It was an intriguing idea. To put on a show that centered around the company
that started the video game craze some twenty years after it began. Set over
three nights and two days, the World of Atari 1998 show took place at the
Holiday Inn Casino Boardwalk in Las Vegas. Even though the show was titled "
World of Atari," there was a much larger sense of community present at the show.
Most of the classic gaming systems were represented. The Intellivision, the
Colecovision, and the 8-bit home computers stood aside the 2600, 5200,7800, and
Atari XE/ST computers. It was quite impressive to see such a strong
showing from a gaming era that has passed us by for perspective
correcting texture mapping and "well endowed polygons named Lara,"
according to Don Thomas, who was worked for Atari.
On Friday night, an informal party was thrown to kick off the show. The
idea was simple, to get as many attendees, guests, and dealers
together to set the mood for the weekend. And it did a fabulous job.
Food, drink, and music kept the atmosphere light while everyone got to
know one another. The party was toped off with a set of quick opening
comments from Don Thomas.
At 10 a.m. Saturday, the doors opened and the crowd made it's way
into the show. There were three different rooms for the showgoers to
explore. First was the dealer room which was sponsored by Nyko
(www.nyko.com). At the Nyko booth one could try it’s new trackball
controller for the PlayStation. Running Missile Command through the
Williams Arcade Classics CD showed just how much thought the R&D
department had put into the trackball. They also displayed their remote
RF signal adapters for the Playstation and Nintendo 64. No more
cables running from your system to the tv. Just plug in one adapter to
the TV and the other to your system of choice.
Undeniably, the most anticipated developer at the show was 4Play.
(http://www.best.com/~sebab/dvidgames/dsphere/sphere.shtml) The
company's Scott LeGrand and Stephanie Wukovitz were in attendance
to show off their recently completed game, BattleSphere. In many
circles, BattleSphere is generally considered to be the best Atari
Jaguar game. Developed over four and a half years while additionally
holding down steady jobs, BattleSphere became the light at the end of
the journey. The astounded crowd huddled around the consoles as it booted up.
Showgoer Doug Childs remarked, "It was definitely worth the wait."
World of Atari sponsored both a Networked BattleSphere and a
Warlords elimination contest. Winners were given copies of Hasbro's
Frogger, Star Wars Monopoly, and the Namco Museum compliation for
PlayStation.
Other developers at the show included Wizztronics,
Inc.(www.wiztronics.com) which had it's Lynx-to-TV adapter on display.
This small modification board will allow a Lynx player to use his
television as a display unit. The image was sharp and stable. Another
developer was Emulators, Inc.(www.emulators.com) which had it's
Atari/Mac emulation boards for the PC up and running. It was strange
to see the Atari and Mac Desktops running on the PC, but they were
there and they were fast.
A multitude of exhibitors were strategically placed throughout the
dealer room. Companies including Best
Electronics(best-electronics-ca.com), B&C Computer
Visions(myatari.com), and Steve's Computer
Technology(www.atarionline.com). These dealers featured any game or
game system that one wanted to add to their collection, and dealers
kept their prices to a very respectable level.
Also placed throughout the dealer room were some classic arcade
machines that were open for all to play. Star Wars, Asteroids, Wizard
of War, Gauntlet 2, Centipede, and several other classics made
appearances. Even with machines of this size, there were rare and
prototypes available for play. Jerry Jessop brought along the first
Computer Space cabinet, the fiberglass gaming console that started
it all. Long before Pong, this was the game of choice. And it was in
mint condition using 95% of it’s original parts. Also included were a
prototype Atari pinball machine called Neutron Star from 1981, an
Atari Games machine that never saw release called Freeze from 1995,
(which was excellent and should have been released), and even the
old grandfather Pong itself.
Namco, creators of the classic games Pac-Man, Pole Position, and
Dig Dug, sponsored the Museum Exhibit. The museum featured
systems dating back as far as 1972 with the Magnavox Odyssey.
Notable items in the museum included the Graduate Computer
Keyboard adapter for the Atari 2600, the prototype of the remote
controlled Atari 2600 titled the 2700, the Atari Mindlink Controller, the
Atari Cosmos which was a holographic game system, the Atari Mirai
which is rumored to be the design for the game system based on the
Atari ST computer lines, and the original Virtual Light Machine - the
Atari Video Music (1976). Over sixty items were present in the
museum while even more rare items were found at the Atari Historical
Society (http://www.atari.nu/).
The third room at the show was designated for the Keynote Speakers
and the Sunday Evening auction. Speakers included Don Thomas, Rob
Fulop (2600 Missile Command and co-founder of Imagic), Dan Kramer
(5200 trackball), Jerry Jessop (member of the Atari R&D team/Atari
2000 project), Scott LeGrand and Stephanie Wukovitz (4Play), John
Harris (designer of Jawbreaker and Frogger for the Atari 8bit
Computers), Dave Staugus (Millipede and Krull for the Atari 2600),
and Arnie Katz, Joyce Worley, and Bill Kunkel (founders of the first
videogame magazine, Electronic Games).
Said Dan Kramer of his time at Atari: "I can tell you it was a fabulous
place to work. And it wasn't our imagination that we were doing some
of the coolest, funnest, neatest stuff we've ever encountered. It was a
circus all day long, but we did the work and turned out product." And
while most of the speakers used their time to discuss their experiences
with or involving Atari, Don Thomas struck a cord about the future of the
gaming, "This weekend's World of Atari 98 Show is indicative of an old
trend that is re-emerging. It is one that explores the value of updating
and republishing classic videogames."
But after each day ended, the group of show goers continued to enjoy
themselves in the Vegas nightlife. Either gambling, going across the
street to Sega Gameworks, or heading over to the Hilton to ride the
Star Trek Experience, there were more than enough activities to take
up whatever time was left over from the show.
Over all, the show seemed a resounding success. It took the remnants
of the first generation of video gaming and gave them a place to stand.
The speakers, the museum, and the dealer rooms provided some very
interesting sites and buys.
And while some players may look back and scoff at the 2600 or other
similar systems, there were more than enough people of all age groups
enjoying themselves and proving that there is life in any platform – even
after it has been discontinued.
A two-hour video is currently in production detailing the
events of the past weekend. Professionally shot, edited, and
duplicated, this tape will feature direct feeds from games at the show,
all the speakers, the dealer room, the Namco Museum, and much
more. For more information, go to this address
-(http://home.earthlink.net/~santora/woav.htm).
We bet that you can't name EVERY game Mario has ever appeared in! HINT: Start with Atari 2600!
|Goldeneye Tounament|
Pac is back! In this all new strange and wonderful 3D Pac-Land, our dot-chomping
hero eats, jumps, flies and swims through 30 different levels of adventure.
Also featured is the fun from the classic Pac-Man including mazes, power pellets
and plenty of ghost chasing. This game has truly been brought to the 21st
century. Game play includes Pac's house, ghost town, a dot factory and an
archeological dig where you can unearth historical Pac-man items and see
Pac-Man's evolution over the past 18 years. Pac-Man 3D is scheduled for release
early 1999.
A classic
at the arcade, this re-creation is set in a 3D environment. The game is still
in its early stages of development, but the first level was quite true to the
old version. The player controls his/her ship and BLASTS asteroids in every
direction while carefully using shields and thrusters.
Centipede is back. This time on computer. Hasbro has "unearthed" this game
and brought it to your PC. My review of this game is quite simple... it's
centipede! Need I say more??
Do you know:
