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A video game or console can be great, but without the right input device who really cares? Playing a bit off of
Tan's article on the Saitek Cyborg 3D Gold USB,
The RFG Pulse wants your opinion on the
Best Digital Controller. But first a little history might be in order.
Digital controller technology was the primary method utilized until about the mid 1990's. To put it simply, this was basically an On-Off technology: push a button, directional button or joystick and a single response was transmitted to the console to execute an action. The amount of pressure applied was not a factor, as it is in today's analog controllers.
When considering your vote, take into account innovation, control, feel, overall performance and usability. There were many, many more digital controllers released who did not make the list that you see in this poll. The most notable missing is the 'pistol' controller for the
Bally Professional Arcade - a truly sensitive and responsive controller for its time, but not considered a mainstream system by most gamers.
There are some heavy weights in this poll. Who will win?
Vote and add a
comment to state your case!
Atari 2600 - Joystick
Simple, elegant and easy to use. A true classic.
| Mattel Intellivision
Innovative at the time, allowing complex user input. The 'circle' pad allowed quick directional input.
| Nintendo NES
The introduction of the first gamepad. The D-Pad exists to this day in our modern controllers.
|
Sega Genesis
Excellent design and fits like a comfortable pair of shoes.
| Nintendo SNES
Slightly small, dog bone design, but introduced us to the 'shoulder' buttons still utilized today.
| SNK Neo Geo AES
The mother of all controllers. This true arcade stick was / is a classic with excellent control. |
Comments are always welcomed! Let's hear from you!
[img width=300 align=right]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/hardware/U-033/bf/U-033-H-00010-A.jpg[/img]The year was 1987 and the video gaming world was ruled by the
Nintendo Famicom, followed by a somewhat strong competitor in the
Sega Master System.
Atari was still a big player at the time, though their recent releases of their
5200 and
7800 systems could not effectively compete with these newer breeds. A company called
Worlds of Wonder decided to enter into the fray with the release of the
Action Max. Though they had already established considerable ties to the gaming community during the mid 1980s, this system was already dead on arrival when it hit the store shelves.
Worlds of Wonder was founded by a group of former
Atari programmers. Being the original distributor of the
Nintendo NES in the United States, they had strong ties to both technological and manufacturing resources. The actions and reasoning behind the development of the
Action Max is unknown. Coming off the video game crash of 1984, many hardware manufacturers went bankrupt and new developers shied away from this video game console field (
NEC being the main exception). Obviously, this did not deter their efforts in creating a new system built upon possibly the most media formats ever devised – the
VHS video cassette tapes.
It is important to first describe how this system works, rather than to describe its physical and technical features as is the norm. The
Action Max is one of the few video game consoles that are not able to display graphics on its own – a
VCR is required for game play (not included). The system works by attaching directly to a
VCR. The
VCR in turn transmits the video signal to your television. Sound is delivered through the
Action Max system itself – there is no option for external output. The included Light Sensor must be plugged into the console, then 'connected' to the television screen via a suction cup. As mentioned before, games are
VCR tapes. Pop in the game into your
VCR, power up the
Action Max and plug in the controller (light gun) and be prepared to fire away. All games (a total of 5 were released) are the same, whether it is shooting a ghost or a submarine, these are simple point and shoot affairs. What's worse, there is no change/reaction to anything being displayed to you when you score a 'hit' – a small noise is emitted from the console and the score counter increases. There is no way to win or lose at these games – just high score bragging rights among your friends (better right them down since the
Action Max doesn’t keep track of them at all for you). Also, remember that this is a dumb VCR tape – replay value is -0-. The tape itself cannot change, and playing a new game repeats the same positions and appearances of all foes. Memorize where they will appear, maximize your score.
[img width=300 align=left]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/hardware/U-033/bb/U-033-H-00010-A.jpg[/img]Now that the basic concept of the working of the
Action Max has been described, let’s look at the console itself. The system itself is rather nondescript. The dark grey exterior casing is shaped and has the size of an aluminum container used for the family sized portion of a Stouffer’s pre-made meatloaf dinner. Come to think about it, the weight is about the same as well (about 2 lbs.). A white elongated "S" shaped plastic wedge breaks up the dull, solid colored top facing. Residing here is a combination of three toggle switches and two dials that control the difficulty level and the number of players (supported two player mode). The player's score was displayed here as well in classic, old-school red LED numbering.
The front of the unit has jacks for a headphone and the controller, along with a toggle switch to mute the volume. The back of the unit is more of the same – a jack for the power (external, not included but the unit can run off of C batteries), two mini-RCA jacks for the light sensors. The controller is a more of the same - a simple dark grey light gun that feels rather fragile and does not have any girth to it, though it does fit OK in one’s hand. 'Shooting' the 'gun' emits a rather satisfying mechanical clicking noise – nothing like cap guns of the era, but still, with this console, it is all about the small pleasures.
Worlds of Wonder entered into bankruptcy in 1988, less than a year after the release of the
Action Max. The company is more noted for the development and production of various children’s product, including the
Teddy Ruxpin interactive bear. Many of the associates of
Worlds of Wonder went on to join
Nintendo in various capacities.
[img width=150 align=right]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-033/bf/U-033-S-00040-A.jpg.jpg[/img]The
Action Max was a short-lived system, and rightly so. Compared to it's contemporaries, the static game play and poorly acted video
VCR games did not stand a chance. Think of the worst
Sega CD FMV game released and multiple your disdain for it by 1000% - that would not accurately define an experience with the
Action Max, but it would come close.
This system is only recommended for collectors – there is no value here at all for among gamers of any level. The unit is light, but the box is HUGE for this system – the packing alone is around 10" in depth. I am not sure why the packaging was so extensive for this system – perhaps the marketing gurus at
Worlds of Wonder thought that 'bigger was better' when seen on a store shelve. It is certainly not needed for what it was designed to protect. Though not seen a great deal for sale, these systems are pretty cheap to acquire through eBay. Expect to pay no more than $50 USD for a complete system. Games are not too rare either – they will run you around $10 USD a piece.
The link to the full review of this system (including ratings, pictures and video):
http://www.videogameconso...ry.com/pg80-actionmax.htmThanks all.
Terry (a.k.a. Marriott_Guy)
The Video Game Console Library
http://www.videogameconsolelibrary.com
[img align=right width=225]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/repository/5591257414803e11b6edd7cynical_atari.jpg[/img]There are many big developers out there. Such Behemoths as Activision, Nintendo, and the evil empire we know as EA. Love or hate, these behemoths tend shape the future of the gaming world, for better or worse. On the other end of the spectrum, we’ll have the fallen angels, where certain companies have just fallen out of favor. Such is the story for Atari. No, not the old Atari that was cool and caused the video game collapse in the 80s, but the current, sad, sorry Atari that was originally Infogrames / Hasbro Interactive. What went wrong, and what the hell are you doing?
Atari, you have some decent franchises. Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed the
Rollercoaster Tycoon series. Chris Sawyer was a genius, and the fact that the first game was the number one seller the year it came out proved it. Too bad then that you took the series and combined it with shit in Rollercoaster Tycoon 2. A sequel, nah, that was a castration. You tried to make better with the third game in the series, but while it was fun it was a resource hog that slowed to a crawl when your park became too large. Good job destroying that franchise.
Recently, you almost lost your license for Dragonball Games. For you, that certainly would have sucked, as your Budokai games are actually pretty fun. They are perhaps the only gems that are not tarnished in your crown by pieces of shit like My Horse and Me. Is that even proper English? I believe that it should be “My Horse and I”. Great job promoting the further castration of the English Language, in a world where the internet is destroying the written language you’re doing your part by influencing little girls who are too small to use the internet. In time, they’ll join the rest of us on the internet, creating some hideous MySpace page with the welcome statement “Like O My Gawd I am liek so Happy that u r here!” What a sick sad world it is. Thankfully, the economy has collapsed, so these bubblegum girls aren’t going to be able to hide in McMansions anymore. Thank God, perhaps they’ll learn what their poor English will get them in terms of a job. Do you think “Would you like Fries with that?” is hard for them to learn? I don’t think so, but I digress.
Atari, you’re a lost cause. Try as you might, but you’ll never be a behemoth in the gaming world. It’s funny though, because
you do try. You took Phil Harrison from Sony. What the hell? You’re supposed to go out in a blaze of glory, taking the Infogrames stock price with you! But you must not realize that, or perhaps you do, and you just want to ruin poor ol’ Phil. Phil seems to be such a nice guy though, it isn’t as though he’s the one known for “RIIIIIIIDGGEEEE RAAACCER!” No, that’d be Kaz Hirai. What? You say you wanted
that guy? I am sure that with enough money you can get him. I am sure Sony wouldn’t mind to have Phil back, and we’d be happy to see you go down in flames without him.
It’s time for you to smell the roses, Atari. Your time is over, and it’s time for new companies to grow out of your decomposed remains.
It is noted that a lot of thought came about regarding the structure of the English language from just writing this article. We really wish our resident grammar Nazi, known to the RFG Community as Arrrhaloymnn was around to give his perspective. There’s nothing quite like a native Dutch Speaker giving a native English speaker his perspective on English grammar. Oh well.
We all know about
E.T., the
infamously bad Atari 2600 game. But did you know that
Atari buried thousands of unsold copies of the game in a Alamogordo, New Mexico landfill in September of 1983?
Many have doubted this event's authenticity, however a team of four enterprising Auburn University students have decided to team up and make
E.T.'s March, a documentary about them trying to locate the landfill where Atari buried all these games. Together, the four students will travel from Auburn, Alabama to El Paso, Texas, which is where the Atari plant was located. From there, they will travel from El Paso to the landfill in Alamogordo, recreating the path that the semitrucks took, while in the meantime taking in the video game culture of the United States.
Judging by the website, they seem very determined to locate this goldmine of video gaming history, and the documentary should prove to be a very interesting watch. Now, I haven't seen King of Kong, the other video game documentary that's been making waves lately, but I can imagine that E.T.'s March must have been inspired by it and the critical acclaim it has been receiving.
The filming of the documentary will take place from March 15-23 and will be released over the internet sometime this summer. There are no plans for a theatrical or DVD release stated on the website, but I assume that they would be willing to do something like that if the right distributor steps in and funds them.
While you're waiting for the film to be released, here's a great, well-researched site all about the E.T. burial story:
http://atari.digital-madman.com/E.T.'s March Official Website
As I was writing my next System Overview article, I found myself asking the question "What in the world were they thinking?" when looking at some of the console designs in my Room of Doom. Some are very unique and others are just plain elephant-man ugly. With that image in mind, who will take the home coveted
Joseph Merrick Award for
worst-looking video game console? The contenders:
Magnavox Odyssey 2
 Just what I need - 15 million
keys to play a game.
| Amstrad GX 4000
Space-age design or just a cheap rip-off
of the Land Speeder from Star Wars?
| 
Cast Your Vote!!
|
Atari 5200
Hmm... make it bigger and
they will love it - NOT.
| Gakken Compact Vision
What in the heck am I supposed
to do with those funky handles?
|
Nintendo GameCube
Simple design or
designed by simpletons?
|
RCA Studio 2
Brutal, just plain brutal.
|
Bally Professional Arcade
Bally should have stuck
to designing arcade machines.
| Pioneer LaserActive
"Customer needs assistance in aisle 3.
Fork lift will be required." |
30 years ago this month the first of the Atari VCS systems started rolling off the factory lines in time for the holiday shopping season. The Atari VCS turned out to be the first "popular" cartridge based game system that families could play in the comfort of their own homes. With a lifespan of 14 years and a library of nearly a
thousand titles, surely there is something for everyone.
Reviving a dead feature, this is
List 'em. I list my favorites and you list yours. Here's my top Atari 2600 games:
- Asteroids - An arcade favorite that also hit it it big at home. The gameplay is simple; fly your spaceship in any direction trying to clear out the Asteroid field. Fly too fast and you crash, and shooting larger asteroids makes them break into multiple smaller ones. I think most people will find this one to be fun with an easy difficulty level.
- Space Invaders - Fortunately in the 1980s there were two "baddies" in gaming, film, and comic books that were impossible to be politically incorrect as the arbiters of leading world faiths hadn't covered them... Aliens and Zombies. Well, here's another mindless alien blaster that needs little introduction. Move your ship along the base of the screen shooting vertically, and taking cover as needed behind destructible shields. The invading ships are arranged in a grid with the higher ones being worth more points for scoring. Occasionally, a bonus ship will chirp and fly across the top of the screen for big points and maybe extra life. The sprites are not the same as the arcade, but the spirit is there and it feels much alive.
"INCREASE SPEED, DROP DOWN, AND REVERSE DIRECTION!" -Lrr (Futurama)
- Pitfall! - Play as a jungle explorer, Pitfall Harry, in search of untold fortune. Obstacles along the way include scorpions, crocodiles, and quicksand, so you better be ready to jump into action or else you'll fall short. Activision (the first "third-party" developer) really nailed it with this one. Unfortunately the difficulty level eventually plateaus, and the only world records to be had are timed "perfect play" runs.
- Adventure - Wander the world from a top-down viewpoint through mazes and castles. Find keys to unlock newer areas to explore and slay dragons that stand in the way of progress. This game was truly revolutionary in terms of mechanics and general scope and size. A similar but far more refined game titled The Legend of Zelda came out on the NES a few years later and blew the world away. To this date I still enjoy playing both games.
- Missile Command - Move the cursor to trigger a mid-air explosion. Use this to destroy all incoming missiles heading towards your bases. This game gets to be tough after a while, with a fair, but gradually increasing difficulty with each wave.
Wow, five is too short for listing all the great games for such a classic system. There's always other goodies like
Q*Bert,
Pole Position,
Breakout, ,
Yars' Revenge,
Frogger,
Combat, and multiplayer sports games like
Basketball. Expect simple gameplay and don't forget the RF switch. Stay tuned on channel 3.
