slapdash

I wanted to comment on one thing: quote: Most 2600 games (or any games for that matter) are considered what is called "work for hire" so the copyright goes to the company for whom the game was made. However, in a case such as 'Garfield' the copyright continues to be held by Paws, Inc. just as it was at the time. That is why a special arrangement was set up with Paws, Inc. to allow the release of the Garfield ROM. (You are legally allowed to download the ROM and retain ONE copy of the ROM on a cartridge for personal use only.) So, certainly any licensed games (Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Alien, etc.) are still technically owned by their respective companies. This isn't entirely clear. It's not quite the way this reads (though I'm not a lawyer...). Basically, the game company owns the program code, period. The licensing is typically of the names, characters etc. That's more of a trademark issue, not a copyright issue, though you'll often see copyrights from the originator (Disney, for example) indicated too. But with these old games, the originator has no rights concerning the ROM itself. They could potentially sue for infringement over the likeness of the game graphics, but I think this is unlikely. They would have no right to complain if the graphics were changed enough so that the game no longer appeared similar to the licensed work(s), and the title/documentation was also changed. For a living breathing example, look at Telegames's "Adventures of GX-12", which is actually the same game as "Adventures of Tron". They got the rights to make the games from M-Network, but not the rights to the trademark "Tron" (etc) from Disney, so they had to change the name. The graphics weren't derivative of the original work (the movie "Tron") enough to be a problem, so they weren't changed.

I've tried this on Stella for Mac too, and you can make the jump on the secret kingdom, but the layout up there isn't the same, and you can't find a ledge to land on, but rather you bump your head and fall back down.

I always wanted Gamma Attack, as it was so obscure that I'm now certain it doesn't exist. But on the off chance it did, or would've with my order, I sure wish I'd been able to order one.

It shouldn't be on prototype lists as far as I know. I've heard rumors that it exists, but I've never seen it confirmed. Should be listed as "NR?" instead of "PR".

quote: The arcade version had Budweiser, Root Beer and Suntory (some Euro-beer I think) versions. Actually, Suntory is Japanese if I remember correctly.

I only know one guy with the game, and when I asked a while back if he'd dump it he said he was still enjoying its unique status. I tried to talk him into at least dumping it before bit rot gets it even if he doesn't release the ROM, but I'm not sure he did that or will.

Note that the job position, and "Atari Labs", sounds more like a small division of Infogrames than a name change. I'm assuming this is for the phones/PDAs/etc group. In other words, Atari will become a division specializing in "low res" games for alternate platforms, and Infogrames will remain Infogrames. That's how I read this and all the rumors so far.

Oops, nearly forgot... There's also Tomb Raider. James Catalano did a screen shot, and Jess Ragan did a screen shot and box. All have been printed in 2600 Connection.

There have been a few other fakes, though not outright hoaxes: Space Haggis (who did this?), Monkey Adventure (Frank Traut), Tron (Lee's Peek n Poke)... There was Mortal Kombat Trilogy for a bunch of systems... Actually does anyone have pix of Zimot carts? I thought I had them, and want to print them in 2600 Connection, but I can't find them. No one seems to remember these.

Regarding the O2 with the odd end on the video cable... I think you might be able to replace it with a regular cord if you go inside and swap it, as it has the regular miniplug (or whatever it's called) on the inside. I think...