ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Podcast

Jim Inscore, Documentation Manager Jim Inscore was hired at Atari in 1981 as a writer in the marketing department, then became documentation manager, where he managed writers and production staff to produce technical and consumer documentation for Atari computer hardware and software. This interview took place on December 9, 2015. Teaser quote: “A process where ... 12 different design firms came i...

Russ Wetmore: Preppie!, Sea Dragon, Homepak Russ Wetmore started at Adventure International, where he worked with Scott Adams on Savage Island Part II. He then went on to program Preppie!, Preppie! II, and Sea Dragon - all of which were published by Adventure International - and Homepak business software, which was published by Batteries Included. This interview took place on September 24, 2015, a...

Paul Lewandowski, APX Puzzler Paul Lewandowski was in high school when he wrote Puzzler, which was published by Atari Program Exchange and won the Atari Star Award in fall 1983: first prize in the learning category. Puzzler is a game that shows you a picture on the screen, chops it into equally sized squares, and scrambles them. Then, the player uses the joystick to try to put the picture back tog...

Clinton Parker, Action! Welcome to this special interview edition of Antic, the Atari 8-bit computer podcast.  All of our interviews are special in some way and we appreciate the time that the interviewees donate to the Atari 8-bit community at large.  This interview is a much-anticipated one due to the beloved nature of the software provided by the interviewee and due to the fact that the he has...

Peter J. Meyer - Tempest Xtreem, Venture, Delta Space Arena The intro music to this episode is the tune “Mind’s Eye” from the Atari XL/XE version of Tempest Xtreem; composed by Sal KJMANN Esquivel.  Our guest for this interview is the author of Tempest Xtreem, as well as Delta Space Arena and Venture for the Atari 8-bits, Mr. Peter J. Meyer.  Peter has done a great job of developing game software...

Larry Reed, Childware Larry Reed was a programmer for Childware, where he worked on two educational games for the Atari 8-bit computers: Word Flyer and D-Bug, both of which were published by Electronic Arts. This interview took place December 6, 2015. Teaser quotes: "I'll tell you, working with FORTH on the Atari was great until we exceeded the memory capability of the Atari, and then it was a roy...

Tony Nicholson and John Babinchak II, Hi-Res Magazine In this episode, two interviews for the price of one: two people who helped create Hi-Res Magazine — the computer magazine that only published four issues. First, we’ll hear from Tony Nicholson, the publisher of Hi-Res magazine; then John Babinchak, the editor of the  magazine. Hi-Res was a short-lived magazine dedicated to Atari 8-bit and Comm...

Kevin Hayes, Atari Games Ireland On this interview episode, we take a trip to Ireland, and to the coin-op side of Atari. Kevin Hayes was Controller for Atari Irerland Ltd. in 1978, then became manufacturing director. Later he moved to California where he was VP of Manufacturing for Atari Games, then vice president of Operations. This interview was recorded December 7, 2015. Teaser quote: "They had...

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...

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...

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 the...

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...

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....

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 intervi...

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 devel...

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 retreat...

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 t...

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...

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...

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 wh...

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 th...

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 b...

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 th...

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 ar...

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...