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Namco Classics Hit TV Game Form
Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to the new Namco Classics 5-In-1 TV Game, which has just shipped to U.S. stores, and is the latest in a line of officially licensed joysticks with built-in games from Jakks that include the Atari 10-In-1 and the Activision 10-In-1, with a separately-manufactured Intellivision 10/25-In-1 also available. The built-in games for Namco's "blast from the past" are Pac-Man, Dig Dug, Galaxian, Rally-X, and Bosconian. No word yet on whether games have been altered in conversion, as purists have claimed for the Atari TV Game, but casual gamers should still dig it.
That emulation of old consoles' games isnt as "harmless" as we all would like.
And yes, I emulate too, and know personally somebody who built a "Donkey Kong mame box of 5000 roms, and wiring in F5 to the change slot (MAME's enter change key).
And a beef with the devices: They look like that wont be able to stand a lick of abuse. The old atari stuff would take a world of pain before giving out. Now you must buy the whole thing again for a new stick.
This would be pretty cool, if only they hadn't already released these same five or so games on every system imaginable.
"When all else fails, there's always delusion." -Conan O'Brien
At first I was not sure, but I am now a big fan of these TV games. I witnessed my father playing video games for the first time since he owned an Atari back in the early 80's during the last holiday season.
I'm, no doubt, going to pick this up for him and I'm sure he'll love it. It's amazing to see that most individuals pick up games fairly quickly, no matter what demographic. I think the true "bottleneck" in games usability is due to the "hook up" and up front hardware cost commitment involved.
Of course the hardcores are going to get upset when they see something like this. I would be pretty upset myself if I spent much of my time and money tracking down rare and used games just in time to find a solution which simply plugs into your TV for 19.95.
How do you develop a feel for wanting to play those geeky, blocky, 80's games? By having played them in the first place. You're not going to know Dig Dug or Bosconian if you weren't a pretty hardcore gamer some time along the way.
Now, don't get me wrong - this is cool, in a very geeky kind of way. It just sounds like it would best sell to the core gamers, rather than the casual ones like the poster suggests.
Of course, if you're really hardcore, you're already playing these on the original hardware, or at least a cycle-accurate emulator...
Jouni
Jouni Mannonen | Game Designer, Consultant
i saw a review for thoes joysticks on techtv
you plug in a few cords to the back of the tv and use AA BATTERIES AS POWER SOURCE.
sorry but im not gona fork out the cash for thoes queer little sticks and a constant flow of batteries when i can download it from my computer for free
...if only they had shaped them like the original controllers for the respective systems. Part of the challenge was the crappy controller design on the Intellivision, and you can't beat the 2600 joysticks for 2600 games.
640 bytes of RAM, 80K Program ROM, 44K Video ROM.
I had a time machine to show this to everyone back in 1985. "He plays 'Dig Dug' with only the controller! Surely he must be some sort of God!"
here's my mini-review: it has only 5 games on it: pacman, galaxian, Rally X, Dig Dug, and Bosconian. I've only ever played the original versions of first four, but I can honestly say that they are pretty well done ports of the original arcade source material. while the atari stick was slightly buggy, this version is MUCH more stable (haven't yet encountered any glitches as bad as some of the atari's). one thing: sound is a tiny bit tinny, and the colors of the pacman ghosts don't seem quite as vibrant as I remember. minor details, however. only other complaint is that the control stick itself is a little bit 'floaty' all in all: a definite must if you're an old-school arcade geek, or a just plain old geek. :-)