Anyone got "The Atari Book" by Imagine?

[Foebane]

This, I mean:

 

https://www.imagineshop.co.uk/the-atari-book.html

 

If so, are there a lot of articles on the 400/800/XL/XE platforms? Hopefully those that have already been featured in Retro Gamer? And if so, what are they? The description given is rather lacking IMHO.

 

[Fletch]

This, I mean:

 

https://www.imagineshop.co.uk/the-atari-book.html

 

If so, are there a lot of articles on the 400/800/XL/XE platforms? Hopefully those that have already been featured in Retro Gamer? And if so, what are they? The description given is rather lacking IMHO.

 

 

 

There is an article about the 800XL.

 

10 best 8-bit games.

 

Side bar info about the 400,800,1200XL,65XE,XEGS, and 800XE.

 

Atari 8-bit website info

 

De Re Atari

 

Interviews with developers

 

The Making of Dandy

 

 

The rest of the book is about all other things Atari.

 

I own it, and its a nice casual read.

[Hyperboy]

I have it on order and i'm waiting for delivery!

[Foebane]

Thanks for the input, I might get it but not for several months yet.

 

The thing is, I was hoping to get a good all-round book on the finest 8-bit computer ever devised, the 400/800/XL/XE series, and their creator, Jay Miner, but I think that series was wayyy underrated and will not really be remembered.

 

So instead, I got The Amiga Book, as that machine has gone down in history as the finest 16-bit computer ever devised, bar none. And WILL be remembered.

[Fletch]

Thanks for the input, I might get it but not for several months yet.

 

The thing is, I was hoping to get a good all-round book on the finest 8-bit computer ever devised, the 400/800/XL/XE series, and their creator, Jay Miner, but I think that series was wayyy underrated and will not really be remembered.

 

So instead, I got The Amiga Book, as that machine has gone down in history as the finest 16-bit computer ever devised, bar none. And WILL be remembered.

 

Bar none? Remembered?

 

History can be fickle. Ask someone under 25 if they know what an Amiga or an Atari 8-bit computer is/was and unless you find an uber nerd you'll get a blank stare.

[Mark Wright]

I am currently selling a spare copy on eBay UK - I won't post a link as this isn't the Marketplace, but if you search "The Atari Book Retro Gamer" I think it's the only copy currently out there (priced to sell at original RRP)!

 

Mixed feelings about The Atari Book, really. On the one hand, it's great that such a thing exists. Certainly a novelty here in the UK to be able to find magazines on the high street in 2015, proudly displaying words like "Atari" and "Amiga" in bold font, standing out among the X-Box/Mac/Android titles. On the other hand, it's well-known that Retro Gamer's Atari 8-bit-centric features are often found wanting, due to the lack of working knowledge of their go-to guy for such articles. So while it's nice that RG have belatedly taken the 8-bit Atari to its busom, sadly (and sometimes infuriatingly) its representation within the pages of RG (upon which The Atari Book is based) can fluctuate between off-kilter, wildly inacurrate, and downright unrecognisable.

 

That said, it's nice and glossy - it will look good on your coffee table - and is worthy of your support and congratulations for existing at all. Did I mention I'm selling my spare copy?

 

Bottom line: seasoned AA'ers should probably observe "caveat emptor". Do you have what it takes to resist a primal urge to tear it to shreds, or set it on fire, when your heart sinks at every missed question in an interview with a key Atari 8-bit person? What about when you read lazy repeated received wisdom that we all know has long since been debunked? How are you with basic inaccuracies? Can you hold your nerve when faced with jarring narratives and clumsy timelines? If any of this is likely to keep you awake at night, my advice is to steer well clear. However, if you're the type more likely to chortle out loud at such clangers and howlers, while enjoying the pretty pictures, a quick reminder that I'm selling my spare copy.

 

Overall: 4/10.

 

BYE.

[+slx]

The thing is, I was hoping to get a good all-round book on the finest 8-bit computer ever devised, the 400/800/XL/XE series, and their creator, Jay Miner, but I think that series was wayyy underrated and will not really be remembered.

 

Rumor has it that a "platform series" book in the style of "Racing the Beam" is in the works for the 8-bits, that's probably the stuff you're waiting for. (I faintly remember either reading about it here or hearing about it in one of the Atari podcasts.)

[Foebane]

Thanks for the heads-up, Mark Wright.

 

As it is, I already have the first two Retro Gamer Collector's Hardware books, and I think they have the main A8 articles mentioned above, so I don't need them again.

 

Yes, Retro Gamer criminally misunderstands and underappreciates the A8, but then many people in the 1980s did, being besotted with their Speccys and C64s and Amstrads and even BBC Micros instead, but at least the Amiga had much more widespread appeal, acclaim and it was really Jay Miner's pet project, and an innovative and revolutionary piece of hardware in itself, and I'm glad to have gotten that Amiga book, now that it seems to be sold out on the Imagine website.

[Jetboot Jack]

The book is okay - lots of reprints of articles, nothing really new - but a nice compendium, an easy read.

 

The 8bit material is thin and not super accurate, as usual for retro gamer.

 

If what slx says and Ian Bogost and chums are doing a platform book that could be awesome, the 2600 one (Racing the Beam) is fantastic, the Amiga one (The Future Was Here) less so. Although I have the Nintendo one on pre-order (I Am Error) in the hope they can recover..

 

sTeVE

Edited February 20, 2015 by Jetboot Jack

[akator]

Overall: 4/10.

 

That was a great review and spot on. for the post but not "The Atari Book."

[Foebane]

I collected a few A8-related articles from different issues of Retro Gamer, namely these:

 

Atari 8-bit - 35 Years Young

The History of Boulder Dash

Hybrid Heaven? An Atari XEGS Retrospective

 

Are these articles in The Atari Book?

[Lost Dragon]

As an Ex-RG magazine subscriber, they had my money for years, i'm going to give a balanced view i hope:

It was clear in the 'early days' that UK wise, they lacked freelancers with A8 experience, that's understandable as it was something of a niche machine compared to the C64/ZX Spectrum/Amstrad CPC and as others have pointed out in other threads, there was'nt the software house support for it, so...you'd have to ask from a customer base point of view, if I.P thought there was a big enough readership in UK alone to 'justify' giving the format a lot of coverage...

It was bloody annoying as an ex-A8 owner to see articles on Multi-Platform games that at best had a single screenshot of the A8 version and a few lines of text, as it felt like yet another massive missed opp.

I've ranted before that when Druid was covered they had never looked into claims put by The Games Machine about Druid II being done, so there was a 'missed question' at interview, instead i had to track John down and ask him myself.

[Lost Dragon]

Not something you'd expect to do if your paying for what the marketing dept keep proclaiming as 'award winning articles'.Ditto it's been frustrating to see I.D and Core Design interviewed numerous times, no-one appeared to ask about Jaguar Quake or Tomb Raider etc, so again, more missed Atari based questions, which has meant i've had to put time in, lot of dead ends, just to get the info i have so far.

 

so step forward the 'go-to' guy, very enthusiastic, passionate about the whole Atari range, which IS fantastic, you need that energy, that drive, but it alone is NOT enough...

 

 

By his own admission he was 'late' to the A8 scene, unlike many of us on here, he was NOT an A8 owner during it's commercial life and thus did'nt live through the periods we fondly (or not so fondly) remember and it shows.

 

Facebook etc interviews with coders of the era are fantastic, great insights, add credibility to the article, but they cannot paper over the cracks that appear when you read a look back article...

[Lost Dragon]

(Cont) and say hold on a min...it was never like that!.

 

Think the reason's for Atari wanting the XE GS was a prime example, it simply did'nt tie-up with version of events Bob Gleadow etc were giving.

 

But too be 100% fair here, the version of events regarding the NES and the UK have been re-written just as incorrectly, so i cannot single out writer X.

 

My main concern was when things were being stated as FACT in the magazine, Ohh ST Myth DID come out, the Lynx did sell an estimated number of units, woah, hold on, rewind that figure is'nt true, nor is it THE answer you were given, so why change it for the article?.

 

It's not us, the then paying reader creating lies or slander, or making the magazine look bad or any of the other claims i've had thrown at me, it's likes of myself having paid for a magazine hoping to gain fresh insights, tossing it aside thinking, why am i still buying this? force of habbit?.

[Lost Dragon]

Bottom line though is the days of print material are in pretty rapid decline.Here in UK so many magazines gone under, RG has to sell and sell well each and every month to survive and that means going after the mass market, so i'm sure the vast majority of it's readership now honestly are'nt that bothered how 'factual' the articles are.Many on the forum kicked up over too much Atari coverage in a short period of time, i'd guess a lot of it's newer readers started gaming on NES, MS, MD, SNES etc, so would have no idea what the St, let alone the 400/800 were, have been hand fed the concept the Jaguar was simply awful etc etc.

 

So anytime they are looking for another Atari related piece, they are'nt looking for an article that's as historical spot-on as humanly possible, they just need 4 pages, mix of text, screens, top 5 or top 10 games you should play and a few interviews/quotes from to flesh it out.

 

The new generation of readers now want more PS1 etc coverage.

 

I had my time with it, it had my money.

[Lost Dragon]

I know i'm going to get slagged off on Facebook etc, numerous places for posting the above, but i'm only speaking as someone who's been a paying consumer all these years.

 

 

Edge gave fantastic interviews during the Jaguar era with Rebellion/ATD/Core/Minter and I.D did superb making of's in cases of AVP+Tempest 2000 yet any historical look at the A8 hardware, let alone refering to the Jaguar as a twin 32 Bit system, left me rolling my eyes.

 

 

Gamestm's Atari coverage seemed 'mixed' at best, 2600, ST, Lynx and Jaguar covered, but cannot think of any A8 stuff during my time as a subscriber, in it's Retro section.

 

Retro Gamer:I've Marty G to thank for the superb USA based information, historical looks at Atari-stuff i'd never seen elsewhere, TMR for the homebrew and the 7800 coverage in the very early days, Pre-I.P gave an interview with the 7800 Graphics Chip Designer, so i've a lot to thank RG for over the years.

[Lost Dragon]

I've just openly questioned choice of writers at times-The Rev doing Kick Off? just came across as flame-bait, ditto any NES saved UK Gaming articles.

 

 

Not sure IF it's avaiable on line, but the £1.25 i paid for Keith Ainsworth's RETROGAMER Fanzine (back in the day) Issue 25 Atari 400/800 Retro Raiders, was superb VFM, might have only been B/W , but articles by Jon Legg, Keith Ainsworth etc were superb and you could tell these guys had lived through the era i had and that's all i'd ask for, from any historical look back in any publication-If your going to do it, either find someone who was there at the time, or if that's not possible, have the writer make it clear he/she sadly missed out then and thus this will be based on material, not personal exp.

 

Enthusiastic and passionate writers i love, i'm just of the breed that expects a degree of hands-on exp or if that's not avaiable a degree of professional research in professional publications like RG/Edge/Gamestm.If it's not there? i don't buy.

[Mclaneinc]

I read the book but the info felt like it had been googled or wkiki'ed and was just ropey and wrong, the 8bit coverage was patchy and short lived where it could have been fleash out a lot more.

 

It just felt like "what over systems can we make a buck out of" type book..(I suspect it was that).

[Lost Dragon]

I've started giving my back issues of RG Away, friend from RG forum had a few copies sent to his mate in the USA by myself, so IF there's anyone on here after a particular issue, shout out i'll see if i still have it and if so, it's yours.

 

I've enjoyed the Atari based articles by:Marty, Mike Bevan, Damien Mcferran, Rory Milne, David Crooke etc, along with TMR's Homebrew coverage, so i'm not (believe it or not..) here to 'slag' a magazine i'd supported/paid for over the years.I just feel they've made a few unwise choices on article writers along the way.The 'recent' Golden Axe article was another example of not reflecting what actually happened at the time in terms of press reaction to several of the games in the series mentioned, ditto Strider 2..so i'd personally they never meanted things like games being 'universally panned' when in fact whilst scores were mixed, they recieved a lot of good reviews, as again it feels like writer is coming from a twilight zone version of the period i myself lived through.

[Lost Dragon]

The 'goto' guy, in fairness has 'written' some great articles on various developers/companies, these 'worked' for myself far better than the Atari coverage which came across as too unrealistic or Minority Reports where YouTube clearly used, mistakes crept in and someone had put music on a video they put up, so 'writer' thought it was in-game music.

 

The most worrying claim for future of UK magazine industry was claim I.P were sending out a survey asking IF people would be prepared to pay more for a digital copy of a magazine than a physical one.I've no idea if said claim was true, but if so...and they want more money, they and any other publisher, should be prepared for more people to get angry when research is being done on the cheap.They are no longer fighting rival magazines, but the whole internet in terms of delivering information.

 

People already saying paper quality is on the decline so think corners are being cut across the board, sadly.

 

 

 

Printing costs these days must be horrendous...

[Foebane]

I collected a few A8-related articles from different issues of Retro Gamer, namely these:

 

Atari 8-bit - 35 Years Young

The History of Boulder Dash

Hybrid Heaven? An Atari XEGS Retrospective

 

Are these articles in The Atari Book?

 

No-one answered my question above.

[Mclaneinc]

Not that I can see...Any of them...

[Lost Dragon]

Knowing I.P they are probably saved for Vol 2 of The Atari Book.....