• 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…

  • 8bitrocket’s Asynchronous News Round-Up : Mochi Achievements, Pepsi+Atari, Mindjolt News

    Welcome to our “Asynchronous” news round-up.  It’s the Daily Interweb Mash-Up, but not daily, and also not really a mash-up, and, well, who knows what it is, but welcome to it. Mochi Achievements API Launched Something we’ve been waiting for a long time, a  distributed “achievements” API.  Here are the…

  • 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…

  • HTML5 Canvas C64 Yourself App Is Awesome!

    Here is a really cool use of the HTML5 Canvas: C64 Yourself! The app converts a 6×4 image into a an awesome pixelated C64 image!   Here are a couple I just created:  

  • 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…

  • Quick Tip For Vizio Theater 3D TV Owners : Cheap 3D Glasses From The Movie Theater Work Just Fine

    Vizio has a new line of 3D TVs that are cheap and powerful.  They use a technology they have branded “Theater 3D”, which is really just the same polarized 3D that is used in movie theaters (i.e. Reel D 3D).   While Vizio will sell you glasses for about $20 each (an…

  • 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…

  • Great HTML Canvas Book Review!

    David Hayden has given our new book a very nice review. You can read it here.   My favorite part of the review the fact that Hayden is developing games with his daughter: “My daughter and I have been developing a lot of HTML5 Games to improve our skills at…

  • OSX Lion Will Include Hardware Acceleration for the HTML5 Canvas

    I was looking through the 250+ new features and improvements for Lion (available for $29.99 as an upgrade in July) and found this little gem in the Safari Improvements: Improved graphics performance Web pages that use the HTML5 Canvas element can tap into the graphics processing unit on your Mac…

  • AppMobi Cloud-Based HTML5 Game Development Looks Promising

    I have heard a little about AppMobi over the past few months and have wanted to take a look at their game platform but just have not had the chance until now. I plan to demo my Centipede game with the platform when it is complete, but for now, let’s…

  • Windows 8 Will Make Heavy Use of HTML5

    The All Things D web site has put up an exclusive look at Windows 8, an operating system that is at least a year away from being released. Essentially, aside from the normal Windows’ 7 style applications we see now, a second, full-screen IE 10 style of application will make…

  • 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…

  • HTML5 Canvas Game Development Diary: Bug Off! No. 1

    Steve and I have been getting our fill of commercial Flash Game development at our new day (and night and weekend) jobs a Zynga, so we have decided to start honing our HTML5 Canvas development skills even more by creating some fun game demos to post on the site. We…

  • HTML5 Canvas Book Notes

    O’Reilly Forums For HTML5 Canvas We’ve been answering questions about the book over at the O’Reilly forums.   Come on over and visit. : http://forums.oreilly.com/forum/110-html5-canvas/ Firefox 4 “loop” Missing Firefox 4 has been giving me fits in the past week as I try to finish my HTML5 Canvas demo game, Brickbasher…

  • HTML5 Canvas Book Spotted in the Wild Plus Chart Positions (#1 in Game Programming)

    Its always fun to discover the first sighting of something you have created, “In The Wild”.  Just about every Friday night I take a trip over to the local Barnes and Noble to look for the latest Retro Gamer or Wired. Today was a double success because aside from the…

  • Win Atari’s New Dungeons & Dragons Daggerdale From 8bitrocket.com

    If you know us you know we love Atari.   Besides the classic Atari franchises and properties now owned by the new Atari (Asteroids, Star Raiders, Centipede, etc.), they also own some of our other favorites: Roller Coaster Tycoon and Dungeons And Dragons.   While we are still waiting for…

  • Our HTML 5 Canvas book is the O’Reilly E-Book Deal Of The Day – 1/2 off

    Today, you can purchase our latest book on game development, HTML5 Canvas, in digital form, for $15.99. This is 50% off the normal E-Book Price. The offer code is: DDM94 The link is:http://oreil.ly/kjeZ4P

  • 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.…

  • Daily Interweb Mash-up: 5/24/2011: Canvas Game Tutorials, iPad Naval Gazers, Apple Heroics

    New HTML5 Canvas Game Tutorials Coming Jeff and I have each been working on an HTML5 Canvas game to talk about here.  Mine is called “Brickbasher Infinity” (a progressive Breakout game), and Jeff’s is “Bug Off!” (a Centipede style shooter).  The games are 8-bit styled with pixels, particles, etc.  We…

  • Daily Interweb Mash-up: 5/21/2011: Graphic Adventures, Flash CS5.5, & Hype

    Sorry, we missed a couple days there, but we had some special reports.  Let’s get back to the news, shall we? The Guide To Classic Graphic Adventures hardcorgaming101.com has a new book that covers nearly every graphic adventure game ever made.   Here is what they say about it: “The…

  • 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…

  • Gagaville goes gold (and silver, and sparkley, with a meat dress)

    I was a small cog in the big Zynga machine that just launched a giant promotion with Lady Gaga today – Gagaville on Farmville. By playing you can unlock pre-release versions of her up coming songs, acquire Gaga specific items for your own farm, and much more.      …

  • 8bitrocket.com Daily Interweb Mash-Up: Monday May 16, 2011

    Death Of Unicorn Death Is Pixelated Awesome Play the Mochi Game of the week, Death Of Unicorn Death.  It’s an awesome bit  of pixelated madness.  It also has some juicy 8-bit in all the right places! Angry Video Game Nerd Takes On The “Mattel” Power Glove Mattel has had a…

  • A Look at the Atari Facebook Retro-remakes

    Atari has been finally been diving into its extensive back catalog to create console, PC, and even Facebook versions of games that have been ignored by the various Atari branded entities over the years.  While we have not been overly impressed with the recent Star Raiders and Yars’ Revenge 3D…

  • HTML5 Canvas Book : Notes #1: Use Google Chrome

    Here are some notes about our HTML5 Canvas Book.  Actually one note: Use Google Chrome. Especially for the examples in Chapters 6 and 7 (audio and video), and especially when loading and playing video and audio clips, Google Chrome has the best support right now.  The other chapter examples work…

  • The 8bitrocket Daily Inter-Web Mash-Up – May 12, 2011

    Atari releases  the first update to Star Raiders in almost 20 years. The original Star Raiders was one of the best 8-bit computers games of the golden-age and the main reason that over a Million Atari 400 and 800 systems were sold in 1979 and 1980.   This week, Atari released…

  • 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…

  • 8bitrocket.com Interweb Mash-Up: Tuesday May 10, 2011

    What is Obama’s favorite game system? Why did Jeff hate the Fringe Finale, where can you buy our new book, and much more. Our O’Reilly HTML5 Canvas Book Has Arrived Clocking in at at hefty 652 pages, our thinly disguised book on HTML5 Canvas game development has been released. This one…

  • Our book, HTML5 Canvas is now available.

    Our book, HTML5 Canvas from O’Reilly is now available. Only a few copies are left at Amazon, but you can get it directly from O’Reilly if you want.

  • 8bitrocket Daily Interweb Mash-up : Saturday May 7, 2011

    Atari 810 MicroSD Drive! This is amazing!! A MicroSD card reader in the shape of an Atari 810 disk drive that can be mounted and used by an Atari 8-bit computer (400,800,1200xl,600xl,800xl,65xe,130xe).  We want to buy this NOW!!! History Of Atari computers @ CIO Magazine Here is a nice slide-show…

  • Our HTML5 Canvas Book Now Available for Amazon Kindle

    Apparently Our HTML5 Book is now available for Kindle.  Our faithful reader Hayes reports that our new O’Reilly book, HTML5 Canvas, is now available for the Amazon Kindle:  You can see it here.  

  • 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,…

  • 8bitrocket Daily Inter-Web Mash-Up – Friday, May 6, 2011

    Flash Games We Like – Wing Defender – Fun top-down shooter with cartoon-style graphics and a retro feel to the game-play. –Go Go Gummo – This Mochi FGF winner is a really cool puzzle game with elements of an action platformer…or is it the other way around. From the Flash…

  • 8bitrocket Daily Inter-Web Mash-Up for Thursday, May 5, 2011

    Attack Of The Mutant Sheep! Robert Podgorski, the winner of our 16K Game contest has released a new iPhone/Ipad game named “Attack Of The Mutant Sheep”.  It’s very 8-bit, and very awesome. You can download iPhone version (it’s free) at: http://itunes.apple.com/pl/app/mutant-sheep-2/id433857505?mt=8 The iPad version ($.99) at http://itunes.apple.com/pl/app/msheep-hd/id430579572?mt=8 Wanna learn Box2D…

  • Atari Nerd: This Week In Atari History : First Week Of May

    1979 May: Atari announces Baseball and Basketball coin-op arcade games •    Both use Trak-Ball controller •    Baseball is in a cabinet similar to Football coin-op 1979 May: Atari ships Subs arcade game •    Uses two monitors 1979 May: Atari announces Superman patches and t-shirts •    For operators to give-away to…

  • 8bitrocket Daily Inter-Web Mash-Up – Star Wars Day – May the 4th, 2011

    First off, I had no idea that May the 4th was Stars Wars day because of a bad lisp pun, but hey I’m game. Geekologie has it covered though. The Mathematics of whether Han shot first (Wired.com) I hate dress up games, so let’s review some from the latest Flash…

  • 8bitrocket Daily Inter-Web Mash-Up – Tuesday, May 3, 2011

      Tech Interview Question Tip – AS3 – Compute Factorial Iterative and Recursive package  {  import flash.display.Sprite;  /**   * …   * @author Jeff Fulton   */  public class ComputeFactorial extends Sprite  {   /*In mathematics, the factorial of a positive integer n,[1]    * denoted by n!, is the product of…

  • 8bitrocket Daily Interweb Mash-Up – Monday, May 2, 2011

    Hulu + WTF? I eagerly subscribed to Hulu Plus on Saturday because I had missed Friday’s penultimate episode of Fringe while at the Zynga quarterly meeting in San Francisco. The FIOS DVR had only picked up static (happens way more than it should, Verizon) so I jumped on my Xbox…