ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Podcast

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 game...

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 conve...

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...

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 — no...

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...

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...

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...

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 hi...

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 pri...

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...

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...

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...

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 Ma...

John Constantine, General Accounting Manager   John Constantine was General Accounting Manager in Atari's Consumer Division from 1978-1981, then became Executive Director until he left the company in 1984.   This interview took place May 14, 2015.   Teaser quote:   "One of your clerks sent a package Federal Express — across the street — in the headquarters in Sunnyvale"

Manny Gerard, The Man Who Fired Nolan   For this interview, we’re getting a different perspective of the Atari/Warner relationship, this time from the Warner side.  (Emanual) Manny Gerard was a member of the Office of the President for Warner during the Atari days from 1976, when they acquired Atari, to 1984 when it was sold to the Tramiels.  He in fact was the key person in the decision for Warne...

Tandy Trower, Atari product manager   Tandy Trower started at Atari evaluating software titles, then moved on to the position of product manager, managing new titles including Missile Command, Asteroids, and the port of Microsoft BASIC for the Atari. Then, he left Atari for Microsoft, where — once again, he managed Microsoft BASIC for the Atari. Tandy also wrote the Character Set Editor program wh...

Tim McGuinness, Atari Senior Research Engineer and Founder of ROMOX   Tim McGuinness was a Hardware Design Engineer in Atari’s Personal Computer Division in 1980 and 1981, then moved to become Senior Research Engineer/Assistant Director of Corporate Research Engineering through 1982. Tim was co-developer of 400, 800, and 1200XL computers and peripherals. He was also the initial architect and desig...

Steve Davis, Director of Advanced Research   Steve Davis worked in Atari’s advanced research lab under Alan Kay, for 5 or 6 years, where he worked on several skunkworks projects including a laserdisc player controlled by an Atari 800, an Atari 800-based local area network, and artificial intelligence projects.   This interview occurred May 11, 2015.   Teaser quote:   “I winded around the building,...

This is an interview episode of Antic, the Atari 8-bit podcast.  I’m Randy Kindig and in this interview I sat down with one of the members of the core design team at Cyan Engineering for such projects as the Atari 2600 and the 8-bit computers, Mr. Ron Milner. Ron is currently President of Applied Design Laboratories, but from 1973-1984, as an employee of Atari Inc, he worked at the Grass Valley Th...

Joe Villalobos, Materials Planner for Atari   Boxes! Your Atari computers and game cartridges came in boxes! Someone was responsible for producing those boxes. Joe was the guy.   Joe Villalobos was materials planner at Atari in El Paso, Texas from 1980 – 1982. He was responsible for the planning and expediting of materials used in the production of video game cartridges.   This interview took plac...

Ed Rotberg, Rotberg Synthesizer   Ed Rotberg worked programmer in Atari’s coin-op division, where he worked on Atari Baseball, Battlezone, Blasteroids, Hard Drivin’, and other coin-op games. He consulted for the Atari consumer side, where he created demos for the Atari 800 — including working on the music for the in-store demo — and the Rotberg Synthesizer music software.   Check the show notes at...

On this episode of ANTIC the atari 8-bit podcast: Randy delves into Altirra BASIC, there’s another podcast to dilute our listenership, Kevin reports back from KansasFest, and there’s lots of new Atari stuff to download at Archive.org.   Recurring Links Floppy Days Podcast AtariArchives.org AtariMagazines.com Kevins Book “Terrible Nerd” New Atari books scans at archive.org ANTIC feedback at AtariAg...

Hello, and welcome to a very special interview-only episode of Antic, the Atari 8-bit podcast.  I am Randy Kindig, one of your hosts for this podcast.  I say “special” because it’s not often that you get a chance to talk with an icon like the one we talk with today.  Kevin Savetz and myself were given the chance to sit down, so to speak, with “Mr. Atari” Nolan Bushnell and spend a few minutes shoo...

Jon Freeman   Jon Freeman was co-founder of the computer game publisher Automated Simulations, which became EPYX. At Automated Simulations, he co-created Starfleet Orion and Gateway to Apshai. Then he and his wife Anne Westfall started the game development company FreeFall Associates, where they created Tax Dodge, Archon, Archon II, and Murder on the Zinderneuf.   This interview took place April 2...

ANTIC Special Episode - Atari Summer Camp   Let's go to Atari Summer Camp! A special episode.   Links   Today Show clip   The Magic Room Movie   The Magic Room Trailer   ANTIC magazine article   Atari Connection article   Bob Kahn's Atari Special Projects page   Atari Computer Camps curriculum, software, and ephemera