Random Terrain

If you have a time travel machine that can take you back to 1982 and you have the right education and experience: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/72530133/atari-2600-programming-make-m-network/

I guess these aren't major sources: https://www.randomterrain.com/atari-2600-memories-history-1982.html#super_breakout https://atariage.com/magazines/magazine_page.php?MagazineID=4&CurrentPage=15 http://www.atarimania.com/pubs/hi_res/pub_Red_Hot.jpg https://archive.org/details/analog-computing-magazine-05/page/n40/mode/1up?view=theater https://archive.org/details/starlog_magazine-058/page/n9/mode/1up?view=theater https://www.newspapers.com/clip/71651108/atari-2600-introducing-super-breakout/ https://www.newspapers.com/clip/71651254/atari-2600-super-breakout-now-in-stock/

twitter.com/PitfallCreator/status/1366435832832253957 twitter.com/kitchengarry/status/1366433556445028353

Stumbled upon an ad tonight. It's from the May Company (May 26, 1982). I put it in the original post.

At one time batari was thinking about adding the ability to easily create nybble variables without the user needing to jump through a dozen flaming hoops. I don't know what the plan was. Maybe something like the following? _ dim _Flying_Monkey = a(lo) dim _Smelly_Socks = a(hi) _ After DIMing, _Flying_Monkey and _Smelly_Socks would act like normal variables, but they would roll over from 15 to 0 and 0 to 15 in the other direction. bB would take care of the calculations and the user could use nybble variables without any worries. There are a lot of times when a full variable isn't needed, and a simple way to use nybble variables would be very helpful. If someone starts working on batari Basic again, I hope nybble variables will be near the top of the to-do list.

Added two more newspaper articles to the first post.

"Ideas are cheap. A dime a dozen, as they say. It's the implementation that's important! The trick isn't just to have a computer game idea, but to actually create it!" ~ Scott Adams (K-Power Magazine, June 1984) "The concept for PITFALL took less than 10 minutes. The difficult part was sitting at the computer, for over 1,000 hours, and making it happen." ~ David Crane (from a Digital Press quote page) Speaking of game ideas, I have a whole page of free game ideas: https://www.randomterrain.com/rt-free-game-making-ideas.html Nobody is stopping anybody from creating their own game ideas page.

Thanks.

This thread is basically a continuation of an older one: https://atariage.com/forums/topic/301009-atari-400800-pac-man-when-did-you-first-see-it-or-a-demo-in-1982/ Below is an article and a bunch of ads that seem to show that Atari 400/800 Pac-Man was released in May of 1982. Jan 7, 1982 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/71900118/atari-computer-news-pac-man-jan-7/ Apr 23, 1982 (Pac-Man available in May) https://www.newspapers.com/clip/71928309/atari-computers-pac-man-available-in/ Apr 29, 1982 (Apple Computer Owners, Pac-Man is Here) https://www.newspapers.com/clip/72273149/apple-computer-pac-man-is-here-apr/ Apr 30, 1982 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/71928184/atari-computers-pac-man-better/ May 7, 1982 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/71928952/atari-computers-pac-man-arriving-soon/ May 9, 1982 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/71901692/atari-computers-pac-man-may-9-1982/ May 16, 1982 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/71923428/atari-computers-pac-man-and-more-may/ May 20, 1982 (They use the Atari 2600 box, but talk about the Atari 400/800 game) https://www.newspapers.com/clip/71928444/atari-computers-pac-man-4490-may/ May 26, 1982 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/72272134/atari-computers-pac-man-at-may-company/ May 27, 1982 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/71928851/atari-computers-atari-400-and-pac-man/ May 27, 1982 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/71930234/atari-computers-good-news-for-pac-man/ Jun 3, 1982 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/71927808/atari-computers-pac-man-jun-3-1982/ Jul 11, 1982 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/71922421/atari-computers-pac-man-and-more-jul/

Found some grammar/spelling/missing word mistakes in the original post here: https://atariage.com/forums/topic/301009-atari-400800-pac-man-when-did-you-first-see-it-or-a-demo-in-1982/ I'd like to go in and fix the errors. Thanks.

If this is the same guy, he was 35 in 1982, so his idea of fun might have been a game of penuchle or canasta while sipping tea with his pinky in the air: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Rosemond

Here's something from March 15, 1982 that you might like to read after so many years have gone by: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/71844944/pac-man-is-no-more-than-an-electronic/ Update (2021y_02m_26d_0202t) Here's a semi-related newspaper article that isn't as negative: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/72095009/pac-man-pros-and-cons-apr-3-1982/ Update (2021y_02m_26d_0306t) Here is a bad review of the Pac-Man Fever album: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/72096025/song-history-bad-review-of-pac-man/ https://www.newspapers.com/clip/72096126/song-history-bad-review-of-pac-man/

Like I posted above, why didn't the person who originally put the incorrect information on the page have to jump through 500 flaming hoops to prove it? If they did, the page wouldn't have to be corrected now.

The link I posted has links and embedded newspaper ads. Where is Wikipedia's proof of a 1978 release date for Atari 2600 Super Breakout? I think some lazy guy got Atari 2600 Super Breakout confused with Atari 2600 Breakout: https://www.randomterrain.com/atari-2600-memories-history-1978.html#breakout

Is this good enough? randomterrain.com/atari-2600-memories-history-1982.html#super_breakout

Take a look at this from Wikipedia: 1978? Atari 2600 Super Breakout was released in 1981 at Sears and 1982 for the rest of us. Atari 2600 Breakout was released in 1978. If you're a trusted editor at Wikipedia who can actually change things without the incorrect information being put back in, please do so.

I still use VbB. It has so many tools that Atari Dev Studio doesn't have. It's also hard to give up all of the code editor options in the right click menu that include Audit Variables, Audit Goto/Gosub, Find Next, Find Label, Identify Current Bank, Force Minimum Spacing, Flip Text, and Add Bookmark.

Next time you do an update, should this: be changed to this? HTML version updated: https://www.randomterrain.com/7800basic.html