Gamertell

Talk about a strange case. A New York restaurateur recently tried to open up a venue where patrons could dine and blast Space Invaders at the same time. Forty tables were to be installed with the hot coin-op game built in, but unfortunately any establishment with more than 5 machines is considered an arcade (and is harder to obtain a license for). So America’s Best Family Showplace Corp did what it had to do - it sought legal protection under free speech laws.

While no major legal breakthroughs resulted from the revolutionary case, it still marks a big moment in game history. Twenty years from now (maybe even twenty six years from now), people will look back and see the progress that games have made as an art form, and as a legitimate activity to engage in while dining. It’s simply the American way.

Read [Davis LLP]

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If you are not dialing in to a local BBS (Bulletin Board System), you have no idea what you are missing. While there are hundreds across the USA, there are likely a few dozen in the nearest city.

BBSes can be a video game aficionado’s delight with plenty of information being traded to help you get through that particularly nasty level or flick that joystick the right way at the arcade. (And you can often download some choice Playboy calendar pages in ASCII. That’ll get your dot matrix printer totally hot).

Here are few suggestions for first-time BBS users…

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Further fueling Pac-Man fever, Hanna-Barbera Productions has announced its newest cartoon based on the popular arcade game Pac-Man by Namco to begin airing September 25, 1982.

The cartoon follows the adventures of Pac-Man, his wife Pepper and their child Pac-Baby as they deal with…

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M Network (actually Mattel Electronics) has released its first catalog of 11 games for the Atari VCS and, dude, does it look totally awesome.

First, the box art is choice featuring black and gnarly silver ink. It will certainly impress your friends when you go to pull out the cartridge. Second, these games feature way more colors than other games, even using multiple shades of…

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Night Stalker, which was just released recently for the Intellivision, is quickly becoming one of the “must have” titles for the system. Its challenging, survival based gameplay, combined with its simple yet effective soundtrack, is quickly building a loyal fan-base. It is doing so well that Mattel is working on bringing the game to the Atari 2600 and the Mattel Aquarius later this year. There are rumors though, that the Atari 2600 version will be released under the name Dark Cavern. While confirmation couldn’t be received, there is a rumor that it will also appear on Apple and IBM computers.

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We have just learned that Mattel’s new title for the Intellivision, Shark! Shark!, will be receiving a limited initial printing of only 5,600 copies. According to an inside source from Mattel, the marketing department believes that the title will only attract the attention of children, and so only a few copies will be released initially to determine if there is a place in the market for the title. While it is often difficult to get exact numbers when it comes to shipments, it is rumored that Shark! Shark!‘s release is the smallest of any Intellivision title.

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As videogames become increasingly popular, we’re seeing more and more movie properties come to the virtual world. Games like the recent Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and the Tron arcade game are so radical because they let you actually play in the world of the movie. And we’re totally looking forward to the Raider’s of the Lost Ark game set to debut on the 2600 this November.

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Imagic, the creators of Atlantis, which was just released for the Atari, is going to hold a fantastic contest titled “Defend Atlantis“to find the treasure of Atlantis. The four players who send in the highest scores from Atlantis will be sent to Bermuda with a guest to compete in a contest to win a chest of gold worth $10,000. All the players who manage to make it to the finals and don’t win will receive $1,000. Even if you aren’t that good at Atlantis, don’t despair, the 250 third place winners will get snorkeling sets and and 1,000 runners up will receive Atlantis T-shirts.

Keep reading to learn how to enter.

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If your original Atari joysticks are starting to lose sensitivity - one of mine will not longer go left and the other will no longer move right - then you will certainly want to invest in Wico’s Command Control Joystick.

This super-sensitive, two-trigger joystick is nearly one-and-a-half times as tall as the little black ones. Produced by Wico, the Joystick costs $29.99, which is a little expensive for a new controller, but well worth the price.

The oversized red plastic handle is not nearly as…

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This past February 1982, Twin Galaxies started releasing to the public its list of new high scores achieved on arcade games. If you are lucky, you can find the complete list of updated scores posted at your favorite arcade.

Otherwise. here are the latest entries in the Twin Galaxies National Scoreboard for this year…

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