New Odyssey2 / Videopac FAQ

[Rafael]

Nice work, William. About Pink Panther, maybe is a good mantion the atari - 8 bit version:
http://www.atariprotos.com/temp/Pink_Movie.wmv

[Rene_G7400]

Homebrew authors have also added enhanced backgrounds to G7000 games that did not originally receive the "Plus" treatment. The first newly-enhanced game was 2007's Munchkin+, by Martijn Wenting/Revival Studios.

Not sure about this, Rene have you done some already? or are we specifically saying something that then went through a release process?

No, I haven't. The only other example at the moment would be Rafael's Plus background for Quest for the Rings.

[Rafael]

Other thing I like to know, is about Odyssey/Videopac sales year by year. I readed anywhere in Brazil the Odyssey had 35% of the market in it?s releases year.

[Rafael]

About the rarest/most valuable Odyssey brazilian games (not counting MI/VP) are:

1. O Gato e o Rato (VP 47 equivalent)
2. O Segredo Do Fara? ( VP 21, anyway it?s very diferent compared to euro version)
3. Bombardeio Submarino/Tiro ao Alvo (VP 16)
4. Desafio Chines (VP 17)
5. O Malabarista/Jogo Da Velha (VP 19)
6. Criatividade (Keyboard Creations - VP A)

[O2William]

Wow, thanks for all the input everyone!  I added Videopac.nl Forums as a FAQ source.

"Kinder Im Verkehr 1" was released in Brazil ?? sure about that ?

Yes, you and Rene are right about all these.  I reorganized that answer a couple of times while writing the FAQ and messed it up. I think I have it fixed now.

Videopac V wasn't sold but given as a (christmas-)gift to the members of the German Videopac club "Commander Rom"

How interesting... I didn't know that!  I updated the FAQ answer.  (I wonder why these games were distributed in Germany only?  Was there an epidemic of German kids being hurt in car accidents then?)

if you take this question in, you should also write about the French only Philips packaging ...

That's a good idea, but I would need more information.  I have heard that French laws required that all games be in French.  Is that true?  Are there other differences in these games besides language?

I think you should have a "Who are GST?" section, they are mentioned in the main body but I know it is a question I had. I can sent you info I collected later if you need any.

That's a good idea.  Can you send the info?  All I know about GST is in the Gil Wiliamson interview, which isn't a tremendous amount.

I think I'll also add a "What is Probe 2000?" question.

You link to a domain name I dont know if I'll keep

If you change it, let me know and I will update my links.

Other thing I like to know, is about Odyssey/Videopac sales year by year.

I would too, but it would require in-depth research.  Maybe that is a project for another day.

About the rarest/most valuable Odyssey brazilian games (not counting MI/VP) are...

Thanks for the list.  I added it.

Other things I fixed:
- Fixed Clay Pigeon+ reproduction number
- I didn't know Western+ was not released... removed references that made it sound like it was
- Flash Point added
- Added text saying Muchkin+ was the first newly-enhanced game to be widely released


The preproduction version of K.C. Munchkin was found by David Winter of www.pong-story.com.  He used to have a web page up about it but it is down now... here is the Internet Archive record of it.

[Rene_G7400]

(I wonder why these games were distributed in Germany only?  Was there an epidemic of German kids being hurt in car accidents then?)

These games were developed in Germany for use at school.

[Rene_G7400]

That's a good idea.  Can you send the info?  All I know about GST is in the Gil Wiliamson interview, which isn't a tremendous amount.

Is there an english version of this interview?

[Rene_G7400]

The preproduction version of K.C. Munchkin was found by David Winter of www.pong-story.com.  He used to have a web page up about it but it is down now... here is the Internet Archive record of it.

Is there a ROM dump of this version?

[grgh]

GST info

Originally released:
Super Bee
Norseman
Blobbers
Commando Noturno! (Brazil only)

Collectors released:
Interpol
Shark Hunter

Was this released?:
Jake a.k.a. Martian Threat

References:

http://www.ozyr.com/o2/o2hrdwr.html
Interpol - GST Video
Martian Threat (aka - Jake) - GST Video       
Nightfigher (Commando Noturno! - Brazil only release) - GST Video     
Shark Hunter - GST Video

http://www.dieterkoenig.at/ccc/po/s_po_games_64_intro.htm
Mentions:
Super Bee, Norseman and Blobbers
Interpol
Shark Hunter
Jake

GST mentioned here:
http://www.msx.org/forumtopic5989.html

http://www.digitpress.com/faq/odyssey2.txt
See the section headed: New games discovered in Europe

GST mentioned here:
http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=95763

Jon Shuttleworth interview (I guess you have seen this William  ):
http://classicgaming.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Articles.Detail&id=285
http://classicgaming.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Articles.Detail&id=352

[ANDYRYALS]

I own prototypes to Martian Threat and Commands Nocturno! So they were developed but wether they were released is another question!!

[O2William]

Judging from David's site about preproduction K.C. Munchkin, I'm sure he dumped the ROMs, but he did not make them available for download as far as I know.

The only version of the Gil Williamson interview I know of is the one on Odyssey Mania, which is in Portuguese. 


grgh, thanks for posting the GST info.  I did some more searching, and I found some more.  Apparently the full name of the company was GST Technology, and it still exists, sort of.  In 2001, it merged with eGames Europe and formed a new company called Greenstreet Online.

Here is some great info I found on this site:
http://www.pcartandcraft.com/Main.aspx?pageid=About

GST was founded in 1979 as a contract development company producing software systems, for example, typesetting software for the Beijing Daily. GST worked on software for many early home computer systems including MSX (Shark Hunter and other games), Sinclair QL (Assembler and Small C), Atari ST (1st Word and 1st Word plus). The company rose to international fame with the release of its world-beating DTP package, Timeworks Publisher for the ST & PC. GST went on to develop a whole range of graphics productivity software, including Draw (previously called Designworks - now at Version 4), Photo FX 2 and the ?Maker? range of print products.

I'll work on adding this info to the FAQ soon.

[Seob]

The threat on atariage was from me. Those proto's have gone to Andy.
I did try to find more info about GST but never could.
Great find O2william. Did you try to contact them by e-mail? Hope that they can give us more info about those games.

[O2William]

Did you try to contact them by e-mail?

I just submitted a request through Greenstreet's web site.  If I find out anything more, I'll post it.

I also found this web site, belonging to someone who worked at GST.  He worked on PhotoFX, which came a lot later than the G7000, but was also a "keen amateur games designer for the ZX Spectrum and Acorn Atom," so maybe he'll know something.  I'll drop him a line.

[Rene_G7400]

So GST stands for GreenSTreet or Greenstreet Software Technology.

[O2William]

So GST stands for GreenSTreet or Greenstreet Software Technology.

I think so, but it may be too early to say for sure.  Stephen Howell, who worked at GST from 1997-2000, answered me.  He said: 

Strangely, nobody ever really seemed to know what GST stood for and I remember many speculative discussions about it.

Unfortunately Mr. Howell did not know anything about the G7000, but he did tell me that GST was based in St Ives, Cambridgeshire, in the UK.  So now at least we know that GST was a British company.  I'm also now in contact with someone at Greenstreet who I believe was active in the company back in the G7000 days.  I don't know how much more information I'll be able to dig up, but I'll keep you all posted.