Internal Atari email about Crystal Castles & Millipede (

[Scott Stilphen]

In going through Jed Margolin's archive of Atari VAX emails (which mainly pertain to the coin-op division), I found a "thread" started by Franz Lanzinger (designer of Crystal Castles) stating his opinion on VCS versions of coin-op games (specfically CC). I'm sure it didn't help when Atari Age editor Steve Morenstern stated CC had flicker-free animation (HA!). Ed Logg also mentioned that GCC did their own version of Millipede!

 

I've edited them, so that mostly only VCS-related info is here:

 

From: KIM::FXL 30-JAN-1984 02:01

To: @SYS$MAIL:JUNK

Subj: The first annual Jeff Boscole Memorial letter

 

I do not however apologize or regret my negative feelings about the recent release of the Crystal Castles 2600 Cartridge. (In case you don't know, the cartridge was released without the approval of the coin-op design team, or anybody else in coin-op as far as I know).

 

This is pure theft!

 

And I do not even know who to blame for this!! It isn't the programmer, who is about as mad (or worse) as I am about this situation. He was given a unmakable release deadline (4 days instead of 3 weeks from when he was told). The game is much worse because of this (according to the programmer Peter Niday). He had no choice in the matter. Yet another unfinished, hurried, poorly tested game from Atari. Won't we ever learn?

 

Games under license from other companies get reviewed by representatives of that company (Williams and Namco specifically). But games developed in-house are treated like they are in the public domain, while the original design team of in-house games is treated like dirt.

 

This is not an isolated incident either. Atarisoft, as a matter of policy, takes Atari Coin-op games, lets outside companies "convert" them for home computers (like Commodore 64, Vic-20, Apple 2, TI-99 and IBM-PC), and then produces them, all without the creative input or advice of the original design teams (just talk to Ed Logg about Centipede, or ? about Battlezone). Atarisoft does not ask anyone over here at coin-op for approval for the final version, but they do show the final version of the game to someone in the legal department. On the more positive side, there is a chance that Atarisoft will contribute to the Engineering Product Bonus Plan in a manner similar to 2600, 5200 and 800 products. Wouldn't it be nice to have that guaranteed and in writing? And shouldn't there be designer credits on Atarisoft products?

 

It's ironic that my name is on the packaging of the 2600 Crystal Castles cart, a product which I only saw an early version of. Yet when I told people that the message ("programmed by Franz Lanzinger") appeared in level 10 in the coin-op version I was told to take it out, or I loose an amount of bonus to be determined. Boy did that make me mad !!! I complained vocally, but only to be promised that a designer credit policy would be worked on. This policy is still "being worked on" eight months later. Now really. It's not that hard to do, just look at movies, books, not to mention Stern, Mylstar, Simutrek, Sente, even 2600 carts. If there were a policy right now, credits could be in in time

for the Crystal Castles kits. As it is, I am still mad about the whole thing. Imagine Speven Spielberg directing a film, but not getting credit. How would he feel? Are we cogs in a machine? I am not a number !!! This isn't 1984!! (well OK, maybe it is).

 

From: KIM::THOMPSON 31-JAN-1984 10:07

To: @SYS$MAIL:JUNK

Subj: Another flame

 

Another Jeff Boscole Memorial letter, in response to FXL's letter on

Jan 30, 1984.

 

Since I haven't been impressed by the results of VCS's releases, I DON'T want them to butcher, maim or mutilate my game for whatever reason. I can fully sympathize with Franz, since he put a lot of time and effort into his game. By the time my game goes into production (knock on wood), I will have put at least a year of my life into that game. I don't want someone to come along, and rip me off. I don't really care about royalties from the other games, I just don't want to have to apologize to anyone about a game that has my name in it, on it, or associated with it.

 

While I'm still flaming, I feel that it WOULD be nice to have my name appear in my game somewhere. It would really be nice to be allowed to do this, since Star Wars had the names of the people appear on every odd wave going into the death star. It seems a little inconsistant to me that the Star Wars project could have their names, and Crystal Castles couldn't. For some reason, that appears to be favoritism, not policy.

 

Return flames gladly accepted.

Peter Thompson.

 

P.S. If anyone can show me a good game for the 2600 that we produced, I will fully apologize, and then go out and buy it.

 

From: KIM::LOGG 1-FEB-1984 09:54

To: @SYS$MAIL:JUNK

Subj: More on FXL letter (or the second biweekly Jeff Boscole letter)

 

First, regarding testing and review of 2600, 5200, 800,... software. In

the past I was given carts to review, and in some cases they ignored my

comments. In particular, for the 800 Centipede I saw a bootleg copy and

send my comments back only get see the shit hit the fan because I managed to see the cart which should not have been possible. Months later I was officially given a newer version to test. I noted some problems and asked that the game play match the Coin-Op version in several aspects. I was told that it was too late because they couldn't make the changes in time for the release. More recently I attended a meeting to decide which Millipede cart for the 2600 should be released. The release date was less than a week away and I was told that the programmer had just gotten one version working within the last couple of weeks (and only possible thru 7 day work weeks and considerable lack of sleep). I should also point out that I sent the complete documentation of Millipede to the team leader responsible for the VCS cart months prior to this meeting. I also called and left my name and number with the comment that I was available for any assistance. I received no response until a week or two prior to the above mentioned meeting. This leds me to believe that the game was not ready for help until the time of the meeting (thus verifying the hearsay that the game had just been developed in the last two weeks).

 

Now for the good news! ATARI did select the VCS version of Millipede over the version done by GCC. I was told that GCC was instructed NOT to do this cart but they went ahead and did it anyway. I guess they felt that if they got it done first ATARI marketing would use theirs. Judging from the meeting I attended, I would guess that they were right. In any case I have worked with the VCS programmer since and hopefully the cart has improved. I do NOT mean to say that I necessarily helped but that the cart just needed time. I should point out that the cart was not released due to a bug! Now why didn't we think of this before? That sounds like a good strategy to follow. The only reason I was given why the cart was to be released within a week of the meeting was to have ONE week worth of sales for the first quarter. WHAT A SHITTY, GOD DAMNED, FUCKING CSDKFHAS FHLAVFHJ EXCUSE!!!! What ever happened to quality which the name ATARI is supposed to represent? Where was VCS management?? I would hope that someone would stand up and say "THE GAME IS NOT READY. WE WILL RELEASE IT WHEN IT IS DONE!!" Who are they trying to make look good? Why impress Warner with 1 weeks worth of production, when you can impress the consumer 2 weeks later? It seems short-sighted to make themselves look good at the expense of ATARI's reputation.

 

Well enough of that, I want to get back on the subject of good news. Months ago I also reviewed a Millipede for the 800 (or 5200 I don't remember). I sent my comments back and just last week received a letter back for Richard Frick thanking me and giving me a list of changes they have implemented. When I talked to him he recalled when the comments came back and how the programmer grumbled about doing any more changes. However after the changes were made the programmer has become very excited about the new program. Now ISN'T that a heart warming story. It sure made my week. I hope we see more cooperation like that in the future.

 

Second, as Franz hinted I never received a copy of Centipede to review from ATARISOFT nor was I even told about any Centipede carts. Ignoring the fact that is rather insulting, it is not in the best interests of ATARI. We should demand quality from any product ATARI puts its name on. Considering there is expertise here in Coin-Op to test and evaluate this product, they should be very interested in hearing from us. Since there were no designer credits, I guess it was hard for them to determine who to come to but they could have found out.

 

For everyones information I was not told that my name would appear on the 2600 Millipede documentation. I had to ask Steve Calfee. In fact it seems logical that the names of all members of the Coin-Op team responsible for developing the game should appear. Can someone write down whether the ASTARISOFT software will bring royalties to Coin-OP?

 

Ed Logg

 

P.S. They (Marketing) released the 2600 Millipede on Monday before they

could test the cart for the required 40 hrs. There was a screen

roll failure after 35 hrs. So by the book they should not have

passed the cart for release.

 

From: KIM::DOWNEND 1-FEB-1984 17:22

To: @SYS$MAIL:ENGINEER.UAF

 

to: Franz

from: Chris Downend

Subject: Response to Boscole Memorial Letter

 

The Quality of 2600 carts is the pits - no doubt about it. The system was introduced in 1977 so it is SEVEN years old. I think Breakout and Space Invaders are decent renditions of the coin-op originals and those are 1976 and 1979 games respectively. But with 14 million 2600's out there, financial issues outweigh asthetic issues. I don't think the public would even buy Crystal Castles on a 2600 so everybody loses - you and Atari. Again, we've got new management and they have to learn from their own mistakes. By the way, Calfee knew the 2600 Crystal Castles was lousy and tried to stop it, but he was overuled. When Marketing wanted to do the same thing with Millipede (release the cart with a bug), Steve

had to go all the way to J.J. Morgan. Fortunately, Morgan agreed with Steve and the release was postponed. One thing to remember though, Coin-op profits are small potatoes compared with Comsumer profits so every decision is heavily weighted toward maximizing profit in the Consumer arena. So, anticipate feeling screwed with respect to the quality of carts - it won't change - too much money is a stake. The virtue of Coin-op is extensive creative freedom (in game design and hardware base) since original work is the lifeblood of the Industry. Coin-op also gives you bearable schedules allowing you to do a satisfying job. And to my knowledge, Coin-op has yet to sacrifice quality to get an on-time delivery. Firefox was supposed to start production 1/23/84; millions in parts are all staged ready for production, but it has not started (1/31/84) because the software is not ready.

 

Now for Credits: Coin-op credits are more complex than Consumer credits since more people are involved and people get their feelings hurt if they are left out and they feel they contributed just as much as so-and-so and so-and-so got their name on the game...see my point? John Ray has been working on this as well as trying to learn about being a Director and managing the Project Office. Maybe its could have happened faster, but John manages by concensus which takes even more time. John has apparently sent his recommendation to Van Elderen/Paul/Farrand

for appproval prior to publishing the rules for credits on the audio-visual portion of the product. How does seven names in video for the

audio-visual portion strike you?? We do not want 8kbytes of EPROM used up putting 500 credits in the game. By the way, Star Wars got their names in the game because they did it and did not tell anybody about it. If your ethics were equally low, Franz, you could have done it in Crystal Castles too.

- Chris Downend

[Tempest]

Yep I read about this a year or two ago. I scanned all the Vax mails and picked out the juicy parts (like the day Franz quit). I didn't know you hadn't seen this site before or I would have pointed it out earlier.

 

Tempest

[CPUWIZ]

You have way too much time on your hands.

[Scott Stilphen]

I never bothered to look through all the VAX stuff. I check out everything between 83-85. Is there any other VCS-related info for the other years?

 

Franz's 'goodbye' letter was interesting. How about all the letters in Aug 84 when they had a round of layoffs?

[Tempest]

No nothing too interesting after 84. But here are some other interesting tidbits:

 

 

Software Piracy (Ballblazer and Final Legacy)

 

It has been brought to my attention that some stolen Atari computer software may now be residing on one or more of our VAXes.

 

This is intolerable.

 

We are a company whose existance depends on software sales, and every ATARI game that was in a cartridge and has been put on disc and then on the VAX is a potential leak to the outside world that can impact sales. Any competitors' games that might be on the system could substantially weaken Atari's cases against piracy in court. People who participate in stealing software are risking their jobs and the company's future.

 

Please delete all questionable files immediately!!!

 

Once again, people in this building are reported to be in possession of stolen ATARI property, taken from computer bulletin boards. The titles are BALLBLAZER and FINAL LEGACY. People must not have this stolen property in this building or elsewhere!! This is a crime and, if caught, your employment will be terminated.

 

As Jed would say, Thank you or else.

 

 

What's the biggest joke at Atari? Stolen software.

 

I've been very frustrated with all the apathy at Atari toward stolen software. Almost everyone here has stolen software and when confronted the answer is usually a very proud smile followed by "Yea but....".

 

The reason I'm now on a soap box screaming is because I designed and programmed 'Final Legacy' which has just gone to ROM's and is already being passed around on disks. Yes I'm mad about it, but people who know me know that I've been screaming about stolen software for a very long time. So this letter is not sour grapes. I picking this time because maybe you'll feel sorry for me and listen to what I have to say.

 

Legacy was stolen by someone outside Atari and I believe it could not be prevented. These things happen and part of our business. The people involved are going to be nailed.

 

The sad part is that a copy showed up at Atari. The person saw nothing at all wrong with having the copy. I've kept from finding out who the people are so I don't end up hating anyone here, I'd rather not know.

 

Well that's the background. The issue is stolen software and why are we doing it. I beleive that stealing or receiving stolen software is a crime, no buts. I also believe engaging in these activities at Atari is a crime and stupid. Our pay checks depend on selling software.

 

I don't buy the excuses that pirating doesn't hurt those big fat companies, or it's just one copy, or it's from another company. If you only steal non-Atari software then you are condoning people who do. We can't be in the grey area debating whether or not priating is ok or not. I think that we should denounce piracy at every chance and not be hypocritical in doing so.

 

Other software companies have policies where having stolen software is not tolerated, if a person is found with stolen software they are fired on the spot. What it has done for the employees is given them a very

strong sense of pride in their work. They know that the company places a great value on their products. Also, I've never heard of anyone being fired. But then no one pirated software either. Make no mistake, everyone knew that the rule would be enforced.

 

If I have offended a pirate or two out there tough, I don't much care for pirates anyway. I do hope I've reached people who have stolen software that maybe it isn't right and they should get rid of it. And to all the people who denounce software piracy, let's keep the spirt alive.

 

 

 

 

And of course a few jokes:

 

 

What's the difference between Atari and the Titanic?

The Titanic had entertainment.

 

1). TITANTIC HAD LIVE ENTERTAINMENT.

2). NOTHING!!!!!!!

3). THE TITANTIC HAD A REASON FOR GOING DOWN!

4). THE TITANTIC HAD A CAPTIAN AT THE HELM!

5). THE TITANTIC WENT DOWN IN AN HOUR.

6). THE TITANTIC HAD 750 SURVIVORS.

(OUT OF 2500, 750 WERE SAVED....OR 30%)

(FOR ATARI (1981), OUT OF 10,000, 100 WERE SAVED...OR 1%)

 

 

It is now, and always has been , the policy of this Company to assure its employees that they are well trained. Through our SPECIAL HIGH INTENSITY TRAINING program (SHIT), we have given our employees more SHIT than any other company in the area.

 

If any employee feels that he or she does not receive enough SHIT on their job, or that he or she could advance to another position by taking more SHIT see your supervisor.

 

Our management people are specially trained to assure you that you will get all the SHIT you can handle.

 

Any individual who feels he or she has not received sufficient SPECIAL HIGH INTENSITY TRAINING, should see your supervisor so they can put you at the top of their SHIT list.

 

 

 

Lots more stuff, but I'll have to dig it out later.

 

Tempest

[MegaManFan]

That one was priceless.

[Cupcakus]

Just shows how Atari's problems run deep and wide. They had no hope of survival, even if Nintendo hadn't come along.

[MegaManFan]

Just shows how Atari's problems run deep and wide.  They had no hope of survival, even if Nintendo hadn't come along.

 

Yup. *sighs* A little depressing perhaps, but on the other hand looking back and seeing them come apart at the hinges is entertaining here and now, so there's a small silver lining to that black cloud. And the upshot is, if they hadn't come apart would we be so nostalgic for Atari stuff now? Maybe, but not to the same degree I think.

[broncoman]

i whold like to get a copy of all the letters how can i do that guys ? i think there cool and what does vax stand for ? thx for any help

[Cupcakus]

VAX was a type of mainframe in the olden days of buisness machines. It had internal "E-Mail" capabilities, as well as Word Prossessing, file sharing and corporate aplications. It ran on a form of UNIX. I think it was manufactured by DEC (Now known as Compaq) I remember having a small DEC VAX back in the day at home. Picked it up cheap from the university of Georgia because they said it didn't work anymore. Turns out it just needed a new cable from the box to the terminal.

 

Sounded like a nuclear bomb ready to blow when you turned it on and four industrial fans underneath to cool it. The hard disks weighed so much a friend had to help me carry it upstairs. :-)

[Gregory DG]

Funny how they're bagging on Crystal Castles... I really enjoyed that version. Did they expect it to look as good as the arcade on the 2600?

 

It played basically the same. It had all the characters. It had tons of screens... The only thing missing was the lighted trackball!

 

Also, there is something troublesome with the notion that running a game through a bureaucracy is a good thing... Especially with some of the people in charge at the time.

[JCroniger]

Tempest,

Those are great!!! If you get some time, please post more.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Now for the good news! ATARI did select the VCS version of Millipede over the version done by GCC. I was told that GCC was instructed NOT to do this cart but they went ahead and did it anyway. I guess they felt that if they got it done first ATARI marketing would use theirs.

That's a quite interesting story and it would explain why the millipede prototype is so completely different from the released version (less than 10% code indentity according to CloneSpy). So the proto might be the GCC version. Could this be?

[Dutchman2000]

No doubt about it, it is in fact the GCC version.

[oesii]

Tempest,

Those are great!!!  If you get some time, please post more.  

 

 

Find them yourself

 

http://www.jmargolin.com/vmail/vmail.htm

[Jess Ragan]

I actually liked the 2600 version of Crystal Castles. The control could have been a little less sluggish, but I can't think of any other home translations of the game that played flawlessly either. If Franz Limburger or whatever his name is could have done a better version of Crystal Castles on the VCS, I would have loved to have seen it.

So hey, there are two different versions of Millipede floating around? Is the General Computer translation currently available on the Internet, and it so, how does their version and Atari's compare?

 

JR

 

P.S. Like the new avatar?

P.P.S. They used the term "flaming" to describe angry correspondence twenty years ago? I could have sworn that was an Internet thing.

[El Destructo]

They used the term "flaming" to describe angry correspondence twenty years ago? I could have sworn that was an Internet thing.

 

e-mail has been around for over thirty years. Or did you think the World Wide Web = the Internet?

[MegaManFan]

Sounded like a nuclear bomb ready to blow when you turned it on and four industrial fans underneath to cool it.  The hard disks weighed so much a friend had to help me carry it upstairs. :-)

 

These were still widely in use when I started college in '93. My college had four different vax servers, and they were all named after members of the Peanuts gang: Snoopy, Sally, Chuck, and strangely enough I think the other one was Othmar (why not Linus or Patty, I'll never know). One was supposed to be an admin only server but if they took the main student one down for maintenance (Sally) I found out you could log in the admin one by hitting Control-C repeatedly after you entered your password and before it kicked you out. Ahh, those were the days. If people turned off the terminal without physically logging out, they would still be logged in when you turned the terminal on later. We played some MEAN pranks on people by editing their login batch files. There was even a form of VAX Tetris that somebody put on their account and set to global file-sharing, and it was actually a lot of fun. Some days I still miss having to type IN%"email@whatever.com" when I send e-mails.

[Big Player]

Thanks for posting that. It's really fun to read.

 

I really like the 2600 version of Millipede, it's a much better port than Centipede. And I think Crystal Castles is also a good port.

 

But it is fun to see the 2600 get ripped for being too primative back in 1984.

[Curt Vendel]

No nothing too interesting after 84.  But here are some other interesting tidbits:

 

 

Software Piracy  (Ballblazer and Final Legacy)

 

It has been brought to my attention that some stolen Atari computer  software may now be residing on one or more of our VAXes.  

 

This is intolerable.

 

We are a company whose existance depends on software sales, and every ATARI game that was in a cartridge and has been put on disc and then on the VAX is a potential leak to the outside world that can impact sales. Any competitors' games that might be on the system could  substantially weaken Atari's cases against piracy in court. People who participate in stealing software are risking their jobs and the company's future.  

 

Please delete all questionable files immediately!!!

 

Once again, people in this building are reported to be in possession of stolen ATARI property, taken from computer bulletin boards. The titles are BALLBLAZER and FINAL LEGACY. People must not have this stolen property in this building or elsewhere!! This is a crime and, if caught, your employment will be terminated.

 

I obtained the actual Atari BBS equipment 2 years ago along with the original Corvus hard drive and all of the backup disks, on the Corvus there was a hidden section for the BBS with the Pirate software on it, stuff like The Last Star Fighter and other Atari 800 titles, so this stuff was being leaked out, right through Atari's own Bulletin Board System!!!

 

 

 

Curt

[Curt Vendel]

Now for the good news! ATARI did select the VCS version of Millipede over the version done by GCC. I was told that GCC was instructed NOT to do this cart but they went ahead and did it anyway. I guess they felt that if they got it done first ATARI marketing would use theirs.

That's a quite interesting story and it would explain why the millipede prototype is so completely different from the released version (less than 10% code indentity according to CloneSpy). So the proto might be the GCC version. Could this be?

 

 

The 2600 Millipede ROM I released a year or two ago is the GCC version, which I feel is far better then the Atari made version, funny thoing is that the GCC version was finished first and it still wasn't used because they were never commissioned to do it.

 

 

Curt

[Cupcakus]

This is one of my favorites

 

From: KIM::FRANUSIC 23-MAR-1984 15:02

To: @SYS$MAIL:JUNK

Subj: THE FUTURE AT ATARI

 

 

LATELY THERE'S BEEN SOME CONFUSION OVER THE "ORGANIZATIONAL

ADJUSTMENTS" THAT WE'VE BEEN EXPERIENCING HERE AT ATARI.

LET'S PUT IT ALL INTO PERSPECTIVE ...

 

AT THE END OF 1983, ATARI ANNOUNCED LOSSES OF OVER 500 MILLION

DOLLARS. THERE WAS SOME TALK THAT THESE LOSSES WERE ACTUALLY

CARRIED ON THE BOOKS OVER SEVERAL PRECEDING QUARTERS, AND THAT

MR. MORGAN WAS SIMPLY GIVEN A FRESH START. THE FACT REMAINS

THAT ATARI HAS BEEN, AND STILL IS, LOSING AN ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF

MONEY, ENOUGH TO MAKE ANY COCAINE IMPORTER'S HEAD SPIN.

 

THE HOME COMPUTER MARKET HAS FALLEN FLAT ON IT'S FACE.

PEOPLE FINALLY REALIZED THAT THEY DIDN'T NEED A HOME COMPUTER

FOR ANYTHING EXCEPT PLAYING GAMES. MOST OF THE PERCIEVED NEED

FOR A HOME COMPUTER COULD ONLY BE ATTRIBUTED TO MARKETING HYPE.

 

THE GAME CARTRIDGE MARKET HASN'T BEEN DOING MUCH BETTER.

WE ALL HEARD ABOUT THE BIG HOLE IN THE GROUND WHERE THEY

BURIED THOUSANDS UPON THOUSANDS OF "DEFECTIVE" CARTRIDGES.

WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED WAS THAT OUR TOP MANAGEMENT "EXPERTS"

OVERESTIMATED THE CARTRIDGE MARKET BY SEVERAL MILLION UNITS.

MEANWHILE, SYNERTEK AND STEVIE-BOY ARE LAUGHING ALL THE WAY

TO THE BANK $$$.

 

AND THEN THERE'S THE COIN-OP MARKET. LET'S STOP KIDDING

OURSELVES. SOME OF US WORK 10, MAYBE 12 HOURS A DAY ON

GAMES WHERE THE BEST WE CAN REALISTICALLY HOPE FOR IS

A TOTAL PRODUCTION OF 5000 UNITS. THAT WORKS OUT TO SOME

VERY MEAGER BONUS-SPLITS, FRIENDS.

 

FEW SIGNIFICANT CHANGES HAVE BEEN MADE TO RECTIFY THE

SITUATION FACING ATARI: WARNER REPLACED MR. KASSAR

WITH A CIGARETTE EXECUTIVE.

 

UNFORTUNATELY FOR MR. MORGAN, HIGH-TECH ELECTRONICS IS A

HIGHLY DYNAMIC AND VOLATILE BUSINESS TO BE IN:

THE MORTALITY RATE FOR HIGH-TECH START-UPS IS VERY HIGH

COMPARED TO OTHER INDUSTRIES. MR. MORGAN'S EXPERIENCE

LIES IN THE VERY STABLE AND WELL-ENTRENCHED TOBBACO INDUSTRY:

IT'S A REPLACEMENT MARKET WITH TEENAGERS REPLACING THE

LUNG-CANCERED OLDSTERS.

 

 

CIGGIES AND GAMES

ARE SORT OF THE SAME...

LITTLE SQUARE BOXES

THAT TEENIES GET HOOKED ON.

 

WHAT THIS ALL BOILS DOWN TO FROM AN "ENGINEERING"

POINT-OF-VIEW IS THAT IT'S PROBABLY TIME TO GET ON

THE VAX AND UPDATE THE RESUME. AND CONSIDERING THAT

THE REST OF THE INDUSTRY IS NOW IN THE 16-BIT AND 32-BIT

WORLD, IT MIGHT BE A GOOD IDEA TO ENROLL IN A FEW GRADUATE

COURSES. ( HOWARD SAMS JUST DOESN'T CUT IT ANYMORE ).

 

FOR THOSE OF US WHO ARE RECIEVING BONUS-SLPITS,

IT MAKES SENSE TO GET LAYED OFF RATHER THAN QUIT, BECAUSE

IF YOU GET LAYED OFF, YOU ARE LEGALLY ENTITLED TO ALL

BONUS MONEY THAT YOU WOULD HAVE GOTTEN HAD YOUR EMPLOYMENT

CONTINUED AT ATARI.

 

... HOWEVER, THINGS MAY GET SO BAD HERE IN THE NEAR FUTURE

THAT IT WILL BE BETTER JUST TO QUIT ...

 

Not only does he rap on the E.T. cart burial, but he pokes fun at the Teenies.. :-) Hilarious.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

So hey, there are two different versions of Millipede floating around?  Is the General Computer translation currently available on the Internet, and it so, how does their version and Atari's compare?

Hope that helps.

milpede__atari___prototype_.zip

[Stella'sGhost]

Interesting. The stupid thing is that this kind o"rush to market" mentality is still going on.

 

Where I worked over the summer doing CBT's, for Microsoft none the less, we had a meeting one day, turns out our bosses wanted 40 courses done in about 2 months. (It takes 2 weeks just to do one).The lot of us developers just just looked at each other and thought, WHAA???? Are you guys crazy?? What ever happend to Quality Assurance??...Yeah, we can finish them, they just won't work....

[Tempest]

Here are a few more tidbits I gleened from those Vax mails...

 

800 or 5200 Millipede

 

Well enough of that, I want to get back on the subject of good news. Months ago I also reviewed a Millipede for the 800 (or 5200 I don't remember). I sent my comments back and just last week received a letter back for Richard Frick thanking me and giving me a list of changes they have implemented. When I talked to him he recalled when the comments came back and how the programmer grumbled about doing any more changes. However after the changes were made the programmer has become very excited about the new program. Now ISN'T that a heart warming story. It sure made my week. I hope we see more cooperation like that in the future.

 

Ed Logg

February 1, 1984

 

Crystal Castles

 

I shouldn't forget the tremendous importance of quality animation and sounds. Our truly amazing animators and equally astounding sound effects and music people deserve much more credit (this includes royalties) than they are presently getting (note Barry's message). Without Barbara Singh, Bentley Bear would still be a robot. And the gem-eaters would still be dropping their pants.

 

Franz X Lanzinger

Feb. 3, 1984

 

 

 

Atari Quality

 

The Quality of 2600 carts is the pits - no doubt about it. The system was introduced in 1977 so it is SEVEN years old. I think Breakout and Space Invaders are decent renditions of the coin-op originals and those are 1976 and 1979 games respectively. But with 14 million 2600's out there, financial issues outweigh asthetic issues.

 

Chris Downend

Feb. 1, 1984

 

 

 

There were also mentions of the Challenger shuttle explosion in there. Talk about history!

 

Tempest