Here is the second entry for the series about the history of the Vectrex.

First months of 1982:

A strict timetable demands that the first 12 games and the hardware should be ready in June 1982.  The Vectrex name is subsequently chosen, as already described.

John Hall later exclusively works on "Mine Storm" while Gerry Karr works on The Executive alone.  Gerry starts over from scratch and changes the name to the RUM (Run Time Monitor).  In the end, a number of people contribute to the RUM, most notably Duncan Muirhead who handled most of the heavy trig stuff.

Come back to the VecNews, this series will be continued!

Many of us have missed the VGDB - Vectrex Game Database since it disappeared more than six months ago. At the Vectrex Google Usergroup there was a long discussion of relaunching the website. Manu, the original founder sadly had no copy of the page but luckily there was a backup at webarchive.org. I got the permission by Manu to relaunch the page at vectrexmuseum.com

A Museum preserves important data - so I thought about recovering the most missed Vectrex pages. Today the series starts with the relaunch of the updated Vectrex Game Database. Other lost pages will follow.

I invested four days in recovering the page and need a little rest - so I added a
Tell a friend function so you can easily spread the word about the new VGDB. Please help me by telling your five best Vectrex friends about the relaunched VGDB.

And now... the big moment we have been waiting for:

relaunch VGDB at http://www.vectrexmuseum.com/mirror/vgdb/

Have fun,

Oliver

Here is the first entry for a news series about the history of the Vectrex.

December 1980:
Large supply of 5" CRT's bought cheaply from a liquidator's surplus.
Spring 1981:
"Mini-Arcade" development begins with Mike Purvis and John Ross.
Spring 1981:
Project is re-named. Tom Sloper suggests "Vector-X", which soon becomes "Vectrex".
July 1981:
Kenner declines an option on the project.
September 1981:
Vectrex concept is licensed by General Consumer Electronics (GCE), and a 9" CRT is decided on.
October 1981:
Paul Newell, Mark Indictor and John Hall begin to engineer the Vectrex.
January 1982:
Bill Hawkins and Chris King join the Western Tech. They were both students at Georgia Tech at the time and are hired by Ed Smith as "Cooperative Education" students. They are supposed to work for three months and then go back to school. Duncan Muirhead joins a week or two afterwards. He had just dropped out of a Physics PHD program at UCLA.

Come back to the VecNews, this series will be continued!

Vectrex Museum is proud to present the first Vectrex Locator web-app for mobile phones: VecApp.
Please open www.vectrexmuseum.com/mobile/ with your mobile device, then tap “Add to Bookmarks” for easy, one-tap access. More information about VecApp here.

What the hack is a web-app ?

The web-app resides on server and is accessed via the Internet. It performs specified tasks - potentially all the same ones as a native application - for the mobile user, usually by downloading part of the application to the device for local processing each time it is used. The software is written as Web pages in HTML and CSS, with the interactive parts in Java. This means that the same application can be used by most mobile devices that can surf the Web (regardless of the brand of phone).

Background Picture Contest

Create a start screen background picture for VecApp.

Simple rules: The picture needs to be related to the Vectrex. Use your computer, a pencil or anything else to create a 310 (h) x 320 (w) pixel resolution picture. Please mention the three location buttons that cover parts of your picture.

One picture per person, please send in your picture until February 29, 2012 to the email address: curator@vectrexmuseum.com. All pictures will be published for the contest that runs in March 2012 here at vectrexmuseum.com. The five most voted pictures will be included on the VecApp start screen and shown in a random order.

Download a PhotoShop template

Please promote VecApp on your website, here is a press kit

Print the crossword | download as a PDF

Asteroids Locator Map USA

Much of arcade Asteroids’s allure is the glowing, minimalist vector screen. Instead of a standard TV monitor, which scans from top to bottom over and over again, the vector display draws straight lines from one point to the next where needed, like an oscilloscope. It can only be a simple polygon outline of one color, but it also means that the image is sharp and bright (Asteroids’s photon torpedoes leave a brilliant trace along the slowly-decaying phosphor of the screen), and simple to program (the video and sound data in the arcade version of Asteroids is just 2 KB of ROM code, and the game program is another 6 KB). It’s why www.atariasteroids.net have the Asteroids locator on the site: to this day, no home version or variation of Asteroids really does the same thing.

See this Vectrex Demo at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KDA5PeATwc&feature=related

"This is a great system -  ahhhm - if you are a retro collector like i am - then I recommend buying it..."

From us 100 Points ! This young man will become a TV reporter.

A mail from KosmikNeil (in parts):

These Baseball caps are a limited edition run of 50 only, I had Commissioned celebrating 30 years of the Vectrex arcade system which will be shipped out in the first week of March, taking pre orders now.

They are very high quality black, fully embroidered Baseball cap with four embroidered Logos, which includes the Vectrex logo on the front in pale blue (Vectrex colour), and "real arcade play" embroidered underneath on the back is the MB emblem (blue & red colours), plus on both sides of the cap are MineStorm graphics in white, Left side the MineStorm laying UFO, right side 3 Mines and your Ship which are accurately represented.

The caps sell for £23 (Approx. 36USD), which includes shipping worldwide, each cap is posted in a Jiffy bag with the cap packed out to retain its shape during shipping.

For more information or for PayPal pre orders kosmikneil@yahoo.co.uk

Kind regards, KosmikNeil aka KosmikVector

Vectrex FTP Interface Adapter by Kokovec

This adapter gives the Vectrex:
1) 18K of extended memory.
2) Web server for uploading files from an FTP server
It will also provide an API for 3D object rotations, extended math functions, etc.

See the Demo video at youtube:

Loading a game on the Vectrex via FTP server!

Loading a 3D object via FTP

Vector Pilot development is finished!

A note by Kristof Tuts:

Please take a look to www.kristofsnewvectrexgames.comli.com/
 
Please note that during purchase, a choice can be made out of 3 different overlays. (check the pictures on the ordering page).
 
Just let me know if you want to buy this game and please specify also the overlay-number. (Note that eventually, I could supply up to maximum 2 overlays per package, additional cost = 4Euro/overlay).
 

Main Features of vector pilot:
Calibration menu to compensate drift.
"difficulty" menu (1=easy, 2 = normal, 3 = hard)
A pause-button (button 3)
High score table
demo mode when game is left alone.
NEW ! The cartridge contains a non-volatile memory chip (E²prom) to save calibration settings and up to 9 highscore entries.
A 3D rendered animation during the hidden level
Secret game features can be unlocked.
NEW ! Choose out of 3 different overlays ! (see ordering info)

Cheers, and thanks for your extreme long patience with me !
 
Kristof Tuts