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What about what these guys are doing?

What else but art can you call a one-person project, designing and writing a game for an "obsolete" and very limited (128 bytes of RAM!) system like the 2600?

(I just know someone's going to reply to this and say "masochism".... don't knock it until you've tried it)

Most of the commercial 2600 games were done this way too: one programmer/designer did the whole thing, from concept to finished code. I'd consider David Crane an artist, to name one example. I have no idea whether he considered himself one or not back then (or now, for that matter), though.

A fine art is something that has no practical application whatsoever, and solely exists for aesthetic reasons. Like a painting, photograph, etc.

Video games generally have no practical application whatsoever (well, to make money, but paintings and photographs can do that, too). I'd say the homebrew 2600 scene is closer to "pure" art because nobody's expecting to make money doing it: it's done for its own sake, like art (so I hear from a painter I know. I may not know much about art, but I know what I like!)

Atari quickly expanded the controller to this: http://www.atariage.com/5200/images/misc/5200_Cont roller_intro.jpg though. ;)

Agreed. I was dismayed to see how my BestOf GameCube list looked a lot like BestOf N64 -- Just a lot less originality over all. Some of that is because N64 was a more fundamental shift from the SNES, but still, it does feel like they're coasting.

Agreed. I was dismayed to see how my BestOf GameCube list looked a lot like BestOf N64 -- Just a lot less originality over all. Some of that is because N64 was a more fundamental shift from the SNES, but still, it does feel like they're coasting.

I had begged and whined and whined and begged for my parents to buy that for me, a 9 year old would-be 1337 h4xx04. So marks the first step in my disillusionment.

I had begged and whined and whined and begged for my parents to buy that for me, a 9 year old would-be 1337 h4xx04. So marks the first step in my disillusionment.

The Atari 2600 game with the walkers was pretty good too.

That honor belongs to Atari. However, they were so big that they were really too difficult to use.

"Microsoft will be the first console manufacturer to ship wireless pads as standard with its hardware, but not the first to ship an official wireless controller; Nintendo has already enjoyed significant success with the WaveBird, its wireless pad for the GameCube."

Aah, so Nintendo was the first to have official wireless controllers?

How soon people forget. They were only beaten by, what, 2 DECADES?

Did the video game crash result in peoples' memories being wiped of everything that came before it?

Game Console Hacking by Joe Grand, Albert Yarusso, et al already has a step by step guide of how to install a mini-itx board into an Atari 2600. Is doing something similar with Mac hardware so much more difficult that it's news? I've recently purchased myself some torx drivers to convert a couple of Powerbooks into digital picture frames. At the moment the big problem is where to get the frames. Can I have a Slashdot story when I've got one converted?

Norris SuperKicks on a Mac!

Now if it were a Heavy Sixer then it might be worth more than $10.

The Heavy Sixer had six switches rather than four, and the fake woodgrain was much thicker and heavier. Hence the name.

Quote below is from Atariage.com Atari VCS - CX2600 Sunnyvale Edition - "This is the original 1977 Atari Video Computer System, and this particular design was only produced for one year. Because it features six chrome-like switches and has heavy internal RF Shielding, some collectors refer to this as a "Heavy Sixer". At first glance it looks just like the CX2600 that follows in 1978, but it is noticably heavier when compared, and has some extra plastic molding around the back and sides of the unit. These units were manufactured in Sunnyvale, California, and there is a tag on the underside from the manufacturing plant to indicate this. There is also a serial number on the unit itself with a matching serial number sticker on the box. The later model was manufactured in Hong Kong."

Funny, yes... but not strictly accurate

Don't believe me? Check out the EVIL bat: spooky screen shots! (possibly not safe for work, kids or elderly with weak hearts).

Don't believe me? Check out the EVIL bat: spooky screen shots! (possibly not safe for work, kids or elderly with weak hearts).

I didn't even know the Lynx was able to go online. And then to be arrested just because you use old technology, what a bother.

Sure. They're already doing it.

Sure it will win a Pulitzer.

Sure. They're already doing it.

Sure it will win a Pulitzer.

Here ya go:

http://www.atariage.com/software_list.html?SystemI D=LYNX

Oh wait, that's probably not the chart you're talking about :-)

What party games were there before Mario Party?

The Atari had the obscure game Party Mix but I can't think of any games that were just frameworks around minigames before that. As far as I can think right now, Mario Party invented a genre, and I give it huge credit for bringing classic style gaming into a new generation, especially with its emphasis on 4 player fun.

and we only had 3 players per team, and they played offense and defense

The controllers weared out fast (OK, I played way too much Xevious) and if the tabs that were build into a 7800 cartridge to allow the added contacts to connect broke, you just downgraded to a 2600. I also curse the backwards compatiblity, since that was the reason I got a 7800 instead of a Nintendo at the time (that and it was $40 bucks cheaper). I've heard these consoles where just dumped on the marked to cash in on the resurge, and it showed.

At first I thought you had confused the 7800/5200, but then I saw the compatibility comment.

I believe the 5200 not the 7800, was the system with shoddy controllers. I grew up in the 80's, but I specifically remember not getting one because my parents had heard of the crappy quality of the systems. It's not like the 7800 was any better, but everyone bought those anyways because it played all the older 2600 games.

The Atari 2600 scene has seen lots of activity in game development recently. They even go as far as to mint actual carts with labels, manuals, and boxes for their games. Even better, they tend to do the labels and packaging in the same style as the late 1970s Atari games. You can buy these games from sites like Atari Age.

Another company, VG Wiz provides cart minting services, and even has a NES flash cart under development. Tototek recently made flash development carts for various old console systems: Sega Master System, Sega Genesis, Turbo Graphics 16, and even the SNES. These carts are great for playing ROMs on the actual console system.

Hopefully Grand Theftendo sees a similar fate as the Atari 2600 homebrews, and gets minted to an actual cart with PCB, plastic enclosure, label, manual, and box. The NES scene has been needing some full fledged fan developed games for a long time now.

You know, next they could make a movie out of Breakout

"Suddenly, without warning, there's a brilliant flash straight ahead. You check the radar screen. Nothing. Pretty soon there's another flash, and another. Next thing you know the flashes have turned into one gigantic force field of some kind and it's dead ahead. You check the radar screen again, still nothing."

Let's face it, the alien setting in DOOM was probably a cop-out to get rid of the bad taste around killing people and glorifying WWII.

They were pretty good, too. The one for Yars Revenge in particular is loaded with images that I'll one day tear out to use in a new media project or flier.

They missed the original video game comic books--

"Atari Force", as well as the comics that came with the misguided and impossible to solve "Swordquest" series...

No, Kaboom!

Remember the odd results you could get thrashing the reset game switch on the Atari 2600? Also by partially removing the cartridge while playing, or just when you turned the system on with the cart not contacting well (happens with most systems, especially when the contacts get worn/dirty) There's an interesting example of this on Tree Wave's Cabana EP one of the videos on the CD has music put to someone/something hitting the game select switch faster and faster with interesting animated results.

More info at www.treewave.com

It's not like this was the first Atari ST emulator ever. It's a port for crying out loud.

This is what I meant by 'when'. It was announced in May,1984, to much acclaim but
In July of 1984, the home videogame division of Atari was purchased by Jack Tramiel. Although the Atari 7800 was ready to go, licensing negotiations had to begin again because the Tramiels did not agree with some of the existing arrangements negotiated by Ray Kassar. It was around this time that the videogame market crashed, and retailers cut orders for videogames across the board. By the end of 1984, the industry was left with only Atari, Coleco, and Mattel turning out new product for their old systems, with no new console on the horizon. Atari spent the next two years working out the details, and the 7800 was finally ready to go in 1986

By that time Nintendo released their 'Famicon' with an extensive-ish library, compared to the 7800's later release with only 3 titles. Of note:
Graphically, the 7800 was an excellent machine for its time, rivaling and even surpassing the NES and Sega Master System in some respects. Its weak point was sound, since it utilizes the same old sound chip from the 2600. Programmers got around this limitation however, by adding the 5200's POKEY sound chip directly to certain cartridges. Arcade ports for the system were excellent, but it just didn't have the marketing behind it to overcome the Nintendo juggernaut.

So basically bad timing and poor direction. The machine itself was good for the time, but the crash had already happened and only one could survive it, and Nintendo did it by getting to market first.

(Full details: here.)

Played Warlords.

The End.

(I, on the other hand, will be buying that CD. Then I will practice for a few weeks, call up my cousin to play again. REVENGE WILL BE MINE.)

It wasn't technical (Lynx and GameGear were so much more advanced than a Gameboy it wasn't even funny).

I'll give you that for Lynx; even though its screen was so much smaller (160x102 vs. 160x144 pixels for GB and GG), its CPU was faster, and its sprite engine supported sprite scaling to the point where somebody managed to coax it into hardware-accelerated texture mapping for a Wolf3D style ray caster. Game Gear, on the other hand, was just a handheld Sega Master System whose palettes had more color depth. Heck, the Game Boy and the Game Gear had nearly the same CPU (4.1 MHz Z80 vs. 3.6 MHz Z80), and the Game Boy had a more versatile sound chip.

Well, that and [the Game Boy] had Tetris

Don't tell that to a Columns fan. Also, the version of Klax on the Lynx looked so much better than the pitiful excuse for Klax for Game Boy mono, which looked more like a black-and-white version of Tiles and Tribulations than anything else. (The Game Boy Color version looks much better.)

Activision's Pressure Cooker for the 2600, anyone? ~_^

You right to some extent. But, "pop art" or not, some of the box art was very cool. And, wasn't that the point of the article anyway?

Here's another favorite: Haunted House

Atari had great artwork on their boxes. Actually, they set the standard for others that followed.

Check out Defender, Berzerk and Missle Command

Even Mattel Intellivision (boo, hiss) had some cool artwork.

Article seemed kinda biased to late 80s / early 90s if you ask me.

Atari had great artwork on their boxes. Actually, they set the standard for others that followed.

Check out Defender, Berzerk and Missle Command

Even Mattel Intellivision (boo, hiss) had some cool artwork.

Article seemed kinda biased to late 80s / early 90s if you ask me.

Atari had great artwork on their boxes. Actually, they set the standard for others that followed.

Check out Defender, Berzerk and Missle Command

Even Mattel Intellivision (boo, hiss) had some cool artwork.

Article seemed kinda biased to late 80s / early 90s if you ask me.

the link port wasn't there on the original sgb but was on the later sgb2

If I recall correctly, the Super Game Boy 2, with a Game Link connector, was not made for any region where the Super NES was called the Super NES. From all the photo evidence I've seen, Nintendo sold the improved accessory only in Japan, where the console was called the Super Famicom. I have a feeling that like Atari in the Video Chess case, Nintendo may have been court-ordered to make and sell the SGB2, as the Pokemon manual contained full-color screenshots of Game Link trade and Game Link battle, which weren't possible at the time on GB (black and white screen), SGB1 (no serial port), or GBC (not yet released).

nintendo have done this again more recently with the gameboy player for the gamecube

I have one. However, there still exist a few Game Boy titles incompatible with the GB Player, such as Kirby Tilt n Tumble (would require tilting the GameCube) and any Majesco GBA Video title (would require Macrovision copy-degradation hardware, which Nintendo neglected to license when designing the Cube).

Neither the 5200 or 7800 controllers are that great. The 5200 controllers were highly prone to failure, the analog joysticks were not self-centering, and the fire buttons were awkward to use. Atari moved back to digital sticks with the Atari 7800, but these seem to have been designed more for aesthetics than ergonomics, as many people find them uncomfortable to use for any length of time. Between the 2600, 5200, and 7800, only the original CX-40 Joystick has really stood the test of time.

Neither the 5200 or 7800 controllers are that great. The 5200 controllers were highly prone to failure, the analog joysticks were not self-centering, and the fire buttons were awkward to use. Atari moved back to digital sticks with the Atari 7800, but these seem to have been designed more for aesthetics than ergonomics, as many people find them uncomfortable to use for any length of time. Between the 2600, 5200, and 7800, only the original CX-40 Joystick has really stood the test of time.

Neither the 5200 or 7800 controllers are that great. The 5200 controllers were highly prone to failure, the analog joysticks were not self-centering, and the fire buttons were awkward to use. Atari moved back to digital sticks with the Atari 7800, but these seem to have been designed more for aesthetics than ergonomics, as many people find them uncomfortable to use for any length of time. Between the 2600, 5200, and 7800, only the original CX-40 Joystick has really stood the test of time.

Although not mentioned in the article, Cannon Fodder also appeared on the Atari Jaguar, published by Virgin.

Have there been any consoles other than PS2 that offered backwards compatibility?

The Atari 7800 was backwards-compatible with 2600 carts.

AtariAge FAQ

Here's one.

Oh wait, you said popular console.

Here's another one, and another

Wow... now I feel old... I actually remember the He-Man video game...

Nephilium Faith is a euphemism for prejudice and religion is a euphemism for superstition. -- Paul Keller

I completely agree with the earlier comment that gameplay is most important - not the graphics.

Also, perhaps it's my age - I'm now 30 and honestly have less time to play games. I can afford the fifteen minutes needed to play Qix - but something like Final Fantasy X needs to be played in hour sittings!

The NYT article just brushes the surface. For more info on the on-line classic gaming community, check out some of these sites:
AtariAge
Retrogaming Radio
Classic gaming

Magazines:
Armchair Arcade
Classic Gamer
Manci Games
Retrogamer

Also, there are quite a few gaming conventions, most notably Philly Classic and Classic Gaming Expo.

--
jason

However, they were quite horrible to use, keep centered, and had a fairly short usage period. Now, if you can get ahold of a Wico 5200 joystick (and the Y-adaptor cable to use the 5200 controller's keypad), the console was much nicer.

In most cases, it's possible to simulate the analog movement (slow, then faster in the same direction) using digital controls and not-terribly sophisticated timing loops.

Reading two paddle values on a 2600 means taking time out of your drawing loop to check if the capicator has dischaged through the variable resistor yet. For the games which you would like an analog joystick (flight simulation, sports movement, etc.), it would mean less cycles for setting up and displaying complex graphics.

For the game Indy 500, a special driving controller was made which used a two-bit Hamming code to sense the position and direction of the controller.

By the way, here's one game that can use an analog joystick. Control a marble in a labyrinth.

I don't know if it's emphasized clearly enough in the article, but Homestar Runner has commissioned a few homebrew 2600 coders to make their own game... Imagine the precedence that this could set, IMHO, this is along the same lines as the Counterstrike modders getting published by Sierra (err Valve?)..

Imagine... homebrew people getting paid for their hobby... I think that wired magazine's mention of this makes it a little more interesting: homebrew games are becoming available on a grander scale than just for those in the scene.

I actually made (and published through AtariAge) my own Atari homebrew, JoustPong -- Pong with a Flap Button. I kept a developer's journal of the experiece.

I also made a newbie's tutorial, linked to at the end of the O'Reilly article: 2600 101. And currently I'm (slowly) working on 2600 cookbook...O'Reilly fans should find the format very familiar.

Overall, that's a great techie introduction to the hobby.

AtariAge.com