INTV Corporation's Spiker! Super Pro Volleyball just sold on eBay for a remarkable $1,826.00 plus shipping and handling. This was one of the last cartridges released by INTV (along with Stadium Mud Buggies, known as Monster Truck Rally on the NES) circa late 1989 and is obviously extremely sought after by hardcore Intellivision collectors (though rarely reaching anywhere near what it just sold for, particularly unsealed). The limited releases of both Spiker! Super Pro Volleyball and Stadium Mud Buggies marked the end (1990) of the Intellivision's remarkable 10 year old original commercial run, even though Mattel had given up on the platform less than halfway through.

Check out the video below from "ed1269" to see how all those years of experience with the system paid off in the quality of the late-life games:

There's a nice new video update courtesy of Beeslife on the upcoming Rick Dynamite platform game for the Mattel Intellivision from homebrew impresario Arnauld Chevallier. Based on the video, there's a heck of a lot to look forward to in 2011 for fans of the classic system:

Be sure to check the Beeslife Website for more information.

I thought I would pass along this note from Intellivision Productions. For a limited time you can order a Keith Robinson-signed copy of Intellivision Lives! for the Nintendo DS direct from the Intellivision rights holders, and they'll even throw in a free running man DS button, as well as a $5 off coupon good for a future purchase. All this for $19.95 plus shipping and handling, but the catch is there will only 200 of these available, so get cracking! Official announcement below:

New Donkey Kong Intellivision (WIP)Anyone remember the mediocre Donkey Kong conversion from Coleco for the Mattel Intellivision? It was a bookend to the awful Atari 2600 version. While I firmly believe there's zero legitimacy to the theory that Coleco intentionally crippled these releases to make their ColecoVision pack-in look all the better, there's no denying that the programmer could have done a better job. Want proof? Thanks to this thread on AtariAge for the reminder, it looks like Beeslife, of stunning Moon Patrol port and update, Space Patrol, fame, just may be at it again with an equally impressive Donkey Kong conversion (NOTE: As of writing this, there's no word of Beeslife involvement, if any, or if this is simply just a proof of concept, since it's still built off of the original Coleco version, despite the addition of the missing screens). Check out the animated screenshot to the left and be sure to visit the Beeslife Website for more of them. Let's hope it gets finished up (whoever that task falls to) and makes it to a release on cartridge! It would be an excellent companion to the upcoming Opcode Games Donkey Kong conversion for the ColecoVision.

Microsoft Game Room ImageAccording to a Microsoft Press Release and confirmed at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Microsoft will be releasing something called the "Microsoft Game Room" some time this spring, and, within three years, will see the release of over 1000 classic videogame titles, including arcade, Atari and Mattel Intellivision games, the latter of which was confirmed by Facebook friend Keith Robinson of Blue Sky Rangers fame as one of the available launch systems (other systems TBC). Apparently this area will be avatar-based, where your Xbox avatar will roam an arcade-like setting to find and play games (a bit like Sony's Home on PS3). There's a two-tier price structure, with one being an outright purchase of the game in question, and the other being a low cost, single play option, just like putting a quarter in an arcade machine in the days of old. We'll keep you posted as more news develops, but this is great news for those of us - like the readers of Armchair Arcade - who are passionate about classic gaming. The more love the current three consoles give (and each already has given a lot) to gaming's past, the better it is for all us as gamers, particularly since it looks like this is going to be a long generation with the big three. It's unclear how this will work with the PC as of this writing, but the fact that PC gamers are being invited to the party just makes it all the better, as well as the fact that owning it on one gives you access to it on the other.

My first attempt at a REAL intro for all future MaximumRD videos. Hope you like it (Be gentle, I am no expert at this stuff LOL!)

If you guys remember an earlier blow-out feature I did with Matt Barton that Gamasutra ran back in May 2008, we discussed all aspects of the Intellivision platform, including the infamous Keyboard Component, which was the precursor to the wide release Enhanced Computer System (ECS) add-on. There were only about 4000 Keyboard Components made, many of which were recalled, leaving only a handful in active circulation, making them very, very rare and highly sought after - and valuable - collectibles. Charles Ray recently got in contact with me requesting some help with the tape drive for his Keyboard Component. It turns out he has quite a bit of other stuff in his collection related to the Keyboard Component, which he both described and took photos of, the latter of which he gave me the kind permission to show, below. More importantly, I'm also soliciting suggestions for his problem, which I'll describe via his original e-mail to me.

Hey guys, after a couple months (damn lack of time) here finally I present MaximumRD's Intellivoice parts II AND III!

That's right, ended up being three parts total but since it had been a couple month since the first and some subscribers had been waiting I decided to keep quiet until both were uploaded and ready to go LOL!

Just received a Intellivision Intellivoice module, in celebration I scanned and posted a Intellivision product catalog from cover to cover as well as a brochure and some keypad overlays for 3 Intellivoice games and Intellivoice manual.