Slashdot Mirror

the Army has been using video games as training utilities for possibly 10 years

Ten years? Try twenty-four years.

Wrong.

Atari went out of business as a preemptive counterattack to an imminent slashdotting. After all, who would put a link to a bunch of pictures on the web unless it was meant to kill the target?

Wow... Ask Slashdot really came through this time. Answering the recent Ask Slashdot, the pictures below show how the pros store their "parts". I hope you're paying attention, OriginalSpaceMan. :-)

• Game board storage room
• More boards....
• More boards....
• Closeup of Proto controllers and other parts.
• Prototype controllers and other parts
• A lonely catbox and adapters.

Wow... Ask Slashdot really came through this time. Answering the recent Ask Slashdot, the pictures below show how the pros store their "parts". I hope you're paying attention, OriginalSpaceMan. :-)

• Game board storage room
• More boards....
• More boards....
• Closeup of Proto controllers and other parts.
• Prototype controllers and other parts
• A lonely catbox and adapters.

Wow... Ask Slashdot really came through this time. Answering the recent Ask Slashdot, the pictures below show how the pros store their "parts". I hope you're paying attention, OriginalSpaceMan. :-)

• Game board storage room
• More boards....
• More boards....
• Closeup of Proto controllers and other parts.
• Prototype controllers and other parts
• A lonely catbox and adapters.

Wow... Ask Slashdot really came through this time. Answering the recent Ask Slashdot, the pictures below show how the pros store their "parts". I hope you're paying attention, OriginalSpaceMan. :-)

• Game board storage room
• More boards....
• More boards....
• Closeup of Proto controllers and other parts.
• Prototype controllers and other parts
• A lonely catbox and adapters.

Wow... Ask Slashdot really came through this time. Answering the recent Ask Slashdot, the pictures below show how the pros store their "parts". I hope you're paying attention, OriginalSpaceMan. :-)

• Game board storage room
• More boards....
• More boards....
• Closeup of Proto controllers and other parts.
• Prototype controllers and other parts
• A lonely catbox and adapters.

Wow... Ask Slashdot really came through this time. Answering the recent Ask Slashdot, the pictures below show how the pros store their "parts". I hope you're paying attention, OriginalSpaceMan. :-)

• Game board storage room
• More boards....
• More boards....
• Closeup of Proto controllers and other parts.
• Prototype controllers and other parts
• A lonely catbox and adapters.

I had a job interview there in 1998 - they were known as "Atari Games," which I think was to distinguish them from "Atari," which was the part of the company that had more to do with the original console hardware (and the Jaguar?) and had spun them off at some time. In any case, they were owned by Midway.

It was an interesting experience, walking the halls and seeing posters of so many classic games. They were still developing arcade hardware, and I was being interviewed about porting one of the arcade games to the N64.

I believe I actually sat at the table in this picture - I had one interview over lunch with someone who was quite humorless and clearly hadn't slept for far, far too long. Actually, I think they got him out of bed to talk to me. I also played the green SF Rush machine in that picture - quite the arcade they had there.

I guess I should be glad I took a job with another company. Still, sad to see them go. RIP Atari.

This is all well and good, but I'm not all that interested in playing it. On the other hand, I'd give my left nut to play the unreleased Marble Madness II on MAME.

California Extreme is also your chance to play this guy's rare Marble Madness II prototype, which he assembled from parts over a period of time.

California Extreme is also your chance to play this guy's rare Marble Madness II prototype, which he assembled from parts over a period of time.

California Extreme is also your chance to play this guy's rare Marble Madness II prototype, which he assembled from parts over a period of time.

The brainstorming session on the site includes an interesting one - 14: "Mr. Bill". Could this be a precursor to xBill?

Most of the machines this guy has are prototype boards. For the most part, these guys don't want copies of the ROMs to be made, as this would lower the value of their boards. Some of these guys are able to make their own ROM backups, but they will rarely attempt it. To make matters worse, these Atari prototypes were obviously played by Atari employees thorughout their lifetime. These boards do fail, it's only a matter of time.

So, this truly is a sorry state these games are in. They have been saved, but only for so long. It's worth noting that this problem exists for almost every platform.

One can only hope that this guy has made backups of the ROMs on these boards (not likely). Maybe we should just be happy that these prototypes are saved for now.

Does this game look familiar? Pretty cool! ;-)

Also on the same site, this guy aparently got a hold of Bradley Trainer which was military simulation commissioned by the Army to train troups, and is based off of the hit game Battlezone.

AFAIK, there are only two in existance, and many people had been wondering for a long time whether this machine even existed at all, or if it was just an urban myth. No idea where this guy got it, he won't say, but he was nice enough to dump the ROM so we can all play it in and upcoming release of MAME. ;)

"Perhaps there's a reason for her smile of anticipation?"

Maybe they thought that games like this one would be popular with the ladies.

...then again, maybe not.

Does anyone else find this a bit too orgasmic?

Obviously this was about the time that herbal essenses was unable to be condensed into such a small container. :)

This one looks like ESR with a chick.. Oh wait, no gun. Never mind.

Check out this picture. Obviously a desperate cry for help on the part of the Atari engineers. Poor guys.

I remember playing this game as a teenager just not at the arcade

Touch me game

Seriously, though, there are probably more girls in these pictures because they look like concepts for PR art. It's the same idea as putting a model next to a sportscar.

I have one question, though: what are these nets on the ceiling for?

although it's not a good one. See here. In a nutshell, the field techs are told that the AMD RAMs are not reliable, and although they'll pass self-test, during gameplay the 3D objects will become distorted.

I guess they've come a long way, eh?

Yes, Ping! The exciting new game from Atari that measures IP path latency. Thrill as you send packets into battle with enemy hosts! Will they return safely, or will they be forever lost in the hostile ether? It all part of the fantastic adventure that is Ping! Lowest score wins!

Play Ping: the game that will really socket() to 'ya!

Even the game displayed in the avacado picture shows some kind of strange naivete. "Airport"? Who'd pay 25 cents to simulate being stuck in ground traffic? Oh wait, people pay hundreds of dollars for that every day.

Indeed! My favorite pic by far is this one. Not only is she wearing a halter-top that has a play on the word "avacado" printed on it, but she also appears to be HOLDING an avacado. God bless you, zany Japan 100%!

"'art' of extreme dubious quality"

Those renderings, from an industrial design perspective, were pretty impressive. Get a load of the metal surface on this. (and how hot is she)

"'art' of extreme dubious quality"

Those renderings, from an industrial design perspective, were pretty impressive. Get a load of the metal surface on this. (and how hot is she)

...on this one. Perhaps there's a reason for her smile of anticipation?

For some bizarre reason, this is actually a facsinating read

One word...

ahhhhvacado.

Delicious

If you want to get retro, you could always consider the US Army's version of Battlezone otherwise known as the Bradley Trainer.

--