Site news (year 2013)

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MADrigal
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Site news (year 2013)

Post by MADrigal » Mon Apr 22, 2013 3:43 pm

April 22nd, 2013
A new year has begun, and I'm here with a ton of updates!

First of all I'm proud to introduce the new section: "Homebrew", featuring articles about newly produced hardware and software. In addition to the existing pages on Multicart, Diagnosticart and Datassette Interface, I'm adding two brand new articles:
- How to add a Composite A/V output mod to your CreatiVision
- How to build a Printer cable to connect your Centronics standard printer to the CreatiVision Parallel I/O Interface.

I took pics and scanned the box of the rare optional joysticks pack for use with the Salora Manager. Also, got scans from the rare "erratum" sheet for the Cassette Tape Module manual, plus pictures of a "variant" of the box, showing an orange sticker on the back.
Don't miss the new files, they're available on the Releases/Hardware page!

I got fresh scans and pics of many rare games on cartridge, now available in the Releases/Software page:
- Auto Chase (Rameses): box, cart
- BASIC (CreatiVision and Wizzard): "erratum" sheets added to instruction manuals
- Chopper Rescue (Salora Manager): box, cart (at higher resolution)
- Deep Sea Adventure (German): box
- Deep Sea Aventure (Salora Manager): cart (at higher resolution)
- Locomotive (Laser 2001): box, cart
- Planet Defender (international): box
- Planet Defender (Rameses): box, overlay
- Police Jump (Salora Manager): box, cart
- Police Jump (German): box
- Soccer (German): box, manual
- Stone Age (Salora Manager): cart (at higher resolution)
- Tank Attack (Rameses): box, cart, overlay

There's a bunch of new articles from old magazines: "Pergioco" (Italy), "ELO" (Germany) and "Tekniikan Maailma" (Finland). They are:
- "Astro Pinball" review (Pergioco 9/83)
- "Video: la parabola tende al computer" article (Pergioco 10/83)
- "Metamorphose" (ELO 5/83)
- "Aquarius II ja Salora Manager: Uusi yritys" (TM 18/84)
- "Kultainen keskitie?" (TM 5/83)

There's scans from an old book from the 80's, mentioning the CreatiVision system:
- "Home Computer: Ein praktisches Handbuch" (Germany, 1983)

There's good news on the emulation side: a programmer whose nick is Wiimpathy released a porting of FunnyMu to the Nintendo Wii console. The executable and source files are available for download on the popular Emulators page.

Last but not least, I finally typed (and fixed) the listing I had on paper print, of the BASIC game Math Launch programmed by my long time friend, John Pospisil of Sydney. It's now available for download on the Basic Programs page.

Thanks go to Ernest Haslinger from Austria, Mauro Spadazzi and Gavino Sechi from Italy, Adam White from Canada, Jarkko Pitajamaki from Finland, Rikard Ljungkvist from Sweden, Thomas Gutmeier from Germany, Paul Nicholls from Tasmania, John Pospisil from New South Wales and Mark W. Canon from USA.

PS: Don't miss to check the Forum for a ton of interesting threads on programming (with even a few beta-version of games currently under development).
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MADrigal
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Re: Site news (year 2013)

Post by MADrigal » Mon Sep 23, 2013 10:28 pm

September 24th, 2013
More updates today, some of which are definately juicy. Let's get started with the main course: new findings of previously unknown items!

The first newly discovered item is a sticker to promote the Zanussi CreatiVision in Italy. Scans were provided by an unknown Italian contributor (nickname: "fantasia_zero") and they're now available for free download on the usual Flyers page. The file is called "Io videogioco con CreatiVision".

The second newly discovered item is a very early copy of the Tennis cartridge for the Dick Smith Wizzard. The included EPROM reads May 1982 as the manufacturing date, and the actual game displays the "Wimbledon Championship" sign in place of the "Dick Smith Championship" one, which was used in the later (common) version.
The game was released in a box also displaying the screenshot reading "Wimbledon Championship". So we have three variants of the Tennis game for the Wizzard in total. For more information, read this page.

Now listing all of the updates to the usual Releases/Software page:
Game cartridges:
- Air-Sea Attack (CreatiVision, Swedish): manual re-scan
- Auto Chase (CreatiVision, Swedish): box re-scan
- BASIC (Wizzard, Australian): manual, later variant + later erratum sheet
- Crazy Chicky (CreatiVision, Swedish): manual re-scan
- Planet Defender (CreatiVision, Italian): manual, early white variant
- Police Jump (CreatiVision, Swedish): manual re-scan
- Police Jump (Salora Manager, Finnish): manual
- Sonic Invader (CreatiVision, Italian): manual, early white variant
- Tennis (CreatiVision, Swedish): box re-scan
Tapes:
- Demo Tape (Wizzard, Australian): cassette tape, non-Sony variant
- Draughts (Wizzard, Australian): recording in WAV file (finally!)

Credits go to Jarkko Pitajamaki from Finland, Anders Carlsson from Sweden and Thomas Gutmeier from Germany.

About the Draughts game, please notice that the listing of the BASIC program is available (in plain text format) on the popular Downloads/BASIC programs page.

There's an interesting addition to the Books page: scans from the old German book "Computer Ratgeber", featuring a section about the Laser 2001 computer.

Last but not least, there's a new section on the Forum, specifically devoted to game programming.
There's a few active programmers discussing about their projects and publishing updates, graphics and information on forthcoming homebrew games. So don't miss to read the Forum!
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