Into The Vertical Blank : Generation Atari Podcast

[fultonbot]

Season 3, Episode 19:  

Interview with Thomas Cherryhomes
Fujinet is an exciting new creation for Atari 8bit computers that, among other things, allows them to connect up to the internet and load disk images straight off of FTP sites. It is the brainchild of the genius Thomas Cherryhomes who would like to have this type of device built for all home computers. 

 

 

 

https://intotheverticalblank.com/2020/09/24/s3e19-interview-with-thomas-cherryhomes-how-fujinet-and-irataonline-give-plato-new-life/

[fultonbot]

This episode we take you back to an era when arcades in the shape of rockets and castles ruled the land, and TV shows like CHiPs ruled the airwaves.  Most every kid who grew-up in the Golden Age of video games had a favorite place to play games.  For us, it was Castle Park in Redondo Beach, CA.   In this episode we have a story about Castle Park named “Ode To Castle Park”, and we do something brand new: We recap an entire episode of the TV show CHiPs.  Season 6, episode 13 of the show CHiPs was filmed at Castle Park (and the surrounding area) and it lives as pop culture document to an era that now lives only in The Vertical Blank.

https://intotheverticalblank.com/2020/10/04/s3e20-the-ballad-of-castle-park-arcade/

 

 

 

 

[fultonbot]

Flashback: GCC/Atari Related Interviews

 

We've done a couple GCC related interviews for the podcast that may be of interest:

S2:E1: The Disappearance Of Charlie Chuck : Atari Food Fight

Why hasn’t Atari’s magnificent 1983 game “Food Fight” appeared any of their retro game collections? Where has it is gone?   Episode features an in-depth interview with the fabulous Jonathan Hurd, creator on the Food Fight arcade game for GCC and Atari.
https://intotheverticalblank.com/2019/03/10/s2e1-the-disappearance-of-charlie-chuck-atari-food-fight/

S3:E15: How A Few MIT Dropouts Became Atari’s Secret Weapon

In this episode we talk to Steve Golson, hacker/engineer for GCC and creator of the hardware that converted Pac-Man into Ms. Pac Man.   In part one of two part conversation, we chat about the era of coin-op “speed-up kits” and how GCC’s revolutionary ideas for converting “Missile Command ” into “Super Missile Attack” led to the upstart company becoming  Atari’s Secret Weapon.   
https://intotheverticalblank.com/2020/07/03/s3e15-how-a-few-mit-dropouts-became-ataris-secret-weapon/

 

S3:E16: GCC  Part 2: Ms. Pac-Man  and the Sad Fate of the The  Atari 7800

 

In part 2 of our discussion with Steve Golson, we cover the glory of the Ms. Pac-Man, arcade game, and fate the lay ahead for GCC as Atari’s silent but productive game  and hardware producing secret weapon.
https://intotheverticalblank.com/2020/07/10/s3e16-gcc-part-2-ms-pac-man-and-the-sad-fate-of-the-the-atari-7800/

 

 

 

Edited October 12, 2020 by fultonbot

[fultonbot]

Right before The Atari VCS, Star Wars toys, and Lego hit big in the 70’s there was the 1977 Sears Wish Book. It’s like an archive of everything “cool” before things got real.  Every year in September or October, the Sears Wish Book would arrive in the mail, and our job was to circle the things we wanted for Christmas.  In this episode we dive into the top-50 weird and wonderful products from the 1977 Sears Wish Book (plus some extras) 

https://intotheverticalblank.com/2020/10/19/s3e21-news-update-plus-the-top-50-toys-and-products-from-the-1977-sears-wish-book/

 

 

Edited October 20, 2020 by fultonbot

[fultonbot]

New Halloween episode:
S3:E22: Haunted House and the top 27 Scary Things For Atari Fans

 

Plus you can also check out last year's Halloween episode which includes some very real (to us) ghost stories:

S2:E13: Mind Games And The Haunting of the Vertical Blank


 

[fultonbot]

New Episode featuring an interview with Audacity Games:
Audacity Games Interview: David Crane, Dan Kitchen and Garry Kitchen - YouTube

[fultonbot]

New episode:  S4:E5 Discovering the Atari 400: Star Raiders, Caverns Of Mars, Miner 2049er
S4:E5 Discovering the Atari 400: Star Raiders, Caverns Of Mars, Miner 2049er – Into The Vertical Blank\

 

[Chris+++]

Still loving the show, guys. Just wanted to thank you for keeping it up and making your enthusiasm so contagious. Always a great time!  

 

[Chris+++]

 

Interesting latest episode! It's largely hypothetical, but I guess that's the point.

 

Speaking for myself, I'm glad Atari didn't discontinue VCS support early on and focus purely on Colleen and Candy. I have a massive fondness for a great many VCS/2600 games, including the superb mid-period GCC arcade conversions and the later third-party titles. Even after I was fortunate enough to receive a C64 from my father in '84, I continued playing Stella games -- and never stopped, really.

 

Another aspect to consider is that if the VCS became obsolete before the "crash," stores wouldn't have offered such large numbers of two-dollar surplus cartridges. I would have only been able to play a fraction of the games with which my youth and adolescence were blessed.

 

Speaking of affordability, unless Atari quickly lowered the Colleen and Candy prices after phasing out Stella, many younger people -- myself included -- wouldn't have been able to get an Atari of any kind. Those computers, even the keyboard-free kind, were expensive. For some things, you could talk to your folks until you were blue in the face, and no exorbitantly priced systems would be forthcoming.

 

In my view, Atari's truly "biggest mistake" was in failing to listen to Tod Frye when he practically pleaded for an 8K ROM for Pac-Man. They knew that the cartridge would sell, based on the title alone. They were right, but they weren't thinking long-term, i.e. considering Atari's future reputation, because video games were still considered a fad by suits.

 

Great episode, and great points about how video-game journalism changed after that one fateful Pac-Man review in EG.

 

 

Edited April 5, 2022 by Chris+++