Atari 2600 SPECTACULAR GIVEAWAY ZOMG

Hi! would you like to win an Atari 2600 and games donated by my friend Tim? You would? Well, here's how you do that. I have taken 10 2600 games and retitled them with similar words (kind of like crossword puzzle clues), thanks to my friends at the Stone Age Gamer podcast (which means I ripped them off). You have to identify all 10 of them and send the answers to me at ONLY 2600gamebygame@gmail.com. Be sure to put "Contest" in the subject line. I will pick a winner at random from all of the correct entries (or as close to correct as you can get, some of these are hard).

As an example, if the clue is, "1960s TV Show About World War 2 Starring Vic Morrow," then the answer would be Combat. See? Okay, here are the clues:

1. Butter, Wheat Chex, Rice Chex, Nuts, Salt, Worcestershire Sauce, Baked in 300 Degree Oven for 30 Minutes
2. Golden State Festivities
3. Without Underwear
4. Timrek
5. Mispronounced Punctuation Mark
6. Isosceles Onions or Shorts
7. Terrible 1970s Sci-Fi film shown on MST3K
8. Owner of Grieg's Hall
9. Pitch Black Enchanter
10. Diarrhea in Mexico

I have two hints for you all: one is a homebrew game, and another is a game that's more plentiful in the PAL format.

Please send your answers by April 15th. 2600gamebygame@gmail.com, and don't forget "Contest" in the subject line. This contest is open to everyone! Good luck and thank you for listening.

SCSIside/Ultra SCSIside with Joe Grand

I had the extreme privilege to speak with Joe Grand, the creator of this week's game, SCSIside/Ultra SCSIside. Why are there two versions? You'll have to listen to the episode to find out! I would again like to thank Joe for taking the time to talk with me for the podcast, it was a great experience that I hope you will enjoy as much as I did.

There's an announcement at the end of the episode that I really would like your feedback on. You can send it to me at 2600gamebygame@gmail.com. You can also get a jump start on feedback for the next game, which is Atari's Galaxian. As always, thank you all so much for listening and for your support.

Joe's Grand Idea Studio
SCSIside page on Grand Idea Studio site (lots of goodies here, especially the SCSIside archive download and roms)
SCSIside on Atari Age (roms available here too)
Gamasutra: SCSIside Post-mortem by Joe Grand
Atari Age pictures from Philly Classic 3
AA Ultra SCSIside label contest
Joe Grand's Youtube page
All Prototype This episodes on Youtube
Dakotacon March 31- April 2 2017 (you can livestream the con on the site)
GRay Defender on Youtube

Cx 2601, Combat! (4th Anniversary Remaster)

My first game episode was episode 2 about Combat. It came out March 3, 2013. I discovered later that I screwed up the sound (I had Audacity experience before doing the podcast, but not with a microphone). Since it's the 4th anniversary of that show (or it was, THANKS AUDACITY), I decided to clean it up the best I could and re-release it as a treat. If you think tortorous first podcasts are a treat. Anyway, thank you for four wonderful years (with many to come) and for my Facebook page reaching 1000 likes. I'm glad you all are here, and I thank you for listening.

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
Cliff Spohn's artwork
Kee Games VCS prototype (photo by Earl Green)
Michael Current's Atari Timeline
Sears Wish Book Blog by Greg Maletic (also features unreleased Tank console)
Scott Stilphen's Atari Compendium - Combat Easter Eggs
AA Combat page (hacks listed here)
Tank-Plus picture label on Atarimania
Arcade USA on YouTube

Protocast: Racer by Roklan Software

Welcome to the first Atari 2600 Game by Game Protocast. This series will focus on prototypes that do not have a part number. This episode features Racer, which was made by Roklan Software for Atari, but it never came out and is not in the part list. I've been wanting to start this for a while, but this episode is due to the fact that I was having trouble getting to the SCSIside research, so that episode will have to wait. Also, I picked this game and started research, but I had trouble getting the game on my Flashback portable. Later I found out that the rom from Atarimania will not work. But I started the research and I wanted to get something out this week, so here it is. My idea was to insert these episodes in between the main episodes; I normally don't get much (if any) feedback on prototypes (especially if you can't play them, I guess), so it wouldn't take long to put the episodes together. Like always, if you have thoughts on these prototypes, I will be happy to read or play it on a subsequent episode. Thank you for listening and for your understanding.

Racer on DP Rarity Guide
Racer overview on Atari Protos
Racer photos and screen shots on Atari Protos
Scott Stilphen's Racer video
Original AA Racer thread
AA Racer artwork contest thread
AA Racer production bids thread
AA Reserve Sale thread
AA 2nd Racer prototype found thread
Roklan Software on GDRI
Antic Podcast - Ronald Borta interview by Kevin Savetz