According to this article from IGN: http://ds.ign.com/articles/979/979960p1.html Basically about how Nintendo won't let the IP owner of the Intellivision games put out a downloadable Intellivision arcade, this last paragaph made me happy: "At the very least, Robinson has said that he and his development studio are still moving forward with the conversion of Intellivision Lives to DSi, in hopes that Nintendo changes its policy. He is also preparing to release Intellivision games on the iPhone and iPod Touch platform in partnership with VH1 later this year, apps that have already received Apple's blessing. " Woo. Hoo.
'Bout damn time. I loved that Blue Sky Rangers brought the Inty Lives compilation to a bunch of different platforms, and have been waiting to see if they'd finally bring it to the iPhone. I'm glad to hear they're on board and gearing up for it. I for one can't wait! Now we just need to convince Atari to bring a software version of the Flashback to the iPhone. I know the dude who could do it, too; he worked on the Flashback 2 hardware and was responsible for adding the circuitry to make it possible to mod it for a cartridge port. (Among other things, anyway.) Crossing my fingers...
Neat as this is, seems mostly nostalgic in value. 30 years on, Intellivision games don't hold up too well. However, getting almost the entire library for a few dollars on the iPhone is a value no matter how you look at it. Since Apple has been more lenient with emulators lately this seems a sure thing.
Hope Astro Smash makes it in some shape or form to the iPhone. One of my fave Intellivision shooters evaaah!
I loved the Intellivision back in the day (and the Atari 2600), but I can't help wonder if it's just going to be a bit pants now.
Probably. I dug mine out of the loft just before christmas and it hadn't aged well at all (oh god, those joypads!) but Astro Smash was still great. I had the world record on that once...for about a week
Er ... that could pretty much be said about almost any past 30-year-old bit of entertainment. It's sort of the point. They haven't been lenient with emulators precisely. Chip8 is an open-sourced platform, and all of the software is public domain, so Apple had no legal or practical reason to reject the self-contained emulator. Intellivision Lives! is a self-contained compilation created by the IP rights holders (heck, the developers of the original games!) themselves, so again they're on perfectly legal footing. It's the emulators for which you must download (mostly) illegally-obtained ROMs/images that Apple objects to and will never approve. Again, isn't that the point? It's supposed to be pants by comparison to modern technology; that's what makes it great! It's like people who love to watch 50s sci-fi Ed Wood flicks. It's low-budget crap by today's standards but that's part of the fun. Of course, gameplay back then was the real point. (Intellivisions' Discs of Pain notwithstanding.)
I suppose so. It all depends on if you want to wear those old fashioned pants and realize they don't quite fit anymore, or wear a brand new funky pair.
It isn't really about the fit though, is it? You're not exactly donning a pair of those bellbottoms and the wide-lapelled paisley print shirt and the platform shoes and the chunky glasses. You're just sticking on a K-Tel disco compilation and remembering the good times. (Okay, that's a bit of a stretch, considering I lived through the disco era and would now rather strangle myself with a chiffon neckerchief than relive that again -- but you get the point.)
Except Rogue which is still as good today as ever and constantly being remade (Rogue Touch is phenomenal). I get your point though. I was mostly speaking from my own experience with the IL compilation for the PC which I found to be extremely well-produced but ultimately the games just well...pants by today's standards. Back then even gameplay was pretty bad on home consoles (anyone remember Pac Man for the VCS?); it was all we had so we loved it but none of them hold up well now (Atari 2600/5200, Bally/Astrocade, INTV, Colecovision, Odyssey are the ones I played with). The glowing exception would have to be the INTV sports games (5200 baseball was pretty spectacular too) but unless they'll be adding multiplayer that's kinda moot.
Intellivision Corp re-iterated at CES that it is bringing its games to the DS and iPhone later this year. You can become a "fan" of them on Facebook and they are quite involved with responding to questions and interacting with fans.
