Next week, I’ll be flying 2,000 miles across the country to scenic San Francisco, CA in order to attend Game Developers Conference 2008. What does this have to do with Vintage Computing and Gaming, you ask? And why would any man spend eight hours cramped in a tiny plane seat if they didn’t have to? Well, I’ll tell you. My old pal Ralph Baer (you know, the inventor of video games) is going to be there, and he’ll be hosting a session in conjunction with Pong hardware guru Al Alcorn entitled “How to Create an Industry: The Making of the Brown Box and PONG.” Unlike Baer and that other Atari guy, it seems that these two men get along swimmingly.

I’ll be there, of course, and I’ll try to submit some reports from the field while I’m at the show (“Benj Edwards here, reporting to you live from the eye of the Hurricane!”), especially if I spot any other retrogaming-related happenings. Luckily for you, I won’t be leaving Ulaf Silchov in charge of VC&G this time while I’m away (I think he’s in Switzerland doing a film or something).

Anyway, if you’re at the GDC and spot a seven-foot tall guy wearing a neon green jumpsuit, mirrored sunglasses, and an enormous pink sombrero, feel free to say “Hi.” You’ll likely be talking to the mascot of some new game from Rare. It won’t be me, though, because I’m actually pretty short. Wish me luck.

Who needs emulators? Accessory maker NakiTek released an innovative device called the Game Saver+ in the mid-1990s that allowed gamers to store the exact state of their game at any time to memory. As you can see by the picture, the unit worked a bit like a Game Genie, acting as a bridge between a cartridge and the SNES. While playing, you could save your game by pressing something like Select + Right Shoulder button. To restore the game state, you’d press Select + Left Shoulder button (I forgot the combinations exactly). As long the Saver unit received power — either via the SNES’s AC adapter, which passed through the unit, or AA batteries — the Game Saver+ would save your game state. It also offered a few extra features like “slow motion” play.

Unfortunately, the Game Saver+ was released too late in the life of the SNES to make much impact. I picked one up in the late 1990s on clearance at Wal-Mart for a few bucks. By that time, I was already emulating the SNES on my PC.

From what I’ve read, the Game Saver+ didn’t work too well with certain games, causing graphical glitching upon resuming your state. In my experience (I remember mostly playing Super Castlevania IV with it), it seemed to work fine — although I wouldn’t want to depend on it.

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Yesterday afternoon, I drove to a local Goodwill store in search of more random junk to clutter up my house. As always when the electronics pickings are slim, I spent most of my visit perusing their used books section. Among the mountains of Danielle Steele and self help guides, one can usually find a number of interesting obsolete computer and video-game related books there. Yesterday was no exception, as I picked up three interesting printed techno-artifacts from the past. Care to take a look? To the Bookmobile!

[ Continue reading Goodwill Goods: Pokémon, God’s Y2K, and Japanese AI » ]

“It’s like your hand is part of the game.”

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[ This is JJ Hendricks’ first contribution to VC&G. He is the author of the Video Game Price Charts Blog, which analyzes and charts video game prices. Additional contributions and layout by Benj. ]

Since the Nintendo Wii’s release in November 2006, the Virtual Console service has been one of its most popular features. Yet almost instantly after its launch, people began complaining about how much VC games cost. The most common argument against the VC pricing scheme (aside from the illegal emulator option) is the presumed “low price” of the original games if you bought them used. But how much would it really cost to buy physical copies of all the Virtual Console games? Is Nintendo’s retro service a good deal, or are you getting ripped off?

By analyzing the current market prices of every game offered on the Virtual Console service, I’ve come up with an answer. In the charts below, you’ll find an exhaustive price breakdown that compares the current market value of real cartridges to the cost of their VC counterparts. The prices for the cartridges themselves were determined by using the daily updated prices at VideoGamePriceCharts.com from January 24th, 2008, which, in turn, are taken from multiple sources, including recent eBay auction results, Amazon.com, and Half.com. All prices are in US Dollars.

[ Continue reading Buying Real Copies of Wii Virtual Console Games…Ouch! » ]

A rare scene from the ill-fated film Poltergeist IV: Poltergeist Position.

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With floating disc technology, “Pac-Man watches gobble all day long for you.”

If you use this image on your site, please support “Retro Scan of the Week” by giving us obvious credit for the original scan and entry. Thanks.

Earlier this year, I had the chance to interview Nolan Bushnell, career entrepreneur and nigh-but-legendary founder of Atari. For the last seven years, Bushnell has been pouring most of his energy into his latest venture, uWink — a sort of Chuck E. Cheese restaurant for adults.

Of course, being the history buff I am, I wanted Bushnell to clear up some things regarding articles I was working on at the time. Accordingly, we touched on a variety of topics, such as the origin of the term “video game,” Steve Jobs at Atari, his “feud” with Ralph Baer, the Atari 800, and his wife’s love of the Wii, among other things. Despite being such a grab bag of topics, I figured the interview was worth publishing in its entirety while it still feels relevant. Bushnell’s thoughts deserve to be heard, especially since he took time out of his busy schedule to share them.

This interview took place on March 30th, 2007 over the telephone.

[ Continue reading VC&G Interview: Nolan Bushnell, Founder of Atari » ]

Atari’s venerable VCS (2600) turned 30 this year, and 1UP asked me to write a feature about the console’s influence and impact on the industry. I finished the piece in October, but it didn’t go up until a few weeks ago. I haven’t checked to see if 1UP changed much from my original version, but if it’s anything like it, the article should be worth the read for all video game fans.

The piece contains some original analysis of the 2600’s impact that you won’t likely find anywhere else. For example, did you know that the first video game based on licensed non-video game IP was Superman for the Atari VCS in 1979? If that comes as a surprise to you, you’ll want to read the rest of the article. Even diehard Atari fiends might learn something new.

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, jackboots kicking at your nose…

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