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AtariAge News Archive
We see many projects come across Kickstarter, and every now and then we find one that we feel would be interesting to AtariAge visitors, and in this case, those that tinkered with early home computers back in the 70s and 80s. The READY! 100 is a portable solder-free DIY computer kit that features an extruded aluminum shell that accommodates any single board computer like a raspberry pi, 4x4 x86. pico-itx or something more exotic like an FPGA board and other external devices like dongles or batteries which can now become internal! It is a platform that brings a beautiful ultra-wide 1920x480 touch screen, 12 customizable industry standard input-outputs ports and 4 antenna ports with a full RGB backlit mechanical keyboard and a 5+5w stereo speaker system. You can use it to create a desktop enhancer, a portable laptop, a ham radio transceiver, a powerful router, a video game rig, audio/video recorder, or maybe something fun like a modernized Atari ST using something like a MiSTer FPGA! It's all up to your imagination. An open source version of the design has been created for anyone who wants to do it at home with the appropriate 3D Printer and CNC machine. There is ample room inside the case to fit any gadgets you'd like to integrate into a single device. You can even carry it around with you via a guitar strap with the compatible side strap locks. It is designed to be easily upgradable, easily repairable, fully modular, and a little flashy. The design was inspired by the angles and bevels found in early Atari 800 systems along with other companies like the TRS-80 Model 100, and the Apple II or Commodore 64. This is a premium built enclosure designed to last for many years. The READY!OS is a free open source Linux distribution that supports the unique feature set of the READY! 100. Please visit the Kickstarter campaign to learn more about the READY! 100 and make a pledge to support this project. You can also learn more by visiting the READY! 100 website directly. Discuss in our Forum with other visitors...
JagStudio is an advanced development suite for the Atari Jaguar that allows you to code using Assembler, BASIC or C and is based around Reboot's powerful RAPTOR API. Regardless of your programming capabilities, beginners to advanced coders can utilize this flexible package that will fully suit the needs of anyone looking to program exciting new games for the Jaguar. The benefits of using JagStudio are the Hardware Abstraction Layers (HALs) and the combination of external modules available to use. This allows you, the developer, to get on with writing your games while taking advantage of the Jaguar's powerful chipset without worrying about tedious, underlying mundane routines. The same results that once took days or weeks to achieve can now be done in a matter of minutes, thanks to the power of JagStudio! You are one click away from 64-bit creativity! Some of the features of JagStudio include:
Discuss in our Forum with other visitors...
Voting is now OPEN for the 3rd Annual Atari Homebrew Awards, celebrating the best in new Atari 2600, 7800 and 8-Bit/5200 homebrew games released in 2020! VOTE for your favorite homebrew of 2020 right now in fourteen different categories such as Best Graphics, Best Music+Sound, Best Packaging and Best Work-In-Progress! VOTE HERE: https://atariage.com/forums/forum/203-atari-homebrew-awards/ The results of the 3rd Annual Atari Homebrew Awards will be announced LIVE on the ZeroPage Homebrew's Twitch channel on February 6th, 2021 at 12PM PT | 3PM ET | 8PM GMT during a special broadcast. The winners and runners will be announced on the broadcast in each of the categories along with LIVE acceptance speeches from the winners, plus much more!! Discuss in our Forum with other visitors...
We are excited to announce the arrival of several new Atari 2600, 5200, 7800, and Atari 8-bit homebrew games in the AtariAge Store for pre-ordering! We were aiming to have these available several months ago, but everything's moving a bit slowly this year. All the boxes, manuals, and labels for these games have been ordered, and we anticipate having everything in January. Once all the printed materials arrive, we will promptly get all pre-orders shipped. Here's an image of all the new games: 
You can click on the following links to go directly to those games in the store:
Discuss in our Forum with other visitors...
 This Holiday Season is about to get a lot more interesting with a new Atari Lynx Game Jam being announced... Atari Gamer, in conjunction with AtariAge, ejagfest and Sillyventure, are bringing you this festive themed game jam to get some cheer, laughter and fun going into this Holiday Season! Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to make an Atari Lynx game within the next 15 days, to have fun and put a smile on players' faces. There are no prizes this time around, it is just for fun and enjoyment and to show off your skills. Full details of the Lynx 2020 Game Jam and how to participate can be found here. You can also discuss the Lynx 2020 Game Jam in our Atari Lynx Programming Forum. Have fun! Discuss in our Forum with other visitors...
We're proud to announce the addition of three new Atari Jaguar games to the AtariAge Store, Last Strike, reBOOTed, and Brawn and Brains! We've also re-issued an older Jaguar title, Xenon 2, with an updated box and label, as well as a completely new manual! Pre-order these games today, and we'll have them shipped to you in October. 
Here's a brief description of each of the new games: Last Strike: Last Strike is a fun shooter with both horizontal and vertical scrolling levels. You must defeat the enemies you encounter while traversing each level, rescuing any stranded humans you encounter along the way. And you'll want to rescue the humans, as you earn credits that you can later use in the shop to upgrade your ship! Some of the upgrades include the Megabomb, Twin Shot, Rear Shot, Shield, Extra Life, and Speedup. At the end of each level, you'll encounter an enemy boss that you must destroy in order to proceed to the next level! reBOOTed: From space, to the open highway, to the sea. The worlds of Reboot return in a multi-game cartridge that will make your head spin and TV explode with hours of fun! These landmark, thoroughly updated classics, can now be easily enjoyed in one cartridge! reBOOTed is a collection of seven Jaguar games on a single 6MB cartridge! The games featured in this multipack have all been given an update with new graphics, music and other additions such as Pro Controller support and cartridge saves. Some of these titles have previously never had a physical release, while others were only available on Jaguar CD or in extremely limited runs due to production costs. Brawn and Brains: Brawn and Brains is a collection of three unique Atari Jaguar games, each from a different Jaguar developer. This collection features Dragonkeep (Lawrence Staveley), Tiles (Rik Day), and Do the Same (Matmook/Jagware). This is the first release of these games in cartridge form, offered in an economical release with cartridge and manual. Discuss in our Forum with other visitors...
The Lynx Programming Competition 2020 has come to an end now and that means that there are new games for Atari Lynx fans to try out. This year's competition didn't draw in as many entries as the one last year, but we dare say that the quality of this year's entries is well over par! The competition was hosted over at itch.io this time around, which provided for a much better platform for entry submissions and now opens up all the games for rating by the public. So be sure to try out each game, you can play them all online via Atari Gamer's Atari Lynx Emulator. Direct links to play the games can be found over on this page at Atari Gamer. The competition was sponsored by Atari Gamer, RetroHQ, Mark/Space: Project Argon and AtariAge. 
Voting ends September 15, 2020, so be sure to try out these new Lynx games and vote for your favorites today! Discuss in our Forum with other visitors...
Atari Gamer and RetroHQ have launched a fresh Atari Lynx 2020 Programming Competition this year with the theme of "Future", retro future that is! This is a programming competition for anyone wanting to show off their skills at coding for the Atari Lynx. If you think you have what it takes, join, submit and bask in the retro glory of this amazing console! The contest runs through August 15, 2020, after which voting for the winning entries will commence! Prizes include a Lynx GameDrive cartridge from RetroHQ, cash donated by Mark/Space, and the opportunity to have your new Lynx game professionally published by AtariAge (with five free copies of your game, along with royalties). For more details about the contest and how you can enter, please visit the Lynx 2020 Programming Competition page at Atari Gamer. This is the second Lynx Programming contest hosted by Atari Gamer, and you can check out the details of last year's competition here - Atari Lynx 30th Birthday Programming Competition. You can discuss the Lynx 2020 Programming Competition with other AtariAge members in our Atari Lynx Programming Forum. 
Good luck, we can't wait to see (and play!) all the great entries! Discuss in our Forum with other visitors...
The new releases from October's Portland Retro Gaming Expo are now available to purchase online! In total we have nine new 2600 games, one new 5200 game, and one new 7800 title! You can click on the images below to jump directly to each game's entry in the store. 
Here's a list of the new games:
Discuss in our Forum with other visitors...
The Atari Lynx turned 30 in 2019 and Atari Gamer decided to turn this event into a momentous birthday party! The Atari Gamer Programming Competition was envisaged so that homebrew developers would bring a handful of new games to the Atari Lynx on its 30th Birthday. Instead, we got eleven new games across all genre styles! This ahead-of-its-time console is getting a whole lot of presents, so join in with us in celebrations, enjoy all the new games and keep on Lynxing! There are eleven new games for the Atari Lynx to celebrate its 30th Birthday. You can download their ROMs or play them in your web browser by following the links on this page. After you've played the games, please cast votes for your favorites! You can also discuss the games and leave comments in the discussion threads for each of these new titles in our forum. Your voice will help determine the winners! The complete ROM package is available for download here. Inside you will find all of the original submissions, as well as a directory with converted LYX ROMs for AgaCart and a directory of ROMs and a special launcher to use with the Lynx SD cartridge. Be sure to have a look at the README.txt file for more instructions. And don't forget to vote! Discuss in our Forum with other visitors...
We've launched a Summer Sale with 10% off all 2600, 5200, 7800 and Jaguar games (minus pre-order games) in the AtariAge Store! Now's a great time to pick up some of those homebrew games you've been eyeing but haven't yet pulled the trigger on! This sale is for two weeks only, and only applies to games, hardware is excluded. As a BONUS, any purchase of $200 or more will receive a free copy of Balloon Trip or Sheep It Up!, a $25 value! Sale ends on Thursday, September 5th, 2019 at 11:59pm CST! Please visit the AtariAge Store for complete details. Discuss in our Forum with other visitors...
Our friend Curt Vendel of AtariMuseum.com attended the recent Vintage Computer Festival East, where he assembled an impressive exhibit covering the Atari 400/800 computers to honor the 40th anniversary of the Atari 8-bit computer line. Bill and Anthony of the The Guru Meditation YouTube channel were given a tour of this exhibit by Curt, where he describes some of the hardware and software on display. Besides the hardware that saw retail release that Atari 8-bit computer fans are familiar with, Curt also talks about some unreleased prototypes he had on hand, such an 850 Interface Module in a black, aluminum case, an 800D (Developer) system that had an expansion bus and serial ports on the side, and a cost-reduced Atari 800 "Collette" board where everything was on the main board as opposed to the use of expansion slots. Also on display was an interactive Atari sales kiosk featuring the ERIC Laserdisc demonstrator system. You can watch the video below: Discuss in our Forum with other visitors...
AtariProtos.com, a website that investigates and reviews unreleased prototypes for various Atari consoles, has uncovered new Work in Progress (WIP) versions of many Atari 2600 games. Many thanks to the efforts of Ken Van Mersbergen (Dutchman2000) for obtaining access to these games and sharing them with the community, and to Matt Reichert for reviewing these prototypes and describing how they differ from the released versions of the games. Several reviews of these prototypes have already been posted, with a promise of more to follow:
You can learn more about these prototypes by visiting the links above, and you can download the binaries themselves from this thread in our Prototypes forum. Discuss in our Forum with other visitors...
The Portland Retro Gaming Expo is one of the largest classic gaming events in the country, bursting at the seams with video games and game-related activities all weekend long! The PRGE Retrocade opens to the public at noon on Friday, featuring 30,000 square feet of full-size arcade games and pinball machines, and the main exhibition hall (along with the arcade) will be open Saturday and Sunday. Here's an incomplete list of what you'll find at the show:
Discuss in our Forum with other visitors...
We've recently upgraded the AtariAge Forums to a significantly newer version! This was a long time coming, and the updated forum has a wealth of improvements over the previous incarnation. Here's a brief list of some of the improvements:
If you're an active user of the forum, please consider purchasing a subscription. It's very time consuming to keep AtariAge online, and it's also expensive as AtariAge is run on two dedicated servers--one serving the web pages and another devoted to the databases. On top of that we have a third server used for development, on which we also provide free hosting for several classic gaming-related sites. These dedicated servers run over $600 a month, and there are also various software-related expenses involved as well (such as the forum license, which is over $200 a year). The upgrade for the forums and moving AtariAge to a new web server during this process cost roughly $2,500. We do not presently have ads on AtariAge, but it is something we've considered doing to help offset the costs and time involved. We'd prefer not to go that route, though! Important! If you are UNABLE TO LOGIN to the forum after the upgrade, please make sure you login with your display name. If you had a login that was different than your visible name on the forum, it will no longer work (these were eliminated). You can read more information about this upgrade as well as leave feedback in our Announcements Forum. Discuss in our Forum with other visitors...
ZeroPage Homebrew will be streaming a 12 HOUR homebrew gaming marathon fundraiser on July 12, 2019 for the continued development of the amazing Atari 2600 emulator Stella. Stella development began in 1996, is maintained by Stephen Anthony (stephena), and many contributors have put in the their time, equipment and dollars over the years towards its continued success. 100% of all funds raised through auctions and donations will go to the Stella project! Over the twelve hours of the marathon the crew at ZeroPage will be playing all your favorite homebrews, taking gaming challenges from the chat, trying for new highscores and generally having a ton of fun. We'll also be auctioning off a whole bunch of generously donated items to help raise funds for the incredible work that's being done on Stella. Supporting the development of Stella not only provides you with an amazing Atari 2600 emulator to play all your favorite old school and new homebrew games, it's also and incredibly important tool in the development of new games for your VCS! Stella has a large number of helpful utilities under the hood to help troubleshoot and analyze issues during the process of making a game. By supporting Stella, you're helping accelerate the development of games and push games to further and further heights! 
Generously Donated Auction Items (more to come!):
Discuss in our Forum with other visitors...
We've just added two new Atari Jaguar titles to the AtariAge Store! We're proud to reveal that Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe and Fantasy World Dizzy are now available to pre-order. Each game includes a high-quality, professionally printed box, manual and label. Fantasy World Dizzy (like Treasure Island Dizzy before it) is limited to 250 copies. We expect to ship these as soon as printing of the boxes, manuals and labels is complete, so order today to make sure you're among the first to enjoy them!  Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe It's been two years since the last ball was thrown on a Speedball pitch. There are new teams, new stadia, and new rules. The arena is bigger, the players are tougher, and the action is faster than ever before. The challenge is this: take control of Brutal Deluxe, the worst team in Speedball history, and turn them into champions. Speedball 2 is a different ball game! Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe is a video game based on a violent futuristic cyberpunk sport that draws on elements of handball and ice hockey, and rewards violent play as well as goals. The concept of the game is very reminiscent of the 1975 film Rollerball. The original game was developed by Bitmap Brothers and is one of their most successful titles. Originally released for the Atari ST in 1990, Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe has been ported to a variety of additional systems and has finally made it's way to the Atari Jaguar! Fantasy World Dizzy Dizzy & Daisy strolled through the enchanted forest without a care in the world... But suddenly the Evil King's trolls seized poor Daisy! She was sent to the Wizards Weird's Tallest Tower, while Dizzy was dragged away and thrown into the deepest, darkest, dankest of the King's Dungeons in the bowels of Fantasy World. Dizzy was frightened! Who knew what fate awaited him...and he still hadn't done this week's homework! But then he remembered that he had a fresh green apple that he had planned to give to his teacher to escape detention, and he cheered up. And there was some bread and water on the table! A cunning plan began to brew in his mind... Dizzy and The Yolkfolk are characters created by the Oliver Twins, and these characters would appear in many games during the 8 and 16-bit eras. Most of their appearances were in multi-screen platform adventure puzzle games, however, they also appeared in some great arcade games as the title characters. Slowly, over the course of the series, we learn more about this odd little family and help them out of the tricky situations they find themselves in by visiting the many varied locations of their magical world. Fantasy World Dizzy is our second Dizzy release, following on the heels of Treasure Island Dizzy, which is still available for purchase (get it while supplies last, though!) You can learn more about Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe and Fantasy World Dizzy by visiting the AtariAge Store. Discuss in our Forum with other visitors...
Darren Doyle of Greyfox Books has launched a Kickstarter campaign to create the first unofficially-licensed coffee table book on the Atari 8-bit Home Computer, Atari: A Visual History. The book pays a huge tribute to this incredible home computer, its product design, and its amazing catalogue of third-party software associated with this iconic 8-bit system. Atari: A Visual History is the very first book of this kind to be released for the Atari 8-bit home computer enthusiast in a visual compendium, ever! Darren has spent many months on development of this title and has acquired some incredible content along the way. Features of the book include:
The premise of the book is to cover a huge majority of classic third-party Atari 8-bit software from such amazing software houses as Datasoft, Broderbund, First Star Software and the likes. A selection of commercial and non-commercial homebrew games will also be covered in the book, giving these games the exposure in a visual compendium never seen in a format of this type before. Atari: A Visual History will also deliver a selection of interviews with game designers who worked on the Atari 8-bit. The three most popular computers of Atari's 8-bit computer range receive their very own profile coverage, with additional exclusive photography of these computers by Roberto Rogel, as well as a choice selection of Atari-related peripherals. The book will measure 170mm x 230mm (6” x 9”) and will only be available in hardcover form for maximum durability, comprising a whopping 420 pages of content. Please visit the Kickstarter campaign to learn more about Atari: A Visual History and make a pledge to support this project. You can discuss the book with its author Darren Doyle in our Atari 8-bit Computers Forum. Discuss in our Forum with other visitors...
 This year marks the 40th anniversary of the release of the Atari 400/800 computers, and to help celebrate this event, the Atari Museum has been working with one of the original Atari 400/800 computer engineers, Joe Decuir, to put on an exhibit at the annual Vintage Computer Festival East. This year's show takes place May 3-5, 2019 in Wall, New Jersey at the InfoAge Science and History Center. Each year the science center hosts a myriad of vintage computers from 8-bit home computers to mini and mainframes of all shapes and sizes. The Atari Museum exhibit hosted by Curt Vendel and Joe Decuir will feature every piece of hardware ever produced for the 400/800 series, as well as unique prototype equipment. But the 400/800 exhibit is just one small part of the overall Atari exhibit, which will also be a tribute to Jay Miner. Peter Fletcher, Bill Lange, Amiga Bill, and Dean Notarnicola will also be on hand, displaying Atari computers from the XL, XE, ST and Falcon series in this huge overall exhibit. The Lorraine will be there as well – Jay Miner’s amazing Amiga 1000. Thanks to Evan Koblentz, executive director of the Vintage Computer Festival (VCF), Joe Decuir will be giving a formal speaking presentation at VCF covering the Atari 400/800 computers, from their beginnings as an improved design over the Atari 2600, to the final production computer designs. Evan and Jay will then discuss the follow-up 68000-based computer that the Atari’s could have further evolve into, a design that would eventually see reality years later as the Amiga “Lorraine.” This is a rare and special opportunity, not just for Atari enthusiasts, but for anyone who loves the Atari 2600 to the Atari computers to the Amiga to see and meet the man who was involved in all three product designs. Please visit the Vintage Computer Festival website to learn more! Pictured above is the The Atari Home Computer Demonstrator, which will be on display as part of this exhibit. Discuss in our Forum with other visitors...
 Our friends at Piko Interactive have opened up pre-ordering for their next two Atari Jaguar titles, Head over Heels and Impossamole! The games will be available for pre-order until April 15 2019. During the pre-order period they are discounted $5 and will see a price hike on and after April 2019! First up is the Gremlin graphics action platformer Impossamole. Monty Mole has been living in luxury since his previous adventures, but he has now been beamed up by an alien race who want him to do a job for them. Monty must trek through five worlds to retrieve the sacred scrolls of the race's Guardians. The platform-based gameplay is similar to Monty's earlier games, with primarily horizontal progress as well as ropes and ladders to navigate. Monty has developed a useful flying kick and has been given a smart bomb, with the potential to collect extra bombs and guns. Hazards, enemies and level designs are themed around each level, and range from cable cars and falling snowballs to Ninjas and Monkeys. Improvements have been made to the music and the gameplay for a better user experience. Impossamole features a cardboard box, instruction manual, and game cartridge. Next is Head Over Heels, the classic Ocean Software puzzle adventure. OK, let me try and explain this. You see, Heads (he's the one with arms) can glide and jump and shoot, but he can't carry anything. And Heels, the one with the feet, can carry things, but he can't shoot. And if you get them together then they can do all sorts of things... Let me try again. There's this evil emperor, see, called Blacktooth, and he's enslaved all these different planets. So Head and Heels are trying to liberate the Five Crowns and... well there are these doughnuts, and some fish and bunny rabbits, and... well, it's really sort of... unique. Head Over Heels is a great strategy puzzle game originally developed by Ocean Software for the Amiga, Atari ST, and other early computer platforms. Finally it is playable on the Atari Jaguar. Head over Heels includes a cardboard box, instruction manual, and game cartridge. Pre-Orders will ship by April 15, 2019. The $5 price hike will apply on and after this date. You can learn more over at Piko Interactive. Discuss in our Forum with other visitors... 1 2 3 4 5 6 ... 83 Next |
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