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Games Entertainment

Artwork from Ancient Atari History 191

Posted by michael from the blast-from-the-past dept.
Matey-O writes: "Safestuff.com contains some early information on Atari's arcade games. Internal memos, brainstorming sessions, and artist renderings that accurately predicted what arcades would look like. (Except there seems to be a LOT more women in the arcades than I seem to recall.) The artwork has been there a while, so it's archived on the wayback machine."
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Artwork from Ancient Atari History More

Artwork from Ancient Atari History

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  • Stylin' (Score:4, Funny)

    by alexmogil ( 442209 ) on Thursday January 31, 2002 @05:14AM (#2929805) Homepage Journal
    Looking at the pictures, the arcades 'of the future' force you to wear clothes 'of the past.'
    • Actually, I'm quite disturbed to see that these styles are actually ones that are coming back. I mean, c'mon... bell bottoms, visors, platform shoes, small shirts... It's like a rave with earth tones.

      But at least those hairstyles aren't back. Dunno if I could take that.

      Maybe it's time for a retro-release of the Atari Game System?
      • You're a little off. You missed the bell bottom and visor revival by about 5 years. Right now every girl has the "Britney Spears syndrome", which requires them to show their navels (hence the small shirts).

        You've got me on the platform shoes. It's hard enough to find someone with the requisite "the girl has to be shorter than me" requirement. Now girls want to be even taller to skew the playing field.

      • I am heavily into early 80s/late 70s nostalgia. I MORE than welcome women wearing feathered hair a la Farrah Fawcett. C'mon retro, catch up!
      • Yeah, that's what caught my eye too... the disturbingly accurate portrayal of late 70's American clothing.

        I'm reminded of Denis Leary's take on that: "Here we were in the middle of the Sexual Revolution, wearing clothes that guaranteed we couldn't get laid..." And as for the 70's hairdos, I don't think today's women will go for the effort required to create/maintain them.

        The Atari working pics are great, though...tasty geek history... illustrating the concept of what video game parlors could have been, had any women actually shown up. ;)

    • Indeed! My favorite pic by far is this one [safestuff.com]. Not only is she wearing a halter-top that has a play on the word "avacado" printed on it, but she also appears to be HOLDING an avacado. God bless you, zany Japan 100%!
      • Even the game displayed in the avacado picture [safestuff.com] shows some kind of strange naivete. "Airport"? Who'd pay 25 cents to simulate being stuck in ground traffic? Oh wait, people pay hundreds of dollars for that every day.
        • The scary thing is that there is a game you can find in many arcades now that simulates flying a passenger liner. You can fail the scenario for such terrible mistakes as "drifting from the flight path", "turning too tightly", and "climbing too fast". It's by far the most boring sim I've ever seen, and yet there always seems to be someone in the chair, trying desperately to stay inside the little HUD-boxes.
          • Last saw this in Narita (Tokyo Int'l)

            Two reasons it's popular:

            1)Kid Fantasy: "I wanna be a pilot when I grow up!"

            2)Adult Fantasy/Therapy: "How hard could it be to fly one of these?" "If I can fly it then I shouldn't be so afraid of flying"

            Unlike combat and other sims the player has direct involvement in what is being simulated. (they are about to get on board an airliner which is why you see these at airports.)
      • Dude, you must be a young'un. That's no halter top, it's a *tube top*. Very big in the late '70s/early '80s.
  • ...I think scantily, fashionably clad young women and shiny brightly colored orbs.

    Wait, no, that's when I think of pr0n...

  • Archive? (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    "The artwork has been there a while, so it's archived on the wayback machine."

    Well it's still there, so what does this has to do with anything?

    • Re:Archive? (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Kargan ( 250092 )
      Erm, I could be mistaken here, but I believe that was added to help stem the inevitable Slashdot inundation.

  • Art Style (Score:3, Informative)

    by byolinux ( 535260 ) on Thursday January 31, 2002 @05:24AM (#2929824) Journal
    A similar style of art was used by the BBC [bbc.co.uk] for I love the 70's/80's/90's [bbc.co.uk] which features items talking about the significance of Space Invaders [merseyworld.com] in 1978 and Pac-Man [merseyworld.com] in 1980

    The 'blood' under most of the machines just raises yet more worry for me.
  • While I own & still do play the Arcade Atari games, I was more of a 2600/7800 gamer myself. They defined Video Games for me at a very young age, I don't think there's one person that lived through the 70's & 80's without seeing an Atari product somewhere.

    Barnstorming, River Raid, Missle Command, Boxing, Pitfall, Dig-Dug, Pacman.. These games defined a LIFETIME addiction of indulging in madly pressing buttons and screaming at a television set.
    • It's kinda interesting that half of the games you list, including the first two, weren't Atari creations at all. AFAIK, Barnstorming, River Raid, and Pitfall were all Activision games.
      • Activision was founded by Atari corps game coders/creators/artists who were mad about their name getting not mentioned on games and/or even Games title wasn't allowed to have "created by" credits.

        It may be unneeded info, but it surprised me.

        http://www.theunderdogs.org/company.php?name=Act iv ision

        Its real interesting that the natural need of respect made Activision happen and carry it to current point.

  • Those games were fun to play... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Doctor O ( 549663 ) on Thursday January 31, 2002 @05:32AM (#2929834) Homepage Journal
    ...and I have very rarely had more fun with any "modern" game than I had with my old VCS2600. Maybe it was the fact that the graphics were so bad you had to use your imagination which made the game experience so much fun. Sure, interactive movies with 5.1 sound are impressive, but mostly they aren't as fun as a good match of David Crane's "Decathlon" with two joysticks and some friends.

    • Re:Those games were fun to play... (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Eskimo Bob ( 546493 ) on Thursday January 31, 2002 @06:02AM (#2929886) Homepage Journal
      It probably has to do with the fact that all a "modern" game needs to sell an assload of copies is to look pretty. having lots of space to make things pretty sort of does that. Original 2600 games were limited to 2k in size. And, many of the standard game types weren't invented yet (the shooter, the maze game, and the porn video game were basically it, oh and the single screen platformer and racing game). To make a game sell a lot o' copies, it had to be fun, cause it looked like ass. Which is why Custer's Revenge wasn't the best selling 2600 hundred game, and many E.T. carts currently occupy a nice, big, landfill. Those 2 games sucked.

      Fun games are fun, even if they look like my ass. I'd rather play Super Breakout and Yars Revenge than most games released these days. Or even Dodge 'em.
      • It probably has to do with the fact that all a "modern" game needs to sell an assload of copies is to look pretty.

        While this is definitely true for many games, there is more to it, I think. I remember that the average VCS game cost about $10-15, top games were at $20, and that added to a lot of success for those games. Later there were games like Pitfall II which had some extra ROM on the cartridge, causing it to be sold at about $40-50, but most of the games were around 10-20 bucks. This is a price per game which was low enough so that even kids could afford at least one or two new games per month. If I wanted to give a game as a present to a friend, I could do so at low enough cost.

        But there's more. Today's games are so complex that you can't just buy and play a bit when you've got the time - many have a learning curve that takes many hours. Let's take Black & White as an example - you have to play through the first few worlds before you really know how to play, let alone play against others on the net. People with jobs (especially people with IT jobs like us guys) simply don't have that time. And I don't spend 50 to 70 bucks on a game I won't have the time to play.

        I think there is a market for easy-to-play games which sell at about 30 bucks, being consequently ignored by the game companies. I bet I'm not the only one who'd buy one or two of those games per month for some nice fun after work.

        • I have to agree. That would explain why simple games on the net work so well.

          I got Re-Volt demo the other day for fun. It's a remotly-controled car race. It's easy, fun and takes about 2 minutes to get over the learning curve. Some days I like to play that kind of stuff.
        • there are a lot of these type of games out there, look on that $10 shelf at your local CompUSA. I have picked up a lot of games that I played to death for only $10 or so. No, they don't have the most fabulous graphics you have ever seen, but some are pretty good, and they may not be the games that were just released (they came out a few months ago, or even a year ago, but I did not buy them then) you just have to look for them. The problem is that most want the $50 game for $10, not the $10 games.
        • Don't forget inflation! Factor that in and the game cost is about the same today as it was back in the early 80s. ($30-$50 was a significant bunch of lawnmowing for me back in the day.)

          And the consoles were significantly more expensive. A new system cost about $250, which is roughly $450 in modern $s. Nowdays the price of entry is much lower, which is probably why home video gaming is a much larger market than it was even at the peak back in 1983.
        • $20 in 1980 would be worth $45 in 2000. A $15 game would cost $34. Lots of games cost that much. In fact, you can even pick up second-run playstation/ps2 games for $20 these days. That's only $8.75 in 1980 dolars.

          You might want to consider turning on your brain once in a while. The price of games has come down in terms of real money.

      • 4 Way Warlords (Score:3, Insightful)

        by dmaxwell ( 43234 )
        My favorite was Warlords with Capture Ball and Fast Release enabled. Am I going to......nail you....nail you.....OR NAIL YOU EAT THIS! Yep, it looked like crap but sure was fun. The competition factor was completely different from fragging people in huge arena. There was no running around trying to find someone. Everybody was right there and fighting for control of the ball so they could get their licks in. Since it was a paddle game, the Capture Ball variants allowed fast unpredictable attacks. The psychology of this game is fantastic.
        • Diddo, Warloads kicked ass. I actually didn't get my 2600 until the original NES was out for awhile. A neighbor kid and myself bought the 2600 for $20 bucks with 20 games or something like that. Neither of us had $20 but we both had $10. So we bought it together and traded the system every other week. Forntunatley years later is still have it.
        • The "brainstorm session" files on the website has some ideas for games that Atari had that I WANT TO PLAY!

          "Mr. Bill" - Utilize a selection of weapons to destroy "Mr. Bill" character in the least amount of time. (sounds like fun, Mr Bill!)

          But I'm not yet sure about "1st Person Mole - Find your way out of 1st person maze. Screen is black except when you hit a wall" - sounds like you don't need a 3d card for that one!

          --jeff
    • Oh, but to be honest, that's also the nostalgia effect.

      I tried an VCS 2600 emulator with a few old games that I loved as a kid. Boy, those games were BAD.
    • ...and I have very rarely had more fun with any "modern" game than I had with my old VCS2600.

      Um, maybe because you were 20 years younger?

      I mean, look, Comic books look a little better then when I was a kid, but I don't enjoy those nearly as much as I did when I was a kid. I outgrew them. It was an odd feeling, realizing I didn't like them anymore. I never thought it would happen with video games. But it did. I just lost interest in playing games in general. I still have a PS2 with GT3 and FFX, but it just doesn't hold that much interest for me anymore (played 10 minutes of FFX, died, and haven't picked it back up). If you took a kid weaned on the n64/gamecube and plopped 'em in front a 2600 I doubt they would have that much fun.

      Sure, interactive movies with 5.1 sound are impressive, but mostly they aren't as fun as a good match of David Crane's "Decathlon" with two joysticks and some friends.

      There are lots of modern games that you can play with your friends. Pick up super-smash brothers or soul caliber or something.

  • Dont know why I enjoyed this...... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Marcus Brody ( 320463 ) on Thursday January 31, 2002 @05:52AM (#2929866) Homepage
    For some bizarre reason, this is actually a facsinating read [safestuff.com]

  • Interesting controls... (Score:3, Funny)

    by mav[LAG] ( 31387 ) on Thursday January 31, 2002 @05:53AM (#2929867)
    ...on this one [safestuff.com]. Perhaps there's a reason for her smile of anticipation?
  • Along with the assortment of no-knob joysticks, it looks like the concept artists also envisioned several games with cranks, paddles, sliders, yokes, and HUGE FUCKING TRACKBALLS THE SIZE OF CANTELOPES!

    I guess they were expecting lots of 'pong' type games where the only control was 'back and forth'.

    It's funny, because the only one of these that's still really used is the trackball... I've got one attached to my PC right now, only the ball is way smaller. What joysticks we have *All* have knobs on the ends, unlike the old 2600 variety and they are usually significantly smaller than those pictured.

    Ergonomics isn't that new a science is it?
    • Umph.. have you ever been in an arcade? Joysticks with knobs tend to be the rarity there. They're _much_ to delicate to handle the bashing and smashing usually found in an arcade. I cannot imagine playing say Virtua Fighter or Samurai Shodown with a knobbed joystick. I'd destroy them in no time :)
      • arrgh forget it.. i mistranslated "knob" to "knopf" in german which means "button". duh, you're right of course. sorry
        • I was wondering... No, I was describing the typical .25" steel pin with a large plastic ball on the top that is the joystick for most games now. Most gamepads that have analogue controllers also but a 'knob' at the top of their joystick, like the thumb controller on the N64 game pad.
    • My favorite video game accessory present:

      I recevied a pair of joystick bases for my 7800(with those grippy pads in the corners) along with 2 knobs to go on top. The bases I never ever used, but those knobs... my God, with Robotron was never the same.

  • put the cross in the centre square (Score:3, Insightful)

    by matp ( 42758 ) on Thursday January 31, 2002 @06:26AM (#2929925)
    Well, I thought I was in for a treat here. Hi-resolution, colour, exciting images of a bygone era: remembrance of things past. Instead I'm presented with a bunch of links (no thumbnails) of badly photographed pictures of 'art' of extreme dubious quality, unceremoniously dumped on a page with scant regard to format or presentation. One of the photos even has the flash reflecting off the frame's glass!!! Most are off-centre. I hope to God my enthusiasm of retro geek does not cloud my judgement as much as this guy's does.

    Somehow that scene in war games where they're playing tic-tac-toe springs to mind. Maybe we could get a jpeg of *that*, taken with a digi-cam off my vhs recording of it when it was on TV last christmas. Yeah, cool.

  • I can't believe (Score:4, Funny)

    by FastT ( 229526 ) on Thursday January 31, 2002 @06:32AM (#2929934) Homepage Journal
    I can't believe Atari thought so many "hot chicks" would be hanging out at the arcade playing their games. It's clear that this is the staff's collective male fantasy captured for all of us to see.

    Maybe Atari's downfall was hastened because of their inability to see video game culture taken over by hordes of people just like them: mouth-breathing, pimply-faced, adolescent male dweebs in O.P. shorts.

    • I can't believe Atari thought so many "hot chicks" would be hanging out at the arcade playing their games. It's clear that this is the staff's collective male fantasy captured for all of us to see.

      Yep. The only hot chicks we ever saw in arcades were dragged in there by their boyfriends (and so were few and far between).

      As for the few girls who were there alone ... oh, it wasn't pretty ...

  • 2nd Generation Computer users (Score:5, Insightful)

    by BrookHarty ( 9119 ) on Thursday January 31, 2002 @06:33AM (#2929935) Journal
    My kids are 2nd generation computer users. I was the first in the family to get a computer and learn how to play games. My parents NEVER asked me what games I was playing, never monitored my online access (until my first 600 dollar long distance bill.) My parents didn't buy a home computer for themselves until 10 years after I had my first computer a c64.

    My kids started using a computer when they could move a mouse. They would play the preschool toddler series, and graduated to basic movement games and puzzles, now its fighting games, racing sims and some RPG games. My girls can already play street fighter well enough to at least put up a fight. I wouldn't be surprised when they get older they want to play arcade games. They have been playing games for years.

    It was 1 computer in the house when I was a kid, and it was in my room. Now its almost 1 in each room, and 6 in my den. Each kid has their own computer, all networked, internet access, Instant messaging, online games with other kids. They email and send pictures to the grandparents.

    So am I surprised more girls are in arcades? No, Im more surprised that arcades can compete with a xbox, ps2 or pc.

    -
    Life is like a dogsled team. If you ain't the lead dog, the scenery never changes. - Lewis Grizzard

  • ...by the seventies dream girl. C'mon, they were fantasizing in these pictures. They couldn't do better than that?!?

  • Costs (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Noodlenose ( 537591 )
    If you look at picture of this chaps "game room", I wonder how much money and space he has invested in this impressive collection of eighties arcade machines and pinballs. What does a Centipede Console actually cost these days?

    Dirk

    • Re:Costs (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      My brother just helped a friend of his move a John Elway Football arcade game into his aparment. It was purchased for $1000.

      My brother indicated that it was in good condition. However, the place where this game was purchased had what appeared to be The Gauntlet (the original) in nearly pristine condition. My brother did not say if he saw a price tag on that game.
  • I see the clothes the girls are wearing haven't changed much ;)

    Someone should open a nightclub/lounge so we can all (apologies to the orignal) "munch pills in the dark and listen to repetitive beats", and remember the good ol' late seveites and early eighties. This time around we might be able to attract more girls, or one cold always hope.

  • Interesting games (Score:4, Interesting)

    by FastT ( 229526 ) on Thursday January 31, 2002 @07:12AM (#2930000) Homepage Journal
    You know, looking at the list of items from the brainstorming session in February 1980, I see many games listed that would be more interesting that the clone games that have been in arcades for the last 5 years:
    5) 1st person Space Invaders

    11) 1st person Adventure - player moves through rooms (25 cents each) and encounters situations and characters in each

    13) 1st person Cockroach - like wack-a-mole, but using feet (my personal favorite!)

    15) Hang Glider - Hang from controls, terrain scrolls on video under feet

    16) 1st person Mole - find your way out of 1st person maze. Screen is black except when you hit a wall. (Doesn't sound fun at all, but interesting nonetheless. It's the licorice of game designs.)

    17) 1st person Skydiver -use fans or stereo sound to indicate wind direction.

    18) Color/pattern generator based on player input. Could be located in discos and keyed to audio input from P.A.

    It really sucks that Atari can't take these ideas and revitalize the arcade market. I'd love to see something new and unusual like these games.
    • 17) 1st person Skydiver -use fans or stereo sound to indicate wind direction.

      We have one of those in our local arcade, more like a hangglider than a skydiver, but freefall wouldn't be THAT exciting in an arcade!

    • "1st person Cockroach" sounds quite a bit like Dance Dance Revolution.
    • 5) 1st person Space Invaders

      Similar to the two person Star Wars game, it's mostly a rail flyer. There was also at least one arcade first person shooter I played where you were in an AA emplacement.

      11) 1st person Adventure - player moves through rooms (25 cents each) and encounters situations and characters in each

      Ouch. 25 cents each room?

      13) 1st person Cockroach - like wack-a-mole, but using feet (my personal favorite!)

      I played a game called Spider Stomp at an arcade in Baltimore, MD that's exactly like this. A platform with 6 buttons on the floor that would light up at random for you to stomp on, increasing in speed and awkward patterns as the game progressed. Also, as someone pointed out, much like Dance Dance Revolution.

    • Re:Interesting games (Score:5, Funny)

      by mav[LAG] ( 31387 ) on Thursday January 31, 2002 @12:56PM (#2931259)
      5) 1st person Space Invaders

      Real Life Space Invaders was the funniest thing that happened to me in the army. The bombardier (artillery equivalent of a corporal) had us on parade and decided we should all play a game of Space Invaders.

      He was the player and we were the invaders. We had to take small steps sideways saying "dun dun dun dun" and moving our arms correctly for effect while he shuffled sideways and threw stones at us. I distinctly remember being the last invader "killed" - of course by that time I was crabbing quite quickly and going "dununununununnunun" :)
    • 18) Color/pattern generator based on player input. Could be located in discos and keyed to audio input from P.A.

      Sounds kind of like Rez from United Game Artists (Sega). It's available for Japanese Sega Dreamcast and PS2. It incorporates some simple Space Harrier/Panzer Dragoon-style shooting elements too.

      Links:

      United Game Artists [u-ga.com]
      Rez Homepage [u-ga.com] (If you have a Windows machine lying around, make sure to watch Mizuguchi-san's live demo of the game...it explains how this game can be considered a shooter, a light generator, and a music generator at the same time.)

      < tofuhead >

    • 15) Hang Glider - Hang from controls, terrain scrolls on video under feet
      I've played this in a arcade near Times Square in New York City a few years back. So that wasn't just an idea: somebody actually made one.
  • There are documents listed in the archive that are apparently the first proposals for the Star Wars arcade game, at that stage a First Person Spacewar. The documents (from Nov 1979) predate Battlezone (1980, referred to as 'Future Tank' and 'First Person Tank' in the proposals), and the Star Wars game didn't appear until 1983, according to the KLOV [klov.com]. You get a nice insight into how much they were pushing what could be done with the hardware they had, and also into how early the name of the game is decided (i.e not at all).

    Either that, or Lucasfilm agreed a license with Atari who then dusted off some 3 year-old junk to make a tie-in game...

  • All the babes in the pictures are laughing (Score:3, Funny)

    by eclectro ( 227083 ) on Thursday January 31, 2002 @07:17AM (#2930008)


    as they say "In your dreams nerdboy!!!!"

  • Arcades cannot be beaten (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Beautyon ( 214567 ) on Thursday January 31, 2002 @07:19AM (#2930009) Homepage
    Atari's vision of the future was pretty intelligent: games like "Thrill Drive" [konami.co.uk] can only be appreciated in the arcade, sitting in a fully blown machine.

    In the '70s they said "Home Taping is Killing Music". Today it can be said that "Home Gaming is killing Video Games". The custom hardware and elaborate bespoke controls that are deployed in Arcade games are ruled out for small, generic controls when you move from the arcade to the home console.

    This is a Bad Thing®

    There are some incredible games on home consoles, thats not in dispute. What I mourn is the ability to play a game like "Marble Madness" with its control (a huge trackball) made specially for the game, or "Paperboy" (bicycle handlebars), "Crystal Castles" (trackball), "Propcycle" (full size bicycle with fan in front to simulate rushing wind), and of course, "Missile Command", one of the early trackball games...there are so many examples. Ideally, the controls should be designed for the game. Game designers should be free to design both the controls and the gameplay.

    I mourn the fact that these types of innovative game are being sidelined for development of Hollywood tie-in Lamestation fodder, and that so many Arcades have bitten the dust. In London, all the great Arcades have gone; the ones that remain are full of slot machines, meaning that no one under 18 can get in. The last big Arcade, at the Trocadero is full of poorly maintained machines, poor security, bumper cars and other distractions.

    Namco Wonderworld is one of the last great, true arcades in London.
    • Here in Atlanta (and I'm certain elsewhere too...it's a chain) we have Dave and Buster's, a restaurant/bar/arcade combo place. Open to everyone until 10pm, then 21+. Not a lot of old machines, but tons of new games, and all pretty well maintained. My only major complaint (besides the prices) is the total lack of fighting games...apparently they feel it's quite OK for me to put a bullet in someone's head from 1000 yards in Silent Scope, but I better not smack anyone around in the latest Street Fighter game.

      A friend of mine at work recently took his family down to Disney World...apparently they have a new attraction in the complex...a giant arcade, focusing on the games of old. Everything's set on free-play, you just pay $40 or so to get in for the day. He said all the machines looked to have been restored fully, and they keep the controls un-gunked. His description of the place is making me want to plan a trip down there soon...
      • Hell I live in Orlando AND have annual passes. I've never heard of this attraction, but I'm definitely going to do some recon.
      • ...Disney World...apparently they have a new attraction in the complex...a giant arcade, focusing on the games of old.
        It's called DisneyQuest, and the old-school arcade is just a small part of it (or at least it was when I went a couple of years ago.) They have about as many games as a mid-sized mall arcade from the '80's and they're mostly the well known titles (Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Frogger, etc...) Supposedly there's one in Chicago too. The rest of the building is taken up with a Cheesecake Factory Express (not as good as a real CF,) a bumper car where you can shoot other cars, some odd remote-control car adventure, a learn-to-draw classroom, and some other stuff.

        It was cool, but I don't think I'd pay $40 to get in though, too many tikes who don't know how to play hogging the machines. I kinda wished that it did cost to play, so that I could put my quarter up and wait my turn instead of of watching "Jimmy" try to "catch" the ghosts (without eating the power pill first.) I'd rather go to Dave & Buster's.

        -sk

  • Missile Command II (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Apreche ( 239272 ) on Thursday January 31, 2002 @07:51AM (#2930060) Homepage Journal
    I can't believe it. Missile command 2 has finally been found. It's the first frickin' picture I'ver ever seen. I remember back in the day there was a long article on the atari historical society's page http://www.atari-history.com this guy wrote about his long and arduous journey to find a MC2 machine. He ended up speaking to many former atari employees, and in the end he found a board, but the person wouldn't give it to him, and he found the side art. Can't find the article though, dang.

  • Anyone played Ping lately? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Luxury P. Yacht ( 18865 ) on Thursday January 31, 2002 @07:55AM (#2930069)
    Yes, Ping! [safestuff.com] The exciting new game from Atari that measures IP path latency. Thrill as you send packets into battle with enemy hosts! Will they return safely, or will they be forever lost in the hostile ether? It all part of the fantastic adventure that is Ping! Lowest score wins!

    Play Ping: the game that will really socket() to 'ya!
  • New wallpaper all round then!!
  • In my head, I know that all of the neat 3-D tools artists use today are a blessing.
    They make it faster, easier and cheaper to make incredibly real-looking illustrations.

    Why then, do I find these hand-drawn illustrations so appealing? Is it just because they look different? Or did the artists add a little creative something that isn't so easy or so common today.

    Whatever, I sure did enjoy them.

    • yes - marker pen sketches are cool - whatever is the opposite of the status quo is always appealing, i guess.

      the seventies clothes on the figures don't surprise me - i doubt anyone at atari read The Face, but the actual design of the boxes is kind of conflicted. they go and make a totally cool sci-fi shaped box and then stick wood-effect veneer on the sides. wood! it's like atari's mom was in charge of the sides of the boxes or something.
    • Why then, do I find these hand-drawn illustrations so appealing?

      It's the chicks. Duh.
  • although it's not a good one. See here [safestuff.com]. In a nutshell, the field techs are told that the AMD RAMs are not reliable, and although they'll pass self-test, during gameplay the 3D objects will become distorted.

    I guess they've come a long way, eh?
  • That is EXACTLY how I remember my early arcade experiences! Except we had long lines for Space Invaders with little towers of quarters piled up on the consoles.
  • Games like load runner and tetris are still fun to play. Some of the new console games are pretty tough, especially trying to play FPS without a keyboard. It's great to see all the hot new graphics, but part of me misses the simplicity of tetris or load runner in new games. Games like munch's odessy or crazy taxi are great because the game play is easy to understand. There isn't a huge learning curve just to play the game at a decent level.
  • You can tell it's the 80s because most of the color work appears to have been done in magic marker. :)

    Seriously, though, there are probably more girls in these pictures because they look like concepts for PR art. It's the same idea as putting a model next to a sportscar.

    I have one question, though: what are these nets on the ceiling [safestuff.com] for?

  • A couple of weeks ago I found my Atari 2600 back from early 80s. It was the only console my parents ever purchased. It only had 3 games, Tennis, Donkey Kong and Enduro (car racing).

    After some time I found that it plugs into the antenna connection, not the AV. After switching many channels, I just made out the image on the screen. Black and white and badly distorted.

    I opened the console, and found inside a variable resister with a plastic cap. Some fine tuning with a flat head screwdriver brought up the image perfectly on the screen. I was overjoyed.

    I drilled a hole through the plastic in the top of the console, so I could adjust it again as needed, without opening the console.
    • Actually, for those wanting to use a 2600 but either only have a newer tv without a coax jack on it, or just hate the poor quality you get out of an rf-modulated signal, try this:

      http://www.atariage.com/howto/composite.html [atariage.com]

      The instructions are for a 2600jr, but the steps are pretty much the same for a woodgrain unit. I've done it, and I can tell you, the picture is LOADS better.

  • "Ping" Arcade Game (Score:3, Funny)

    by gcondon ( 45047 ) on Thursday January 31, 2002 @09:43AM (#2930278)
    I like the concept design for the "ping" game ...

    http://web.archive.org/web/20010828031441/safestuf f.com/atariart25.jpg [archive.org]

    I think they should have arcade versions of all the standard UNIX system functions.

    "d00d, I just set the new high score on grep!"
  • Check out this picture [safestuff.com]. Obviously a desperate cry for help on the part of the Atari engineers. Poor guys.
  • Wayback doesn't load right in my Win98-Opera6 browser. *Waaah* *Waah* (runs into corner and cries)
  • http://www.safestuff.com/atariart15.jpg

    *sigh*

    some things never change.
  • Does anyone else find this [safestuff.com] a bit too orgasmic?

    Obviously this was about the time that herbal essenses was unable to be condensed into such a small container. :)
  • ...or does anyone else think that all the people in the pictures look stoned out of their minds?

    Some of the girls are cuties though, I sure wish the artist's redition were true, that'd make my obsession with video games worthwhile.

    Ahhhhhvacado!
  • You ever notice most of the marquee artwork for Atari games in the late 70s to the early 80s have a red-orange-yellow stripe somewhere?
  • This rules, my dad owned a vending company, pins and early vids, in the heyday of this, 77-85 , I always LOVED the atarti Vector games, asteroids, tempest, and star wars, I still have a star wars game, a little worse for the wear anymore but a ton of fun to play.

    I remeber in about 85 , I finished the 99th level of tempest. its all Black, you can see nothing....

    Iwas and still an arcade game freak, I spent MANY too many of my youths hours playing whatever was in the garage for service.

    People bitch about how much games cost now, what they dont realize is what the damm things cost new, Tempest was over 3 grand and that was if you could find one, My dad was buying PacMan knock off because you couldnt get a real one , some of those machines were bringing in a grand a week thoug at the roller rinks and such.

    Ahh the good old days, I love the Pics, Makes me yearn for the days when an asteroids baseball shirt was the coolest shirt in school :)
    • Oh yeah! I was a total Tempest freak back then... never made it to the black level, I wasn't that good. (light blue level or white level, I think... about 500-600K points??)

      Discussed buying a spinknob for my friend's MAME setup so that we could play it; it's just unplayable with a joystick or anything else but the knob. Have any Slashdotters tried this yet?

  • Speaking of Atari (Score:2, Interesting)

    by hyyx ( 447405 )
    It's such a shame that a company with so many on point ideas and cutting edge innovation had to be laid to rest. I have always enjoyed the content of this site [atari-history.com], as they have made a respectable effort to preserve Atari's legacy. Take a look at their arcade exhibit [atari-history.com], especially the 1970-1974 page [atari-history.com]. There is also solid content on some interesting projects [atari-history.com] and prototypes that you probably had no idea Atari even attempted, like the AtariTel [atari-history.com] division, which developed phones designed by Porsche [porsche.com]. Many interesting pictures...
    • What comes to your mind? (open in new window)

      http://www.atari-history.com/computers/16bits/st pa d.html

      So... He didn't invent TabletPC®? ;-)
  • Also on the same site, this guy aparently got a hold of Bradley Trainer [safestuff.com] which was military simulation commissioned by the Army to train troups, and is based off of the hit game Battlezone.

    AFAIK, there are only two in existance, and many people had been wondering for a long time whether this machine even existed at all, or if it was just an urban myth. No idea where this guy got it, he won't say, but he was nice enough to dump the ROM so we can all play it in and upcoming release of MAME. ;)
  • This document, Protection For Coin-Operated Games [archive.org] is pretty interesting. Looks like copy protection was a worry for Atari in 1980. The memo discusses how to handle copy protection issues of PCB's and ROM's. In particular it mentions using checksums to detect violations and then put in unexpected events. It mentions giving away free credits (that'll put someone outta business :P) and causing the graphics to go screwy. The funny thing it says is to wait until later in the game before you start messing it up. Everyone really gets pissed when just before you blow up the death star the game resets!

    bbh
  • Jed Margolin [jmargolin.com] has a web site with some old Atari info.

    Vax Mail, memos, and status reports [jmargolin.com]
    Tomcat, Atari's last XY game [jmargolin.com]
    Atari patents [jmargolin.com]

    There's a lot more on the site, including an article about XY monitors [jmargolin.com], but nothing else really Atari-related.

  • Those crazy Japanese... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Hard_Code ( 49548 ) on Thursday January 31, 2002 @01:16PM (#2931402)
    I wonder how they brainstormed *this* up:

    Boon Ga Boon Ga [alltel.net]
  • The brainstorming session [safestuff.com] on the site includes an interesting one - 14: "Mr. Bill". Could this be a precursor to xBill?
  • I found a link to this site maybe a week ago through bOING bOING [boingboing.net] and first hit a "this site has used up its bandwidth" message, so when I did get through I optimised their images and at the same time gave them a thumbnail image page to replace the text list (see the wayback pages). Great to see they used it!

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