On this episode of ANTIC the atari 8-bit podcast: our annual holiday buying guide for Atari 8-bit lovers, we announce the winner of the interview transcription contest, I test all of the BBUC game contest entries, and we outright start bribing people to donate to archive.org. Recurring Links Floppy Days Podcast AtariArchives.org AtariMagazines.com Kevin’s Book “Terrible Nerd” New Atari books scans at archive.org ANTIC feedback at AtariAge Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge ANTIC Faceb...
Dec 18, 2015•1 hr 47 min
Alan Ackerman, MPP Alan Ackerman co-founded Microbits Peripheral Products (MPP) with John Wiley. MPP made modems and printer interfaces for the Atari 8-bit computers. MPP also published software: Microfiler and Assault Force 3-D. The company would re-structure to become Supra, a giant in modems which became the largest hardware manufacturer for Commodore Amiga computers. This interview took place on October 2, 2015. Teaser quote: “The volumes got to be insane. ... You know, at that point if we h...
Dec 14, 2015•1 hr 1 min
Alan Stratton, plant controller Alan Stratton was Atari’s plant controller, managing the financial functions in the El Paso, Texas manufacturing facility. He was also involved with the infamous dumping of game cartridges in the Alamogordo, New Mexico dump. This interview took place on October 2, 2015. Teaser quotes: “A rumor got out that we were going to search people as thy left the floor, as they left shift. Later that evening as we went into the lavatories, the floors were littered with cartr...
Dec 12, 2015•35 min
Aric Wilmunder: Star Raiders II, Temple of Apshai Here’s how Aric Wilmunder introduced himself to me: “When The Last Starfighter didn’t do well in the theaters and marketing re-branded the Atari 800 Last Starfighter game as Star Raiders II, they didn’t take into account that there was already an actual sequel to Star Raiders that was just a few months away from completion. I was the designer and solo engineer who worked for about a year on the project as a member of an R&D team inside Atari ...
Dec 10, 2015•1 hr 20 min
Courtney Goodin, Compu=Prompt teleprompter Compu=Prompt was the first electronic, personal computer based teleprompter, which ran off of an Atari 800XL computer. It was created by Courtney Goodin, who won an Emmy award for it, for “Pioneering Development in Electronic Prompting.” He also created the Atari graphics programs Color Print and Graphic Master, both of which were distributed by Datasoft. This interview took place on December 4, 2015. Teaser Quotes: “This software is probably one of the...
Dec 08, 2015•1 hr 27 min
Anthony Jones, Atari UK Anthony Jones was general manager of Atari’s headquarters in the United Kingdom. Later he moved to the United States, where he was group product manager in the marketing arm. There he worked on the Mindlink controller, a controller for the Atari that strapped to your forehead with a headband. Later, he worked at Nolan Bushnell’s Catalyst Technologies incubator. This interview took place on September 22, 2015. Teaser quotes: “As opposed to a video game where it gets faster...
Dec 06, 2015•40 min
Forrest Mozer, Pioneer in Digitized Speech Forrest Mozer invented and patented the first integrated circuit speech synthesizer in 1974. He licensed this technology to TeleSensory Systems, which used it in the Speech+ talking calculator. Later, National Semiconductor also licensed the technology, used for its "DigiTalker" speech synthesizer. In 1984, Mozer founded Electronic Speech Systems to develop and market speech synthesis products. In 1994, Mozer and his son Todd, founded Sensory Circuits, ...
Dec 02, 2015•48 min
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...
Nov 30, 2015•41 min
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 t...
Nov 27, 2015•40 min
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: ...
Nov 23, 2015•1 hr 12 min
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 developin...
Nov 20, 2015•34 min
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 6...
Nov 18, 2015•1 hr 9 min
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 ...
Nov 12, 2015•1 hr 5 min
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 ...
Nov 04, 2015•2 hr 8 min
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’...
Oct 29, 2015•27 min
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 ...
Oct 22, 2015•1 hr 25 min
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 d...
Oct 20, 2015•37 min
Adam Billyard, Chop Suey/ElektraGlide Adam Billyard's first three games for the Atari 8-bit computers were "Bellum", "Henri", and "Chop Suey,". Bellum was published through the Atari Program Exchange, although Adam never received any royalty from Atari for it. "Chop Suey" was one of the first modern-style fighting games for the Atari 800. He followed this up with a pair of three-dimensional games: "ElektraGlide," a racing game for the Atari 8-bit; and "Q-Ball” for the Atari ST. If you’re not fam...
Oct 18, 2015•39 min
Glenn The 5200 Man Glenn Botts is better known to Atari 8-bit users as "Glenn The 5200 Man.” Glenn was perhaps the most widely-known Atari software cracker, because he had a unique specialty. Most pirates removed copy protection from software, making it so it was copyable and able to be shared for free. Glenn’s skill was in taking games that were developed for the Atari 5200 game system, and converting them so they would run on the Atari 8-bit computers. Many of the games created for the Atari 5...
Oct 16, 2015•52 min
Bruce Poehlman, The Last Starfighter/Star Raiders II Bruce Poehlman only worked at Atari for a year — from June 1983 until July 1984 — but he told me “it was an interesting year.” Bruce coded the game The Last Starfighter for the Atari 5200 and 8-bit computers — a game that was never released. Two years later, he was contracted to re-brand the game as Star Raiders II. Teaser quotes: “We have this contract with a movie, and we think you game with little tweaks might be able to fit the theme of th...
Oct 14, 2015•35 min
Dan Horn, Infocom Dan Horn stated as a programmer at Scott Adams’ Adventure International, where he programmed the Atari version of Treasure Quest. Then he moved to Infocom where he was technical director, then became head of the microcomputing group. This interview took place on May 21, 2015. Teaser quotes: “The feelies were really the copy protection. If you had a feelie, you were compelled — not really for copy protection purposes — but you were compelled to have it because it was cool.” “Wit...
Oct 12, 2015•39 min
Leslie Wolf, Product Manager for Atari Logo and AtariLab Leslie Wolf was a product manager at Atari from 1981 through 1984. She managed the design and development of educational hardware and software products such as Atari Logo software and AtariLab. In this interview, we talk about Pricilla Laws, whom I previously interviewed. This interview took place on May 15, 2015. Teaser quote: “I had gone over to my guys in the manufacturing operation and I said, ‘You know what? They don’t know you’re her...
Oct 09, 2015•23 min
Dr. Priscilla Laws, AtariLab AtariLab was a hardware and software package for the Atari 400 and 800 computers. The AtariLab Starter Set with Temperature Module was released in 1983. The Light Module add-on was released in February 1984. AtariLab was developed at Dickinson College under the direction of physics professor, Dr. Priscilla Laws. Dr. Laws joined the faculty at Dickinson in 1965. She has dedicated herself to the development of activity-based curricular materials and computer software t...
Oct 07, 2015•33 min
On this episode of ANTIC the atari 8-bit podcast: we learn about new software and hardware for the Atari. We learn about marketing. We learn that we’re . . . 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 What we’ve been up to Eight Bit Fix - Paul Westphal Northwest Retro Computing and Video Game Club “Interesting Times” Podcast with ...
Oct 04, 2015•1 hr 38 min
Harold Lee, Home Pong Designer and the Man Who Hired Jay Miner In 1974 an engineer by the name of Harold Lee had become burnt out from his work designing arcade game boards and he quit and left Atari. No sooner had he left then he would receive a call from Allan Alcorn. Al asked Harold a question - "Could Pong be put on a chip?" Harold said it could be done and suddenly he found himself now hired back at Atari as an outside consultant. Harold and Al worked on the design and the chip was finished...
Oct 02, 2015•33 min
John Schulte and Feridoon Moinian, Dorsett Educational Systems John Schulte and Feridoon Moinian were both employees at Dorsett Educational Systems, the company that created the Talk And Teach educational cassette tapes which were sold by Atari. Dorsett also sold many more cassette-based classes directly via mail order, for the Atari, TRS-80 Color Computer, and other platforms. Feridoon worked primarily as a programmer, and John was primarily an editor. As my co-interviewer for this discussion, ...
Sep 28, 2015•1 hr 28 min
Peter Rosenthal, Marketing and Strategic Planning Peter Rosenthal worked at Atari from March 1979 thru the middle of 1983. He joined Atari as a marketing research associate in the consumer division, and served as Vice President of Business Development in the Home Computer Division, then Vice President of Strategic Planning. After Atari, he moved to marketing and sales at Designware, an educational software startup that published software for the Atari 8-bits and other platforms. This interview t...
Sep 22, 2015•45 min
Cathryn Mataga: Shamus, Zeppelin, Mindwheel Cathryn Mataga wrote several games that were published by Synapse software: Shamus, Shamus Case II, and Zeppelin, then three electronic novels: Brimstone, Essex, and Mindwheel. In this interview we discuss Ihor Wolosenko, whom I previously interviewed for this podcast. This interview took place on May 17, 2015. Teaser quotes: “These games were pretty hard. It was quite a bit of work, actually, to make a game by yourself. And it was all assembly languag...
Sep 18, 2015•52 min
David Burling, Atari in-house counsel I like interviewing the lawyers, they always know what’s really going on. David Burling was in-house counsel for Atari from 1980 through 1984. His job included distribution contracts, licensing, and manufacturing. He supervised the customs department, intellectual property, and international business transactions. His stint included being general council of the international division, and council for the AtariTel telecommunications products. This interview t...
Sep 16, 2015•40 min
Marty Payson, Warner, Office of the President Hi, everyone, and welcome to another in the long-standing series of interviews being published for Antic, the Atari 8-bit Computer Podcast. I’m Randy Kindig and this interview is a follow-up to the recent interview that we published with Manny Gerard of Warner Communications, the company that bought Atari in 1976. This time the interview is with Marty Payson, also of Warner Communications. Marty began with Warner in 1970, became executive vice presid...
Sep 14, 2015•38 min
