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AtariAge News Archive
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You've surely seen QR Codes all over the place in the last decade. QR codes are a means of encoding information into a compact, square graphic that can be scanned (usually by cell phones these days) and decoded. Most often these codes are a link to a website, but they can be used to store any manner of information. Atari 2600 fan Seth Robinson recently embarked on the challenge of encoding Atari 2600 games as QR codes stored on paper cards, and then using a camera to decode the game and run it in an emulator. As QR codes can store about 3K of 8-bit data, a 2K Atari 2600 game can easily fit in a standard QR code. Larger 4K games can be encoded using two QR codes, one on each side of the card. You then have to flip the code to load the second half of the game. As a large percentage of Atari 2600 games are either 2K or 4K in size, this allows you to run quite a few games from QR codes. Seth used a Raspberry Pi and a Picamera and open source software to read the "PaperCart" Atari 2600 game cards he printed, and once decoded they are run in the RetroPie Atari 2600 emulator. For all the details about this PaperCart system system (including how to create your own), please visit Seth's Code Dojo page. Discuss in our Forum with other visitors...
We know that not everyone cares about paying extra for a box when buying new homebrew games. We've updated eight of our latest games for the 2600 and 5200 in the AtariAge Store so you can now buy them without the box. These games still come with a high-quality label and manual, but the box is now optional. Here are the games: 
Here's a list of the games:
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 A new release of the A7800 Atari 7800 emulator is now available. A7800 is a fork of the MAME Atari 7800 driver, with several enhancements and fixes added:
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Last fall we released Jeff Minter Classics for the Atari Jaguar, containing two of Jeff Minter's most popular classic computing titles: Llamatron: 2112 and Revenge of the Mutant Camels. The excellent Atari ST versions of these games were brought to the Jaguar by Lawrence Staveley (author of Rebooteroids), joined together by a beautiful menu illustrated by William Thorup. Stunning artwork was also created by William Thorup for the box, manual, label and included double-sided poster. In celebration of Jeff Minter's announcement of a Playstation 4 port of Gridrunner, we're excited to reveal that Gridrunner has been hidden inside all copies of Jeff Minter Classics sold to date! We've put together a video that shows how you can unlock Gridrunner. Once you've done so, Gridrunner will be displayed on the menu when the cartridge boots up, so you only need to unlock it once: As an added bonus for Gridrunner, you can choose to use an Amiga or Atari ST mouse (with a proper adapter) to control your ship, in addition to the stock Jaguar controller. Playing Gridrunner with a mouse is a blast! If you don't already have a copy of Jeff Minter Classics, you can pick up a copy in the AtariAge Store. Happy Easter to all Atari Jaguar fans! Discuss in our Forum with other visitors...
 Fans of the Atari ST, Amiga, Commodore 64 and other classic computers may fondly remember the game Stunt Car Racer, a 3D racing game that takes place on an elevated track. In the game, you are dropped onto the track by a crane, and you compete against other computer opponents in a race with no walls to prevent you from going over the sides! There are also gaps in the tracks that you must jump and clear, and care must be taken not to inflict too much damage on your car or your vehicle will be wrecked, causing you to forfeit the race. Now, nearly 30 years after Stunt Car Racer's initial release, it is finally available for Atari 8-bit computers! AtariAge members Fandal and Irgendwer have crafted a fantastic port of the game for Atari 8-bit computers, using the Commodore 64 version as a starting point. This new version of Stunt Car Racer contains all the features of the Commodore 64 version, as well as:
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 AtariAge members MortoffGames and Clint Thompson are exploring the possibility of recreating the highly sought-after Jaguar Pro-Controller. The Atari Jaguar Pro Controller is similar in appearance to the standard Jaguar controller, but adds three new action buttons (X, Y, and Z) as well as two shoulder buttons (L and R) at the top of the unit. These new buttons are mapped to buttons on the keypad. The dpad and buttons on the Jaguar Pro Controller are also improved over the original controller. Several later Jaguar games include support for the Jaguar Pro Controller's button configuration, but even older games such as Alien vs. Predator benefit from the additional buttons.
Jaguar Pro Controllers are currently selling for over $200 on eBay. The price for these new controllers will be $60, and they will be sold in sets of two to help meet the minimum manufacturing requirements. If you'd like to express interest in purchasing one or more sets, please send a message with your full name and e-mail address by December 31st, 2017 to [email protected]. You can learn more details about the project and track its progress in our Atari Jaguar Forum. Discuss in our Forum with other visitors...
 Free Play Florida 2017 is a three day celebration of the history, artistry, competition, and creation of electronic gaming of all kinds driven by the enthusiastic gamers of the south east. Free Play Florida features 200 arcade and pinball games, hundreds of consoles, and countless things to learn, play and see! This November 17th thru the 19th, Free Play Florida is being held in Orlando at the beautiful DoubleTree Sea World by Hilton right off I-4 and International Drive. Many current and classic and current pinball and arcade games will be on display, all set to free play! Join the International Flipper Pinball Association (IFPA) sanctioned pinball tournament and compete with the best in the state of Florida, sit in on speaker panels that include industry icons, and visit vendors selling parts, memorabilia, and some of the coolest themed art on the planet! AtariAge will be present for the first time at this year's Free Play Florida, with all the new homebrew games we had for sale at last month's Portland Retro Gaming Expo, as well as games that were released in the AtariAge Store back in June. We'll also have several systems setup so you can play our latest homebrew games. If you're an Atari 2600 fan, be sure to check out the FPF 2017 Atari Cartridge being made available at the show. This is a limited edition hack of Midnight Magic (modified by Scott Dayton of NEO Games), complete with cartridge, manual and box. Proceeds benefit Free Play Florida (a non-profit organization), to help them continue offering this great event in the future! A few copies are still available for purchase online, and once those are gone, the only way to obtain a copy will be to purchase one at the show. To learn more, please visit the Free Play Florida website. Hope to see you there! Discuss in our Forum with other visitors...
If you're an Atari Jaguar fan, we have three new Jaguar games we'll be selling for the first time at this year's Portland Retro Gaming Expo, taking place October 20-22! The three titles are Jeff Minter Classics (containing Llamatron 2112 and Revenge of the Mutant Camels), Escape 2042, and AstroStorm. Each game features a high-quality, professionally printed box, manual and cartridge label. Jeff Minter Classics also includes a double-sided poster featuring the stunning box art created by William Thorup for the package. 
More information about each game below: Jeff Minter Classics For the first time on the Atari Jaguar, experience Jeff Minter's classic games "Llamatron 2112" and "Revenge of the Mutant Camels". Both games have been brought to the platform with the full blessing of Jeff Minter himself and are contained on a single cartridge. Llamatron 2112: You play the part of a totally hard laser-spitting llama. Your mission is to collect all the tiny sheep, llamas, camels and goats you see on each wave. Standing in your way are great herds of unintelligent but numerous Grunt enemies, plus a veritable menagerie of nasty creeps which fire at you, dodge your fire, emit fire hydrants, try to ram you, murder your llamas and shoot your ass off with lasers. Kill them deadly. Not everything can be killed, and some enemies take more than one shot to destroy. Your ultimate objective - destroy the Ozric Tentacle of level 99 and get to Herd Heaven on level 100. Revenge of the Mutant Camels: You are a rather threadbare-looking camel. If you are playing CPU Assist or Two-Player, you are accompanied by a large shaggy goat creature called an Ancipital. You are the Good Guys. Your mission is simple: stay alive through 42 zones of 7km each. These zones are populated by rampant telephone kiosks, skiing kangaroos, butch Greenham Common Peace Women, manic Minters, flying sheep and all the usual nonsense. These are the Bad Guys. They try to kill you off and you, naturally, and in keeping with the traditionally calm, rational, and thoughtful nature of videogames, get to waste them with lots of spectacularly destructive weaponry. AstroStorm Sometime in the future, aliens arrive. A high quantity of large rocks have started raining from the sky causing devastation all around Earth. You must command the Earth Defense Craft to search our solar system and destroy any anomalous rocks or aliens before it's too late. Is this our last stand? AstroStrom features a campaign story with 40 levels, skirmish mode with random levels, arcade modes for quick pick up and play, a mix of gameplay styles between shooting and space flying, powerups you can activate at strategic moments, separate scoreboards for each game type, and more! Escape 2042 In the year 2042, a socialist government is in power, but nobody had foreseen the progressive dictatorship that settled in. The elites of the government hid behind a sham democracy, disconnected from the life the people were leading, and acted solely in their own interests. The regime considered the dissidents as conspiracy theorists, treated them like terrorists and locked them away in highly-secured prisons. You are Shun, a computer engineer and member of the Truth Defenders coalition. After a clandestine operation to inform the people, you are locked away in the highly-secured prison Bulor 24. But your knowledge on security systems will enable you to escape. Your turn now to escape as fast as you can from this place! Escape 2042 game takes place in three different environments (prison, desert, forest) and is interspersed with two mini-games, including a reversed “Shoot’em Up” and an original rappelling game! Avoid the security cameras, collect grenades to get rid of your enemies, and exercise your working memory by hacking the computers of the prison to unlock the doors or to deactivate the safety systems. For those unable to attend the Portland Retro Gaming Expo, we'll be adding all three of these titles to the AtariAge Store in November. Discuss in our Forum with other visitors...
AtariAge will introduce several new homebrew games at the upcoming Portland Retro Gaming Expo, taking place October 20-22! For the Atari 2600, we will be selling three new titles: Super Cobra Arcade, Space Cactus Canyon, and Draconian. Each game features a high-quality, professionally printed box, manual and cartridge label. Draconian and Super Cobra Arcade also include 10" x 14" posters featuring the beautiful box artwork created by Nathan Strum. The first 30 who purchase Draconian at the show will also receive a 3D printed model of the space stations that appear in the game! 
You can learn more about each of these exciting new games below: Super Cobra Arcade  Super Cobra Arcade is a sequel to the classic arcade game Scramble in which the player must navigate their helicopter across a side-scrolling terrain through eleven unique stages. Each stage has its own challenges and obstacles, including tanks, targets, rockets, guided missiles, falling mines, fuel tanks, flying saucers and meteors. The player must avoid or destroy these hazards while maintaining the ship's limited fuel supply. The objective is to reach the end stage, invade the enemy's base and carry away the booty while trying to earn a high score.
Super Cobra Arcade was crafted by John W. Champeau of Champ Games, whose previous Atari 2600 endeavors include Conquest of Mars, Lady Bug, and Scramble. Space Cactus Canyon  The year is 2543. You are the last cactus on earth.
You live in the scorching deserts of the Rocky Mountains in what used to be Alberta, Canada. The heat is nearly unbearable and wildfires are common. The rest of your fellow cacti have moved to a more temperate climate ... on Mars. They have sent a final spaceship to transport you there. Reaching it won't be easy. Water has become Earth's most precious resource, and although you are a cactus, you need every drop. You'll collect the water as you move through the canyons on your way to rendezvous with your rocket. Every so often, you'll even find a bucket of water, and you'll be able to rest for the night. But watch out for the humans! The few that remain after World War XII think they need the water even more than you. And they'll do anything to protect it. Draconian  As pilot of the Space Fighter Draconian, your mission is to destroy enemy space stations – sector by sector – until they’re all wiped out! Your task won’t be easy - the enemy stations will relentlessly attack you with aggressive missiles and a barrage of defensive fire. Formations of missiles will gang up and hunt you down. But if you take out the lead missile, the others will scatter! If you see one of the enemy’s Spy Ships you need to destroy it immediately! If it escapes, it will report your position, and then...the enemy will throw everything it has at you. Can you survive long enough to move onto the next sector? Good luck! The galaxy is counting on you!
Draconian has all of the excitement you’d find in a classic arcade game! Featuring digitized voices, a radar scanner, enemy formation display, over 48 unique sectors, and much, much more! Draconian was created by Darrell Spice, Jr., whose previous works include Medieval Mayhem, Space Rocks, and Stay Frosty 2. The first 30 who purchase the game at the show will receive a 3D printed Draconian space station, courtesy of AtariAge member Tarzilla. If you're not able to make it to the Portland Retro Gaming Expo, we'll be adding these games to the AtariAge Store for everyone in November. Watch for another announcement soon for another batch of games to debut at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo! Discuss in our Forum with other visitors...
As 2017 is the 40th anniversary of the Atari 2600, the PRGE organizers have announced a great lineup of panels celebrating the Atari 2600's rich history. One of these panels is titled, "Old Consoles Never Die", discussing the creation of new games for the Atari 2600 and other classic systems. The panel will be moderated by "Art of the Atari" author Tim Lapetino, who will be joined by homebrew authors Darrell Spice, Jr. (Medieval Mayhem, Space Rocks, and Stay Frosty 2) and John W. Champeau of Champ Games (Lady Bug, Conquest of Mars, Scramble), Atari alumni Howard Scott Warshaw (Yars' Revenge, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T. the Extra Terrestrial), and Albert Yarusso, owner of AtariAge. Please visit the official Portland Retro Gaming Expo website to learn more about the show. We've also created a Portland Retro Gaming Expo Forum to discuss the event. If you're attending the show, please stop by our booth, say hello, and play some new games! Discuss in our Forum with other visitors...
It is with great sadness we report that Atari enthusiast and homebrew programmer Ken Sider has unexpectedly passed away at the young age of 49. Ken was best known in the Atari community for developing the games Beef Drop for the Atari 5200, 7800, and Atari 8-bit computers, and b*nq for the Atari 7800, ports of the popular arcade games Burgertime and Q*bert. Both of these games were initially revealed as April Fool's jokes on the AtariAge Forums over a decade ago. It always brings us great sorrow when such a talented and friendly individual is taken from us before his time. Ken provided friendly, technical advice to anyone who asked, and he will be a great loss to the classic gaming community. You can learn more about Ken's games and the utilities he programmed for these systems on his personal page, and you can discuss and honor his passing in our forums. Ken's games will continue to spread happiness to all they touch, and we offer our condolences to his friends and family. Ken, may you Rest In Peace and forever inspire and bring warmth to those whose lives you touch. Condolences may be left here. Videos of b*nQ and Beef Drop on the 7800: Discuss in our Forum with other visitors...
We're happy to announce the arrival of a new slate of games for the Atari 2600, 5200, and 7800 consoles:  Here's a list of all the games broken down by system: Atari 2600
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If you'll be in the Pittsburgh area at the end of the month, be sure to check out ReplayFX, taking place July 27-30, 2017 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center! We've heard great things about this event from others who have attended in previous years. Here's more information straight from ReplayFX.org: Gamers behind the Replay Foundation & PAPA are taking over the David L. Lawrence Convention Center and filling it with more than 750 arcade and pinball machines, over 2,000 retro console games, tabletop games, a showcase of new products by game developers, magicians, live musicians, balloon artists, face-painters, competitions offering over $110,000 in prize money, and more! The ReplayFX Arcade & Video Game Festival will feature the largest public collection of working pinball, arcade, tabletop, and console games anywhere in the solar system, and all games are free to play with the price of admission! Attendees are also invited to attend a series of seminars dedicated to gaming and its associated tech-culture, browse merchandise in the marketplace, watch the world’s greatest pinball wizards compete in the Pinburgh Match-Play Championship, or enjoy a series of fun and wacky daily challenges at no additional cost! ReplayFX will include multiple live music performances, a high-energy cosplay contest, inflatable obstacle courses, and more in a show floor packed with over 200,000 square feet of entertainment! Over $110,000 will be at stake for the competitive player. Thousands of games will be available for the casual fan. A family-friendly atmosphere will be available for the kids, and no one has to leave the galaxy to attend! You can learn more about the event by visiting ReplayFX.org. 
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Golf Digest's Jeff Vrabel makes the argument that to this day, "Atari 2600 Golf remains the finest sport video game simulation". Through humor, the author describes the graphics, gameboard, gameplay, and difficulty of the original 1980 Atari 2600 Golf. Here's a video review of Atari 2600 Golf if you need a quick refresher in case you've forgotten how wonderful this game is. What games have made a similar impression to you after all these years? Join the discussion in our Atari 2600 Forum. 
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 It's that time again, the weather is hotter, the days are longer, and the Atari 2600 is begging for attention. AtariAge user toilettunes has organized the 3rd Annual AtariAge Activision Patches Summer Quest. Through Labor Day (Monday, September 4th) you can compete with other AtariAge members to see who can qualify for the most Activision patches by playing Activision's library of Atari 2600 games! Back in the day, Activision would send you a physical patches if you achieved high scores in their games. Contestants were instructed to photograph their TV displaying the high score, mail it in, and Activision would send back a patch. You can view our Activision Patch Gallery to see all the patches and the scores needed to win them. To join in the fun, please visit the 2017 Activision Summer Patch Quest thread in our forums. Good luck!Discuss in our Forum with other visitors...
AtGames has announced their fall lineup of Flashback consoles and portables, further expanding on their offerings for fans of the Atari 2600 and Sega Genesis. These new products include several Atari Flashback consoles, an updated Atari Flashback Portable, a new Genesis Flashback styled after the classic Sega Genesis console, and an updated Genesis portable. Here's a brief description of the AtGames Fall 2017 lineup:
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Microsoft researchers in Canada have built an Artificial Intelligence program capable of reaching (and eclipsing) the maximum score of 999,990 in the Atari 2600 version of Ms. Pac-Man. According to Wired Magazine, "Ms. Pac-Man has been targeted by artificial intelligence researchers for years, but no player, human or otherwise, has ever scored so big." This milestone was accomplished by breaking the game down into smaller pieces utilizing more than 150 "bots" working in tandem to decide where best to move Ms. Pac-Man, similar to how the human brain works. The research is expected to translate into other AI fields such as natural language processing. The video below gives you a glimpse into the AI as it chews through the mazes. Discuss in our Forum with other visitors...
Keith Robinson, the leader of the game development team at Mattel Electronics who purchased the rights to the Intellivision and resurrected the game console in the late 1980s, died from kidney failure Wednesday. Keith remained dedicated to the Intellivison brand throughout the 1990s and beyond, keeping the flame alive by releasing Intellivision Lives! for contemporary consoles and the Intellivision Flashback, a plug and play console featuring many of the original system's best games. Keith was also a prolific artist... his weekly comic strip Making It debuted in 1985, and continued publication for over thirty years. The series was adapted into a video game for the Sega Genesis, Normy's Beach Babe-O-Rama. Fittingly, it was designed by Realtime Associates, a team originally hired to make Intellivision software in the 1980s! Keith Robinson was a fixture at classic game conventions, fondly remembered for his larger than life personality and tireless enthusiasm for the Intellivision. He'll be deeply missed, not only as a founding father of the video game industry, but for his continued contributions to gaming long after the Intellivision faded into history. For those interested, Keith's life and accomplishments were examined in greater detail in an obituary on The Retroist. 
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Engadget reports that Hyperkin, the designers of the Super NES-compatible Supaboy handheld and a variety of retro consoles, will soon be releasing its own clone of the Atari 2600. This system, fittingly titled the RetroN 77, uses actual 2600 cartridges and joysticks, but has the 21st century perk of an HDMI port, ensuring a sharp picture and full compatibility with modern television sets. And if you don't want to use original Atari joysticks, USB controllers are also an option. The RetroN 77 will retail for $80, and should be available by the end of 2017, just in time for the Atari 2600's 40th anniversary. Special thanks to Tiny Cartridge for the scoop. 
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The Southern-Fried Gameroom Expo 2017 (SFGE) will be open for business at 4:00pm on Friday, June 9, and continues through Sunday, June 11, at the Renaissance Atlanta Waverly Hotel! The Southern-Fried Gameroom Expo features more than 250 arcade, pinball and console machines, the fourth annual Southern-Fried Pinball Tournament, tabletop gaming, a vendor expo, exciting programs and guest speakers, movie screenings, and so much more. SFGE is a family-friendly event that will be fun for all ages. Guest speakers include Billy Mitchell, Roger Sharpe, Ben Heck, Walter Day, and David Crane, the man who wrote Pitfall for the 2600 and co-founded Activision, the world's first third party software publisher. Learn more by visiting the official Southern-Fried Gameroom Expo website! 
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