M'era del tutto sfuggita a suo tempo, chissà se l'hanno mai distribuita in Italia, peccato perchè la penna ottica per Vectrex è un accessorio dotato di fascino proprio, a sfruttarlo applicativi più ovvi come uno software di grafica e uno di animazione e altri meno quali un editor musicale e un programma didattico sul motore delle auto!
Things That Really Matter #14: Why the home video game market crashed in 1983/1984
I’ve touched on this in my NES posts but here is a further explanation of why and how the video game market crashed and burnt in 83/84. CONFUSION By the early 1980s there were simply too many options available to the consumer, with too little information and too little to distinguish the machines. Here is a list of all of the machines that were on store shelves at the time: Atari 2600 Atari 5200 Intellivision Colecovision Vectrex Fairchild Channel F Magnavox Odyssey2 Arcadia NO LIC
I forgot that I Had these pictures up on Picasa’s web site. It’s basically a tour through my basement from about a year and a half ago from the time of this posting. You’ll see a lot of my systems that I have out, though there are a lot more in boxes under my stairs that I have to pull out some day. Also, the TV shown was sold a while ago to make way for a plasma, and a PS3 has been added to the mix, along with various other toys and old systems. Click Here to go to the slideshow/album
When you’re sitting in front of your Xbox/PS3/Wii, do you ever pause and think about the vast amount of mathematics that goes into making a computer produce near-realistic 3D environments? If you’re young, I suspect you take it all for granted. But if, like me, you were there from the very beginning of the home computing era, then you bore witness to all the gradual advancements in graphics that happened over the years, giving rise to what we see today. And in that frame of mind, you might sti
Bekannt vom Atari VCS 2600 und dem Atari 5200 fand das geniale Berzerk natürlich auch den Weg auf die Kultkonsole Vectrex.   Durch die Verwendung von Vektorgraphiken erhielt die Konsole ihr bis heute einmaliges Spieleflair, das Video zeigt das Vectrex typische flackern.  Heutzutage werden funktionsfähige Geräte hoch gehandelt. Tags: 1982, Vectrex, Vestron Weitere ähnliche Videos: Star Wars - The Empire Strikes Back (0) Pitfall - How to Beat (0) Atari Pitfall Werbespot (1) (0)
The Vectrex is an 8-bit video game console that was developed by Western Technologies/Smith Engineering. It was licensed and distributed first by General Consumer Electric (GCE), and then by Milton Bradley Company after their purchase of GCE. It was released in November 1982 at a retail price of $199. As the video game market declined and then crashed, the Vectrex exited the market in early 1984.
Unlike other video game consoles, which connected to televisions and rendered raster graphics, the Vectrex has an integrated vector monitor which displays vector graphics. The monochrome Vectrex uses screen overlays to give the illusion of color. At the time, many of the most popular arcade games used vector displays, and GCE was looking to set themselves apart from the pack by selling high-quality versions of games such as Space Wars and Armor Attack.
Vectrex comes with a built in game, the Asteroids-like Minestorm. Two peripherals were also available for the Vectrex, a light pen and a 3D imager.
Western Technologies/Smith Engineering briefly considered designing a handheld version of the device in 1988. However, the impending release of the Nintendo Game Boy made such a project too risky. In 1992, Smith Engineering released the duplication of the Vectrex system image and cartridges for non-commercial uses and has been pleased to see that it has still-thriving developer and user communities.
System features and innovations
The Vectrex was the first system to offer a 3D peripheral (the Vectrex 3D Imager), predating the Sega Master System's SegaScope 3D by about six years. Also, early units had a very audible "buzzing" from the built-in speaker that would change as graphics were generated on screen. This was due to a lack of shielding between the built-in CRT and the speaker wiring and was eventually resolved in later production models. This idiosyncrasy had become a familiar characteristic of the machine, especially among owners.
Several companies offered or included Vectrex software in their products or promotions. The liquor company Mr. Boston gave out a limited number of customized cartridges of Clean Sweep. The box had a Mr. Boston sticker on it. The overlay was basically the regular Clean Sweep overlay with the Mr. Boston name, logo, and % proof/copyright info running up either side. The game itself had custom text, and the player controlled a top hat rather than a vacuum.
Some of the Vectrex's games featured unusual qualities or innovations, and new games are still being produced today by homebrew video game programmers.
The game built into the Vectrex, Minestorm, would crash at level 13. However, on some machines the game would continue much farther, with levels containing very unusual characteristics. The game would come to an ultimate end at its highest level, in which more mines were laid than would hatch. Consumers who complained to the company about the crash at the 13th level received a replacement cartridge in the mail. Entitled MineStorm II, it was the fixed version of the Vectrex's built in game. However, not many wrote to the company about it, making MineStorm II one of the rarest cartridges for the Vectrex system.
Technical specifications
Circuit Board
CPU : Motorola 68A09 @ 1.5 MHz
RAM: 1 KB (two 4-bit 2114 chips)
ROM: 8 KB (one 8-bit 2363 chip)
Sound
Sound: General Instruments AY-3-8912
3" magnet-driven speaker
Display
The cathode ray tube was a Samsung model 240RB40 monochrome unit measuring 9 x 11 inches, displaying a picture of 240 mm diagonal. A vector display such as the Vectrex does not require a special tube, and differs only in the control circuits. Rather than use sawtooth waves to divert the internal electron beam in a raster pattern, digital-to-analog converters drove the horizontal and vertical deflection magnets. The high-voltage transformers and tube remained the same as a television. Such technology was already established by arcade games such as Asteroids.
The Vectrex did not have any luminance control, but rather brightness was adjusted by drawing some lines more frequently than others.
Screen upgrades were hindered by the cost of redesigning the analog circuits. Likewise it was impossible to connect the Vectrex to a home television.
3D Imager
This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (March 2008)
The 3-D imager spins a disk which is half black and half colored bands that radiate from the centre (usually red, green and blue) between the viewer's eyes and the vectrex screen. The Vectrex is synchronized to the rotation of the disk (or vice versa) and draws vectors corresponding to a particular color and/or a particular eye. Therefore only one eye will see the vectrex screen and its associated images (or color) at any one time while the other will see nothing.
A single object that does not lie on the plane of the monitor (i.e., in front of or into the monitor) is drawn at least twice to provide information for each eye. The distance between the duplicate images and whether the right eye image or the left eye image is drawn first will determine where the object will appear to "be" in 3-D space. The 3-D illusion is also enhanced by adjusting the brightness of the object (dimming objects in the background). Spinning the disk at a high enough speed will fool the viewer's eyes/brain into thinking that the multiple images it is seeing are two different views of the same object. This creates the impression of 3-D and color.
Supported games
3D Minestorm
3D Crazy Coaster
3D Narrow Escape
3D Pole Position (not released)
3D Lord of the Robots (homebrew)
Screenshot/overlay gallery
Below are an artist's impression of some of the overlays that shipped with Vectrex games. Overlays are thin films of acetate which are inserted in front of the Vectrex screen to color the screen. These images were produced by an emulator; it is impossible to recreate the quality of a vector display on a web page. Actual displays have very bright, fine lines without jagged edges. Overlays, although static, can be more vivid than a comparable computer display because of the wider available palette of colors in the printing process as compared to those available in computer displays of the time.
Armor Attack
Berzerk
Blitz! Action Football
Spinball
Fortress of Narzod
Pole Position
List of game titles
Original (1982-83)
Armor Attack
Bedlam
Berzerk
Blitz!
Clean Sweep (aka Mr. Boston)
Cosmic Chasm
Spinball (aka Flipper Pinball)
Fortress of Narzod
Heads Up (aka Soccer Football)
Hyperchase
Minestorm
Polar Rescue
Pole Position
Rip-Off
Scramble
Solar Quest
Space Wars
Spike
Star Castle
Star Trek: The Motion Picture, a tie-in to the movie of the same name
Starhawk
Web Wars (aka Web Warp)
Required add-on accessory hardware:
3D Crazy Coaster
3D MineStorm
3D Narrow Escape
AnimAction (requires light pen)
Art Master (requires light pen)
Melody Master (requires light pen)
Unreleased prototypes
Berzerk II
Cube Quest
Dark Tower
Engine Analyzer (requires light pen)
Mail Plane (requires light pen)
Melody Master II
Pitcher's Duel
Tour De France
3D Pole Position
Homebrew
1996
Vector Vaders (1996)
Patriots (1996)
All Good Things (1996)
Spike Hoppin' (1996)
1998
Omega Chase Deluxe (new title developed in 1998, based on Omega Race)
Vecmania (1998)
2000
Moon Lander (new title developed in 2000, based on Lunar Lander)
2001
Vectopia
2002
Gravitrex (new title developed in 2002, based on Gravitar)
Tsunami/VIX (new title (two games) developed in 2002, based on Tempest and QIX)
Vec Sports Boxing
2003
Protector (new title developed in 2003)
War of the Robots (new title developed in 2003)
Yasi (new title developed in 2003)
2004
I, Cyborg (new title developed in 2004)
Revector (new title developed in 2004)
Thrust (new title developed in 2004)
2005
Debris (new title developed in 2005)
Nebula Commander (new title developed in 2005)
2006
Logo (New Title Released February 2006)
Space Frenzy (New Title Released March 2006)
Colorclash (New Title Released May 2006)
Star Sling (New Title Released May 2006)
3D Scape cart (New Title Released June 2006)
Vector 21 (New Title Released April 2006)
Spike's Circus (New Title Released August 2006)
3D Lord of the Robots (New Title Released October 2006)
2007
City bomber (New Title Released October 2007)
Vectoblox (New Title Released November 2007)
References
Vectrex Faq 6.0
Vectrex rarity guide
External links
Vectrex Resource Center
Vectrex News
Vectrex Portal
Spike's Big Vectrex Page Vectrex portal, recent games/projects/news, information archive
Vectrex infosite News, manuals, reviews, screenshots, faqs, scanned manuals, scanned boxes and more.
Vectrex Game Database great source of games and screenshots
ParaJVE: Vectrex Emulator for Windows / Linux / Mac written in Java5
Vecx: Vectrex Emulator for Windows by Valavan Manohararajah
Port of Vecx to Xbox
The Dot Eaters article featuring a history of the Vectrex
Gamasutra's "A History of Gaming Platforms" - The Vectrex
Vectrex Information Resource British website which hosts information about the Vectrex not found elsewhere. Includes manuals, documents, reviews, patents and more.
v•d•e
Video game console history
First generation
Magnavox Odyssey • Philips Odyssey • Pong • Coleco Telstar • Nintendo Color TV Game
