Fun Club News, both published from around 1981 to 1984. And any newsletter with a page headlined 'Here at last! David Crane, superstar' is a friend of Slashdot Games.

Thanks are due to AtariAge, who have put a number of new classic gaming newsletter scans up on their site. Particularly good are those for the US Activisions Newsletter, and its UK counterpart Activision Fun Club News, both published from around 1981 to 1984. And any newsletter with a page headlined 'Here at last! David Crane, superstar' is a friend of Slashdot Games.

Thanks are due to AtariAge, who have put a number of new classic gaming newsletter scans up on their site. Particularly good are those for the US Activisions Newsletter, and its UK counterpart Activision Fun Club News, both published from around 1981 to 1984. And any newsletter with a page headlined 'Here at last! David Crane, superstar' is a friend of Slashdot Games.

Thanks are due to AtariAge, who have put a number of new classic gaming newsletter scans up on their site. Particularly good are those for the US Activisions Newsletter, and its UK counterpart Activision Fun Club News, both published from around 1981 to 1984. And any newsletter with a page headlined 'Here at last! David Crane, superstar' is a friend of Slashdot Games.

Thanks are due to AtariAge, who have put a number of new classic gaming newsletter scans up on their site. Particularly good are those for the US Activisions Newsletter, and its UK counterpart Activision Fun Club News, both published from around 1981 to 1984. And any newsletter with a page headlined 'Here at last! David Crane, superstar' is a friend of Slashdot Games.

TheAlchemist writes "The Bradley Trainer was a modification to Atari's Battlezone arcade game created for the US Army to help train personel in the use of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. Supposedly only two of these machines were built, and of the two only one of them is known to exist today. The latest version of the arcade enumator MAME (0.62) has support for the Bradley Trainer, which hasn't been emulated until now. Pictures and more information of the Atari Bradley Trainer be found on this site, and screenshots of it running in MAME can be found here."

TheAlchemist writes "The Bradley Trainer was a modification to Atari's Battlezone arcade game created for the US Army to help train personel in the use of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. Supposedly only two of these machines were built, and of the two only one of them is known to exist today. The latest version of the arcade enumator MAME (0.62) has support for the Bradley Trainer, which hasn't been emulated until now. Pictures and more information of the Atari Bradley Trainer be found on this site, and screenshots of it running in MAME can be found here."

Bill Kendrick writes "The website Toxic Mag has an interview with John Mathieson, creator of the short-lived Atari Jaguar 64-bit game system - the system we can thank for such awesome games as the original Alien vs. Predtor, Iron Soldier, and the gorgeously psychadelic Tempest 2000. The beginng and end of the interview are in French, but the actual questions and answers are 'en anglais.'"

Bill Kendrick writes "The website Toxic Mag has an interview with John Mathieson, creator of the short-lived Atari Jaguar 64-bit game system - the system we can thank for such awesome games as the original Alien vs. Predtor, Iron Soldier, and the gorgeously psychadelic Tempest 2000. The beginng and end of the interview are in French, but the actual questions and answers are 'en anglais.'"

Bill Kendrick writes "The website Toxic Mag has an interview with John Mathieson, creator of the short-lived Atari Jaguar 64-bit game system - the system we can thank for such awesome games as the original Alien vs. Predtor, Iron Soldier, and the gorgeously psychadelic Tempest 2000. The beginng and end of the interview are in French, but the actual questions and answers are 'en anglais.'"

Bill Kendrick writes "The website Toxic Mag has an interview with John Mathieson, creator of the short-lived Atari Jaguar 64-bit game system - the system we can thank for such awesome games as the original Alien vs. Predtor, Iron Soldier, and the gorgeously psychadelic Tempest 2000. The beginng and end of the interview are in French, but the actual questions and answers are 'en anglais.'"

Bill Kendrick writes "Quake's 3D graphics too realistic for you? Why not try this map, which reproduces the classic Atari 2600 game of blocky dragons and castles, Adventure!" I especially like the models for the dragons.

Bill Kendrick writes "Good Deal Games recently interviewed David Crane, creator of 1982's Game of the Year, 'Pitfall!' (as well as many other titles for the Atari 2600 and other systems). Topics include the 1000s of fan letters Activision received every week, the firing of Bill Gates, and how tennis helped bring Activision together."

Bill Kendrick writes "Good Deal Games recently interviewed David Crane, creator of 1982's Game of the Year, 'Pitfall!' (as well as many other titles for the Atari 2600 and other systems). Topics include the 1000s of fan letters Activision received every week, the firing of Bill Gates, and how tennis helped bring Activision together."

TheAlchemist writes "Eighteen years ago a Lord of the Rings game appeared in a Parker Brothers catalog for the Atari 2600. Unfortunately, the game was never released, along with several other titles that appeared alongside it. Just in time for the first Lord of the Rings movie release next week, AtariAge.com has discovered a long lost prototype of this game, probably one of the most sought after 2600 vaporware titles. You can look at screenshots, a picture of the prototype box, the prototype cartridge, and download the binary image that you can then run in one of several Atari 2600 emulators. More information about the game can be gleaned here."

TheAlchemist writes "Eighteen years ago a Lord of the Rings game appeared in a Parker Brothers catalog for the Atari 2600. Unfortunately, the game was never released, along with several other titles that appeared alongside it. Just in time for the first Lord of the Rings movie release next week, AtariAge.com has discovered a long lost prototype of this game, probably one of the most sought after 2600 vaporware titles. You can look at screenshots, a picture of the prototype box, the prototype cartridge, and download the binary image that you can then run in one of several Atari 2600 emulators. More information about the game can be gleaned here."

TheAlchemist writes "Eighteen years ago a Lord of the Rings game appeared in a Parker Brothers catalog for the Atari 2600. Unfortunately, the game was never released, along with several other titles that appeared alongside it. Just in time for the first Lord of the Rings movie release next week, AtariAge.com has discovered a long lost prototype of this game, probably one of the most sought after 2600 vaporware titles. You can look at screenshots, a picture of the prototype box, the prototype cartridge, and download the binary image that you can then run in one of several Atari 2600 emulators. More information about the game can be gleaned here."

TheAlchemist writes "Eighteen years ago a Lord of the Rings game appeared in a Parker Brothers catalog for the Atari 2600. Unfortunately, the game was never released, along with several other titles that appeared alongside it. Just in time for the first Lord of the Rings movie release next week, AtariAge.com has discovered a long lost prototype of this game, probably one of the most sought after 2600 vaporware titles. You can look at screenshots, a picture of the prototype box, the prototype cartridge, and download the binary image that you can then run in one of several Atari 2600 emulators. More information about the game can be gleaned here."

TheAlchemist writes "Eighteen years ago a Lord of the Rings game appeared in a Parker Brothers catalog for the Atari 2600. Unfortunately, the game was never released, along with several other titles that appeared alongside it. Just in time for the first Lord of the Rings movie release next week, AtariAge.com has discovered a long lost prototype of this game, probably one of the most sought after 2600 vaporware titles. You can look at screenshots, a picture of the prototype box, the prototype cartridge, and download the binary image that you can then run in one of several Atari 2600 emulators. More information about the game can be gleaned here."

TheAlchemist writes "Eighteen years ago a Lord of the Rings game appeared in a Parker Brothers catalog for the Atari 2600. Unfortunately, the game was never released, along with several other titles that appeared alongside it. Just in time for the first Lord of the Rings movie release next week, AtariAge.com has discovered a long lost prototype of this game, probably one of the most sought after 2600 vaporware titles. You can look at screenshots, a picture of the prototype box, the prototype cartridge, and download the binary image that you can then run in one of several Atari 2600 emulators. More information about the game can be gleaned here."

TheAlchemist writes "Eighteen years ago a Lord of the Rings game appeared in a Parker Brothers catalog for the Atari 2600. Unfortunately, the game was never released, along with several other titles that appeared alongside it. Just in time for the first Lord of the Rings movie release next week, AtariAge.com has discovered a long lost prototype of this game, probably one of the most sought after 2600 vaporware titles. You can look at screenshots, a picture of the prototype box, the prototype cartridge, and download the binary image that you can then run in one of several Atari 2600 emulators. More information about the game can be gleaned here."

TheAlchemist writes "Eighteen years ago a Lord of the Rings game appeared in a Parker Brothers catalog for the Atari 2600. Unfortunately, the game was never released, along with several other titles that appeared alongside it. Just in time for the first Lord of the Rings movie release next week, AtariAge.com has discovered a long lost prototype of this game, probably one of the most sought after 2600 vaporware titles. You can look at screenshots, a picture of the prototype box, the prototype cartridge, and download the binary image that you can then run in one of several Atari 2600 emulators. More information about the game can be gleaned here."