Official Atari Games Podcast

You ready for some retro-inspired punishment of the Nordic variety? If so, you've come to the right place. Volgar the Viking II is on the horizon and I've asked Kris Durrschmidt (Creative Director / CEO of Crazy Viking Studios) and Calvin Vu (Producer, Digital Eclipse) to join me to discuss all thing Volgarr and the games that inspired it. Video link: Wishlist/Preorder Yars Rising Steam: https://s...

It's quiet and I want some noise, so I asked for questions from you, the audience to provide. And provide you did with dozens of write-ins that comprise the entirety of this episode. Joining me are VP of Games, Ethan Stearns, and Senior Director of Communications, David Lowey. We cover a wide variety of subjects including the future of RollerCoaster Tycoon, details behind Atari hardware choices, a...

Yars Rising has been making waves recently with a new gameplay trailer dropping, a demo during Steam Next Fest, and a preview cycle out of Summer Games Fest. To keep the good times rolling, I invited James Montagna (game director) and Mark Perloff (lead producer) to talk all about the title. We dive into the origins of the game's concept, how a metroidvania is crafted, and so much more. Video link...

Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord is out of early access and available across a bevy of platforms. What better time to get Digital Eclipse on the pod to talk about it? I've assembled a party consisting of Ian Sherman (Senior Engineer), Nick Bruty (Art Director), and Justin Rosenthal-Kambic (Animation Lead) to get deep into the maze of development that's brought this classic to modern p...

No jokes here: the April 1st-announced PO'ed is very real and out right now, so let's talk about it! Joining this week are Nightdive Studio's CEO, Stephen Kick, and Lead KEX Engineer, Samuel "Kaiser" Villarreal. Samuel is the reason why PO'ed has graced modern platforms and you'll hear all about the title's history and how it's made the journey from the 3DO to 2024. YouTube Link: POed AVAILABLE NO...

The Recharged series came from the desire to create classic Atari IP from the ground up for modern hardware while retaining its arcade spirit. Enter Alan-1, the team that's bringing the franchise full circle back to Arcades with plenty of surprises along the way. We cover a lot here, including the background of Alan-1 themselves and what makes their first in this collaboration, Asteroids: Recharge...

Hot on the heels of Lunar Lunar Beyond's release earlier in the week, we wanted to put a shine on the team that made the beautiful cutscenes throughout it: Bewilder. I'm joined by Nicolas Rix, animation director, and Pieter Jordan, lead compositor, to go into the process of creating these animations and how they added a new dimension to the world of Lunar Lander Beyond. Lunar Lander Beyond AVAILAB...

It's official: NeoSprint is exiting early access and racing to all platforms soon! What better time to see what's changed since we last checked in months ago at the start of the VCS early access period? And who better to do so than the head of developer Headless Chicken, Jose Pablo Monge Chacon (JP), and Atari's senior art director, John Kauderer, a creative driver on the title? YouTube link: http...

Lunar Lander Beyond is on the horizon so what better time to sit down with Dreams Uncorporated for some behind-the-scenes discussions? Joining me this week: Alvaro Martinez (director), Jeff Cardenas (executive producer), and Carlos Rocha Silva (Dreams Uncorporated CEO). Video link: Wishlist/Pre-order Lunar Lander Beyond: Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2376270/Lunar_Lander_Beyond/ Switch...

In celebration of Jeff Minter and all things Llamasoft, we are joined by the entirety of the Llamasoft team, Jeff Minter and Ivan Zorzin, plus Chris Kohler from Digital Eclipse. We dive into the making of Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story, talk through some of the games in the collection, and touch on the recently updated Akka Arrh on PS5 with PSVR2 support! Video link: https://youtu.be/Hcru4ev_Ksk...

Ethan and Shah join the pod again to just chat and see where the conversation leads. We talk a bit about qomp2 and Lunar Lander Beyond marketing before going all in on Star Wars gaming as we celebrate this week's release of Star Wars: Dark Forces Remastered. New Releases: qomp2: https://link.atari.com/play-qomp2 Star Wars: Dark Forces Remastered: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2292260/STAR_WAR...

Graphite Lab is back on the pod to talk about the imminent qomp2! Matt and Mark return, along with lead designer Brad Austrin to play and discuss the making of qomp2. We go through the approach to designing a sequel to an indie cult classic, building on such simple gameplay, and how to integrate narrative into a game about PONG ball. Video version of this episode with gameplay can be found here: [...

Larry Kuperman, Director of Business Development at Nightdive Studios, joins the podcast for another getting-to-know-you episode. We start by getting into the relationship between Nightdive and Atari since the acquisition and then get into more personal subjects like Larry's background and our position on the term "boomer shooter". Wishlist Upcoming Atari and Nightdive Games: qomp2: https://store....

Matt and John from Graphite Lab return to chat about the newest update to Mr. Run and Jump! Tune in to hear about the new ghost feature, how the speedrunning features came to be, and what Mr. Run and Jump actually is. Get Mr. Run and Jump: https://link.atari.com/mrj Wishlist Upcoming Games: qomp2: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2243510/qomp2/ Lunar Lander Beyond: https://store.steampowered.com...

Carly Francis, community manager, joins us to read some holiday letters from you, the Atari fans, to kick off the new year with equally heavy doses of positivity and nostalgia! Wishlist Upcoming Games: qomp2: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2243510/qomp2/ Lunar Lander Beyond: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2376270/Lunar_Lander_Beyond/ Join the Atari Discord: https://link.atari.com/atari-dis...

Megan McDuffee is a multi-award-winning composer and music producer for video games and film. Her music has played an integral role in the Atari Recharged series. She's created music for games like River City Girls and Apex Legends Mobile along with her own solo work. Watch our interview with Megan to learn more about her musical journey and recording process. Follow Megan McDuffee and her work: h...

NOTE: Some audio issues are present here as a result of the recording, specifically when Jason is speaking when we start playing the game. Cleaned it up as much as we could, but for the best experience, we recommend watching this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/JT8mGuWah3k This episode goes behind the scenes of the now-available Berzerk: Recharged. The guests include: Gytis Dabašinskas: Lead...

In the spirit of Halloween and the killer reception for Alan Wake 2, we reached out to Remedy producer, Tadas Migauskas - former SneakyBox producer on the first eight Recharged titles - to share his experience and talk about his first AAA experience. Join the Atari Discord: https://discord.gg/DmgXukk5rR Follow us: Atari: https://twitter.com/atari Jason Polansky: https://twitter.com/JaysOfDoom Etha...

Following the stealth release on Atari VCS, Jason is joined again by Ethan Stearns and, for the first time, John Kauderer, to discuss and play Neo Sprint. Learn more about Neo Sprint: https://atari.com/products/neosprint Join the Atari Discord: https://discord.gg/DmgXukk5rR Follow us: Atari: https://twitter.com/atari Jason Polansky: https://twitter.com/JaysOfDoom Ethan Stearns: https://twitter.com...

Join Atari's dynamic duo of Producers, Jason Polansky and Mark Perloff, as they play through Haunted House and discuss the upcoming Halloween release. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZO5ecKLv0o Wishlist Haunted House: https://link.atari.com/haunted-house Join the Atari Discord: https://discord.gg/DmgXukk5rR Follow us: Atari: https://twitter.com/atari Jason Polansky: https://twitter.com/Jay...

Hosted by Jason Polansky (Producer, Atari), this week's episode of the Atari Podcast focuses on the team's experiences at PAX West 2023. Hear about what went into making the show a success for the team and what some of their standout moments were from the showfloor. Join the Atari Discord: https://discord.gg/DmgXukk5rR Follow us: Atari: https://twitter.com/atari Jason Polansky: https://twitter.com...

Get a behind-the-scenes look at upcoming Days of Doom with key members of the development team from SneakyBox: Gytis Dabašinskas: Lead designer Ieva Auželytė: Lead artist Rytis Kazakevičius: Lead programmer Vytautas Ruzgus: Producer

Due to scheduling issues, we had to push the Days of Doom episode out to the next time. However, this episode tries something different: a simple chat between Ethan Stearns (Atari VP of Games) and myself (Jason). I've prepared some conversation-starting questions, both games and not games-related, to learn more about some of the minds at Atari. Join the Atari Games Discord to ask questions or to h...

This episode goes behind the scenes of the upcoming Quantum: Recharged. The guests include: Augustas Vachauzas: Game designer of Quantum: Recharged at SneakyBox Danielius Gudauskas: Ports producer on Quantum: Recharged and all other SneakyBox-developed Atari titles David Paige: Atari's own VCS games guru

The podcast is back! And since we're gearing up for the release of Mr. Run and Jump next week, who better to join us than the creator and game designer, himself? John walks us through his journey to Graphite Lab, how Mr. Run and Jump came to be, and what it was like creating a current-gen version of the title.