CX 2606, Slot Racers, CX 2607, Canyon Bomber, & CX 2608, Super Breakout!

In this episode we go back to games produced by Atari, and we look at out first two paddle games (Canyon Bomber and Super Breakout) and our first 4 KB game (Super Breakout). You can get the episode here.

Next week I'll be looking at Imagic games for the first time, Trick Shot and Demon Attack. Upcoming games include Defender, Warlords, Star Wars Jedi Arena & Empire Strikes Back, Donkey Kong, Zaxxon, Indy 500, and Street Racer. If you have any stories or memories for any of these games that you'd like to share with the class, please send them to me at 2600gamebygame@comcast.net. Thanks for listening!

Pertinent Links

Canyon Bomber on KLOV
Super Breakout on KLOV
Warren Robinett's web page
Interview with Warren Robinett
Another interview with Warren Robinett
Video interview with Warren Robinett from Get Lamp documentary
Retro Gaming Roundup podcast

AG-001, Dragster, and AG-002, Boxing!

This week I start the Activision library with Dragster and Boxing, two of the first 3rd party video games. Ever. You can listen to the episode here. You can also subscribe on iTunes, where very nice listener Ruprocks gave me a 5 star review! Thank you Ruprocks!

When I listened back to the episode I realized I forgot to give out Rob O'Hara's web site. Take a walk over there, you can find his great podcast You Don't Know Flack there, as well as his two books, Commodork and Invading Spaces, as well as his blog. You can also find him blogging at the Retroist site, which is where he gave my show a big boost. Thanks Rob!

Next week I'll be doing 3 Atari games, Canyon Bomber, Slot Racers, and Super Breakout. Upcoming games include Trick Shot, Demon Attack, Warlords, Defender, Star Wars: Jedi Arena, and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes back. Please send me your stories, memories, impressions, or anything relating to these games at 2600gamebygame@comcast.net. Any submission I receive will be read on the podcast! That's exciting, right? Thanks so much for listening!

Pertinent Links

Earl Green's Log Book 
History of Activision
Activision Patches and Letter at Digital Press
Picture of Activision Foam Inserts at Atari Age (Go to Post #5)
Drag Race at KLOV
Boxing at KLOV
ACTIPLAQUE!!

CX2604, Space War, & CX2605, Outlaw!

This episode features a discussion (more of a lecture, really) about Space War and Outlaw for the Atari 2600. Not the greatest games ever, we will get to those eventually, I'm not giving up! Next week's games are Activision's Dragster and Boxing. Upcoming episodes will feature Slot Racers, Canyon Bomber, Super Breakout, Defender, Warlords, and Imagic’s Trick Shot and Demon Attack. Please please please, if you have any stories or memories about any of these games that you would like to share, send them to me at 2600gamebygame@comcast.net, and I will read them on the podcast. I would love to hear more stories, so if you want to send me an mp3 to play on the podcast, do that! I reserve the right to edit it, but I won't do a hatchet job on it. Also, please keep it clean, my young niece and nephew listen (I think) and I want to keep it clean for them.

You can find me on Twitter and on Facebook as well as here, please tweet or leave comments or whatever you like at those locations. Thank you all so much for listening, I'm having a great time doing this!

Pertinent Links

Spacewar on Wikipedia
Atari Space Combat label (scroll down and click for a larger pic)
Atari Space Combat thread on Atari Age
G4TV interview with David Crane
HiRes magazine profile on David Crane, Jan 1984
Gunfight on KLOV
Atari 2600 FAQ on Atari 2600 Connection (hope you have better luck)
Doug McCoy's blog page
Rob O'Hara's web page
Earl Green's The Log Book web page

CX2602, Air-Sea Battle & CX2603, Star Ship!

This week’s show covers Air Sea Battle and Star Ship, two of the Atari 2600 launch titles. You can subscribe on iTunes or listen to the episode here. I hope you enjoy it!

Next week I’ll be covering Space War and Outlaw, both by Atari. In the coming weeks I’ll be talking about Slot Racers, Defender, Canyon Bomber, Super Breakout, and I’ll also branch out into Activision’s first two games, Dragster and Boxing. Please send me your stories, I would love to read them on the podcast!

Be sure to check out the Atari 2600 Video Game Variations site, with pictures of some of the label variations discussed in this episode. As always, thank you for listening!

PERTINENT LINKS

You Don’t Know Flack podcast
The Retro League podcast
A Rebel’s Cause Radio, JCW’s podcast
Star Ship Technical Easter Egg
Starship 1 on KLOV
Anti Aircraft (II) on KLOV
Larry Kaplan Interview
Bob Whitehead interview
Lunar Lander Wikipedia page

CX2601, Combat!

Episode 2 is now out, where I discuss the game Combat! You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, or you can listen to the episode here.

I have a page up for the podcast on Facebook, which you can like here. Please? I also now have a Twitter account for the podcast (which I didn’t have when I recorded this week’s episode), I think that actually may be an easier way to disseminate information than the blog or Facebook, but I will keep all three updated. You can follow me at Twitter here.

After recording the Combat episode, I came to the conclusion that it would be better for me to do two games an episode, unless it’s a really big game. I will do that starting next week. The game I announced on the podcast is Air-Sea Battle, but I will also do Star Ship. So if you have any stories or memories about either of these games that you would like to share with the class, please send them along to me right here.

Pertinent Links

Racing The Beam, by Nick Montfort and Ian Bogost

Combat Machine Code (within Combat in Context, by Nick Montfort, scroll about halfway down)

Tank at KLOV

Jet Fighter at KLOV

Digital Press Interview with Joe DeCuir

Atari History Museum Interview with Joe DeCuir

Steve Fulton article on the early history of Atari

Larry Wagner resume

Larry Wagner's Combat design notes

Larry Wagner's programming notes for the 9 launch titles

Thanks for listening!