Consequently, after over 2 years selling Stella Gets A New Brain v2 and the two documentary videos, we've decided to donate our remaining inventory to Randy Crihfield of Hozer Video, where it will be continue to be offered (at little over the cost of shipping) to anyone who wants a copy in the future.
Any orders received by us postmarked 1-1-2002 or later will be returned to sender. We apologize for the inconvenience. Please redirect your orders to Hozer Video.
We appreciate Randy's selfless dedication to continue distributing classic gaming products like these to consumers at little to no profit.
Cyberpunks are proud to announce that we are donating 100+ copies of Stella Gets a New Brain to Chad Schell to accompany his Cuttle Cart. Cyberpunks have always been interested in assisting those out there creating new classic-gaming hardware, and this "SuperDuperCharger" project was a perfect opportunity for us to do so. Since the Cuttle Cart is an expensive piece of hardware, bundling the CDs adds $20 value to a Cuttle Cart purchase at no extra cost to Chad or the consumer. We hope that this helps Chad maximize sales of this wonderful invention that he has put so much work into bringing us.
Stella at 20 was showcased in a feature article in the May issue of Newtekniques magazine.
I was pleased to hear from Russ Perry Jr. that the Stella at 20 tapes were reviewed in the November issue of Tips and Tricks magazine. This is the best mainstream magazine coverage we've had since Wired covered the original Stella CD back in '97. Here is a transcription.
Stella at 20: Volume 1 debuted at CG Expo 2000. We were glad to be able to hand off our tape to 2600 alums like Rob Fulop, Bob Smith and David Crane (who also picked up a set for Al Miller). We also passed a copy along to Ralph Baer (inventor of Pong) who might get a kick out of some things Nolan Bushnell had to say about taking credit for Pong.
At the CG Expo we had some aggressive discounts. Following up on that, we are announcing new lower pricing for our products (see the order pages).
In the end there is no intro to computers or 2600 architectural tutorial on it. We'll have to do something along those lines later on, either as a companion video, multimedia CDROM presentation, book, or something online. I think it's well worth doing. On the other hand, it maintains the purity of being a narrator-less piece, told purely in the words of the participants. So while some of Joe Decuir's explanations are incomplete, it's still in his own words within the roundtable setting. By never cutting away to voiceovers with animated diagrams, I think it flows a little bit better.
But on the practical side, it was just too much for me to handle on a workload and an intellectual basis (not being really that familiar with the 2600 system at the actual assembly or gate level). I know the gist of how it works, but I'm far from being qualified to draft a document on how to write for it. I was winding up rewriting the Stella programmer's guide and thinking, why bother if the resources are already available online?
Remember, these were very off the cuff, stream of consciousness moments. For most of the Nolan sessions, for the most part, they happened automatically like hitting the play button on the VCR. "Tell me how the 2600 came to be" was about as much as I needed to say, and they would start spinning stories for a half hour straight. They were sharing stories not so much for me or the camera, but between their peers, which is a very unique feel to it that I haven't seen elsewhere, although I _tried_ to duplicate it for Arcade Party Pak.
I think the parts of Stella at 20 that wind up being the most unique, and compelling, are the human interest stories, the stuff that only these people know, that nobody else knew, and I've been holding onto for the last 3 years. Aside from a handful of people who have seen the raw footage, nobody's seen some of this stuff, and there are, in my opinion, quite a few "revelations" here about who deserves credit for what in bringing out the 2600 and making it and Atari a success. I'm not going to spoil it for anybody, but I think most of you will be surprised by what you learn in this tape!
I'm really looking forward to hearing what people think of the tape. I hope that people watch it knowing that it is primarily a no-nonsense document of an event, the gathering at Nolan's predominantly, and therefore I focused on the side of historical completeness rather than coherency or technical flashiness.
In the three years since I shot it I expanded well beyond the IEEE article and in the end I just wanted to have a series of set-pieces that jumped around and covered a lot of different issues above and beyond just the 2600's longevity.
I think, while the lack of tutorials makes it hard for a novice to follow some of it, that there is still something for everybody into the Atari to enjoy here.
Since CGExpo '99, several people have been requesting that we accept credit card orders. Merchant accounts and the ancillary fees associated with credit card processing are a little too pricey for our sort of business. Cyberpunks Entertainment looked into the many many possible solutions out there and we've finally found a good one, Amazon.com zShops!
I've heard some negative things about zShops. You can set up a shop without any sort of escrow service, so it's very much based on trust. However, Cyberpunks have been selling mail order and at conventions for years, so we're hoping that people will order with confidence.
So if you've thought about placing an order, but wanted to put it on your credit card instead of sending a check or M/O, now is your chance.
Links:
Stella at 20 volume 2 Documentary Video
Stella Gets a New Brain version 2 CD-ROM
Currently no international orders accepted due to the simplified shipping methods employed at zShops.
We still over special discounts on those who order both the CD and the video, but these are currently only available through our regular mail-order since zShops has no convenient way to provide this. We may offer a 3rd listing of a "Stella CD and video bundle" if there is interest. Otherwise, please find out more information on our specials and our products in general at the Cyberpunks Entertainment homepage:
Current plans are for Volume 1 to also contain bonus interview footage with interviews not covered in Volume 2. These interviews were meant to fill a third volume with other newer interviews. However, this catchup-session of interviews was never conducted due to a loss of funding.
Meanwhile, the editing system is nearing completion. A few final (relatively inexpensive) components need to be installed/purchased to complete the entire suite and make it ready for final editing.
Negotiations are being completed regarding Stella at 20 distribution and our CD project.
Cyberpunks have forged an alliance with a certain "Dark Horse" next-gen console on the horizon.
4/99
Also, we have booked a booth at the Classic Gaming Expo '99 convention. While we would still like to have Stella at 20 seen on broadcast TV, tapes will be made available there, probably a longer deluxe-version tailored more for die-hard Atari fans.
We also hope to have a CD available. Details to be released shortly.
There are two viable outlet for a commercial 2600 emulation package, and two possible scenarios that may involve Cyberpunks, but details can not be shared at this time.