Anyone Know What This Is?

[+intvsteve]

On 6/8/2020 at 7:35 AM, wolfy62 said:

Speaking of corporate goals that don't work well if taken literally:  At my previous job, management set a goal for our business to grow at twice the rate of our competitors.  I asked what I thought was an obvious question:  "What they're declining?"  I know I sure don't want 2⨉ a negative growth rate...

Reminds me of when former employer unveiled new bonus formula that changed a formula from ADDING two numbers that were ratios capped at 1 to values that were slightly differently computed but MULTIPLIED.  To a room full of engineers. Sure the numbers were no longer capped at 1 but over the next 15 years guess how many times they approached a number even approaching 0.25?

 

I think a few bodies were never recovered from the snark avalanche that ensued. 

[+intvsteve]

8 minutes ago, intvnut said:

That was my guess too.  The "vanishing point" effect and what not just amplify it.  It fits well with the early Keyboard Component marketing video, back when Space Battle was still Battlestar Galactica.

Yeah. Maybe 1978. Superman: the Movie was big and had that vanishing point style in the credits.

[Zendocon]

1 hour ago, intvnut said:

Are you sure that wasn't on one of the CDs or maybe a video?  I tried finding that anecdote looking at both the Intellivision Lives! Blue Sky section, and the much older Making It Blue Sky section, over at archive.org.  I tried a few date ranges, but no luck.  You might have better luck than I did.

It was definitely on the original BSR site when it was hosted on makingit.com.  Back in 1997, I spent quite a few evenings poring over all the information in the History section.  There was information about what was going on within Mattel Electronics at the time.  The "people" subsection is close, but that wasn't it.  It must have been taken down before it was archived.  There was also a page at the beginning, encouraging people to join the upcoming indie scene and becoming "Next-Generation Blue Sky Rangers."

 

I tried firing up my Lives! CD to see if the old information might be on there.  Of course, I can't run it.  I'll see if I can find a Win XP computer to run it on.

[+fdr4prez]

1 hour ago, Zendocon said:

I'll see if I can find a Win XP computer to run it on.

I have a WinXP computer sitting in the corner - all lonely and dejected. 

 

It needs some Lives! CD luv'n

Edited June 10, 2020 by fdr4prez

[Zendocon]

I dug through the earliest archived version of the makingit BSR site as well as the Lives! CD, and haven't found it yet.  Now this is turning into a scavenger hunt.  I was happy to see though that @Carl Mueller Jr is recognized on there, along with William Moeller and Scott Nudds for their work on the first cart dumper.  The ROM image of Triple Challenge is probably from my cartridge.

On 6/5/2020 at 5:22 PM, JasonlikesINTV said:

My company is currently all about velocity.  It's a customer focused approach to shift the paradigm while focusing on core competencies ?

Somebody's been listening to Weird Al's "Mission Statement".

[intvnut]

17 hours ago, Zendocon said:

I dug through the earliest archived version of the makingit BSR site as well as the Lives! CD, and haven't found it yet.  Now this is turning into a scavenger hunt.  

I found the quote!!!  And yes, this is that block!

 

It's on Intellivision Rocks!  I ran 'strings' on all of the various multimedia files (because of course I did), and found this.

 

And the answer of "who said it" is...

 

 

Mike Minkoff

 

I'll redact the name below so you can enjoy the text without revealing the spoiler.  Hopefully it wasn't ruined for you already by an email notification.

Quote

While working for Mattel Electronics, the game developers had just a few wants: their names on game packaging, offices with windows and doors, and royalties on every cartridge sold.

Mattel responded by giving them candy jars, paperweights, and ballpoint pens.

 

To be fair, the candy jars were originally filled with, yes, candy. They were souvenirs of a May 1983 party to celebrate the rosy future of Mattel Electronics. The host of the party, President Josh Denham, would be forced to resign two months later as losses kept soaring. At least he had some candy to suck on.

 

The ballpoint pens given to the programmers were really just leftover freebies Mattel had handed out at trade shows. The pens contained erasable ink, which made them good for a few jokes about the company using them to sign royalty agreements.

 

On August 4, 1983 a major layoff wiped out half of Mattel Electronics. As a morale booster, the company gave everyone still employed a paperweight. Director [redacted] was standing with several other programmers when he received his. [redacted] read the inscription out loud: "Mattel Electronics. We've got the momentum!"

 

He then held his arm straight out and let go. He watched the paperweight drop to the floor, nodded and said, "Yep."

 

So now we know:  These paperweights were souvenirs of a May 1983 party, and part of clapping futilely for tinkerbell!

Edited June 11, 2020 by intvnut
minor wording tweaks

[+JasonlikesINTV]

Inspector Joe FTW

[intvnut]

Fun fact:  It appears Intellivision Rocks! was mastered on a Macintosh, on a hard disk (or the machine itself) named The Strand II.

The Strand II:Desktop Folder:ROCKS CD STAGING:Intellivision Rocks

I suppose that makes sense, given that Strand Cruisers was the parent of Making It.  (Something I learned while digging for that quote.)

 

And, FWIW, a hard disk (or machine) named The Strand was used for Intellivision Lives! along with some Iomega disks (Zip Disks or Jazz Drives, I imagine).  So much interesting stuff hidden in metadata.  ?

The Strand:Intellivision:Emulation:Mac Emulator:Volume2PPC1.0
Iomega Tools:Multimedia:Intellivision Movie

 

[Swami]

Definitely a lucite block from the bottom edge of Mattel Electronics you can see shining through to the bottom. Probably a potential freebie giveaway for corporate events and conventions that may or may not have been made. May have made a coffee cup or plastic coin pouch instead.

[Zendocon]

5 hours ago, intvnut said:

I found the quote!!!  And yes, this is that block!

 

It's on Intellivision Rocks!  I ran 'strings' on all of the various multimedia files (because of course I did), and found this.

It was on Rocks!?  Why didn't I think to look there too?  Well, mystery solved.  I knew I saw it somewhere.

[Sinjinhawke]

This thread made me want to look at my old Intellivision Greatest Hits CD and I notice multiple Vectron files.   Anything special about these?

 

Actually just figured it out.  M for Mac and W for Windows.  Different key assignments due to different keyboards.

Edited June 11, 2020 by Sinjinhawke
Because smart me answered my own question.

[Zendocon]

I had forgotten about those MAGUS-2 boards though until I read about them again on the old website.  I guess there's no need for them now.