AirRaid the Da Vinci Code =O

[Sr. Ferraz]

Dear friends,

Manufacturers "US Games" and "Telesys" use the circuit plate (PC board) of manufacturer OAK.

The plastic box of the cartridge has something written in relief?

This can also help to 'discover' new information.

Below I placed images of the circuit plates (PC board) from cartridges "US Games" and "Telesys".

I wait that it helps to 'unmask' (and to solve)the mystery...

[sku_u]

@sku_u after reading that post again of ben, are you sure you are talking of Ben's Vague recollection? or the owners vague recollection? (just making sure of your statement)

 

i've always known Ben to be a stickler on details!!

 

Rick

 

Ben was recalling something that happened way after the fact which makes the story borderline to begin with. Many of us here are sticklers for details, but none of us would say our recollections are always accurate. I know I've said things here I recalled from distant memory and thought to be true only to figure out later that I was wrong. I'm not alone on that. But beyond that and what makes the story just a story is the fact that Ben never actually saw anything from this guy or heard from him again. In this case, the guy Ben was talking to could have literally been anyone. I can claim I am the president of the US from the safety of my own computer. Prove I am not. Catch my drift?

[Omegamatrix]

Dear friends,

Manufacturers "US Games" and "Telesys" use the circuit plate (PC board) of manufacturer OAK.

The plastic box of the cartridge has something written in relief?

This can also help to 'discover' new information.

Below I placed images of the circuit plates (PC board) from cartridges "US Games" and "Telesys".

I wait that it helps to 'unmask' (and to solve)the mystery...

It's ironic that one of those games is Space Jockey which Air Raid shares some code with.

[sku_u]

Dear friends,

Manufacturers "US Games" and "Telesys" use the circuit plate (PC board) of manufacturer OAK.

The plastic box of the cartridge has something written in relief?

This can also help to 'discover' new information.

Below I placed images of the circuit plates (PC board) from cartridges "US Games" and "Telesys".

I wait that it helps to 'unmask' (and to solve)the mystery...

It's ironic that one of those games is Space Jockey which Air Raid shares some code with.

 

For you guys that think there is a connection,have any of you tried to track down the programmer of Space Jockey to see what (s)he has to say about Air Raid?

[goatdan]

After reading through this thread, I only have one comment about it...

 

Personally, even if it is determined that Air Raid is nothing more than a very short-run pirate cart, I think it will still hold most of its value thanks to the amount of collectors who have heard about it. Quite frankly, if I had my choice of seeing one rarity 10 cart in my life, even though I do fully believe that Air Raid is nothing more than some sort of pirate, proto or rip off, it would be the one that I would pick... it has the most interesting history to me out of all of them, and the mystery -- even if solved -- is one of the most fascinating Atari 2600 stories there are.

[rockman_x_2002]

After reading through this thread, I only have one comment about it...

 

Personally, even if it is determined that Air Raid is nothing more than a very short-run pirate cart, I think it will still hold most of its value thanks to the amount of collectors who have heard about it. Quite frankly, if I had my choice of seeing one rarity 10 cart in my life, even though I do fully believe that Air Raid is nothing more than some sort of pirate, proto or rip off, it would be the one that I would pick... it has the most interesting history to me out of all of them, and the mystery -- even if solved -- is one of the most fascinating Atari 2600 stories there are.

 

I think you're right, honestly, and I agree with you. And too, I would choose the Air Raid cart simply because of the cartridge design. That blue color of the casing with the "T" handlebar design would stick out like a sore thumb in practically any 2600 collection. Certainly a good conversation piece.

[brpocock]

Dear friends,

Manufacturers "US Games" and "Telesys" use the circuit plate (PC board) of manufacturer OAK.

The plastic box of the cartridge has something written in relief?

This can also help to 'discover' new information.

Below I placed images of the circuit plates (PC board) from cartridges "US Games" and "Telesys".

I wait that it helps to 'unmask' (and to solve)the mystery...

 

Observations (pardon if any of this is too painfully obvious, but, for the record):

 

The Telesys cart has obvious branding on it (in the PCB), and the PCB traces were written out very orthogonally, rectilinearly. The cart has a punchout edge only at the top, with smooth edges on left and right.

 

The U.S. Games cart likewise has the maker's mark etched into the PCB, but has a somewhat more fluid, hand-drawn set of traces. The PCB also has punch-outs on - let's call it the "left" - side and the top.

 

The Air Raid cart has even more fluid, perhaps calligraphic, traces, varying in width to meet the contacts on the edge connector even.

 

In other words, I doubt the same person drew any two of these PCB's. This, however, sheds no light whatsoever upon the makers except that I find it unlikely US Games would have (a) forsaken their branding, or (b) secretly created men-a-vision out of thin air . . .

[sylabyss]

HAHAhahahah what a circus, I do believe that OAK Symbol does look very similar to that company in the Good Ole USA It cant be too hard to email them a pic and ask them if its one of there early boards .Also If anyone wants to Know what my bid at 10 sec was for the cart ,it was $7500.00

 

You know, I'm really curious as to your reasons behind bidding on the cart and even opening it. Regardless of what the final bid was, it's still a good chunk of money just for curiousity's sake.

 

Yep, being a nosy female.

 

Are you nuts!!!! Because #1 im a video game Lover to my soul and Atari is the Grandaddy ,ground zero beginning of the whole industry,which i collect like all the fellow nuts here and 2 , its Atari History. I can always make more money But to finally bring some kind of answer for the fellow community and my own questions is a once in a lifetime opportunity

[sylabyss]

OMG

 

 

M e x i c o

[Shawn]

OMG

 

 

M e x i c o

 

 

MEXICO = NTSC BABY!!!

[Chickybaby]

Are you nuts!!!! Because #1 im a video game Lover to my soul and Atari is the Grandaddy ,ground zero beginning of the whole industry,which i collect like all the fellow nuts here and 2 , its Atari History. I can always make more money But to finally bring some kind of answer for the fellow community and my own questions is a once in a lifetime opportunity

 

Well, you most certainly are making history.

Congrats and Kudos!

[sylabyss]

I wrote the seller asking this

 

"Was there any instructions with the cart or a box? Any way you could ask whoever u got it from, if they remember where the bought it or go it ? Any help would be much appreciated

 

Thanks"

 

 

I got this today ?

 

"I see you have received your item. Please leave feedback for me and I will do the same for you. Thanks again for bidding. Mexico!"

 

The guy is in georgia. So why did he say mexico? Im not sure but i emailed him again asking the question??

 

The Mystery continues

[A.J. Franzman]

BTW, speaking of OAK-branded PCBs, here's a fragment I found in my scrap box:

 

 

Anyone who recognizes it will understand why I thought the Oak brand is very common - I've been seeing a lot of them lately!

[Mayhem]

For you guys that think there is a connection,have any of you tried to track down the programmer of Space Jockey to see what (s)he has to say about Air Raid?

 

That wouldn't be very difficult: it was Gary Kitchen, ex Activision, who now works with Dave Crane at Skyworks.

[RangerG]

Sylabus,

 

You should call the guy in Georgia. He seems nice in that I emailed him during the auction asking where he lives and he got right back with me. You could ask specifically about any potential details concerning the cart and you may get more info. than emailing.

 

Take care,

RG

[64squares]

Sylabus,

 

You should call the guy in Georgia. He seems nice in that I emailed him during the auction asking where he lives and he got right back with me. You could ask specifically about any potential details concerning the cart and you may get more info. than emailing.

 

Take care,

RG

 

I emailed him during the auction as well and asked where he got Air Raid from. Here's his reponse:

 

"My friend would pick these up at garage sales and collected for a while. He became over run with stuff and gave me the games. The console was received seperate."

[Foxsolo2000]

Sylabus,

 

You should call the guy in Georgia. He seems nice in that I emailed him during the auction asking where he lives and he got right back with me. You could ask specifically about any potential details concerning the cart and you may get more info. than emailing.

 

Take care,

RG

 

I emailed him during the auction as well and asked where he got Air Raid from. Here's his reponse:

 

"My friend would pick these up at garage sales and collected for a while. He became over run with stuff and gave me the games. The console was received seperate."

 

Doesn't exactly say much does it? So the thing was taken apart and we are still no closer to closure than when it was still intact. Isn't there someone out there who could disassemble the code and trace its origins or is that asking for too much?

[brpocock]

Doesn't exactly say much does it? So the thing was taken apart and we are still no closer to closure than when it was still intact. Isn't there someone out there who could disassemble the code and trace its origins or is that asking for too much?

 

Well, the code itself, we know the origins. maybe to run some "diffs"... but there isn't much "personal style" to 6507 binaries unless, like I would, s/he hid his/her initials somewhere in unused space.

[iguana]

I am going to add my 2 cents with the caveat that I know nothing about pirates or anything like that. Just some observations.

 

1st are there any games that use this t shape beside this. I ask because economically speaking it would be quite expensive for some pirate to make a small run of this type of casing. If I were to Pirate a game I would look to purchase overruns of carts. or at least purchase casings that were already made so as to cut the costs of casting a new die.

 

Again this is all from my head so it means absolutely nothing. The only reasonable thing I could think of for development of this type of casing AND the fact that there is no name of a developer or company anywhere to be found is that this cart was created as a sort of Proto. That is a small company put it together in hopes of selling the game to a larger company for distribution. Then I could understand the cost (depending what year this was produced) of setting up a small run casing. It would draw attention from a larger company who could them mass produce it at a lower cost and use the casing as a selling point. This would also explain the lack of any name on the game as well as the lack of any known box or manual, as they would leave that up to the new manufacture to put together in a sales and marketing plan.

 

If this were the case it would be my guess that once the program itself was reviewed no large producer would want to take it because of the close resemblance to Space Jockey Programming and no smaller producer would want to touch the production costs of that casing. Thus 10 or 15 of these things would have been floated out to several game companies in hopes of a bite.

 

This again is just my ramblings and I have no proof of any of it. But at least it would kind of all fit together.

 

either way thanks for sharing this stuff with us. It is real fun to watch you do what 99% of us would not have the balls to do and get some answers. I salute your love for gaming!

Edited May 19, 2006 by iguana

[orrimarrko]

I wrote the seller asking this

 

"Was there any instructions with the cart or a box? Any way you could ask whoever u got it from, if they remember where the bought it or go it ? Any help would be much appreciated

 

Thanks"

 

 

I got this today ?

 

"I see you have received your item. Please leave feedback for me and I will do the same for you. Thanks again for bidding. Mexico!"

 

The guy is in georgia. So why did he say mexico? Im not sure but i emailed him again asking the question??

 

The Mystery continues

 

 

This one's easy.

 

"Mexico" is the answer to your question, "Any way you could ask whoever u got it from, if they remember where the bought it or got it ?"

 

He bascially gave you a short answer to your question. They got it in Mexico.

 

That would be how I would interpret that response.

[orrimarrko]

come out in public again

 

Again, I do not believe it ever has, who has seen it? The guy who claimed that this cart is called Air Raid, claimed to have the box, claimed that the company name is Men-A-Vision. The same guy who also mysteriously disappeared? Does that really make it a fact?

 

I have seen the box for Rocky & Bullwinkle, prove me wrong!

 

Certainly, your point is well taken. It goes without saying (but I will anyway), that your knowledge of the 2600 is light years beyond my own.

 

I guess the individual's story (who claimed to have held the box in his hands) is not taken with much regard.

 

That's all I meant by "public."

 

Orri-

[brpocock]

OK, this is a little bit interesting, but it's far more "conspiracy theory" than useful info

 

I ran some rough comparisons of a raw disassembly of the Air Raid and Space Jockey binaries from AtariAge. My thought was, basically, to look for signatures.

 

One pair of strings found in Air Raid (and not Space Jockey) are: VDHLHD PRTV edit:typo corrected

 

Googling for that, I only get http://starbase.jpl.nasa.gov/archive/vo1_v...bxx/f059b01.ibg

 

hm. I need to look at context.

Edited May 19, 2006 by brpocock

[homerwannabee]

OK, this is a little bit interesting, but it's far more "conspiracy theory" than useful info

 

I ran some rough comparisons of a raw disassembly of the Air Raid and Space Jockey binaries from AtariAge. My thought was, basically, to look for signatures.

 

One pair of strings found in Air Raid (and not Space Jockey) are: VDHLHD PRTV edit:typo corrected

 

Googling for that, I only get http://starbase.jpl.nasa.gov/archive/vo1_v...bxx/f059b01.ibg

 

hm. I need to look at context.

I knew it, this game was not made in the U.S. and it was not made in Mexico. Or even on this planet for that matter. It was made by martians on Mars. This may justify the trip to Mars after all. If they have a billion more of these Air Raids and the government can sell them for $1,000 a pop, we will have made the money back from what we spent to get there.

[sku_u]

1st are there any games that use this t shape beside this. I ask because economically speaking it would be quite expensive for some pirate to make a small run of this type of casing. If I were to Pirate a game I would look to purchase overruns of carts. or at least purchase casings that were already made so as to cut the costs of casting a new die.

 

Yes, Tron, Ultravision and a few other companies use T handle carts. There are no others that use this particular casting, however:

 

http://www.atariage.com/cart_page.html?SoftwareLabelID=768

 

http://www.atariage.com/cart_page.html?SoftwareLabelID=1462

 

http://www.atariage.com/cart_page.html?SoftwareLabelID=100

 

Someone posted a picture comparing the three a while ago if you want to try a search for it.

[Omegamatrix]

OK, this is a little bit interesting, but it's far more "conspiracy theory" than useful info

 

I ran some rough comparisons of a raw disassembly of the Air Raid and Space Jockey binaries from AtariAge. My thought was, basically, to look for signatures.

 

One pair of strings found in Air Raid (and not Space Jockey) are: VDHLHD PRTV edit:typo corrected

 

Googling for that, I only get http://starbase.jpl.nasa.gov/archive/vo1_v...bxx/f059b01.ibg

 

hm. I need to look at context.

I knew it, this game was not made in the U.S. and it was not made in Mexico. Or even on this planet for that matter. It was made by martians on Mars. This may justify the trip to Mars after all. If they have a billion more of these Air Raids and the government can sell them for $1,000 a pop, we will have made the money back from what we spent to get there.

So we have a blue cart from a red planet called Air Raid? Looking at the label these aliens don't look friendly. They are going to start the invasion by dropping trillions of these blue demons from above. The T-handle makes sense now; it's just easier to release. We're all going to die!!