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Quadrun
''Quadrun'' is a video game for the Atari 2600 developed by Steve Woita and published in 1983 by Atari, Inc. One of the four Atari Club games available exclusively via mail order, this title may have been available later in stores in very limited quantities. Only approximately 10,000 cartridges were initially made. ''Quadrun'' is the first Atari 2600 game with voice synthesis ("Quadrun! Quadrun! Quadrun!"); the only other is ''Open Sesame'', made by Bit Corp. Gameplay left, Gameplay screenshot The object of ''Quadrun'' is to destroy enemies ("captors") and rescue friendly characters ("runts") who are attempting to escape from the arena's central building. The player character is invincible, but has only a limited supply of their weapon, an energy ball that destroys the enemies on contact. The game is a series of waves of enemy characters. In a given wave, enemies appear one at a time in the vertical section of the arena. Enemies come in different shapes and attack with diffe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atari Flashback 2
The Atari Flashback is a line of dedicated video game consoles produced since 2004, currently designed, produced, published and marketed by AtGames under license from Atari SA. The Flashback consoles are " plug-and-play" versions of the 1970s Atari 2600 console with built-in games rather than using ROM cartridges. The latest home console model, Atari Flashback 12 Gold, was released in 2023 and has 130 games. The first version, designed by Atari veteran Curt Vendel, was modeled after an Atari 7800 and contained 20 games, of which five were 7800 titles. Each subsequent home console in the series is modeled after the 2600 instead; the Atari Flashback 2 was released in 2005, included 40 built-in games, and was the only one with a 2600 hardware SoC. In 2011, Atari, Inc. stopped producing the Flashback in-house and licensed it to AtGames, who continued from there on beginning with the Flashback 3, including a handheld version, Atari Flashback Portable, in 2016. Several variation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Speech Synthesis
Speech synthesis is the artificial production of human speech. A computer system used for this purpose is called a speech synthesizer, and can be implemented in software or hardware products. A text-to-speech (TTS) system converts normal language text into speech; other systems render symbolic linguistic representations like phonetic transcriptions into speech. The reverse process is speech recognition. Synthesized speech can be created by concatenating pieces of recorded speech that are stored in a database. Systems differ in the size of the stored speech units; a system that stores phones or diphones provides the largest output range, but may lack clarity. For specific usage domains, the storage of entire words or sentences allows for high-quality output. Alternatively, a synthesizer can incorporate a model of the vocal tract and other human voice characteristics to create a completely "synthetic" voice output. The quality of a speech synthesizer is judged by its similar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atari Anthology
''Atari: 80 Classic Games in One!'' is a 2003 video game collection for Microsoft Windows, also released as ''Atari Anthology'' for PlayStation 2 and Xbox, developed by Digital Eclipse and published by Atari Interactive. The title is a compilation of 80 video games previously published by Atari, Inc. and Atari Corporation from the 1970s and 1980s, reproducing Atari's games from its arcade and Atari 2600 game console platforms. Many games permit one to play each title at varying speeds, with time limits, or with a shifting color palette. Extra contents include original arcade artwork and scans of the instruction manuals for the Atari 2600 games, video interviews with Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell, Windows desktop themes, DirectX 9 runtime, and Adobe Reader 5.1 English version. Support for Stelladaptor 2600 to USB interface, and 24-bit color wallpapers for ''Asteroids'', ''Centipede'', ''Missile Command'', ''Pong'', ''Super Breakout'', and ''Tempest'' themes are available as pat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atari, Inc
Atari, Inc. was an American video game developer and home computer company founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. Atari was a key player in the formation of the video arcade and video game industry. The company was founded in Sunnyvale, California, in the center of Silicon Valley, to develop arcade games, starting with ''Pong'' in 1972. As computer technology matured with low-cost integrated circuits, Atari ventured into the consumer market, first with dedicated home video game console, home versions of ''Pong'' and other arcade successes around 1975, and into programmable consoles using game cartridges with the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS or later branded as the Atari 2600) in 1977. To bring the Atari VCS to market, Bushnell sold Atari to Warner Communications in 1976. In 1978, Warner brought in Ray Kassar to help run the company, but over the next few years, gave Kassar more of a leadership role in the company. Bushnell was fired in 1978, with Kassar name ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shoot 'em Ups
Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs) are a subgenre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain types of character movement, while others allow a broader definition including characters on foot and a variety of perspectives. The genre's roots can be traced back to earlier shooting games, including target shooting electro-mechanical games of the mid-20th-century, but did not receive a video game release until ''Spacewar!'' (1962). The shoot 'em up genre was established by the hit arcade game ''Space Invaders'', which popularised and set the general template for the genre in 1978, and has spawned many clones. The genre was then further developed by arcade hits such as ''Asteroids'' and ''Galaxian'' in 1979. Shoot 'em ups were popular throughout the 1980s to early 1990s, diversifying into a variety of subgenres such as scrolling shooters, run and gun game ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atari Games
Atari Games Corporation was an American producer of arcade video games, active from 1985 to 1999, then as Midway Games West Inc. until 2003. It was formed when the coin-operated video game division of Atari, Inc. was transferred by its owner Warner Communications to a joint venture with Namco, being one of several successor companies to use the name Atari. The company developed and published games for arcades under the Atari brand, and across consumer home systems such as the Commodore 16, Commodore 64, Game Boy, Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and others using the Tengen (company), Tengen label for legal reasons. Some of the games Atari Games had developed include ''Tetris (Atari Games), Tetris, Road Runner (video game), Road Runner, RoadBlasters,'' ''Primal Rage, Hard Drivin''' and San Francisco Rush: Extreme Racing, ''San Francisco Rush''. Atari Games effectively operated independently from 1987, when Namco sold its controlling stake, until Time Warner reassumed full own ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atari 2600-only Games
Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French holding company Atari SA (formerly Infogrames) and its focus is on "video games, consumer hardware, licensing and blockchain". The original Atari, Inc., founded in Sunnyvale, California, United States in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, was a pioneer in arcade games, home video game consoles, and home computers. The company's products, such as ''Pong'' and the Atari 2600, helped define the electronic entertainment industry from the 1970s to the mid-1980s. In 1984, as a result of the video game crash of 1983, the assets of the home console and computer divisions of the original Atari Inc. were sold off to Jack Tramiel's Tramel Technology Ltd., which then renamed itself to Atari Corporation, while the remaining part of Atari, Inc. was renamed Atari Games Inc. In early 1985, Warner established a new corporation jointly with Namco subsequently named At ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1983 Video Games
1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the true Internet). * January 6 – Pope John Paul II appoints a bishop over the Czechoslovak exile community, which the ''Rudé právo'' newspaper calls a "provocation." This begins a year-long disagreement between the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and the Vatican City, Vatican, leading to the eventual restoration of diplomatic relations between the two states. * January 14 – The head of Bangladesh's military dictatorship, Hussain Muhammad Ershad, announces his intentions to "turn Bangladesh into an Islamic state." * January 18 – United States Secretary of the Interior, U.S. Secretary of the Interior James G. Watt makes controversial remarks blaming poor living conditions on Indian reservation, Native American re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xbox (console)
The Xbox is a home video game console manufactured by Microsoft that is the first installment in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was released as Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console market on November 15, 2001, in North America, followed by Australia, Europe and Japan in 2002. It is classified as a sixth-generation console, competing with Sony's PlayStation 2, Sega's Dreamcast and Nintendo's GameCube. It was also the first major console produced by an American company since the release of the Atari Jaguar in 1993. The console was announced in March 2000. With the release of the PlayStation 2, which featured the ability to playback CD-ROMs and DVDs in addition to playing games, Microsoft became concerned that game consoles would threaten the personal computer as an entertainment device for living rooms. Whereas most games consoles to that point were built from custom hardware components, the Xbox was built around standard personal computer components, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 November, in Australia on 30 November, and other regions thereafter. It is the successor to the PlayStation (console), original PlayStation, as well as the second instalment in the PlayStation brand of consoles. As a sixth generation of video game consoles, sixth-generation console, it competed with Nintendo's GameCube, Sega's Dreamcast, and Microsoft's Xbox (console), Xbox. Announced in 1999, Sony began developing the console after the immense success of its predecessor. In addition to serving as a game console, it features a built-in DVD drive and was priced competitively with standalone DVD players of the time, enhancing its value. Full backward compatibility with original PlayStation games and accessories gave it access to a vast launch libra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
