Atari

Ben Heck’s Portable Atari 2600

24/05/2016 By Ms. ausretrogamer

In 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.

Source: The Ben Heck Show via Technabob

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Ms. 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

12/04/2016 By ausretrogamer

Finally, 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

11/04/2016 By ausretrogamer

We 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

Cramming a lot of video gaming smarts in confined spaces!

Looking good!

Anyone for tennis?

source: lovablechevy

Raid The Atari Vault At The PC Gamer Weekender

01/03/2016 By ausretrogamer

There 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!

image source: Atari

How I Designed The World’s Worst Video Game

16/02/2016 By ausretrogamer

Howard 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

26/12/2015 By ausretrogamer

Christmas 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

The Twelve Gifts Of Christmas

27/11/2015 By ausretrogamer

“On the First day of Christmas my true love sent to me”, No, no, no! There will be no ‘The Twelve Days Of Christmas’ singing here, thank you. With Christmas just around the corner, we thought we would ease the gift buying burden by giving you ‘The Twelve Gift Ideas For Christmas’ to help you get something special for your really cool geeky / nerdy partner.

Forget about going out to the local shopping centre and battling for a car park only to get frustrated when you can’t find anything suitable. We are here to make this Christmas shopping period a pleasant experience from the comfort of your own home and one where your partner will thank you for the awesome gift (Ed: don’t you mean gifts!)!

Enough chatter, as promised, here are The Twelve Gifts of Christmas!

Star Wars: The Original Topps Trading Card Series, Volume One – Just in time for the Force Awakens!

If they are Zelda fans, then this 2.5″ 8-Bit Link Action Figure will tickle their fancy

But if they are a Donkey Kong kinda guy or gal, then they’ll go ape over this!

Secure their DS / 3DS with a retro NES inspired case!

Sega fans rejoice! Plug and play the Sega Nano on any TV (with composite connectivity)

There should always be a Masters Of The Universe gift under the Christmas tree

If clothing is preferred, then nothing says cool like a C64 tee

Bookworms partners will love this Commodore book!

Can’t afford a real Intellivision? Then the Intellivision Flashback is the next best thing!

Or maybe they are a ColecoVision type of gamer…

Forget forking out thousands for an arcade machine, grab them a My-Arcade mini retro machine!

And if you really want to spoil him or her, get them the ultimate handheld emulation system, the GPD XD

image source: supplied

Modern Games As Atari 2600 Carts

23/10/2015 By Ms. ausretrogamer

Have you ever wondered what your favourite modern games would look like as Atari 2600 carts? Well, check out DeviantArtist StarRoivas’ collection and wonder no more (see the whole collection via Lord Arse on Pinterest).

Source: StarRoivas on DeviantArt via Lord Arse on Pinterest

If you love retrogaming, follow Lord_Arse on Twitter.

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Ms. 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

Operation: Atari Lynx LCD Mod

20/05/2015 By ausretrogamer

Should we allow our retro gaming gear to age gracefully, or do we do what everyone does in Hollywood, go under the surgeon’s scalpel in the hope of looking better? In this instance, having an Atari Lynx II upgraded with McWill’s LCD modification (with VGA out) was an easy choice. This surgical transplant was well worth sacrificing one Atari Lynx II out of the many sitting there to be used at ComLynx parties. The only difference being, I would have the best looking screen at the next meet *wink*

In its original form, the Lynx II’s screen isn’t the best, you are constantly angle it or mucking around with the contrast to get that perfect view. With the new LCD, that is all gone! No more mucking around with the contrast knob, and you certainly do not have to angle the Lynx II to get a better vantage point. The new screen is super sharp, able to be viewed clearly at 180 degrees! Not only that, you can also play your Lynx II on the big screen via the VGA out interface! Cor blimey!

Just like any delicate surgical procedure, I left this modification to the expertise of Dr Curlytek. With precision, Dr Curlytek was able to salvage the old screen (to be used as a spare part if need be!) and install the new one without a hitch. The mod isn’t as straight forward as the instructions lead you to believe, so it is best left for those that have steady hands and exquisite soldering skills. So was it all worth it? A photo comparison can’t do the new screen any justice – you have to see it in real life to get an appreciation of its sharpness and vividness! Imagine if Atari had installed these screens originally? Perhaps they would have sold more Lynxes!

A huge thank you to Serblander for sourcing the LCD kit and to the surgeon himself, Stacey “Dr Curlytek” Borg for his exceptional skill in transplanting the new screen into the Atari Lynx II.

The surgeon prepares!

Open that sucker!

The Lynx II opened up

Out with the old (screen)!

The new screen awaits its new host

The Lynx II patiently waits for its new internal organ

Read the instructions twice and perform surgery once – great plan!

The delicate work continues

Additional body part for the Lynx II

The Atari Lynx II in post-operation recovery

The screen test begins! Wow, looking super sharp!

Testing the VGA output! Looking good.

Let the Lynx II screen battle begin!

And the winner is……. Ah, it’s an easy choice

Interactive Family Tree Of Retro Controllers

19/05/2015 By Ms. ausretrogamer

John Kowalski (Sock Master) has created an awesome interactive retro controller family tree which takes us from Atari 2600 and Intellivision to PS3 and Wii controllers. Click on the pictures in the tree and you will find out key information about each controller – for example, the Atari 2600 controller was first released in 1977 and was sold until about 1991! While the WaveBird is notable for being the first wireless first-party controller.

As Sock Master describes:

‘I’ve put together a chart, or controller family-tree, that tries to connect all the current console controllers with their predecessors… a lot of the information presented here is my opinion. I try to keep things accurate, using facts that I know, but also making some of my own conclusions where no hard evidence is available…

There are still a number of gaps in the family tree, as a lot of controllers are still missing from the chart. Eventually, I will try to fill in some of the holes. Current things that are missing are controllers I couldn’t get my hands on, controllers from less popular consoles, and most of the 8-bit era.’

Sock Master’s Interactive Retro Controller Family Tree

Source: Sock Master via Geekologie

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Ms. ausretrogamer
Editor and Researcher 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

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