Category: Uncategorized
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#148 Atari Now! October 2025 News and Home brew for all Atari systems
September 2–5, 2025 September 4: Sep 4, 2025 — AtariAge Store adds 15 new physical releases AtariAge’s store blog lists Akalabeth (Intellivision), A/W/A Anthology (8-bit & 5200), plus new 2600 & 7800 carts (full list below). Orders ship in November (PRGE prep cited). AtariAge Store Highights: Atariage should have all…
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People, Not Things: The Enigma Of Chris Crawford
By Steve Fulton I’ve always been a fan of Chris Crawford.To me he is probably one of the first “indie” developers, even though he spent some time inside the corporate walls of Atari Inc. Crawford has often worked in the margins on experiences that are, in a word, “different” –: …
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What is Expedition BS + Curse is Oak Oak Island s3 e18: Norse and Templar BS
Hi, this Jeff from 8bitrocket Studios and today we launch the next channel in our slowly growing stable of entertainment, Expedition Bulshit, which will be called expedition BS from here after in this video. Our goal here is to discuss, review and critique paranormal based media, starting off with The…
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Missile Command Ports and Clones For Atari home Machines #2600 #5200 #atari8bit #atarist #jaguar #lynx
Today we take a look at the official ports of the Atari Coin-op Classic, Missile Command, for all Atari Home systems. We also Count down the top 10 clones across those systems with honorable mentions thrown in for good measure. Did we miss any? What’s your favorite? Is there a…
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Asteroids on Atari Home Machines part 4: #A7800, #Lynx, #Jaguar and Beyond: History Series
In this part 4, we look at the Atari 7800, Atari Lynx, Atari Jaguar, and more a modern take for the new Atari VCS / STEAM and newer consoles. In the previous three episodes we have looked at some good, excellent, bad and and a few ugly asteroids variants on…
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s5:e3 Xenon 2 and the Atari ST Halcyon Days of 1989 Part 1
s5:e3 Xenon 2 and the Atari ST Halcyon Days of 1989 Part 1 Steve and Jeff are joined by Tony Longworth to discuss Xenon 2: Megablast for the Atari ST, in the first of a multi-part series on 1989 Atari ST games Part 2 will be be a discussion of…
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Album Review: COLOURSØUND II
COLOURSØUND II Review by Steve Fulton and Jeff Fulton We will come out and say it right now: COLOURSØUND II is a dark, challenging and heavy record. It’s obvious that the band was not satisfied with repeating themselves, but instead pushed the boundaries of what a combination of The Alarm…
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The Journey Begins
Thanks for joining me! Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton
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S2:E16 Finale: The Best Atari Christmas Ever
The Season 2 finale of Into The Vertical Blank. In this episode we pull out all the stops and explain exactly why Atari means so much to us. This honest, naked, all-cards-on-the-table, frank episode includes an Eponymous Story named “The Best #*@! Christmas Ever” that tells all. There is also…
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S2:E10: Playing Outside in Generation X
To salute the end of summer, w e are re-running a story from last season named “Big Mouse And Little Mouse” that has been updated, expanded and remastered. This is a story about the type of imaginative play that occurs when kids are trying to discover the world. This was…
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S2:E6: Why We Collect Atari
In this episode, Steve and Jeff have a frank discussion about what they collect and why they collect Atari. Also includes a couple segments from Steve’s “Fultonbot’s Atari Quest” blog series, as well as an impromptu live remote visit to their favorite retro game store. Stories from the podcast:
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S1:E4: Escape To The Asteroids Zone :Part 1
Into The Vertical Blank: Generation Atari Season 1, Episode 4: Escape To The Asteroids Zone : Part 1 Into The Vertical Blank: Generation Atari Season 1, Episode 4: Escape To The Asteroids Zone Part 1. In Part One of our two-part extravaganza, we delve into the that game forms the…
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Pac-Man, Electronic Games Magazine, And The Exact Moment Atari Lost The Video Game War
Note: As I discover the 120 or so games on my list of “lost” VCS games from the 80’s, I will spend some time discussing the ones that, in one way or another, mean something significant to me. This is one of those stories. “It’s disappointingly difficult to…
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8bitrocket Retro-Game And DIY Game Development News Update
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…
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De-Motivational Engineering Problem Solving Worksheet from 1989 applies now more than ever
(warning, some adult language is in this post) By Jeff Fulton (8bitjeff) When my dad left his job at Hughes Aircraft in 1989, he gave my brother, Steve, and I a lot of advice and a whole bunch of de-motivational type stuff that had been hanging around his office. We…
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Ballad Of Atari: 1982-1984
Ballad Of Atari: 1982 E.T. And Pac-Man Not The Worst, Yet Not The Best The Gamers Notice Ballad Of Atari: 1983 800XL Flag Ship. Work Horse. All That Jazz. Cliches Of Awesome Ballad Of Atari: 1984 GCC designs The 7800 Last ditch hope for…
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Ballad Of Atari: 1981
Ballad Of Atari: 1981 (part 1) Never Ending Walls Fall Down To My Bouncing Ball In Super Breakout Ballad Of Atari: 1981(part 2) Ugly Garden Gnome Hides Within The Mushroom Field Shoots Gross Insects Dead
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Linkstorm!: 8bitrocket Retro Gaming News Update
IDW To Release Atari Themed Board Games IDW Games, designers and distributors of a multitude of games (including the magnificent The Game) have signed a deal to create board games based on Atari properties. The first will be Centipede in September 2017, followed Asteroids and Missile Command. The games…
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Ballad Of Atari: 1980
Ballad Of Atari: 1980 (part 1) VCS Breaks Through Sales Sky Rocket With Space Invaders Cartridge Ballad Of Atari: 1980 (part 2) Atari Is The Fastest Growing Company Ever Recorded
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Linkstorm!: 8bitrocket’s Retro Gaming News (Updated!)
Atari Box Art Finally Being Recognized Atari VCS box-art is very close to our hearts here at 8bitrocket.com. The recent book, Art Of Atari made it even more-so (see review on this site soon). Now The Onion AV club has a new column named Art Of the Game by…
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Ballad Of Atari: 1979
Ballad Of Atari: 1979 (part 1) Rocks Floating In Space Insert Coin To Shoot. Collects Quarters By The Ton Ballad Of Atari: 1979 (part 1) The Four Horseman Of David, Larry Bob, Alan Form Activision Competition Sows The Seeds Of Apocalypse For Atari Inc.
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Ballad Of Atari: 1977-1978
Ballad Of Atari: 1977 TIA, RIOT and 6507. VCS Changes Everything Ballad Of Atari: 1978 A Board Room Showdown Bushnell Booted By Gerard Welcome Ray Kassar
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Ballad Of Atari: 1975-1976
Ballad Of Atari: 1975 LSI Home Pong A Chip Off The Coin-Op Block Sporting Goods For Nerds Ballad Of Atari: 1976 Warner Buys Into VCS promise. Bushnell Starts Thinking: “Pizza?”
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Listen Kids, This Job Won’t Exist When You’re My Age
The airline pilot was absolutely killing it. I was standing in the back of the room, waiting for my turn, and thinking ‘I have gone about this all wrong‘. The pilot had all the 2nd graders gathered around his computer, as he talked in commanding, excited tones about take offs,…
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Flashback Post! Review of PS2 Activision Anthology (2003)
Activision Anthology PS2 By Steve Fulton For A Change, Nostalgia Is Done The Right Way…But Will your Kids Care? The name “Activision” means more to me than it rightly should, and far too much than I can ever admit to my wife. To me at age 11, the fab-four were “David Crane,…
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Linkstorm! 01/17/2017 : 8bitrocket Retro Gaming News Update
News The Nintendo Switch will be released March 1st. No word on the Virtual Console transfers or whether we will have to buy our classic games again…for the 3rd time in a row. Appropriately, NintendoAge has a ton of threads about it. DIY/Maker Gaming Adafruit: World’s Largest Vertical Maze Illuminated…
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Viva Amiga: The Story Of A Beautiful Machine Documentary Now Available
“Amiga users make Macintosh users look like IBM users” -Viva Amiga Trailer After a successful Kickstarter campaign, the documentary “Viva Amiga” was released last week and it looks amazing (see trailer below). We will have our review after we had watched the movie and had time to digest the whole…
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Linkstorm: Jan. 9, 2017 : New/Improved Retro Gaming News Update Now With C.E.S.!
News CES 2017 took place last week/weekend. Not a lot there any more for retro gamers. Certainly not if you recall the CES conventions of old, when all the video game manufacturers would display their wares. Mistly it was AR/VR innovations, drones, etc. However, we did see a couple,…
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The Exact Moment Nintendo Won The Video Game War: Feb 12th, 1985
( Since we are relaunching the site, we are periodically identifying stories we published during our “dark periond” from 2012 through 2016. This was re-posted from October 11, 2014) February 12th, 1985. That’s the day Nintendo won everything. It was the day the 2nd to last issue of Electronic Games…
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RetroPie Tip: Network Discovery From Your Windows 10 Computer
This is a very simple tip, but also something that baffled me for a very long time. When I first installed my RetroPie, my Windows 10 machine automatically found it on the network and allowed me to see the file system. However, after running for a few hours, it…
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Linkstorm Jan. 2, 2017: 8bitrocket Retro Gaming News Update
News The Making Of Activision Frostbite for the Atari 2600 on RetroGamer.net The Making Of Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back for the Atari 2600 on RetroGamer.net DIY/Maker Gaming Smile Game Maker gets a VR Mode Products Armchair Arcade reviews the Pac-Man LED Desk Clock Goofy Foot An Alternative NES Controller…
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Some Fireworks To Salute The End of 2016!
Thank God 2016 is Over! Here is a video of $49.99 safe and sane firework I bought for the 4th of July in 2010. Now let’s hope we don’t need to do this again to salute the end of 2017.
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8bitrocket.com New Year’s Resolutions
Play games with my family more often Spend less time on social media sites Spend less time worried about “likes” and spend more time giving “hugs” When playing retro games, savor each one. Find the best way to recreate the experience of playing the game back-in-day, and less time trying to…
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“…and The Kitchen Is Stocked With Free Beer And Snacks!” : A Short One Act Play
Setting: Snack room in an anonymous pre-IPO start-up software firm. Boxes of candy bars and chips line a large, round table in the middle of the room. An industrial sized refrigerator with a glass door is off to one side, stocked with soda, water, and even beer. The walls…
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Linkstorm Dec. 29, 2016 : 8bitrocket Retro Gaming News Update
News Retronauts Get Serious: Jeremy at Retronauts said last week “I’d like to try and turn Retronauts into a true and proper venture”. We wish them all all the luck in the world. One of our favorite developers, Chris Sawyer served as producer for the rel-release of his classic PC…
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R.I.P. Carrie Fisher
Carrie Fisher died today at age 60. I’m currently reading her 2nd autobiography, The Princess Diarist which I started a few weeks ago. as well as being Princess Leia, she was a very funny and talented writer. I will review her book here as soon as I have finished it.…
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Atari Flashback Portable Game Player: Review
I’ve been waiting for a device like the AtGames Atari Flashback Portable Game Player for many many years. I’ve always dreamed of holding a mini-Atari 2600 in my hands, and playing all my favorite VCS games from the early 1980’s While I’ve had emulated game collections for the the…
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The Wild Gunman (1976)
“A gun is never empty” my dad told me. He was looking straight at me. He was looking into my eyes. He had never done that before. That I could recall any way. “A gun is always loaded” he repeated, changing the words slightly but not the meaning. It…
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