Notes about Atari Stuff
This is actually Troy talking, instead of quoting somebody else's email or press release or blog or whatever. I've gotten a few questions about that. In the future, I'll try to make it more clear when I'm talking versus quoting someone else.
I've also gotten questions about why sometimes I quote a little of an article or press release, sometimes I quote the whole thing, sometimes I write a little note and a web address, sometimes I practically copy the whole site, why do I seem to ignore some websites altogether, etc.
There are many reasons. Some people send me Atari-related news or stories specifically with the requirement that I must reproduce the whole thing unaltered, so I do. Lots of press releases and news announcements are like that. Just to make things confusing, some people specifically don't want me reproducing the whole thing; they'd rather I give a teaser and direct readers to their sites for the rest. Sometimes, I'm forbidden to reproduce anything, or there's no easy quoting available, so I have to write my own blurbs.
People will often announce that version 1.234 of Super Happy Fun Time has been released, along with a list of improvements since 1.159, without ever mentioning what kind of software or hardware or whatever that Super Happy Fun Time actually is. I have to go to the link provided, guestimate the site's main or home page, and click around for a while before I know what Super Happy Fun Time does or why an Atari fan would be interested in it. I end up grabbing a lot of information from the site and quadrupling the size of the announcement.
Then there's the Cheek.Org Link o' Death (tm). Apparently, my superpower is causing websites to go offline the second I hear about them. No, Cheek.Org is not so popular that zillions of readers can clog the pipes of the internet and bring a site down. It's just that the time I discover something and link to it just happens to be the exact same time that the company runs out of money, the enthusiast stops being so enthusiastic, the site hosted on an Atari 2600 linked to a satellite dish burns out a transistor, or something like that. Sure enough, if I just tell people to check out a link, readers will hit 404 the very next day. And complain to me about it for weeks. I swear, there are companies out there who should be willing to pay me not to get excited about their products.
I ignore some sites altogether because the people running those sites have reacted badly. Any polite request not to quote or not to link or only quote opening paragraphs and only link to the main page, stuff like that, will be met with my best effort to comply. Any rude demands, letters from legal services, DCMA takedown notices (for a freakin' press release, people!), or the like will result in me privately referring to the sender as a random reproductive organ and never linking to that web site again. Assuming they actually bothered to tell me which article or website or author they were referring to in the first place.
Aside from that, well, anything listed on Atari Stuff is there because it was related to Atari or some other classic bit from my youth and I found it interesting. It is my hope that there are enough other people in the world with my same interests to make this worthwhile.
Enjoy!
Troy H. Cheek
Atari Stuff webmaster
Portland Retro Gaming Expo August 2-3
The NorthWest Classic Games Enthusiasts (NWCGE), a Pacific NorthWest-based group dedicated to the preservation and promotion of classic video games, is holding the 2008 Portland Retro Games Expo August 2nd and 3rd in Portland, Oregon. The Expo, now in its third year, brings together classic video game fans from across the NorthWest. Open to the public, it is an opportunity for nostalgic gamers to revisit their favorite video game systems of yore. The Retro Gaming Expo isn't just for collectors. Anyone with an interest in home video gaming will find something to enjoy. The expo will feature vendors and exhibitions of classic game consoles as well as contests and tournaments.
Complete information about the event, including location, admission, hours, and much more can be found at the Portland Retro Games Expo web site.
Link: http://www.retrogamingexpo.com/
From: http://www.atariage.com/
PSP7800: Atari 7800 Emulator for PSP v1.1.3 out now
Zx-81 has released an update to PSP7800, an Atari 7800 series console emulator for PSP.
Version 1.1.3 features a number of tweaks and bug fixes, including improved audio processing and support for displaying thumbnails of ROM images in the file browser. What’s new in version 1.1.3:
* Sound improvement, new prosystem.dat file & NTSC Palette fix by Carpy
(aka Danno)
* A thumbnail image is now displayed in the file requester while selecting
any file with the same name of a previously saved game. It might
be very helpful to recognize that game later if you have thousand different
games in your rom folder !
* Auto-fire uses now the key mapped as Cross button instead of FIRE1 (games
such as Xevious use FIRE2 for fire so it is better this way)
* In the emulator menu you can go directly to keyboard and settings menu
using the L-Trigger key.
* Fix IR keyboard issue with fw >= 3.80 for FAT PSP
* Fix random black screen issue
* Bug fix in the low battery watchdog
PSP7800 v1.1.3 for Custom Firmware http://zx81.zx81.free.fr/public/psp/psp7800/psp7800-v1.1.3-fw4x.zip
PSP7800 v1.1.3 for Firmware 1.5 http://zx81.zx81.free.fr/public/psp/psp7800/psp7800-v1.1.3-fw15.zip
Link: http://zx81.zx81.free.fr/serendipity/index.php?/archives/326-PSP780...
From: http://www.ps3news.com/out/psp7800-atari-7800-emulator-for-psp-v1-1...
Angry Video Game Nerd reviews the Atari 5200
I really enjoyed this review. I can’t believe he went through all the trouble just to get this review going. And in the end, he didn’t even really get to play. Dang, this video game system really sucks.
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AknyR-kRvLc
From: http://www.doobybrain.com/2008/07/28/angry-video-game-nerd-reviews-...
A.M.I.S. BASIC source
I have recently decided to set up a packet radio BBS in my area using this perfectly awesome Atari 800. I am too young to have been on the scene when the 800 hit, however I still love old technology and have many old systems set up around the house. Anyway, to the point, all I have is the 800, the 410 cassette recorder, and a printer (its across the room and I don't remember the number on it). I have been searching for hours on end for the unmodified A.M.I.S. BBS BASIC code as a starting point but have come up with nothing save for a single blogger webpage of his modified source. Does anyone happen to have the un-modified ASCII text BASIC code for the A.M.I.S. BBS software or a link to it somewhere on the internet?
Link: http://www.ataricommunity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=652137
What The Atari 2600 Taught Me About Personal Finance
Last weekend I got a call from my mom. She was cleaning out her house and came across my old Atari 2600. She asked if I wanted it back. I said heck yeah and took off to retrieve it. I’d forgotten all about the thing, but the minute I saw it the memories rushed back. The hours I spent playing Yar’s Revenge, the mania to get all the way to the end of Pitfall and, of course, joystick thumb from pressing that red button so hard and so often. But after the nostalgia wore off I remembered something else about that Atari 2600. It gave me my first real lesson in personal finance.
At the risk of dating myself, I’ll say that I was about ten or eleven when the Atari came out. If you were alive then, you remember how every kid (and a lot of adults) wanted one. If you weren’t alive then, think of the frenzy over the Wii and you’ll be close to what it was like. I was no different. I wanted one, and I wanted it badly. Especially after my best friend got one. I was crazy jealous. I just had to have it! I think the Atari was also my first experience with consumer culture and the crazy desire to own something.
Anyway, I bugged my mom for weeks (probably months) for an Atari. I swore up and down that I would do extra chores, clean my room, walk the dog, be nicer to my siblings; whatever it took, I was willing. Finally mom got tired of the whining and sat me down and explained the nature of money to me. It was pretty much the, “Money doesn’t grow on trees” lecture that most kids get, except my mom went further. She showed me the household checkbook and explained where the money came from and where it went. At the time I didn’t appreciate her honesty (I was stuck on the fact that I wasn’t getting an Atari), but looking back I realize she gave me an extraordinary gift. She taught me that money is finite and that needs have to come before wants. By showing me the household finances she let me see that she wasn’t just being mean (although I thought so at the time), but that there were things that were more important than expensive toys and that the realities of money meant that we couldn’t have everything we wanted.
Like any smart-aleck kid, I noticed that there was extra money in the account. “Why can’t I have it?” I asked. She said, “Yes, there is extra money in the account but that is for emergencies, small treats, or your college education. Big things, like this Atari thing, are saved for over time, not purchased on a whim. Since we’re saving for your college and other things needed for the household, the Atari is out.”
Undeterred by reality (as any ten year old is) I redoubled my whining, certain that she would change her mind in the face of my hideous behavior. But she stuck to her guns. She made me realize that all the whining in the world doesn’t change the formula. Money doesn’t magically appear just because you want something badly enough.
Somewhere along the line I decided that the only way I was going to get an Atari was to get the money myself. I was still whining, but a subtle shift occurred. I started saving my money. I think at the time my attitude was, “Fine, if you won’t buy it for me, then I’ll buy it myself!” At the time I thought I was being rebellious and defiant. Of course now I see that mom had neatly boxed me into the exact corner where she wanted me. If I wanted that Atari badly enough, I was going to have to come up with the money for it and, in the process, learn what it took to earn, save, and spend money in a sensible way. Sneaky, mom. Real sneaky.
I took any extra chore I could find to add to my allowance. I bugged the neighbors to let me rake their leaves, mow their grass, or shovel their walkways. I did the laundry with the understanding that any change that washed up was mine. I squirreled away the checks my grandparents sent for my birthday and Christmas. I scoured parking lots for change. If there was money to be found or made, I was all over it.
Then the day came: I had enough to buy my Atari 2600. Oh, happy day! My mom drove me and my riches to Sears where I plunked the whole sum down on the console and two games. Finally, I was cool. I got the thing home and rushed to hook it up and then proceeded to ignore everyone and everything for about a week as I played myself into delirium. The whole experience was probably even sweeter because I had worked so hard to earn that console. I was never sorry that I spent my fortune on that console. Later I would learn about the disappointment that comes from saving up for something that doesn’t live up to expectations, but at that moment all the work was worth it.
My mom never did cave in on her stance about the Atari. I had to earn the money for every game I bought, unless I asked for it for Christmas or a birthday. Because I had to pay for every game, I was careful to research or try each game before buying to make certain that it was one that I would like. And I learned to wait for sales. I didn’t want to waste my money on junk or pay full price if I didn’t have to.
My mom could have just rolled over and bought me that game console. The money was there and she would have spared herself a lot of whining. But she didn’t. She knew that it was important to teach me about money and so she set about teaching me in the subtlest way possible: She said no until I learned how to solve my own problem by working and saving. And by making me buy all the games myself, she taught me how to continue to save and to make sure that I got the most for my money with every purchase. She taught me to make financial decisions: Should I buy the Atari game, or save the money for some other want? Or should I save up and buy two games when they went on sale? Could I save even more by buying on the used market or trading a bad game with a friend for a better one? I learned how to stretch my money to cover the most games and still afford some other wants, as well.
I’m sure that mom knew all along what she was doing, but I didn’t fully appreciate those lessons until I looked at that old console again and remembered the “ordeal” I had to go through to get it and keep it stocked with games. Now I understand that much of my financial foundation was built by that Atari 2600 and my mother’s response to it.
When I got the console back to my house this weekend I hooked it up to the TV and, what do you know, the thing still works. Some of the games are toast; I expect the chips inside those cartridges wore out or are choked with dust. But many still live on and I had a good time traveling down memory lane with my Atari 2600.
Link: http://www.savingadvice.com/blog/2008/07/28/102220_what-the-atari-2...
Bizarre 1980s ad for Atari Millipede with Magic Mushrooms?
Bizarre 1980s ad for Atari Millipede with some very excited parents and what look like Magic Mushrooms.
Link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sa_steve/2704305767/
From: http://digg.com/odd_stuff/Bizarre_1980s_ad_for_Atari_Millipede_with...
Have Modern Gamers Lost the Patience For Puzzles?
Brainy Gamer has an interesting reflection on old puzzle games and why their style of gameplay seems to be a dying art. According to the author modern gamers seem more interested in combat and seem to have lost the patience for difficult puzzles. "Despite my fondness for the adventure games of yore, it appears the days of puzzles in narrative games have come and gone. Puzzles - especially the serial unlocking variety found in the old LucasArts games - seem to have become a relic of a bygone era. Where they once provided a necessary ludic element to a—clever and often complex narrative - designed to add challenge and force the player to earn his progress through the story - few modern players have the patience for such challenges anymore."
One comment:
Compare "Portal" with, say, "Zork" or "The Bard's Tale". The puzzles involved were quite simple and mostly involved wandering around in the dark desperately drawing maps until you found the clue hidden in one corner of a dungeon just so you could answer the riddle one level up and in the far corner, but the level of player involvement is significantly higher.
You don't see players making detailed hand-drawn maps [brotherhood.de] of every level of Portal, complete with precise notes, just so they can solve the puzzles. Gamers today just don't have the patience for it. Even online RPGs, the last stronghold of the fanatical mappers and note-takers [eqatlas.com], have all given up and provided automatic mapping tools which even a brain-dead cat sleeping on the keyboard could use [worldofwarcraft.com].
As the article and its accompanying comments mention, the market for involved puzzle games didn't shrink, it just didn't grow with the rest of the industry. While there may still be a market for a few thousand people who like Monkey Island, there are also now millions of people who think that Halo is about as complicated as a game can get before their heads explode. Welcome to today's market.
Link: http://www.brainygamer.com/the_brainy_gamer/2008/07/puzzles-are-for...
From: http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/07/28/2031254
PSP2600: Atari 2600 emulator for PSP v1.1.4 (minor update)
Heads up to all the fans of Zx-81's Atari 2600 PSP emulator, PSP2600. A minor update has been dropped in the form of v1.1.4, but it being "minor" doesn't mean it won't be carrying as much coolness as possible.
For one, a new thumbnail image is now displayed in the file requester while selecting any file with the same name of a previously saved game. Then, there's also that tweak in the emulator menu that you can go directly to keyboard and settings menu using the L-trigger key. The IR keyboard issue with fw >=3.80 for FAT PSP has been fixed as well.
Anyhow, in case you need some brushing up on emulator history, PSP2600 is a PSP port of Stella v2.2, originally written by Bradford Mott. Stella is recognized to be one of the best Atari 2600 emulators and has run on different systems like Linux, Solaris, Windows, MacOS/X, WinCE, OS/2 and GP2X.
PSP2600 is based on the work of Aenea, who first ported Stella to the PSP, and is developed on Linux for Firmwares 3.x-m33, 4.x-m33 and 1.5.
Everything else you need to know (ie. installation procedures) are in the readme, so be sure to check that out.
From: http://pspupdates.qj.net/PSP2600-Atari-2600-emulator-for-PSP-v1-1-4...
Atari Music Video
I haven't been collecting much lately, but I finally got around to posting my "Playin My Atari" video. It's my original song played with a whole bunch of screenshots. The music volume went a bit screwy when I uploaded it, but you get the idea. Just thought some of you might enjoy it.
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l4gYO1ICOA
Link: http://www.myspace.com/bloatedmonkey
From: http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=129560
