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New Mexico's 'Atari Dump' to Be Excavated

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Re: New Mexico's 'Atari Dump' to Be Excavated

#31

Post by abruzzi »

acqq wrote: post #29
d0gsbody wrote: post #27

Off-topic, but Alamogordo is a beautiful area. Very close to the White Sands National Monument. If anyone is ever in that area, I'd recommend visiting. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Sands_National_Monument

And I know Alamogordo as the site of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_(nuclear_test)

Actually the test was closer Socorro and the small town of San Antonio, NM (birthplace of the Hilton dynasty.) It was on what is now White Sands Missile Range which is very close to Alamogordo, but there is a mountain range between the test site and Alamogordo. The blast was visible from San Antonio though.

I would add that Alamogordo was the fictitious location of the giant ants in the film "Them!"

Re: New Mexico's 'Atari Dump' to Be Excavated

#32

Post by Bjorkbat »

d0gsbody wrote: post #27

Off-topic, but Alamogordo is a beautiful area. Very close to the White Sands National Monument. If anyone is ever in that area, I'd recommend visiting. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Sands_National_Monument

Agreed. On days where it's more desolate than usual I like to imagine I'm on a distant alien planet.

Alamogordo is about an hour away from where I live, I can't help but wonder if they'll let me pay a visit and check it out.

Re: New Mexico's 'Atari Dump' to Be Excavated

#33

Post by jlgreco »

d0gsbody wrote: post #27

Off-topic, but Alamogordo is a beautiful area. Very close to the White Sands National Monument. If anyone is ever in that area, I'd recommend visiting. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Sands_National_Monument

White Sands is pretty wild.

I went there once a few years ago during the summer. It was brutally hot out and dry as hell, but the sand was so cool you could have sworn there was an ice-rink under it or something. Even weirder though, it hurt to stare directly at the sand for too long since it reflected sunlight so well. I expect that you could probably get snow-blindness from staring at it for too long.

It felt like being in a field of gritty snow inside of an oven.

Re: New Mexico's 'Atari Dump' to Be Excavated

#34

Post by reeses »

ttrreeww wrote: post #7

That is going to be one toxic excavation, I hope they wear the proper protective clothing.

I scrolled down to see if someone mentioned what I was thinking. Unearthing electronics made 30+ years ago is not a good idea unless kids in the area have an unusually high rate of birth defects.

I can't imagine the insurance cost for this documentary, if their underwriter even knows what they're doing.

"E.T. Comes Home, Or How We Created A Superfund Site"

Re: New Mexico's 'Atari Dump' to Be Excavated

#36

Post by krapp »

officemonkey wrote: post #23
deadfall wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? It is not like you can trade in Karma points for a new car. Just another popularity contest.

Signal vs. Noise. This whole thread is noise, which is why I'm downvoting every comment in it (including mine.)

I've upvoted every downvote in protest of the inequity in not having the ability to downvote.

Re: New Mexico's 'Atari Dump' to Be Excavated

#38

Post by lccarrasco »

bruceb wrote: post #37

With the exception of maybe asteroids and pong, pre 8bit NES games pretty much sucked. The control were to unresponsive. I think NES really was the dawn of video games with at least some depth to them.

Regarding depth: I believe that in the future (with the advent of consumer VR) your comment (with slight changes) will still be applicable

Re: New Mexico's 'Atari Dump' to Be Excavated

#39

Post by krapp »

bruceb wrote: post #37

With the exception of maybe asteroids and pong, pre 8bit NES games pretty much sucked. The control were to unresponsive. I think NES really was the dawn of video games with at least some depth to them.

Donkey Kong and Space Invaders had pre-NES cartridge incarnations as well, I remember them being enjoyable though I honestly don't remember what system I played them on. I know it wasn't Colecovision, either one of the Ataris or Intellivision.

Though I'll agree about the controllers -- though personally I preferred the infamous disk on the Intellivision to even the Atari 2600 joystick so I'm probably biased towards that paradigm anyway. I also enjoyed Treasure of Tarmin far, far more than I had any right to.

[edit] though not as much as Misty Mountain.

(Stupid snakes.)

Re: New Mexico's 'Atari Dump' to Be Excavated

#40

Post by atacrawl »

bruceb wrote: post #37

With the exception of maybe asteroids and pong, pre 8bit NES games pretty much sucked. The control were to unresponsive. I think NES really was the dawn of video games with at least some depth to them.

I would add River Raid to that short list -- it's one of the few pre-NES games that still holds up.
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