Retrogaming Times July 2008 Issue Available
Issue #50 of the Retrogaming Times Monthly is now online. Highlights from the July 2008 issue include:
* Apple ][ Incider - Breaking Out
* NES'cade - Jackal
* Game Archeologist
* Who'd Win - Star Wars vs Star Trek
* Old Wine in New Bottles: SNK Arcade Classics 1
* Fun Arcade Games That Never Made it to My Arcade
* Real Life Games
You can find all these and more inside the Retrogaming Times Monthly, now running 130 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/
Suska IP-core v.2K8A available
We reported about a week ago that a test version of the Suska core software was about to be released. Now it has been uploaded to the projects website, where you can also read more about this very interesting project.
Read the development blog http://www.experiment-s.de/en/blog or go to the download section http://download.experiment-s.de/Suska-III%20Classic/Configware/
From: http://www.atari-users.net/
Another new Lynx owner
So my family went on a little trip to the Mall of America yesterday, and in a little classic game booth I saw a CIB Atari Lynx II. I'm not sure if it is cause of Minnesotans hoarding all of them, or maybe I don't get out a whole lot, but I don't ever see any Lynx anywhere other than on Ebay. I saw that it was selling for $39, and I wasn't entirely sure if that was reasonable or not, so I passed.
So that day my family spent an enjoyable day at the mall (father of 2 young girls) and at the end of the day, I was thinking about the Lynx. If it has a pack in game, I figured I'd pick it up. So we pass on by the booth, and I ask the guy if a game was included in the box. He replied with a no. Disappointed, I start walking back to my family. The guy then shouts, "I could include one for ya though!"
He had a small collection of games, and I didn't want to waste his time, so I chose the game that I figured was the most popular title, California Games. It had a $10 sticker on it, but it was ignored. He told me that the system was brand new, and he wasn't sure why there were used stickers on the box. It truly is in fantastic condition. It was still wrapped in the cellophane, and the instruction booklet and warranty is still sealed in the plastic. The box is in good shape minus the stickers on in that say used, but besides that its in perfect condition.
It plays really well, and has a very bright backlit screen. I know with more playing I'm gonna really enjoy California Games (probably one of my favorite 2600 titles also). I never really see anything here in central MN for the Lynx, but now if I see a game here or there I can pick it up and enjoy more handheld Atari goodness!!
After reading some of the other deals, I'm not entirely sure mine is as spectacular, but I'm still quite happy.
Link: http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=128945
Question about the 7800
I just picked up a 7800 from Digital Press in Clifton. I got a console with an expansion port. My question is that I heard that whether a 7800 is fully backward compatible has to do with whether or not it has an expansion port.
Is my 7800 fully backward compatible?
Also, if it helps, it has a rectangular box around the serial number. I heard that has something to do with it too.
Link: http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=128907
Space Invaders 7800 Reservations
I decided to put this here, being the the 'homebrew' part was complete.
Being that the AA Store is temporarily down, I decided I would make a short run of 10 carts (NTSC only, as I don't have a way of testing PAL). Please let me know via PM if you would like one and I will put you down for a copy.
No money yet, but they will be $25 + shipping. I will be using USPS, so it shouldn't be more than a couple dollars, unless you are not in the U.S.A...
Link: http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=129002
JAKKS Pacific Dupes Wii for Under $100
Tired of searching for a Wii? Desperate times call for a cheap knockoff—and JAKKS Pacific wants to be that knockoff.
The company recently announced the UltiMotion Swing Zone, a stand-alone gaming system that delivers all of the motion that you’d find while playing a Wii—for about one-third of the price.
There’s no standard console needed; just plug a little receiver into your TV’s A/V jacks, sort of like those handheld 10-in-1 Atari games that came out a while back. The unit also includes themed snap-on toys for each game. Snap the wireless controller into each piece, and you’ll feel like you are bowling, hitting a home run, playing tennis, throwing the football or swinging a golf club.
Of course, it doesn’t provide the endless entertainment of the Wii, but it doesn’t provide the endless spending either. The self-contained game uses a wireless accelerometer to recreate five sports games, which is probably all your kids really need anyway.
JAKKS UltiMotion Swing Zone is available now for $80. Expect Disney-themed games to come to the UltiMotion this fall.
Link: http://www.electronichouse.com/article/jakks_pacific_dupes_wii_for_...
Legendary band Front 242 to play live at the Alternative Party
Rumours have been doing the rounds for months, but now I can finally confirm that yes, the talk has been true. One of the largest pioneers of industrial and electronic music, Front 242, is to appear live at the next Alternative Party, fulfilling a dream that we have had for many years. Starting with their first recordings in 1981 Front 242 brought a whole new harsh, meaty and beaty approach to electronic music with many hit tracks such as Tragedy For You, Religion and the all-time #1 club hit, Headhunter.
Front 242 has a big impact on scene music, influencing many musicians along the years. The most obvious examples on the ST are the demos 'Punish Your Machine' (takes its name from one of their tracks) and the famous 'Grotesque' by Omega, which remixed a 242 track and used a lot of their visuals.
Interestingly enough 242 has not been aware of the demoscene, even though their live visuals are full of demo style effects. This will, however, be the first time that they will experience the heated competition, visuals and buzz that are prevalent at parties. Yes, they are going to be staying for the whole party to watch the compos as well as playing their full live set on Friday, so demo crews better release some hot material! They will also be giving a speech on music and art on Saturday.
This is the 10th anniversary of the Alternative Party and we have reserved the biggest, coolest hall we could find. Two floors, industrial architecture (an old Nokia cable factory), lounges, seminars, prizes and of course 242 and other special guests. The theme of the party is to look back at the dawn of the computing age, when Charles Babbage was designing his first steam-powered computer systems, with the help of the world's first programmer, Lady Ada.
We have been working months to finalise this deal and I can honestly say there's never been such a big band playing at a demo party before. It is going to kick rear ends like nothing has done before.
The party starts on October 24th and continues to the 26th.
Link: http://www.altparty.org/
From: http://www.atari.org/
emuControlCenter 0.9.8 released!
emuControlCenter is an emulator and rom start center for more than 100 retro and nextgen arcade, console, handheld and computer systems. You can now download the latest stable release of emuControlCenter! The new version include 7Zip and Zip autounpack and a completely new eccScript rework, including Daemon Tools auto-mount support.
emuControlCenter also now supports 135 arcade, computer, console and handheld systems!
Link: http://www.camya.com/
From: http://classicgaming.gamespy.com/
NeXT are back with 16 years old GFA Basic demo
Snippet from the readme file:
This demo was started around 1991 while my group was trying to finish out giga demo, the Phaleon Demo. Since I did all the tools used to make the Phaleon using GFA Basic, I had a pretty good idea of how to write some decent code. Now well, university, beer, and other factors comploted to make sure the demo would never be finished.
So in 1992 it was abandonned.
And in 2008 I finally managed to find the various floppies and hard-drive backups containing parts of what should have been a 10 minute long something demo with partial fullscreens, etc...
Download 'Forgotten Bits' by NeXT http://files.dhs.nu/files_demo/frgtnbts.zip
Pouet.Net page http://pouet.net/prod.php?which=51032
From: http://www.dhs.nu/
Atari 2600 totally sucks but is also completely awesome
Was visiting my parents last week and found the ol' 2600. Been literally 20 years since it's seen the light of day. It was all there. I needed to pull out the tools to get the old hookup box to work on a post-Reagan-era TV but once that was fixed it worked like a charm.
Okay, so, the games: wow, they suck. The ones I have that are still playable and enjoyable are Combat, River Raid, Berzerk, Atlantis, and of course Pitfall. Both Pitfall and Berzerk I was surprised to find completely playable for hours on end. Atlantis was just ok and Combat was fun with another player but in terms of the graphics is literally a joke. But I also have Pole Position, Enduro, E.T. (mother of God that game is awful), and some others that are just intolerable. Awful games. Boring and unimaginative and ugly. I guess back then when it was the closet thing to a home arcade system we took what we could get. And the joystick is painful to use for more than about 5 minutes. I had wrist cramps from playing Pitfall. When I started to lose feeling in my pinky I had to play the next game running the other direction. But all this being said, the nostalgia factor is off the chart. The woodgrain finish on the console, the old slider switches, the crude crunch when you slide a cart in there. Awesome.
It's nice to have my original console from my youth. But honestly between my cab and my Xbox360 I can't imagine ever playing this thing except maybe once every other month just for kicks.
Link: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=82671.msg862702#msg...
