Player/Missile - An Atari 8-bit Retrospective

By Player/Missile

A retrospective of the Atari 8-bit home computer systems, the magazines that covered them, and a somewhat chronological review of games as they arrived on the platform.... more

4.6

2020 ratings

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FAQs about Player/Missile - An Atari 8-bit Retrospective:

How many episodes does Player/Missile - An Atari 8-bit Retrospective have?

The podcast currently has 45 episodes available.

Player/Missile - An Atari 8-bit Retrospective episodes:

April 29, 2022Ep. 34: 8-bit vs 5200 Part 2: Q1 1983
5200 coverage in magazines from January through March 1983. Plus a special bonus look at a NY Times article about Warner's stunning December 1982 earnings shortfall caused by Atari's massive financial loss.
1983
Q1 1983 First Quarter P.O.P. (Point Of Purchase) Support
Jan 1983 Video Games Vol 1, #4
Jan 1983 ANALOG Computing #9
Jan 1983 Joystik Magazine
Jan 1983 Electronic Games Vol 1, #11
Jan/Feb 1983 Atari Age Magazine Vol 1, #5
Feb 1983 Video Games Vol 1, #5
Feb 1983 Creative Computing Vol 9, #2
Feb 1983 Electronic Games
Mar 1983 ANALOG Computing #10
12/19/82 NY Times article “The Game Turns Serious at Atari”
Mar 1983 Video Games
Worm War 1 TV commercial
Mar/Apr 1983 Atari Age Magazine Vol 1, #6
Production Notes
Music: Stef Animal's Bandcamp page
Episode page: Episode 34
Twitter: @atari8bitgames
...more
1h 58min
March 31, 2022Ep. 33: Dec 1982: Magazines, Part 3
Coverage of a few magazines I missed last time. Live plays of two games, tips to speed up disk drive I/O, and articles on how automation has changed TV and film production.
Magazines
Atari 8-bit magazines
Softalk
Softalk Vol 3, #4
Assembly Lines book
Total Replay harddisk image
Axlon RAMDISK 320k
Passport auto-cracking tool
Nibble
Nibble Vol 3, #8
Nibble disk
Production Notes
Music: Stef Animal's Bandcamp page
Episode page: Episode 33
Twitter: @atari8bitgames
...more
1h 30min
December 10, 2021Ep. 32: Dec 1982: Magazines, Part 2
Coverage of Atari Connection, APX, Byte, C&VG, Micro, Softside, Page 6 & Atari I/O for Dec 1982. Another Chris Crawford article on game design, a review of Steve Wozniak’s US Festival, and will Forth become the official language of the podcast?
Magazines
Atari 8-bit magazines
Atari Connection
Atari Connection Vol 2, #4
Mastering Rubik's Cube by Don Taylor
Josh Malone’s USB CX-85 numeric keypad mod
APX Catalog
APX Catalog Winter 1982
Byte
Byte Vol 7, #12
Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock
Byte Magazine Atari articles only by Kay Savetz
TRON soundtrack composer Wendy Carlos
Women in Electronic Music
Sisters with Transistors documentary film
Computer & Video Games
C&VG Issue #14
Micro 6502/6809 Journal
Micro #55
SoftSide
Softside #36
Starting Forth online edition
Edsger W Dijkstra
Dijkstra’s rant on languages
History of Forth language
Forth cross compiler
History of Computing Podcast episode on Pascal
Page 6
Page #1
History of Page 6 magazine
Atari Input/Output
Atari Input/Output #1
Production Notes
Music: Stef Animal's Bandcamp page
Episode page: Episode 32
Twitter: @atari8bitgames
...more
1h 58min
November 19, 2021Ep. 31: Dec 1982: Magazines, Part 1
Coverage of Antic, Compute!, Creative Computing, Dec 1982. Chris Crawford on Legionnaire, first rumors of the IBM PCjr, and two articles predicting the future: Compute! does OK while Creative Computing gets a bunch of whammies. Also: Bullwinkle’s restaurant, sexism and mansplaining about whether educational software should ask kids their gender, and Bahrain doctors, video games & epilepsy.
Magazines
Atari 8-bit magazines
Antic
Antic Vol 1, #5
Stratos by Neil Larimer
ANTIC Podcast interview with Linda Schreiber
Legionnaire by Chris Crawford
Compute!
Compute #31
IBM PCjr
HP 85 Computer
Xanadu, the Home of the Future
Monrobot desk computer
Creative Computing
Creative Computing Vol 8, #12
CIA World Factbook on Bahrain
Production Notes
Music: Stef Animal's Bandcamp page
Episode page: Episode 31
Twitter: @atari8bitgames
...more
1h 49min
October 20, 2021Ep. 30: 8-bit vs 5200 Part 1: 1982
In a special multi-part series comparing the 8-bit computers to the 5200 console, this first episode focuses on 1982. Scanning the regular magazines for mentions of the 5200, I also scour other magazines for both 8-bit and 5200 coverage. Only in this special series will you hear article summaries from these periodicals: Electronic Games, JoyStik, Video Games, Video Games Player and Atari Age Magazine.
Introduction
Atari 5200 Super Community Podcast
The Atari 5200 Podcast
Atari 3200 prototype
Gremlins: last official release for the 5200
Technical References
Business is Fun by Marty Goldberg and Curt Vendel
Jan 1984 ANALOG Computing #15 article Transporting programs to the 5200
Feb 1984 ANALOG Computing #16 update for 2-port 5200
Magazine Chronology
Jan 8, 1982: Atari Press Release Announcing the 5200
Winter 1981/1982 Electronic Games
Mar 1982 Electronic Games
Command Line Heroes podcast about Jerry Lawson
May 1982 Electronic Games
May/Jun 1982: Atari Age Magazine Vol 1, #1
Jun 1982 Electronic Games
Jul/Aug 1982: Atari Age Magazine Vol 1, #2
Aug 1982 Video Games Vol 1, #1
Billy Mitchell & Perfect Pac-Man
Historical overview of fake Pac-Man high scores & Billy Mitchell’s Fraud
Background research for the above
Sep 1982: Video Games Player
Sept 1982: Joystik Magazine
Sep/Oct 1982: Atari Age Magazine Vol 1, #3
Nov 1982 The Video Game Update Vol 1, #8
Nov 1982 Joystik Magazine
Nov 1982 Electronic Games
Nov/Dec 1982: Atari Age Magazine Vol 1, #4
Creative Computing Vol 8, #12
Dec 1982 Joystik Magazine
Dec 1982 Video Games Vol 1, #3
Dec 1982 Electronic Games
Arcadia 2001 overview
Late 1982 Atari P.O.P. (Point Of Purchase) and Advertising Support
Production Notes
Music: Stef Animal's Bandcamp page
Episode page: Episode 30
Twitter: @atari8bitgames
...more
1h 51min
June 02, 2021Ep. 29: Nov 1982: Byte, CVG, CGW, Micro, Softline, Softside
Coverage of the remaining magazines for Nov 1982.
Magazines
Atari 8-bit magazines
Byte
Byte Vol 7, #11
Computer & Video Games
C&VG Issue #13
Computer Gaming World
CGW Vol 2, #6
AtariAge forum post on cheat codes
Legionnaire gameplay video
Micro 6502/6809 Journal
Micro #54
Softline
Softline #2.2
Kay Savetz interview with Jerry White
Jerry White’s software
Bill Williams Atari Sounds, part 3
SoftSide
Softside #35
Feedback
Dennis Debro’s Atari 2600 disassemblies
Free ringtones from Stef Animal
Stef Animal creates a track in one day
Production Notes
Music: Stef Animal's Bandcamp page
Episode page: Episode 29
Twitter: @atari8bitgames
...more
1h 30min
May 07, 2021Ep. 28: Nov 1982: ANALOG, Compute!, Creative Computing
Format experiment: splitting magazine coverage across two episodes and separating game reviews to their own episodes.
Magazines
Atari 8-bit magazines
ANALOG
ANALOG Computing #8
Inverse ATASCII S4E07: Money Manager
Compute!
Compute #30
Atari 1000 project info from Atari Museum
Jeepers Creepers at Atarimania
VisiCalc @ Inverse ATASCII
Effectus, modern cross compiler for Action!
Creative Computing
Creative Computing Vol 8, #11
Video Invaders book by Steve Bloom at the Internet Archive
Feedback
SortViz sorting algorithm visualization on the Atari
Bill Kendrick tested plotting in GR.0 and it uses ATASCII values, not ANTIC
Production Notes
Music: Stef Animal's Bandcamp page
Episode page: Episode 28
Twitter: @atari8bitgames
...more
1h 14min
April 17, 2021Ep. 27: Oct 1982: Worm War I
A friend gets his first game published in Computers & Video Games! 6 other magazines this episode, and I try to dissect my first kernel game, Worm War I. Or is it 1? It’s a super important distinction.
Magazines
Atari 8-bit magazines
Antic
Antic Vol 1, #4
Compute!
Compute #29
Paperclip by Batteries Included, reviewed by Wade on Inverse ATASCII
Creative Computing
Creative Computing Vol 8, #10
Ted Nelson Mail Project
Byte
Byte Vol 7, #10
Computer & Video Games
C&VG Issue #12
Wild Strawberries
Micro 6502/6809 Journal
Micro #53
SoftSide
Softside #34
Game Review: Worm War I
Worm War I at Atarimania
Tom McWilliams sold his first game for $60,000
Home page of David Lubar, author of the 2600 version
Worm War 1 on Ferg’s Atari 2600 Game by Game Podcast
Sirius Software’s Atari titles at Atarimania
Feedback
Dog Daze Deluxe with 1 player mode
Production Notes
Music: Stef Animal's Bandcamp page
Episode page: Episode 27
Twitter: @atari8bitgames
...more
1h 60min
February 20, 2021Ep. 26: Sep 1982: Deluxe Invaders
Strap yourselves in for coverage of 11 magazine issues including a tiny bit on the large magazine Byte -- there’s an article on Star Raiders strategies that I can’t pass up. Game review is of Deluxe Invaders, which is a high quality Space Invaders clone. Oh, and there’s a discussion of a game called Hazard Run and its ties to a bad TV show and a worse flag.
Introduction
Bally Astrocade website
Bally Astrocade podcast: Bally Alley Astrocast
Source of Bally Artillery game
Demo of Bally Artillery game from last month’s Creative Computing
Twitter review of Rear Guard by RetroAnalyst
Retrogame Deconstruction Zone
Magazines
Atari 8-bit magazines
ANALOG
ANALOG Computing #7
Star Raiders on the 2600
Compute!
Compute #28
Speed Reading comprehension
Creative Computing
... For 36 more links, see the show notes
...more
2h 35min
November 10, 2020Ep. 25: Aug 1982: Rear Guard
Adding a new magazine to the coverage: Softline, a games-focused magazine published by the people responsible for Softalk. Also a review of Rear Guard, a game that’s appeared in full-page color ads for many months in magazines.
Introduction
AtariAge discussion on the term IRG
Magazines
Atari 8-bit magazines
Antic
Antic Vol 1, #3
Compute!
Compute #27
Atari Jaguar injection molded cases used for dental equipment
Creative Computing
Creative Computing Vol 8, #8
57 games by SSI for the Atari
Full page ad for Rear Guard on Pg 50
Full page ad for Crush, Crumble & Chomp
Khan Academy explanation of elastic collisions
... For 34 more links, see the show notes
...more
2h 38min

FAQs about Player/Missile - An Atari 8-bit Retrospective:

How many episodes does Player/Missile - An Atari 8-bit Retrospective have?

The podcast currently has 45 episodes available.