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S3:E7 Discussion with Curt Vendel about the Atari 7800 XM Module
Into the Vertical Blank Generation Atari Season 3 Episode 7: Discussion with Curt Vendel about the Atari 7800 XM Module In this Episode we dive deep into the 7800 Expansion Module with Curt Vendel. We also discuss some history of the 7800, the original development and why it took Atari…
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S3:E6: I Want Candy. Atari’s Biggest Mistake Part 3: A Discussion with Curt Vendel
Subscribe Links Tunes Google Play Player FM Spotify Show Notes Into the Vertical Blank. Generation Atari Season 3, Episode 6. I Want Candy. A Discussion with Curt Vendel : Part 1 In this episode we go into a deep discussion with Atarimuseum.com’s Curt Vendel about what Atari could have been…
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S3:E5: Monthly News and Notes for those who grew up Atari.
Subscribe Links Tunes Google Play Player FM Spotify Show Notes The Vertical Blank: Generation Atari. Season 3 Episode 5: Monthly News and Notes for those who grew up Atari. Or Atari News and HomeBrew Update for Q1 of 2020. Apocalypse Edition.In this episode we cover news from the Official Atari…
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S3:E4: Atari’s Biggest Mistake Part 2: Game Player Non Expandable
Subscribe Links Tunes Google Play Player FM Spotify Show Notes In part 2 of “Atari’s Biggest Mistake” we explore the core reasons why Atari blundered in 1982 with their biggest releases and explore a “what if” scenario right out of The Vertical Blank. What really was Atari’s biggest mistake? Was…
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S3:E3: Dan Kitchen Interview Part 2: The First “Pro Brew” Game Developer
In the 2nd part of our Dan Kitchen interview, we discuss the ground-breaking title “Garry Kitchen’s Game Maker”, Dan’s new game “Gold Rush” and try to figure out what to call new games that are made by original developers for vintage systems. Http://www.dankitchen.com http://www.garrykitchen.com/ Subscribe Links Tunes Google Play …
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S3:E2 Dan Kitchen Interview Part One: The Rise Of The Kitchen Brothers
Summary In our quest to discover the secrets of programming 8 and 16 bit computers this season, we caught up with Dan Kitchen, a true survivor of the 80’s video game crash, still making games today. In fact, he’s on a quest to build and publish a brand new set…
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S3:E1: Atari’s Biggest Mistake (part 1)
Atari’s Biggest Mistake (part 1): The Day Atari Lost The Video Game War Summary What was Atari’s biggest mistake? To truly be inside The Vertical Blank is to ruminate on “what could have been.” For Atari, there are many “what could have been” moments. What if they produced The Amiga…
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S2:E19 : It’s A Clip Show! “Best Of” moments From Season 1 and Season 3 Preview
Remember back in the 70’s, after May sweeps, when in the TV Guide it would say Happy Days had a (New) episode, but when you watched, it was just Fonzie, Ritchie and Laurie Beth reminiscing about what-not or whatever, as an excuse to play old clips and save money on…
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s2:18 Bonus #2: Pork Chops And Retro Games Sizzle At CES 2020
In this season 2 bonus episode, Steve makes a visit to CES 2020 and looks in all corners for signs of retro games. Subscribe Here Tunes Google Play Player FM Spotify Photos Below
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S2:E17: Bonus – Book Review Of Galaga From Boss Fight Books And More!
This episode is a quick apology for mixing an episode of The Alarm podcast into the Into The Vertical Blank Feed. This episode contains content that never made it into season 2 including book reviews for Galaga from Boss Fight Books and American Nerd, The Story Of My People, as…
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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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Season 2: Episode 15: The Atari 7800 and ST. Our Next Gen Super Systems
Notes: Season 2: Episode 15: The Atari 7800 and ST. Our Next Gen Super Systems In this episode we dig into American Thanksgiving 1986 and discuss our transition from the Atari 800 to the Atari ST with the Atari 7800 squeezed in between. Tony Longworth: https://patreon.com/tonylongworth Some of the music…
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S2:E14 – Asteroids 40th Anniversary
We salute Asteroids 40th anniversary with a discussion of how things have changed since 1979, and with a rebroadcast of the story “Escape To The Asteroids Zone” Please Subscribe And/Or Give Us A Review Tunes Google Play Player FM Spotify
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S2:E13: The Haunting of the Vertical Blank
Into the vertical Blank: Generation Atari Season 2 Episode 13: The Haunting of the Vertical Blank This time the guys discuss “scary” Atari games (mostly *not* scary all), some real-word experiences that beg the question “Was Jeff and Steve’s 520 Atari ST haunted?”, a story about a creepy pen and…
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S2:E12: Star Wars and Atari In The Vertical Blank : Part 2
Tunes Google Play Player FM Spotify S2:E12: Star Wars and Atari In The Vertical Blank : Part 2 In the follow-up episode to the Season 2, Episode 12, Steve and Jeff continue their discussion of the impact that Star Wars on their video game experience and video games in general.…
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S2:E11: Star Wars and Atari In The Vertical Blank : Part 1
Tunes Google Play Player FM Spotify Read Show Notes Here Watch Video Of The Star Wars “A Nerd Is Born” story below: See the photos from Sunday Sept 25th, 1977 below. A Nerd Was Born By Steve Fulton Some time in September 1977 there was an advertisement in the local…
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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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Into the vertical blank: Generation Atari: Season 2, Episode 9 DragonStomper
In the episode, Steve and Jeff take a deep look at the Atari 2600 game Dragon Stomper, what it meant to them in the grand scheme of gaming, and also how it had an effect on early 80’s video and computer games as a whole. AtariProtos.com Dragon Stomper Page http://www.atariprotos.com/2600/software/dragonstomper/dragonstomper.htm…
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S2:E8 The Exact Moment Nintendo Won the Video Game War
The Exact Moment Nintendo Won The Video game War (A Short, Left Handed Episode) In this short summer bonus episode, Steve explores what he thinks is the exact moment Nintendo beat everyone and and won the video game war. I imagine, it’s not exactly what you expect. The Into The…
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S2:E7 Emits a shower of Sparks: Pele’s Soccer
Into the Vertical Blank: Generation Atari – Season 2 Episode 7 : Emits a shower of sparks: How we stopped playing soccer and started playing Atari (along with Pele) In this episode, Steve and Jeff cover Pele’s Soccer for the Atari 2600, and the cultural as well as business atmosphere…
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Armageddon In The Morning (The Alarm: “Sigma” Album Review)
(This is a review of the new album “Sigma” by The Alarm by way of a very personal story about one of the included songs. If you just want the nuts and bolts, feel free to skip to the end). It has been, so far, without a doubt, one of…
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Claw Hammer : Father’s Day Special Edtion
iTunes Google Play Player FM Spotify This is a rebroadcast of the the story ‘Claw Hammer’ from season 1, episode 2. specially for father’s day (Note: My dad died 8 years ago today. This is story I’ve written reminds me of everything my dad stood for in life, and in…
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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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S2: E5 Electronic Games Magazine
In this episode of Into The Vertical Blank: Generation Atari, Steve and Jeff celebrate the magazine that started it all. The first publication in the USA that was strictly devoted to video and electronic games, Electronic Games Magazine. The brothers bring you two stories of thos glories magazine, each featuring…
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S2:E4: The Top-10 Worst Real-Life Products For Classic Video Gamers
What were some of hidden factors that led to the fall of Atari and the golden age of classic video game consoles? Did the world at large really understand video games at all? In this episode we set out to prove, through the lens of some truly awful products and…
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The Top-10 (or so) Worst Real-Life Products For Video Gamers (circa 1982) Part 2: Your Future Career In Video Games
By Steve Fulton Last week I posted a story named The Worst Real-Life Products For Video Gamers (circa 1982-1983) . However, that was not the end of the story. You see, you survived that Halloween in your Asteroids costume, Bat Mitts and Gobbler hat, and while you were not fooled by…
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S2:E3 We always wanted to work for Atari
iTunes Google Play Player FM Spotify Into the Vertical Blank: Generation Atari. Season 2: Episode 3. We always wanted to work for Atari Steve and Jeff provide two new stories about wanting to work for, with, or somehow adjacent to classic Atari. The boys also answer feedback, to explain recent…
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S2:E2: Going, Going, Gone
iTunes Google Play Player FM Spotify This week we are inspired by one of our all-time a favorite podcasts This American Life. Taking a cue from Ira Glass’s often copied, but never duplicated style, we have collected three new stories on single topic: Going Going, Gone. Our first “Going” story…
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Bonus #2 Friday Display List: Feedback and response
This week, 8bitjeff gets into a some awesome listener feedback and provides some of his own for the Atari 5200 Podcast. First up some questions and answers for Tony Longworth, who’s Into The Vertical Blank song gets its own full length airing in the episode. Next up is an incredible…
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S2:E1: The Disappearance Of Charlie Chuck : Atari Food Fight
iTunes Google Play Player FM Spotify S2:E1: The Disappearance Of Charlie Chuck : Atari’s Food Fight In this first episode of season 2 the Fulton’s dive into a mystery: Why hasn’t Atari’s magnificent 1983 game “Food Fight” appeared any of their retro game collections? Where has it is gone? Episode…
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Commercial Off-The-Shelf, Dad : Why My Dad Never Joined The Computer Revolution
(Feeling melancholy about my dad’s birthday today. Here’s an old (slightly reworked) story about his aversion to technology. First published October 13th, 2012,) My brother Jeff and I loved computers as kids, and my dad supported that love as well as he possibly could. He bought us a our first…
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“Perfect!” : Book Review: Galaga By Michael Kimball
Perfect ! A Minimalist Coming Of Age Story By Way Of The Best Golden Age Single Screen Shooter I recently finished “Galaga” by Michael Kimball, book #4 in the “Boos Fight Books” series, and I’m still kind of giddy from that “high” I get after reading something with which I…
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Bonus Podcast: A Trip To The Retro City Festival In Pomona, CA
Summary: In this Bonus podcast between Season 1 and Season 2, Steve takes his family to the Retro City Festival in Pomona, CA .Mild, family friendly hijinks ensue.
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S1:E10 Christmas In The Vertical Blank
S1:E10 Christmas In The Vertical Blank S1:E10: Christmas In The Vertical Blank n this season 1 finale, the Fulton brothers discuss the early years of Atari and Christmas, culminating in a Christmas story that ties a bow on a few of the previous stories and themes from this season. There…
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s1:e9: The Weird Family Thanksgiving In the Vertical Blank
s1:e9: The Weird Family Thanksgiving In the Vertical Blank In the penultimate episode of season one of Into The Vertical Blank, travel back to Thanksgiving holidays of the past to find out how pop culture, games and Atari fit into The Vertical Blank. This episode features a story by Steve Fulton named “The…
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Into The Vertical Blank S1:E8: The Bronze Age Of Arcade Games
S1:E8: The Bronze Age of Arcade Video Games In this episode Steve and Jeff discuss their favorite games and memories of the Bronze Age of arcade video games, a period that spans 1971 (pong) to 1978 (Space Invaders). The pair talk about what was special about those games, and why…
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Into The Vertical Blank: Generation Atari S1:E7 – Playing Together, Side By Side
This episode takes a slightly more personal turn as twin brother hosts Jeff and Steve Fulton tell stories and relive memories of playing together in both analog and digital ways in the 1970’s. The episode includes an original non-fiction story by Steve Fulton titled “Big Mouse And Little Mouse 1.0”.…
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Into The Vertical Blank: Generation Atari S1:E6 – Interfaces are where two worlds collide
Into The Vertical Blank: Generation Atari S1:E6 – Interfaces are where to worlds collide The only thing from the 80’s that could rival our love for Atari was our love for punk rock and new wave, and especially, our favorite band: The Alarm. In 1987 those two things combined in…
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Atari Play field – Atari ST games #1 : Michtron.
Note: (This article was originally written by me – Jeff Fulton – in 2009 for the Retrogaming Times online magazine. The article does not show up anywhere in their archives anymore, so to make sure it is not lost forever, i am putting it here again. It might lead to…
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S1:E5: All Appointments Life (Asteroids Part 2 )
Into The Vertical Blank: Generation Atari Season 1, Episode 5: All Appointments Life (Asteroids Part 2 ) This is the second episode where we will be covering the game Asteroids in story and discussion form. We have a story from 8bitjeff, and also very nice contributions Shinto, and Jim Fullerton.…
