DracIsBack Posted October 29, 2003 Share Posted October 29, 2003 "Time Lords of Xantic" Tempest and Ferris, do you have any contacts at the former Atari Corp who might be able to shed some light into the history of this game? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferris Posted October 29, 2003 Share Posted October 29, 2003 I have been asking about that title for about 7 years. So far, no one seems to recall that title, but it still could be a possibility. I never count anything out unless an employee, a vendor, or a piece of paperwork downright denies that it was ever developed or states that it is definately a rumor. I haven't had confirmation either way on this title. Maybe Tempest has had some better luck?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted October 29, 2003 Share Posted October 29, 2003 For a fleeting second, I thought we might be able to find these games as I mistook Imagitec for Imagineering. Well I'll be dipped, I was wrong. Rampart and Pit Fighter were being developed by Imagitec Design Toki was being developed by Images Steel Talons and Road Riot were being developed by Tiertex Time Lords of Xantic" Tempest and Ferris, do you have any contacts at the former Atari Corp who might be able to shed some light into the history of this game? Nope. None of my friends were there for the 7800 days, they were all 2600, 5200, 8-bit programmers. However according to the DP guide the programmer was James V. Zalewski (of Planet Smashers fame). The entry talks like they've had contact with the programmer, so he's out there. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agent X Posted October 30, 2003 Share Posted October 30, 2003 Whatever happened to Absolute Entertainment/Imagineering? Absolute Entertainment closed up shop in late 1995 or early 1996. I had a friend who worked there as a tester for a short while' date=' and left a few weeks before they closed. He was a tester on some games like [b']RDF Global Conflict[/b] for Sega CD, Rise of the Robots for 3DO, and Penn and Teller's Smoke and Mirrors for Sega CD. Rise of the Robots for 3DO was the last game that they officially released. The Penn and Teller game was never released. He said that was a pretty fun project, except for having to test the "Desert Bus" portion of the game. That part was intended as a joke for the gamer, but it was an utter chore for the testers. It was meant to simulate an eight-hour drive of a bus through a desert--in realtime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferris Posted October 30, 2003 Share Posted October 30, 2003 Agent X - How closely tied was Absolute to Activision? I always thought that Absolute was some sort of subsidary of Activision... I've never really been too sure about that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agent X Posted October 30, 2003 Share Posted October 30, 2003 They had some ties to Activision, and had a lot of ex-Activision programmers, but they weren't a subsidiary of Activision. Back in the days when they did 2600 and 7800 games, I think their games were distributed by Activision. They also did some programming for Activision, Atari, and other companies. They used the name Imagineering for games they developed for other companies (for example, Double Dragon for 7800, which I actually liked a lot). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferris Posted October 30, 2003 Share Posted October 30, 2003 See, that all makes sense to me. Everything they touched wreaked of Activision's fingerprints. The cartridge shells were nearly identical, the programing style was similar, and their games were generally fun. And yes, I liked Double Dragon too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DracIsBack Posted October 30, 2003 Share Posted October 30, 2003 See' date=' that all makes sense to me. Everything they touched wreaked of Activision's fingerprints. The cartridge shells were nearly identical, the programing style was similar, and their games were generally fun. And yes, I liked Double Dragon too. [/quote'] I liked Double Dragon too - I've beaten it a million and one times ... LOL. But as a programming effort, it was kind of ... half-assed. :-( I mean, compare the job SCULPTURED SOFTWARE did on COMMANDO to what IMAGINEERING did on DOUBLE DRAGON. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferris Posted October 30, 2003 Share Posted October 30, 2003 I know what you mean about it being half-assed. I was just excited at the time that a significant title like that was even available for the 7800. It would have been much better if they would have put in a little more time and thought into the project. But there are a lot of half-assed games that I'm a big fan of. E.T. is one of my favorite games for the 2600. ....seriously... and Jinks for the 7800 isnt half bad either. At least once you get the hang of it. It's sorta like Breakout on acid minus the paddles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DracIsBack Posted October 30, 2003 Share Posted October 30, 2003 To be honest, I also found RAMPAGE even more half-assed. The colours chosen, the lack of detail ... that made the 7800 look really wimpy. It also bugged me when Activision took out that ad saying their games featured "the best ever graphics and sound for the Atari [7800]" Yeah - right. I'll pit RAMPAGE and DOUBLE DRAGON against ALIEN BRIGADE and TOWER TOPPLER any day. :-) I felt that, as far as arcade ports went, COMMANDO, XENOPHOBE and KLAX were much stronger efforts than DD and RAMPAGE. IKARI WARRIOS was a stronger effort from Absolute though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferris Posted October 30, 2003 Share Posted October 30, 2003 Just wait till we get to see Electrocop. It is supposed to be extreemly impressive. As for Rampage, I feel your pain. I didn't get a copy of Rampage until I had already been used to playing it on the Lynx. When I saw it on the 7800 I literally turned off the 7800 and took out the cartridge to make sure I didn't get a 2600 cartridge by mistake. The 7800 is capable of much more than the NES was, but as usual there was another big let-down. Fatal Run? They should have ported Roadblasters and done it correctly. Then again there are those times when I'm playing Impossible Mission and I marvel at how smoothly the secret agent man leaps across the screen and basically performs ballet as he searches for more pieces of the puzzle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted October 30, 2003 Share Posted October 30, 2003 Then again there are those times when I'm playing Impossible Mission and I marvel at how smoothly the secret agent man leaps across the screen and basically performs ballet as he searches for more pieces of the puzzle. Isn't it about time someone released a bug fixed version of that game? Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferris Posted October 30, 2003 Share Posted October 30, 2003 I have been sitting on one for a year. It has been supplied to me on the condition that I keep a low profile on the development and not reveal the source who supplied me with the correction. There are some legal situations being worked out with the folks who own Epyx right now. Hopefully everything will be fine and the cartridges will be produced by a vendor (not Atari 7800.com) and distributed to other interested vendors. If we can get permission from the individual who placed all his time and effort into this fix, the rom would certainly be released. It's his decision though so there's not much I can do. At least we got the bug fixed. *shruggs* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted October 30, 2003 Share Posted October 30, 2003 Just out of curiosity, was it a simple fix or was it complicated? I have visions of the problem being a missed variable or something. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferris Posted October 30, 2003 Share Posted October 30, 2003 I didn't do the fix myself. I was working on one for some time, but back then I didn't understand the 7800 as well as I should have to be working on it. When this fix was presented to me, I just gave up on the one I was working on. It appears to be fairly complicated, but doable. Let me see if I can get permission to get this fix released. I know that there are a lot of people out there anxious for an Impossible Mission fix. Thing is, like I said its not *MY* fix... I just have permission to get it published on a cartridge, and that's only if I can get things cleared up with the people who bought Epyx. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MegaManFan Posted October 30, 2003 Share Posted October 30, 2003 Who owns Epyx now anyway? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferris Posted October 31, 2003 Share Posted October 31, 2003 Who owns Epyx now anyway? I can't remember the exact name off of the top of my head. I think the name of the company is Breckenridge Books or Brickstone Books or something. They are a company based out of Toronto, Ontario that publishes educational text books for Canadian schools. They aren't in the software business at all, so I'm not sure why they bought the rights to Epyx. They also own the rights to Starpath and the Starpath Supercharger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+davidcalgary29 Posted October 31, 2003 Share Posted October 31, 2003 I had understood that Epyx had been absorbed by Bridgestone Multimedia, a California company which specializes in Christian videos and the like. Their website seems to be inoperative. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferris Posted October 31, 2003 Share Posted October 31, 2003 Are they Christian? I wasnt aware of that. I thought they were just educational. Either way, it's some sort of book publishing and literary resource company up in Toronto. They will allow for these cartridges to be manufactured but money must be raised to pay for all of the legal fees. The company has been pretty cool so far. I'm guessing the guys who did the Starpath Supercharger CD roms had to negotiate with this same company. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+davidcalgary29 Posted November 1, 2003 Share Posted November 1, 2003 Take a look at page 30 of the October '89 issue of "The Atarian". There's some pretty strange titles listed for many systems by the "Video Game Club". All of the XE titles listed are pretty much known to exist, although "Nebulus" is listed along with "Tower Toppler" as a title. "Ninja Golf" is listed in the "preview" section earlier in the mag, though, and I haven't heard anything about that. Vaporware? And those 7800 titles? "Sea Hawk", "Sea Hunt", "Spider Droid", "Night of the Ninja"...hmm. I'm sure some of those titles are actually 2600 games, but still... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MegaManFan Posted November 2, 2003 Share Posted November 2, 2003 Sea Hunt Spider Droid Umm those sound like 2600 Froggo games to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slapdash Posted November 4, 2003 Share Posted November 4, 2003 Some quick comments... I could swear I've seen UFO as a Froggo game, not an Atari one... Black Lamp was an old C64 game I think -- I was actually in contact with someone who worked with someone who was supposedly porting it to the 2600; but seeing this list, perhaps they meant 7800 instead. Sadly, I can't reach the guy who was working on it, and my contact is deceased. "Wood & Water Rage"... Wasn't that the subtitle of one of the NES surfing games? T&C Surf Designs or something? I think that was confusion in a list rather than an alternate title to White Water Madness, though possibly the company planned the game for both? Dunno. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted November 4, 2003 Share Posted November 4, 2003 I could swear I've seen UFO as a Froggo game, not an Atari one... Yeah that's what I thought, but the DP guide lists it as an Atari title. I can't believe Atari would ever release something by Froggo... Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferris Posted November 4, 2003 Share Posted November 4, 2003 The Digital Press is wrong. WHAT? ...Yes, it's true kids. The Digital Press is *not* infallible. They actually made what I believe to be an error... or at least a typo. UFO was announced by Froggo. It is a Froggo game. If I am wrong I will eat my words and make a public apology for my arrogant and dismissive attitude towards what the DP says on this matter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted November 4, 2003 Share Posted November 4, 2003 The Digital Press is *not* infallible. Blasphemy! Seize the heretic! Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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