AUSRETROGAMER

The Pop-Culture E-Zine

You are here: Home / Archives for Atari Inc

Atari Inc

Atari Introduces New Collectible Replica Arcade PCBs

By

A NEW REVISION IN ARCADE CIRCUIT BOARD HISTORY

Ah Atari, they know exactly how to squeeze every ounce out of their IP with products that hit the nostalgic sweet spot!

This time around, good ole new Atari has partnered with Retro Arcade to create high-quality authentic replica arcade machine Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) for Black Widow, Gravitar and Major Havoc – iconic Atari arcade games prized for their advanced gameplay and relative rarity of their cabinets.

These reproductions are officially licensed 11.5 x 20.75 inch (29.2cm x 52.70cm) reproductions based on the original arcade board sets and are a new revision in the PCB history. The boards use the original bill of materials, follow the original schematics, and can be used to replace damaged original boards by using the original parts from these boards.

OK, we must admit, we are actually impressed with these replica/repro PCBs, even if the price (US$245) is a tad too much when taking into account the exchange rate.

Oh yeah, these are available in limited quantities at Atari.com.

PS: To sweeten this juicy deal, Atari is offering $10 off (code: “PCBOOPSIE“) on any one of the three Retro Arcade PCB boards (yeah, we know, boards is redundant in PCB boards) 😉

Major Havoc PCB: Revision D

Major Havoc challenges players with a journey through exciting gameplay styles, including Breakout-style mini games where a knowledgeable gamer can warp through different levels.

Gravitar PCB: Revision C

A multi-directional shooter with a reputation for difficulty, Gravitar is arguably also the first cave-flyer ever made.

Black Widow PCB: Revision A

The arcade classic Black Widow is one of the very first twin-stick shooters ever made.



Taycan PONG Arcade Battle: Porsche X Atari

By

Ready, Player One? Porsche Taycan Arcade Is Here!

Now here is a collaboration we never saw coming – Porsche and Atari! Say what?!

Porsche Cars Australia recently released a campaign featuring two Porsche Taycan electric sportscars playing an intense, high-speed, real-life version of Pong. In this life-sized adaptation of the 1970’s Atari classic, the paddles are two Porsche Taycan sportscars while the ball is a fast moving high-tech drone.


source: Porsche

Along with the video, Porsche Cars Australia have also created Taycan Arcade, an interactive web-based game inspired by Pong. Players can use their keyboard or mobile device to move their Taycan up and down on their side of the screen trying to deflect a fast moving ball towards their opponent. Get the ball past your opponents Taycan, and players score a point.

Porsche fans and PONG video game lovers can play Taycan Arcade here.



Do The Math – Atari XP: 50th Anniversary Box Set

By

Do The Math! Atari doing what they do best, squeezing every cent out of their IP

Goddammit Atari, just when we thought you had redeemed yourself with the amazing Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration collection, you go ahead and become the exploitative shell of a company yet again 🙁

Don’t get us wrong, the concept for the Atari XP: 50th Anniversary Limited Edition Box Set is super cool, but the price is way too much for the majority of Atari fans, especially in the current global financial climate.

Anyway, if you have a cool USD$999.99 / AUD$1440.00 / £830.00 burning a hole in your pocket, then this collection may be right up your alley, but you better hurry, as these are limited to 100 worldwide!

Just like Pokemon, will you get them all?

PS: We always wonder what Nolan and Ted (RIP) would have thought about this ‘new’ Atari…….

We just want this Missile Command light up cart!

Will you get them all?image source: Atari Interactive, Inc



Atari 50: Celebrating Atari’s 50th Anniversary

By

Celebrating Atari’s 50th anniversary!

The brand Atari has been around since 1972, making 2022 it’s 50th year in existence. Atari’s history is long and rich (some may say, sordid) with plenty of owners taking the helm, some for the good of Atari, some not.

The current Atari is a far cry from the Atari from the 70s and early 80s, but we’ll spare you the details on how we feel about the contemporary Atari, after all, this post is to celebrate their 50th anniversary! If however you do want to delve deep into the history of Atari, check out Marty Goldberg & Curt Vendel’s book, Atari Inc. Business Is Fun (read our review here).

For now, let’s all raise a glass to Atari in celebration of its 50th anniversary!



15 Atari Facts You May Not Have Known About

By

Gotta love video gaming related facts! Here at ausretrogamer HQ we absolutely love digging around and finding all kinds of video game related facts, especially the more obscure and lesser known ones. Since June is ATARI month, for this new ‘Did You Know’ series, we kick things off with 15 facts about the iconic Atari, which you may or may not have known (or perhaps forgotten about)!

Was it all fun and games at Atari? I would have given an arm and a leg to had been part of this great company that brought video games to the masses. If only I was born in a different era and resided in California back in the 1970s.

There has been much written about Atari – from well known facts to myths and even fan fiction. We set the record straight on a few unknown (and well known) historical facts at the once mighty Atari.

Fact 1. First video game to have background music
To contrary belief, it wasn’t Namco’s Rally-X that first featured background music (BGM), it was beaten to the punch by Atari’s Cannon Ball – an Owen Rubin developed game. Unfortunately, the feedback was not great from location testing. Arcade operators disliked the BGM, citing it as being annoying. Sadly, the game was never mass produced.

Fact 2. Space Duel was the first multicolour vector game
Another contradiction in video gaming folklore – Tempest was not the first multicolour vector game. That gong belongs to Space Duel – another Owen Rubin game. To rub salt into the wounds, Owen Rubin’s colour vector generator code was used by Dave Theurer in Tempest. Owen never received any credit for his effort.

Fact 3. Missile Command was going to be called Armageddon 
Atari had designs and cabinet prototypes created for Armageddon, later to be renamed by Gene Lipkin as Missile Command.

Fact 4. The Last Starfighter
In 1984, when Atari was being carved up and sold, two games in development based on the film, The Last Starfighter were redone to become Star Raiders II and Solaris.

Fact 5. The naming of Yars’ Revenge 
Howard Scott Warshaw (from E.T. fame) named his game Yars’ Revenge after Ray Kassar (Ray spelled backwards). The ‘Razak’ solar system was also based on Ray’s surname, with the letters ‘ss’ replaced with a ‘z’ and the surname spelled backwards. Very clever indeed!

Fact 6. Championship Soccer / Pele’s Soccer
Championship Soccer, aka: Pele’s Soccer was the first video game to license a sports personality, the lovable Brazilian soccer maestro, Pele!

Fact 7. The Atari and Nintendo deal
Atari was in talks with Nintendo in regards to their Family Computer (Famicom). The deal would be for Nintendo to design the printed circuit boards and engineer all the electronics, while Atari would design the console case and packaging. Basically, Atari would be selling Nintendo’s product for them in the USA and the rest of the world under the Atari brand. Imagine if this deal had gone through.

Fact 8. Naming the Atari 7800
After the Atari 5200 debacle, the marketing department at Atari would not dictate the functions or features of the new Atari 7800. However, they did come up with the product name by adding 2600 to 5200. Absolute genius (Ed: stop being sarcastic!).

Fact 9. Burying Atari
Atari could only wish they could bury the E.T. myths. When the decision was made to close the El Paso (Texas) plant, truckloads of unused and faulty stock was being ferried to the Alamogordo, New Mexico city dump. The deal was to dump the goods and steamroll them. As the media got wind of this, it was made out as if Atari was trying to “cover up” and they became the media whipping boy with the video gaming woes of the early 80s.

Fact 10. Cloak & Dagger
At the end of 1983, Atari was manufacturing upgrade kits to turn rival Williams’ Robotron:2084, Defender, Stargate and Joust cabinets into a new Atari game called Cloak & Dagger. Cloak & Dagger (originally titled Agent X) was designed to plug directly into the existing power supply in these games. Indeed, this was very cloak and dagger like of Atari. By the way, the movie of the same name was a gloried Atari advertisement.

Fact 11. Clandestine sale to Philips 
Without the knowledge of James (Jim) Morgan at Atari, Warner Bros. management (Manny Gerard and Rob Newman) were surveying Atari at the request of Steve Ross (Warner Bros head-honcho). The staking out of Atari was to take visual inventory and current status of projects for a possible sale to the Dutch electronics giant, Philips. There were a series of talks between Steve Ross and Wisse Dekker (Philips CEO), but in the end, after being burned by the Magnavox Odyssey, Philips chose to walk away from the deal.

Fact 12. First Nintendo, then the Amiga Hi-Toro
It seems that Atari had a knack of getting itself into some wheeling and dealing, but ultimately, choosing to opt out of certain deals. After the Nintendo deal fell through, Atari struck a gentleman’s agreement with the Amiga Corporation in early 1984. The ‘Letter Of Intent’ between Atari and Amiga had Atari advancing $500,000 to  the cash strapped Amiga Corporation so that they could continue developing the ‘Lorraine’ chipset. Atari was never interested in acquiring Amiga, they just wanted to get their hands on the chipset that Jay Miner and Joe Decuir had created. The chipset was going to be used in Atari’s arcade machines, consoles and home computers. Dave Morse’s intention was always to find a buyer for his fledgling and struggling Amiga Corporation. This is where Commodore stepped in and the rest, as they say, is history. Hindsight is always 20/20!

Fact 13. Shedding Atarians
The gravy train at Atari was coming to a screeching halt. Under James Morgan’s NATCO (New Atari Company) cost saving plan, Atari’s ranks shrivelled from 7,800 employees in January 1983, to an astounding 1,500 by the end of May 1984.

Fact 14. Atari MindLink – Bionic Breakout
Atari was always at the forefront of product development. Atari’s MindLink product was a headband controller that controlled game play by the player just looking at the TV screen and ‘thinking’ about moving an object. There was no extra sensory perception going on here, the MindLink controller would  read the resistance of the muscles in the player’s forehead and interpret them into the appropriate joystick or fire button signals. Was it ahead of its time, it sure was. The market did not take the product seriously so Atari chose not to pursue production of the MindLink.

Fact 15. I, Robot – The last Atari, Inc. Coin-op 
The final coin-operated game under the Atari, Inc. banner was I, Robot (1984). Created by Dave Theurer and Rusty Dawe, I, Robot was the first commercial arcade game to feature filled 3D polygonal graphics. Sadly, only 750 machines were produced, with even less being sold. If you have one in your possession, hold onto it, it is worth a small fortune!

With a vast amount of information out there on Atari, we cross referenced facts, myths and misinformation with the definitive book, Atari Inc. – Business Is Fun by Curt Vendel and Marty Goldberg. If you weren’t aware, Curt Vendel is an Atari historian (since the mid 1980s) and has the largest Atari collection in the world. Curt has collected vast amounts of Atari paperwork and other memorabilia over the last few decades. His intimate knowledge of Atari is second to none.

image sources: various



June is Atari Month!

By


Attention our fellow Atarians (fans of the old Atari),

The month of June is fast approaching and you all know what that means – it’s !

To celebrate 49 years of Atari, we are asking you to put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard and get writing about your affinity for this iconic brand.

This is your opportunity to let your writing juices flow! To get you started, check out Matt Lacey’s Atari story from the last time we ran for Atari’s 42nd anniversary.

Once you are satisfied with your written masterpiece, just submit it to us here. The most entertaining submissions will be immortalised on ausretrogamer.com!

There is no word limit, so go for your life (just keep it clean)! Article submissions are opened from now till June 25 2021. That means you have (almost) 3 months for your submission, so get cracking you awesome Atarians!

 

 

Battlezone: One of Atari’s Best

By

By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.

Several years ago, my brother bought an Atari Flashback 64 console, and I became obsessed with playing the 1983 tank video game Battlezone. As crude as the first-person shooter graphics may be, the game feels like a real tank simulator (minus the volcanoes and UFOs).

I’ve always loved tank games. Usually, the more realistic ones are the most entertaining, but Battlezone’s simplicity is what makes it so fun and interesting. I didn’t know until I did some research that Battlezone is often considered the first virtual reality arcade video game. The home version doesn’t feel like virtual reality, but I can definitely see how the original 1980 arcade version can be seen as a “3-D success”. Looking through the “periscope” viewfinder, which the player used to play the game, had to be exciting and different. The originality of it had to help the player immerse themselves in the classic game. I’ve never had the pleasure of playing Battlezone in an upright arcade cabinet; I hope one day I will.

There is also a smaller version of the cabinet where the screen was angled upwards, and there was no periscope. I think I remember seeing that version of Battlezone at a local supermarket when I was little.

When I play Battlezone, I have a battle manoeuvre where I circle around and pick off enemy tanks and flying saucers, then I pick up speed in one direction for a while until something pops up on my radar. I wish the game had a better radar, but the primitiveness of it adds to the retro feel. You must be fast on the joystick’s trigger when opposing tanks just pop up on screen in front of you. Playing the ’83 game is still a challenging and thrilling experience.

Atari 2600 version of Battlezone. Source: Retro Gamer

 

Missile Command: Recharged – It’s a Blast

By

Atari’s seminal 1980s arcade classic, Missile Command, has now been Recharged and is ready for blasting on your favourite iOS and Android device!

Missile Command has been one of our favourite games to play due to its compelling simplicity and very visceral and satisfying gameplay – aim at the falling missiles, fire and destroy, it doesn’t get better or simpler than that.

Missile Command: Recharged is actually quite well (re)done with beautiful neon visuals paired with cool electronic music that Jeff Minter would be quite proud of. The game also has power-ups, upgrades, and an augmented reality feature, making this game quite a blast (pun intended).

The current Atari cops a lot of stick for milking their original IP, including from us, but this free to play game (with a one time purchase to remove the ads) is a pleasant surprise – it is really well done.

If you want a (free) Missile Command game for your smart device, then you can’t go wrong with Missile Command: Recharged. Get it now!

 

Review: Atari Flashback Classics – Nintendo Switch

By

Up until recently Nintendo Switch owners had to watch and endure their contemporary console friends get their Atari classic gaming fix. Well, this is no longer the case!

The Atari Flashback Classics compilation is a collection of 150 Atari favourites for the Nintendo Switch. Taking full advantage of the Switch features, like vertical / TATE orientation (for compatible games), Switch owners now have lots to gloat about to their other console brethren. Let’s just say this straight off the bat – this compilation is choc-full of the legendary publisher’s iconic library of games, with titles from the Atari 2600 and Atari 5200 home consoles, along with former Atari coin-op/arcade exclusives.

Of course we were always going to play Atari’s seminal arcade titles first! Well, the scrollable 11 page games menu had the arcade titles first, so it made the choice easier. If there is one gripe here, we just wish that that you could customise the games menu. Anyway, it was game on with Asteroids, Centipede, Missile Command, Pong and Tempest (to start with), and boy, they did not disappoint! These classic Atari arcade games are perfectly converted on the Nintendo Switch, with impeccable controls (each game has a pop control area showing which map buttons to the correspond Switch controls). We also love the bezel artwork, which gives that authentic arcade feeling.

Speaking of artwork, the home console games (Atari 2600 and 5200) get their full box art on the menu and also come with their respective full manual. Some (not all) game manual scans are tad blurry, but it’s still a great example of conservation that helps turn this release into an almost museum-like archive.


source: Atari

Atari Flashback Classics has a slew of features, including a local achievements system, leaderboards and a local (up to four players) and online (two players) multiplayer. These features were designed to bring players together, just like back in the day – a neat little touch.

This massive library of classic Atari 2600, Atari 5200 and Atari arcade games is perfect for those Switch owners craving for a one-stop shop to play old school Atari games either at home or on the go. If you want a fix of classic Atari gaming on your Switch, then grab the Atari Flashback Classics now.

Disclosure: Atari Flashback Classics [Nintendo Switch] was kindly provided by UberStrategist for this review.

 

Film Review: Easy To Learn, Hard to Master – The Fate Of Atari

By

The story of Atari has been told many times, from books like Atari Inc: Business Is Fun to umpteen documentaries, but none tell the full and complete story as well as Easy to Learn, Hard To Master: The Fate Of Atari.

Narrated by revered Commodore Engineer, Bil Heard, this documentary delves deep into the Atari history like no other film before it. From Atari’s humble beginnings as Syzygy and the breakthrough of Pong, to the Atari VCS/2600 home console, its subsequent sale to Time Warner and downward spiral to oblivion in the early 80s.

The story is weaved perfectly with many points of view, including former Atari Inc. President, Ray Kassar, who had never told his side of the story prior to this documentary. This is quite important, as stories about Atari had always been told from their former engineers (like Al Alcorn) and co-founder, Nolan Bushnell, so it was refreshing to get management perspective from Ray and Manny Gerard. This is even more poignant as Ray Kassar passed away in December 2017 – making his story even more important when it comes to Atari’s history. Another poignant interview was with old foe, Ralph Baer (Died on December 6 2014), himself a great inventor and the grandfather of video games and the concept of home gaming consoles.

Other notable interviewees include Joe Decuir, Howard Warshaw, Ed Rotberg, Dannis Kable, Dave Rolfe, Eugene Jarvis, Steve Russell, former Nintendo of America President Minoru Arakawa and former Atarian and Activision co-founder, David Crane, to name just a few. If you don’t know the story of Atari or you would like the definitive history on Atari, then we highly recommend Easy To Learn, Hard to Master: The Fate of Atari.

Title: Easy To Learn, Hard to Master: The Fate of Atari
Director: Tomaso Walliser & Davide E. Agosta
Production: Junk Food Films