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Atari 2600 Excellence Awards Announced

Posted by simoniker on from the this-is-not-1982 dept.

Thanks to AtariAge for its 2003 Stan's Atari Excellence Awards, commemorating "fascinating advancements in Homebrews, Hacks, Programming Technology, [and] Hardware" for the Atari 2600 in the last year. Highlights include Hack Of The Years for Adventure Plus ("an incredible example of taking a game you know by heart and giving it new life"), and Homebrew Of The Year for Star Fire ("an exceptional port that actually improves on its classic predecessor.")

3 of 19 comments (clear)

  1. NES equivilent? by BTWR · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Now, don't get me wrong... I respect Atari, insomuch as perhaps without them we might not have the home videogame industry we have today. However, I have never enjoyed Atari as a fun system, personally. I've never been one for pretty graphics, but I remember even as a 3 year old in the 80s thinking the games were slow and ugly. For me, the first awesome system was the NES.

    Is there an equivilent hacking/programming culture for the NES? That'd rule big time. I once saw an NES hack of Zelda, to create a sort of "third quest" but that's basically it. Anyone know of more?

  2. For the Nostalgia-Challenged... by shadowcabbit · · Score: 2, Interesting

    For those of us either too young to have played the Atari 2600's classic library or for those who just never got around to it, might I suggest picking up either a collection disc or one of those joystick-that-plugs-into-the-tv collections? Myself, I'm looking forward to the Paddle collection (as, AFAIK, no similar controller exists for a modern machine, so a collection disc would be kind of pointless).

    Of course, emulation is always an option, too.

    --
    "Why Subscribe?" Good question...
  3. Actually(+) by Mycroft_514 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Years ago, I hacked the hardware for 4 Atari Paddles to run off the IBM PC Joystick port. (the 15 pin one).

    Add a 15 pin to USB adapter (I think Radio Shack sells them) and there you go.

    I only needed 3 plugs and some wire to make the converter. I did write a test program and it worked, but never got around to doing any games. I wrote up the pin outs and released them years ago on my then BBS.