New Limited Edition Videogame Celebrates Release Of Book On History Of Videogames

Van Burnham, author of the forthcoming book Supercade: A Visual History of the Videogame Age 1971-1984 (www.supercade.com) and Production Director of Wired Magazine today announced plans for a limited release of an exciting new videogame, Escape From Supercade!, to commemorate the upcoming release of her book. Only 100 signed and numbered limited edition boxed cartridges of this collectable new videogame will ever be made. Each one has been designed to look and function exactly like the original games marketed for the Atari 2600 Video Computer System (VCS) popularized in the early 80's by Atari, Inc. of Sunnyvale, California.

"Not only will the cartridges look and feel like the classic original games of the Golden Age of videogames," states Burnham, "but the game can actually be played if the cartridge is plugged-in to any of the thousands of vintage Atari 2600 VCS machines that still exist today."

Game play details are being withheld until a formal press announcement and presentation at the Classic Gaming Expo 2000 (www.cgexpo.com) on July 29, 2000. In its third year, Classic Gaming Expo draws hundreds of enthusiastic classic videogame fans from around the globe. The show will be held Saturday, July 29 and Sunday, July 30 at Jackie Gaughan's Plaza Hotel and Casino (www.plazahotelcasino.com) in fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada.

Following the presentation, the first 26 of the 100 signed and numbered boxed cartridges will be awarded to selected guests who register to win at the Classic Gaming Expo show booth. Winners will be selected from the names submitted, and announced following the game's release on the Supercade Website (www.supercade.com/escape). The ROM image for Escape From Supercade! will later be made available online for free digital download so that videogame fans can play the game via emulator on their computers.

The new game was developed by Eric Bacher and Igor Barzilai of bivision (www.ebivision.com), creators of Pesco and Merlin's Walls as well as a number of other remarkable new games for vintage video game systems.

"The games we produce are a labor of love," declares Bacher, co-founder of bivision. "We don't just do 'old games for antique systems.' Rather, we innovate by developing new technologies and creating completely new kinds of games."

Escape From Supercade! will be released in the Spring of 2001 to promote the launch of Van Burnham's new book, Supercade: A Visual History of the Videogame Age 1971-1984 - the first book to illustrate and document the history, legacy, and visual language of the videogame phenomenon - published by The MIT Press (www.mitpress.mit.edu). In over 400 lavishly illustrated pages, the book pays tribute to the technology, the games, and the visionaries who created one of the most influential eras in computer science.

"As a collector, I wanted a comprehensive printed resource - a full-color 'coffee table' book - on the history of videogames," says Burham. "My goal in creating Supercade was to help preserve the history of the videogame phenomenon as well as pay tribute to the industry legends who often go unrecognized in the interactive entertainment industry as it exists today."

Van Burnham, videogame historian and self-professed videogame junkie, is a member of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences and Videogame Website judge for San Francisco's annual Webby Awards (www.webbyawards.com), as well as a member of the Video Arcade Preservation Society.

Press Release courtesy of ICWhen.com (www.ICWhen.com).