June 19, 2003: After three plus years, the ESB Reproduction Project rises again! For ordering information, see the order page.
The following are the actual updates that were made while the project was moving forward:
January 28, 2000: THEY'RE HERE!
The ESB Reproduction Project is at an end. Finally, the finished product is here. All of those who have sent in their orders have been sent their kits. I'm sure that you will appreciate the quality!
Thanks go out to everyone for their patience and dedication. It's been a long, tough road...but I think that when you see the final graphics that you'll admit it's been worth it. Well, okay, it HAS been a long time...but you know what I mean!
This will be the final update in this section. These will be archived in another section of the site. I am also planning on writing up a FAQ that can be seen here for those of you crazy enough to tackle a project like this.
Thanks again, everyone! Red Five standing by...
January 21, 2000: Wahoo! I've got the first pictures of the final product! After visiting the printers today, I've seen the controller decal and the printers screens for the side stickers. The pictures are here for you to see! (They're not the best...I apologize for the quality!) The side stickers were being printed when I took these, so I placed my set of NOS stickers for comparison with the screens. The marquee overlays are set for printing this weekend. Everything looks great and I am convinced that all of the waiting has been worth it.
controller art
side sticker screen
side sticker die screen
When I have the other pieces in hand, I'll slam some more pictures up on the site.
Today I am gathering mailing materials so that I can get everything ready. Once I have all of the product in hand on Monday, they will be going out on Tuesday morning. I'm telling you right now that this product looks better than any Star Wars repro out there. Thanks for waiting, guys...you're going to be amazed!
January 14, 2000: I've learned today that both the controller decal and the side stickers are in the press now and the marquee is close behind. I'm tentatively scheduling the ship date for January 22. Keep your lightsabers crossed. Thanks for all your patience!
December 23, 1999: If you haven't noticed by now, I obviously did not spend that early December weekend packing and shipping. Because of time restraints and the fact that my printer is closed this week and next for the Holidays (not to mention that darn Dark Side), shipping will not happen until the week of January 17.
ARRGGHHH! My hand!!!
This was unforseen and blindsided the entire project. All I can say is that I'm sorry! I'm trying to be positive and think that 1/17 is less than a month away, but it's tough when I hoped to have them to everyone for Christmas.
However,
quality is being highly maintained. I spent this last Monday (12/21) going
over the final proofs, color separations and corrections, hole placement
and pretty much looking at everything with a secret agent spy scope. When
you finally receive them, you will be amazed. Thanks for understanding,
everyone!
December 6, 1999: Whew!
Just a note for everyone: I'm taking a first look at the proofs (finally)
TOMORROW! With luck (and the Force), I should have product in hand by
next Friday. I'll then spend that weekend packing and shipping.
Thanks for all of your support. We're in the home stretch! For those of you who have been waiting to see what they're going to look like before confirming an order, I hope to have pics up on this page as soon as I receive them.
November 25, 1999: Happy Thanksgiving! The holiday caught up with the printer and the proofs will be ready early next week with a slightly later product date. Everything is on track for a mid-December ship date. Thanks for all your support and patience!
November 17, 1999: Great news! I should have the proofs back THIS WEEK with a product date of December 1! Pre-Christmas delivery is GUARANTEED at this point. Tell your friends and neighbors!
November
12, 1999: Finally!
The art is now at the printers! Whoo-hoo! Proofs should be available in
10-15 days...
shooting for a Thanksgiving go-ahead for final printing. Thanks, everyone,
for your patience. I'm looking at a pre-Christmas delivery as hoped for.
November 1, 1999: I extended the deadline for a few people and I now have enough funding has come in to proceed to the final stage: actual printing. Hoping to get FINAL art to printer within two weeks.
October 18, 1999: As you can see above, I've got the art online for your viewing pleasure! The 'esbreproproject 1999' stuff obviously won't be on the final art when it's printed. Click any of the smaller pics to get a larger view. The pictures aren't in scale to each other; look on the sales flyer below for approximate size in relation to the full arcade game.
I've received about half as many money orders as I need to go into production as of today. If you're thinking about doing this, let me know pronto! I plan on forging ahead, but it will be a whole lot easier if I've got the money in hand.
Thanks again to everyone who has saw fit to support this project. It's going to be great to have a fully restored ESB in the basement!
October 6, 1999: I've sent e-mail out to those who want to order about where to send their transactions. If you're interested and haven't contacted me, NOW is the time! I'm giving everyone until Friday, October 22 to get me their money orders. This all depends on everyone!
I should have art proofs up on the site by late next week. Cross your fingers on this one. Everyone should have a good look at what to expect!
October 3, 1999: I've received e-mail from a great many people reserving their ESB graphics kits. Thanks, gang...never in my life did I expect such cooperation! Early this week I'll be notifying everyone as to where to send your money orders to cement the deal. I don't want to jumpstart this until I'm 100% sure about the beginning of the printing process...I'm 99% there now.
September 30, 1999: Today, I made final preparations with the printer as to what we're doing. We're full speed ahead for 50 kits and I'm sure we'll be able to part some out to those of you who need one piece or another to make your games complete. My worrying about the stipple art of the marquee was for nothing...these graphics will make you take a second look to see if these are really reproductions!
I can't stress enough just how cool Clay Cowgill's SW/ESB switchable kits are. In just under two hours, I was playing Empire again! Wahoo! See how you can get a kit too at www.multigame.com!
September 25, 1999: Just sent out e-mail to those who have contacted me to update them on the progress of this project. If you haven't received anything, please e-mail me immediately so I can get you on the list!
Enough people have asked me about parting the kits out that I believe we'll have some kits to do that with. I want to keep this to a LOW number and I'll only do this if the count evens out (someone wants a marquee overlay, someone else wants a controller decal and a third person needs side stickers).
I've got the art I need to proceed with the redraw and I have an appointment for Monday to speak to my printer about the process. Things are moving ahead.
I'm keeping a low profile from the newsgroups for awhile...I don't want to attract too much attention. If you have friends, colleagues, etc. who you think will want a set, please contact me immediately so that I can get them on the list. Right now, I think the count will be kept at 50 sets; the reason being that I need to know who wants one. Thanks for your interest, people!
September 23, 1999: Here's why I'm doing this: I had been looking for ESB machine graphics for an extremely long time for a Star Wars cabinet I wanted to convert. Thought it would be great to have a game I haven't seen in years (except at the Star Wars Celebration, May 1999). But I got REAL tired of highly expensive eBay auctions.
So, as a service to the gaming restoration community, plans are in motion to offer high-quality reproduction graphics for the reasonable price of $100 per kit.
Now for some legal stuff: this page and/or this project has NOTHING (do you hear me?!? NOTHING!!!) to do with Atari, the very benevalent people at Lucasfilm, or any single one of their subsidiaries. This is a total hobby project designed to restore Atari ESB machines to their former glory so we can brag about how nifty Star Wars is. I am making absolutely NO money on this. Thanks for understanding, George!