It certainly took long enough, but yes, Opcode Games is back! And like old friends who
haven't seen each other for some time, we've got lots to talk about! :-)
If you examine the sidebar of the site, you'll notice a few changes. The main update is
the move of Road Fighter from project to released product! Yep, Road Fighter is now
officially released, and we're taking orders, but we may not be able to meet the demand
initially. More on that in a minute...
We also removed certain games from the "projects" section, namely "Arkanoid", "Wizard of
Wor", "Gradius", "Rally-X", and the MSX version of "Pac-Man Collection". Those games are
very unlikely to ever be released, but they may still possibly return to our project list
in the future. It's really all up to Eduardo, but the projects that are still listed will
keep him busy for the next three years at least, so removing a few games from our list of
projects is really no big deal at this point. You could say these "retired projects" will
stay in the back of Eduardo's mind for the time being, but the projects that remain take
priority.
One last big change is the removal of the Opgrade Module from the hardware section. This
doesn't mean that we've given up on it, but rather that the project has now taken a
different form: How would you like to be able to replace the main circuit board inside
your ColecoVision console with an upgraded version which offers better graphics and sounds,
while still retaining full backward compatibility with all existing games? We haven't even
given a name to this new project yet, and the details of this project are still being
discussed currently, so that's why it's not listed in the "hardware" section, but rest
assured that this project will be explained in greater detail in the near future.
So what have we been up to these last few months? At the time that Opcode Games shut
down its operations last September, Eduardo had some serious health problems to deal with
and his ColecoVision projects were all put on hold. About a month later, his health had
improved enough that he felt like working on Opcode projects again, and his first priority
was to finish Road Fighter, which he did at the beginning of November. With Road Fighter
done, he then resumed work on Pac-Man Collection, and he made quite a bit of progress on
it. The software is currently over 90% done, with only a few technical issues left to
iron out that will require about a month of work. Some beta-testing will have to be done
afterwards.
But wait a minute, if Road Fighter was finished last November, why is it being released
only now? The answer to that question can be summed up with one word: Logistics. Eduardo
had a full month of vacation (between mid-December and mid-January) which he was going to
spend in Brazil, and we figured that this was a great opportunity to get the boxes and
manuals printed for both Road Fighter and Pac-Man Collection. This was good for us mainly
because shipping fees between Brazil and the US have gone up significantly, so by getting
those boxes and manuals printed while Eduardo was in Brazil, Eduardo could pack them in
his suitcase and save on shipping as he brought them back with him to the US. I'm happy
to report that everything worked out as planned, although Eduardo's difficult dealings
with his Brazilian bank will stay in our memory for quite a while...
So what's the Opcode game plan for 2008? Our first order of business will be to package
more copies of Road Fighter to meet the immediate demand. We're a little short on cash
right now, and we only had enough electronic material to build roughly 30 cartridges,
so we have to ask our customers to please be patient. Sales from this initial run of Road
Fighter carts will be reinvested in making more, and if all goes well, we will gradually
fulfill all orders within the next few months.
Beyond that, Pac-Man Collection will be next on our list. As I mentionned before, the
software is almost done, and the boxes and manuals are now printed and ready, so you
might think that the release of this highly anticipated game is imminent. Well, we do
plan on releasing it in April, but beta-testing is a problem: Eduardo would prefer to
have PMC beta-tested by more than one person, but since this is a MegaCart game, it
cannot be properly tested on a real ColecoVision console via regular means. In effect,
testing Pac-Man Collection (or any other MegaCart game) on a real CV requires a socketed
MegaCart PCB, and also the purchase of an EPROM burner to update the contents of the main
EPROM with new versions of the software, as bugs are discovered and fixed. Setting all
this up is costly and time-consuming, and it will likely cause additional delays. So when
we mention April as the target release month, please take it with a grain of salt.
So what's next after Pac-Man Collection, you ask? Our future plans are in a state of flux
right now, so I prefer keeping those details for a future blog entry.
But I'm not done with this blog entry just yet! I would like to use this opportunity to
mention that we still have a few copies of Space Invaders Collection, Sky Jaguar, Yie Ar
Kung-Fu and Magical Tree in stock, so now is a good time to place an order if you want a
copy of any of those games. This implies that we will resume checking up on our
opcodegames.com e-mail account, so if you sent us e-mail while we were gone, we will
reply to it soon, if we haven't already.
In the last blog entry, back in September 2007, I mentionned that I wanted to embark on
my own ColecoVision homebrew project in 2008. I'm wrapping up some unfinished projects
right now, and the stage is set for me to begin working on this CV homebrew project in
February. I'll keep you all informed of my progress in future blog entries.
I guess it's a little late to wish you all a Happy New Year, but I'm doing it anyway.
2007 was a really bad year for Opcode Games, and hopefully, things will be better in 2008.
With the release of Road Fighter today, I'd say we're on the right track. :-)
