Joystiq

Documentary filmmakers to excavate infamous Atari E.T. landfill

Danny Cowan — Fri, 31 May 2013 19:00:00 EST

A planned excavation will soon give closure to a long-standing video game urban legend, and may provide new insight into the industry's crash in 1983.

Canada-based film production company Fuel Industries has obtained permission from the City Commission of Alamogordo, New Mexico to excavate a landfill containing a large quantity of unsold Atari 2600 games, for the purpose of filming a documentary. Local news outlet KRQE reports that Fuel Industries will have access to the site over the next six months.

According to reports in 1983, between 10 and 20 semi-trailer trucks filled with unsold, inoperable, and prototype Atari hardware and software were dispatched from an El Paso, Texas storehouse to a landfill in Alamogordo. The cargo was reportedly dumped, crushed, and encased in concrete.

Urban legends state that the film-licensed game E.T. comprised a significant chunk of the dumped material. While E.T.'s gameplay quality is up for debate (some say it's one of the worst games of all time; others claim that it's a misunderstood mediocrity), it was a notoriously poor seller, and played a role in Atari, Inc.'s decision to close and split its assets in 1984.

Given the layers of concrete involved, the excavators have a lot of work ahead of them. Recovering these cartridges - or anything recognizable, really - is going to require a lot more than a roadtrip and some shovels.

Documentary filmmakers to excavate infamous Atari E.T. landfill originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 31 May 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Complete Air Raid fetches over $33k, priciest Atari 2600 sale ever

Sinan Kubba — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 23:59:00 EST

The world's only complete, in-box copy of Air Raid was auctioned yesterday for $33,433.30, the highest ever sale for an Atari 2600 game. The figure is nearly two grand more than the previous record held by the same game, which went for $31,600 in 2010. This copy is worth more because it also includes the manual, making it complete. It overtook the record when an 11th hour bid almost doubled the previous asking price.

This incredibly rare game goes for crazy money even without its box, with the number of known copies barely into double figures. It's so obscure that only the box clearly verifies the game's developer and official title.

The seller's story is remarkable too. Working in the video game department of a drug store in the 80s, he was given Air Raid to sell by a visiting rep. After trying it out at home, the seller decided it wasn't good enough for the store and told the rep to take it back. The rep (forehead-slapping-moment imminent) told him to keep it anyway. Nearly three decades later, the rest is $33,433.30 worth of history.

Complete Air Raid fetches over $33k, priciest Atari 2600 sale ever originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 05 Nov 2012 23:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rare Atari 2600 game, Red Sea Crossing, pops up in Philly shop

Jessica Conditt — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 21:30:00 EST

Red Sea Crossing is one of the rarest Atari games in existence. According to legend, the developer, Steve Schustack, made 100 copies in 1983 and promptly lost track of where they went or what happened to them. Until now, there was just one known, unauthenticated copy of the game on this planet, and after years of hoarding it the owner recently decided to auction it off on Ebay, on August 22.

Yesterday, another copy of Red Sea Crossing turned up at Medium Bob's Curiosity Shop in Philadelphia. The boys at Medium Bob's have since recorded themselves playing the game, providing proof of its functionality, which is more than the owner of the original copy has done. The owner of the first copy has since postponed his auction and made offerings to the drama llama over on the AtariAge forums.

Medium Bob's is accepting offers on its copy of Red Sea Crossing, but doesn't yet have a plan for proceeding with the sale. It will post details on its Facebook page once it decides a course of action, but for now "the game is buried deep in a vault somewhere near the Earth's core."

Rare Atari 2600 game, Red Sea Crossing, pops up in Philly shop originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 21 Aug 2012 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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cTrix's gATARI2600 chiptune "guitar"

Jordan Mallory — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 11:00:00 EST

The chiptune music scene is known for its creative use of antiquated gaming hardware, and you'd be hard pressed to find a better example of "antiquated" than 1977's Atari 2600. Through a clever mix of custom software, handmade cartridges and three Boss stomp boxes, chiptune artist/modder cTrix has created the gATARI2600, an instrument as massive as it is massively impressive.

Check out the video above for cTrix's explanation of the device's components, as well as footage of the monstrosity (the instrument, not cTrix) in action at Blip Fest 2011. Personally, we're still holding out for an Intellivision viola.

cTrix's gATARI2600 chiptune "guitar" originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 01 Jan 2012 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Game console pioneer Jerry Lawson dies at 70

James Ransom-Wiley — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 20:58:00 EST

Gerald A. "Jerry" Lawson is one of the great unknown pioneers of the video game industry. He passed away this past Saturday morning of unspecified causes, according to an announcement on Digital Press.

Lawson will be remembered as the engineer of the first cartridge-based game console (with a pause option!), the Fairchild Channel F, which launched in August 1976 as the Video Entertainment System (VES). He was also the only black member of the legendary Homebrew Computer Club, formed in Silicon Valley in the mid-70s.

In the early 1980s he founded and ran Videosoft, which developed a handful of games for the Atari 2600. Additionally, Lawson's Demolition Derby was one of the first coin-op arcade machines, produced in his garage in the early '70s and installed in a southern California pizzeria shortly after Pong debuted. One of its key design features prevented players from stealing "free" games by jiggling the coin switch.

Just last month, Lawson was honored during the 7th Annual IGDA Minority Special Interest Group Social Gathering at GDC. Shortly before the event, he was profiled by the San Jose Mercury News. More about his life is revealed in a 2009 interview with Vintage Computing and Gaming.

[Photo credit: Maria J Avila Lopez/Mercury News]

Game console pioneer Jerry Lawson dies at 70 originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 11 Apr 2011 20:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Xbox 360 plus Atari 2600 equals Ben Heck's latest mod (also 2,960)

Griffin McElroy — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 22:30:00 EST

While not his most practical modification to date, Ben Heck has created one of his most unique consoles yet. Check out Heck's Frankensteinian mash-up of the Xbox 360 and Atari 2600 in the hefty, 23-minute-long video posted here.

Continue reading Xbox 360 plus Atari 2600 equals Ben Heck's latest mod (also 2,960)

Xbox 360 plus Atari 2600 equals Ben Heck's latest mod (also 2,960) originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 22 Mar 2011 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Retro consoles torn apart, ancient innards exposed

Richard Mitchell — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 21:30:00 EST

Filed under: Weird But True, Opinions, New In Pop Culture

If you want to see just how far game consoles have come over the last few decades, check out iFixit's teardown of the Atari 2600. As you can see, there's not much to onetime king of home entertainment. Just look at how complex an iPhone 4 is in comparison! The Atari teardown was part of a full week of retro console deconstructions, including the Famicom, Magnavox Odyssey and even the Virtual Boy. Check them out for yourself -- if you think you can handle all that naked, aging PCB.

Retro consoles torn apart, ancient innards exposed originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 08 Sep 2010 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Atari mines its 2600 catalog for 'Atari's Greatest Hits: Volume 1' on DS

JC Fletcher — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 14:00:00 EST

Filed under: Weird But True, Opinions, New In Pop Culture

Atari released a collection of classic games on DS way back in 2005. The publisher has announced a second DS collection of 2600 classics -- this time, without any "remixing." Atari's Greatest Hits: Volume 1, out this November, is a compilation of fifty Atari 2600 and arcade games, ranging from the legendary (Centipede, Tempest) to the somewhat obscure (the Swordquest series, Human Cannonball) to Math Gran Prix (Math Gran Prix).

Twenty of the titles (including Pong, Space Duel, and Outlaw) will have single-card multiplayer for up to four, which makes sense given how little data would need to be transmitted to send the whole game ROM out over wireless. Check out the full game list and a trailer after the break. Something tells us that the footage in the trailer isn't authentic DS gameplay. Something like the fact that the screen images are wider than actual DS screens and aligned incorrectly.

This is great news for retro gaming enthusiasts -- except for the ones releasing Intellivision Lives!, who we imagine didn't expect to be competing with the 2600 again.

Continue reading Atari mines its 2600 catalog for 'Atari's Greatest Hits: Volume 1' on DS

Atari mines its 2600 catalog for 'Atari's Greatest Hits: Volume 1' on DS originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 25 Aug 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Centipede crawls out of latest Game Room update

Richard Mitchell — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 22:00:00 EST

Filed under: Weird But True, Opinions, New In Pop Culture

Some good news for patient Game Room fans today, as Game Pack 008 has been released -- and Centipede along with it. Joining Atari's classic segmented shooter are three other Atari 2600 titles: 3-D Tic-Tac-Toe, Beamrider and Cosmic Commuter; in addition to Intellivision's Thin Ice. As usual with Game Room updates, the remainder of Game Pack 008, which includes six more Atari 2600 games and four more Intellivision titles, will be released over the coming weeks.

Xbox.com: Add Game Pack 008 to your Xbox 360 download queue (free to install)

Centipede crawls out of latest Game Room update originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 04 Aug 2010 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Promise you'll play Halo 2600 (that's a covenant we can get behind)

Ben Gilbert — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 19:30:00 EST

Filed under: Weird But True, Opinions, New In Pop Culture

Have you ever wondered what Master Chief's intergalactic adventures would look like if rendered by an Atari 2600? Neither have we -- and now that the folks over at Extra Guy have shared their find of "Halo 2600," we don't have to. Bizarrely, ex-Microsoft VP of game publishing Ed Fries is credited on the game's cover as the creator (as seen on the game's Facebook page).

Halo 2600 was playable at the Classic Gaming Expo in Las Vegas, which came to an end today. Sure, it's playable online right now, but apparently we missed out on 500 real-life Atari 2600 cartridges containing the game (check out a photo of them all lined up). How's that for a limited edition?

[Thanks, Anthony!]

Promise you'll play Halo 2600 (that's a covenant we can get behind) originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 01 Aug 2010 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Game Room 'Game Pack 007' now available

David Hinkle — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: Weird But True, Opinions, New In Pop Culture

The 007 update for Microsoft's Game Room is available for download right now, and will enable 15 new games in total: three Konami Arcade games; nine Atari 2600 games; three Intellivision titles and zero James Bond games. However, not all of the games are available right now -- the Game Room Facebook account lists the first five, and a message posted further down the thread notes that the rest will trickle out over "multiple weeks." Here's what's available as of right now:

Barnstorming
Fishing Derby
Gyruss
Hover Force
Quadrun

We'll update you on the rest of the games as they're made available.

Game Room 'Game Pack 007' now available originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 14 Jul 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Game Room adds Asteroids, Time Pilot and more

Richard Mitchell — Wed, 19 May 2010 18:45:00 EST

Game Pack 004 is now available for Game Room, featuring seven new titles. The two standouts are Asteroids and Time Pilot, classics of the arcade days of yore. Also in the pack are a handful of Activision Atari 2600 games, including Stampede, Grand Prix and Demons to Diamonds. Rounding out the pack is the arcade game Space Duel and the Intellivision title Shark! Shark!. The pack itself is free, while individual games run 240 ($3) to 400 ($5) depending on the license.

Xbox.com: Add Game Room Game Pack 004 to your Xbox 360 download queue

Game Room adds Asteroids, Time Pilot and more originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 19 May 2010 18:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Auctioned Atari game may be rarer than Stadium Events

JC Fletcher — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 17:46:00 EST

With all the attention over boxed copies of the NES game Stadium Events, this eBay auction for a boxed copy of the Atari 2600 game Air Raid seems even more noteworthy than it might otherwise ... not that it needs any help. Already considered one of the hardest-to-find 2600 games, a boxed copy of the game has never been found. Until now.

AtariAge forum member Tanner claims to be the original owner of this copy of Air Raid, even offering specifics of the location and date of its purchase. For the last couple of decades, it's been quietly hanging out in his garage, being awesome. After reading an article on CNN, he realized what he had and put the cartridge on eBay; later, when he found the box, he cancelled the original auction and relisted it. It's currently going for $6,500.

Even if you don't plan to bid on Air Raid, you should really look through the auction images. The box, with the rainbow logo of its publisher "Men-A-Vision" and its thrilling back-of-the-box text, is entirely worth seeing. "Can you save Manhattan from your loan command post?"

[Via GameSetWatch]

Auctioned Atari game may be rarer than Stadium Events originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 02 Apr 2010 17:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mega Man demo released for Atari 2600

JC Fletcher — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:00:00 EST

If Mega Man 9 isn't retro enough for you, you might enjoy the enormous, jagged pixels found in the Atari 2600 demo version of Mega Man created for 2007's I Am 8-Bit show. David Galloway has finally released the demo on Atari Age's forum, which means that you can download the game and play it on an Atari 2600 emulator right now.

The brief demo is an impressively faithful translation of the NES game's mechanics, with Mega Man running, jumping and shooting just as you'd expect (though shooting is mapped to down on the joystick, because the 2600 only has one button). The demake ends at the Elec Man fight, which is even harder in this version than it is in the original. A playthrough of the entire demo follows after the break.

[Via GameSetWatch]

Continue reading Mega Man demo released for Atari 2600

Mega Man demo released for Atari 2600 originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How to make Atari games look better by making them look worse

JC Fletcher — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 09:03:00 EST

You might find it comical that someone's concerned with the graphical presentation of emulated Atari games -- after all, they're pretty much beyond help, right? It might be even more amusing to think that emulation (and modern TV technology) makes Atari games look too good. But it's true! Atari VCS games running in Stella or other emulators don't look like they look on a CRT, and artificial scanlines alone don't make for an authentic presentation.

Ian Bogost presented the challenge to a team of Georgia Tech computer science students, who then modified Stella to simulate the characteristics of a CRT -- texture, afterimage, color bleed, and noise. The results can be seen above, compared with the pixel-perfect original. Enduro really demonstrates the advantages of an authentic display: when the colors blend properly, the sunset actually kind of looks impressive. These features will be added to the public releases of Stella soon. Maybe they can be integrated into the next-generation Atari Flashback console -- if another one ever happens.

[Via Kotaku]

How to make Atari games look better by making them look worse originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 24 Apr 2009 09:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jenny McCarthy has been gaming longer than you

Ben Gilbert — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 22:50:00 EST

When she's not busy appearing in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 or starring in commercials for amazing PS1 games, Jenny McCarthy is a gaming mom. Speaking to WhatTheyPlay this week, McCarthy says she started playing Pac-Man at the age of eight. "I even made my own Atari glove because I had blisters all over my hand from playing Pac-Man," she notes, saying her own mom bought her the game with an Atari 2600 as a reward for getting a vaccination shot.

While she claims she fell out of gaming because of "cheerleading and boys," gaming also apparently helped to keep her marriage to Double Dragon film ~~star~~ [actor] John Asher alive. "That's all we basically did; we just played video games. That saved our marriage -- playing video games." Her current significant other, Jim Carrey, reportedly has a Wii, though McCarthy says she's doing less gaming and more writing these days (having penned "six books in four years"). "I can't compete with these kids now. They've grown up with this kind of technology ... I'm like the brains behind the guy who's using the controller."

Jenny McCarthy has been gaming longer than you originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 14 Apr 2009 22:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What would Super Mario Bros. look like on Atari?

Candace Savino — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 22:30:00 EST

Filed under: Video

Ah, Atari 2600 -- where would we be without ye? But, now that you're older, we've moved on to newer, prettier models. We're sure you understand.

What's that? You don't understand? You think that games like Super Mario Bros. would look just fine on you?

Well, let's take a look. The video above will show us the truth ... huh.

Uh, what did we think? No, the game didn't look like a discolored, misshapen blob. What? That's so not code for "you're fat!"

Okay, you want the truth? You're ugly. Now go learn to make coffee.

See also:

[Via Geekstir]

What would Super Mario Bros. look like on Atari? originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 20 Feb 2008 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Joystiq Weekend: September 29 - October 1, 2007

Ross Miller — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 23:59:00 EST

Filed under: Retro

It's time to celebrate the Atari 2600, who turns 30 this month. He hasn't aged too well, unfortunately, but the old behemoth still knows how to have a good time. While the console attempts to blow out the birthday candles, check out the highlights for the weekend:

Tokyo Game Show Goodies
Joystiq vs. the Square Enix store
Joystiq Podcast 018 - Pizza blasted edition
TGS hands-on: Cooking Mama 2
TGS hands-on: Final Fantasy Ring of Fates multiplayer
TGS hands-on: No More Heroes
TGS07: Interview with Loco Roco's Tsutomu Kouno
TGS Video Games Museum highlights Japan's taste

Joystiquery
Japanese hardware sales, Sept. 17 - Sept. 23: Crisis edition
Weekly Webcomic Wrapup: not just Halo 3 edition
Zelda: Phantom Hourglass launch draws cosplayers to Nintendo Store

News
We can't enjoy it at release, but Haze will have rumble
New games this week: Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass edition
Sin and Punishment and Super Mario Bros.: Lost Levels on Virtual Console
Wii can't meet demand for holiday season, says Reggie
Smash Bros. Brawl adds Mother 3's Lucas
Silent Hill: The Arcade makes us jealous
Sony to release $39.99 retail Warhawk this month
SCEA announces "PlayStation: The Official Magazine"
Universe at War bumped to 2008
This Wednesday: Tetris Splash dives into XBLA
Bungie: Halo 3 resolution cut for HDR lighting
Double Agent audio duo partner again for Hellgate soundtrack
Re-Mission devs HopeLab cause serious Ruckus
Nintendo announces free Wii Remote Jacket

Rumors & Speculation
Rumor: Sony has 'big bang' announcement for Oct. 12

Culture & Community
Don't post where you eat: Nintendo fires employee for blogging
Therapists, Army tap Wii for patient rehab
Say it with us: Reggie "FEE-SUH-MAY"

[Via Engadget]

The Joystiq Weekend: September 29 - October 1, 2007 originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 01 Oct 2007 23:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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