Into The Vertical Blank

In the 80's we sold all of our Atari 800 discs and lost all of our youthful programs BASIC programs and creative output forever.  Or so we thought.
A few weeks ago we discovered a lost "treasure":   an audio tape from 1984 that we never remembered recording of us using one of our programs.  With the help of musician Tony Longworth, we embarked on quest to plumbs the depths of this computer audio ephemera, the Pokey audio chip and how it was the cornerstone of much of the Atari "Into The Vertical Blank" experience. Features a remix by Tony Longworth.

Written, edited, produced by Steve Fulton, Jeff Fulton 

Branding by Daryl Litts

Music "Pokey Remix" by Tony Longworth . Find Tony on Bandcamp Here:
Tony Longworth (bandcamp.com)

Theme by Brian Travis
Title: Into The Vertical Blank theme Words & music by Brian Travis (c)(p)2021 Taste This Moment Music ASCAP
http://www.briantravisband.com/

Links:

The Retro Hour UK Podcast

Unfinished Atari Jaguar FMV Game American Hero Coming to Console – Push Square

Ultima Forever 

Press Reset Book by Jason Schreier and Ray Chase

Music Video of New Theme by Brian Travis : Video by 8bitrock Studios

Wikipedia Article Pokey Chip

Our Pokey Sound Player Tool

PokeyONE – Atari POKEY Chip Replacement for Atari Arcade Games

Starting Line: A sound introduction (atarimagazines.com)

Atarimania.com Mule Page

Nothing Special – Pokey Tunes Video

Atari Books and References noted:
Atari Graphics and Arcade Game Design-Chapter 8 (atariarchives.org)

Atari Program Exchange: Sound Editor (atariarchives.org)

Mapping The Atari Appendix 6 – Sound And Music (atariarchives.org)

Sound (atari archives.org)

De Re Atari – Chapter 7 (atari archives.org)

Atari Player-Missile Graphics in BASIC – Chapter 7 (atariarchives.org)

Compute!’s First Book of Atari (atariarchives.org)

Atari Basic – A Self-Teaching Guide: Chapter Ten – Color Graphics and Sound (atariarchives.org)

pokey.pdf (visual6502.org)

Find us here:
- http://intotheverticalblank.com

-Into the Vertical Blank: Generation Atari | Facebook

-Into The Vertical Blank Pod Cast

In this episode we have a great story about the Atari 8 bit computers from Tony Longworth (and also his song "Star Raiders"...we should have just called this the Tony Longworth episode!), some Atari retro news, and a discussion about the Atari 8bit computers games we feel are ripe to be re-released and/or remade for Atari's new VCS, which had finally seen general release this week.

Written, edited, produced by Steve Fulton, Jeff Fulton and Tony Longworth

Branding by Daryl Litts

Music "Star Raiders" by Tony Longworth

Find us here:
- http://intotheverticalblank.com

-Into the Vertical Blank: Generation Atari | Facebook

-Into The Vertical Blank Pod Cast

The Atari 400 was a games machine masked as an entry-level computer computer.  When it was released in 1979, it could play Atari’s killer-app “Star Raiders” just as well as it’s more serious, older brother the Atari 800.   At the same time, the Atari 400 acted as a gateway for many kids to the world of programming.  In this episode we explore how we were first introduced to the Atari 400, the first few amazing games we played on it, and how it sparked dreams of being a computer programmer. The story in this episode was written and produced by Steve Fulton with music from Tony Longworth.

Show Notes

Gamasutra “Atari 1971-1977” :Gamasutra - The History of Atari: 1971-1977

Gamasutra “Atari 1978-1981” :Gamasutra - Atari: The Golden Years -- A History, 1978-1981

Antic Pix Ten - 10 great games (atarimagazines.com)

Miner 2049er History (archive.org)

An interview with Bill Hogue from 1983 - Atari 8-Bit Computers - AtariAge Forums

ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Podcast: ANTIC Interview 94 - Bill Hogue, Miner 2049er (libsyn.com)

Written,edited, Produced by Steve Fulton and Jeff Fulton

Branding by Daryl Litts

The song “Everything Changes But It All Stays The Same” by  Tony Longworth used by permission.

This is not a regular episode.   Today we talk about our sister Mari (Marz) who passed away at her home in early April.   Marz was our older sister, teacher and protector and also our game playing companion. We talk about grief and how sometimes memories of life events are intertwined with games in ways we just don't fully understand.

We also have a very nice story contribution from Tony Longwoth and of course a new Tony Tune and new from the Into The Vertical Blank Scene. 

Notes:

Atari 7800 Space Duel Home Brew: https://youtu.be/OWNI_6NKYiY

Atari 8bit X:8 https://youtu.be/fPhSDJfayII

Lotus Esprit Turbo STE: https://youtu.be/mtk23h5Hz2E

Tony Longworth All Lives Lost - Atari 400/800 Ghost Encounters

https://youtu.be/YmwcMeA9z5M

Tony Longworth Primal Serenity Album https://tonylongworth.bandcamp.com/album/primal-serenity

Written, Edited, Produced by Steve Fulton and Jeff Fulton

Branding by Daryl Litts

Additional music -Tony Longworth’s Fold Your Head" https://tonylongworth.com/

Don’t forget:

http://www.intotheverticalblank.com

Last week we caught up with David Crane, Garry Kitchen and Dan Kitchen from Audacity Games to chat about the old Atari days, Activision, Absolute, Skyworks, the tragedy of digital obsolescence, their new venture Audacity games and their spectacular new Atari VCS game, Circus Convoy.

See full video version of the interview here:
(1) Audacity Games Interview: David Crane, Dan Kitchen and Garry Kitchen - YouTube

Produced by Jeff and Steve Fulton

Branding By Daryl Litts

Music " Dance With Me" by Tony Longworth

An episode  jampacked with Atari VCS goodness! First a story about the allure (and danger) of Atari VCS programming in modern times. Then a playthrough and history of the original 9 VCS  1977 launch titles. Also memories of Combat! from Tony Longworth. and a discussion and reaction of the brand new VCS game Circus Convoy from Audacity games.

Features "The Atari VCS Almost Killed Me" by Steve Fulton

Written edited, produced by Steve And Jeff Fulton

Branding by Daryl Litts

Music : Ether and Eyes Turned Skyward by Tony Longworth

To start off the 4th season, we chose four games to play and discuss : Early Atari Coin-ops, Avalanche, Fire Truck, Super Bug, and Dominos. We also discuss a very early Electronic games magazine article on “Games we hope we’ll never see”. They were mostly wrong.

Starting with this episode we will also have a companion video with us live discussing the games and items that need more visual evidence. 

Live Game Play and discussion video The video for this episode is:

https://youtu.be/1Apns1Bq5IU

Written, Edited, Produced by Steve Fulton and Jeff Fulton

Branding by Daryl Litts

Additional music -Tony Longworth’s Fold Your Head" https://tonylongworth.com/

Don’t forget:

http://www.intotheverticalblank.com

S3:E25;  1981 - Atari VCS Christmas

For the 2020 Christmas episode we go back 39 years to 1981 and talk about how it felt to want, and ultimately, get, an Atari VCS that year.   We have a story from Steve about our twin scheming and planning to get a VCS, and then we have a discussion about our top-10 VCS games available at the end of 1981.   We hope these memories and stories help you have a good holiday in  2020 no matter what you celebrate or what your situation might be.  Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from Into The Vertical Blank.

Show Notes:

Written, Edited, Produced by Jeff Fulton and Steve Fulton

Branding by Daryl Litts

Music in “Atari VCS Christmas” story is Crystalline by Tony Longworth from his album “Tinsel And Fire”. Tony’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/tonylongworth

XMAS 7800 playable Demo: JS7800: Atari 7800 Emulator (raz0red.github.io)

Top-10 VCS Games available for Xmas 1981

Steve’s List 

Jeff’s List

Some Cool Atari Videos from 1981

Stay In Touch

As we we prepare for the 2020 Chirstmas episode of Into The Vertical Blank, here is a supercut of three Christmas stories from past seasons told for the first tiem, in Chronological order: 

-The Best  @*#! Christmas Ever (1983)

-Atari 7800 Christmas (1986)

-The Christmas Train (1982-2011)
 

S3: E23. Why we are Thankful for STOS: The Game Creator

In this episode the brothers talk about the creation of their one and only completed Atari ST game (“Zamboozal Poker Dice”) and the tools that helped them complete it:  the Mandarin / JawX Software products under the STOS banner.  Come along for the ride as they discuss the old days of making games on their favorite 16 bit computer. 

Written, Edited, Produced by Steve Fulton and Jeff Fulton

Branding by Daryl Litts

Additional music - “Outside The Universe” By Tony Longworth

Mentioned:

Read the full story of Zamboozal Poker Dice here:

https://intotheverticalblank.com/2020/11/20/zamboozal-poker-dice-atari-st-1991/

Atarimania.com Page for the Original Zamboozal Poker Dice: http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-st-zamboozal-poker-dice_37004.html

Atarimania.com Page for the Updated 2020 1.2 version of Zamboozal Poker dice:
http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-st-zamboozal-poker-dice_37016.html

STOS Tutorials on Intotheverticalblank.com

https://intotheverticalblank.com/2020/11/13/stos-tutorial-1-setup-stos-on-hatari-and-the-first-blitter-operations/

https://intotheverticalblank.com/2020/11/16/stos-tutorial-2-brute-force-blitter-sprites-joysticks-and-more/

Orphaned Games Marauder Review

https://orphanedgames.com/articles/Marauder_Review/Marauder_Review%20(Atari%202600).html