Into The Vertical Blank

In the follow-up episode to the Season 2, Episode 12, Steve and Jeff continue their discussion of the impact that Star Wars on their video game experience and video games in general.   They also add in a story by Steve and have a game play session of the Arcade, Atari 2600, and Atari 400/800/XL/XE version(s) of Star Wars Death Star Battle.

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In this two-part series we delve deep into Star Wars (or Star Wars:A New Hope for those who didn’t see the movie in the summer of 1977).  We examine the movie’s affect on us as 70’s kids and how Atari’s 1983 coin-operated “Star Wars: The Arcade Game” finally gave us the chance to be Luke Skywalker.

See the photos from Sept. 26th, 1977 here:

http://www.8bitrocket.com/2019/09/22/s22es2e11-star-wars-and-atari-in-the-vertical-blank-part-1/

References:

-Coin Connection, May 1983

-Jed Margolin, Ed Rotberg “First Person Space War Memo” Dec 21, 1979

 http://www.atarigames.com/safestuff/fpswidea.pdf

-Dane Flansburgh former Project Archivist at The Strong

https://www.museumofplay.org/blog/play-stuff/2015/07/star-wars-and-atari-documentation-of-a-classic-arcade-game

-Jed Margolin, Atari VAX Email March 7, 1983

Mike Halley Interview

http://www.atarigames.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=218:july-1983-mike-hally-interview&catid=14:news-articles&Itemid=5

 https://www.jmargolin.com/vmail/Stat82.txt

-Jed Margolin “Unit Vector Math For 3D Graphics”

 https://www.jmargolin.com/uvmath/uvmenu.htm

Mike Halley Interview

http://www.atarigames.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=218:july-1983-mike-hally-interview&catid=14:news-articles&Itemid=5

Lucasfilm memo to Atari Star Wars development team

 http://www.atarigames.com/safestuff/lucasstarwars.pdf

- (Internal Atari email, Jan. 31 1984)

https://www.jmargolin.com/vmail/Vax84.txt

-(Internal Atari email response, Feb 1, 1984)

https://www.jmargolin.com/vmail/Vax84.txt

-Michael Blanchett, Electronic Fun, Nov. 1983

-Jostik, Nov. 1983 

-Bill Kunkel, Electronic Games Magazine, March 1984

-Electronic Games, Jan. 1985

-Bob Smith on Antic The Atari Podcast #238

http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-238-bob-smith-video-pinball-imagic-co-founder-sleazy-adventure

-Electronic Games, Dec. 1984, Tracie Foreman

-Electronic Games, Jan. 1985

Atariprotos.com

http://www.atariprotos.com/2600/software/starwarsarcade/starwarsarcade.htm

To salute the end of summer, w e are re-running a story from last season named "Big Mouse And Little Mouse" that has been updated, expanded and remastered.   This is a story about the type of imaginative play that occurs when kids are trying to discover the world.   This was play in world of the mid 70's, without screens (except the wood console one on the living room).  The events in this story are all real, and all took place on a single day that I recall vividly from our childhood.    The story take place in and around our childhood home as we used every inch of it to master our world  growing up in Generation X.

Into the vertical blank: Generation Atari: Season 2, Episode 9 DragonStomper

In the episode, Steve and Jeff take a deep look at the Atari 2600 game Dragon Stomper, what it meant to them in the grand scheme of gaming, and also how it had an effect on early 80’s video and computer games as a whole. 

AtariProtos.com Dragon Stomper Page

http://www.atariprotos.com/2600/software/dragonstomper/dragonstomper.htm

Halcyon Days Interview with Steve Hales

https://dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/HALES.HTM

Forbes magazine comparing the 2600 and the xbox 360 – with a discussion Dragonstomper

https://www.forbes.com/2005/11/23/microsoft-xbox-videogames-cx_el_1123oldgames.html#6ee821d85f34

In this short summer bonus episode, Steve explores what he thinks is the exact moment Nintendo beat everyone and and won the video game war.  I imagine, it's not exactly what you expect.

Into the Vertical Blank: Generation Atari - Season 2 Episode 7 : Emits a shower of sparks: How we stopped playing  soccer and started playing Atari (along with Pele)

In this episode, Steve and Jeff cover Pele’s Soccer for the Atari 2600, and the cultural as well as business atmosphere surrounding the game. This game fit perfectly into the summer episode slot as Soccer in the USA is mostly a summer sport, but also because Pele’s Soccer for the Atari 2600 was one of the first games to include a fireworks show when a goal is scored.

They also cover some personal stories about the time in which the game came out, and a special story that intertwines the narrative about trying to find something to connect to their father after their soccer days turned into Atari and teen angst days. 

Pele’s Soccer At AtariAge.com

http://www.atariage.com/software_page.php?SoftwareLabelID=346

Pele’s Soccer At AtairMania.com

http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-2600-vcs-pele-s-soccer_18298.html

Wikipedia Article on the New York Cosmos

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Cosmos_(1970%E2%80%9385)

The Into The Vertical Blank YouTube Channel

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPnyVqBr2glJ-vAcDYDUYYw

The Into the Vertical Blank Facebook Page

https://www.facebook.com/intotheverticalblank/?ref=br_rs

The Into the Vertical Blank Instagram Account

https://www.instagram.com/into_the_vertical_blank/

The Into The Vertical Blank Twitter Account

https://twitter.com/Atari_VB_Pod

Jeff’s Twitter Account

https://twitter.com/8bitrocket

Steve’s Twitter Account

https://twitter.com/fultonbot

This is a rebroadcast of the the story 'Claw Hammer' from season 1, episode 2. specially for father's day.

In this episode, Steve and Jeff have a frank discussion about what they collect and why they collect Atari.  Also includes a couple segments from Steve's "Fultonbot's Atari Quest" blog series, as well as an impromptu live remote visit to their favorite retro game store. 

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