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Team Pixelboy News Bulletin - May 15th 2022


Pixelboy

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Hello ColecoVision amigos! :)

 

I have several different things to talk about today, so let's get started!

 


VAPORWARE OF THE HARDWARE KIND

 

I regret to inform you all that the Asteroids Controller for ColecoVision is now a cancelled project. Doubledown has been absent from the ColecoVision scene since July 2021, and has given me no signs of life since then. I even sent him an old-fashion paper letter by snail mail last December and even that didn't spark a reply from him. Therefore, I have to assume that either something bad happened to doubledown (Covid? I certainly hope not...) or that he has decided to drop out of the project entirely without consulting me (wouldn't be the first time this has happened to me...). So I have begun sending refunds to everyone who sent me a 50$ deposit for their pre-ordered Asteroids Controller. If you're one of those people, check your junk/spam box if you haven't seen my e-mail on the subject.

 

At least I was able to deliver great ColecoVision versions of Asteroids and Star Castle, thanks to the stellar (pun intended) efforts of Mystery Man. :) And while we're on the subject of Asteroids, I've got a question for you all: The ColecoVision version can be played in color or in plain black-and-white (for a more "arcade" experience) and the YouTube video below shows Asteroids being played in color, but with white sprites! How the heck did that happen? I never saw anything like that while I was beta-testing the game myself. Could it has something to do with the game being played on the CollectorVision Phoenix? Let me know if you have any info on this. 

 

 

 


KEEPING UP WITH THE TRADING CARD SERIES

 

Progress on the European series of trading cards is going well, as I have only 27 game card templates to complete before I can place my order with the card printing company. However, I've changed my project planning a little bit. You see, I was counting on doubledown to get me pictures of consoles, modules and controllers to be used on the back of the cards for the "Hardware" series. With doubledown going M.I.A., I had to come up with a plan B, which goes into effect starting today.

 

My goal is to have two sets of trading cards printed this year, namely the European series (100 cards) and also an upgrade pack which will contain these cards:

 

- 10 North-American hardware cards 
- 10 European hardware cards
- 17 cards of homebrew boxes (created by Greg Off) of legacy commercial games

 

The 10 North-American hardware cards and the 17 homebrew box cards are meant to be added to the 173 cards of the previously-released North-American series, in order to reach an exact count of 200 cards. If someone bought the North-American series and is not interested in the European series, I can leave out the European hardware cards and just sell the other 27 cards of the upgrade pack, at a reduced price of course. :)

 

But there's a slight problem with this plan: I have the box pictures I need for the front sides of all the hardware cards, but I still need to get the pictures for the back sides! I have a couple of options: I can try to find images of hardware (like ads in old magazines) that look good enough for my needs, or I can try to find someone who can do the job that doubledown was supposed to do. This job is simply to get hardware pictures on a white background, like the example I attached at the bottom of this post.

 

Whoever volunteers for this second option needs to have good lighting equipment (i.e. strong lamps) and a good camera in order to snap professional-looking pictures. If you can help me with this, please contact me ASAP! I need to get these back-of-card pictures done in all deliberate speed if I'm going to get the European and upgrade pack cards printed together this fall!

 

Some of you may recall that, in a previous news bulletin, I posted a list of Canadian boxes which I was still looking for. Since posting that list, I found and scanned several Canadian boxes on my own, including some that I was not expecting to discover, like the Canadian boxes of Carnival and Gateway To Apshai. Anyway, I'm still looking for the following Canadian (English/French) editions, so if you happen to own copies of them and are willing to scan them for me, please send me a PM:

 

- Gorf
- Space Panic
- Subroc
- Time Pilot
- BurgerTime
- Ken Uston Blackjack / Poker
- Tarzan
- Root Beer Tapper
- Fortune Builder
- Smurf - Paint 'n Play Workshop
- Frogger
- Super Cobra

 

To close off this portion of the news bulletin, I want to mention that I still have 16 unsold sets of the North-American series of trading cards. Each set is 48.95$, plus shipping fees. Contact me if you're interested in buying a set.

 


AND WHAT ABOUT UPCOMING GAMES?

 

On the ColecoVision homebrew software side of things, everything is going mostly according to plan. Space Shuttle passed the beta-testing phase and is practically ready for release. Mystery Man recently finished Arabian and the game is now being tested, debugged and tweaked. After Arabian is done, all that will be left to do will be to revisit and finish the single-player-versus-CPU mode in Utopia, and I'm hoping to have that done, with the invaluable assistance of Mystery Man, by the end of summer. So unless something wild happens, all three games should be released in December as planned.

 

This concludes this Team Pixelboy News Bulletin. We now return you to your regular forum activities. ;) 
 

em1_picture_example.png

Edited by Pixelboy
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58 minutes ago, Aaron Spinks said:

I am interested in the North-American series of trading cards. How can I get a set?

I replied to the PM you sent me, but for the general record, one can order a deck of trading cards by sending me an e-mail at pixelboy at teampixelboy dot com.  :)

 

 

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Quick updates:

 

I've had several people point me to a recent obituary for Michael Dullum. First of all, last I heard, doubledown lives in Ohio, not Indiana, and I don't recall him ever mentioning that he had a thing for Hot Wheel toy cars. So I don't think it's doubledown, but I suppose I could be wrong. I recall doing a similar search last year and finding another deceased Michael Dullum, but I don't think it was him either.

 

Secondly, thanks to our good friend Ivan (is he an actual registered member here? I forget...) I now have many less Canadian boxes to track down. I'm down to only these:

 

- BurgerTime
- Root Beer Tapper
- Smurf - Paint 'n Play Workshop
- Super Cobra

 

Thanks Ivan!  :D

 

 

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On 5/17/2022 at 8:05 AM, Pixelboy said:

Another quick update: Thanks to Ivan (again) I'm down to these three Canadian boxes which I'm still looking for:

 

- BurgerTime
- Root Beer Tapper
- Smurf - Paint 'n Play Workshop

 

I'll check my collection for these.

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Thanks for the updates!  I also appreciate the refund on the Asteroids controller,  and not to get too into it, but it came at a good time in my life.  I really worry something has happened to doubledown...If you hear anything, hopefully you can keep us updated.

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2 hours ago, NIAD said:

 He disappeared from AtariAge for almost a decade before, so hopefully it's just a case where life is really busy for him now or he has lost interest and needs to recharge.

As far as I'm concerned, when he accepted the deposits from all the people who pre-ordered Asteroids Controllers, he automatically inherited a responsibility to keep those people updated, starting with me. I don't care if he lost interest or if he needs to recharge, it doesn't take ten billion calories to write an e-mail and keep us (or at least me) up to date on the situation.

 

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12 hours ago, Pixelboy said:

As far as I'm concerned, when he accepted the deposits from all the people who pre-ordered Asteroids Controllers, he automatically inherited a responsibility to keep those people updated, starting with me. I don't care if he lost interest or if he needs to recharge, it doesn't take ten billion calories to write an e-mail and keep us (or at least me) up to date on the situation.

 

Yep, he put you in a bad spot and don’t read into my previous post that I was defending or excusing him because I was not.

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On 5/17/2022 at 2:05 PM, Pixelboy said:

Another quick update: Thanks to Ivan (again) I'm down to these three Canadian boxes which I'm still looking for:

 

- BurgerTime
- Root Beer Tapper
- Smurf - Paint 'n Play Workshop

 

Thanks Luc, I'm happy to have been able to help you??

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2 hours ago, UANITO said:

Thanks Luc, I'm happy to have been able to help you??

And thanks again for the Smurf - Paint 'n Play Workshop Canadian box scan! Now I'm down to:

 

- BurgerTime

- Root Beer Tapper

 

... which are pretty elusive, but I'm hoping to get lucky over the course of this year.  :)

 

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  • 1 month later...

Hello everyone.  :)

 

Quick update: I recently finished the templates of all the cards of the European Series, and I am currently working on the hardware cards. 

 

I have a question for ADAM experts: Can anyone point me to a full list of all the "accessories" that come with the stand-alone ADAM (manuals, DDPs, one or two beige controllers, daisy wheels, etc.)? And does the Expansion Module #3 come with the exact same accessories (aside from the "underbelly plastic tray")?

 

To close this update, I just want to mention that in terms of boxes of legacy commercial items, I am still missing only five items:

 

- Canadian box of BurgerTime
- Canadian box of Root Beer Tapper
- Adam Family Computer (Canadian version)
- Expansion Module #2 (Canadian version)
- Expansion Module #3 (Canadian version)

 

These items are all pictured below, just to prove that they actually exist. :)

 

Thanks in advance for any help, guys!
 

adam_standalone_canada.jpeg

burgertime_canada.jpg

expansion_module_2_canadian.jpg

expansion_module_3_canadian.jpg

tapper box canada.jpg

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4 minutes ago, rietveld said:

Here is my expansion 3 Canadian box

Ah! Very good! But in order to use the box image for the trading card, I need a picture taken straight from the top of the box, with no light glare whatsoever. Do you think you could manage that somehow?  :)

 

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