atari 2600 – Page 2 – Obsolete Gamer

Mythbusting six common video game trivia mistakes

Another very common error, despite being easy to disprove with a quick Google search. I’ve heard people tell me that “Jumpman” was the name for Mario in the original Donkey Kong arcade game, with some going so far as to tell me he wasn’t even named Mario until Donkey Kong Junior or even the original Mario Bros. None of this is quite correct. While it is true that Mario’s working name was Jumpman, and that the instructions on the original arcade version do call him that, the name of Mario came along before Nintendo was even pushing Donkey Kongmachines out the door. The original advertising flyer, released at the time the game was released, refers to the character as Mario numerous times

Hardware

Patrick Scott Patterson

Atari’s XE Game System

The XEGS also boasted of a huge library of games available for play due to backward compatibility with previous Atari products. While technically true, the game library was deeply aged by the time the XEGS hit store shelves. Most of the XE branded games in stores were simply repackaged Atari computer game titles while others were translations of other home computer licenses as Nintendo had exclusive deals signed for almost every other arcade hit.

Blog

Patrick Scott Patterson

Latest sales figures show all three modern consoles now top lifetime NES sales

Now, according to sales-tracking website VGChartz.com the PlayStation 3 has now also topped the lofty NES numbers. Not only does this put all three PlayStation consoles into the top five best-selling consoles of all-time, but it also means the PS3 joins the Nintendo Wii and XBox 360 in that short list. All three modern consoles have now topped the NES lifetime sales figures, a first for any console generation in history. (Author’s note: All three consoles have also topped the NES software sales figures, according to the same website.)

Atari 2600

Matt McKee

Haunted House

Old guy died and his ghost is still “haunting” the house. There are other creepy-crawlies in there as well. Four floors to the house with six rooms on each floor, stairs seperating the floors. Some doors are locked, so finding the master key is “key”. There’s a magic scepter which will keep away the creepies, but not the ghost. OBJECTIVE: Find the three pieces of an urn and return to the front door. Seems simple, but there is a catch. You can only carry one item at a time. So, if you are keeping the monsters away with a scepter, you can’t use the key to open doors. If you’re carrying the urn, you can’t…you get the idea.

Interviews

Konstantinos Dimopoulos

Ten Questions: Matt Barton

I don’t think Matt Chat is unique. There are many, many other YouTubers out there doing similar shows. For instance, ianwilson1978 does great work on the Sega Genesis and Marlin Lee covers a variety of games. I guess one thing that makes my show special is that I feature games from all platforms, especially covering PC and computer titles that the others miss. Most other shows are dedicated to consoles, especially Nintendo classics. I figure those games already get enough love, so I try to cover ground that is not covered by the other shows–such as Dungeons of Daggorath for the Tandy CoCo, Tunnels of Doom for the TI-99/4A, or even the PLATO platform. I also feature interviews with classic developers, such as John Romero and Al Lowe. I’ll soon release my interview with Chris Avellone.

Atari 2600

Matt McKee

Keystone Kapers

You can earn a “Billy Club” patch with 35,000 points. Back in the day, you were able to take a photograph of your TV screen, send it toActivision, and they would send you an “achievement” patch for a job well done. Points are earned by time left on the clock after capture, and the occasional bag of money picked up while running. Overall, a very fun game. The officer and convict look cool, and the animation of him running with the billy club is funny.

Atari 2600

Matt McKee

Yars Revenge

It’s a simple game, really. A Yar is this giant, flying insect. Its enemy is the Qotile, who hangs out on the right side of the screen. It’s protected by a shield, which can be shot or eaten by the Yar. Once there’s a “hole” in the shield, you can use the Zorlon Cannon, which appears on the left side of the screen, to kill it. There’s also a small, slow-moving missile that can kill you. It follows you relentlessly, like the Terminator. There’s a “neutral zone” in the middle of the screen, which will save you from the missile, but not the Qotile’s main weapon..the deadly “swirl”

Blog

J.A. Laraque

E3 2011: Classic Gaming Museum

They had what I called a 80’s living room complete with a couch, a radiation level 6 television and an Atari 2600 and best of all you could sit down and play. Now, while I was still just a baby when the 2600 launched I remember setups that looked exactly like this.

Hardware

Konstantinos Dimopoulos

Atari Flashback

Among the included games, some gems of the early video gaming history are to be found: Adventure, Breakout, Canyon Bomber, Revenge, Food Fight, Haunted House, Asteroids, Centipede, Warlords. You’ll also get the dubious pleasure of experiencing the previously unreleased Atari version of the famous Saboteur. Just don’t expect all those games to run as smoothly as they used to on the old machines.

Blog

J.A. Laraque

Commercial Wars: Atari in the 80’s

Since console gaming was brand new and even arcade gaming itself was not wide spread to the TV watching audience the challenge was presenting their ad in a way that would interest the consumer. In addition, since the graphics of the day were not that exciting the fear was showing simpler graphics on a television screen where you can watch shows that have a higher production value could turn parents off to buying their kids the system.

Blog

J.A. Laraque

Commercial Wars: War of the Sword and Shield

Time to vote which classic commercial captured the theme of the sword and the shield

Blog

J.A. Laraque

Commercial Wars: Best use of Spider-Man

Alight, you got me. This is not a video game, but you have to admit this is pretty awesome. If you thought ACORN had issues just imagine filling out your voter registration as Spider-Man and you know he votes Democrat so the tea party would be all over him.

Blog Movies & T.V.

J.A. Laraque

Commercial Wars: Best use of Phil Hartman

The first thing that struck me was that ol’ Phil looked like he was creeping up to the adult section in the video store. The man behind the counter looked at Phil as if he was going to rent “Chicks with Sticks”. From there the old man did what you had to with graphics of the time, hype the hell out of it verbally. How Phil reacts is how Wii players need to act to pretend they didn’t just waste their money.

Blog Movies & T.V.

J.A. Laraque

Commercial Wars: Best use of a Rap

Finally and again the way they talk about the game toward the end, “Ya go Link ya, get some.” Is that not a line from every Ron Jeremy movie? I just think these children need more parental supervision and a kick in the ass.

Atari 2600

J.A. Laraque

Combat (Atari)

I personally played Combat for hours against my sister who was extremely good at tank pong. What made the game so fun was the two player aspect and even though to today’s eyes one may think the game was simple it took on a whole new dynamic just by switching levels. Even when we got Pac-Man as a present a few weeks later we always came back to Combat because of the fun factor.

Company Representatives

J.A. Laraque

Erik Reynolds: Atari

Star Raiders was one of the first 1st person space flight sims and I’m sure influenced a generation of space flight combat games since. The game was brilliant in its presentation at the time because if felt so ahead graphically than anything else available on the console.

Editorials

J.A. Laraque

What impact did gaming have on your career path?

When I moved to Miami in 97’ the first thing I wanted to do was get back into computers and meet like-minded people and that led to my time at Alienware where my love for gaming flourished. It was then that I took my love of storytelling and turned it into a writing career.