Archive for November, 2007

I saw this Pengo flyer over a week ago with the rare “dark blue” bezel and I can’t curb my curiosity. I can only see a small image of the full upright Pengo, but the bezel looks like it is a dark blue color, with a completely different design for Pengo and the Sno-Bees. The only bezel I have ever seen is the one on my machine, but I have to wonder if any other collectors out there have this more rare Pengo Bezel.

Here is the link again to the original Pengo flyer released by Sega back in 1982. Dan Hower lists the source as Leandro Dardini, who is probably just an arcade game collector. Is this version of Pengo shown in the flyer a “beta” test version that Sega later revised after consumer feedback? For now, I am going to refer to this bezel version as “version B”.

I don’t know the answer to that question. In just under a half hour of searching today I came up empty handed, other than I fond a couple other collectors who own Pengo’s.

Sega’s Pengo has a pretty loyal following. I sent out emails to about 12 of the Pengo collectors listed on VAPS to see if I could find out any more information. We’ll have to see what, if anything I hear back.

July 10th, 2008
I ended up buying a copy of the Pengo flyer and scanning in the rare Pengo bezel prototype version at a resolution. Take a look, you can see what looks like huge versions of the characters, the Sno Bees and Pengo himself, with no ice mountains in the background. Now that I scan it in, it looks funny, with Pengo only on the right side and hardly the focus of the artwork.

I forgot I had bookmarked this website in the middle of September. Chattanooga Pinball in Nashville Chattanooga, TN has an image gallery showing that they own what looks like a couple of Universal Mr. Do!’s. The gallery shows two Mr. Do!’s, the original version and what I believe is the “white” sideart Gleeb manufactured version of Mr. Do!.

I had kind of forgot that I saw this white sideart Mr. Do!, because Chattanooga’s prices on games are quite steep. $750 for this white Mr. Do! Yeah… I don’t think so. Plus, part of me doesn’t believe that they actually have this version of Mr. Do! with the smaller sticker sideart, that they stole this image from somewhere else. But, I am sure at some point we’ll be down that way, Nashville isn’t too far from Indianapolis, so I’ll have to plan some arcade coin-op sidetracking when we’re in that southern area again.

But, if this was a true white Mr. Do!, then this would be the fourth one I have seen.

If there are any arcade collectors in Chattanooga or Nashville that could help me out, that would be great. Whether you could stop by Chattanooga Pinball and see if they actually have the white Mr. Do!, or if you know someone personally in the company that could vouch whether the stock on the website is up to date. Eventually I will give them a call and see for myself, but knowing I won’t buy the Mr. Do! for that price might make my conversion difficult.

I can’t find the source of how this website was found, (www.whysoserious.com/personalityprofile) but if you now go to WhySoSerious.com, you can continue following the viral campaign for The Dark Knight by taking Joker’s personality profile.

As you can see, on the personality questionairre I scored a “Belly Buster”. I tried to answer all of Joker’s questions how I thought he wanted them answered, but I still few a number of notches short from the top.

The imagry for the Dark Knight movie is right on, just look at the style and the subject matter, such awesome ideas to get people involed and excited.

It was asked if anyone has gotten “A Scream” on the profile test, and if anything happens. I haven’t found anyone who has, and it appears right now as if this is just a fun test. So many other viral websites are popping up that it appears this is just one more cog in the whole campaign wheel that adds to the fun, not something you solved for an additional clue. Hence the “Send to a friend”. They want you to get other people interested in the Dark Knight movie to get involved in this hype.

I checked “Hollywood Chicago” earlier today, in what has been a regular checkup since last Saturday / Sunday. Usually they are good about breaking any news related to “The Dark Knight” viral campaigns.

The last viral campaign for the movie was “Rory’s Death Kiss.com”, a website dedicated to taking photos of Batman fans dressing up a Joker’s and taking photos of themselves all over the world. From group photos of Joker’s to single Joker’s, there were a ton of submissions, and a lot of them were really fun. The whole Dark Knight campaign was to end at 11:59 on November 17th, the last time anyone could submit a group Joker photo. So everyone anticipated that on the 18th, something new would happen. Well, I was up at Midnight, and there was a message on the website. Those Joker photos that were chosen as the best would be receiving something in the mail. Regular mail.

Today, I finally heard what that object was. It was a fully mocked up “Gotham Times” newspaper! How lucky for those Batman fans. I had thought about trying to submit something, and now I wish I had.

So, photos went online of the “Gotham Times” newspaper that the fans got, with a message saying that the new www.thegothamtimes.com website would go online today, November 23rd.

I just check five minutes ago, and it is now online. I should be doing something else, but I will be reading this 4 page Batman Dark Knight newspaper first! Viral marketing is awesome, this has taken some great creativity.

I am sure the main point of interest in the Batman themed newspaper is the next charge for those who have participated in the campaign up to this point. There is an ad in the newspaper that reads;

Correction
A classified ad in our last issue was incorrect. It should have read:

Charming, handsome man with dazzling smile seeks amateur clowns for discreet encounters. No previous sense of humor necessary. Criminal record a plus. Interested? Write to humanresources@whysoserious.com in the full understanding that we have your email address and might send you alarming, disturbing, or annoying material at any moment.

Hollywood Chicago reports when e-mailed, the following auto-reply message is returned:

See you found my little message. So, do you think you have what it takes to be a part of my circle of friends?

Are you a backstabbing, self-promoting, ambitious clown who will do anything to prove yourself to me?

If so, the first step of your application process awaits … if you know where to look.

In the style of the other websites, there is a tear you can pull back on the front page of the Gotham Times. It has a bunch of “Ha Ha’s” written underneath. Seems odd to me that there is only one Joker touch that I could find, but maybe that will come to light in the next couple of hours.

~Edit www.wearetheanswer.com is now online as well. The Gotham Knight newspaper mentioned this website, and it wasn’t online at all until the paper went online. The website is dedicated to Harvey Dent’s crusade to take back the corrupt Gotham Police Force, offering this website as a annoynomous website to submit your tips through.

Also now online, an IMAX featurette on The Dark Knight 7 minute prologue debuting in front of I Am Legend on December 7th.

~Edit - 2:20 I sent a letter to the email address for “Letters To The Editor” (letterstotheeditor@thegothamtimes.com), a section in the Gotham Times. Here is the automated response I got back;

Dear Contributor:

Thank you for submission. Although we cannot run all letters we receive, please be assured that we read all letters. If we do use your letter in an upcoming edition of The Gotham Times, we may edit it for space considerations. We appreciate your letters and hope that you will continue to submit to us. And thank you for your support of The Gotham Times.

Sincerely,

The Editors

I also sent a tip through the wearetheanswer.com website. I didn’t get the automated response back that was mentioned above. That is promising.

There will be some clues in the newspaper about the next campaign. I have noticed some asterisks above random letters that may spell some sort of Dark Knight themed message. Will I investigate it all? I doubt it. I am done time wise for now. It also could be some website being launched about Gina Tortericci. Who knows. I just know I want to be involved in the next viral thing, and not miss out like I did on dressing up like the Joker.

~Edit - 6:25 I did end up getting an answer from wearetheanswer.com. It was just a confirmation email to make sure that I wasn’t posing as someone I wasn’t. I tried to write some really creative things, alluding to former Batman artists and the facts that were presented in the paper. I imagine everyone will get a response either way, whether they were creative or not…

Since earlier in the afternoon, the dedicated individuals at Hollywood Chicago.com have uncovered (as I figured they would pick everything apart) a number of other website launches. They are;

• http://www.thehahahatimes.com
• http://www.gothamnationalbank.com
• http://www.gothampolice.com
• http://www.rememberinggina.org
• http://www.gothamcityhall.com (Under Construction Still)

I was right about the website about “Gina”, just couldn’t find the address. The best site is probably the Ha Ha Ha Times website, with is just a copy of the Gotham Times website, with Joker’s special touches:)

I read about 60% of the paper, but apparently missed the phone number, 866-237-6480. If you call it, I guess it just directs you to visit The Gotham Times website. I will have to try it later.

~Edit - 11/24 10:45 AM - Got an email back today from wearetheanswer.com Tips line. I had used a cop with the name “Bolland”, just for a test, as a tip to the well known Batman comic artist Brian Bolland. This is what I got back;

The District Attorney’s office is not aware of an officer by that name.

Please be assured that the Gotham City DA takes all information seriously and confidentially.

Thank you for doing your part in making Gotham City better, safer, stronger. Together, We Are The Answer.
Reply

Thanks to Matt! for the great tip on entering in the cops names from the Gotham Times at wearetheanswer.com, should have been obvious….I will have to try and see if I get the same message.

We went to Petsmart last weekend to see the puppies.

There was a one year old full bred Shar-Pei there, exact same coloring, similar tail curl and the exact same coloring right behind both of it’s shoulder blades Nokes has this extra fur that is lighter in color right behind his front legs, and we thought that was weird. But this dog, “Zeus”, had he exact same coloring.

Granted, the head was significantly different. Nokes has wrinkles, but not like a Shar-Pei, but that was the main and seemed to be the only difference. Even the size was exactly the same.

A fellow friend and dog owner told me recently that Nokes has a retriever nose, and they would seem to have some expertise because they had a DNA test done on their dog because the curiosity killed them.

So right now, I think, Nokes is Golden Retriever because of the coloring and nose, Shepherd from the coloring on his chest, and Shar-Pei because of what I said above. DNA testing is really tempting. If it was like $50 I would do it, my curiosity is that high. I was told that the DNA test can only check for about 300 breeds of dogs. I don’t know how true that is, I haven’t researched it. But I would hope my guesses aren’t too far off, and I would think they would be able to check for those three breeds.

I was surfing yesterday, trying to find information about who licensed Mr. Do! from Universal and made the white Mr. Do! with sideart. I read some references to a game similar in theme to Mr. Do! called Jumping Jack from Universal.

I decided to try this classic game out in MAME. I was pleasantly surprised.

In Juming Jack, you are Jack and you jump (if you didn’t get that from the title). But seriously, Jack is is little guy with a white sombero and I can only imagine is in the jungle somewhere.

You jump from a number of different obstacles, tetering boards on mounds, to bouncy mushrooms, to platforms that are attacked by Rhinos, all sorts of stuff. As Jack you have to make sure to land on the wood before the monkeys do. The whole point is to throw them off, and when you land second, no matter where on the board, the monkey will go flying.

Jumping Jack feels just like a Universal game. There is a cute catchy music in the background, and of course, you have to get cherries. (Because that makes sense for a dude in the jungle). Plus all of the lettering and theme design is the same, and it looks like you can get “EXTRA” guys just like in Mr. Do!

I played it for a couple of settings, about 20 minutes each. I had a hard time beating level one in Jumping Jack, but I beat level two on my first try.

In terms of the original game, it looks to me like it was a conversion kit for Mr. Do!, the only different piece was a different marquee. Pretty lame overall, I think the marquee even used the green backgound from Mr. Do!

The game has a number of levels, I am not sure what happens when you beat them all, if it goes back to level one but more difficult, like most games, or not.

A lot of fun, I would recommend it.

Came across an article on the Iquirer by chance today about four new video game releases for North American Sprint phones. The four games are Mr. Do’s Castle, Mr. Do!, Popeye and Atlantis: Sky Patrol. I am not familiar with the last game (and a quick search on Klov turned up nothing), but the other three are classics from either Universal or Nintendo.

Namco is publishing these classics with new enhancements. Apparently there are regular, and enhanced game modes. Enhanced mode can add more levels, powerups, and things to do. That is pretty cool to think that there are some new variations on old classics. I don’t know if new levels and powerups are available on other portings of Universal’s Mr. Do! to other platforms, but this is the first I have heard of it. Hell, I didn’t know that Namco owned the rights of distribution for the Mr. Do! properites.

Would I want to play Mr. Do! regular or Mr. Do! Castle on my cell phone…mmmm, probably not. I tried to send my first text message today and couldn’t figure it out. But I am a different general, and if Mr. Do! and Popeye can live on with a new generation I am all for that. It is weird to think about the original full size upright coin-op versions of these famous games, and to see the games now on a cell phone. I don’t need to comment on how far technology has come.

Mr. Do! didn’t have a screenshot on the inquirer for the Sprint cell phones, only Castle. Mr. Do! is available now and Mr. Do! Castle should be available later Quarter 4 2007.

I was surfing tonight, trying to come up with an idea for an arcade related post, when I came across this arcade history.

On arcade-history.com, I saw a snippet of information on the history of Jr. Pac-man that I did not know;

Jr. Pac-Man was developed by ‘General Computer Corporation’ (GCC) for Bally/Midway and is essentially an enhancement to “Ms. Pac-Man”

I thought to myself, isn’t General Computer Corporation the company that made Super Missile Attack back in the day, a hack enhancement board to Missile Command and was sued by Atari? I thought that the lawsuit was settled, GCC went under, but before they did they had to build three games for Atari as part of the settlement. Food Fight and Quantum were two of those games, and the third was never made.

I took a look at General Computer Corporation on Wikipedia, and this is what I found;

The General Computer Corporation was an early video game company started by Doug Macrae and Kevin Curran.

The company started out with the game Super Missile Attack, which was sold as an enhancement board to Missile Command. Atari sued them for this, but the suit was soon dropped after Macrae and Curran agreed to develop games for Atari and stop making enhancement boards without permission. Their next project was Ms. Pac Man, which they developed as an enhancement kit for Pac-Man. They took the game to Midway who sold it as a sequel to Pac-Man.

They made other arcade games for Atari, such as Food Fight…

So, GCC was a third party that development coin-op games for the big arcade companies at one point in time. It looks like GCC development Ms. Pac-man, and more importantly, Jr. Pac-man.

I would assume that developed means they designed, built, programmed and fabricated the arcade machines themselves. Which leads me to believe that maybe an artist at GCC would have done the sideart and other artwork / stickers for Jr. Pac-man.

I am going to have to explore this a little more. At the very least, I still believe the famous pinball illustrator Margaret Hudson may have some contacts to lead me to the original Jr. Pac-man artist. I just need to find her contact information, hopefully an email. It almost seems like she does freelance work for Stern Pinball now, or works directly for Stern in their art department.