Starring a guy wearing an Intellivision T shirt, the movie Gamers comes out on DVD today, May 6. While it's focus is dice-throwing role playing games, video game fans will certainly recognize these hilariously obsessive friends who still meet regularly in Mom and Dad's basement to continue a game of Demons, Nymphs and Dragons started 23 years earlier in high school.
Writer/Director Chris Folino, a huge Intellivision fan, asked permission to use Intellivision T shirts and posters in his film. As you can see from the trailer, we were happy to oblige.
The guy wearing the Intellivision T shirt, by the way, is star Kevin Kirkpatrick. The movie also features Beverly D'Angelo, John Heard, William Katt, and Kelly LeBrock.
You can get your own Intellivision T shirts and posters in our store. The Gamers DVD is available here on Amazon or wherever future cult classics are sold!
Late in 1983, legendary game designer David Rolfe, programmer of the classic Intellivision cartridges Major League Baseball, Las Vegas Poker & Blackjack and Beamrider, was contracted by Activision to create a new Intellivision game: Steamroller. When Mattel Electronics stopped producing Intellivision games in early 1984, Activision had David target Steamroller for the ColecoVision console, instead. But by the time the game was finished, ColecoVision was dead, too. David delivered the game to Activision on July 24, 1984. And for over 15 years, that was it. The game lay forgotten in the magnetic media of an archived floppy.
In 2000, David asked Keith Robinson of the new Intellivision Productions, Inc., if he thought people would be interested in seeing this forgotten game. Yes, indeed! Keith got permission from Activision to produce and release a limited run of the ColecoVision cartridge for collectors. It was introduced at the July 2000 Classic Gaming Expo, where it was a huge hit. Digital Press named Steamroller the Classic Video Game of the Year.
In 2000, Intellivision sold about 100 copies of Steamroller. Since then it has been unavailable.
Now, by popular demand, we have produced a new limited run of 100 cartridges! If you have a working ColecoVision, this is your chance to get one of the most fun games ever produced for the console! Don't miss it!
The Steamroller cartridge is $39.95, plus shipping and handling. Limit two per customer. You'll find it in our store on Crazy Hal's page.
GetBack Media (getback.com) announced today the launch of a multi-media social networking destination that captures the most memorable pop-culture events of the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s and revives them through a rich media and community experience. GetBack.com is a web portal that creates a virtual time-warp which enables users to travel through the decades, via a comprehensive web site that features dedicated channels packed with content, interactivity, community, and commerce.
Intellivision Productions, Inc. is one of the content providers for the new site, along with Getty Images, Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, Warner Music Group, All Music Guide, Screenplay, ImageState, AP Stats and more, unearthing a digital time capsule of media content. GetBack.com has assembled one of the most extensive collections of music, movies, television, fashion, lifestyle and games and incorporated them into a themed site where people can experience the past and connect with others.
Visitors can play classic Intellivision games such as Astrosmash, Night Stalker, Snafu and River Raid online for free. The games look and play exactly as they did on the early 1980s Intellivision console. Controls are mapped to the computer keyboard.
A collection of Intellivision hardware and games sold for $4000 in an eBay auction ending midday Sunday, April 20. The collection included a rare working Intellivision Keyboard Component, along with a Master Component, Intellivoice module and a number of games. The private seller only found the collection recently and was unaware of the worth until doing some research on the web.
Only 4,000 of the Keyboard Components were manufactured and those were only sold in limited test markets. When Mattel Electronics decided not to release them nationally, they recalled all the ones sold for a full refund plus free products. Those who wanted to keep their Keyboards had to sign a waiver stating that they understood Mattel would not support the unit nor publish any more software for it. To find a working Keyboard Component (with its original box!) is one of the rarest finds in video game collecting.
While we here at Intellivision Productions, Inc. had nothing to do with the auction, we did send bulletins to our friends on MySpace alerting them to the sale.
To save money, INTV Corp. recycled the magazine ad illustration for ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS Treasure of Tarmin on the box cover for Thunder Castle.
If you checked out our News section, you'll see that Intellivision is part of the new GetBack.com community website. It is a huge, ambitious site, and we are proud to be part of its launch. The site is still in Beta, but a number of Intellivision games are up and running, with many more to come. The games run online for free using a Java-based Intellivision emulator, playing the actual ROM programs from the original game cartridges. The controls are mapped to your computer keyboard.
Like I said, it is still Beta, so expect some glitches here and there. Please comment on anything related to the Intellivision pages - bugs, questions, suggestions, compliments - whatever. I'll pass everything along to the team at GetBack.
I think the entire site - not just the Intellivision bits - is a lot of fun. I hope you'll explore it and will tell your friends!
Friday night, I attended the Video Games Live concert in Los Angeles. The concert, which has been performed all over the world, features a symphony orchestra and choir performing music from some of the most popular video games of all time: Halo, World of Warcraft, Civilization, Zelda, Mario, and many more. There is also a costume competition and video game contests.
In the August 2007 issue of Esquire magazine, columnist Chuck Klosterman wrote the following about Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails):
"I lost track of Reznor's whereabouts from 1998 to 2005, mostly because his records all started to sound like a schizophrenic trying to sexually seduce an Intellivision console by screaming at it during a Pink Floyd concert."
One of the questions I'm most often asked is what was the favorite game of the Intellivision programmers. There were a number of one-player games the programmers were addicted to – Astrosmash, Night Stalker, TRON Deadly Discs – but among the TWO-player games, there really is only one answer: Biplanes.
Writer/Director Chris Folino, a huge Intellivision fan, asked permission to use Intellivision T shirts and posters in his film. As you can see from the trailer, we were happy to oblige.
In 2000, David asked Keith Robinson of the new Intellivision Productions, Inc., if he thought people would be interested in seeing this forgotten game. Yes, indeed! Keith got permission from Activision to produce and release a limited run of the ColecoVision cartridge for collectors. It was introduced at the July 2000 Classic Gaming Expo, where it was a huge hit. Digital Press named Steamroller the Classic Video Game of the Year.
