Into The Vertical Blank : Generation Atari

In this epiosde of Into The Vertical Blank: Generation Atari, Steve and Jeff celebrate the magazine that started it all. The first publicaion in the USA that was strictly devoted to video and electronic games.  The brothers bring you two stories of thos glories magazine, each featuring a different issue of that impacted their childhood in a remarkable way.  Digital Press Landing pages for Electonic Games Magazine Scanned Issueshttp://www.digitpress.com/library/magazines/electronic_games/electronic_games.htm All audio content, production and enginnereing by Jeff and Steve Fulton (c) 2019 8bitrocket Studios

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 ideas, that the industry might have killed itself. The back pages and new products sections of Electronic Games magazine in 1982 and 1983 were filled with all sorts of products, services and offers that were dubious at best, and possibly, criminal at worst.   It appears that in the very early years of video games  all sorts of people jumped at the chance to try to sell all manner of items to the newly minted audience of “arcaders” and “joystickers” (the terms Electronic Games editors used to refer to “gamers” in  the early days).  Below are some the most useless/interesting and bizarre products that we could dig up in those pages: Notes: See "Enhanced" Youtube version:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDXF4-gpPhc Read Full Story With Photos: http://ww

Steve and Jeff provide two new stories about wanting to work for, with, or somehow adjacent to classic Atari. The pair also answer feedback, to explain recent Irata, and give some responses to their favorite podcasts.  Tony Longworth’s incredibly melodic industrial grunge track “Into the Vertical Blank” again accompanies this episode, along with original music and audio  productions from the Fulton Brothers.   Tony Longworth’s Music: https://store.cdbaby.com/Artist/TonyLongworth The Atari 2600 Game by Game Podcast: http://2600gamebygamepodcast.libsyn.com/ The Atari Bytes Podcast: https://ataribytes.libsyn.com/ The XL/XE Podcast: https://player.fm/series/xlxe The Pie Factory Podcast: http://www.fab4it.com/piefactory/#/ The Christmas Bytes Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1678105444/christmas-bytes

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 from myself, Steve, called “Surprise Box” is about a seaside arcade that is destined to close forever.  Our next “going” story S from Jeff called “The Magic Basement” is about a certain retail establishment that is now on its last legs, but still fighting to stay alive.The final piece,   “Gone” story, named “Terms Not Disclosed” from  Steve,  talks about a certain restaurant from our youth that has disappeared and may never come back. Photos from The Fun Factoryhttp://www.8bitrocket.com/2019/03/22/s2e2-going-going-gone/  

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 story by Bill Lange about his father, his childhood, Christmas and Lionel Trains.  To finish off the episode, Jeff provides instant feedback to the 5200 Podcast on their most recent episode about Star Wars games for the Atari Super System: Tony Longworth’s CD Baby Storehttps://store.cdbaby.com/Artist/TonyLongworth Old School Gamer Magazine - Which contain numerous Articles by Bill Langehttps://www.oldschoolgamermagazine.com/magazine/ The Atari 5200 Podcast https://theatari5200superpodcast.libsyn.com/ Atari Mania Atari 8bit Star Wars Games http://www.atarimania.com/list_games_atari_search_83.84.65.82.32.87.65.82.83._8_G.html

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 features an in-depth interview with the fabulous Jonathan Hurd, creator on the Food Fight arcade game for GCC and Atari. Atari 2015 IP Catalog: http://news.calyptus.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Atari-IPs-Sept15.pdf Atari Production Numbers Memo:  http://www.atarigames.com/atarinumbers90s.pdf Atari Vault: https://www.atari.com/games/atari-vault/ Atari Flashback Classics 1: https://www.atari.com/games/atari-flashback-classics-volume1/ Atari Flashback Classics 2: https://www.atari.com/games/atari-flashback-classics-volume2/ Atari Flashback Classics 3: https://www.atari.com/games/atari-flashback-classics-volume3/ Atari Flashback Classics Switch: https://www.atari.com/games/atari-flashback-classics-switch/ Atari Foodgod’s Food Truck Frenzy:  https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.atari.mobile.atarifoodf

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.

In 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 are also some surprises, weird occurances, and awkwardness. Lots and lots of awkwardness. What were you expecting?  Some Images To Illustrate The Podcast Probably the first ad we ever saw in Electronic Games magazine from November 1981 The Amazing "Train Tables" in the Sears Catalog The only picture I have of the N-Scale Xmas-tree stand.  This is from long after it fell into disrepair, but I think you can still still what it might have looked like in it's glory days The "HO Scale Dementia Table" when "everything lived" Dad working on his table the took up most of his room.    

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 Weird Family" and Story by Jeff Fulton named "4 Days In November" Notes: See images mentiiend inpodcast here:http://www.8bitrocket.com/2018/11/21/s1e9-the-weird-family-thanksgiving-in-the-vertical-blank/ Of Dice And Men: by David M. Ewalt : https://www.amazon.com/Dice-Men-Dungeons-Dragons-People/dp/145164051X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1542898885&sr=8-1&keywords=of+dice+and+men Colonial Coquest by SSI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonial_Conquest Starleague Baseball:  http://www.geekometry.com/2013/11/gamechanger-star-league-baseball/ Laser Blast!:  http://atariage.com/software_page.php?SoftwareLabelID=270 Lilttle Alchemy : https://littlealchemy.com/   Images Mentioned In Podcast 50's Day

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 they matter today. Also included: new music by Jeff, Atari Haiku, a remix by Jeff, and brand-new story by Steve named “Sharpshooter”. Games Mentioned Pac-Man 256:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F86_pplPreo Bard’s Tale 4: https://store.steampowered.com/app/566090/The_Bards_Tale_IV_Barrows_Deep/ Atari Flashback Classics 1: https://www.atari.com/games/atari-flashback-classics-volume1/ Atari Flashback Classics 2: https://www.atari.com/games/atari-flashback-classics-volume2/ Atari Flashback Classics 3: https://www.atari.com/games/atari-flashback-classics-volume3/ Atari Flashback Classics Switch: https://www.atari.com/games/atari-flashback-classics-switch/ Atari Vault: https://store.steampowered.com/app/400020/Atari_Vault/ Atari Baseb

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”.  (Remaster adds a section to this story).  This episode also features an interview with Jamie Lendino about his book “Adventure: The Atari VCS At The Dawn Of Console Gaming”.   Show Notes   Extreme Tech Website edited by Jamie Lendino:  https://www.extremetech.com/ Adventure: The Atari 2600 at the Dawn of Console Gaming” by Jamie Lendino:   Breakout: How Atari 8-Bit Computers Defined a Generation” by Jamie Lendino   Generation X/Generation Atari Podcasts The Essential Growing up 80’s Podcast - https://player.fm/series/growing-up-80s Gen X Grownup Podcast: http://genxgrownup.com/ More 80’s podcasts on Player FM - https://player.fm/en/podcasts/80's-podcasts Atari ST and 400/800/XL/XE Podcasts Antic - https://atarip

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 an unexpected way. So unexpected in fact, that we were only able to fully understand impact of those two world's clashing more than 30 years later.  This episode documents that journey to understanding. In 1987 we gave up the "Little Blue Desktop " of Atari 800 DOS for the Little Green Desktop of the Atari 520 ST.  At that exact moment in time, the music industry was changing dramatically from one that used mostly analog recording practices to adding digital instruments and recording methods into the Studio. The ATARI (ubiquitously known without the ST) mostly in studios was the cheapest, most accurate sequencer on the market. The list of bands that used an Atari ST for recording was compiled from the following sources: Atari Age,com forums, Sounds On Sounds Forum, https://www.musictech.net/, Matt Aniss and http://daily.

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. The discussion dives into versions of Asteroids (and clones) after the arcade 2600, 5200 and Vectrex. These the Atari 7800, ST, Lynx, and various versions released for more modern hardware. All music, sound FX and production on the Episode By Jeff and Steve Fulton. Links:Download an EXE file of Jeff’s Retro Evolved Asteroids game, Retro Blaster. If you have the Flash Plug-in, you can play the browser version of Retro Blaster here. 8bitrocket.com Blog Posts on of the Essential Guide to Flash Games Book By Steve and Jeff Fulton The Essential Guide to Flash Games Infomercial The Essential Guide to Flash Games Book Preview Video Podcast If you have the Flash Plug-In, you can play the Book Asteroids game called Bla

Into The Vertical Blank: Generation Atari Season 1, Episode 4: Escape To The Asteroids Zone Part 1. In Part One of our two-part extravaganza,  we delve into the that game forms the backdrop of The Vertical Blank: Asteroids. We discuss our experiences with  Atari’s best selling coin-op and discover why this game, in particular, means so much to us. This episode includes a story written by Steve Fulton named, appropriately enough, “Escape To The Asteroids Zone” Show Notes The intro music and many, but not all, of the ambient 8-bit sounds you hear through out the podcast were created with a loop library by 8bitweapon. Reach us for  comments and suggestions via email at 8bitrocket.collectibles@gmail.com Links 1001 Video Games To play Before You Die by Tony Mott The First Quarter  By Steven Kent 8bitweapon The 8bitrocket.com site FaceBook Into the Vertical Blank Twitter Into The Vertical Blank (@Atari_VB_POD) Twitter 8itrocket (@8bitrocket)  Jeff’s Twitter Twitter FultonBot (@fultonbot) Steve’s Twitter

Into The Vertical Blank: Generation Atari Season 1, Episode 3:  Atari Nerd In this episode we dig up one of our first podcasts from December 2008, which is one of the first Atari dedicated podcasts ever recorded.  This low-fi descent into the aughties, complete with bad mics, driving noise, and half-baked ideas is where we began. It’s also a bit prophetic about Atari in 2018.   We also have a couple short nonfiction pieces by Steve Fulton,  a collection update from Jeff, and more. Our next episode will be about the game Asteroids in all forms including sequels and inspired games.  If you have a story about any Asteroids or related game, please send them to 8bitrocket.collectibles@gmail.com or DM them to @Atari_VB_Pod on Twitter. Show Notes The intro music and many, but not all, of the ambient 8-bit sounds you hear through out the podcast were created with a loop library by 8bitweapon. Reach us for  comments and suggestions via email at 8bitrocket.collectibles@gmail.com Links Original Atari Nerd Podcast: ht

Into the Vertical Blank: Growing Up Atari. Season 1 Episode 2: “A hole burned In my Pocket: Toys R Us And The Atari 7800". What was the “game cage”? What does it mean to “disconnect” while being “connected”? “Can a hole really be burned in your pocket?” In this episode, the brothers focus on the now closing Toys R Us, not with a history, but with some personal stories, a visit to a closing store, a play session of 7800 games, and a discussion of what the Vertical Blank generation or Generation Atari really is.   Includes the non-fiction story “Claw Hammer” written by Steve Fulton © 2018 Notes  The intro music and many, but not all, of he ambient 8-bit sounds you hear through out the pod cast were created with a loop library by 8bitweapon. Reach us for  comments and suggestions via email at 8bitrocket.collectibles@gmail.com Links https://8bitweapon.com/ : 8bitweapon https://www.toysrus.com/ : Check out the last vestiges of the current Toys R Us. https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS773US773&tb

Into The Vertical Blank: Growing Up Atari Season 1 Episode 1 – All The Scan Lines Have Been Written In this, the real premiere episode, the boys pull out all the production stops to bring some much needed levity and interludes to a game playing session and discussion on modern releases for the Atari 8-bit computers.  Games discussed and Played: Stunt Car Racer, Bosconian, Time Pilot, X:8, Crazy cat and more. Show notes and links: Also, be sure to check out the Inverse ATASCII Atari 8bit and now ST Podcast. We did not realize that on his podcast Wade has an assistant much like “Emily” (our rude British AI assistant).  We have given Emily a part-time role and put “IRATA” in her place. Also Wade assistant’s is not and is not nearly as rude because Wade is much more of an adult than Steve or Jeffhttps://inverseatascii.info/ Game Links Stunt Car Racer for the Atari 8bits – Download and infohttp://a8.fandal.cz/detail.php?files_id=7541 Bosconian for the Atari 8bit (disks 439 and 440)http://www.mushca.com/f/atari/in

8bitrocket’s Into The Vertical Blank, Growing Up Atari  Ep: 0 This is the test episode of the Into The Vertical Blank, Growing Up Atari. In it, 8bit Jeff (Jeff Fulton from 8bitrocket.com) tries out and reviews 5 Atari XL/XE Cartridges (probably won’t work on a 400 or 800) that he recently purchased from Video 61. This is a very extended version of what was originally going to be a short user submitted addition to the Antic Atari 8bit Podcast. Extra Show notes for 8bitrocket.com’s New Podcast section: (use above and this) We have decided to expand the focus to all Atari computers and systems, new and old, review new games we collect, talk about all the systems, and the significance they had in our lives and the lives of others, and even talk about them in an historical context wit the backdrop the times they were released, and how they are being used now. In the podcast #1 and beyond, Steve Fulton (8bitsteve, twin brother to Jeff, also from 8bitrocket.com) will join and start experiencing new games and old