NeoPong vs. California - pics inside

[Takumaji]

My buddy Franz (creator of NeoPong) travelled to the US lately and brought back some nice pics. Here's his message and pics for you since he can't start his own threads/post pics yet, enjoy.

"Hi there,

recently I was on a business trip in Silicon Valley.
I was really astonished that I saw a NeoPong sticker on a building there!

I made some photos because I could not believe it! Just see yourself:

I saw the sticker on a building in the San Tomas Business Park which is located in 2962 Scott Boulevard, Santa Clara, California.

I conclude NeoPong must be very popular in Silicon Valley!

Regards,
Franz"

Well guys... what does this address tell you?

(Temporarily broken links fixed - Tak)

 

[Xian Xi]

Is it possible to tell Franz if he can recode the game so it works on real hardware?

 

[supergoose]

i too would like to have it on cart.

also, former snk usa office? not 100% sure as it's been so long ...

 

[Takumaji]

Is it possible to tell Franz if he can recode the game so it works on real hardware?

I'm sure he will show up in this thread sooner or later so you can ask him yourself!

 

[Takumaji]

-> bump

Franz, get your ass in here, buddy!

 

[Franz]

Hi there!

@Tak:
Thanks a lot for opening this thread!

@Xian Xi and supergoose79:
Thank you very much for your interest in NeoPong!
That is really an honor for me and my friend Carsten,
who developed this game with me!

Unfortunately, we cannot develop NeoPong any further.
Orginally we planned to make it run on the real hardware.
Unfortunately, we got mail from SNK Playmore, which made
us stop our activities on the Neo-Geo.
We also dropped our idea about a sequel of one of my most
favorite games of all time: Last Resort!

As a consequence, I moved to the GP32 handheld system by Gamepark:
In case you don't know the system, here's a link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GP32

If you are interested, here are the three games which I made for that handheld:

1. "Arcano", released in 2003:
A breakout style game with flashy graphics and cool electronic sound:
See somewhere around the upper third of the following page:
http://www.retrogames.com/gp32flu_review_2.html
For that game I wrote a very powerful 2D-graphics library.
That was very impressive for that system at that time.

2. "Giro", released in 2003:
An F-Zero style which made SNES's mode-7 graphics available on the GP32:
See the 3rd place of the following 15 days coding competition:
http://gbax.gp2x.de/15days.html

3. "Elena", released in 2004:
An 3D Tetris like game where you have to build 3D-rings instead of 2D-lines.
I made that game for a 16 days coding competition.
I wrote my own very fast 3D engine to realize this game.
See that video:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3141916664581669528#
Please note: The guy who made that video, did chose his own sound.
This is NOT the sound of the game!

Now back to the pictures from the beginning of this thread:
Does anyone know the facility shown in the pictures?
Hint: Think of the original PONG...

Regards,
Franz

 

[supergoose]

Unfortunately, we cannot develop NeoPong any further.
Orginally we planned to make it run on the real hardware.
Unfortunately, we got mail from SNK Playmore, which made
us stop our activities on the Neo-Geo.

hi Franz.

wasn't that back when the neo was still officially supported? maybe you could ask if it was ok to continue, if you promise to not use any copyrighted material.
also, i thought that there was something about the music that you used. wasn't that their main concern?

 

[Xian Xi]

Ya, I thought the Neo Geo was abandonware already. Just as long as you don't use any copyrighted stuff then it should be fine. Plus SNK-P doesn't care about the Neo Geo anymore after 2003.

 

[aria]

Wow, wacky coincidence! Thanks for sharing the pic

 

[Takumaji]

There's a riddle in the pics shown in this thread which hasn't been solved yet...

Ah well, if SNKP did not want Franz and his buddy to continue development of Neo Pong when it came out, it's doubtful wether they are cool with it now. The Neo may be dead but the IP is still there. Sadly, most copyright holders are like SNKP, they could not care less about their old IP and refuse to do anything with it but then instantly threaten to sue anyone who does... same old song.

Oh, and if the music is a problem, I could compose a dedicated Neo Pong tune for the game. Always wanted to do vg soundtracks!

Anyway, I'd love to play the game on the real machine, perhaps there's a way to sort things out and release a hardware-fit version one day.

A NGCD version with high-q audio would be cool...!

 

[Xian Xi]

There's a riddle in the pics shown in this thread which hasn't been solved yet...

Ah well, if SNKP did not want Franz and his buddy to continue development of Neo Pong when it came out, it's doubtful wether they are cool with it now. The Neo may be dead but the IP is still there. Sadly, most copyright holders are like SNKP, they could not care less about their old IP and refuse to do anything with it but then instantly threaten to sue anyone who does... same old song.

Oh, and if the music is a problem, I could compose a dedicated Neo Pong tune for the game. Always wanted to do vg soundtracks!

Anyway, I'd love to play the game on the real machine, perhaps there's a way to sort things out and release a hardware-fit version one day.

A NGCD version with high-q audio would be cool...!

I know that company makes products that could be used for making games. Is Franz making his games playable on the Neo? I'd love to play some of those games on the Neo.

 

[Xian Xi]

Now back to the pictures from the beginning of this thread:
Does anyone know the facility shown in the pictures?
Hint: Think of the original PONG...

Regards,
Franz

It's the original business location for Syzygy/Atari.

 

[Takumaji]

Is Franz making his games playable on the Neo? I'd love to play some of those games on the Neo.

Do you mean the GP32 games? I doubt wether it would be possible to port them to the Neo.

 

[Franz]

Hi there,

regarding the facility:
Yes, it's Atari's very first office!
This is the facility where the original PONG was invented, developed and manufactured!
Congratulations to the people who guessed right or who knew it! You did great!

In the following videos you can see Al Alcorn, the developer of PONG, presenting this
"historic" facility:

Video 1 - "The Story of Computer Games 1/5":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vROxoEyB9UE
The part, where the facility can be seen, starts at around 01:42.

Video 2 - "Thumb Candy - The history of computer games":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAo4CZTGFQQ
The part, where the facility can be seen, starts at around 11:54.

I think both videos are worth seeing them at full length if you have the time!
Thanks by the way to my friends Jürgen and Markus who recommended these videos to me.
Without them, I wouldn't have known anything about this place at all. Thank you!

Must be a damn cool guy who put the sticker there! Incredible!
I guess it was Al Alcorn who wanted to pay tribute to NeoPong...

Regards,
Franz

 

[Dampfwalze]

Thanks by the way to my friends Jürgen and Markus who recommended these videos to me.
Without them, I wouldn't have known anything about this place at all. Thank you!

You're welcome.

Found some new documentaries on the web. Will show them to you next time we will meet.

 

[cyriades]

Wow, talk about connecting ancient video game history to the 16 bit era. I'd love to visit that building on my next trip out west.

 

[Xian Xi]

So Neo-Pong on real hardware is an absolute no go?