Major Havoc 2049 Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 Hopefully the rumors of TxK coming to Steam soon are true. I would love to play TxK on my PC. The Vita is dying a quick death. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 Shame too - I love my Vita and its glorious OLED screen. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
108 Stars Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 It's because so many people prefered to wait for PC versions or other ports instead of actually buying the system that offers so much. Hell, TxK will never look as good on most PC screens as on the great OLED. But well, death is not the right word for it. Vita will live on, but the idea of it being a portable system for AAA games will not. If you like indie games or Japanese niche games, Vita will still be a great option; but of course, that is not for everyone. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinkoVitch Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 Plus Vita got ResoGun now too! Soo many games on my Vita to play! love my little box of funs 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Dangerous Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 Just remembered Tempest 2k is on Saturn and I just got one (again.) Any reason to pick it up? It looked (from youtube) to be about the same as the Jag version. Is that the case? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeoGeoNinja Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 I spoke to 'Giles' (is it?) at REPLAY at Blackpool in May and he indicated that he had a separate team working on bringing TxK to BOTH PS3 & PS4! As a PS3 owner with neither PSV or PS4, my fingers are firmly crossed!... Just thought I'd bring this up again, just in case Jeff happens to stop by and could (perhaps?) confirm or deny what's happening with any/either home console versions? The money for a PS3 download is just sitting here. Poised. In anticipation 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost Dragon Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 I find myself in exactly the same position mate.PSN pre-paid card sat here untouched, earmarked for PS3 Minter goodness.But heard nothing....fingers still tightly crossed mind. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Dangerous Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 (edited) Just thought I'd bring this up again, just in case Jeff happens to stop by and could (perhaps?) confirm or deny what's happening with any/either home console versions? The money for a PS3 download is just sitting here. Poised. In anticipation Same, I will never own a ps4 or a vita so keeping my fingers crossed for a PS3 release as well...if not oh well. I really wanted to play Space Giraffe but I wasn't about to buy a 360 just for that game Edited February 7, 2015 by travistouchdown 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Major Havoc 2049 Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 Space Giraffe is on Steam. Sounds like a PC version of TxK is a go, but no mention of the PS4 version. Sounds like that might be off. https://mobile.twitter.com/llamasoft_ox/status/552100858885050369 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost Dragon Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 Once the game backlog i have on PS3 dries up, PS4 drops in price (maybe a PS4 Slim?) and depending on how Bloodbourne turns out, i'll probably end up buying a PS4 at some point, but if it's even in 2015 i'd be surprised, so i kinda really 'need' TxK'...badly. As for Space Giraffe, had demo sat on my 360 HDD for months, keep going back to see if this time i 'get it', each time come away just shaking my head.Seems to lack the purity of Tempest 2000 and i personally put it up there with Defender 2000 as some of Jeff's weakest output on the later era hardware, when Jeff nails it (Llamatron, Tempest 2000 etc, he really nails it) but often he seems to throw too much in, less sometimes is better... Just my personal viewpoint, we each have our own tastes, be bland old world otherwise :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sh3-rg Posted February 7, 2015 Author Share Posted February 7, 2015 Space Giraffe is on Steam. Sounds like a PC version of TxK is a go, but no mention of the PS4 version. Sounds like that might be off. https://mobile.twitter.com/llamasoft_ox/status/552100858885050369 It's Sony, they're never that great at scheduling releases of games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JagChris Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Once the game backlog i have on PS3 dries up, PS4 drops in price (maybe a PS4 Slim?) and depending on how Bloodbourne turns out, i'll probably end up buying a PS4 at some point, but if it's even in 2015 i'd be surprised, so i kinda really 'need' TxK'...badly. As for Space Giraffe, had demo sat on my 360 HDD for months, keep going back to see if this time i 'get it', each time come away just shaking my head.Seems to lack the purity of Tempest 2000 and i personally put it up there with Defender 2000 as some of Jeff's weakest output on the later era hardware, when Jeff nails it (Llamatron, Tempest 2000 etc, he really nails it) but often he seems to throw too much in, less sometimes is better... Just my personal viewpoint, we each have our own tastes, be bland old world otherwise :-) I don't think D2K was his fault. I watched a video where he stated one of the Atari producers made him make the sprites/ships bigger and have the screen be multi-level in depth. But yeah as for putting too much in I agree. I think that is why the Jaguar VLM is better than the newer incarnations. He seemed to throw everything he could out at you in the later ones at all times rather than when appropriate IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JagChris Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 I just took T2K for a spin. Yeah I'm still stuck at level 63. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 I bought my Vita for TxK. I bought my XBox 360 for Space Giraffe. I bought my Nuon for Tempest 3000 and VLM2. I bought my Jag CD for VLM. I bought my Jaguar for Tempest 2000. See a pattern here? Minter costs me big bucks 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost Dragon Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 @JagChris:Whilst with Defender 2000, i kinow Atari wanted big sprites as that's what they thought people 'expected' of a CD game, which it was originally intended to be, Jeff's honest enough to admit he's no graphics designer and i look back at his earlier efforts and see things like: Andes Attack and Defender 2 (ST) and Attack Of The Mutant Camels'89 (Konix Multisystem) and it just appears to be a trait of Minters and i've personally never taken to any attempt at anything Defender-ish Minter has had a crack at, which is odd as he loves the coin-op. Archer M.seemed to nail it with A8 Dropzone, so i'd personally see him attempt a modern take on Defender over Jeff any day.No offence meant to Jeff personally, i just don't find his vision of what a modern Defender should be matches mine, never have over the years. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JagChris Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 @JagChris:Whilst with Defender 2000, i kinow Atari wanted big sprites as that's what they thought people 'expected' of a CD game, which it was originally intended to be, Jeff's honest enough to admit he's no graphics designer and i look back at his earlier efforts and see things like: I am just telling you what he said in the google vid I seen a few years ago. I'll have to find it again sometime. It's the same video where he claimed John Mathieson came up with him after Tempest 2000 was done and told him that he was disappointed in Jeffs effort and really came down on him about it. And then later on as you quoted John talked out of the other side of his mouth about it and praised Minter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost Dragon Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 Without looking, i'm pretty sure Jeff was quoted in Edge's look at the Jaguar CD drive talking about Atari wanting big sprites for Defender 2K, along with how he planned to use the storage capacity to put FMV interviews with coin-op designers etc on as bonus material.It's def.Edge's Making Of Tempest 2K where he talks about being told off for coding the Jaguar chips 'backwards', which as you rightly say, John has seemingly now forgotten he ever said and now praises Minter's work on Jaguar. I guess you'd have to get 1 to put the question to the other to get that sorted and even then all you'd get is a standard-it's so long ago, i honestly don't remember saying that. Jeff only seems to respond to Tweets (cue clearing up that B.S claim about Lynx Ultra Star Raiders), not emails, so someone might like to tweet him regarding the issues raised?. Big ships in his Defender games (why?) and what John said then and what he said now?. I'm not on Twitter and have enough questions out with folks on interviews as is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost Dragon Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 :-) I just know what's worked better in terms of modern takes on Defender over the years and it's never been any of Jeff's work, for myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Major Havoc 2049 Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 I'm all over the map when it comes to Defender 2000, as sometimes I think it is a solid unique experience and other times I don't think it's that great. It's definitely not as good as Tempest 2000 though. I do enjoy Classic Defender and Defender Plus on the cart. I also really enjoy Defender II on the Atari ST, with Defender, Stargate and Defender II. Controlling a side scrolling shmup with a mouse and keyboard sounds like a horrible idea, but I'll give kudos to Minter for making it work surprisingly well on the ST. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sh3-rg Posted March 18, 2015 Author Share Posted March 18, 2015 Well it's all gone to shit... Be sure to tell "Atari" exactly what you think of them at your soonest convenience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost Dragon Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 http://vrfocus.com/archives/12942/vr-versions-txk-seemingly-cancelled-dev-cites-copyright-issues-atari/ The issue relates all the way back to Tempest 2000, a 1994 remake of the original Tempest that had been designed by Minter and published by Atari. Both titles have players survive for as long as possible as they clear the screen of enemies by travelling back and forth of a set line. Minter himself notes that the title is a ‘distantly related sequel’ but expressed frustration that other titles clearly inspired by Tempest 2000 remain untouched. “Heartbreaking TBH. Atari was my inspiration and creating one of their great games a high point in my career,” the developer later wrote. “That their name is now owned by strangers who actively want to destroy me is beyond sickening. So utterly disappointed.” Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost Dragon Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 It's days like these that i just get that feeling of utter loathing for the industry i've supported for over 35 years now, it feels utterly souless at times.So many promising projects just killed off before they had a chance to shine...... So those PSN points i've had saved for so long are now a waste of time, no chance of TxK appearing on PS3 or PS4...... Yet another OMG, that'd be like amazing on VR project, shot down and just more entries for future Lost Games for Unseen64 etc. Actually do feel bloody gutted at hearing this... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterG Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Well it's all gone to shit... Be sure to tell "Atari" exactly what you think of them at your soonest convenience. sorry to hear that. Sounds like newest Atari is also full of bad decisions. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sh3-rg Posted March 18, 2015 Author Share Posted March 18, 2015 (edited) Check this out, offers more insight: http://pastebin.com/AxmcXHet text:This has been going on behind the scenes for a while now. I'd kept it on the down low all this time because I had hoped we could maybe work something out, maybe "Atari" would commission an officially licensed version from us; we made it clear we'd be willing to negotiate about that sort of thing. I even thought maybe they might be interested in my doing updated versions of some of the other Atari IP. After all i do have a track record of doing decent reworkings of old games like theirs and I'd've really enjoyed a crack at some of those old things. However they never gave an inch and just continued with threats and bullying. Specifically they had their lawyers present a number of legal accusations about a variety of things; we consulted a lawyer who told us that if we wanted to fight against it then it'd be expensive because we'd need to address separately each of the things they were accusing me of. The accusations were addressed not only to Llamasoft as a company but also directed at me personally. Basically most of it came down to "looks like Tempest 2000", and it included such gems as: - in order to create TxK I must have had access to, and stolen secrets from, Atari's source code, in order to steal the work of the other people who worked on Tempest 2000. (I *wrote* the source code for Tempest 2000, and didn't need to refer to it at all to create TxK, even if I still had it. The only other people who worked on the game were Joby Woods who did bitmaps (TxK has no bitmaps apart from one 64x64 graduated dot) and the Imagitec musicians (TxK has neither a modplayer nor any of Imagitec's music). So I stole my own work out of my own brain I guess.- The soundtrack to TxK sounds identical to the soundtrack of Tempest 2000. (In fact the TxK soundtrack is entirely original and highly acclaimed; it won a Develop award and went to #1 on Bandcamp).- The player ship can jump. Apparently Atari owns jumping.- There is an AI Droid in TxK. Yes there is, and there has been an AI Droid in almost every game I've made since Llamatron. Which I made 3 years before Tempest 2000. The AI Droid is a staple of my design style.- I deliberately set out to cash in on Atari's copyrighted Tempest name (by giving my game a deliberately obscure name of TxK).- I deliberately set out to cash in on Atari's stellar reputation by associating my game with their illustrious name. (I never mentioned Atari at all as the last thing I really wanted was for Llamasoft to be associated with the undead Atari responsible for turning Star Raiders into a fucking slot machine). All abject bollocks, but set up legally so as to be expensive for anyone to contest. Even just going back and forth a few times with letters responding to their threats ended up running up a couple of grand in legal bills, and there is simply no way on God's earth I can afford any kind of a legal battle. I think they thought I was somehow making loads and loads of money on the Vita version of TxK, I guess because it did garner excellent reviews and a bit of positive press. But the Vita isn't a massive market, TxK made back it's development advance and a bit more and that was it. They kept hassling us and eventually I sent them sales statements so that they could see for themselves that we weren't getting super rich out of it. I even tried to point out that if there was any serious money to be made out of it it would likely be from the ports we were making, and that we were willing to negotiate about obtaining "official" branding for, if it meant they could at least be released, but we were met with nothing more than intransigence. Even after having shown them that, they are still trying to insist that I remove from sale Vita TxK (even though it's plainly at the end of its run now and only brings in a trickle these days) and sign papers basically saying I can never make a Tempest style game ever again. So no chance of releasing the ports. Wouldn't it be nice if there were actually some kind of precedent set that determined how different a game had to be to be considered a different game legally? Well, it just so happens there is, and it involves Tempest 2000 and Atari! Do you remember there was a Playstation port of Tempest 2000 called "Tempest X"? I always wondered why the name was changed, and other little aspects of the gameplay were altered. years later I managed to chat online with the guy who did the port, and he told me that the changes were made "to reduce the royalty burden". How so? Well, my original arrangement with Atari was that I was to receive a royalty on any ports of Tempest 2000. "Tempest X" was made exactly enough different that it would be legally considered a different game, cutting me out of any royalties. Now Tempest X: - was derived from my source code;- had exactly the same soundtrack;- used the same kind of powerup progression as Tempest 2000;- had a changed name, some extra background effects, and some different web shapes;- but was close enough to Tempest 2000 that *Tempest 2000 was available as a hidden unlockable by entering a specific word into the highscore table*. (Furry friends will be amused to hear that that word was "yiff"). Yet now "Atari" claim that TxK is in fact *closer* legally to Tempest 2000 than Tempest X was. Edited March 18, 2015 by sh3-rg 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Dangerous Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Anyone have a corporate PR email where we can send some furious hate mail? Sucks big time at any rate.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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