Atari 7800 goes open source
In a somewhat belated move calculated to “give potential developers insight into the Atari’s gaming platform so they may possibly build upon the 7800 series,” Atari has released the source code to several awesome but rarely-played Atari 7800 games, including Dig Dug, Centipede, Joust, and Pac-Man. I’m not sure the 7800 is really competing these days, Atari, but we appreciate your contribution nonetheless.
I would have guessed that the widely available complete ROM dumps of these games would have made a release like this unnecessary, but that’s apparently not true. Clearly there’s more to these old games than their assets and final code. There are also some internal utilities released, dev systems and such. Be sure to check the notice at the bottom of the Atari Museum page, by the way. Very funny.
(if you're too lazy to look for it...)
Note: If you are going to Mirror these sources or place them onto your own site, please have the respect and courtesy to include with them - Source: www.atarimuseum.com as these wouldn't exist if I hadn't of climbed into a filthy dumpster at 3am in the morning behind the old Atari building in Sunnyvale and salvaged them and restored them from their diskettes.
Link: http://www.atarimuseum.com/videogames/consoles/7800/games/
From: http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/07/03/atari-7800-goes-open-source/
Atari USB Flash Drive
Somewhere in a parallel universe where Atari is still king, this is what their flash drives look like. In our world USB flash drives are small and come in all sorts of shapes that are smaller than an Atari cartridge. Except this one.
(It's just a USB flash drive cleverly slotted into an old cart, but what better way to tote a ROM collection around?)
The Atari USB flash drive comes with a USB cable to plug into your computer since the thing is too big to just hang off the USB port. It does evoke some nostalgia from those of us old enough to remember the Atari 2600.
You could probably fit all of the Atari classics on this one drive.
Link: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=7641590
From: http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2009/07/06/flash-drive-in-the-s.html
Atari 1200XL Stacked Up Against a Dell Inspiron
My first computer was the short-lived 1200XL model of the Atari 8-bit computer line. I finally got ahold of one again, after having to settle with a lesser Atari system. My immediate reaction was: 'Damn, it's as big as my Dell Inspiron laptop!', and I couldn't resist doing one of those side-by-side comparisons, complete with photos of one system sitting atop the other. (I also put the 1983 storage and speeds in 2009 terms, for the benefit of the youngin's out there.) While in many ways the Atari pales in comparison to the latest technology they cram into laptops, I do get to benefit from SD storage media. It also still boots way faster than Ubuntu on the Dell, has a far more ergonomic keyboard, and is much more toddler-proof.
Link: http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/bill/photos/atari1200xl_vs_dellinsp...
From: http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/09/07/08/1917200/Atari-1200XL-Stac...
Atari 2600 Version of Mega Man Now Available for Download
The Atari 2600 version of Mega Man is now available for download! And in case anyone is worried about some sort of legal ramifications, this story comes straight from the Capcom*Unity (who got it from GameSetWatch, who in turn learned of it from Retronauts, who found it at the AtariAge Forums. Got it? Good).
"It was done on a tight deadline and uses modified batari basic," reveals coder and artist David Galloway, "there's quite a bit of straight assembly code and it runs on a Super Chip because I needed the extra ram. And it's a 32K bankswitched cart because of all of the art."
All said, it's an impressive piece-- at least in the context of art.
Link: http://www.kombo.com/article.php?artid=13311
LucasArts To Re-Release Old Games Through Steam
LucasArts today announced that they will soon be releasing games from their back catalog through Steam. The releases begin this Wednesday with a group of eight games, including Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, The Dig, LOOM, and Star Wars: Battlefront II. This is apparently just "the first round of releases," so we can doubtless expect to see more of their old games before long. Joystiq spoke with LucasArts CEO Darrell Rodriguez, who said the company is considering updated versions of the old games, depending on how well next week's launch of Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition goes. He also hinted at the possibility that some games could be ported to mobile gaming devices, such as the PSP Go and the iPhone.
Link: http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/07/06/1948229
Call out to EtherNat recipients
This is a call out to a few EtherNat buyers which we cannot get hold of, because of expired email addresses or no email address at all. The following people have prepaid at least one EtherNat from us. If you find your name here, please contact us and state your name and shipping address.
O Toumelin
A Beuscher
C Fittoni
W Martz
Z Lodovico
Contact us at henrik (at) gildaelectronics (dot) se
Link: http://nature.atari.org
From: http://www.atari.org/
TOPP and www.ataricq.org merged and revamped
Two old websites have merged - into a \"new\" one.
After a rather long period of no real news on my webpages, I decided something needed to be done about it. I have noted over time that updates have been slipping, often due to the fact that it involves more work to maintain a website consisting of handcrafted HTML-pages - especially when a site spans over wide areas such as icons archives, software support pages and so forth.
That is why I came to the conclusion that a Content Management System of some kind was needed to allow for easier maintainance. I did chose Joomla, since it seemed to be flexible and powerful enough and also is free to use. The downside with going the CMS route might be a loss of the original website feeling. However, when considering the option being a less frequently updated website with decreasing value to visistors I think the chosen path will turn out for the better.
What about The Orphaned Projects Page? Well, when working with moving all the website content for my http://www.ataricq.org page, it occured to me that moving the source codes to the very same website would make things even more convenient to handle - not to mention the advantage of suddenly having all of the TOPP sources available in catagories, and fully searchable through the website search engine!
Anyway, please have a look at the revamped website, and do let me know how you like it, or if there is something you find is missing.
/Joakim
Link: http://www.ataricq.org/
From: http://www.atari.org/
Good Deal Games - Homebrew Heaven
Our friends at Good Deal Games have recently relaunched their online store, giving it a new emphasis on homebrew games. Their "Homebrew Heaven" specialized store deals mostly with homebrew releases for a wide variety of classic gaming systems, stocking over 200 unique homebrew projects from authors around the world. Good Deal Games is also now stocking AtariAge homebrew titles, as well as a plethora of reproduction titles for the 2600, 5200 and 7800. If you enjoy playing original homebrew games for classic gaming systems, then you'll want to check out Homebrew Heaven!
Link: http://gooddealgames.com/
From: http://www.atariage.com/
Last Issue of 2600 Connection - #100
Issue #100 of the 2600 Connection is now available. This special color edition is also the final issue of a periodical that was first published almost 20 years ago. Articles in the July/August issue include:
* Farewell from the editor
* An interview with programmer Larry Martin
* Prehistoric Times – game review
* Solution to Actionauts
* Solution to The Last Ninja
* Status of Mean Santa – new game for the 2600
* 100th Issue Prize Drawing - results
* Letters
* News & Notes
* Classified Ads
The 2600 Connection is a printed newsletter published bimonthly. To learn how to purchase this issue or buy back issues, please visit the 2600 Connection website.
Link: http://2600connection.atari.org/
From: http://www.atariage.com/
Why You Can't Complain About the Price of Today's Gadgets
If the Apple II was too rich for your blood, you could have gone out and purchased the base model Atari 800 with up to 48K RAM and a 1.8MHz MOS 6502 processor for $1000 ($2,946). Want a floppy drive with that? No problem, that will be $600 ($1,767) extra. I'll even throw in a black-on-white dot-matrix printer for $450 ($1,326).
If you were gaming at home in the late '70s, chances are you had the Atari 2600. It was the first console to feature plug-in cartridges and it cost $200 ($589) at launch. All in all, that figure is comparable to some configurations of the Xbox 360 and PS3 at launch, but it is important to consider that the latter consoles do more than just play games, acting as movie players, music decks, telecommunications hubs, all of which would have meant buying separate, expensive, primitive components back then.
From: http://gizmodo.com/5313690/why-you-cant-complain-about-the-price-of...
