New Book About Atari 8-Bit computers!

A new book, Breakout: How Atari 8-Bit Computers Defined a Generation by veteran tech writer Jamie Lendino was released last week by Ziff Davis.    The book looks mighty interesting, but so far there is no news about the actual contents.  We here at 8bitrocket.com have copies jetting our way right now.  We will have a full review very soon.   Here is what the marketing blurb says about the book:

“Atari 8-bit computers are the first machines that truly bridged the divide between video game players and home computer enthusiasts. The Atari 400 and 800 signaled the start of a new era in computing. Breakout: How Atari 8-Bit Computers Defined a Generation is the first book to cover what made Atari’s groundbreaking computer line great: its excellent graphics and sound, flexible programming environment, and wide support from the burgeoning home computer community.”

Newsbits

• The Arcade Blogger visits the Pinball Wizard Arcade in Pelham New Hampshire
• Google Is using Atari VCS Games For A.I. Research
• Spook-o’-tron: a Halloween-themed Homebrew Game for the NES Now On Kickstarter

Garage/Indie Hombew Game Development

• Yoyo Games Game Maker Studio 2 is now released!
• Clickteam’s Fusion 3 Is Now available!
• Scirra has a preview of the UI improvments in construct 3!
• Adafruit is now selling an “Arcade Bonnet” which makes creating your own custom arcade controller for something like RetroPie much much easier
• Technology Wiil Save Us is now selling the BBC Microbit, a pocket-sized computer that can be used to prototype handheld electronic games like it;s 1978!
• Our old buddy from the Flash days, Emanuele Feronato has finished his Drag And Drop engine for Phaser.io!

Show And Podcast Highlights

• The Atari 7800 Homebrew Podcast Ep. 6 “Jr. Pac-Man” Is Now available.
• The Antic Podcast has a fascinating interview with Nadav Caine who  published one program for the Atari computer: Mathematic-Tac-Toe.
• 7800 Ave. Has Shows Now That cover The Nintendo Games on The 7800: Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr. and Mario Bros.

Links:

As always, here is our growing list of links we find interesting.

• The Arcade Blogger
• 7800 Homebrew Podcast
• Adafruit
• Angry Video Game Nerd
• Antic Podcast
• AtariAge.com
• Armchairarcade.com 
• Click Team
• Construct 2
• DIY Gamer
• Gameduino
• The Game Creators (Dark Basic)
• Gamemaker/YoYo Games
• GOG.com
• Hey Poor Player
• Jag Bar/Lynx Lounge/7800 Ave/
• Makershed
• NintendoAge.com
• Nintendo Virtual Console
• Pat The NES Punk
• Phaser.io
• Pico 8
• Playstation Store PS2 Games
• RetroGamer Magazine
• RetroJunkies Network
• Retrogaming Roundup
• RetroPie
• RPG Maker
• retronauts.com
• RTG 85
• Smile Game Builder
• Twine
• UploadVR
• Xbox One Backwards Compatibility List