ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Podcast

Bryan Edewaard Bryan Edewaard briefly worked with Atari and with ICD. In 2004, 20 years after the 5200 was cancelled, he wrote the homebrew game "Castle Crisis" and released it on Atari Age for the 5200 and for the 400/800. Castle Crisis is a clone of the arcade game "Warlords". Bryan lives on a 300 acre farm in Costa Rica with full lodging facilities. He's planning to host classic gaming retreats in the future and welcomes inquiries from people who would like to visit the area. His user name is Bryan on AtariAge or he can be contacted at bryede@yahoo.com. I want to apologize for a couple of quality issues that I ran into with this interview. First of all, I had a cold at the time of the interview and this affected my voice. Secondly, a Costa Rican rain storm came up during the interview and while I attempted to remove the noise of the rain on the metal roof, it did affect the quality of portions of Bryan’s speech. This interview was conducted on July 11, 2015. Links Atari 5200 Super System review of the video game "Castle Crisis" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOiE9LXu7Qw Interview with Bryan on The Atari Times - http://www.ataritimes.com/index.php?ArticleIDX=432 Castle Crisis (5200) on AtariAge Store - https://atariage.com/store/index.php?l=product_detail&p=262 Castle Crisis (400/800) on AtariAge Store - https://atariage.com/store/index.php?l=product_detail&p=274 Castle Crisis (8-bit) on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsGkNe8xcQs Castle Crisis at AtariMania - http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-castle-crisis_19788.html

Jeff Osorio, Atari Manager of Financial Planning and Cost Accounting Jeff Osorio was Manager of Financial Planning and Cost Accounting at Atari from 1981 through 1984. He was responsible for establishing cost accounting and financial planning functions with a staff of 11 and an annual department budget of more than $1 million. This interview took place September 22, 2015. Teaser quotes: “The one that everybody is always interested in is E.T. And I actually have the distinction of having signed the scrap ticket to write them all off and run them through the crusher.” “He calls me on Monday morning in a panic, and he goes, ‘Jeffrey, where’s all my stuff? ... I’m at the warehouse and it’s empty. All the stuff is gone.’ ... A 100,000 square foot warehouse that was packed to the gunnels with manufacturing equipment on Friday, and on Monday morning it was empty.”

Gary Walton, Atari Store Owner and Pirate Gary Walton owned Discount Video And Computers, a large Atari dealership in Fort Pierce, Florida, and was involved in the Atari software piracy scene. Gary is one of the people who helped me find Glenn the 5200 Man, whom I previously interviewed. This interview took place on September 12, 2015. The New York Yankees lost both games in its double-header with the Toronto Blue Jays that day. This interview contains adult language and content. Teaser quotes: “One day I call up there and I don’t get ahold of him, instead I get ahold of his mother. And I was like, ‘Yes ma’am, may I please speak with Robert [Jaeger]?’ And she’s like ‘Who are you?!’ ‘I’m a friend of Robert’s.’ ... ‘Are you one of those computer pirates?! You know, these computer pirates are getting Robert in trouble and he’s only 16 years old. He doesn’t need this type of trouble!’ screaming at me.” “They were accusing him of having robbed more than $150,000 worth of phone services.” “‘Tell you what we’re going to do. I want you to put your disk collection in one big box. And it better be everything!’ He goes, ‘And I’m going to be by your house in 15 minutes to pick up that box.’”

Brad Fuller, Composer Brad Fuller started at Atari as audio engineer in the home computer division, where he composed music and sounds for Superman, Donkey Kong, E.T., Robotron, and other games. Then, in the coin-op division he composed music and sounds for Marble Madness, Klax, S.T.U.N. Runner, Rolling Thunder, Paperboy, Xybots, Blasteroids, 720°, and many other arcade games. This interview took place September 2, 2015. Teaser quotes: “You know, you’d map out: OK, we’re going to start developing in September ... then maybe we can play test and beta. And over here, two years from now, it’ll be fun. This is when it’ll be fun. Well, you can’t plan that.” Links: Brad’s web site: http://www.bradfuller.com/about.html

Bill Mensch, 6502 chip Bill Mensch is co-creator of the 6502 chip, the microprocessor that’s the heart of the Atari 8-bit computers, the Apple ][, Commodore 64, and many other classic computers. This interview occurred August 6, 2015. Teaser quotes: “These guys at Motorola aren’t going to do the microprocessor that we need to do: that is a low-end microprocessor to complete with the Intel 4040 which sold for about $29.” “I had a bet with Rod Orgle, and Rod Orgle said the 6501 would outsell the 6502.” “I’m in empowerment technology. I want to empower people to do their idea. That’s what I did for Chuck [Peddle], that’s why he came to me.” “Now, you’d think that I was a big fan of Apple, and I’m not. The reason why I’m not is they killed off the Apple II to make room for the Macintosh.” “All of those old brands — Apple II, Commodore, Atari, and the old Nintendo — could all come back to life, with the right relationships. And we have the technology.” Links: Bill and Dianne Mensch Foundation: http://themenschfoundation.org Western Design Center: http://www.westerndesigncenter.com My interview with David Cramer, Western Design Center: http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-29-david-cramer-western-design-center

Keithen Hayenga, 5200 Tempest Keithen Hayenga worked for both Apple and Atari and was an Apple II and Atari software programmer. While at Atari, Keithen worked on RealSports Baseball and several other unpublished projects such as Tempest for the Atari 5200, which he later completed and is currently available on AtariAge. Teaser Quote “Their answer was of course ‘well we had Keithen, the best in the business’. So, it’s like, I was ALMOST in a movie!” Links 5200 Tempest at AtariAge Information on the Unfinished 5200 Tempest Prototype at AtariProtos.com Keithen Interview at Good Deal Games

On this episode of ANTIC the atari 8-bit podcast: we talk about the release of the Star Raiders source code, how to set up an Atari club of your own, and lust over the 1400XL and 815 dual floppy drive. Don’t forget, we have a contest going this month! Whoever transcribes the most ANTIC interviews from 11/1/15 to 11/30/15 will win a Defender cartridge for the Atari 400/800/XL/XE computers signed by none other than Steve Baker, the person who converted the game from the arcade version! Check with Kevin (kevin@savetz.com) to see what interviews need to be transcribed. Recurring Links Floppy Days Podcast AtariArchives.org AtariMagazines.com Kevins Book “Terrible Nerd” New Atari books scans at archive.org ANTIC feedback at AtariAge Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge ANTIC Facebook Page What we’ve been up to Tricky Tutorials - http://www.atarimania.com/documents/Tricky-Tutorials-1-6.pdf Atlanta Maker Faire - http://makerfaireatl.com/ Star Raiders Source Code - https://archive.org/details/AtariStarRaidersSourceCode Portland Retro Gaming Expo - http://www.retrogamingexpo.com/ News AtariNet released by Slor (James Wilkinson) - http://www.atarinet.com/, http://atariage.com/forums/topic/243627-atarinet-binaries-available-for-download/ MULE Board game https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/182619/mule-board-game Rose City Atari Club, Portland, OR, Nov. 19, 2015 - http://calagator.org/events/1250469257 Popeye Arcade 8-bit conversion, courtesy of Homesoft, posted by miker - http://atariage.com/forums/topic/242051-popeye-arcade-8-bit-conversion/ Atari 8-bit emulator for the original Xbox - http://atariteca.blogspot.com/2015/08/atarixlbox-emulador-de-computadora.html new game Quarrion - http://matosimi.websupport.sk/atari/2015/10/quarrion/ New Podcast - The Wizards of Odyssey 2 - https://www.facebook.com/TheWizardsOfOdyssey2Podcast How to transfer files from PC to Atari with Turgen System - http://atariteca.blogspot.com/2015/03/como-transferir-archivos-de-pc-atari.html , http://turgen.sourceforge.net/ Pro(c) Issue #7 - http://proc-atari.de/ 1400XL for sale on ebay by bob1200xl on AtariAge - http://www.ebay.com/itm/Atari-8-bit-1400XL-computer-tested-400-800-1200XL-600XL-800XL-/262103742364?hash=item3d0699b79c:g:PPUAAOSw5ZBWJn3c, http://atariage.com/forums/topic/244786-1400xl-on-ebay/ ABBUC Software Contest Update - http://www.abbuc.de/atari/software-ressort/81-software/softwarewettbewerbe/1764-software-wettbewerb-2015 SIO2PC-USB v1.0 Atari XL XE (KIT) + 2' USB Cable + Software DVD - http://www.ebay.com/itm/281710881072 ProGamer Magazine (7800) - http://www.retroriginals.co.uk/ Update on the company that calls itself Atari - http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/atari-boss-promises-to-fix-its-video-game-mistakes/0157801 New at Archive.org https://archive.org/details/Atari_POOLDISK_1 https://archive.org/details/PicturesOfAtari8-BitHardware https://archive.org/details/AtariStarRaidersSourceCode https://archive.org/details/XLentXpress_v1n1_Winter1986 https://archive.org/details/Atari800OperatorsManualFirstVersion1979 https://archive.org/details/AtariCorporation1991SecondQuarterReport https://archive.org/details/AtariCorporation1991FirstQuarterReport https://archive.org/details/AtariCorporation1990ThirdQuarterReport https://archive.org/details/AtariCorporation1990SecondQuarterReport https://archive.org/details/AtariCorporation1990FirstQuarterReport A+ Programming in Atari BASIC by John M. Reisinger - https://archive.org/details/APlusProgrammingInAtariBasic Bill’s Modern Segment Callisto Official page: http://cosine.org.uk/products.php?prod=callisto&4mat=xl Atarimania entry: http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-callisto_28627.html Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EG98bkkaq0 "Let's play" video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jL9mTUOnV9U Jason Kelk, aka TMR of Cosine: http://jasonkelk.me.uk/ Cosine: http://www.cosine.org.uk/ HAR'em AtariAge forum post: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/208493-release-harem-final-not-quite/ Atarimania entry: http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-har-em_28628.html Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ap5ttWJqKJ4 "Let's Play" video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pG2udqjE_ns X:8 Official Google+ page: https://plus.google.com/u/0/116385416373212952958/about AtariAge blog post: http://atariage.com/forums/blog/387/entry-10443-x8/ gury.atari8.info entry: http://gury.atari8.info/details_games/6720.php Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqmLi6Xmw7Y ABBUC contests 2012: http://www.abbuc.de/component/content/article/81-software/softwarewettbewerbe/1574-software-wettbewerb-2012 2013: http://www.abbuc.de/component/content/article/81-software/softwarewettbewerbe/1666-software-wettbewerb2013 Zybex Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zybex Atarimania entry: http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-zybex_s5955.html Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrJ6K4c1jwE Life Force (Nintendo) Gradius Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gradius Salamander (Life Force) Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salamander_(video_game) Of the Month Website: Benj Edwards Inside The Atari 800 on PCWorld - http://www.pcworld.com/article/181421/inside_atari_800.html#slide1 Software:F-15 Strike Eagle by Sid Meier & MicroProse - http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-f-15-strike-eagle_1916.html Hardware: The Atari 815 disk drive - http://www.atarimuseum.com/computers/8bits/400800/815/815.html Closing Album “Have You Played Atari Today” by Tony Longworth - www.tonylongworth.com, http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/tonylongworth10

Bill Hogue, Miner 2049er Bill Hogue was founder of Big Five Software. He was programmer of the hit 1982 game Miner 2049er, and its sequel Bounty Bob Strikes Back!. This interview took place on August 31, 2015. Teaser quotes: “I tried to cram as much color in there as I possibly could, because it was all fresh and new to me.” “I’d forgotten how all the bank selecting and anti-piracy stuff worked that I put into it. . . so I had to spend hours, if not days, breaking my own code.” LINKS AtariMania’s list of Bill’s games Interview with Bill at trs-80.org Electronic Games Magazine 1983 interview with Bill Creative Computing's review of 2049er

Gerri Brioso: Halftime Battlin' Bands, Coco-Notes, Movie Musical Madness Gerri Brioso is part of The Dovetail Group, a company that created three children’s games for the Atari 400/800 and Commodore 64 computers. All three games were released in 1984: they were Halftime Battlin' Bands, Coco-Notes, and Movie Musical Madness, all of which were released by CBS software. Wikipedia says "These games are notable as they represent some of the earliest examples of the music management subgenre of music video games." The games were also notable because each of those games included a plastic record album, playable on a phonograph, which served as the games’ instruction manuals. The characters in the games and records — Swivel Hips, Wahoo, and Mr. Bass Man — made up a fictional band called The Jazz Scats. This interview occurred on July 30 and 31, 2015. Teaser quotes “They made it doubly hard for us because they suddenly wanted us to not just create for the Atari platform, but to also create for the Commodore platform. So the work became double ... and suddenly deadlines were not being met.” “Rich had to hold me back because my hands were going around the computer programmer’s throat. I thought I would kill him. ... Where’s the backup? He said, ‘I was just getting ready to back it up.’ I was like, “You didn’t back it up in stages? What, are you crazy?!” Links: Brioso’s web site Jazz Scats record albums Photo of the Jazz Scats

Alan Murphy, Atari Animator Alan Murphy was Senior Animator at Atari, where we worked from 1980 through 1987. Alan created the graphics for the Atari 8-bit versions of Defender, Xevious, Galaxian, Countermeasure, Pac Man for the Atari 5200, Demons to Diamonds for the 2600, and many other games. He also worked with engineers at Atari Research on research projects and prototyping, and designed specs for game art and animation systems. This interview took place June 15, 2015. Teaser quotes: “So I did these animations of Mr. and Mrs. Pac Man going across the screen and then they came back the other way and there were little babies. Namco came along and said 'uh-uh...that's a little too suggestive.'” “As far as I know, I think that was the first easter egg by an artist.” Links: Countermeasure Easter Egg Animated Gauntlet Commercial