Microsoft Game Room ImageAccording to a Microsoft Press Release and confirmed at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Microsoft will be releasing something called the "Microsoft Game Room" some time this spring, and, within three years, will see the release of over 1000 classic videogame titles, including arcade, Atari and Mattel Intellivision games, the latter of which was confirmed by Facebook friend Keith Robinson of Blue Sky Rangers fame as one of the available launch systems (other systems TBC). Apparently this area will be avatar-based, where your Xbox avatar will roam an arcade-like setting to find and play games (a bit like Sony's Home on PS3). There's a two-tier price structure, with one being an outright purchase of the game in question, and the other being a low cost, single play option, just like putting a quarter in an arcade machine in the days of old. We'll keep you posted as more news develops, but this is great news for those of us - like the readers of Armchair Arcade - who are passionate about classic gaming. The more love the current three consoles give (and each already has given a lot) to gaming's past, the better it is for all us as gamers, particularly since it looks like this is going to be a long generation with the big three. It's unclear how this will work with the PC as of this writing, but the fact that PC gamers are being invited to the party just makes it all the better, as well as the fact that owning it on one gives you access to it on the other.

My first attempt at a REAL intro for all future MaximumRD videos. Hope you like it (Be gentle, I am no expert at this stuff LOL!)

If you guys remember an earlier blow-out feature I did with Matt Barton that Gamasutra ran back in May 2008, we discussed all aspects of the Intellivision platform, including the infamous Keyboard Component, which was the precursor to the wide release Enhanced Computer System (ECS) add-on. There were only about 4000 Keyboard Components made, many of which were recalled, leaving only a handful in active circulation, making them very, very rare and highly sought after - and valuable - collectibles. Charles Ray recently got in contact with me requesting some help with the tape drive for his Keyboard Component. It turns out he has quite a bit of other stuff in his collection related to the Keyboard Component, which he both described and took photos of, the latter of which he gave me the kind permission to show, below. More importantly, I'm also soliciting suggestions for his problem, which I'll describe via his original e-mail to me.

Hey guys, after a couple months (damn lack of time) here finally I present MaximumRD's Intellivoice parts II AND III!

That's right, ended up being three parts total but since it had been a couple month since the first and some subscribers had been waiting I decided to keep quiet until both were uploaded and ready to go LOL!

Just received a Intellivision Intellivoice module, in celebration I scanned and posted a Intellivision product catalog from cover to cover as well as a brochure and some keypad overlays for 3 Intellivoice games and Intellivoice manual.

FINALLY! Just uploaded to Youtube, coming in @ just under 8 minutes is my first full production I can actually say I am proud of (well at least compared to my first two videos) but now that I fianlly had some time and am getting the hang of making videos you can bet lots more are coming soon!
Please check it out and give me a rating and / or comment THANKS!!!!
and stay tuned for more!!!!!!

Someone requested scans of the manual for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Treasure of Tarmin Cartridge for the Mattel Aquarius computer for an article they were working on that would apparently compare and contrast that lesser known version of the game with the better known Mattel Intellivision version. As such, I did a semi-forensic scan of the box and box contents, including a full scan of the manual from my collection. You can click the preview widget below for access to the full high resolution Flickr set, or here. Enjoy!

Among other updates, Intellivision Lives has announced that they've just once again made available the highly sought after Steamroller for the ColecoVision, an unreleased game created for Activision from 1984. It was released in limited quantities of ~100 at CGE back in 2000, and is once again available in a limited release of 100. I know I got mine and also ordered a nifty running man poster made up of the 125 original mainstream releases for the Intellivision for my basement den area. Fun stuff and with all the recent buzz about the Intellivision lately, I'm glad there's also a boost for the ColecoVision while we're at it! When you're at the Blue Sky Rangers/Intellivision Productions/Intellivision Lives Website, be sure to check out their news section for other interesting updates!

Gamasutra has just posted the fifth of six entries from me and Matt Barton in the "A History of Gaming Platforms" series, this time on the Mattel Intellivision, here. This was one of my favorite entries to write in the book this series is based off of, so I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did writing it. As a bonus, I've included here on Armchair Arcade the additional captions and images that Gamasutra chose not to include (I think I again improved image quality - by the way, those screenshots are DIRECT video captures straight from an Intellivision II, NOT from an emulator, and everything else of course is also straight from my personal collection). The next and presumably final entry will be on the Atari 8-bit. Enjoy and I'd love to hear some feedback, as I think it ranks right up there with the best overall articles ever written on platform (said with all due modesty and respect, of course ;-) ).

The unused images and all the captions (used and unused):