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Atari To Make New Gaming Hardware

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There is nothing more exciting than hearing that one of your favourite video gaming companies from your childhood is about to launch new hardware!

We know that the new Atari is nothing like the old, but hearing that they are teaming up with Gameband to create a new wearable gaming product, we did let out a little squee! With lots of teaser tweets (see below), we are anxiously awaiting further news on this new Atari product that lets you play Atari classic games in a whole new way! We’ll update this post as more news comes to hand.

Just an interesting tidbit – according to the Gameband website, they are launching their Terraria and Atari Edition products via Kickstarter on February 8.

image source: Atari

 

Atari ST Gaming: The AtariCrypt Magazine

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Atari ST fans rejoice! We finally have an exclusive magazine we can all drool over (and tease our Amiga friends with)!

The ST Army Of Two, Steve Gregory & Darren Doyle (aka: Ataricrypt) have joined forces to bring us a very special Christmas gift for 2016: the ‘AtariCrypt Collection Volume One’ magazine – packed with 70 pages of awesomely curated Atari ST content!

This “FREE” digital magazine can be downloaded from the AtariCrypt site. Although the mag is free, there is the (voluntary) option to reward Steve and Darren for their hard work in bringing us this brill mag!

source: AtariCrypt

 

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

 

 

 

Atari Gets Connected In The Home

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Atari_Sigfox_IoT_TitleAny time Atari is in the news, we can’t help but get excited or at least our ears prick up at the mention of the once-behemoth of the video gaming industry.

This time round Atari isn’t bringing a new gaming console to the market, but they are teaming up with Internet of Things (IoT) communication specialist Sigfox to develop a set of new products for the connected home with plans to cover everything from your own safety to that of your cats and dogs. At this point in time, the product categories will include home, pets, lifestyle and safety. Product development is set to kick off this year, with more information coming in the near future. Stay tuned!

source: gizmag

 

Ben Heck’s Portable Atari 2600

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Atari 2600 featured 2In this episode of The Ben Heck Show, Ben makes an awesome hand-held Atari 2600 by pulling apart the original chips and wiring the entire circuit manually, 3D printing a custom case, and adding a screen and rechargeable battery – wow! Check out the video to see just how he did it.

Atari 2600 3

Atari 2600 2

Atari 2600 4

Atari 2600 1

Source: The Ben Heck Show via Technabob

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msausretrogamerMs. ausretrogamer
Co-founder, editor and writer at ausretrogamer – The Australian Retro Gamer E-Zine. Lover of science fiction, fashion, books, movies and TV. Player of games, old and new.

Follow Ms. ausretrogamer on Twitter

 

 

Press Play On Tape: STart Me Up

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PPOT_13_HDRFinally, the great Atari 16-bit computer gets its time to shine on the PRESS PLAY ON TAPE podcast! With Maximum Power Up’s podcaster, Paul Monaghan as the special guest, Daz is outnumbered and admits defeat in the 16-bit computer battle. The cast looks back fondly at the ST and its many great games, from exclusives like Oids, to awesome arcade conversions like R-Type and the ultimate adventure RPG, Dungeon Master.

Rainbow Arts was chosen as the publisher of choice, with The Great Giana Sisters and Turrican getting lots of love from the lads. This month also saw a record number of responses for the audience question, which goes to show that there is plenty of love for Atari’s Sixteen/Thirty-two computer! So grab your Amiga mates and STart me up!

PRESS PLAY ON TAPE podcasts are available on iTunes and Podbean

 

Pocket Atari 2600: Gaming On The Go

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Pocket_Atari_HDRWe absolutely love DIY console mods, especially cool ones like this Atari Flashback 2 stuffed into an Atari VCS/2600 cartridge!

We are fans of old systems being shrunk down to a portable size (Ed: we all remember the portable Atari 2600, yeh?), but this creation by lovablechevy tickles our nostalgic fancy due to its pocket friendly size and use of an Atari 2600 cartridge – which are so damn cool. Before you get upset, the game on the cartridge was long dead before it was used and converted as a pocket gaming unit.

Lovablechevy states that her creation was conceived almost a decade ago with it only coming to fruition now! We say that it’s better late than never! As mentioned right off the bat, the Pocket Atari has an Atari Flashback 2 stuffed inside of a standard Atari 2600 cart with a 2.5″ screen plus an audio amp, transplanted Wii Remote D-pad and buttons, a Super Joy III controller board and 2 x 3.7v li-ion 700 mAh batteries for power (giving you 3.5 hours of carefree and very loud gaming)!

This is definitely the smallest portable Atari 2600 which fits great in your pocket without weighing you down (Ed: it’s a measly 4.6 ounces in weight!). Now, let’s play some River Raid on it *winks*

Doing The Math: The Pocket Atari plan
Pocket_Atari_Plan

Cramming a lot of video gaming smarts in confined spaces!
PocketAtari_insides

Looking good!
Pocket_Atari_Beauty

Anyone for tennis?
Pocket_Atari_Paddles


source: lovablechevy

 

Raid The Atari Vault At The PC Gamer Weekender

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atarivault_Title_logoThere is no hiding the fact that we are huge Atari fans – always have been, always will be. We definitely have a soft spot for Atari’s old school gaming franchises – so to our delight, the company that brought us Pong and the VCS will be attending The PC Gamer Weekender at London’s Old Truman Brewery this coming weekend, March 5-6. They will be unleashing their Atari Vault, which will be packed with 100s of classic Atari games.

The Atari Vault (slated for a Northern Hemisphere spring 2016 launch on Steam) will be stacked with classics such as Asteroids®, Centipede®, Missile Command®, Tempest® and Warlords® to name a few. To relive the gaming experience in the modern age, Atari have added online and local multiplayer options, an upgraded UI and original 70’s and 80’s soundtracks, Steam leaderboards to challenge others for arcade supremacy and most importantly, Steam controller support – giving you, the player, precision control to take out your fellow challengers.

When it comes to Atari’s seminal titles, there is no denying their timeless appeal transcend generations and provide the same fun as they did when we were knee-high to a grasshopper. Bring on the Atari Vault!

AtariVault_tempest

AtariVault_lunarlander

AtariVault_gravitar

AtariVault_blackwidow

AtariVault_Asteroidsimage source: Atari

 

How I Designed The World’s Worst Video Game

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HSW_ET_TitleHoward Scott Warshaw speaks to Matthew Bannister from the BBC World Service about his creation, E.T. for the Atari 2600, considered as the world’s worst ever video game and the cause of the video game market crash in North America (Ed: which wasn’t true!).


source: BBC World Service

image source: Dave Staugas (via BBC World Service)

 

It’s An Atari 80s Christmas

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Atari80sXmasComms_HDRChristmas is always a great time to reflect. We usually reflect on the year that had just gone by, but for this year, let’s change that and go back a bit further, like back to the 80s when Atari was still king of the video gaming market.

Grab your eggnog and reflect on these early 80s Atari Christmas commercials compiled by haikarate4.


source: haikarate4

Just in case you wanted to know which commercials made up this great compilation, here they are:
• E.T. Commercial Atari 2600
• Atari 5200 Ms Pac Man and Jungle Hunt
• Atari 2600 Atlantis Commercial By Imagic
• Cosmic Ark By Imagic Featuring the kid from A Christmas Story
• Atari 5200 Super System Commercial