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Where Are They Now: Q*Bert

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the fame-is-fleeting dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Two guys who worked on SNL and the Conan show cover the drug-addled history of Atari's classic blobish-looking character, Q*Bert."

7 of 208 comments (clear)

  1. Poor Q*Bert by Gortbusters.org · · Score: 2, Interesting

    "On October 5, 1990, Q*Bert was found face down in an aquarium filled with kerosene."

    Q*Bert was always fun... but did he really have a chance once Mario, Samus, and other big characters hit the scene?

    --
    --------
    Free your mind.
  2. Re:wow.... by Wavicle · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Oh good... it wasn't just me!

    What the hell kind of contentless uninteresting crap is that for the front page? I expected that to be filed under "stuff that isn't particularly interesting or funny" or a similar topic.

    --
    Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army.
    Edward Everett (1794 - 1865)
  3. Re:PC clones? by stratjakt · · Score: 2, Interesting


    Try here

    I havent played it. But I took the 5 seconds out of my life to type 'Q*Bert clone' into google.

    A bill for my services will be forwarded to your permanent address.

    --
    I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
  4. Re:wow.... by astrosmash · · Score: 5, Interesting
    the 5 seconds it took to skim that site and decide it was a total waste of time was total worth having to look at that bloody ad that popped up for /. referrers. thanks!
    And it's an Anonymous Coward post to boot, so we can't even harass the guy who submitted it.

    Oh well, here's an interesting tidbit about Q*Bert, from KLOV:

    ... Q*Bert and Reactor both use the SC-01 speech synthesizer, although in the case of Q*Bert, it is never used for any kind of coherent speech. All the speech is generated by making the chip play random sounds at a specific pitch.

    ... Part of this game's unique charm is the pure gibberish that comes out of the machine's speech synthesizer.

    Unfortunately, MAME (59) doesn't emulate the SC-01 speech synthesizer.
    --
    ENDUT! HOCH HECH!
  5. Re:Bad link by orthogonal · · Score: 2, Interesting

    the link leads to an ad, not an article

    I'm not sure what the link leads to. Under Phoenix, got an infinite loop of
    GET http://www.slushfactory.com/content/EpuFukEpAFFjrI oYJF.php HTTP/1.0

    GET http://www.slushfactory.com/takeoverAd.html?http:/ /www.slushfactory.com/content/EpuFukEpAFFjrIoYJF.p hp HTTP/1.0

    GET http://mediamgr.ugo.com/html.ng/size=300x250&affil iate=slushfactory&channel=filmtv&subchannel=alsopl aying&Network=affiliates&rating=pg13 HTTP/1.0

    Under Internet Explorer, it didn't appear to loop, but stuck at the takeoverAd.html page.

    So I never saw the great creative efforts of these idiots, because they were more concerned about "managing" my web experience, sticking a cookie on my machine, or -- if takeoverAd is wahta I suspect it is -- capturing me on a "sticky" page where each time I hit the back button, I get a page that redirects me forward.

    This problem isn't limted to these Picassos of comix art: I visted BMG.com today, on a tip from a friend, thinking I might buy a $160.00 set of Gilbert & Sullivan DVDs. The page looks lovely, dark and artsy, but there's no indication of home to search it or use it in any way -- unless it's via javascript and cookies, which I block. Net result: no $160.00 sale, BMG. But your site sure is cute.

    I also spent over thirty minutes searching Verizon's site, trying to find tech support's number. Naturally, Verizon is too cool to actually list phone numbers; no, instead there are drop down lists, javascript and cgi and cookies -- again, I had to imcommodate myself to continue in a customer relationship I already have with Verizon. I am noe considering my otyer ISP options.

    Beware being so cool nobody can understand you, or figure out how to tell you you're being an ass.

    --
    Opinions on the Twiddler2 hand-held keyboard?
  6. A solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Yup. /. sure has been running a lot of stupid articles lately. I guess we can no longer trust the slashdot editors to submit links to good articles, especially on slow news days.

    I have an idea that I think will solve this problem. Why don't we let the moderators rate the article. The average rating (e.g., a number between 1 and 10) will get displayed on the main page next to the article. If the article rating drops below a certain level, the article automatically get deleted (or perhaps moved onto a "these articles suck" page).

  7. Re:What I've always wondered... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    How is this "Funny" while the very similar (albeit less creative) comment above is "Flamebait"?

    I'll never understand moderators...till I am one, I suppose. Maybe not even then.