mwalden

Hello, While browsing Hacker News ( https://News.YCombinator.com ) recently, I saw a link to an academic paper posted at the ACM that might be of interest to users here. The Sincerest Form of Flattery: Large-Scale Analysis of Code Re-Use in Atari 2600 Games https://DL.ACM.org/doi/fullHtml/10.1145/3555858.3555948 This article had some comments posted (currently 32) on Hacker News: https://News.YCombinator.com/item?id=36727337 I hope you find this interesting and useful. - Michael

Hello, While browsing Hacker News ( https://News.YCombinator.com ) recently, I saw a link to an academic paper posted at the ACM that might be of interest to users here. The Sincerest Form of Flattery: Large-Scale Analysis of Code Re-Use in Atari 2600 Games https://DL.ACM.org/doi/fullHtml/10.1145/3555858.3555948 This article had some comments posted (currently 32) on Hacker News: https://News.YCombinator.com/item?id=36727337 I hope you find this interesting and useful. - Michael

I just saw this and thought that others would want to know about it. City of Alamogordo votes to auction off 800 Atari cartridgeshttp://ArsTechnica.com/gaming/2014/09/city-of-alamogordo-votes-to-auction-off-800-atari-cartridges

Did you notice the following text in the manual on image / page number 4? "Use your Joystick Controllers with this ARTIC VIDEO GAME..." and "... at the back of your ARTIC VIDEO GAME SYSTEM game." Who was ARTIC, and how do they relate to Dimax? Good work on finding this rare item.

That looks like box art for the unreleased Sinistar arcade game conversion for the 2600. http://atariage.com/...wareLabelID=812 See the arcade game here: http://www.arcade-mu...hp?game_id=9553 Why label it "Sky & Rocks" ? "pretty funny"? I call it a pretty cool find.

I discovered another bug in z26 v3.01. When firing the players laser in Laser Blast, the gun appears below the ship, the associated sound is produced, and an explosion is produced on the ground. No laser line is produced between the players ship and the explosion on the ground. Also, one thing became apparent to me with the z26 user interface that should be changed. When selecting a game from the Play a Game screen, it is difficult to discern which game is the one desired due to the screen width (53 characters including the : on long lines) being shorter than the length of file names. This is problematic when two or more files have the first 52 characters identical. I have several suggestions for ways to address this. 1. Allow the user to use the left and right arrow keys to scroll the whole screen or selected game name left and right to expose obscured text. 2. Allow the user to press the question mark key (?) to pop-up a window with a word wrapped version of the full name. Pressing an up or down arrow key should cause the window to automatically disappear. 3. Make a two or three line high window on the top or bottom which shows the full name of the selected game. 4. Truncate the center of the name and replace the omitted text with an ellipsis (...) indicating that the name is incomplete. 5. A combination of two or more of the above, such as providing both items 1 and 4. Lastly, when switching from the z26 task to another one using Alt+Tab, the mouse pointer is stuck in the upper left hand corner of the screen and therefore is unusable. When switching back to the z26 task it occasionally delays for about a second and blinks on the screen for a fraction of a second and then disappears/crashes. Thanks in advance

“Oh! Oh! Mr. Kotter!” ... I mean Mr. Saeger ... I really like what you have done with z26. I immediately, on playing my first game of Adventure, found a cool design feature in the new z26 3.0 where the player (Square dude) can run right through the walls. This makes for a whole new strategy at playing the game ... On the other hand, I believe this is a bug with the collision detection code. In the meantime it is kind of fun! No complaints here. Thanks

I believe that the entry above should be changed to the following: I know this was intended to be made for the Intellivision, and possibly other systems more capable than the 2600. I believe, though have not verified, that it was indeed released for the Intellivision. I do not feel that there ever would be a consideration to implement such a game on the 2600 (especially at the time... Look out for the guy that ported StarCastle ) due to the complexity of the graphics, etc. So, I strongly question the likelihood of there ever having been an announcement for this game to be released on the 2600.

Wow. Impressive. Star Castle for the Atari 2600 By D. Scott Williamson Mr. Williamson did the impossible. I would like to know what bank switching / extra hardware is in the cartridge, if any. In all fairness, H.S.W. would have been told to create Star Castle to work on the 2600 with certain limitations on game size, etc. So, if this version is using some exotic hardware or a larger than 8K banking scheme, it still would not have been possible for Howard to implement under Atari's constraints. UPDATE - I watched the video again and noticed that the game is actually running on a Harmony Cartridge. See: http://harmony.atariage.com/ If this is an unmodified Harmony Cartridge than there are only so many choices available for banking.

The style of that ad seemed strangely similar to the old DAK mail order catalog. After doing a web search on: "JS&A" "DAK" This came up: http://www.ryanhealy.com/catalog-copywriters-are-working-overtime/#comment-23605518 Old JS&A (Joe Sugarman) and DAK Industries (Drew Kaplan) catalogs are highly prized now (oh how I regret not saving those). Then I came across this: http://www.trans4mind.com/bookstore/lead.html "Advertising Secrets of the Written Word" by Joseph Sugarman. Joe Sugarman is the copywriting wizard who wrote those incredibly entertaining full-page advertisements for high-technology gizmos. The company he founded, JS&A, was wildly successful and the precursor to others such as The Sharper Image and DAK Industries. He is also the guy behind the BluBlocker sunglasses. These books are a distillation of the marketing lessons he learnt in a lifetime of entrepreneurship and he is incredibly candid. He tells you what worked and why and what didn't work and why. Lots of real examples. Interesting stuff. Also, speaking of DAK, they sort of still exist. See: http://DAK.com Who knew?

With respect to the 2600/2600a field manual, I would think it appropriate to put a link to it (or a copy of it if the people at atariguide.com do not mind) on the following page: Diagnostic Cartridge http://www.atariage.com/software_page.html?SoftwareLabelID=139 That field manual is basically the " Manual Scan" for the Diagnostic Cartridge. Nice find.

Yesterday I was going to send the following message but didn't get a chance. <BEGIN UN-SENT MESSAGE> I noticed some interesting things on .pdf page 85 of 205 in the VIDTEC U.S. Games information: VC-1005 Weird Bird It's the strangest looking varmint you've ever seen... it's Weird Bird! Weird Bird just loves to lay eggs so watch out, if an egg hits the floor before you can catch it the yolk is on you. Think you've got a clear shot at the crafty critter? Have at it and watch those feathers fly. Get Weird Bird mad enough and he moves in even closer... now you're in big trouble. Weird Bird is High Flying egg-citement for the whole brood. (Screen shot) Also, the following "Coming Soon" game names and/or part numbers... VC 1006 Squeeze Box VC 1007 Untitled VC 1008 Guardians of Treasure VC 1010 Gopher Attack VC 1011 Maze Chase ...differ from those here: http://www.atariage.com/company_page.html?SystemID=2600&CompanyID=41 <END UN-SENT MESSAGE> As you can see, I did my best at transcribing the text from the Weird Bird description. There may be slight errors due to the unclear source. I had thought that Weird Bird might not have been released, but that is not the case. (see below) As a result of your message covering the VIDTEC U.S. Games information, I created the following list: * VC 1001 Space Jockey * VC 1002 Sneak n' Peek * VC 1003 Word Zapper * VC 1004 Commando Raid - VC 1005 Weird Bird -> VC 2003 Eggomania - VC 1006 Squeeze Box -> VC 2002 Squeeze Box * VC 1007 Name This Game (was VC 1007 Untitled) ? VC 1008 Guardians of Treasure ????? * VC 1009 Towering Inferno - VC 1010 Gopher Attack -> VC 2001 Gopher - VC 1011 Maze Chase -> VC 2007 Entombed * VC 1012 M.A.D. * VC 2001 Gopher * VC 2002 Squeeze Box * VC 2003 Eggomania * VC 2004 Picnic * VC 2005 Piece o' Cake * VC 2006 Raft Rider * VC 2007 Entombed Key: * = Published game - = Reassigned game ? = Unknown If your statements are correct, assuming that there was no VC 1013 (or greater), no VC 2008 (or greater), and no other games in the works, there are only 14 (VIDTEC U.S. Games) games to be found with a small chance of there being a prototype of the game called Guardians of Treasure. Apparently, Guardians of Treasure must be a different game than Untitled / Name This Game since they are both on the same list with different part numbers. I had always wondered what was up with the five skipped part numbers. Thanks for digging up that old Atari document.

Hello John, While I do not have answers to all you asked about, I can provide you with a few links to patents that were assigned to Atari on the VCS/2600 joystick. I originally became aware of these patent numbers in the following thread. Atari Patents Database - Fri Feb 7, 2003 9:37 AM http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/20501-atari-patents-database/ Here are the four relevant patents ordered by filing date. Joystick ver. 1 patent (1977 stick with five springs) 4124787 Joystick controller mechanism operating one or plural switches sequentially or simultaneously Inventors: Aamoth; Gerald R. (Santa Clara, CA), Hayashi; John K. (San Mateo, CA) Filed: Mar 11, 1977 http://patft1.USPTO.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?patentnumber=4124787 Joystick ver. 1 design patent (1977 stick with five springs) D254544 Video game control unit Inventors: McKinsey; Kevin P. (Soquel, CA), Aamoth; Gerald R. (Santa Clara, CA) Filed: Jun 13, 1977 http://patft1.USPTO.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?patentnumber=D254544 Joystick ver. 2 design patent (1978- stick without springs) D255565 Video game control unit Inventors: Aamoth; Gerald R. (Fremont, CA), McKinsey; Kevin P. (Scotts Valley, CA) Filed: Mar 16, 1978 http://patft1.USPTO.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?patentnumber=D255565 Joystick ver. 2 patent (1978- stick without springs) 4349708 Joystick control Inventors: Asher; James C. (San Jose, CA) Filed: Aug 22, 1979 http://patft1.USPTO.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?patentnumber=4349708 You will need to get the required TIFF plug-in to be able to view the pictures. Alternatively, you could use another patent retrieval service to view the patents. I hope you find this information useful. Michael

Have a look at the box art... http://www.atariage.com/box_page.html?Syst...;ItemTypeID=BOX ... quite similar!

Are you refering to the 2003 hack, Drag Race? I believe rmaerz is referring to the following classic arcade game: Drag Race by Kee Games http://klov.com/game_detail.php?game_id=7634

One additional derivative game is: Beamrider = Juno First - Konami/Gottlieb - 1983 http://klov.com/game_detail.php?game_id=8261 Juno First was a bit obscure but a fairly good game. Cool sounds and graphics.

That one's mine. But what's interesting is, the manufacturers mine displays: Are different from the screen captures at AtariMania: So I wonder... which is newer? It is hard to say which is newer. Your version omits Activision, an earlier company, and Coleco, a somewhat later company in the Atari game market. If I had to guess, I would say that your ROM is the earlier one. I say that only because the other version has a more crammed appearance. It's as if they were saying "can't we just add a few more logos?" I don't envision them removing logos and spreading the existing ones out and making them more detailed. But, that's just me. What ever your version is, older or newer, I think that you should consider dumping it. It would be interesting to do a comparison of your ROM to the one out in the wild to see if it is purely a graphical change or a functional change too. It is interesting that, as far as I know, no one had mentioned multiple versions of the Imagic kiosk hardware and/or firmware. Also, if you were to share your ROM, it might find it's way into an Imagic multicart as suggested by Godzilla in post #7. Michael

Thanks for the links. After all these years, I never saw or heard of a Parker Brothers point of sale kiosk, until now. Michael

Yep, logos. I like your idea about making an all Imagic multicart. The only problem is that someone would have to add a two digit number display and input routine to the Imagic selector ROM. A bit more work than on the Atari ROM. Sadly, I am not the one to do it. Just wait and see if anyone else takes on the task. Michael

D'oh! But cool indeed! I was using ... z26 2.13 (the latest) http://www.whimsey.com/z26/ ... since the computer it is running on is really slow. z26 is a bit faster than Stella due to it's being written mostly in assembly language. Thanks for the Stella tip. Though, everything in my earlier post basically stands. Stella has no control over the operation of the POP ROM. Also, the POP ROM program still goes through it's different attract mode screens (to prevent screen burn) and it still would be cool if the logo could be made to always stay on screen without switching to the other attract screens. Actually, I had even wanted that to be the case when watching the real machine in operation so many years ago. Lastly, I think it would be especially cool to see an Atari POP multicart ROM. (Hint ) Thanks again, Michael Yep, it didn't work as it should in z26 for me too and it would be really nice to have a multicart rom of this. Until someone makes this happen you might enjoy the little demo i attached... Wow! that is BIG. The colors move down in that demo, the Atari POP goes up. Interesting. Still, nothing can beat the nostalgic memories that the original one elicits. Michael

Yes, there is a ROM floating out on the net somewhere. But, there is no on screen menu. There was an LED readout (two digits, I believe) which you would set, via two buttons on the kiosk, to match the position of the cartridge end label behind a clear plastic window that had numbers printed on it. The Imagic kiosk ROM did produce an image that said something like "try out all your favorite manufacturer's games" and it did display some of Imagic's competitor's logos!? Someone will probably provide a link after seeing these messages. Michael

D'oh! But cool indeed! I was using ... z26 2.13 (the latest) http://www.whimsey.com/z26/ ... since the computer it is running on is really slow. z26 is a bit faster than Stella due to it's being written mostly in assembly language. Thanks for the Stella tip. Though, everything in my earlier post basically stands. Stella has no control over the operation of the POP ROM. Also, the POP ROM program still goes through it's different attract mode screens (to prevent screen burn) and it still would be cool if the logo could be made to always stay on screen without switching to the other attract screens. Actually, I had even wanted that to be the case when watching the real machine in operation so many years ago. Lastly, I think it would be especially cool to see an Atari POP multicart ROM. (Hint ) Thanks again, Michael

Hello, Back in the day, I had many occasions to checkout the Atari POPs at various stores. I would see what new games had been made available since my last visit. Of course I would play some games too. One aspect to playing games on the POPs, which is forever burned into my mind, is seeing the throbbing Atari logo that was produced by the POP's inbuilt ROM. I was a bit mesmerized by all of the pretty colors. I don't believe that I had seen any Atari VCS games that displayed so many colors (e.g. Swordquest: Earthworld, Turmoil, etc.) prior to seeing that POP logo for the first time. (Which brings up another question: which game was the first to display the scrolling full color palette? Was it the Atari POP ROM?) The closest thing was the chalice in Adventure. So, after all these years (22+) of remembering that logo, it would be nice to see it again. Back in the summer of 2007 I had thought that my wish was granted by the following AtariAge post. http://AtariAge.com/forums/index.php?showt...sk#entry1337771 Sadly, the closest I can get to seeing that logo is one brief frame once every thirty seconds when executing that ROM in an emulator. No color cycling/scrolling to be enjoyed there. Apparently the program is looking to some status registers to see the state of the three unique buttons on the POP (POP Start, 1's Select, and 10's Select) and falsely detecting the POP Start (or maybe something else) causing the logo to be bypassed, and the "ENTER GAME NUMBER" screen appears. I had assumed that I was not the only one who would like to see this logo again, and that it would lead to someone patching the POP's ROM. But I guess I was wrong. No one has patched the ROM yet. So, here is my request, actually five requests, in order of increasing difficulty: 1. Make a patched POP ROM that simply acts like a demo, it just displays the throbbing Atari logo. 2. Make a patched POP ROM that allows some user interaction by mapping the POP Start, 1's Select, and 10's Select to the left joystick's Forward, Right, and Left, respectively. All operational behavior should remain the same with the exception of pressing POP Start leading back to the logo screen since there are no game ROMs to execute. 3. Make a patched POP ROM like the one above (2) but actually integrate some (two or more) other game ROMs into it producing an Atari POP multicart ROM. Also, modify the game number limiter to match the actual number of games. As a result of doing 2 and 3 above, please consider publishing the technical details of what is in the POP to allow for the following to be done: 4. Update (an) emulator(s) (Z26, Stella, etc.) to support the original unmodified POP ROM. The emulator(s) should have a specifiable file that contains a list of ROM files (up to 47) that will be launched as per the user selected game number. This will provide an authentic Atari POP user experience. 5. The same as above (4) but modify the POP ROM to allow for up to the maximum number possible with the virtual select lines available and only two digits on screen (99?). Also, make the same patch as in 2 above, allowing the left joystick to select and launch a game rather than requiring the user to use the special three POP buttons. Most importantly, I want item number 1. If you can do more of the above items, great! Since the POP ROM is only 2K and there are some really knowledgeable programmers out there, this all should be relatively simple to do. Please consider taking the time to address the items I have listed above. This will add another small piece(s) to the retro Atari gaming scene. Thanks in advance, Michael Walden