timdu

Just an update for you... we have a final game binary and as of today Oct. 10, we have proceeded with starting production of the first 100 cartridges. Each game will be numbered 1 of 100, 2 of 100, etc. The game will include a manual and a box. It is a plastic DVD style case... but thicker... it holds a 2600 cartridge quite nicely. I will have more info shortly on the actual release date, but we are hoping for Nov. 1 Tim

Just an update for you... we have a final game binary and as of today Oct. 10, we have proceeded with starting production of the first 100 cartridges. Each game will be numbered 1 of 100, 2 of 100, etc. The game will include a manual and a box. It is a plastic DVD style case... but thicker... it holds a 2600 cartridge quite nicely. I will have more info shortly on the actual release date, but we are hoping for Nov. 1 Tim

We do not have a definite release date. We originally hoped for July 1. I would imagine if all goes well, we should be able to release the game on or around Oct 1 - just in time for the Christmas season. -Tim p.s. As for the missing Santa in the video in the "dog" levels, we are looking into making a newer video. Not sure why that happened. Perhaps when YouTube compressed the video down, it rendered Santa nearly invisible, but he *is* there.

Ooops... just noticed that! Santa is supposed to be there... he is not showing up in the video for some reason. I will look into this and perhaps see if we need to make a new video. My apologies. Tim

As part of the celebration of the 100th print issue of the 2600 Connection, I am happy to report that we are getting very close to completion for the cartridge release of Mean Santa. I would like to acknowledge and thank John Harvey , a.k.a. propane13, for his excellent programming work and skills on this project. Please check out the youtube video of Mean Santa More info soon. thanks Tim Duarte 2600 Connection, editor / publisher issues 1-50 http://2600connection.atari.org

As part of the celebration of the 100th print issue of the 2600 Connection, I am happy to report that we are getting very close to completion for the cartridge release of Mean Santa. Please check out the youtube video of Mean Santa thanks Tim Duarte 2600 Connection, editor / publisher issues 1-50 http://2600connection.atari.org

It is not really up to me. I have control over issues 1-50. Those are the issues I published. Issues 51-76 were published by Russ Perry Jr. and Al Backiel published issues 77-100. There have been no talks about a complete set. Printing costs are up, so I don't know. For now, interested readers need to contact either myself, Russ, and / or Al in regards to the specific issues. Tim http://2600connection.atari.org/see.html

Thank you to all for the kind words about the newsletter. To Triverse: I have all of those Electonic Games magazines. I remember I submitted the issues that I published and they reviewed them. They always gave us excellent reviews. It helped boost readership. I would get a kick out of reading their reviews and seeing it in a professional magazine. Sorry about the late reply... I thought I replied to you but I guess I didn't. Tim Duarte

RangerG: I will send you a PM with info on how to order the back issues 51-100. Tim Duarte

Here are 3 screen shots: Take a look at our web page http://2600connection.atari.org/ms.html Tim Duarte

OK as promised, here are some screen shots of MEAN SANTA, our soon-to-be-released game for the Atari 2600 On this screen, the object is to fly Mean Santa's sleigh through the night sky and land on a house roof. On this screen, pressing SELECT allows you to choose the MEDIUM level. Watch out for the rogue snowflake... it'll take Mean Santa's sleigh off-course. Once inside the house, it's time for Mean Santa to get to work. Here, he is stealing all the wreaths in the house. Hurry up - this is a game of speed. There is no time to waste. Best time wins. There are 25 houses and one final screen in Mean Santa. Tim Duarte http://2600connection.atari.org

Well I have some good news. We at the 2600 Connection newsletter are proud to be celebrating the release of our 100th print issue of the newsletter, which comes out July 1. We also plan to celebrate this milestone with the release of MEAN SANTA, our first Atari 2600 game cartridge. We hope to have it ready for July 1, but if for some reason there are delays, it may be released closer to the holiday season. (Doesn't the Christmas shopping season officially begin on Septemeber 1? ) At this point we plan to distribute the game through our own channel (not the AA store at this point). We still have some details to work out (like the manual, and the production details) We are in the process of testing the Beta candidate release. More details soon. I will post some screen shots later this weekend. We hope to start taking orders for the game soon. So what's the game like? It's Christmas-themed. You play the role of Santa, and he's out for revenge. He's tired of all the bad boys and girls out there and how they have no Christmas spirit. So what's he going to do this year? When Santa comes to town this year, it is your job to go house to house and steal all the presents... avoid the dogs that are out to protect the house... avoid the rogue snowflakes as you fly your sleigh through the night sky. It's a race against time... after all you only have a few hours to do all this work. Tim Duarte 2600 Connection http://2600connection.atari.org

I am happy to report that the MEAN SANTA Atari 2600 release is alive and well. I just received a Beta candidate release from the programmer and it is coming along great. I am spending some considerable time testing the game out right now. I will try to post a screen shot later this weekend. I think this is going to be an enjoyable game cartridge. More details soon. Tim D.

PM sent. thanks Tim

MEAN SANTA has nothing to do with the AA Holiday sale. It will be released at the same time as issue #100 on July 1, 2009. Too bad issue 100 didn't come out in the winter months, because the game will be released out of the holiday season. But, as they say, Christmas starts earlier and earlier every year. This year, we will have "Christmas in July" :.) More details soon. Tim Duarte 2600 Connection

Not a problem. We do have some good news to announce: As part of our upcoming 100th Issue celebration, we will be releasing a new limited edition 2600 game called Mean Santa. We can’t comment on the game yet since it is still in the programming & test phases and therefore subject to change. At this point no advance orders can be accepted. We’ll keep you posted. I think this is a great idea! I wish I had been motivated to do some original 2600 coding but lately I haven't

I like your idea. Very cool. I can picture a version with a white background and the ball and the players are black in color, similar to how the newsletters look. I will send you a PM so we can discuss further. Tim

If you didn't know, Issue #100 of the 2600 Connection is scheduled to be published on July 1, 2009. We would like to celebrate the milestone of the 100th print issue of the 2600 Connection with an exclusive videogame! So if you are a homebrew programmer and you would be interested in helping us release a special game, please let us know. Or, maybe we will find a prototype that can be released at the same time as issue 100. We still have over a year, so we are still in the planning stages. But - you'd be surprised how fast time flies when you plan things like this! We have not worked out all the details yet..but the idea is: when you receive issue 100, it will also come with an Atari 2600 videogame! How cool would that be? #100 (Jul / Aug 2009) will feature: COLOR pages... (we have never done this before - we have always published black and white pages with greyscale pictures) A large number of pages... a very thick issue (we don't have a total yet but wouldn't something like a 100 page issue be outstanding?) Perhaps we could offer full-page ads to anyone for a minimal fee (such as $5 or $10) A restrospective look back at the past 100 issues.. Letters from Readers News & Notes Classified Ads and MUCH, MUCH more We are not looking to make a boatload of money on this project. If we can break even, I believe that would be a good goal to strive for. We just thought it would be cool to do something special for issue 100. We still have lots of details to work out, but right now if you'd like to help or if you would like to contribute, that would be great. GOT ANY IDEAS? Tim Duarte co-founder, 2600 Connection publisher 1990-1998

The CD project is something I have considered... but I still prefer to read the issues physically on paper / hard copy. Call me old fashioned. I only have "control" over the issues that I published (#1-50). I am currently offering the first 50 issues for $37.50 (and $5.00 shipping) - That's just 75 cents per issue! Also: Issue 88 has just been published by Al Backiel #88 (Jul/Aug 2007) features: Interview with Jeff Adkins - Classic Fanzine Editor Game Promotions - article Spotlight on Homebrews - Raster Fahndung (2600) & Adventure II (5200) How To Beat Home Video Games - VHS review Wolfenstein Easter egg Letters from Readers News & Notes Classified Ads Trivia Contest / Results For more info, please check out http://2600connection.atari.org Tim Duarte

If you go to youtube.com and do a search for turbo atari 2600 , you will find the video for the Turbo (by Coleco) prototype. Looks legit. Sounds legit. Could this be legit? What is your opinion? Or is this simply a hoax?

I have a ATARI BASIC book, which is a reference for the Atari 400 / 800 / XL / XE BASIC programming language. It is a self teaching guide, 332 pages, written by Bob Albrecht, Leroy Finkel, and Jerald R. Brown. I am doing some spring cleaning...figured that AtariAge would be a good place to start to sell it at. I will sell it for $3 plus shipping. If you would like to trade something for it, please let me know. please let me know if you are interested. I have a picture of the cover at: http://2600connection.atari.org/basic.jpg thanks Tim http://2600connection.atari.org

I used to run a BBS back in 1985-1987 on my Atari 8-bit. I went through all my atari 8-bit stuff which I had in storage and found the following disks: BBS Express (850 version 1.0) w/ serial # FoReM XE (requires BASIC XE cartridge which I no longer have) Bulletin Board Construction Set ver 2.2 (2 double sided disks) Nite Lite Bulletin Board System (by Paul Swanson of Billerica, MA) with serial #. This was for the Atari 1030 modem and I still have the ring detector module he included with it). I believe I have the printed documentation with this as well but I have not found it as of yet. Supreme BBS (by Futute Systems Software) I don't remember a whole lot about this one but I am pretty sure it is a modified AMIS BBS. Advanced AMIS 1200 MPP Forem BBS for the Supra / MPP modems Carina (I believe I have the documentation for this but hae not located it as of yet) please let me know if you are interested in any of these. I am interested in selling these as I am no longer using them. tim duarte http://2600connection.atari.org

I have a some Atari 8-bit cartridges for sale or trade. these will work on the Atari 400, 800, XL, XE series. all carts are loose. Pac-Man Ms. Pac-Man Centipede Pole Position Jungle Hunt Asteroids David's Midnight Magic Deluxe Invaders (by Roklan) please email me if you are interested in anything here tim duarte [email protected]