videotopia

A cool look at how an arcade enthusiast recreated a prototype arcade game from 1981 referencing an old YouTube video.

Try watching from 50 seconds in. It shows the process in as much detail as one would need I think.

Indeed.

That's hilarious. God bless the old Atari who wanted to sue the world. The irony now of course is that Atari no longer own Battlezone's IP. Rebellion managed to grab it when Atari went bankrupt in 2013.

You'll probably enjoy the Ted Dabney Experience Podcast:

https://www.teddabneyexperience.com/

I think that's an Irish thing (they tended to run these travelling fairs). Lots of superstitions around anything "green", being displayed in a negative light. Like a giant alien bug head maybe.

I recall similar superstitions in the world of car racing. A green NASCAR car is a big no-no.

Humans are weird.

I love how the makers of these cabinets filled in the creative blanks that the graphics on screen couldn't possibly do. This is an extreme example of that concept, but Atari were masters at it.

Sadly, it's the other way around now. Videogames are delivered with minimal packaging, or digital download only.

Discs of Tron cabinet have changed hands for $10K+ in recent months. This one appears to be in fabulous condition too.

Not to state the bleedin' obvious, but I will - the point of the UX is that the site adapts to the device being used. And it adapts well. The large image on the left in desktop mode is certainly different, but I like the execution personally.

I would think because this whole thing occurred literally weeks ago.

Incorrect sir. The whole point of wanting to save this machine, and emulate the code is so that it will 100% be made public. As the article states, this will happen when the time is right.

Agreed. This would make the most sense surely.

Hard to argue with that assessment. Its certainly up there. Those early Williams games were amazing.

Better? https://arcadeblogger.com/2016/05/06/arcade-raid-the-duke-of...

Restoration just requires logic for the most part. before switching on a game that's sat somewhere for 30 years, start with power. Is the machine getting 240v (or 120 depending where you are). Then check the transformer/power brick - is it doing its job converting 240v AC to DC voltages. Measure those. Is the monitor getting power and working. Then you can plug in your PCB (assuming it's not corroded to hell). Then go from there. There's so much info out on the web these days, someone has usually documented most problems you're likely to come across.

Many of the cabinets are now in use, either in classic arcades here in the UK or in the hands of collectors. Most have been restored and are now fully functional.

Could you expand on this a little for the uninitiated amongst us?

Well to be fair, all there is to go on at this point is that document. The blog is pitched at a wide audience and is meant to be a "light" entertaining read, rather than something in depth and technical. But agreed, it would be interesting to know the exact process of "extracting" the coded message. The point of the article is that it was there (or to your point, it was claimed in court that it was there!), rather than how it got there. Bottom line - it did the trick.

Good call.

Completely agree. What makes these old arcade machines (Western games included) are the uniqueness of the controls. Trackballs, Spinners, 360 joysticks, thrusters, yokes all added to the immersion. These are the things that connected players to arcade cabinets and the games. Today's androgynous joypads just don't do that.

Agreed - but time can be a strange mistress! The only vector game with predominantly green vectors I can think of would be Gravitar.

You may be confusing it with Atari's Battlezone, which was a black and white vector game, with a green gel overlay on the screen to create "color".

That development cabinet is in a museum now in upstate NY.

@doodlebugging you might want to take a look at this: https://youtu.be/9Oob9CVZF6s

Ah man. Awesome stories. The thing I remember about Asteroids was that it looked like nothing else. The straight lines and glow of the vectors were hypnotic.

Totally agree. Digital payments are a mess. Sadly, everyone thinks they have the answer - solutions looking for a problem.

Yeah. I think someone at Atari saw an easy pay day, with no marketing spend. 10 or 20,000 machines presumably charged out at a top dollar govt sponsored price per unit, sent to one delivery address? Kinda makes sense on the surface of it; notwithstanding the moral sensitivities within the company at the time.

The general consensus is it never got to production beyond the two prototypes, but who knows?