Retro Video Gamer

Welcome to Retro Video Gamer => Retro News & Chat => Topic started by: TL on February 05, 2014, 21:00:04 PM

Title: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: TL on February 05, 2014, 21:00:04 PM
[align=center:2mtkzqhu]Activision - Atari 2600 VCS - Corporate Commercial - 1981 (//http)[/align:2mtkzqhu]
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: Greyfox on February 05, 2014, 21:59:47 PM
They were great in them days
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: sloan on February 05, 2014, 22:41:09 PM
Just some random observations:

Oh, to have the innocence from those days back again. Also, it really is sad that government regulations and the threat of Chinese knockoffs has made it next to impossible to start similar companies these days. Opportunities to start your own video game company are long gone with huge budgets and Hollywood-grade production teams.

Also, it is a shame what Activision would become. I know business is business, but cut throat tactics and abundance of franchise titles has tarnished the image over the years.

Finally, why can't someone digitally remaster those old film clips to get some visual crispness back into them?
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: TrekMD on February 05, 2014, 23:30:51 PM
Nice video!  I've wondered the same thing as sloan.  It would be nice if these were remastered to at least look crisp.  I'm guessing a lot of these are transfers from video tapes.
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: sloan on February 06, 2014, 00:56:59 AM
I have wondered what became of guys like Garry Kitchen, Bob Whitehead, Alan Miller, David Crane, etc. When they parted ways with Activision, did they maybe get jobs as programmers with other software companies? I know Garry Kitchen and David Crane did a few games on NES and SNES, but those gigs only paid the bills for so long.

A sidenote: I recently found out that David Crane grew up 20 miles from my house, in northern Indiana Amish country. Seemed a bit odd though because Amish frown upon technology in general. Guess he came from an "English" family and not Amish.
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: TrekMD on February 06, 2014, 00:58:57 AM
We've interview some of those folks here, sloan.  Check out the Interviews tab on top of the page. :)
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: sloan on February 06, 2014, 02:25:13 AM
Good stuff. I had not looked into this site and all it offered before. I read the interviews with Kitchen and Crane, and they were interesting for sure. They did not go into details of where their careers went post-Activision though.

I noticed in reading the interviews that numerous people from RVG asked questions to Garry and David. Did you guys meet them in person or were these submitted via email or similar means?
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: TrekMD on February 06, 2014, 02:33:31 AM
We request questions right here on the site.  We start a thread looking for questions from members for anyone we are interviewing and once we have a certain number of questions, we send them to be answered.  As an example, here is the most recent thread where we requested questions:  http://www.retrovideogamer.co.uk/http://www.retrovideogamer.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7 (//http)
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: TL on February 06, 2014, 22:31:34 PM
I have thought about making a Jaguar CD cinepak demo of all these old adverts  :16:
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: TrekMD on February 07, 2014, 01:07:01 AM
Quote from: "The Laird"I have thought about making a Jaguar CD cinepak demo of all these old adverts  :16:

That would be cool.
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: onthinice on February 07, 2014, 02:54:46 AM
Quote from: "sloan"I have wondered what became of guys like Garry Kitchen, Bob Whitehead, Alan Miller, David Crane, etc. When they parted ways with Activision, did they maybe get jobs as programmers with other software companies? I know Garry Kitchen and David Crane did a few games on NES and SNES, but those gigs only paid the bills for so long.

A sidenote: I recently found out that David Crane grew up 20 miles from my house, in northern Indiana Amish country. Seemed a bit odd though because Amish frown upon technology in general. Guess he came from an "English" family and not Amish.

Indiana is great is not? Garfield the cat is from Muncie, Indiana. I did have to laugh. Northern Indiana to me is mostly lakes and Amish country.

On my own sidenote: I found an old vhs of Happy's Place recently. It is from about 1995. Has Batman and Power Rangers.

Happy's Place was a variety type kids show based in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It started in the mid 1980's and starred Happy the Hobo. It consisted of old Warner Brothers cartoons, Heathcliff, Saber Rider and lots of jokes. 

Another reason to love Indiana.
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: sloan on February 08, 2014, 00:31:07 AM
Quote from: "onthinice"Indiana is great is not? Garfield the cat is from Muncie, Indiana. I did have to laugh. Northern Indiana to me is mostly lakes and Amish country.

On my own sidenote: I found an old vhs of Happy's Place recently. It is from about 1995. Has Batman and Power Rangers.

Happy's Place was a variety type kids show based in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It started in the mid 1980's and starred Happy the Hobo. It consisted of old Warner Brothers cartoons, Heathcliff, Saber Rider and lots of jokes. 

Another reason to love Indiana.

At the risk of derailing further, I will respond  :1:

It sounds like you lived close to the Fort Wayne television market. I grew up in South Bend, so do not have remembrance of that program. The town where David Crane is from is Nappanee, home of Amish Acres tourist attraction. I said "in general" regarding Amish and technology, because it varies by local parish and head bishop as to what they allow. Some in my area have cell phones, some do not. So long as they are physically separated with no land lines, some modern amenities are permitted.
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: onthinice on February 08, 2014, 15:58:17 PM
That is a cool video about Activision. Thanks Laird for sharing it!

Sloan, you made some good points and it is nice to have a little back story to some of the game developers. As these systems age so do the folks who created them. May their stories live on forever.

I have been on a nostalgic kick lately and remember 1985 very well. Game consoles were frowned upon and computers were the in thing. Well kids got bored easily to say the least and somehow it became cool for 12th grade kids to go on a kids show. For several years it was the cool thing.

Thank God that the NES arrived when it did and developers like Activision and Accolade were still making games.
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: TL on February 09, 2014, 21:05:54 PM
[align=center:3la6kmkc]This video makes me think of this classic David Crane picture:

(http://www.retrogamer.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/DavidCrane1983-451x630.png)

This is a classic print advert from Activision too:

(http://www.c64-wiki.com/images/thumb/e/e6/Activisionadvert.jpg/400px-Activisionadvert.jpg)[/align:3la6kmkc]
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: TrekMD on February 10, 2014, 00:26:41 AM
That's the picture from the Retro Gamer article.  :)  Love the ad and the use of "tapes" to refer to the carts! 
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: TL on February 10, 2014, 01:46:21 AM
Quote from: "TrekMD"That's the picture from the Retro Gamer article.  :)  Love the ad and the use of "tapes" to refer to the carts!

In this case they did mean tapes! This advert appeared in UK computer magazines!
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: TrekMD on February 10, 2014, 01:48:38 AM
Quote from: "The Laird"
Quote from: "TrekMD"That's the picture from the Retro Gamer article.  :)  Love the ad and the use of "tapes" to refer to the carts!

In this case they did mean tapes! This advert appeared in UK computer magazines!

Ah, so they were games on tape.  Cool.
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: TL on February 15, 2014, 11:30:57 AM
[align=center:6jcl8j1i](http://www.atarimania.com/pubs/hi_res/atari-2600-ad-enduro-activision-uk.jpg)   (http://www.tomheroes.com/images/frostbite.JPG)

(http://www.tomheroes.com/images3/spaceshuttlead.jpg)   (http://www.atarimania.com/pubs/hi_res/activision_decathlon_italy.jpg)[/align:6jcl8j1i]
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: TrekMD on February 15, 2014, 15:17:05 PM
Love those ads!
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: onthinice on February 15, 2014, 19:36:00 PM
I so want Frostbite for the Atari 2600. The price for the cart has always been more then I have wanted to pay. At least it can be played on the Activision compilation discs.
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: TrekMD on February 15, 2014, 20:14:53 PM
I don't have Frostbite either and did not realize it was so expensive to get. 
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: TL on February 15, 2014, 20:42:46 PM
Weird, it's pretty cheap to pick up over here. I come across them all the time.
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: TrekMD on February 15, 2014, 21:08:11 PM
Quote from: "The Laird"Weird, it's pretty cheap to pick up over here. I come across them all the time.

I wonder if they were rarer in the US for some reason.
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: onthinice on February 15, 2014, 21:50:18 PM
I do not know the answer. Maybe the carts that were sold are staying in private collections. Leading to higher demand and fewer carts.
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: TrekMD on February 16, 2014, 00:45:17 AM
Who knows?  I'll see if I can get a lose cart and just get the instructions somewhere else (even if they are just scanned pages I can turn them into a PDF).
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: sloan on February 16, 2014, 01:10:45 AM
I've still got my original Frostbite cartridge from 1983. Only wish I had kept the boxes on games from that era.
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: TrekMD on February 16, 2014, 01:36:45 AM
Quote from: "sloan"I've still got my original Frostbite cartridge from 1983. Only wish I had kept the boxes on games from that era.

At least you still have the game, which is cool. 
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: onthinice on February 16, 2014, 03:44:43 AM
I agree.
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: sloan on February 17, 2014, 00:26:00 AM
Not complaining by any means, but I do wonder about life expectancy on older game carts. My original Pitfall II cart bit the dust some years back for unknown reasons. I plugged it into the console one day and all it gave was a striped screen. I cleaned the contacts to no end with no good results. Thankfully, I have picked up two replacements since.

As a backup plan, I do have Activision Anthology on PS2 if all else fails.
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: TrekMD on February 17, 2014, 00:33:50 AM
That's a good question.  One of the reasons I like having ROMs for the games as that let's me play them using something like the Harmony cart. 
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: onthinice on February 17, 2014, 03:08:44 AM
That is a good question Sloan. I have had several Game Boy Color games go bad and one Colecovison cart. Both were bought as lot so it was not my doing but I have been lucky with other carts.
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: TL on February 17, 2014, 19:56:01 PM
[align=center:20jx09qq](http://www.atarimania.com/pubs/hi_res/atari-2600-space-shuttle-activision-uk.jpg)

(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5259/5453140797_f646975c9d_z.jpg)[/align:20jx09qq]
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: TrekMD on February 17, 2014, 22:29:29 PM
Space Shuttle!  Now that game represents more than one aspect of history - gaming and real world! 
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: sloan on February 17, 2014, 22:36:15 PM
I bought Space Shuttle new in 1983. Always loved all the extras it came with, overlays, detailed instructions, etc. It really was meant to be a simulator and not a game. I think I was successful in launching and landing a space shuttle once in my playing days. It was really somewhat difficult and required use of the console switches to stabilize orbit, engage thruster rockets, etc.
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: TL on February 22, 2014, 16:03:08 PM
[align=center:12y5j59s](https://scontent-b-ams.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/t1/1920616_832111296814853_334114243_n.jpg)[/align:12y5j59s]
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: sloan on February 23, 2014, 02:16:54 AM
What system is that Ghostbusters ad for, Laird, Master System?
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: TL on February 23, 2014, 02:18:34 AM
Quote from: "sloan"What system is that Ghostbusters ad for, Laird, Master System?

The one I posted above your post is from the review of the ZX Spectrum version in Your Sinclair magazine.
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: TL on February 24, 2014, 16:27:35 PM
(http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z280/mrkizza/RiverRaid_zps875718b3.png)   (http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z280/mrkizza/Dreadnaught-Factor_zps75d0ace3.jpg)

(http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z280/mrkizza/GB_zps3a7126df.png)   (http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z280/mrkizza/activision_dont_take_no_intv_zpsf2527f02.jpg)
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: sloan on February 24, 2014, 23:20:11 PM
Wonder why that Intellivision ad shows Grand Prix which never released on that system?
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: TL on February 25, 2014, 18:22:58 PM
Quote from: "sloan"Wonder why that Intellivision ad shows Grand Prix which never released on that system?

Maybe it was planned at some point?
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: TrekMD on February 25, 2014, 19:10:50 PM
Quote from: "The Laird"
Quote from: "sloan"Wonder why that Intellivision ad shows Grand Prix which never released on that system?

Maybe it was planned at some point?

It's very possible.  Are there any details about it available? Perhaps who was going to program it? 
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: TL on February 28, 2014, 20:03:18 PM
[align=center:3lokpobh](http://www.tomheroes.com/images4/GAMEAD%20pitfall.jpg)   (http://www.tomheroes.com/images4/GAMEAD%20pitfall%202.JPG)

(http://www.atarimania.com/pubs/hi_res/atari-2600-pitfall-2-activision-uk_2.jpg)[/align:3lokpobh]
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: TrekMD on February 28, 2014, 22:23:10 PM
Gotta love those ads!
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: onthinice on March 02, 2014, 01:50:22 AM
Never saw the bottom ad for Pitfall II. Nice one, Laird!
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: TL on March 05, 2014, 16:50:29 PM
[align=center:230v74zw](http://www.tomheroes.com/images4/GAMEAD%20megamania%202.jpg)   (http://www.atarimania.com/pubs/hi_res/pub_decathlon_v2.jpg)

(http://www.atarimania.com/pubs/hi_res/pub_freeway.jpg)   (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_7Krcmettbtw/TEXHEhXq5sI/AAAAAAAAA10/CVR1FXnNPhE/s400/DSC_0008.JPG)[/align:230v74zw]
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: TrekMD on March 05, 2014, 21:35:27 PM
Worm Whomper, the Plants vs Zombies of the 80's!  :)
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: TL on March 05, 2014, 21:41:32 PM
I really loved that Megamania advert, so iconic  :16:

It's weird how Activision used a different logo on their Intellivision adverts.
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: TrekMD on March 05, 2014, 22:02:07 PM
Quote from: "The Laird"It's weird how Activision used a different logo on their Intellivision adverts.

Yes, that is curious and you do have to wonder why that is.
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: TL on March 10, 2014, 20:01:57 PM
[align=center:j4s1xdf2](http://www.intellivisionrevolution.com/files/resized/94443/482;669;4c47b5ae5dcbc2c9f31b25e5ca78ceddfe8af874.jpg)   (http://www.neshq.com/media/mag/activision01.jpg)

(http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z280/mrkizza/Acti_zps3e7795b4.png)   (http://thevintagetoyadvertiser.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/pif-765-activision-river-raid-1983-wordpresswm.jpg?w=627)[/align:j4s1xdf2]
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: TrekMD on March 10, 2014, 21:57:12 PM
Interesting translation of River Raid into French.  The Infernal River?!
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: TL on March 16, 2014, 23:08:47 PM
[align=center:1ei44wdm]Activision Artistry (//http)[/align:1ei44wdm]
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: Greyfox on March 17, 2014, 01:05:08 AM
Very interesting little video :16:
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: TrekMD on March 17, 2014, 01:39:50 AM
Nice video, Laird.  If there is one thing that can be said about that Activision, is that everything is colorful. 
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: TL on March 20, 2014, 20:05:57 PM
Glad you liked it guys, it's been getting amazing feedback on Facebook so I think I will do another one on the Artistry Of Atari  :16:
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: TrekMD on March 20, 2014, 20:07:52 PM
Quote from: "The Laird"Glad you liked it guys, it's been getting amazing feedback on Facebook so I think I will do another one on the Artistry Of Atari  :16:

That would be great! 
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: TL on March 20, 2014, 21:03:21 PM
[align=center:2qutupvn]Activision Atari 2600 Sports Games TV Commercial (1980) (//http)

Hills Department Stores Activision Video Games TV Commerrcial - Atari 2600 (//http)[/align:2qutupvn]
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: TrekMD on March 20, 2014, 21:17:41 PM
That first one is really cool!
Title: Re: Activision brings you exciting new games!
Post by: TL on April 02, 2014, 19:33:12 PM
[align=center:a4h2jlz9]More classic Activision adverts:

(http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z280/mrkizza/Rampage_zps6bf809e5.jpg)   (http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z280/mrkizza/Tomcat_zps35c83327.png)

(http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z280/mrkizza/TRG_zpsf2df9c43.png)   (http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z280/mrkizza/LCP_zps167c9006.jpg)[/align:a4h2jlz9]