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Vintage video games and hardware
This afternoon I visited Buy and Sell Kings, on Danforth Ave in Toronto. It is amazing.They have pretty much every historic video game console you could name for sale, and rafts of games for them all. Some particular gems were Atari VCS, Neo-Geo, Sega Game Gear, Colecovision and even a Panasonic 3DO. It was quite a treat.Here is a walk-through:And a shot of the Neo Geo Arcade machine they had for sale:And some still photos I took:
A look at the evolution of modern video game controllers
If anything's kept pace with how video games have changed over the years, it's how we interact with them. Our biggest touchpoint with virtual worlds is the gamepad and -- akin to how games themselves have evolved from simple 2D affairs into 100-hour-long labyrinths in three dimensions -- controllers have changed to accommodate that. What you'll find in the gallery below is a comprehensive look at gamepads from the past 30-plus years of gaming, including high points and missteps alike. [Image: Adafruit Industries/Flickr]
Watch WH Smith's incredible 1988 video game sizzle reel
"Konami's latest coin-op hit bursts onto your computer screen. Beyond infinity lies the evil galaxy dominated by the forces of the despotic Salamander. A hero must persuade his compatriot to join him on a journey into hell and beyond. To defeat this devil they most overcome forces mankind cannot perceive in his wildest nightmares. Organic monsters of destruction, nuclear spiders, infernos burning like raging seas in torment, caverns of despair, demons beyond dimensions of our minds. You are that hero. Now is the time. Pilot your spacecraft on this lethal mission with skill and strategy to amass the weapons systems vital to your success. Screen after screen of exciting arcade action in this faithful conversion of Konami's follow-up to Nemesis. Sci-fi shoot 'em up at it's best. Salamander takes you a stage further."
Google's newest AI can beat your Atari high-scores
Most people's anxieties about AI concern computers realizing they don't need humans and wiping us out. It probably never occurred to anyone that, as soon as they discovered beer, Netflix and video games, that computers would ditch plans for world domination, drop out and get a job at the local gas station. It's a lesson that Google-owned startup DeepMind has learned the hard way after it got its thinking computer hooked on retro computer games.
Atari pioneer Steve Bristow passes away
Steve Bristow, who Nolan Bushnell called one of the world's most powerful gaming pioneers, has died, according to Atari historian Marty Goldberg. Bristow was an early Atari employee who helped birth the Atari 2600 (originally called the Atari Video computer System, or VCS) back in 1977. The pioneering home console was one of the first to use a microprocessor and game cartridges, and sold over 10 million copies by 1982. Bristow also headed Atari's coin-op arcade division during its heyday and helped develop classic games like Tank and Breakout. If you enjoyed the original games or remakes, why not hoist a drink to the man who built them (and his magnificent muttonchops)?
Landfill copy of Atari's Centipede donated to university
University of North Dakota's Special Collections department now houses a cartridge of the Atari 2600 game Centipede, dug up from a landfill in New Mexico last year. Assistant professor of history Bill Caraher participated in the dig and threw down $60 to buy the cartridge on eBay. "While I usually would not condone purchasing archaeological artifacts of any kind, these artifacts are somewhat different because they represent our very recent past," Caraher told the AP. "When I saw that the Smithsonian had received a game and several other major cultural institutions as well, I had to acquire one for UND to commemorate the university's participation in this unusual excavation." The Centipede cartridge marks an important moment in video game history – the crash of the industry in 1983. That year, Atari reportedly dumped truckloads of unsold copies of ET, Asteroids, Missile Command, Centipede and other games in the New Mexico landfill, and in 2014 a documentary team set about excavating the old, dirty games. Microsoft helped finance the excavation and the documentary Atari: Game Over, which explores the 1983 crash and subsequent landfill dig. Atari: Game Over premiered on Xbox in November. Once on eBay, the games sold individually for $50 to $1,500. The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, picked up a copy of ET last year for its video game history collection. The University of North Dakota plans to invite people who participated in the excavation to a showing of Atari: Game Over in the spring, for a discussion of archaeology, media and video games as artifacts.
You can finally watch Microsoft's 'E.T.' documentary on Xbox
What a long, strange trip it's been. Microsoft's effort to document the excavation of all those fabled E.T. The Extraterrestrial game cartridges from a New Mexico landfill -- and Atari's downfall -- is finally watchable on Xbox Video. As Variety reports, you can check out Atari: Game Over on your Xbox One, Xbox 360 or even on the web and see where those carts came from before they hit eBay. Perhaps most notable is that it's one of Xbox Entertainment Studios' scant few projects to actually see the light of day, getting a release a few months removed from Redmond shuttering its original-TV-programming experiment. So there's that, too. Need a refresher on Atari's Spielberg-infused saga before turning on your flatscreen? We've got you covered. [Image credit: John Thien for Engadget]
Watch the Atari: Game Over documentary for free on Xbox
Yes, there are a lot of big new games out this week, but if you need a break from the rush you don't have to move from your Xbox. Instead, you can dig into the past by watching Xbox Live's Atari: Game Over documentary for free. The hour-long feature explores the video game crash of 1983, a seismic event that resulted in reports of Atari dumping thousands of unsold copies of the E.T. video game, infamously regarded by many to be the absolute worst ever, to grace our screens. An excavation team headed out to New Mexico to unearth the truth about the reports, and sure enough they dug up shrink-wrapped copies of the game along with other Atari bits and bobs. And now all that garbage is starting to make crazy money on eBay. Weird world, huh? [Image: Microsoft]
Excavated E.T. Atari carts fetch more than $1,500 at auction
One man's trash is another man's pricey, crushed game cartridge. Last week's eBay auctions for Atari cartridges unearthed during the production of the Atari: Game Over documentary have concluded, with the top-grossing auction pulling in $1,537 for a mangled, sort-of boxed copy of ET for the Atari 2600. A total of nine ET cartridges sold for more than $1,000 apiece, with copies of Asteroids, Centipede, Missile Command and others pulling in hundreds of dollars each in additional auctions. Each game will ship with a certificate of authenticity, an I.D. tag from the City of Alamogordo, and a photo-supplemented narrative detailing the lot's history. Regardless of whether you bought a momento, you can learn more about the context surrounding the excavation when Atari: Game Over premieres on November 20 on Xbox Live. [Image: Atari]
ET and other exhumed Atari games hit eBay
Want to buy some literal garbage? An eBay seller is auctioning off a collection of Atari 2600 cartridges recovered from a recent excavation of a New Mexico landfill, including several crushed copies of the infamous dud ET. An excavation team headed out to Alamogordo, New Mexico, earlier this year in the hopes of discovering the truth behind a reported landfill stuffed with video games and consoles in the months leading up to the video game industry crash of 1983. The venture yielded many shrinkwrapped copies of ET, among other decades-old merchandise abandoned by Atari. A documentary film covering the dig, Atari: Game Over, will launch exclusively for Xbox consoles later this month. Bidding starts at $50 for the unearthed games, which vary in condition but are otherwise remarkably well-preserved, considering they've been sitting in a landfill for more than three decades. Many ET cartridges are already going for hundreds of dollars, but if you're looking to snag a stinky piece of history for yourself, you might be able to pick up a cheap copy of Asteroids, Centipede, Defender or Swordquest EarthWorld. [Image: tbhs575]
Atari 'E.T.' cartridges unearthed in landfill go up for auction on eBay
Normally we'd advise you to avoid terrible games, but here's one you might want to get your (gloved) hands on. E.T., the game that killed Atari and was famously unearthed in April at a landfill in Alamogordo, New Mexico, is now up for auction. To remind you, the existence of the ditched cartridges had been an Atari urban legend until a Microsoft-sponsored dig project proved the rumors true. Alamogordo's Tularosa Basin Historical Society, which arranged the excavation and owns the cartridges, put 99 of them up on eBay, each with a certificate of authenticity.
Now you can play 'Defender' and 900 other arcade classics in your browser
It seems like the Internet Archive was just getting started when it resurrected WordStar and The Hobbit from floppy-disk purgatory. Now, the latest additions to the Javascript MESS emulator are of the arcade variety. Specifically, games including Defender, Mr. Do!, Zaxxon and Joust are now playable in your browser. The IA's website says that most of the Internet Arcade's games should work, although some better act as a "verification of behavior programming" than anything else. Jason Scott, who runs the collection, has a blog post detailing what browsers perform best (a 64-bit version of Firefox is tops, apparently) and how to setup a gamepad for the whole shebang. You know, if digging through gaming's origins is your thing. Be careful, though. Playing Millipede as a kid may have cost you a few quarters, but if you get caught playing it at work it could be a whole lot more expensive now. [Image credit: Rob Boudon/Flickr]
Alone in the Dark: Illumination trailer sheds light on the series' new direction
Atari is now accepting Steam pre-orders for Alone in the Dark: Illumination, the latest entry in its long-running survival horror franchise. Inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft, Illumination is a Left 4 Dead-like co-op shooter in which a team of up to four players use varied weaponry and character-specific abilities to battle eldritch horrors. Illumination is due out this month for PC platforms. [Image: Atari]
Xbox's Atari, E.T. documentary phones home on November 20
Atari: Game Over, the documentary following an excavation for Atari cartridges once rumored to be buried in a landfill decades ago, will premiere November 20 on Xbox Live, director Zak Penn has announced. Game Over was part of a six-film series called Signal to Noise, a collaboration between the now-defunct Xbox Entertainment Studios and Lightbox Entertainment, a multi-platform media company founded by Academy Award-winning producer Simon Chinn (Searching for Sugar Man, Man on Wire) and Emmy-winning producer Jonathan Chinn (30 Days, American High). We got our first peak at the documentary in July, when a teaser trailer gave us the too long; didn't read on how E.T. 2600 damaged Atari's rockstar status in the gaming industry. As for the unearthed cartridges themselves, they've been split between auctions, museums and the City of Alamogordo. [Image: Xbox]
Excavated ET cartridges will be sold, distributed to museums
Remember when Xbox Entertainment Studios and Lightbox Entertainment spent a weekend digging up a bunch of Atari cartridges from a landfill? Both studios may have gotten the documentary footage they were looking for, but what do you do with the cartridges after the joy of proving an urban tale fades? In the case of Alamogordo, the town that has jurisdiction over said landfill, you sell more than half of them. Reuters reports that the Alamogordo City Council voted 7-0 on Tuesday to sell around 800 of the 1,300 excavated games, with listings to be hosted on eBay and the council's website. The haul includes hundreds of copies of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, the keystone of Atari's video game burial story. Joe Lewandowski, who served as dig site supervisor when Microsoft, Lightbox and a small crowd watched excavators dig up trash in the desert, told Retuers that sales should begin in two weeks and wrap by Christmas. As for the 500 other cartridges, the City of Alamogordo intends to keep some as mementos, with the rest being donated to museums worldwide. You know what they say: One city's trash is another museum's piece of video game history. [Image: Microsoft]
You can buy those excavated 'E.T.' cartridges at auction soon
It would seem that the saga of Atari's video-game mass grave in New Mexico is coming to a close. The Alamogordo City council has voted unanimously to auction off half of the recovered cartridges (around 800 of 'em, according to Reuters). Interested in owning a piece of history? Eurogamer says that we should see the items -- a likely majority of which will be E.T. -- pop up on eBay and the council's website within the next few weeks. Of the remaining carts, the city plans to keep 500 of them and the rest will be donated to museums. If you still can't get enough of the tale, there's always the upcoming Microsoft-backed documentary and our own interview with E.T.'s sole developer, Howard Scott Warshaw. The move to sell these to the highest bidder instead of at a fixed price is a pretty clear indication that city is being a bit opportunistic and taking advantage of nostalgia, if you ask us -- something that probably rubbed off from Atari itself.
Joystiq Weekly: Free upgrades for Destiny, Hatoful Boyfriend review, PAX Prime and more
Welcome to Joystiq Weekly, a "too long; didn't read" of each week's biggest stories, reviews and original content. Each category's top story is introduced with a reactionary gif, because moving pictures aren't just for The Daily Prophet. PAX Prime 2014 ended on Monday, but we're still recovering. Not from the marathon of appointments or swimming through an ocean of people – we've got those parts down pat. If you've ever heard of the PAX Pox though, just know that it's ... definitely a thing. It seemed every morning of this week brought news of another staff member falling to Prime's crowdsourced super virus. Laptops still work on death beds, of course, so we kept churning out content from Prime while we tried to remember what clear airways and normal body temperatures feel like. You can dig through our featured content after the break worry-free though – we slathered it in hand sanitizer, so you shouldn't catch anything from going near it. There's always the rest of this week's content that wasn't staged in a biological hazard, of course. We've got good news for Destiny fans planning on upgrading hardware at a later date, release dates for The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth and Mortal Kombat X, a review of pigeon-on-human dating simulator Hatoful Boyfriend and much more after the break!
RollerCoaster Tycoon World screens show worlds of fun
Watching a roller coaster being built isn't terribly exciting or pleasant, what with the loud, heavy machinery and often simple nature of the ride's scaffolding. Thankfully, watching RollerCoaster Tycoon World be built is at least a little more eye-catching. Atari has released the first screens for the game via the RollerCoaster Tycoon Facebook page, and it looks like eager amusement park managers will have several themes to center their entertainment around, including the Old West, tropical pirates and outer space. Check out the embedded slideshow below to see all of the released images. RollerCoaster Tycoon World will open its gates on PC sometime in 2015. As far as we know, there will be no height requirements dictating whether you can ride. [Image: Atari]
Chubby Checker's 'Dig Dug' was unearthed by the son of an Atari VP
You've probably heard or Dig Dug, and if you were born before 1983, you might even remember seeing a bizarre, upbeat commercial for the game in movie theaters -- but did you know that the video game miner's theme song was almost sung by Chubby Checker? It totally was. Matt Osborne, son of former Atari VP of coin-op marketing Don Osborne, recently uncovered an alternate version of the commercial's catchy song with the iconic singer's vocals. "The only info that I have about it was that Atari had envisioned a somewhat '50's styled take on the song, inspired in part by Chubby Checker's hit 'The Twist.'" Apparently, Osborne's father managed to get the man behind the twist to sing his own rendition, but until now it was lost to the ages. That may have been young Matt Osborne's fault.
Alone in the Dark: Illumination aims for November on PC
Alone in the Dark: Illumination is shooting for a November release, Pure FPS producer Stephanie Marroquin tells Joystiq. Publisher Atari confirmed the launch window goal, but adds an exact release date for the PC title has not been solidified. Alone in the Dark: Illumination is an Unreal Engine 4-powered third-person, class-based shooter set within the universe of Atari's survival horror franchise. In a twist for the franchise, the latest game in the series focuses more on action that every before; taking its cues from horde-based survival shooters like Left 4 Dead.
