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June is Atari Month!

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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!

 

 

Atari Panther: The Extinct Cat

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In 1988 Atari Corporation’s Jack Tramiel ordered work to begin on the successor to the Atari 7800 and XEGS. Work quickly begun on the Panther and Jaguar consoles – yes, the Jaguar! The Atari Panther was being developed by Flare Technology (Flare One and Konix Multisystem) and was scheduled for release in 1991, directly competing with Nintendo’s SNES and Sega’s Mega Drive.

The Panther platform was going to be a mash up of the Atari ST and Transputer “Blossom” video card, once again blurring the lines of “is it 16 or 32-bit?”. For the record, the Motorola 68000 CPU was going to run at 16MHz (compared to the Mega Drive’s 8MHz and the SNES’ 12MHz) which was going to be paired with a 32-bit graphics card running at a whopping 32MHz! On paper, Atari was doing their math(s) right!

As the Panther and Jaguar were being developed in parallel, Atari Corp. started favouring the Jaguar as it was progressing quickly and presented far more impressive and superior technology. Atari eventually decided to scrap the Panther and forge ahead with their 64-bit console. The cancellation of the Panther meant that Atari had no hardware presence in the home console market between the discontinuation of the Atari 7800 in 1992 and the launch of their Jaguar in 1993. This gap weakened the Atari brand and likely contributed to the failure of the Jaguar console.

The cancellation of the Panther was poor timing, which in retrospect Atari wishes they had pursued it to market, as it would have given both the SNES and Mega Drive one hell of a fight!

The Atari Panther blueprint!

Looking good – front, back with nice sides!

The press release that got us drooling!

image source: Atari-Explorer via Wayback Machine

 

Press Play On Tape: Atari’s 8-Bit Legacy

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pressplayontape18The tape is rewound, the counter set to zero, and that means only one thing: it’s time to Press Play on Tape! This month, Alex, Daz and Aaron are joined by Aleks ‘Serby’ Svetislav from Weird and Retro to take a look back at Atari’s 8-bit computer range. Alex runs us through Atari’s lineup, spanning from the Atari 400 to the ST-inspired 130XE, before handing over the Serby to discuss his beloved XE Games System!

After picking Llamasoft as publisher of choice for this month, the crew discuss the many weird and wonderful games they’ve given us over the years. The group also discovers that Jeff Minter’s games were responsible for them getting the Atari Jaguar, Nuon and the PS Vita!

On a more subdued note, it’s with great sadness that this episode sees co-hosts Alex and Darren leave the Press Play On Tape podcast. Both have made the difficult decision to step down from regular hosting duties in order to focus on other projects. The show will go on, but they both will be missed.

Thanks for listening and hope you enjoy this month’s episode!

This episode of Press Play On Tape along with all previous podcasts can be found on Podbean and also iTunes – we’d love it if you gave us a review while you’re there. It all helps!

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blahjediAaron Clement
Tassie based retro gaming guy. Father of 3 and married to the very tolerant Kellie Clement. Coffee powered!

Follow Aaron Clement on Twitter and Instagram

 

 

 

Generosity Of An Atarian

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Atarian_XEGS_hdr

I may have said this before, but I will say it again, the best part of retro gaming is being part of a like-minded, considerate and passionate worldwide community.

I have met many great people and cemented many friendships due to a mutual love of retro gaming. Aleks ‘Serby’ Svetislav (Weird and Retro) is one person I am particularly grateful to have met. Apart from sharing my passion for all things retro, Aleks is a very cool guy.

During one of the retro gaming community events, Aleks showed off his immaculate Atari 8-bit XEGS. As a one-eyed C64 fan, I was intrigued by this part-computer, part-console 8-bit from Atari. I had never experienced the XEGS till this point. After a few hours of play, Aleks’ love of the Atari 8-bit rubbed off on me. The XEGS bug had bitten me hard! It wasn’t long before I hunted and obtained a XEGS of my own.

To welcome me to the XEGS gaming family, Aleks gifted me three still-in-shrinkwrap games – Blue Max, Desert Falcom and David’s Midnight Magic . Now I was truly ready to start playing on the XEGS!

The generosity shown to me by Aleks was (and still is) truly humbling. When life gets too tough, I always think of how lucky and thankful I am of having great friends in this big wide world of ours. Game on!

The new XEGS games stack. Should I open them?
XE_stack

Bustin’em open!
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I love the smell of freshly opened XEGS games in the morning
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Atari’s 8-Bit Home Computers: A Belated Love Affair

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Ah Atari, how I love thee, but back in the ’80s it wasn’t all love. You see, I chose the Commodore 64 as my 8-bit home computer. Do I have any regrets? Absolutely not! But, with my nostalgia tinted glasses on and the benefit of hindsight, perhaps I should have given the Atari 8-bit (affectionately known as A8) home computer range more attention.

With the passing of time and my nostalgic nerves tingling, I had the urge to delve into the world of A8 computing. To my surprise, the Atari 800XL I procured turned out to be a lot of fun. It was built to withstand a nuclear catastrophe, just the way I like it. Whilst on this A8 bandwagon, I also experienced the Atari XEGS system – the half computer, half console beast.  This sudden interest in the A8 home computers piqued my 8-bit senses. I knew that I had to find out more about the lineage of Atari’s 8-bit home computers.

The Atari 8-Bit Home Computer timeline
Atari 8-bit Computers - ausretrogamer

From the 400/800 (1979) to the XL (1983), the XE (XL Extended) (1985) and finally to the XEGS (1987), Atari left no stone unturned when it came to unleashing their 8-bit home computer range. The A8s were definitely on-par with their contemporaries, but with the upheaval that was going on within Atari and the change in ownership, the 8-bit home computers never stood a chance to shine bright.

The A8 range was officially discontinued on January 1, 1992 – an impressive 13 year run! The Atari 8-bit home computers will forever be played – yes, they will last that long!

ILoveAtari

 

Get Your Atari On!

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AtariOn_title

Dudes and dudettes, June is ATARI month! Have you got an Atari  story to tell? If so, read this and get writing!

Over the last few years, we have written a few Atari pieces, from 8-bit battles between the XEGS and the C64, to lesser known Atari facts, book reviews and even a homage to one of my favourite handhelds, the Atari Lynx!

So what are you waiting for, celebrate by getting your Atari on!

ILoveAtari