ถ้าคุณเป็นหนึ่งในคนจำนวนมากจะมีการวางแผนการล่องเรือไป บาฮามาส แล้วมันเป็นสิ่งสำคัญสำหรับคุณรู้ว่ามีหลายขั้นตอนสำคัญที่ต้องดำเนินการในกระบวนการวางแผน. แม้ว่าล่องเรือไป บาฮามาส เสียงเหมือนสิ่งน่ารื่นรมย์ – และดีควร – ไม่สามารถลืมว่าเพื่อสนุกกับตัวเองคุณจะต้องใช้ขั้นตอนหลายหน้าเวลา.

สิ่งที่รู้เมื่อแผนเรือไป บาฮามาส

มีจำนวนมากเหตุผลดีว่าทำไมการล่องเรือไป บาฮามาส เป็นความคิดที่ดี; เช่นท่านสามารถได้รับตังดีจริงๆโปรดทรายระหว่างเท้าของคุณผ่อนคลายดูหลายร้อยชนิดที่ไม่ซ้ำกันของนก Bahamian และชีวิตพืชประสบการณ์ shipwrecks โบราณ , เกาะจานรสแปลกและอื่นๆอีกมาก.

ล่องเรือไป บาฮามาส เป็นง่ายหนึ่งความคิดน่านับถือมากขึ้นในการจากไปพักร้อนและด้วยเหตุผลดี. เป็นหนึ่งโดยไม่ต้องสงสัยของสถานที่ที่สวยที่สุดในโลกและการเดินทางล่องเรือเฉพาะช่วยเพิ่มความสุขและความงามของทุกสิ่ง.

มีเคล็ดลับต่างๆที่คุณควรทราบเมื่อคุณวางแผนการล่องเรือเช่นข้อเท็จจริงที่ว่าสายที่ให้บริการแขกได้อีกต่อไปสิ้นล่องเรือและดังนั้นคุณควรตรวจสอบให้แน่ใจเพื่อธุรกิจที่คุณต้องการใดๆของคุณทำเสร็จเป็นแรกที่คุณอาจจะสามารถเพื่อประหยัดเวลาและการรบกวนตัวเองในที่สุดสิ่งที่.

ด้วยทันทีที่คุณมี boarded และพบห้องนอนของคุณเรือจะถูกแล้วที่คุณควรไปและจองให้ร้านอาหารสปาและเป็นต้นเพื่อให้คุณมั่นใจที่จะถูกลงในเมื่อคุณต้องการ. คุณอาจต้องการซื้อขนม, โซดาของคุณเป็นต้นจากซุปเปอร์มาร์เก็ตก่อนที่จะได้ขึ้นเรือเพื่อประหยัดเงินตัวเอง.

โดยรวมสิ่งสำคัญที่สุดที่คุณต้องการทราบคือสนุก. หลังจากที่ทุกอย่างแน่นอนว่าเป็นเหตุผลทั้งหมดที่คุณวางแผนเดินทางไปเริ่มต้นด้วยนี้จึงลองไม่ให้ทุก Pre-วางแผนรับคุณผิดหวังหรือทำให้การเดินทางที่สนุกน้อย. หลังจากทั้งหมดเมื่อคุณทำเองมากกว่าความรู้ในเรื่องโดยรวมกระบวนการวางแผนเองควรจะง่ายมากจึงควรจะทำให้ท่านยุ่งยาก no.

บาฮามาส เป็นสถานที่ที่ดีในการวางแผนเพื่อ vacation. ตั้งอยู่ทางตะวันออกเฉียงใต้ของรัฐฟลอริดาผู้เข้าชมมีตัวเลือกมาถึงที่นี่โดยเครื่องบินหรือเรือ. บาฮามาส ให้มากคุณจะทำอย่างไรกับทุกกีฬาทางน้ำชายหาดและกลางคืน.

หลายคนมาที่นี่ทุกปีสำหรับการประมงเด่น. ชาวประมงประมงฟลายมีระเบิด flats สำหรับ bonefish. มีมิตรตกปลาจำนวนมากที่มีอยู่ในปลาสำหรับ bonefish เป็นรีสอร์ทจำนวนมากว่ายังให้ความสำคัญกับ bonefish ชาวประมง. เป็นเรื่องเป็นปลายทางที่ไม่ซ้ำกันสำหรับการระบาด bonefish ใน flats และบางคนเชื่อว่าเป็นหนึ่งในสถานที่ที่ดีที่สุดในโลกจับปลาเหล่านี้.

ถ้าบินตกปลา flats ไม่ได้สิ่งที่คุณจ้างเหมาประมงและคุณสามารถมีโอกาสที่จะจับปลาหลายฝั่ง. เพราะเพื่อ anglers มากมาที่นี่ปลาเพื่อ flats, ประมงนอกชายฝั่งได้รับมองข้าม. เนื่องจากตำแหน่งของ บาฮามาส การเข้าถึงน้ำลึกมากใกล้700 เกาะที่สร้างขึ้นบริเวณนี้. หลายเช่าตกปลาไม่ต้อง เดินทาง ไกลฝั่งมากที่จะนำลูกค้าของพวกเขาในปลา. บางชนิดออกจากฝั่งที่คุณจะจับเป็น mahi wahoo mahi, kingfish, ปลาทูน่าและสารพัน billfish.

ถ้าคุณวางแผนเดินทางไป บาฮามาส คุณจะมีมากตัวเลือก. มีมากมายของโรงแรมและรีสอร์ท, เช่าประมงจำนวนมากอาหารดีและกิจกรรมสันทนาการมากมายที่จะทำให้คุณไม่ว่างอยู่.

เพิ่มเติมข้อมูลในพื้นที่ให้ตรวจสอบหน้าประมงของ บาฮามาส.

Review

Very good picture quality, specially on HD programms. Wide viewing angle. DVD player read almost any video format including some divx and xvid movies.

Feature

• High-definition LCD WXGA + diplay 1440 x 900p
• Integrated tuner decodes digital ATSC and QAM signals
• Dynamic Contrast gives enriched color performance
• Dolby Digital for movies and concerts in full surround sound
• Built-in DVD player maximizes viewing experience

Overview

With a built-in capable DVD player, integrated digital tuner and PC display, the 19MD358B enriches the total viewing experience with ultra sharp widescreen HD picture, HD media connectivity, Dolby digital sound and SPDIF audio output.

Specifications

Available at Amazon Check Price Now!

*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Dec 20, 2009 23:20:07

Flapper Costumes

Crafts kids, then take the time to look around and find some easy Halloween crafts for children. Company should not be difficult, and you can easily make Halloween crafts for children, with a little 'imagination, creativity, and some common elements of families. There's nothing more fun for children, how to decorate your home with Halloween decorations, they are rendered. I am proud of what they have created and the sense of fun. Here are some easy Halloween craftsfor children, you can try.

We LOVE foam, craft shops or department stores can be purchased. Buy a few sheets of orange, black, green and white. Cut some ovals and circles of different colors. Internet searches for pictures of Halloween can be printed on your printer. Try witches, bats, skeletons and found cats blacks. May need to reduce these images to return to base. If you're particularly good at drawing, you can also try to drawOwn! Cut out pictures of the fun foam shapes, contrasting colors and glued to the cut. Drill a hole in the tip, pull a string through the hole, then insert these fun ornaments anywhere you can imagine!

Simple Halloween Crafts for Kids can also craft, adapted from trade heavy. Want to hang the ghosts are afraid of trees? Take an ordinary plastic bag you get from the supermarket and cut the handles. Place a Styrofoam ball for the tiphead securely and easily with a rubber band. Then shred the bottom into strips and make a hole in the bag on the head of a string for hanging. Remember to draw a scary face! For extra fun, add a bell or two on the underside of the tape, so you can give your mind "Singing 'in the Wind, hear.

Finally, it could be one of the easiest businesses to children for Halloween fun. Buy a little 'dark, preferably black candles and your child with different things, like sequins, candyMais, a foam, or anything else you can imagine. Get rid of jewelry glue on the outside of the candle, and you have a great Halloween decoration for your house!

Easy Halloween crafts for children are great ways to involve children in the craft and convey a sense of pride for visitors to admire your great decorations.

We can say with pride: "I did it!"

Magnavox MPD720 7-Inch Portable DVD Player Durable Messenger Bag with Multi-Pockets Review

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Magnavox MPD720 7-Inch Portable DVD Player Durable Messenger Bag with Multi-Pockets Feature

• Fits Magnavox MPD720 7-Inch Portable DVD Player
• Premium Quality Protection for Portable DVD Player
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• Adjustable shoulder strap

Magnavox MPD720 7-Inch Portable DVD Player Durable Messenger Bag with Multi-Pockets Overview

The Durable Messenger Bag with Multi-Pockets for portable notebook provides perfect protection. It is perfect bag to carry your valuable device and its accessories! Light weight, multiple pockets for other accessories, Perfect for planes, trains, offices or on campus.

Magnavox MPD720 7-Inch Portable DVD Player Durable Messenger Bag with Multi-Pockets Specifications

*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Dec 14, 2009 05:00:04

I really like Kyle Orland. As a games journalist his quiet ambition for pushing games journalism beyond what it is is matched an underappreciated talent. Sometimes though even a good writer can miss the boat. That’s what I think happened in his interesting but underthought series of What if? articles at Crispy Gamer. In the articles, Orland attempts to look at key gaming moments and ask what might have happened had a different course been taken. Some of the questions he asks are interesting ones — What if Magnavox had decided to enforce Ralph Baer’s patent for a “television gaming apparatus” and gone on to become the almost monopolistic holder of the video game industry through its Odyssey 3 system? What if Nintendo had never released the Game Boy? That sort of thing. It’s an interesting concept, but Orland doesn’t really think some of the implications of the questions he’s asking through.

Take for example his segment on what if Atari had avoided the videogame crash in 1983 and gone on to face Nintendo. He posits that a forward thinking Nolan Bushnell pushes the development of the Atari 2700 — a more advanced console replacement for the 2600 that would be backward-compatible with 2600 cartridges. The console takes the market by storm and Atari survives to push upstart newcomer Nintendo into a corner of the market by 1990. What he misses in this posit is that the Atari 2700 actually existed and it was a disaster. It was called the Atari 5200 and while unlike the Orland’s fictional 2700 unit it wasn’t compatible with 2600 cartridges, that wasn’t really the deciding factor in its eventual death. The 5200 had the horsepower to compete against both the Intellivision (which it was designed to destroy) and the Colecovision (which had more graphic power but horrible controllers). Even without the backwards compatibility, the 5200 was certainly no disaster right out of the gate and after the unit was redesigned to accept 2600 cartridges could have been a success under the care of a competently run company.

The issue was really the glut of poor Atari 2600 software, the proximate cause of the great videogame crash of 1983-84 from which the Western industry almost didn’t recover. Orland’s 2700 system — even with backward compatibility — doesn’t address this problem. Indeed, it actually makes it worse because one of the first things a 2700 user would do would be to buy the bargain basement software that was currently flooding store shelves because it would be cheaper than the newer 2700 software. That would have killed the 2700 through word-of-mouth much faster than the 5200 died in the real world thanks to corporate stupidity and neglect. The institutional rot at Atari was already a foregone conclusion by 1983 and the innovation that eventually saved the Western side of the business – the Nintendo Seal of Quality – only came about because the fledgling Nintendo of America had learned the lessons of the crash. Without the crash, it’s extremely doubtful that Atari would have come up with the idea of licensing third-party software developers for the 2700 by virtue of the fact that they never thought of it for the 5200.

More importantly, Orland misses one of the real “what if?” scenarios that jumps out of Atari’s crash and burn – the fact that even if Atari had managed to survive the great crash it would not have gone on to face off against Nintendo – it would have survived by becoming Nintendo! In 1983, Atari under the “leadership” of Ray Kassar was on the verge of inking a deal with Nintendo to distribute Donkey Kong on home computers – a deal that was designed to be the precursor to Atari distributing Nintendo products outside of Japan. Given that Nintendo’s reason for wanting the deal was Atari’s impressive worldwide marketing apparatus, it’s entirely likely that the Famicom (which became the Nintendo Entertaiment System in the West in our world) would have been Atari-branded. That would have been the Atari 2700.

The problem with that scenario would have been – once again – a glut of poor software. Without a Nintendo Seal of Quality and a system of third-party licensing, there’s no doubt that crappy software for the 2700 would have flooded the market soon after the system was released. Regardless of the quality of the games that would be produced by Nintendo itself (we’re assuming that Atari would recognize Miyamoto’s genius and not try to slap a license on Super Mario Bros., by no means a slam-dunk), the 2700 would soon be buried in a bunch of crappy Chase-the-Chuckwagon clones. Atari would still have collapsed – albeit a year or two later and this time it would have taken Nintendo’s hope of Western expansion with it.

The result would have been a videogame drought that makes our crash in 1983-84 look like the glory days of the PS2. Nintendo in our world had a hard enough time getting into retail because of how badly retailers had been burned by the crash – they invented R.O.B. the robot specifically so they could call the system a “toy” rather than a videogame. After the crash of the Atari 2700 there isn’t a retailer in the Western hemisphere that would have touched a videogame with a 10-foot pole. Most Atari 2600 gamers would have either moved on to PC gaming as I did or simply forgotten about gaming altogether – except for dropping some quarters into the occasional old Pac-Man machine at a local 7-11 (the arcades also hit a big slump in this period from which they never really recovered). It wouldn’t have been the “end of videogames” but it’s entirely possible that gaming would never have become the relevant cultural force it eventually became. PC gaming could never have taken the place of console gaming because it wasn’t gaming that drove the adoption of the PC – it was spreadsheets.

In my mind, the true frontier of videogaming in such a world would probably have been the handheld system. In that case Nintendo, burned by the failure of the 2700 would have focused on expanding its Game & Watch line of products, introducing the first GameWatch Boy in 1986 (later the name would be shortened to just GameBoy) packed in with Tetris. About a year later the GameBoy would be rivaled by NEC’s Turbo Express and the two handheld systems would split the market between them, though NEC played second-fiddle to Nintendo until about 1995. Atari’s Game Gear – a joint venture between them and Sega – never managed better than a distant third in the marketplace.

In 1995 however, NEC would expand the capabilities of the TurboExpress by utilizing its heft as a consumer electronics company to link the TurboExpress into the burgeoning “multimedia” revolution by incorporating PCLink capabilities that allow users to download applications – including music and video files – into the newly renamed “TurboPod.” Eventually the TurboPod relegates the Gameboy into a niche as a mere gaming toy while NEC faces off against its real competition – Sony’s new line of Digital Walkmans that perform similar functions utilizing technology developed by Apple.

I think somewhere in that world I’m playing a lot of pinball.

Pong

Pong was the first popular Videogame. It is often called as the father of Videogames. The Game principle is very simple. Mainly it´s like Table Tennis. So you have got one Ball and two paddles. With the paddle you have to hit the ball. When you can´t hit the ball, the opponent becomes a point.

Allan Alcorn

We are at the year 1972. Atari Inc. was just founded by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. After their first game “Computer Space”, Bushnell wanted to have more games by licensing the ideas from other companies. Soon after Atari was founded, Allan Alcorn was hired because of his long experience with electrical engineering and computer science, whether he had no experience with Computer Games.

To “warm up” Alcorn should develop a game with two paddles, a moving spot and a scoring system. He should develope such a game because Bushnell was inspired by a Table Tennis game on the “Magnavox Odyssey” which he saw at a demonstration of that system.

Launch of Pong

As Magnavox noticed the new Pong of Atari, they said to them that Magnavox already have the rights for this game principle. In front of the court Magnavox could proof that Bushnell saw this game principle on a demonstration of the Magnavox Odyssey. So Atari was judged to pay 700.000$ for using the patent for a table-tennis game. It was a good invest for them, because till 1983 they sold over 8000 coin-operatet-machines of Pong.

In Summer 1975 they presented on the CES (Consumer Electronic Show) a home version of Pong, but the interests weren´t very good. Then few weeks after CES, Tom Quinn, buyer for Sears, wanted to have 150.000 Pong Systems until Christmas if Sears got the single right to sell Pong.

The Christmas-sells were very good and Pong was successful until the late 1970´s, in europe until the beginning of 1980.

Then the new Atari 2600 was launched. For that system there was published Pong Sports. It included Pong, Super Pong, Soccer, Table Soccer, Hockey, Quadrapong, Handball, Volleyball and Basketball.

Out of Pong was Breakout developed.

Mittlerweile gibt es tausende gute Videospiele und ebensoviele schlechte.

doch was ist mit den ersten Videospielen passiert? mit den Perlen von damals?

Richtig!

Sie werden immernoch gespielt!

Viele Spiele sind gekommen und gegangen.

abgelöst von einem neuem Teil oder einem besseren ähnlichem Spiel.

Spiele wie R-Type die ein Riesenerfolg waren kennt heute kaum noch einer.

Spiele wie Tetris und Pong hingegen sind zwar extrem simpel, aber haben sich über die Jahre durchgesetzt, weil sie einfach EXREM GUT sind.

Natürlich sind andere Spiele, die mittlerweile in vergessenheit geraten sind zum teil ebenso gut.Aber das ist das oberste Gesetz: Der Stärkste setzt sich durch. Um viele dieser Vergessenen Spiele ist es Schade und um ebensoviele nicht. Deswegen werde ich mich in nächster Zeit damit beschäftigen, sowohl die guten alten Schmuckstücke auszugraben, als auch die “Zeitlosen Klassiker” und ihre tausend Klone unter die Lupe zu nehmen.

PONG

1972 veröffentlichte Atari das erste weltweit populäre Videospiel: Pong Im Frühjahr 1972 präsentierte in Burlingame, Kalifornien die Firma Magnavox ihr von Ralph Baer entwickeltes Magnavox Odyssey. Nolan Bushnell spielte hier zum ersten Mal das Ping-Pong Spiel des Magnavox Odyssey. Als Bushnell wenig später Atari gründete, beauftragte er seinen noch neuen Angestellten Allan Alcorn, zu Übungszwecken ein Ping-Pong-Spiel zu erstellen. Wie sich herausstellte, machte das Ping-Pong-Spiel so viel Spaß, dass Bushnell sich entschied, es zu veröffentlichen. Da der Begriff Ping Pong bereits geschützt war, einigte man sich darauf, das Spiel ganz einfach Pong zu nennen.

Als Magnavox von Pong erfuhr, informierten sie Atari darüber, dass für das Spielprinzip bereits Patente bestanden. Vor Gericht konnte Magnavox beweisen, dass Bushnell im Frühjahr 1972 deren Ping-Pong-Spiel gesehen und gespielt hatte. Ein Eintrag Bushnells im Gästebuch von Magnavox untermauerte deren Beweisführung. Atari wurde zur Zahlung von $700.000 zur Nutzung der Patente von Magnavox verurteilt. Für Atari war das eine gute Investition, da man bis 1983 weit über 8000 Pong-Münzautomaten verkaufte.

Pong gilt bis heute als Urvater der Viedeospiele. Es existierten vor Pong zwar schon Videospiele, aber der Klassiker von Atari brachte den Durchbruch. Seit 1972 wurde Pong stetig weiterentwickelt, geklont, verbessert und wieder verschlechtert. Sowohl Offiziel als auch inoffiziell existieren unzähöige versionen von Pong.

In der Grundversion spielten immer nur 2 Spieler, aber 1973 erschien Pong Doubles, das erste Spiel für gleichzeitig vier Spieler.

Ebenfalls entwickelte sich aus dem Spiel die ebensooft geklonte Variante Breakout.

Die Varianten der Neuzeit, versuchen den Arcade-Anteil zu vermindern und dem Spiel Spannung zu verleihen. Da die oft kritisierten Punkte bei Pong hauptsächlich darauf beruhten, dass das Spiel sehr langsam und daher recht einfach ist, wurden bei neuen Versionen höhere Geschwindigkeiten, Hindernisse, mehr Bälle, aufstachelnde Musik und Farbeffekte die die Hölle für Epileptiker sind hinzugefügt.

Ein Musterbeispiel für die neuen Pong versionen stellt das Spiel PWONG2 dar.

TETRIS

Tetris

Tetris wurde von dem Russen Alexei Paschitnow entwickelt. Das Einzige wirklich besondere geschichtliche Merkmal von Tetris ist das um das Patent ein Kampf zwischen Atari und Nintendo ausbarch. Ein Kampf den Atari verlor. Die Frima Atari, welche schon im vorraus immense Summen für Werbung und Vermarktung von Tetris ausgegeben hatte, musste im November 1989 Hunderttausende Spielmodule in ihrem Lager vernichten.

______________________________________________________________________________________

Das Prinzip von Tetris ist es, eine Auswahl an Steinen, welche vom oberem Bildschirmrand fallen,

Tetrominos

in vertikalen Reihen anzuordnen. Vollendete Reihen verschwinden.

Sollte das Konstrukt den oberen Bildschirmrand erreichen, verliert der Spieler.

Es wurden zwar viele Veränderungen ausprobiert, aber keine konnte sich gegen das Urprinzip von Tetris durchsetzen. Der bekannteste änderungsversuch, ist der der Einführung von neuen Steinen, welche nicht aus 4 sondern aus 5 Teilen bestehen. Ebenfalls wurde des öfteren eine 3D portierung versucht, bei denen die Steine in alle Richtungen gedreht werden können.

Bekannt geworden durch ihre eingängige Melodie ist die Musik der GameBoy-Ausgabe von Tetris (Music A). Es basiert auf dem Lied Korobeiniki, welches auf dem 1861 geschriebenen gleichnamigen Gedicht von Nikolai Alexejewitsch Nekrassow basiert

Das soll es fürs erste auch schon gewesen sein. Weitere Spiele und Klasiker werden im Laufe der Zeit folgen.

und bis dahin, immer daran denken: “RETRO rockt derbe”(das wollte ich schon immer einmal zitieren^^)

In about two weeks, I leave for college. I’ve bought all my new supplies, save anything that comes up unexpectedly. The changes from this current life at home are seeming drastic, but needed. My parents are becoming overly protective, almost in a wish to keep me home and chained to the floor. My sister(At 16 years of age), the brat that she has always been, is acting like an only child already… Screaming and throwing something akin to a tantrum every time I ask for the car when she supposedly needs it as a locker for her soccer stuff while at school. Also, the bus is too lowly for her. I rode the bus 3 years out of my 4 years in high school, and she has yet to ride it an entire year. As soon as my sister entered high school, my mom started driving her to school and back for her soccer practice.

For the past few years, I’ve been using a terrible old CRT monitor(The Philips Magnavox 107S in this article. I cant believe it once sold for $250). This summer, I decided to buy a flat screen monitor so I could take my desktop to college with me, where I already know the desks are quite a bit too small to be able to fit a CRT and still use it as a desk. After a frustrating time trying to get a monitor from someone on craigslist, I found a 23in Acer widescreen acer monitor. This thing is dreamy, the colour is perfect, the contrast is perfect, and it plays beautiful HD video. It also has built in speakers, which may be low quality, but get the job done, and don’t take up any additional space, which I know will be at a premium soon. 1920×1080 is so much larger a space to work with than 1280×1024.

Wallpaper Corner

Since I’m now using a 1920×1080 monitor, I shall post my favourite wallpapers in this resolution.

Dorman’s Interlude:

Mr. Dorman says:
whhhhaaaaaaaat?

Don’t ask. He probably cant tell you.

El primer sistema de videojuegos doméstico , como la mayoría sabreis , fue creado por Ralph Baer en 1972. Una consola que no hacía más que mostrar un par de puntos en pantalla y que “simulaba”  los gráficos mediante overlays que se pegaban encima de la pantalla. Un método precario , si , pero una gran revolución en la época en que fue lanzado, sobre todo teniendo en cuenta que este sistema no tenía procesador alguno o memoria. Además, fue el primer sistema en utilizar cartuchos intercambiables para los juegos, los cuales carecían completamente de sonido. Como curiosidad, tengo entendido que esta consola solo funcionaba correctamente el los televisores de la propia compañía, dando problemas en otro tipo de televisores.

Para amenizar un poquito estos calurosos días de agosto aquí os traigo el spot publicitario de dicha máquina, fechado en Febrero de 1973. Personalmente lo que más me llama la atención son los ortopédicos mandos de control y la extraña melodía del anuncio, que parece más propia de un sketch de humor que de un spot publicitario. Por supuesto, la publicidad presenta la Magnavox Odyssey como una novedosa fórmula de entretenimiento familiar (“una nueva dimensión para tu TV”)  , que fue la estrategia comercial empleada por todas las empresas dedicadas a este sector en sus primeros años de vida (lease Atari, Coleco y Mattel)

K.C. Munchkin
key personnel
Ed Averett
original platform
Odyssey2 (1981, Magnavox)

In spite of appearances, K.C. Munchkin is not part of the Pac-Man series but rather a very high quality clone featuring several changes.   Unlike Pac-Man, there are only a few pellets in each maze but they move about in small groups, occasionally leading K.C. into trouble.  K.C. has only a single life to work with, so players must be extremely cautious while dashing around the maze.

Pac-Man was inducted on April 11th, 2009.

Return to the National Game Registry to view more inductees.

Category: Home Console (dedicated)

Atari follows up their Sears production with Pong games under their own label: Atari Pong and the extended Atari Super Pong.

Magnavox extends their product range, too: the Odyssey 300 has 3 levels of difficulty and automatic serving and English for 2 players, the Odyssey 400 adds digital scoring, the Odyssey 500 is in colour, has a fourth game called Soccer, and represents players as real figures for the first time.

Mattel releases the electronic handheld games Auto Race, Missile Attack, and Ski Slalom. Today, they are very hard to find and sought after by collectors.

Related videos

Atari Super Pong commercial:

Atari Super Pong gameplay:

PONG
original platform
arcade
developer/publisher
Atari
key personnel
Ralph Baer (original design)
Nolan Bushnell (production)
Al Alcorn (program)

Essentially plagiarized from the Tennis game included on the Magnavox Odyssey (the first home video game console), Pong makes a few adjustments to the back-and-forth paddle action, including a scorekeeper and variations in speed and angle.  Pong was the first hit video game, launching the entire industry, more or less. 

Tennis was inducted on March 12th, 2009.

Visit the National Game Registry to view more inductees.

David and I have a little 15 inch plasma screen TV in our bedroom. We’ve had it for just over a year. A couple of weeks ago the screen started blinking. It would show the picture and blink to a black screen. Then eventually the screen would go entirely black, although you could still hear the sound on the TV. 

Obviously this was very frustrating. You could only watch TV for about 15 minutes before it would die, and even if you turned it off and then on again, it would not come back. It needed to sit a while before the picture would come back.

I like to watch TV before I go to bed. I usually lay in bed and watch a good half hour before going to sleep, and I know that’s bad but it’s what I like to do. Plus, if Madeline wakes up early sometimes we let her come in bed with us and we turn cartoons on really quiet so we can sleep while she lays in bed and watches cartoons. So, I missed my TV!

David is an “extended warranty” purchaser. I personally have never been one to buy an extended warranty on things, but David always does…except for this TV. He figured that TV’s last for years, so why buy the warranty? 

As I mentioned before it was bought in December of 2007, and just over a year had passed, so I was pretty sure any warranty was past.

So, I started Googling trying to figure out if this was a common problem with HDTV’s. I didn’t find much, but eventually I did end up at the Magnavox website (our brand of TV). I did some searching on the site, and although I couldn’t find any information on what was wrong with the TV, I did find an 800 number to call for support.

So, I decided to give it a try. I figured they would say, “sorry we can’t help you,” or “we can repair your TV for hundreds of dollars,” but I figured it was worth a shot.

I got a man on the phone who spent quite a bit of time taking down my name, phone number, address, etc and repeating everything back to me, which drove me nuts. Then he asked me to explain the problem. I gave him a quick explanation and then he put me on hold to research the problem.

A couple of minutes later he came back on and informed me that they would be sending me a new TV and it should arrive in 2 weeks. After I picked my jaw up off the floor I thanked the man for my new TV. I couldn’t believe it was that easy! If I had known it would be that easy I would have called a couple of weeks ago, but I figured it was a lost cause. 

David said there was probably a recall on it, and that’s why they were so agreeable. I don’t know what the reason is, but I wish all of my experiences in the world of telephone customer service could be so pleasant. Hopefully within the next couple of weeks we will have our new TV and Madeline can again watch cartoons in bed with us!

K.C.’s Krazy Chase
key personnel:
Ed Averett
original platform:
Odyssey2 (1982, Magnavox)

Krazy Chase may be the first video game allegory, intentionally representing both the market and legal struggles between Magnavox and Atari. The courts deemed K.C.’s first adventure  a plagiarism of Pac-Man but it was a very high-quality knock-off with many new features and modes. K.C.’s second adventure still plays like Pac-Man but introduces elements from Atari’s Centipede , including a large centipede enemy and mushrooms that impede K.C.’s progress. Chomping the centipede’s segments provides the power K.C. needs to devour the other enemies chasing him around the maze and progress to the next maze.

K.C.’s Krazy Chase was inducted on February 23rd, 2009.

Return to the National Game Registry to view more inductees.

image: The Old Computer

image: Old Computers

This article features the best games released for the Magnavox Odyssey2, known as the Philips Videopac in Europe and South America, as selected by the National Game Preservation Board and recommended for permanent preservation by the United States Library of Congress National Game Registry.

System: Magnavox Odyssey2/Philips Videopac
Manufacturer: Magnavox (a division of Philips – USA)/Philips (Europe)
Debut: 1978
Nation of origin: United States

The Odyssey2’s debut was so muted that Philips decided almost immediately to discontinue the system. In an unusual act of passive defiance, American Magnavox did not discontinue the Odyssey2 but crept forward on a shoestring budget without a large marketing presence to promote its games. Incredibly, Magnavox employed a game design team consisting of only one person, Ed Averett. In spite of its low profile, Odyssey2 managed to maintain its presence all the way up to the video game crash of 1983/1984, when Philips finally pulled the plug for good. The system had a small, derivative library with very little third party support but Averett a few releases have earned entry in the National Game Registry, including:

K.C.’s Krazy Chase

REFERENCES AND ADDITIONAL INFO

Emulation: National Game Registry recommends O2EM for Odyssey2 emulation on home computers.

Manuals: Many Odyssey2 games are less than self-explanatory. A collection of manual transcripts may be viewed at Ozyr’s Odyssey2 Archive

Reviews: Video Game Critic offers several Odyssey2 reviews.

Visit the National Game Registry to view more inductees.

Before I jump into my Black Friday recommendations, allow me to confess that I, Thomas Ward, am not a shopper. If I ever go to my local Wal-Mart store (or any other store, for that matter), I already know two things: 1) what I am going to purchase, and 2) where it is located inside the store. I do this for the same reason most people do: to save time, and to avoid buying things I don’t really need.

Now, we may be in the midst of an economic downturn, but that doesn’t have to stop you from getting some really excellent gifts for that special person in your life (whether they are a computer geek or not). It is, with this in mind, that I make the follow recommendations as to products that special person in your life may enjoy:

1. Aiptek Action High Definition Camcorder

Aiptek joins the HD revolution with their line of high-quality, yet low-priced digital camcorders. This camcorder records to ultra-portable SD cards, eliminating the need to carry bulky tapes and/or DVD’s to operate. On a single 8GB card, you could record up to 5 hours of 1080i high definition content. If video isn’t your thing, then you can also take up to over 32,000 photos! This camcorder comes with an AC adapter, rechargable battery, USB cable, component cable, A/V cables, case, and remote control.

Price: $169.44

2) Magnavox Blu-Ray Disc Player

If you want to take your movie-viewing experience to the next level, then I highly recommend this affordable Blu-Ray player. As you may know, Blu-Ray is becoming increasingly popular these days, and some of the bigger brands have been selling players in upwards of $400 or more, but Magnavox has decided to take an alternate route for the holidays, making Blu-Ray more accessible to those on the consumer market. Not only can this machine play your favorite Blu-Ray discs, but it can also play regular DVDs, CDs, CD-Rs, and even CD-RWs (a lot more than most players nowadays).

Price: $128

3. Vizio 32″ HDTV with Digital Tuner

I can speak from personal experience that Sony has always made excellent-quality equipment, so I don’t hesitate for even a moment to recommend their new Vizio line of high definition televisions. It features a 32-inch widescreen LCD screen (which is excellent for those of you who prefer the “cinema” experience). It also features “virtual surround”, which emulates the feeling of surround sound through its two included speakers. If you really want to round that “cinema” experience you’re looking for, this television can also be mounted to your wall. To top it all off, each Vizio purchased through Wal-Mart comes with a free one-year warranty with in-home service.

Price: $457

4. Creative Zen 8GB MP3 Player

I always loved the SoundBlaster line of video cards so, when I heard that Creative was also releasing its own line of digital MP3 players, I knew that I would just have to recommend one. It comes with a 2.5″ digital screen, and can hold up to 2,000 songs. You also get a built-in FM radio, Voice recorder, alarm clock function. This handy little gadget can also eliminate the need for all of those bulky external storage devices since the Zen, itself, can also be used for external storage! The best part is that it can be expanded upon, using the included SD card slot.

Price: $97

5. 13″ TV & DVD Player Bundle

If you’re child has been complaining about not having their own TV to watch, but you don’t want to pay an arm and a leg for a new one, then you can put your fears to bed. With this 13″ TV and DVD player bundle, you can give your children their own private entertainment system for under $200. Much like your normal size television, it also comes with its very own remote control. The system is currently available in pink and green, so that it will fit in with every child’s room.

Price: $135 (Green) / $138.92 (Pink)

6. D-Rex Interactive Dinosaur

I may not be a child, but I am a child at heart, and, when I saw this next item, I was absolutely astounded. This fully-interactive RC dinosaur can move just like a real T-Rex (if they were still around today). It can respond to the sound of your child’s voice, and will even react appropriately! Its reptilian-like skin also adds a touch of realism, making you forget that it’s just an RC toy! If your kid is the kind who loves their privacy, it also comes with a guard mode.

Price: $148.88

7. Halo 3 Covenant Laser Tag Set

Upon first viewing, I expected less of this item since it is, indeed, a children’s toy. Upon actually having a chance to play with it, however, I was quite surprised at how true to the video game series that these plasma pistols truly were! The lights and sounds make you feel as though you are Master Chief, leading the Spartans in the fight against the Covenant Armada! If you, or your child, is a fan of laser tag (or the Halo games), then this item definitely belongs on your wish list!

Price: $33.97

8. Animal Crossing: City Folk (Nintendo Wii)

I will be the first to admit that I was never a big fan of the Animal Crossing games. This game is quite the exception, however, as it is much more than a game. Unlike the other AC games, “City Folk” adds an air of social networking, through the use of the WiiSpeak peripheral. You can also invite friends from all over the world to play with you using the Nintendo Wi-Fi connection. This game, overall, is a family-friendly (not to mention budget-friendly) addition to any video game collection.

Price: $49.88

9. Sony PSP Value Bundle

Even though the PSP 3000 is now available, the original Sony PSP still has not lost its charm. Adding to that is the fact that you can now receive your choice of PSP and two games along with it! In this bundle, you can choose from three different types of PSP: a “God of War” limited edition, a “Daxter” limited edition, or a PSP-2001 slim edition. There is a long list of games that are available with this bundle, including such titles as “Lego Star Wars”, “The Sims 2″, “Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories”, and “Medal of Honor: Heroes”. If you are just entering the world of handheld gaming, and you’re a fan of the Sony PlayStation, this value bundle makes the perfect first purchase.

Price: $203 (Depending on Options)

10. Xbox 360 Arcade with Guitar Hero Controller & Game

Another perfect purchase for those who wish to enter the console gaming world, but don’t want to spend an arm and a leg. For just under $200, you get the Xbox 360 Arcade edition with wireless controller, Sega Superstar Tennis, five arcade games, and a copy of “Guitar Hero III” with wireless guitar (how can you beat a deal like that?). You also have your option of adding an additional wireless controller (including a second for Guitar Hero) and an additional game, including “Shaun White Snowboarding”, “Star Wars: The Force Unleashed”, “Fable 2″, and “Quantum of Solace”.

Price: $199 (Depending on Options)

I hope that some of these recommendations will help you come up with some of your own ideas as to what to get that special person in your life this holiday season.