fultonbot

Catalog daydream Gaming one page at a time Hope is powerful Found you at Fedmart Next to the heavy sixer With Combat! loaded Vicariously I played through your drawings Imagined your words I fell asleep Mind visions of Atari Another world A trance of pixels A beautiful concoction 8-bit dimension An Air-Sea Battle Surrounds Video Olympic Outlaws Street Racing Code Breaking Home Runs Star Ships Hunt And Score Basic Math As Space War Breaks Out Adults yelling thrusts me Back to my small, dirty room I open my eyes No Atari here But I just know, one day, it Will be my escape

Yes. Here. Me. Catalogs were *everything* to me before I had an Atari VCS or Atari 800. I would pour through them every chance I got, day dreaming about the games and if I'd ever get to play them. No, scratch that, I *knew* I'd get to play them, but I had no idea how or when it was going to happen, I just knew it would happen. My favorite catalog was from a local computer store named HW Computers. It listed dozens and dozens of games for the Atari 400/800 with short, enticing descriptions. I knew I would love Temple Of Apshai, Scott Adams Adventures, and Crush Crumble and Chomp (among many others) years before I actually saw them on screen, because I'd already played them vicariously through my day dreams while reading that catalog. Good topic!

Yes...but. I'd like to see the answered reassembled into an "oral history" of the Atari 8-bit computers. The straight interviews are an amazing source, but I'd like to see it taken to the next level. I'd even help do it, just to see it happen.

I remember seeing the first advert in Electronic Games for Imagic. I was so excited about them. To me me, Demon Attack was the full package: great game, brilliant box, manual, cartridge. I never regretted buying an Imagic game. You can find out some relative information about release dates by searching the US Copyright Database. It's does not tell you exactly when a game came onto market, because there games were not "released" the same way they are now back then, but you can at least use it to help line-up when events took place. I had to use the "Name" search to search for Imagic, but also the "Title" search for Demon Attack. You can also use the US Trademark database to cross reference what you find. I used the "Owner" search and put in "Imagic". None of this data is perfect because companies back then did a terrible job of filing trademarks and copyrights, but it's still an interesting source. Happy hunting and good luck with your research.

Orange box hot rods 27 games to play One has me hooked Head to head battle Tete a tete dans French,Oui? It's Number Cruncher Random number fall Gotta catch them with your car Red button speeds up 2-up battle for Integer Supremecy Game to one hundred?

Yes. Exactly.

I would like a Burroughs B - 205.

Star Castle and Asteroids were tops for me after 1978. But before that it had to be Fire Truck. I just blogged by Firetruck Haiku.

On black and white roads Through sleepy suburbs we drive Must get to the fire You sit and I stand Grab your wheel and prepare to haul The house is burning Time is running out Swing the cab over right, I will Swing the ladder left We never make it The road is always too long The flames burn forever

I looks very compelling.

Rarely acknowledged by whom?

I would assume that Tramiel costed down XE hardware significantly to save a lot of the eBOM.

MIST vs. Raspberry PI? Any opinions?

Looking for computers I see you under the glass Evil Asteroids Your brown box taunts me Sixty-Six variations Well worth the money? Asteroids float up Nothing like the arcade game Asteroids float down A wave of nausea Thigh stings from the pain of a Hole burnt in pocket Yet, I still play it Home is not like the arcade But it temps me so The beat transcends all Hypnotic flashing space rocks I give into it

It *was* confusing, and Atari's turmoil made people have to do their homework to figure out what to buy. I think, for most people, picking up a cheaper C64 from the abundant stack at Toys R Us was just an easier proposition. The 800XL should have been "the computer to have" in 1983, but (I believe) production issues stopped it from shipping to stores until very late in December. I surmise that this opened-up a huge space for the Commodore 64. I know my dad, my brother and I spent most of 1983 trying to figure out what Atari computer to get for Xmas that year. The 1200XL, the 600XL, the 800XL, the 1400XL the 1450XLD? Or maybe an old 400 or 800? The 1200XL was a dog, so we waited and waited for the 800XL, but stores simple did not have it. It was not until Xmas eve in 1983 that we found one, but by then my dad had already (secretly) purchased his friend's Atari 800 as a gift for us. We were die-hard dedicated to get an 800XL, and eve nwe could not get one. We lived in Los Angeles, so it's not like it was some far-out place to distribute product. Atari did itself no favors.

I don't think anyone is ignoring you. I think it's hard to find the right cadence (for lack of a better word) on an internet forum that has been around for a long time, especially if you are new. This place feels very welcoming, but also is attractive to a very wide swath of Atari and retro gaming and computer fans, many of which are interested in very specific things. So while there are a vast number of members, finding someone who has answers to specific questions is still not easy. IMHO of course. My advice: Just keep trying.

The Hall Of Champions Choose the four to venture forth Go into the depths Hey, are you hungry? How about a few wormrounds? Mmm, taste good don't they? Can't solve a puzzle? Try stepping backwards champion Find the pressure plates Need more ninja levels Drop everything, start throwing Down the hall and up Repeat this for hours Have I made neophyte yet? Hey, I'm an expert! I see the ending Lord Chaos, teleporting! STOP TELEPORTING!!!

Gave me 4 more K Gave me a tape interface Thanks, you gave me hope Mind master mazes Find the shapes, solve the puzzles Was I a lab rat? Frogger on cassette Pummeled frogger on cartridge Back to the stone age A real RPG? Dragonstomper came very close But I could not save

Hypnotic death notes Each block wails an 8-bit tone Blinks out then silence Burrow A Hole Through Your color-banded shield Watch ball go ape-crap Difficulty B Paddle too tiny. Back to Difficulty A One last little block Yes! I cleared level two What? No Level Three?

I had an old blog Filled With Haiku But I Cannot Access It It Is linked To An Ancient Email Address So Here I am Now Posting My Haiku For The Love Of Atari Beauty And Sadness

My brother and I ran an Atari 800 BBS for exactly 4 hours. We had one caller, but we had more fun visiting all your BBS systems instead, so we took it down.

In case anyone is interested, here is Alan Newman's profile on boardgamegeek.com

Kevin, You did a great job on this one asking questions about the Atari ST. Were you an ST owner, or were you just "taking one for the team" to get the best interview? either way, well done sir. -Steve

I'm really not sure why he chose Commodore over Atari. He was the only person I knew at the time who lived and worked in Silicon Valley, and the only person in our family who shared my brother and my interest in computers, and coached us along the way. He probably didn't buy an Atari because Atari computers might have been have been considered "toys" to the guys he worked with, or by himself. Or maybe he went to the store in 1983 and the Commodore 64 was the only thing on the shelf, so he bought it. I never asked him and he's dead now, but my cousin might know the answer. Now you have me intrigued. I'm going to have to ask him.

I recall my uncle, who was C64 nut, continually complaining that he had to return his machines because they did not work. He went on an on about how Tramiel made cheap crap. This was at least a year before Tramiel "bought" Atari. He warned me then that Atari would be "ruined" by Tramiel and his shoddy product. On the contrary, the only Atari machine I ever had that needed repair was my 1040ST...which was, curiously, was a Tramiel product.