5200 coverage in magazines from January through March 1983. Plus a special bonus look at a NY Times article about Warner's stunning December 1982 earnings shortfall caused by Atari's massive financial loss.

1983

• Q1 1983 First Quarter P.O.P. (Point Of Purchase) Support
• Jan 1983 Video Games Vol 1, #4
• Jan 1983 ANALOG Computing #9
• Jan 1983 Joystik Magazine
• Jan 1983 Electronic Games Vol 1, #11
• Jan/Feb 1983 Atari Age Magazine Vol 1, #5
• Feb 1983 Video Games Vol 1, #5
• Feb 1983 Creative Computing Vol 9, #2
• Feb 1983 Electronic Games
• Mar 1983 ANALOG Computing #10
  • 12/19/82 NY Times article “The Game Turns Serious at Atari”
• Mar 1983 Video Games
  • Worm War 1 TV commercial
• Mar/Apr 1983 Atari Age Magazine Vol 1, #6

Production Notes

• Music: Stef Animal's Bandcamp page
• Episode page: Episode 34
• Twitter: @atari8bitgames

Coverage of a few magazines I missed last time. Live plays of two games, tips to speed up disk drive I/O, and articles on how automation has changed TV and film production.

Magazines

• Atari 8-bit magazines

Softalk

• Softalk Vol 3, #4
• Assembly Lines book
• Total Replay harddisk image
• Axlon RAMDISK 320k
• Passport auto-cracking tool

Nibble

• Nibble Vol 3, #8
• Nibble disk

Production Notes

• Music: Stef Animal's Bandcamp page
• Episode page: Episode 33
• Twitter: @atari8bitgames

Coverage of Atari Connection, APX, Byte, C&VG, Micro, Softside, Page 6 & Atari I/O for Dec 1982. Another Chris Crawford article on game design, a review of Steve Wozniak’s US Festival, and will Forth become the official language of the podcast?

Magazines

• Atari 8-bit magazines

Atari Connection

• Atari Connection Vol 2, #4
• Mastering Rubik's Cube by Don Taylor
• Josh Malone’s USB CX-85 numeric keypad mod

APX Catalog

• APX Catalog Winter 1982

Byte

• Byte Vol 7, #12
• Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock
• Byte Magazine Atari articles only by Kay Savetz
• TRON soundtrack composer Wendy Carlos
• Women in Electronic Music
• Sisters with Transistors documentary film

Computer & Video Games

• C&VG Issue #14

Micro 6502/6809 Journal

• Micro #55

SoftSide

• Softside #36
• Starting Forth online edition
• Edsger W Dijkstra
• Dijkstra’s rant on languages
• History of Forth language
• Forth cross compiler
• History of Computing Podcast episode on Pascal

Page 6

• Page #1
• History of Page 6 magazine

Atari Input/Output

• Atari Input/Output #1

Production Notes

• Music: Stef Animal's Bandcamp page
• Episode page: Episode 32
• Twitter: @atari8bitgames

Coverage of Antic, Compute!, Creative Computing, Dec 1982. Chris Crawford on Legionnaire, first rumors of the IBM PCjr, and two articles predicting the future: Compute! does OK while Creative Computing gets a bunch of whammies. Also: Bullwinkle’s restaurant, sexism and mansplaining about whether educational software should ask kids their gender, and Bahrain doctors, video games & epilepsy.

Magazines

• Atari 8-bit magazines

Antic

• Antic Vol 1, #5
• Stratos by Neil Larimer
• ANTIC Podcast interview with Linda Schreiber
• Legionnaire by Chris Crawford

Compute!

• Compute #31
• IBM PCjr
• HP 85 Computer
• Xanadu, the Home of the Future
• Monrobot desk computer

Creative Computing

• Creative Computing Vol 8, #12
• CIA World Factbook on Bahrain

Production Notes

• Music: Stef Animal's Bandcamp page
• Episode page: Episode 31
• Twitter: @atari8bitgames

In a special multi-part series comparing the 8-bit computers to the 5200 console, this first episode focuses on 1982. Scanning the regular magazines for mentions of the 5200, I also scour other magazines for both 8-bit and 5200 coverage. Only in this special series will you hear article summaries from these periodicals: Electronic Games, JoyStik, Video Games, Video Games Player and Atari Age Magazine.

Introduction

• Atari 5200 Super Community Podcast
• The Atari 5200 Podcast
• Atari 3200 prototype
• Gremlins: last official release for the 5200

Technical References

• Business is Fun by Marty Goldberg and Curt Vendel
• Jan 1984 ANALOG Computing #15 article Transporting programs to the 5200
• Feb 1984 ANALOG Computing #16 update for 2-port 5200

Magazine Chronology

• Jan 8, 1982: Atari Press Release Announcing the 5200
• Winter 1981/1982 Electronic Games
• Mar 1982 Electronic Games
  • Command Line Heroes podcast about Jerry Lawson
• May 1982 Electronic Games
• May/Jun 1982: Atari Age Magazine Vol 1, #1
• Jun 1982 Electronic Games
• Jul/Aug 1982: Atari Age Magazine Vol 1, #2
• Aug 1982 Video Games Vol 1, #1
  • Billy Mitchell & Perfect Pac-Man
  • Historical overview of fake Pac-Man high scores & Billy Mitchell’s Fraud
  • Background research for the above
• Sep 1982: Video Games Player
• Sept 1982: Joystik Magazine
• Sep/Oct 1982: Atari Age Magazine Vol 1, #3
• Nov 1982 The Video Game Update Vol 1, #8
• Nov 1982 Joystik Magazine
• Nov 1982 Electronic Games
• Nov/Dec 1982: Atari Age Magazine Vol 1, #4
• Creative Computing Vol 8, #12
• Dec 1982 Joystik Magazine
• Dec 1982 Video Games Vol 1, #3
• Dec 1982 Electronic Games
  • Arcadia 2001 overview
• Late 1982 Atari P.O.P. (Point Of Purchase) and Advertising Support

Production Notes

• Music: Stef Animal's Bandcamp page
• Episode page: Episode 30
• Twitter: @atari8bitgames

Coverage of the remaining magazines for Nov 1982.

Magazines

• Atari 8-bit magazines

Byte

• Byte Vol 7, #11

Computer & Video Games

• C&VG Issue #13

Computer Gaming World

• CGW Vol 2, #6
• AtariAge forum post on cheat codes
• Legionnaire gameplay video

Micro 6502/6809 Journal

• Micro #54

Softline

• Softline #2.2
• Kay Savetz interview with Jerry White
• Jerry White’s software
• Bill Williams Atari Sounds, part 3

SoftSide

• Softside #35

Feedback

• Dennis Debro’s Atari 2600 disassemblies
• Free ringtones from Stef Animal
• Stef Animal creates a track in one day

Production Notes

• Music: Stef Animal's Bandcamp page
• Episode page: Episode 29
• Twitter: @atari8bitgames

Format experiment: splitting magazine coverage across two episodes and separating game reviews to their own episodes.

Magazines

• Atari 8-bit magazines

ANALOG

• ANALOG Computing #8
• Inverse ATASCII S4E07: Money Manager

Compute!

• Compute #30
• Atari 1000 project info from Atari Museum
• Jeepers Creepers at Atarimania
• VisiCalc @ Inverse ATASCII
• Effectus, modern cross compiler for Action!

Creative Computing

• Creative Computing Vol 8, #11
• Video Invaders book by Steve Bloom at the Internet Archive

Feedback

• SortViz sorting algorithm visualization on the Atari
• Bill Kendrick tested plotting in GR.0 and it uses ATASCII values, not ANTIC

Production Notes

• Music: Stef Animal's Bandcamp page
• Episode page: Episode 28
• Twitter: @atari8bitgames

A friend gets his first game published in Computers & Video Games! 6 other magazines this episode, and I try to dissect my first kernel game, Worm War I. Or is it 1? It’s a super important distinction.

Magazines

• Atari 8-bit magazines

Antic

• Antic Vol 1, #4

Compute!

• Compute #29
• Paperclip by Batteries Included, reviewed by Wade on Inverse ATASCII

Creative Computing

• Creative Computing Vol 8, #10
• Ted Nelson Mail Project

Byte

• Byte Vol 7, #10

Computer & Video Games

• C&VG Issue #12
• Wild Strawberries

Micro 6502/6809 Journal

• Micro #53

SoftSide

• Softside #34

Game Review: Worm War I

• Worm War I at Atarimania
• Tom McWilliams sold his first game for $60,000
• Home page of David Lubar, author of the 2600 version
• Worm War 1 on Ferg’s Atari 2600 Game by Game Podcast
• Sirius Software’s Atari titles at Atarimania

Feedback

• Dog Daze Deluxe with 1 player mode

Production Notes

• Music: Stef Animal's Bandcamp page
• Episode page: Episode 27
• Twitter: @atari8bitgames

Strap yourselves in for coverage of 11 magazine issues including a tiny bit on the large magazine Byte -- there’s an article on Star Raiders strategies that I can’t pass up. Game review is of Deluxe Invaders, which is a high quality Space Invaders clone. Oh, and there’s a discussion of a game called Hazard Run and its ties to a bad TV show and a worse flag.

Introduction

• Bally Astrocade website
• Bally Astrocade podcast: Bally Alley Astrocast
• Source of Bally Artillery game
• Demo of Bally Artillery game from last month’s Creative Computing
• Twitter review of Rear Guard by RetroAnalyst
• Retrogame Deconstruction Zone

Magazines

• Atari 8-bit magazines

ANALOG

• ANALOG Computing #7
• Star Raiders on the 2600

Compute!

• Compute #28
• Speed Reading comprehension

Creative Computing

... For 36 more links, see the show notes

Adding a new magazine to the coverage: Softline, a games-focused magazine published by the people responsible for Softalk. Also a review of Rear Guard, a game that’s appeared in full-page color ads for many months in magazines.

Introduction

• AtariAge discussion on the term IRG

Magazines

• Atari 8-bit magazines

Antic

• Antic Vol 1, #3

Compute!

• Compute #27
• Atari Jaguar injection molded cases used for dental equipment

Creative Computing

• Creative Computing Vol 8, #8
• 57 games by SSI for the Atari
• Full page ad for Rear Guard on Pg 50
• Full page ad for Crush, Crumble & Chomp
• Khan Academy explanation of elastic collisions

... For 34 more links, see the show notes

Just a regular ol’ episode talking about magazines, learning typing during the pandemic, and if we’ve finally seen the end of creepy William Shatner ads for the VIC-20.

Magazines

• Atari 8-bit magazines

iCompute!

• Compute #26
• Fred D’Ignazio interview on the ANTIC Podcast
• Inverse ATASCII review of LJK’s Data Perfect

Creative Computing

• Creative Computing Vol 8, #7

APX Catalog

• APX Summer 1982
• Carol Shaw’s Calculator source code hardcopy
• OCR text of calculator source
• ANTIC, the Atari 8-bit podcast
• Eaten by a Grue

Byte

... For 18 more links, see the show notes