Nordic Atari Show 2008
Mr.Future writes: Nordic Atari Show 2008 :: Reminder
Just a last minute notice to remind you of this year's NAS! The Swedish Atari Club's annual meeting will take place in the central parts of Gothenburg/Sweden this weekend with start on friday at 15:00.
For last minute information, check out our homepage!
Link: http://www.sak.nu/
From: http://www.dhs.nu/
Leonardo DiCaprio is Nolan Bushnell in Atari
Leonardo DiCaprio has signed on to star as Nolan Bushnell in Atari, a biopic about “the founding father of electronic gaming”, who was the inventor of Pong and founder of Atari.
Screenwriters Brian Hecker (Tribeca short film Bart Got a Room) and Craig Sherman (Pop Warner’s biopic) sold the pitch to Paramount on Friday, and DiCaprio’s production company Appian Way will produce. Hecker and Sherman told THR that they hope to play with elements from Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and Tucker.
Bushnell was an engineering student who went from fixing broken pinball machines to launching the Atari Corporation in 1972 (a reference to a check-like position in Go, one of Nolan’s favorite games) where he created Pong, which is often regarded as the world’s first video arcade game (which is actually untrue, as Computer Space launched a year earlier). A home version was released in 1974 and took the world by storm. Nolan sold the company to Warner Communications for a mere $28 million, to get the capital to release the Atari 2600, credited with popularizing the use cartridge based console video game systems. By 1979, the 2600 was the best-selling Christmas gift. By 1983, the company had sold over 8 million units. Nolan also created Chuck E. Cheese’s Pizza Time Theatre (later known as just Chuck E. Cheese).
Having grown up a kid of the 1980’s, I have a huge amount of respect for Nolan Bushnell. That said, I’m not sure if his story is worth telling on the big screen. It seems more of a Pirates of Silicon Valley type of story. And I’m not knocking Pirates, it’s considered a cult classic among tech geeks, but there is a reason that that movie was made for television. And with over 20 projects in some form of development, as producer or star, I’m not sure DiCaprio will ever find enough time to clear his plate to do this film.
Among his other films in development, DiCaprio is also attached to play felon Jordan Belfort in Warner Bros’ The Wolf of Wall Street and James Bond creator Ian Fleming in Fleming. The actor/producer has taken on many real life roles over the years including author Tobias Wolff, poets Jim Carroll and Arthur Rimbaud, counterfeiter Frank Abagnale Jr. and aviator Howard Hughes.
Link: http://www.slashfilm.com/2008/06/06/leonardo-dicaprio-is-nolan-bush...
Retrogaming Times Monthly #49 Published
Issue #49 of the Retrogaming Times Monthly is now online. Highlights from the June 2008 issue include:
* Apple ][ Incider - Karateka II
* NES'cade - Kung Fu
* Game Archeologist
* Who'd Win - Battlezone vs. Robot Tank
* Old Wine in New Bottles: Retrogaming on Modern Hardware
You can find all these and more inside the Retrogaming Times Monthly, now running 129 months in a row! If you've missed any back issues, you can also look through their complete archives to get up to date.
Link: http://my.stratos.net/~hewston95/RTM/RTM_Home.htm
From: http://www.atariage.com/
Gloky releases unfinished screens
Gloky of MJJ Prod writes: here is some lame fx i made. i'm sorry but i am too lazy to make a full demo out of this. it's gloky08 screens as usual. i'm too old to finish and mix all these screens. i will study at university so i don't have the time i'm sorry.
Link: http://files.dhs.nu/files_demo/scr08.zip
From: http://www.dhs.nu/
CCAG Fall 2008 Show Announced
The CCAG Fall 2008 Show is Coming!
Since the Spring 2008 Show was a smashing success CCAG has decided to hold a second show for 2008!
Buy, sell, trade, play, and see classic video games, computers, peripherals, memorabilia, and more at the Classic Computing and Gaming Show (CCAG) on October 12, 2008 at the American Legion Hall--Clifton Post, 22001 Brookpark Rd, Fairview Park, OH. Vendors, clubs, and collectors will be displaying and selling their retrogaming and retrocomputing goods, from Pong and Atari to Nintendo, Apple and IBM to Commodore and everything in between with many set up for you to play with and explore. We have 4000+ square feet of space. Help us fill it all up!
Link: http://www.ccagshow.com/
From: http://www.atari.org/
Rubbish videogame endings
It's the mid-80s. I've spent many a tense hour in front of my ZX Spectrum, repeatedly playing Stop the Express. Using all the skill and dexterity I can muster from my youthful fingers, I navigate my blonde, spiky-haired character across the top of a moving train, ducking under some overhead power lines and avoiding some oddly coiffeured red men. Then, I manage to get inside the train itself, where I jump up and grab hold of some ring things to avoid more red men and some odd bog-eyed creatures.
Suddenly, I've done it. I've made it to the end. I'm elated. I wonder, with fists clenched with excitement, what visual treat will I be given for completing it? Some words. Three of them, to be exact: “Congraturation! You Sucsess!” I sit for a moment, my mouth slack with shock and disappointment. Three words, and two of them weren't even spelled correctly. Then the game starts again from the beginning, and I reach for the reset button.
This scenario played itself out repeatedly throughout the 80s: I fought through five levels of bare-knuckle violence in Renegade to watch my rock-hard avatar get a peck on the cheek from his pixelated girlfriend; I hacked off limbs and chopped off heads in Barbarian, and was rewarded with a static graphic of a woman in a bikini sitting at my muscle bound warrior's feet. Thrilling.
Fast forward to 2008, and I've finally completed Bioshock (yes, I know it came out last year, but at least I got there in the end), and that same feeling of gloom I got from all those games back in the eighties comes welling up again - after several hours of play time, I'm confronted with a brief and largely forgettable cut-scene that features a lot of hand holding. From a game that revelled in stark, disturbing imagery, it was a terrible disappointment. Interestingly, even Bioshock's creator Ken Levine agreed, even stating in a recent interview that his ending was something of an anticlimax.
It was sort of understandable, given the technical limitations of the time, that an 80s game like Stop the Express or Manic Miner couldn't end with a dramatic or awe-inspiring FMV sequence, but these days there's simply no excuse for a rushed - or practically non-existent, in the case of Half Life 2 - denouement. And yet it seems that genuinely satisfying or surprising game endings are the exception rather than the rule.
Link: http://www.denofgeek.com/captainsblog/66133/the_ryan_lambie_column_...
From: http://classicgaming.gamespy.com/
DiggerTees retro-inspired parody T-Shirts!
DiggerTees.com have gotten in touch to let us know about a new range of sophisticated and classy t-shirt designs based on retro-game packaging designs! Telling us: These new designs faithfully recreate the look and feel of Activision's distinctive game packaging during the Atari 2600 era.
Link: http://www.diggertees.com/
From: http://classicgaming.gamespy.com/
Atari 7800 Portable
Ben Heck writes: I thought about doing one of these years ago, right after my first Atari 2600 portable actually, but after taking a look at the motherboard (which is a lot more complex than the Atari 2600’s) I got cold feet.
My feet are much warmer now and thus here is an Atari 7800 portable I’ve done by request. For some reason I am just not that intimidated by “complex looking” electronics anymore, I don’t know why! The 7800 motherboard is a bit larger than the 2600, thus the unit is larger, but I slapped on a bigger 7? widescreen to make up for it.
Link: http://benheck.com/06-18-2008/atari-7800-portable
Five Atari Games that Failed the Test of Time
Hello again, Gamebits readers! Last week, Hiphopguy23 presented to you five Atari 2600 games that stood the test of time. Here now is the flipside of that list: five Atari 2600 games that now stink.
5) Combat — Play this game only for nostalgia purposes. The tanks move so slowly and are frustratingly difficult to maneuver. When you do finally hit your opponent, it will feel like an act of luck more than an act of skill. Not to mention that you can often times kill you opponent "multiple" times by repeatedly hitting fire after hitting them once. No fun.
4) Raiders of the Lost Ark — Hiphopguy23 is just as excited as the next child of the Eighties to see Indiana Jones in his latest movie! However, this game did not bring the thrill back. Atari was notoriously bad at creating puzzle games (remember the awful Swordquest series?). This game is no exception. Even with the manual, you end up stumbling around confused at what Indy is supposed to do. You could look online for the solution, but then what's the point in playing? Also of note, the ending is highly unsatisfying.
3) Pole Position — First of all, Atari made a poor decision to use the joystick for this when it would have played better with the paddle. Second, two players can not race side by side which spoils the thrill. Also, the graphics are terrible; the racecar looks like a blob of pixels. The track is repetitive, there is hardly any replay value. This game is just a complete mess. Hiphopguy23 much prefers Night Driver, even though that game is not much fun either.
2) Pac-Man — Ugh. Atari really dropped the ball with this abomination. The game play is sluggish and the controls are weak. There is only one screen to navigate, resulting in boredom after a few plays. The four ghosts have no distinct personalities. Hiphopguy23 has even gotten stuck in a looping bug while playing. Atari only got a touch better with Ms. Pac-Man. If you really want the Pac-Man experience, Hiphopguy23 highly recommends Pac-Man Jr. Pac-Man Jr. is everything Pac-Man was supposed to be: slick controls, rapid play, multiple screens, and ghosts with different personalities. Highest recommendation for Pac-Man Jr.
1) Donkey Kong — Hiphopguy23 was thrilled to pick up this title after seeing King of Kong. Sadly, the Atari port was a total disaster. There are only two levels. On the first, which is the iconic girders and ladders with barrels coming at you, the pace is slow and the joystick controls are oftentimes unresponsive, resulting in many frustrating moments. When you defeat this screen, which is more relief than exhilaration, you are presented with the second screen, which is hard to describe. There are more girders and you must run until the floor drops out, while being chased by what look like ducks. This screen is easy to beat by following a boring pattern. Then you are back to the original frustrating screen again. If the arcade version were based bad, Steve Wiebe would have given up on day one.
Well, that's all! Quite the trip down memory lane. Here's till the next time that Ken allows Hiphopguy23 to come back! Happy gaming!
Link: http://www.gamebits.net/2008/06/17/five-atari-games-that-failed-the...
Atari Sues Over Review?
Claiming that German website 4Players reviewed a pirated or incomplete version of Alone in the Dark, Atari has reportedly filed a lawsuit.
Atari has apparently claimed that the date of 4Players review--which gave the 360 version of the survival-horror title 68%--implies it came from an illicit or incomplete copy of Alone in the Dark. They are asking for an undisclosed amount of compensation. 4Players says they acquired the game through a retail connection.
We wonder how a relatively solid review of a game (68% is hardly a bomb) could be said to affect anything enough to warrant a lawsuit, but we're really looking forward to this game, either way!
The PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360 and Wii editions of Alone in the Dark hits North American retailers on June 24. A PlayStation 3 version is expected this fall.
Link: http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/686420/Atari_Sues_Over_Review...
