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Post by sj on Nov 30, 2011 12:00:01 GMT -5
As you may know I've been out of the video game loop for the last twenty-odd years so this may be very old news to some but I thought I'd give a heads up anyway. Here's a link to a potted history of the Cinematronics / Vectorbeam history. Very interesting. www.dadgum.com/giantlist/archive/cinematronics.html |
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Post by VectorX on Nov 30, 2011 12:09:30 GMT -5
Yeah, that's also on the unofficial Cinematronics page. I go by and look at it time and again over the years.
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Post by sj on Dec 8, 2011 14:23:53 GMT -5
I felt the need to order 'Sundance' from Fury in honour... ;D
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Post by VectorX on Dec 8, 2011 14:25:04 GMT -5
Like you need an excuse to get a new game!  |
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Post by sj on Dec 11, 2011 12:51:41 GMT -5
Sundance arrived. I think I prefer it over Cyborg and WotW. More instantly addictive. Given extended play I reckon it could mash up your joystick though  |
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Post by VectorX on Dec 11, 2011 13:15:37 GMT -5
I think I prefer it over Cyborg and WotW. Wow, that's nuts! George must've been right then in saying it's better (in his opinion) to open the holes by positioning the cursor rather than using the original keypad configuration. |
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Post by dgo on Jun 25, 2013 17:50:10 GMT -5
As you may know I've been out of the video game loop for the last twenty-odd years so this may be very old news to some but I thought I'd give a heads up anyway. Here's a link to a potted history of the Cinematronics / Vectorbeam history. Very interesting. www.dadgum.com/giantlist/archive/cinematronics.htmlInteresting read! To add to this which might be interesting: I collected some arcade flyers from the corresponding Vectrex titles some time ago: postimg.org/gallery/51ng4qu2/ |
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Post by gamezone on Jun 26, 2013 8:11:24 GMT -5
Those are sweet, Dgo. I collect a number of different things but never thought about arcade flyers. Really cool  |
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Post by gliptitude on Jul 10, 2013 16:16:30 GMT -5
For me, Cinematronics is not something from my youth or something I ever "innocently" experienced, but still it appears to me as such an intriguing brand, worthy of the "cult" status it seems to have for some people. On the one hand a company with the charismatic output of heavyweight Atari (in the vector realm), but on the other hand also a company willing to take risks and experiment. That they are associated with numerous video game firsts (Space War, Warrior etc) and that some of their machines were apparently subject to routine technical failure, all adds to the legacy of a somewhat esoteric chapter in gaming history.
Cinematronics/Vectorbeam seems to parallel the Vectrex universe in numerous ways, and of course many of their titles made it to Vectrex, with Cosmic Chasm originating on the console. With Fury's work rounding out the group we have a near complete Cinematronics library coming together, so here is the list, for fun:
Armor...Attack
Cosmic Chasm
Rip Off
Solar Quest
Space Wars
Star Castle
Starhawk
Sundance
(Tail Gunner)?
War of the Worlds
Warrior
... So all that would remain of the vector games would be Barrier, Boxing Bugs, Scramble and Speed Freak.
That is a pretty illustrious list in my opinion. WotW has probably the most ANIMATION intensive graphics of any Vectrex game, if not among all vector games. Rip Off and Armor..Attack are easily the best two player experiences on Vectrex, (awaiting Warrior myself). I'm not a champion of either game, but both Cosmic Chasm and Star Castle are big fan favorites. ... Just fun stuff, and fun to group these games together and consider the contribution of a company that decided to focus on vector graphics.
... Something else that amuses me that I think I have noticed is that most of these Cinematronics games have LOW scores, at least compared to what I'm used to. For example in WotW, my top score is usually around 500, maybe only one time have I exceeded 1000. That compared to what I grew up with, where typical high scores are in the 100,000's.
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Post by celtroniclabs on Aug 16, 2013 2:52:43 GMT -5
The guys at Cinematronics had a sense of humor too! Take for example this flyer for Barrier (the same game they "laughed their asses off", after selling the code to Vectorbeam, shortly before they bought Vectorbeam from Larry):  Barrier was indeed a Massive hit! I especially like the "proudly shipping" part lol. Jim Pierce's big hit idea, became Rob Patton's training exercise, then a joke on Larry, which in the end, became the "newest hit game" for Cinematronics. I think about 150 or so of these cabinets were built at the Vectorbeam facility, before it was shut down permanently. |
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Post by VectorX on Aug 16, 2013 8:23:13 GMT -5
Yeah, I couldn't believe that was just a 3-D ripoff of the Mattel handheld football game. They could've ADDED a few things, like maybe a hole that would appear to swallow up the player, along with an actual...yes, barrier to pop up to slow you down with! But no, they didn't add anything at all, which was nuts.
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