Category: Features

  • Using A8bit #fujinet to play “Pet” Galaga from – Homesoft Game Disk 404

    Using A8bit #fujinet to play “Pet” Galaga from – Homesoft Game Disk 404

    By Jeff D. Fulton Today we are going load up Homesoft game Disk #404 and play the only version of Galaga available for Atari 8bit 400/800/XL/XE Machines. We Will play directly an Atari 130XL by loading it over the internet via WIFI with #Fujinet! Disk 404 Download #Fujinet Here is…

  • Fultonbot’s Atari VCS Quest: “I Never Got Into Atari, but…”

    Fultonbot’s Atari VCS Quest: “I Never Got Into Atari, but…”

    “I never got into Atari” I’ve heard this phrase so many times from the owners of used and retro video game stores, and fellow retrogamers,   that I’ve now come to expect it.  When I enter a game store, or make a friendly connection at work, I brace myself  to hear…

  • Controlled Chaos and The Meaning in Software Development

    Controlled Chaos and The Meaning in Software Development

    I believe that I was born to be a computer programmer. Somewhere, deep in my soul, there is a need to organize my thoughts in ways that are both new and interesting, but also foundational and reusable at the same time. I’ve always felt that there is something atypical about…

  • My Top 100 Games Of All Time

    I (sort of) keep this list running in my head all the time. It changes often, and usually one of the most recent games I’ve played moves up higher (see Torchlight 2). These games come from every platform I’ve ever owned or played (arcade, Atari 2600, Atari 800, Vectrex, Atari…

  • Atari 7800 In An Alternate Universe : Games I Would Have Loved To Play

    In an alternate universe, Atari released the 7800 in 1984 In an alternate universe, Warner Brothers did not sell the Atari consumer division in 1984, but stuck with it. In an alternate universe Atari battled with Nintendo throughout the 80’s and 90’s In that alternate universe, some amazing games were…

  • Strawberry Shortcake – Old Crap From My Attic

    8bitjeff (Jeff Fulton) This time I do mean CRAP. While other things from my attic have been true gaming or music treasures, this game, while being quite possibly the first interactive gaming experience for the Strawberry Short Cake brand, is awful to play. That doesn’t mean that hard work didn’t…

  • Applesoft BASIC JavaScript Emulator: My First Game (from 1979)

    I found this emulator the other day : Applesoft BASIC in JavaScript   last week while at GDC, and it got me thinking about the first games I wrote on my friend Eric’s Apple II back in the 70’s .  I was 9 years old when I first touched the keyboard…

  • Pennywise – Word From The Wise 33 1/3 7 inch Ep – Old Shit From My Attic

    By Jeff Fulton (8bitjeff) Penny Wise – Word From The Wise 33 1/3 7 inch Ep – Old Shit From My Attic. I remember picking this seminal, LA South Bay Suburb Punk Rock disc at the old Go Boy record store on PCH and Ave F.  This vinyl, 7 inch…

  • To Coin A phrase: “Flappy Birded”

    Phrase: Flappy Birded (Verb) Definition: Used when a the internet-at-large destroys an honest and earnest individual because said person had the audacity to become successful. Usually occurs when said person is not already famous  or is not deemed to be “legitimate” or “worthy” of success, and or when the product…

  • Atari 8-bit Computer Demon Attack (1982) – Full Boxed Edition (all the old crap in my attic)

    By Jeff Fulton Today we are going to take a look at one of a small handful of Atari 8-bit computer game cartridges that I have stowed in my attic. This time the game is Demon Attack, one of the most popular Atari 2600 games, but this version is for…

  • Minor Threat Salad Days 45 single with poster sleeve (all the stuff in my attic)

    Minor Threat “Salad Days” 45 RPM single with poster sleeve (all the stuff in my attic) This is a three song masterpiece of mid-80’s DC punk! Here is the next item I found in my attic.  This is the 1985 release of the Minor Threat (one of their final releases…

  • The Dead Milkmen – Big Lizard in My Backyard Cassette (old crap from my attic)

    The Dead Milkmen – Big Lizard in My Backyard Cassette (old crap from my attic) By Jeff Fulton In 1988 – 1989 I worked at one of the worst record / tape / CD and video stores in the South Bay. The Wherehouse on Sepulveda was across the street from…

  • 1978 Close Encounters Trading Cards Sealed Wax Pack (old stuff from my attic)

    By Jeff D. Fulton The old stuff from my attic is a new blog here on 8bitrocket.com where I rummage through all of the various boxes of crap I have in the garage, attic, closets, etc and find things I never knew I had. Today I found a sealed wax…

  • My “Lost Age Of The The Pizza Parlour” Gets An Honorable Mention in 43rd Annual Easy Reader Essay Contest

    A re-written version of my old 8bitrocket.com Eassy “The Lost Age Of The Pizza Parlour” was chosen as one of several “Honorbale Mentions” in the 43rd Annual Easy Reader Essay contest.   Now titled  “Pleasures Of The Pizza Parlour“, you can read the new version here : http://www.easyreadernews.com/73558/pleasures-of-the-pizza-parlor-el-porto/ -8bitsteve

  • Video: Chris Crawford On the “Good Old Days Of Games” From GDC 2011.

    We are finally back with something interesting.  Here is a link to a video Gamasutra just posted of a talk by Chris Crawford from GDC 2011 entitled “The Good Old Days Of Games”   We will have more updates here soon.  

  • ATASCII Tile Sheets

    ATASCII Tile Sheets So, I have been knocking around the idea of making some games that mimic the old Atari computer aesthetic in both graphics and sounds.  These games will just be for fun and they will probably be just game starters – single level game to demonstrate or duplicate a game…

  • The Run Cycle – Boston Thoughts

    I was thinking about this while driving in this morning (I just saw that Colbert said something similar last night, but not exactly, so I’ll say it now). I am a runner, and I am constantly injuring myself just because I love the joy and freedom of sport. But, no…

  • Comprehensive List of Lucas Arts Titles Released for Classic Atari Machines

    By Jeff Fulton (@8bitrocket on twitter) To the majority of the public, Atari died in 1983 and is relegated to hipster t-shirts and trucker hats with ironic joysticks on them.  While 90% of the USA and 70% of the UK gamers were playing with their C-64’s, Nintendo’s, Spectrums, Amigas, and…

  • The Run Cycle – Running Sick After Christmas

    The Literal Run Cycle – Running Sick After Christmas The Day After Christmas Run is never an easy one. This year it was especially difficult because I have been battling a nasty sinus infection over the last week or so and I have not run for 10 days (and only 2 times…

  • The Literal Run Cycle #1

    Jeff Fulton (8bitjeff) This is a blog that usually deals with game design / programming, retro-gaming and other nostalgia.   It is not a fitness blog by any means, but since running and overall fitness is a big part of what keeps me going on a daily basis, I wanted…

  • Back on the re-hab trail…literally.

    By Jeff D. Fulton Back on the re-hab trail…literally. From June through July of 2012 I was cooking through a training plan that would have had me doing a personal record time for a 1/2 Marathon. The race was the Rock N Roll LA 1/2 and I was really looking…

  • A young Chris Crawford teaches the Magic of Atari 8-bit computer graphics (3 videos)

    By Jeff Fulton (8bitjeff) Way back when Atari was trying to capture home computer market share from the Apples and Commodores of the world, they created the first ever Evangelist Position in consumer software development. Chris Crawford was tasked with informing the world about the magical capabilities of the Atari…

  • What Was I thinking? The Existential Cognitive Dissonance Of Updating Old Code

    My new blog on Gamasutra: What Was I thinking? The Existential Cognitive Dissonance Of Updating Old Code “Updating old code, especially code I have not touched in nearly a decade is like a ride in a time machine.  A really crappy time machine that only highlights my mistakes makes me feel…

  • A Completely Anecdotal Account Of Why The Wii U Might Not Matter To The Next Generation

    Another Gamasutra blog went up today : A Completely Anecdotal Account Of Why The Wii U Might Not Matter To The Next Generation Usually when I write Nintendo stuff, fan boys get enraged…. -8bitsteve    

  • One Of The Masters “Speaks” On Game Design : Dan(i) Bunten (Berry)’s Archived Web Site

    It’s no secret that we here at 8bitrocket.com have a few very distinct heroes, and Dan(i) Bunten (Berry) is one of them.  Bunten was the designers/programmer of the classic, unparalleled games M.U.L.E. and Seven Cities Of Gold. An archived web site of Bunten’s exists and it contains some of the only known…

  • Pong Returns : Postmortem For The Atari Pong Indie Developer Challenge

    Atari announced the finalists for their Pong Developer Challenge on June 26th, and we were not included on this.   Thus, our time as part of the Atari Pong Indie Developer Challenge comes to a close.   In this post-mortem we look back at what we think we did wrong,…

  • R.I.P. : Commodore Legend Jack Tramiel

    According to Forbes, Jack Tramiel has died at the age of 83.   Most Atari fans know Jack as the founder of Commodore who skillfully outwitted the first video game company in the early 80’s by beating the pants off the Atari computer division  with the low-priced Vic-20 and C-64.…

  • Emergent Game Play In Classic Games

    A few weeks ago on one of the forums I frequent, a fellow retro game fan (Rimbo) talked about playing “Time Pilot:Pacifist”.  This was not a new game, but rather, a different way of playing an old game.  In his version of Time Pilot, he chose to never fire a…

  • Distellamaps : Ben Fry Visualizes Atari 2600 Code : Suitable For Blowing Your Mind (And Framing)

    Sometime it seems like we miss some pretty good stuff because we are busy working and not trying to scour the interbaun for really cool things (any more).  One of those things that  appears to have passed us by are Ben Fry’s Distellamaps.   These were made almost two years…

  • When Social Media Fails

    This week I found out that someone I know is in a very bad situation.  Actually, the situation is dire, really horrible, and honestly, unimaginable.    I went to school with this person, and for a couple of years we spent a good amount of time together.  This person is…

  • Corporate Development Work Almost Killed Me

    (Jeff Fulton) Corporate Development Work Almost Killed Me First the good news.  I no longer work for a large corporation and I am am doing very well health-wise.  Except for a few minor exercise related injuries,  I am the healthiest I have been since 2006. From 1997 – 2006 I loved…

  • Where is the Point Blank Remake?

    (Jeff Fulton) Point Blank and Point Blank 2 were 2 of the best party style games for the original Playstation. You needed a “gun controller” that oddly hooked up to the video “in” on your TV and to the controller port to make it work. I have both still on an old…

  • What the hell are you running from?

    When I was in 5th grade I started to run. I ran with a friend named Richie and we would circle the play ground of our Manhattan Beach  grammar school 20 or 30 times per recess. I was never interested in running as a competition, just as something to do.…

  • The People You Will Meet At Your Garage Sale

    Garage Sale People (originally written in 2004) What better way to meet the neighbors than to have a garage sale. Actually we called it a “yard sale”, and by neighbors I mean the cheapest freaks I’ve ever had the displeasure to meet. To be honest, the immediate people to the…

  • Old Web Game Designer Friend Gets Published: Author Kevin Bloomfield

    Back in the glory days of Mattel online, we worked on numerous Flash games and web sites with Kevin Bloomfield.   He has since moved to  MGA where he is a toy designer.  Even back 10 years ago, Kevin talked about his dream to write children’s books.    He has…

  • R.I.P. Gary Garcia of “Pac Man Fever” Fame : Now It’s time For Hollywood To Make A Movie About “Pac Man Fever”

    By Jeff Fulton “To create a song that has mass appeal is among the most difficult things you’ll ever do.” –Jerry Buckner   According to Gamasutra, Gary Garcia, 1/2 of Buckner and Garcia died yesterday.   Back in February we contacted Jerry Buckner about he 30th Anniversary of  Pac-Man and…

  • The Psychological Incentives Of Social Games Are Oddly Familiar. Hmm…I wonder where I’ve seen this before?

    Here Are Some Psychological Incentives Of Social Games That We have Observed Money is converted to “credits”, tokens, or chips for playing. This abstraction makes it harder to keep track of how much money has actually been lost. Once real money has been converted to play money, it takes significant…

  • Cracked.com’s 4 Worst Things About Writing For The Internet Can Be Applied To Games Too

    Cracked.com, one of my favirote site right now, published a story last week named “The 4 Worst Thing About Writing For The Internet” .  It’s a great read, and a the same time, you could apply all of the four things to making games, and it would be just as…

  • Through The Looking Glass? : 6 Weeks Into My New Gig

    So I’m now 6 weeks into my new gig working as a contractor for a game and technology company.  At this point, at my last gig, I was drowning in minutiae and had almost no options but to soldier on into oblivion.   No fault from either side, but the job…

  • Just So You Know Who You Are Dealing With Here: A Note From 1985

    Just in case you had no idea who you are dealing with when you come to this site, here is note we wrote our mom in 1985.  She saved it.  That has to mean something.

  • Worst Products And Services For Classic Gamers (circa 1982-1984): Final Roundup Of Even More Useless Products

    In the past two article (part 1 and part 2 ), I have tried to tell stories with insight into just how useless some of these products, services and offers were back in the day.  However, there are a bunch more products that, while not quite as shockingly bad, are still…

  • And the Man on the Hill said HTML5, build it and they will come…

    This really is just a “state of the union” for 8bitrocket (8bitsteve and 8bitjeff) to go over some of the events that have transpired over the first 9 months of the year.     We like to keep these brief (this one is anything but), and put them in the…

  • Katz/Kunkel/Worley : The History Of Video Games From Holy Trinity Of Game Journalism

    Bill Kunkel, Arnie, Katz and Joyce Worley were the pioneers of game journalism.   Here, in chronological order, are links to a good portion the writing they created in the golden age (and beyond) of video games. 1970-1980: Arcade Alley: Bill Kunkel And Arnie Katz suggested this column to the…

  • Who Killed Video Games?: Tim Rogers Knows

    In his latest, and possibly greatest piece of writing, Tim Rogers explores the mystery of “Who Killed Video Games:A Ghost Story“.  It’s an awesome read, even if you already know how it turns out in the end.  It’s hard to take just one quote, but here is a good one:…

  • A Tribute to the Child-Oriented Consumer Goods Company “New Media” Department Golden Era (2001 – 2006)

    Note: This is a true story that depicts real events from the perspective of the author.  Most real names of the people and the places involved have been changed or left out on purpose. Everyone involved will recognize the company and the events and might even have their own spin to…

  • Why Information Technology Director Is The Most Hated Job In America (An Anecdotal Account)

    CNBC ran a story on Friday about the 10 Most Hated Jobs In America.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that job I left in corporate America after 15 years was represented generously on the list.  In fact, technical jobs in generally made-up almost 1/2 the entries. However, today I’d…

  • Unboxing the iCup Atari Drinking Glasses From The Target Clearance Sale : A Photo Essay

    Today I purchased the iCup set of four classic Atari drinking glasses that were on clearance at Target.  Instead of telling you this story, and I’m going to show it to you with a web-only exclusive photo-essay of this exciting and monumental event.  Click the images for a larger picture.

  • Developing The Alarm.com: 1995-2011

    Developing The Alarm.com: 1995-2011

    Introduction I was web master for http://www.thealarm.com for over 15 years. The Alarm were an 80’s band with hits like 68 Guns, Strength, and Rain In The Summertime.  They broke-up in 1991, but soon afterward, lead vocalist Mike Peters embarked on a solo career, that led to the creation of…

  • Rest In Peace Bill Kunkel: Video Game Journalism Pioneer

    By Jeff Fulton Bill Kunkel, part of the duo of Arnie Katz and Bill Kunkel who created Electronic Games the frst magazine about video games, Electronic Games, died on Sunday at the age of 61. We were big fans of Bill Kunkel.  One of the first stories I wrote for…

  • Jamie Lendino Of PC Mag Admits To Loving The Atari 800

    Today, in an article named Steve Jobs: End of an Era Jamie Lendino uses the editorial good will created by Steve Job’s resignation to wax nostalgic about his days with his Atari 800.  It reads a bit like an 8bitrocket.com piece. “Needless to say, that Atari computer made a tremendous impression…

  • Legend Of Grimrock : Dungeon Master For The 21st Century

    OK, here is a really promising upcoming RPG for the PC/Mac/iOs named Legend Of Grimrock.  It’s by a set of four Finnish game vets, and it looks like a must-play for fans of classic computer RPGs like Dungeon Master. [iframe width=”560″ height=”345″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/_HnTeQFBIq0″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen/]

  • The 8bit Game: Digesting Bruce Lee By Datasoft Software (1984)

    Bruce Lee is an 8-bit computer platformer / beat-em-up that is fondly remembered by owners of almost any 8-bit computer system from the early 1980’s. The first version was programmed by Ron Fortier (with visuals by Kelly Day) in 1983 for the Atari 8-bit computer line (400, 800, XL and…

  • The 8bit Game: Digesting Zeppelin By Synapse Software

    Zeppelin was released for the Atari 400/800/XL computers in 1983 by Synapse Software. Synapse was a premier developer/publisher at the time for Atari Computers. Zeppelin was programmed by William Mataga, who was also responsible for such Atari 8-bit classics as Shamus, Shamus Case II, and Mindwheel. Synapse also released a version…

  • The One Thing That Saved Video Games

    I was thinking about this today. The *one* thing that saved video games was *not* – better graphics *not* – faster processors *not* – hardware scrolling *not* – in game music The one thing that *did* save video games? continue Be it a 10 second countdown for another quarter, a…

  • The New Star Soccer 5 Beta Is Killing My Productivity

    In the history of all video / computer games that I have played, my list of “perfect 10” games is pretty slim. These are games that I could play for hours on end. If I play a game for what seems like 15 minutes, but really 5 hours have passed,…

  • Midcore Gamer Manifesto, 3.5 Years Later

    Back in 2008, Jeff wrote a story named “I Am A Midcore Gamer” and I followed-it-up with a story named “The Midcore Gamer Manifesto“.  Both stories travelled the interbaun far and wide and caused a bit of a stir for a couple weeks. Many people wrote us about the idea…

  • Management Sucks 002: A Profile In Courage

    When my boss at “Monolith” Corporation told me that he thought I lacked “courage”, I had to speak-up.  I had already sat through most of what was a shocking performance review, and tried to bite my tongue.   This guy had spent, at most, an hour during the previous entire…

  • From Track Mod To Spin City To Fashion Frenzy: A Study In Game Design Evolution

    This is one of the case-studies I wanted to talk about for a long time, but I could not because one of the games was locked behind an MMO and could be accessed without an account.  However, now that (sadly) the BarbieGirls.com MMO is no more,  the game has been…

  • 8bitrocket Diatribe: Fathers’ Day 2011: The Adventure Freak and his Little Atari Freaks

    It has been a little over two weeks since our dad passed away. I have found it difficult to focus on any one thing for an extended amount of time since, and while  the fog is certainly lifting a little, I have not found the motivation to dig deep into…

  • How My Dad’s Love Of Games Helped Foster My Game Development Career

    Please excuse me, just one more time, so I can write some final thoughts about my dad, and how he helped me in my career.   Last weekend we had had his memorial at my house, and so I’m trying to put some final thoughts together, to give him a…

  • Wii U? More Like P.U.

    Through some great contacts we were able to jump the line and look at the Wii U up close and personal today at E3. Wow.  What A dud! Honestly, I love (or at least once “loved”) the Wii.   I think it solved a very unique problem with games (the…

  • R.I.P. Dad : My Last Conversation With My Father

    I visited my dad last Sunday. He’s 85 years old, and he has onset dementia, so he can’t express himself clearly, nor can he come-up with many nouns, so he can’t describe anything that he wants or needs without a ton of trouble. It is very difficult to have a…

  • Retro Scan of the Week: Tengen’s Mostly Legal NES Games

    The Tengen NES games two-page advertisement scan from Video Games & Computer Entertainment Magazine April 1989. I say “Mostly” Legal because the history of Tengen is slighly confusing. They did release Gauntlet, Pac-Man and RBI Baseball for the NES while under a legal NES licensing agreement between 1987 and 1989.…

  • Something So Right: Flynn’s Arcade At Disney’s California Adventure

    Flynn’s Arcade. Usually, I would not write a story about a seemingly throw-away, stop-gap style Disney attraction created to take-up space and distract visitors while major construction is taking place elsewhere in an amusement park, but then I never thought Disney’s California Adventure could get something so right either. Disney’s California…

  • Atari Nerd: Lynx Garage Excavation

    Inspired by Jeff’s Atari excavation a couple weeks ago, I went into the garage this weekend trying to find the Atari Lynx we bought back when it was released in the USA in 1989.    Far back in the garage, I found a plastic box with the word “Handheld” scribbled…

  • Need A Death Panel? HMOs Already Got You Covered

    So my dad is very sick, lying in hospital bed at his house, unable to walk, speak,  eat or use the bathroom without help.  Over the past 18 months he has developed severe dementia.  We thought he was just slowly fading away. He has been to the doctor many times,…

  • The Literal DOS Box – Classic DOS game gold vein

    I have been going through old boxes of retro gaming gear over the last few weeks and today I came across a set of 3 1/2 inch floppy disks that I knew existed, but was had been unable find. In 1992, Steve and I shed our beloved Atari 1040ST for…

  • 8bits in the Attic – Atari (and Intellivision) Treasure Trove

    About 12 years ago I realized that I wanted to play my original 1986 Atari 7800, but had no idea where it was. After searching the garage at my parents house, I found the original system in its original box, but no games. This set me out on a mission…

  • Our First “Game” Hack, Circa 1981

    Last week I pulled out I found an old Choose Your Own Adventure book to read to my girls.   This was one of the original books Jeff and I got from the Scholastic Book club in elementary school.  This particular book was from 1981.  I recall, that Jeff and…

  • Retro Scan Of The Week: Romox Games (1983)

    This week’s scan is a Romox microcomputer games advertisement from Analog magazine’s Sept/Oct 1983 issue. The two games featured in the ad are Anteater and Typo (available in cartridge form for the Atari 8-bit, Commodore Vic-20 / 64, and TI 99/4A). Romox started business in Campbell California in 1982 and…

  • This week’s retro scan and discussion: Killer Rigs – CGW March 2001

    Computer Gaming World is now defunct, but during the golden age of PC gaming it was my favorite gaming publication. I consider the golden age of PC games to have started with Wolfenstein 3D (about 1992) and ended just about the time Half Life was repackaged for the 10th time…

  • Management Sucks 001: No, It’s Not “Just Business”

    While working as a developer and then later as a manager for  “The Monolith” for 15 years, I learned a lot about how old-style corporations feel about their regular employees.    This new series, Management sucks, explores some of the experiences I had while trying to manage a team of…

  • An Inspirational Story For Dreamers Everywhere

    We apologize for being very quiet lately.  Yes, we have a couple things to announce that will forever  change the content and direction of this site, however for now we have to stay focused and mum. However, I’d like to relay to you and inspirational story. Here goes: There is…

  • How Great Is AtariMania.com? Find out for yourself…

    There are two Atari sites that I visit every day. The first is one that all Atari fans know about, the awesome Atariage.com. The other is just as good, but for some reason not quite as popular. Atarimania.com is a wonderful site, completely dedicated to being what Lemon64 and LemonAmiga.com…

  • Microsoft Kinect Day 4: Lightsaber Dreams

    So I have to admit, one of the reasons I bought a Wii on release day was the because I thought it would be a perfect platform to finally play a Star Wars game with a lightsaber. Ever since I flailed aimlessly with my mouse trying to play the PC…

  • Kinect Day 3 : 5:00 AM Workout, plus Detecting All sizes

    So I’m on to day #3 of my Microsoft Kinect adventure (not to be confused with Microsoft’s Kinect Adventures, the pack-in game).    I got up at 5:00 AM this morning to test out my ability to make use of “Fitness Evolved” before the rest of the family woke-up.  …

  • Microsoft Kinect Day 2: Punching And Kicking My Way to 180 lbs With No Excuses.

    Day 2 of Microsoft Kinect has been spent playing Ubi Soft’s “Your Shape Fitness Evolved” which would be the most metrosexual game imaginable if it was not for all concentration on hitting stuff.  There might be all kinds of workouts and training classes in this thing, but I would not…

  • Microsoft Kinect: It Sees My Feet!!!

    I’ve had my microsoft Kinect for excatly 1 hour now, and i’m totally hooked.  All of the things that frusted me about the Wii have been fixed.  Sports games are amazing on this thing, mostly because it can see your feet.   I can now kick balls.  I know that…

  • Porting a DOS Game To Windows: A Development Story

    I thought this story might be of interest to some of the visitors to our site. Steve and I spent a lot of time playing DOS games in the 90’s and also our share of time writing a few of our own. In this article (originally in he April 2010…

  • Going Solo #7: The bright spots

    It has been a little over two full months since I left my cushy corporate job and decided to make my own schedule, manage my own projects and “make my own shit”. The schedule and project part is going great. I have two good projects in the can with two…

  • In-App Buyer’s Remorse : Will It Kill Mobile Games?

    My friend told me a story yesterday about an iPhone app that his young son loves to play.  It’s a virtual fish-tank.  You must use credits to feed your fish, and those are obtained by downloading “free” apps or by paying real money.  Some of those “free” apps have very…

  • AtariMania.com has full PDF editions of all Atari User Magazines

    The awesome, though seemingly under-appreciated site, Atari Mania, has hand-scanned (a lot of f***ing work I might add)  versions of the entire 43 issue series of the UK-based Atari User magazine. This is of special interest to USA-Based Atari 8-bit computer fans because just as the 8-bit range was dying here, it…

  • What ever happened to Steve Moraff?

    His name might not spark wild-eyed fascination with many retro gaming enthusiasts, but Steve Moraff was a little bit of a legend in his own time. When we first got a PC (non-Atari machine) in the early 1990’s, we jumped on the early CD-Rom craze.  The best use of CDs…

  • Going Solo (from the corporate beast) #6 – The First Month

    Working at home and on your own without a corporate sponsor has its advantages and disadvantages. The advantages are that I am home every day and can work the hours I choose. I get to see my family much more than ever before and even a couple times a week…

  • Vacation Game Brainstorm: Mark Twain was here…?

    So I’m on a short trip with my family on California Highway 49, in the Gold Country.  Specifically, we have been roaming Calaveras County, the very same county made famous by a certain Samual Clemons in his story the local Frog Jumping Contest. Now, there is a lot of history…

  • Going Solo (from the corporate beast) #5 – A Valuable Lesson Learned

    I knew it was going to happen some time, but I didn’t think it would be so soon. I don’t want to give out too many details, but I just want to say that getting taken by a  client is no fun. I guess everyone must go through this, and…

  • Killa Appz By Dave Berzack : I Laughed, I Cried

    We need more stuff like this.   The thing made me laugh out loud about about 20 times.  Bravo.  I hope Dave gets some consulting work out of it. “Props to Adobe” “My mind on my mark-up and my mark-up on my mind” – classic.

  • Play Halo 2600 Online Now!

    Ed Fries has created a new home brew Atari 2600 masterpiece, Halo 2600. You play Master Chief as you run around the multiple 64 screen levels blasting baddies, and collecting weapons and other goodies. Check out the Atari Age thread on the creation of the game. There are physical carts…

  • No More Corporate Teat – #4 – Feast or Famine

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  • No More Corporate Teat – #3 – The First Day

    Today was the first real work-day of my non-corporate development life. Since I have an iPad contract that starts up soon (I am a little scared as the client is delaying a little on getting it initiated) I decided to re-acquaint myself with Xcode and the iPod/Pad development work-flow. First…

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    There will be a new TRON movie out this year and no one could be happier than I. I loved the first TRON movie when it was released back in 1982. While it was not a great movie, it came out at the exact right moment for me, smack-dab in…

  • No More Corporate Teat – #2 – The Last Day

    Today was my last day as an employee of a major corporation. I am very sad to leave so many of my friends, but excited at what the future holds. I am in the midst of setting up the consulting arm of 8bitrocket Studios called Twin Engine Web Systems. There…

  • No More Corporate Teat – #1 – I Quit!

    This is the white (wipe) -board I have used weekly for 13 years to note to-do lists and other things necessary for my day job. I only have one more “to do” this upcoming week and that is to pack my belongings and not let the door hit me on…

  • The Day The Soccer Peaked: Landon Donovan Penatly Kick Goal Vs. Ghana 2010 World Cup

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  • Vacation Game Storm #2: Frog BBQ

    Note: I’ve always felt that the best time for me to come-up with new ideas for games is when I’m on vacation.  I recently went on vacation with my family.  These are some of the game design notes I took. We arrived at our cabin in Redwoods National Park late…

  • Atari 7800 Retro Inspection In Retro Gamer Magazine #78

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    Note: I’ve always felt that the best time for me to come-up with new ideas for games is when I’m on vacation.  I recently went on vacation with my family.  These are some of the game design notes I took. On our first night of the trip we stayed at…

  • 8bitrocket.com @ E3 Report #1 : Lucha Libre Fight While The Game Industry Dies (updated)

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  • Nomen Ludi: Awesome Short Story About The Quest To Finish An 8-bit Computer Game

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