Saturday, April 28, 2012

Star Castle finally finds a home on the Atari 2600, gets a redesigned cartridge

Image

Halo may have made its way to the Atari 2600, but wouldn't porting a retro game to this '70s-era console be more appropriate? MAKE Magazine has the skinny on former Atari dev Scott Williamson's port of the Cinematronics shooter Star Castle. Though Atari execs decided the title was too complicated to bring over in the '80s, Williamson took it upon himself to make that transition possible. The result of some serious coding is 8K of ROM and 128 bytes of RAM's worth of good ol' space war. But he didn't stop there -- he redesigned the cartridge with a transparent casing and LEDs that flash during gameplay. Click through to the source link for the full step-by-step.

Star Castle finally finds a home on the Atari 2600, gets a redesigned cartridge originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Apr 2012 03:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink MAKE Magazine  |  sourceStar Castle 2600  | Email this | Comments


alec baldwin college basketball oakland pinnacle airlines kansas vs kentucky joe posnanski michael kidd gilchrist

The Wanted Out To Prove Boy Bands 'Make Good Music'

'If you like us despite it or because of it, then we're happy,' Jay McGuiness tells MTV News of boy-band label.
By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Sway Calloway


The Wanted
Photo: MTV News

It's not always easy being in a boy band. There are a lot of preconceptions for the five guys who choose to sing catchy pop tunes and dance in formation for a living.

Given that boy bands have come in and out of fashion once every decade for the last few years, it should come as no surprise that we are knee-deep in a brand-new boy-band bonanza. This one is being led by this generation's 'NSYNC and Backstreet Boys: One Direction and the Wanted.

When MTV News sat down with the Wanted to premiere their "Chasing the Sun" video, they chatted a bit about being labeled a "boy band."

"Eventually, we were, like, over it," Jay McGuiness explained. "If you like us despite it or because of it, then we're happy."

Well, something is working for the guys. Their lead U.S. single, "Glad You Came," has topped the charts, and they are once again getting people dancing with "Chasing the Sun," from their just-released debut U.S. EP. It's a good time to be in a boy band, thanks to all the love out there for them. And it's an even better time to be in the Wanted.

It seems that their success might have a lot to do with the way they've approached their boy-band career thus far. "We went out there and we're like, 'You know what? I think we can change people's perspectives of the '90s boy bands,' " Tom Parker explained. "And that was our aim: just to make good music."

Voting in round two of MTV's Battle of the Boy Bands runs until noon ET on Monday, April 30. Winners are determined by fan votes, so if your favorite band made the cut, make sure you keep voting. Tune in to AMTV and MTV Hits for their boy-band video takeovers each day and make sure to spread the word on Twitter using the hashtag #BBB and like us on Facebook for updates!


Vote for your favorite band, discuss and share on Facebook and Twitter in the MTV Battle of the Boy Bands interactive bracket!

Related Videos Related Photos Related Artists

detroit tigers st louis weather guinea bissau gawker hayden panettiere google stock google stock

Krugman calls out Ben Bernanke?"he's been assimilated by the Borg" (Americablog)

Share With Friends: Share on FacebookTweet ThisPost to Google-BuzzSend on GmailPost to Linked-InSubscribe to This Feed | Rss To Twitter | Politics - Top Stories Stories, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

chris hansen ehlers danlos syndrome the closer michael turner split pea soup land of the lost cleveland cavaliers

'Django Unchained' First Look: Leonardo DiCaprio Heads South

Quentin Tarantino's Western also stars Christoph Waltz.
By Kevin P. Sullivan


Leonardo DiCaprio in "Django Unchained"
Photo: Columbia Pictures/EW

For years, Quentin Tarantino has toyed with the Western, peppering homages to directors like Sergio Leone into "Kill Bill" and "Inglourious Basterds," but now the director is finally taking on the genre with "Django Unchained," albeit in his own twisted way.

Most of Tarantino's secrets have stayed on the set, but Thursday (April 26) Entertainment Weekly debuted the first official look at just how far west Tarantino is going in "Django Unchained."

What separates the film from your usual Western is that it's actually what Tarantino calls a "southern," taking place primarily in the pre-Civil War South. The first photos show off the unique style of the film and reveal what Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio and Christoph Waltz will look like when "Django Unchained" opens in theaters on December 25.

The photo of Foxx and Waltz could be straight out of a traditional Western. Foxx, as title character Django, carries his saddle over his shoulder and wears a prototypical cowboy hat. His companion, Dr. King Schultz, played by Waltz, is a German dentist-turned-bounty-hunter, and his more sophisticated getup reflects that.

It isn't until we see DiCaprio's evil plantation owner, Calvin Candie, that we find the connection to the Deep South. In the photo, DiCaprio is dressed up like a fine Southern gentleman, but he poses menacingly with a hammer in his hand.

EW spoke with Foxx about working on the sure-to-be controversial film, which addresses slavery like never before.

"There's a beautiful way [Tarantino] found for the characters to talk to each other. It's mind-blowing. You've never heard it this way," Fox told the magazine. "You've seen movies deal with slavery — or Westerns that never dealt with slavery — do it the safe way. This way is like ... wow."

Check out everything we've got on "Django Unchained."

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

sf giants liquidmetal

The MacPad Will Come - but Software Convergence Will Come First

Despite all the fantastic numbers delivered by Apple when it revealed its latest fiscal quarterly profits this week -- such as an eye-popping 94 percent net profit year-to-year increase -- one question and one rambling answer from Apple CEO Tim Cook made me sit up in my chair. The question: Will Apple create a converged iPad/MacBook with a built-in keyboard?


manny pacquiao vs. juan manuel marquez manny pacquiao vs. juan manuel marquez cain velasquez vs dos santos cain velasquez vs dos santos oregon stanford oregon stanford darrell hammond

London Olympics Will Have World's Largest McDonald's Fast-Food Restaurant [Olympics]

The London 2012 Olympics, athletic event to top all athletic events, will be honored with the installment of the largest McDonald's fast-food restaurant on Earth. Seems a little ironic, no? [Eater via FoodBeast - Images via McDonald's / Flickr]
More »


mountain lion taylor momsen xbox live update joan rivers gary carter dies oolong tea survivor one world