Retrogaming Times Monthly #61
A new issue of Retrogaming Times Monthly is now available for your viewnig. June's issue (#61) brings even more new authors, making this issue perhaps the largest ever. Features in this month's Retrogaming Times Monthly include:
* Laughing Pixels (Tom Zjaba's VG comics)
* High Score Monthly (NEW)
* Lunch with Paul Zimmerman
* RTM Idiocy - Blissful Ignorance and Dangerous Knowlege
* Apple ][ Incider - Computer Baseball (revisited)
* The Thrill Of Defeat - ZX81 Games that Mostly Rock
* Videological Dig - The Doom phenomenon
* NES'Cade - Arkanoid
* CCAG 2009 Show Report - from Cleveland Ohio
* Who Am I - Name the classic programmer
* How Phantasy Star II Taught Me to Spell
* How I discovered THE SECRET of Missile Command
One notable aspect of this month's issue is the "High Score Monthly!" contest. This feature will become a regular entry where Retrogaming Times Monthly will offer either free admission to an upcoming classic gaming event or a free homebrew cartridge from the AtariAge Store! This month's prize is free admission to the upcoming Video Game Summit.
You can read these articles and more inside the Retrogaming Times Monthly, now running 141 months in a row! You can also browse their archives to catch up on past issues.
Link: http://www.retrogamingtimes.com/
From: http://www.atariage.com/
Stella 2.8 Released
The multi-platform Atari 2600 emulator Stella has just been updated to version 2.8. This new release contains some significant new features, including:
* Added CRT simulation effects as described in the AtariAge posting CRT
emulation for Stella.
* Adding editing of extended RAM in the debugger RAM UI.
* All ROMs which include SC extended RAM will now have memory erased if
you attempt to read from the write port.
* Patching of ROM for bankswitch types 0840, SB, UA and X07 is now implemented,
but hasn't been extensively tested.
* Visual improvements to the CPU register UI in the debugger.
* Tweaked paddle control so that all positions are reachable in game 4
of Activision Casino in both NTSC and PAL versions.
* SuperCharger/AR ROMs now start with a random value in the CPU accumulator.
* Auto-detection for '3F' bankswitching improved; several ROMs previously
detected as 'F8' now work correctly.
The above is not an exhaustive list by any means--please see this thread in our Emulation Forum for complete details. To download this new version of Stella for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux, please visit the Stella home page.
Link: http://stella.sourceforge.net/
From: http://www.atariage.com/
Pac Man Museum opens!
It's been 29 years since Pac-Man was unleashed on an unsuspecting world, and pacmanmuseum.com is there to celebrate. The museum opened its virtual doors at pacmanmuseum.com to celebrate the 29th anniversary of Pac-Man!
Along with a detailed history of the game and all of its various incarnations, the site includes some interviews with inventor Toru Iwatani and a growing collection of vintage Pac-Man collectibles.
And, to get you in the mood, some Pac Man factoids!
When 27 year old Japanese Games designer Toru Iwatani hungrily stared into his pizza box, he removed a slice of pizza, and the idea for Pac Man, one of the greatest arcade games ever, was born.
Pac-Man was first released in Japan on May 22, 1980 and soon became a household name. The game immediately captured the hearts and imaginations of the public like no other game before it, and few since. It is still regarded as the hallmark of the 'golden age' of video games.
Developed by Namco Ltd, the original Japanese release was called "Puckman" but that name was considered vulnerable to vandalism (imagine scratching off part of the letter 'P') and so was changed to 'Pac-Man'. The name is derived from the Japanese slang term 'paku-paku', which describes the motion of the mouth opening and closing during eating and translates in English as 'to eat'.
From: http://classicgaming.gamespy.com/
maxYMiser v1.29 released
gwEm of PHF writes: Its time for a new maxYMiser release. Theres some nice improvements for everyone to enjoy:
* Improved buzzer arbitrage
* 'Fast As Possible' SID and syncbuzzer routines - Defjam/Checkpoint request
* Volume control on YM digidrums - an effect last heard from Lotus/Hotine
back in the golden age
* Pitch slide command
But thats not all! Old skool YM wizard Excellence In Art has been using maxYMiser recently. He contributes:
* A stonking new example track
* A maxYMiser beginners guide, including a basic example track
You can look at the 'maxYMisr a Musicians Guide' and the basic example tune here: http://www.preromanbritain.com/maxymiser/tutorials.html
Don't forget to look at the maxYMiser official homepage for cool additional resources :)
Download maxYMiser v1.29 http://files.dhs.nu/files_msx/mym_v129.zip
Visit the maxYMiser page http://www.preromanbritain.com/maxymiser/
From: http://www.dhs.nu/
Awful Library Books: Atari!
Computer Tutor: Atari
Orwig and Hodges
1983
This book comes complete with the programming code (in Basic, of course) to write games for Atari home computers. They were all “written and operated on an Atari 400/800 home computer using 16K Microsoft Basic and Atari Basic computer programming languages.”
Nope – not a special collection. Just your basic small town public library non-fiction computer book collection.
(Awfullibrarybooks.wordpress.com is a collection of the worst library holdings. The items featured here are so old, obsolete, awful or just plain stupid that we are horrified that people might be actually checking these items out and depending on the information.)
From: http://awfullibrarybooks.wordpress.com/2009/06/13/atari/
Top 25 Most Addictive Computer Games Of The 1980s
It’s time to grab your joysticks and join us on a trip down Memory Lane, as we look back at the best computer games of the 1980s.
Now, some of our younger readers are probably thinking there were no decent games during that time. And they would be at least half right. Let’s face it - nostalgia apart - there was a lot of games which sucked around that time. We love to reminisce about these old games – but have you actually gone back and played on them? Sheesh!
They usually involved breaking your joysticks or C64, Spectrum or Atari keyboards just to make a mess of pixels and garish colours move across a screen as fast as possible. Then there was the terrible sound and the seemingly endless amount of time you had to stare at the loading screens.
However, there were games during this era which still work today. Sure, the blocky graphics could be better, but they did what a lot of developers seem to forget these days – they were immensely playable. Enjoy!
Some highlights: 24. Archon, 14. Pitfall, and 13. Boulderdash.
From: http://www.hecklerspray.com/top-25-most-addictive-computer-games-of...
Master P On Atari
This one’s something a little different for you lot. Mochipet’s album ‘Master P On Atari’, released next month, is ridiculous. Fusing Hip Hop, Dubstep and 8bit sounds it’s like some kind of mad Casio party. Essential listening for the future bass heads.
Link: http://www.myspace.com/mochipet
From: http://scenexscience.co.uk/?p=1103
Atari 2600 iPod Dock
What is the deal with all these people ripping apart perfectly good video game consoles in favor of upgrading them with the latest technology? Sometimes retro is better!
That being said, this is a nice looking iPod dock. It’s a broken iPod clock/radio shoved inside an Atari 2600 shell. My guess is that this mod took no more than an hour. Drill a few holes for speakers, a little Gorilla Glue and voila, you’re finished.
From the creator, Byron Casebier: Here is my weak (and slightly unfinished) Atari iPod Dock. I thought sharing may create interest for someone that can do this better. As far as specs, I gutted a broken, iPod clock radio and put it all inside the Atari. Everything works except for the clock (it was the broken part). There is even a remote control so I can sit back on my vinyl couch, drink some Tang and control my tunes...And yes, I'm still rocking a 3rd gen iPod.
Link: http://gizmodo.com/5292361/the-atari-2600-ipod-dock
From: http://www.gearfuse.com/atari-2600-ipod-dock/
New Atari 5200 Game: Chicken
This one has been out on the rom multi-cart for awhile but this is the first rom release. Available for purchase on cartridge here for $24.99 w/ free shipping. Also available as a rom image.
Link: http://www.atarimax.com/freeshippingsale/
From: http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=145936
Great Caesar's Ghost! Atari's Superman is 30-years-old
Atari’s “Superman,” programmed by John Dunn was released in 1979, it was one of the first cartridges my sister and I got for our Sears Atari 2600 knockoff, and it’s a game we both fired up regularly over the next three decades. Coincidentally, it’s also the tenth anniversary of the worst Superman game ever made; a monstrosity that many gamers would actually declare the worst video game of any genre ever made. That’s a story for another column…
I’ve always had a tenuous affection for the Man of Steel. On the one hand, “DC Comics Presents” #10 is still my favorite comic cover of all time (hmm…I really just noticed for the first time the thematic similarity to my favorite album cover of all time). On the other hand, I’ve never read a Superman story that stuck with me much past the last page. I’ve got his famous “S-shield” permanently etched on my shoulder, but that’s more about my belief in truth, justice, and the American way than in any actual love of the character. I skipped “Superman Returns”, but did commit to seven seasons of “Smallville” before finally giving up. Outside of his supporting cast, one great villain, and the power to leap tall buildings in a single bound, there’s not that much about the character that resonates with me. What makes Atari’s “Superman” so great is that the limitations of the Atari 2600 forced the game to be boiled down to those core components that do make the character memorable.
The action begins with a blocky, but recognizable Superman (blocky, rectangular cape flapping in the breeze) diving into a phone booth and turning into a blocky, but recognizable Clark Kent (in his pixilated blue suit and press hat). Clark heads for work at the Daily Planet but, Great Krypton! Lex Luthor and his cronies blow up the Metropolis Bridge, so it’s back to the phone booth for a quick change into the blue tights. While the explosion was powerful enough to hurl chunks of bridge across the city (and even into the subway tunnels), at least it left the wreckage in three convenient pieces, easily put back together if Superman can get them all together. It’s not as easy a task as it sounds though, because it seems like every time Supes delivers a piece back where it belongs, that bald @#$%er, Lex Luthor flies along in his Inspector Gadget helicopter backpack and steals it back. Jailing Lex first is sound strategy, but if you do the Daily Planet news chopper will, in a fit of inassailable Atari logic, start stealing pieces of the bridge instead...
From: http://www.examiner.com/x-5772-Console-Game-Examiner~y2009m6d20-Gre...
