Re: [stella] Networkable Atari.

Subject: Re: [stella] Networkable Atari.
From: Mark De Smet <desmet@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 6 Jul 1999 17:58:58 -0500 (CDT)
> I think you're _really_ reaching, trying to link Ataris over the Internet
> here.  There's already networkable PC versions of all those games; heck,

And there are pc versions of many atari games.  I still play my atari more
than games on my pc/mac.  Yes, the game would obviously have to be
something cool that people wanted to play.

This is not limited to these classic games.  You could do whatever you
wanted.(that uses limited data transfer; i mean what would you be able to
send out of a system with only 128 bytes of ram anyway?  The speed could
be bumped up if lower latency is needed)

> program.  I doubt anyone would really be interested in going through all
> these extra steps and extra hardware.

I am speaking of playability and demand.  Like I said, the hardware is
pretty trivial(I am willing to produce it), and the PC/Mac software
is nothing complex(and as I said, I _may_ have someone willing to do it).  
How much demand will there be for a game that requires double?(2 of
everything; how many people can really setup 2 systems side by side?)  A
game that requires double would necessitate purchasing 2 copies of the
game, which (if I recall) are going for, what $16 now?  That would be more
expensive for a person to get than to get a game and the cable.(and let
the other player get thier own)  With this, you could play anyone.  A game
server such as 'boloweb'(I love bolo, best reason to own a mac) could be
set up, or a email list setup to match people with other players.  For
those of you who don't konw bolo web, it is a web server setup so that you
can run your copy of the game, and connect to the game server, and the
game server puts up on the web a listing for game available, and others
can read it and join.  I'm sure similar things exist for quake etc(I don't
know, never played that type of game).  Granted, the player base would not
be big enough to be able to just start a game, and wait for someone to
join, but a messageing system could be set up to match people/times.

If you would prefere to work on a coolness basis, and want to simply know
that you created something really neat(without regard to the number of
people who use it, I think being able to say that you put the atari on the
internet(and created the first multi-atari game) is much cooler than being
able to say that you created a double atari game.

> The only real legitimate use I can think of for linking two local Ataris
> together is to make two-player games where it'd be infeasible to display

This hardware would also allow that.

I am talking about very general purpose system.  The same way that the
TIA's quirkyness made the atari survive through the years(see article
mentioned recently on the list), this would have that capability.

So, anyone want to make a networked game?

Mark



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