Want to have a high score challenge via Atari Anthology XBL?

[Wavelflack]

I just picked up Atari Anthology (finally) for Xbox, and I'm damned excited that it has online scoreboards!

Anyone want to pick a game to compete on?

I'm "wavelflack", if you see my scores.

Pick a game, list your XBL gamertag, and let's compete!

[neuropolitique]

Anthology has online scoreboards? Finally a reason to activate my XBL subscription. I'll pick up a copy Friday. I'm in.

[GobopopRevisited]

Finally? Over 70, average 2600 games?... I'll stick to Halo 2 Thank You.

[Wavelflack]

Finally? Over 70, average 2600 games?... I'll stick to Halo 2 Thank You.

?

Eh, you'd probably just embarrass yourself anyway.

At any rate, the "finally" applies to the fact that the game has been out for awhile, so if I'm late to the online scoreboards party, you'll understand why.

Second, the game also features a dozen or so arcade games, which are the only ones (apparently) that have online scoreboards, which renders your 2600 comment completely irrelevant.

Finally, some people like to compete in more than just Halo 2. If you aren't interested in old-style competition, why not save keystrokes and not reply in the first place?

[GobopopRevisited]

The Finally was Directed towards neuropolitique actually, "Finally a reason to activate my XBL subscription"

[digitalpress]

Finally? Over 70, average 2600 games?... I'll stick to Halo 2 Thank You.

FYI. This is the RETROGAMING Roundtable. Most of us are pretty excited about games like this on modern consoles. Don't knock it just because you don't understand.

Wavel, count me in too. I'll log in a few scores later tonite.

[Lady Jaye]

Have fun, guys!!! I gotta admit that if I had an Xbox, I'd be in for it too...

(now, that feature isn't enabled in the PS2 version, is it? Not that it'd matter where you - those who have it on Xbox - are concerned...)

[Wavelflack]

Looks like you'll have to go back to the days of Polaroids.

[neuropolitique]

The Finally was Directed towards neuropolitique actually, "Finally a reason to activate my XBL subscription"

As I find FPSs on consoles distasteful, Halo 2 is no reason for me to get online. I've been looking for a game to activate my subscription for since I bought it. Nothing has grabbed me, except this. And since I bothered to tape myself playing Laser Blast (which is on the compilation) for two hours just to get my name in a book, one would think I would be excited about that.

I'm hoping my name will neuropolitique, but I don't always get my way. I'll post again after I find out.

edit>> Oops. For some reason I read this several times thinking it was Activision Anthology. Oh well. It is stil awesome and my plans haven't changed. Too bad about the Laser Blast though.

[Half Japanese]

I remember the first Midway Arcade Treasures on Xbox had this too (I'm assuming the second is the same way) and I distinctly remember seeing Zach Meston on the high scores list for one or more of the games on that compilation. Pretty cool. Sadly, I'm poor and thus, not in. Sort of on topic though, I find it hilarious that this is one of the small handful of Xbox games that support 1080i resolution. Hee-larious!

[Wavelflack]

Look for me on Battlezone, Asteroids, Warlords.

I'm currently in 17th on Battlezone, and somewhere around that on Asteroids. Hopefully moving up a little later tonight. I can't remember what my Warlords standing was, but it's not horrible (somewhere between 20-30, I think)

I'm trying to get somewhere on Super Breakout, but the controls are damned difficult without a rotary controller. It's getting better, but my top score so far is something like 50

[digitalpress]

Look for me on Battlezone, Asteroids, Warlords.

I'm currently in 17th on Battlezone, and somewhere around that on Asteroids. Hopefully moving up a little later tonight. I can't remember what my Warlords standing was, but it's not horrible (somewhere between 20-30, I think)

I'm trying to get somewhere on Super Breakout, but the controls are damned difficult without a rotary controller. It's getting better, but my top score so far is something like 50

Alright, what am I missing? I can't figure out how you get onto the scoreboard, let alone view it. Nothing in the manual about it either. I've signed in and had some pretty good games... What's the trick?

[Wavelflack]

When you go to the "solar system" of a particular game, look up in the upper right hand corner. There's a picture of the white button, and it says "high scores" next to it.

The online high score tables are only for the arcade games, but Lunar Lander is not supported for some reason. At any rate, if you select arcade Asteroids, Asteroids Deluxe, Battlezone, Black Widow, Centipede...all the way through Warlords, you can view the high score tables and your score is automatically posted (under your gamertag, not your three initials that you enter) when you play. You don't have to do anything other than be signed in and play one of the arcade games (again, minus Lunar Lander). Your score will be there.

Just pick one of them, and press the white button at the solar system screen (where you choose the game mode--trippy, time warp, original, etc.)
It'll take you to the high score tables, and you can view your high score on all games by hitting A ("my scores"), then paging through the games tables with the left and right triggers.



The instruction manual doesn't really say much about any of this. I don't know why 2600 games aren't allowed on the score tables, but they aren't.

Anyway, let me know how it goes, and what your ranking/ score is! My best (so far) on Battlezone is 32,000, and I think I'm either #15 or #17. My rankings on the others (Asteroids, Warlords) is also 17 (strange), and I brought my Super Breakout score up to a whopping 100 something!

[zmweasel]

Anyway, let me know how it goes, and what your ranking/ score is! My best (so far) on Battlezone is 32,000, and I think I'm either #15 or #17. My rankings on the others (Asteroids, Warlords) is also 17 (strange), and I brought my Super Breakout score up to a whopping 100 something! LOL

I have the current "high" (awful) score on Asteroids Deluxe, and I logged second place on the original Asteroids before I stopped trying. I get bored with UFO hunting, and it's such a cheesy technique anyway. Gimme the cheese-free Deluxe anytime.

I haven't put much effort into any of the other games, and the paddle games are just impossible to play with an analog stick, but I'm trying anyway.

And, damn, Black Widow is a weird little game.

-- Z.

[nesgamer]

Off topic: Someone needs to put Pong on a "game bundle"

On topic: Well if some games are kind of hard to play with a paddle, do you think someone could mod one to where it would work on the XBOX?

[Neil Koch]

Off topic: Someone needs to put Pong on a "game bundle"

It was on Atari Anniversary on PS1, and the plug-and-play Jakks paddle has it as well.

I haven't gotten the Anthology yet, but I did get the Namco Vintage on Xbox Arcade (overpriced at $15, especially since I have multiple copies of the games).

[Lady Jaye]

...except that there's a rather annoying bug in Pong in Atari Anniversary Redux (at least the PSX version): the upper-right hand corner is out of reach for the paddle, yet the ball can go through there. Very annoying.

[ubersaurus]

...except that there's a rather annoying bug in Pong in Atari Anniversary Redux (at least the PSX version): the upper-right hand corner is out of reach for the paddle, yet the ball can go through there. Very annoying.

Wasn't that a glitch in the original run of Pong machines?

I know in the DC version, you could turn it off...not sure about the PS one though.

[Wavelflack]

"On topic: Well if some games are kind of hard to play with a paddle, do you think someone could mod one to where it would work on the XBOX?"

I tried. Without some very extensive (and precise) modification to the resistance values on a pot, it wont work right.

I tried last night. Here's what I did:
I took an old junk Trick Xbox controller, and desoldered the right stick. Then I tested the pots to get their values. Looks like they have active values of about 8K to about 86K. You want a pot with a long sweep in the same range (so that you have fine control with easy movement).

I went to Radio Shack and bought a 100K pot, and wired it up to the pins where the right stick used to be. I even put it in a junk 2600 paddle casing. So what you have is a 2600 paddle with it's wire running into an Xbox controller (right through the hole where the right stick was, running into the Xbox.

It works, but you can't play with it. Why? Because the game has a deadzone setting for the sticks that cannot be changed. Sensitivity settings only change the relative speed (less sweep / wiper travel for onscreen movement). The deadzone cancels out any reading from between two resistance readings. It's useful on some games, so that you don't have to be perfectly still and centered to ACT centered, but on paddle games, it makes it so that you have a deadzone in the middle of the screen! In other words, you can track smoothly from one side to the center, but you have to keep turning awhile further before you go past the deadzone and continue onto the other side. Think of it like an invisible hill in the center.

I know how to modify the pot itself to cancel this out, but I don't know if it's worth the trouble (it would be a lOT).

[Wavelflack]

Well, I'm thinking that you could use a meter to identify the values (r) where the deadzone is identified in software (ie; Xbox/game says "between 40k and 50k is deadzone"), then physically identify that portion of the resistor path, then cut the path and bridge in a resistor (or destroy some of the conductive/resistive material from thereon--thereby increasing resistance-, though this would be nearly impossible to do accurately) of the value of the deadzone (in the 40-50k deadzone example, this would be 10K).

What this would effectively do is rebias the pot at a certain point. The practical effect is that you would jump from one side of the deadzone to the other, without the wiper having to physically travel to original length of the deadzone.

I'm not sure if I explained this idea very well. Do you understand what I mean? If so, you certainly see what a hassle it would be.

It would be cool to have absoutely untouchable high scores on Super Breakout, Tempest, etc. on AA, but I'm not sure if it's worth it.