The Visual Cortex: Joust An Ad

Today the Visual Cortex hatches an ad for the Atari 2600 and 5200 versions of Williams' arcade hit Joust: 

Click to enlarge

Running in periodicals in 1984, it's short on actual screenshots of the game, and heavy on artist renditions of the action. I also find it humourous how it tries to sex-up the "beasts of the air" you fly in the game, the ostriches from the original arcade game.   The ad copy starts off with an unusual, confusing take on the classic opening words of the Star Wars movies:

Well, which is it?  Long ago, or a distant future?  Anyway, I don't think I want to purchase a game that spits eggs out of my TV screen, from whence evil, sharp-taloned dragons attack me.

Blast... or be blasted!

The more I play Blaster, released by Williams in 1983, the more the game amazes me.

Designed by Defender creators Eugene Jarvis and Larry DeMar, it features a startling 3-D perspective as you soar over an alien landscape, blasting giant robots and rescuing floating astronauts.  The visual effects are nothing short of amazing, especially considering the time at which the game was made.  It's no surprise that several designers at Williams would eventually move on to work on the ground-breaking Amiga computer at Commodore.  Added to the allure of this and several other Williams games, such as Bubbles and Sinistar, is that it came in an indestructible plastic cabinet, named Duramold by the company.  Rumour has it, however, that the plastic would shrink over time, causing the monitor inside to eventually be ejected.

Enjoy a video we made of Blaster gameplay, and as always, for more information on Blaster, Jarvis, Defender, and other things Williams, please consult your local Dot Eaters entry.

Did You Ever Notice...

Did you ever notice that Sinistar sounds a lot like Johnny Cash?