6 new Atari VCS/2600 games being released!

[God-Zilla]

woohoo! Can't wait to see these! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! Amiga forever

[rolenta]

Question: will each game come with it's own 3D glasses? Or no matter how many games were ordered, only one pair of glasses will be given?

Each of the 3D games has its own glasses

[lucifershalo]

Each of the 3D games has its own glasses

so clearly the box contents the games....
come on....tell us, first impression??

[soloman]

I just got my copies in today. Time to dust off the old 7600 and check them out.

[God-Zilla]

got mine in! looks great! Yes, each 3d cart comes with glasses. Enjoyed the manual with each game. Haven't had time to play 'em yet, but I am looking forward to it.

[stonic]

I look forward to reading some reviews of them. Just keep in mind these are unreleased (and often unfinished) prototypes

Game on! (as the man upstairs says)

[megasdkirby]

Hey Scott!

Were there any tracking added to the packages? I will be busy for the next few days, and I can give my brother the number so he can TXT me if it arrives.

[stonic]

Yep, tracking info is available for all orders. PM sent.

[lucifershalo]

can I also have my tracking number?
my paypal payment was from champagnecola@skynet.be

thanks

[stonic]

Video clips of each game are now available on the webpage.

http://www.youtube.com/user/VideoSoft2010

[4ever2600]

Hello!

After a good week of playing all of the new titles released by DP and VideoSoft, I went ahead and did a full review of all 6 titles for those who might want to know more about them from a fellow veteran gamer.

Please follow this link if you would like to read the reviews of the 6 new Atari 2600 games by VideoSoft, click on the 'Atari 2600' link on the column on the left and just click on the titles of the games:

http://www.digitpress.com/reviews/index.htm

Below if a brief summary of my experience with these games:

Of the three non-3D games, they claim that two of the three are completed. I consider all three of three non-3D games complete. The game, Depth Charge was supposed to also have a second level. This game can stand on its own as a completed game. You can make your own decision on this. All three non-3D games were fun. I enjoyed them and I will continue to play these games for quite some time.

As far as the 3D games are concerned, first and foremost Genesis 3D is a great little game. The 3D was decent, and it was in the same game play vein as Tempest. This is the only 3D game that was also considered completed. It has a decent replay value because it was challenging and fast-paced. It was a lot of fun to play the Ghost Attack 3D game. I really wish this title would have been completed back in the early 80s, but I'm really happy the fact that the people who put this together went ahead and made a menu driven 16k multi-cart and put all three levels on it for the sake of completeness. That made it worth the hefty price tag it carries. There is a little replay value with this title. The third 3D title, Havoc, would have been a great title had it been completed. Unfortunately due to the fact that you can only play this game once and have to reset it doesn't give it a lot of replay value. The 3D games are a really cool set of games/demos. They are more of a novelty set of games, something different and fresh.

As for the 3D effect, I find that if the room is dark and I sit approx 7 feet away from my 36in regular CRT TV, I can see the 3D effect. There are so many things that can play a factor in 'seeing' the 3D effect, (or messing it up) it's not going to work for everyone. Many things play a factor in getting the 3D effect to work properly. People's vision (or lack of), the type of screen you are using, CRT, LED, LCD, Plasma, Monitor. Brightness and contrast of the screen you are using, and the brightness in the room. It took me a while testing different things to get this right with the different games. So don't think of this as something that will work for everyone. Some people are going to try one title, it may not work for them and they are going to throw the game in their collection and say, "The 3D sucked, it didn't work". That's to be expected. If you aren't willing to try some different combinations, you may have issues. In all fairness, this isn't exactly Disney/Pixar's REAL3D that you see in the theatres these days. It was tricky to see the red/blue 3D in the theaters back in the 70s and 80s (I remember Creature from the Black Lagoon this way) but it did work.

The games come in a plastic hard shell case, close to the size of the original Atari boxes. They are accompanied by inserts and well documented instruction manuals. I actually kind of like the artwork used for these games. They have their own nostalgic look to them that sets them apart from other classic titles from back in that era.

Still, I believe these titles are absolutely worthy of any collector's shelf. I know that they are steeper in price individually as opposed to other titles, but purchased as a set, not so much. If you buy as a set it's the equivalence to buying a $35.00 game and paying $5.00 priority shipping, per title, (or $40.00 a title shipped.) Not that bad. If your budget doesn't allow for it, grab one or two or wait for the rom images to be released.

I would like to thank all of the people who made these titles available to the public possible after being buried for all these years. A find of this magnitude (c’mon SIX titles!!!) is a once in a lifetime thing. Especially considering that the people who programmed these titles, Jerry Lawson to name one, is a classic gaming icon and did a lot of good things for the CG community. These were the first 2600 titles to attempt a blue/red 3D effect and for the technology they were working with at the time, this isn't all that bad. As for the question of, "Why didn't they finish the other titles before they released them?" Who wouldn't have wanted that to happen? But that isn't as practical as it sounds, that alone could have driven the cost up even more and taken years more to release. I can appreciate it being released as the original author left it at the time. As far as I’m concerned, we got four completed games and two playable demos. I, for one, am a very happy camper. I purchased two complete sets: One for the collection and one to play.

[stonic]

Thanks for reviewing the games! I'll post more info soon about how they were discovered, and the details on their release, but I wanted to quick mention that Jerry Lawson is being honored at this year's Game Developer Conference for all of his past accomplishments in the video game industry. Here's a nice article that Mike Cassidy of the San Jose Mercury News just posted today:

http://www.mercurynews.com/mike-cassidy/ci_17531389

There's also 2 articles from Black Enterprise magazine in the 'archive' section that feature Jerry in them:
http://www.digitpress.com/archives/

[stonic]

Those of us involved in the release of these cartridges wish to express our heartfelt sorrow and deepest sympathy to the Lawson family. Mr. Jerry Lawson passed away unexpectedly on April 9th, 2011.

The reasons for this project were two-fold -- to release new games for the classic gaming community, and, more importantly, to help Jerry benefit from sales of these games. Up until now, the arrangement with Jerry was for him to receive 50% of all profits. That arrangement will continue with Jerry's family, with the exception that 100% of all profits will now go to them.

[slapdash]

Classy. How is his family doing? I mean, I know not well, but have you spoken to them at all? Please pass on my condolences if you do.

[megasdkirby]

What!?!?!?

Oh man, what terrible news. I hope his friends and family are doing well. Like slapdash, please send me condolences to his loved ones.

Bummer news.

[stonic]

Since first being announced for sale (back on December 15th, 2010), half of all the cartridges have now been sold. Prices for the remaining games have been reduced by $5, in an effort to help expedite support for the Lawson family.

Although several people have requested copies of the game roms, the original plan was and is to release them as each game is sold out. However, there were several other items that I archived that I can start releasing (as per Jerry's wishes), now that we've reached the 'half-way' point in the Video Soft project. I started archiving some of Jerry's material back in 2007, and over the course of several trips, we managed to unearth and archive several unique things besides the 6 unreleased games. Some of these are of existing games, and some aren't games at all. Over the next few weeks+months I'll start posting them, but for now I'll start with a few photos showing the bulk of what we found:

[tom]

As usual from me, late condolences, bummer :-(


More unique things? Wow, I almost cannot believe it, this is just awesome. I cannot wait to read what you guys have found.

.

[God-Zilla]

wow Please pass on my sympathy love and condolences. I personally know how much this hurts and send all the positive energy I can.

[stonic]

Below are the roms for the 4K menus that were going to be used with the Power Play Arcade carts #4 and #5. The Power-Play Arcade Video Game Album is a fancy name for multi-cart. It was first announced in a June 1983 press release and was intended as a replacement to Amiga's planned Power Module. A proprietary chip would have allowed for a 32k ROM for games. Retail price was to be between $30-$40.

Cart #4 - A January 1984 press release announced agreement with Imagic, with Amiga to pay royalties for use of 5 of their games on Power-Play Arcade carts. The games were Atlantis, Cosmic Ark, Demon Attack, Dragonfire, and Star Voyager. This cart was to include the first 3, however the EPROM found only shows the first 2 listed:

Power Play Arcade cart #4


Cart #5 - This one was to have 4 Joyboard games on it: Mogul Maniac, Off Your Rocker, S.A.C. Alert, and Surf's Up. An EPROM was found simply labeled as #3:

Power Play Arcade cart #5

[MachineGex]

Stonic, the community owes you a big "thanks" for all the hard work you have put in. Also, it is very nice of you to support the family. Well done, you're a true gentleman!