The Atari World Series

 

Have You Played Atari Tomorrow?

Straight from the fall of 2077, it's the retrofuturistic Atari 9400 gaming console with nanofibre controls and quantum relay tunneling. Tomorrow's games--yesterday! 
 

Random Thoughts on Cloak & Dagger

Richard Franklin's Cloak & Dagger (1984) is certainly a lot more violent than I expected from what seems to be a film targeted at kids. Our tween protagonist (played by Henry Thomas of E.T. fame), hunted by spies after he accidentally winds up with an Atari 5200 cartridge that has top secret military blueprints hidden within, is directly or indirectly responsible for at least four deaths (bad guys, but still), gets stuffed in a trunk with the dead body of an adult friend (shot through the back of the head a few minutes earlier), sees his girl friend kidnapped, gets held at gunpoint more than once, and thinks for a moment his dad's been blown up. There's also an uncomfortably realistic moment where some innocent airport worker gets shot in the leg at close range; his agonized reaction is incredibly effective. Great acting from a bit player! 

According to Wikipedia, Atari and Universal were working on an arcade game and a film, respectively, called Agent X. When the creators of the two projects got wind of each other, they agreed to cooperate, changing the name of the game/film to Cloak & Dagger. Atari supplied graphics from the arcade game, though in the guise of a (never-released) 5200 version of the game. There's also a ton of Atari project placement in the movie, concentrated in the computer store where the two kid protagonists hang out. 

A strange movie from a strange era. I don't believe I ever played, or even saw, the arcade game. I wonder if it's any good . . .

Books I Read in 2020

In 2020 I learned the word "doomscrolling," the perfect term to describe the way I obsessively followed online news feeds during this strange and stressful year. Reading so much about politics, the environment, social injustice, and general disaster online continues to have an impact on my reading, though I did somehow manage to eke out a couple books more this year than I did last. I read 107 books in 2020, compared to 103 last year--an improvement, but still short of my long-standing target of 136. 

This was another escapist year in reading for me. I took comfort in nostalgia to an even greater degree than usual, re-reading material from Alan Dean Foster, John Steinbeck, Henry James, and William Golding; revisiting old roleplaying rulebooks to fire my imagination for games I hope to play after COVID; exploring the history of film, art, and video gaming; and starting, finishing, or continuing fantasy and science fiction series that began long ago. I also managed to squeeze in a little bit of mainstream reading of the sort I really should have gotten to decades ago.

I don't claim that the list below reflects where my psyche was at this year, but I guess I chose these titles, which must say something...right? 

Here's the list: 

January: 10
The Gap into Conflict: The Real Story (Stephen R. Donaldson, 1991)
The Gap into Vision: Forbidden Knowledge (Stephen R. Donaldson, 1991)
The Gap into Power: A Dark and Hungry God Arises (Stephen R. Donaldson, 1992)
Star Trek Log Five (Alan Dean Foster, 1975)
The Egg (Andy Weir, 2019)
Star Trek Log Six (Alan Dean Foster, 1976)
Watchmen (Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, 1987)
Villains & Vigilantes: Superhero Role Play (Jeff Dee, 1982)
Car Wars: Deluxe Edition (Steve Jackson, 1996)
The Turn of the Screw (Henry James, 1898)

February: 10
The Gap into Madness: Chaos and Order (Stephen R. Donaldson, 1994)
The Gap into Ruin: This Day All Gods Die (Stephen R. Donaldson, 1996)
Star Trek Log Seven (Alan Dean Foster, 1976)
Combat Shield and Mini Adventure (David Zeb Cook, 1984)
Of Mice and Men (John Steinbeck, 1937)
The Shady Dragon Inn (Carl Smith, 1984)
The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck, 1939)
Lord of the Flies (William Golding, 1954)
Black Beauty (Anna Sewell, 1877)
Top Secret/S.I. (Douglas Niles, 1987)

March: 11
Star Trek Log Eight (Alan Dean Foster, 1976)
Lord Foul’s Bane (Stephen R. Donaldson, 1977)
Star Trek Log Nine (Alan Dean Foster 1977)
Augie and the Green Knight (Zach Weinersmith, 2014)
The Holy Bible: Abridged Beyond the Point of Usefulness (Zach Weinersmith, 2015)
Science: Abridged Beyond the Point of Usefulness (Zach Weinersmith, 2017)
Shakespeare’s Sonnets: Abridged Beyond the Point of Usefulness (Zach Weinersmith, 2018)
27 Nerd Disses: A Significant Quantity of Disrespect (Phil Plait and Zach Weinersmith, 2013)
Religion: Ruining Everything Since 4004 BC (Zach Weinersmith, 2015)
Science: Ruining everything Since 1543 (Zach Weinersmith, 2013)
Trial of the Clone: An Interactive Adventure (Zach Weinersmith, 2012)

April: 13
The Higher Frontier (Christopher L. Bennett, 2020)
Summer Frost (Blake Crouch, 2019)
Emergency Skin (N. K. Jemisin, 2019)
Ark (Veronica Roth, 2019)
You Have Arrived at Your Destination (Amor Towles, 2019)
The Last Conversation (Paul Tremblay, 2019)
Randomize (Andy Weir, 2019)
The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t with Her Mind (Jackson Ford, 2019)
If It Bleeds (Stephen King, 2020)
Gwendy’s Magic Feather (Richard Chizmar, 2020)
A Very Scalzi Christmas (John Scalzi, 2019)
The Collectors (Philip Pullman, 2014)
The Test (Sylvain Neuvel, 2019)

May: 7
Fallout: Wasteland Warfare Roleplaying Game (Various, 2019)
John Carter of Mars: Adventures on the Dying World of Barsoom (Various, 2019)
GURPS (Steve Jackson, 1989)
GURPS Wild Cards (Steve Jackson, 1990)
GURPS Wild Cards Aces Abroad (Kevin Andrew Murphy, 1991)
The Last Emperox (John Scalzi, 2020)
The Most Dangerous Game (Richard Connell, 1924)

June: 7
Comic Book Implosion: An Oral History of DC Comics Circa 1978 (Keith Dallas and John Wells, 2018)
Star Trek Log 10 (Alan Dean Foster, 1978)
Comics Ad Men (Steven Brower, 2019)
The Great Canadian Comic Books (Michael Hirsh and Patrick Loubert, 1971)
The Art of The Empire Strikes Back (Deborah Call, 1980)
Network Effect (Martha Wells, 2020)
GURPS Atomic Horror (Paul Elliot and Chris W. McCubbin, 1993)

July: 5
The Oppenheimer Alternative (Robert J. Sawyer, 2020)
James Bond: My Long and Eventful Search for His Father (Len Deighton, 2012)
Pulling a Train (Harlan Ellison, 2012)
Getting in the Wind (Harlan Ellison, 2012)
La Belle Sauvage (Philip Pullman, 2017)

August: 5
The Secret Commonwealth (Philip Pullman, 2019)
Frankissstein: A Love Story (Jeanette Winterson, 2019)
Tooth and Claw (Jo Walton, 2003)
Sleeper (Jo Walton, 2014)
The City and the Stars (Arthur C. Clarke, 1956)

September: 3
The Yellow Wallpaper (Charlotte Perkins Gilman, 1892)
Star Trek: The Motion Picture: Inside the Art and Visual Effects (Jeff Bond, 2020)
Lifelode (Jo Walton, 2009)

October: 15
Sid Meier’s Memoir! A Life in Computer Games (Sid Meier, 2020)
The Dynamite Art of Lucio Parrillo (Lucio Parrillo, 2020)
The Marvel Art of Savage Sword of Conan (John Rhett Thomas, 2020)
Star Wars: The Lightsaber Prop Guide Book (Seth Sherwood, 2018)
Creating the Worlds of Star Wars: 365 Days (John Knoll, 2005)
Star Wars Art: Visions (J.W. Rinzler, 2010)
The Illustrated Star Wars Universe (Kevin J. Anderson, 1995)
Star Wars Portfolio (Ralph McQuarrie, 1977)
The Art of the Matrix (Spencer Lamm, ed., 2000)
The Art of Fallout 4 (Aaron Walker, 2015)
The Art of Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace (Jonathan Bresman, 1999)
The Art of Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones (Mark Cotta Vaz, 2002)
The Empire Strikes Back Portfolio (Ralph McQuarrie, 1980)
Return of the Jedi Portfolio (Ralph McQuarrie, 1983)
The Art of Solo: A Star Wars Story (Phil Szostak, 2018)

November: 11
The Art of Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Phil Szostak, 2015)
The Art of Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Phil Szostak, 2017)
The Art of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (Phil Szostak, 2019)
The Art of Painted Comics (Christopher Lawrence, 2016)
Star Trek: The Next Generation: Warped: An Engaging Guide to the Never-Aired 8th Season (Mike McMahan, 2015)
Mrs. Claus: My Life as the Wife of the Big Cheese (Julia Reinfort-Claus, 2013)
Taken by the Muse (Anne Wheeler, 2020)
Common Sense (Thomas Paine, 1776)
Player’s Handbook: Dungeons & Dragons, 5th Edition (James Wyatt, 2014)
Monster Manual: Dungeons & Dragons, 5th Edition (Mike Mearls, 2014)
Dungeon Master’s Guide: Dungeons & Dragons, 5th Edition (Mike Mearls, 2014)

December: 10
Cajun Night Before Christmas (Trosclair, 1992)
Once Upon Atari (Howard Scott Warshaw, 2020)
The Souls of Black Folk (W.E.B. Du Bois, 1903)
Passing (Nella Larsen, 1929)
Candide (Voltaire, 1759)
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (Frederick Douglass, 1845)
The Aliens Are Coming! (Dayton Ward, 2002)
The Day Remo Died (Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir, 1982)
Savage Song (Warren Murphy, 2014)
Number Two (Warren Murphy and Donna Courtois, 2012)

Nonfiction: 47
Fiction: 60

Genre
Adventure: 3
Fantasy: 10
Horror: 2
Mainstream: 17
Science Fiction: 23
Star Trek: 9

Top Authors
Zach Weinersmith: 8

Stephen R. Donaldson: 6
Alan Dean Foster: 6

Phil Szostak: 4

Steve Jackson: 3
Ralph McQuarrie: 3
Warren Murphy: 3
Philip Pullman: 3
Jo Walton: 3

Harlan Ellison: 2
Mike Mearls: 2
John Scalzi: 2
John Steinbeck: 2
Andy Weir: 2

Books by Women: 18
Books by Men: 88

Books by Decade
1750s: 1
1770s: 1
1840s: 1
1870s: 1
1890s: 2
1900s: 1
1920s: 2
1930s: 2
1950s: 2
1970s: 9
1980s: 10
1990s: 12
2000s: 6
2010s: 45
2020s: 12

Formula Thurs-De

Mike Parlow (bearded, centre) was in town for a conference, so Steve hosted an impromptu gathering to celebrate. We played Formula De, and I wrecked my car trying to avoid finishing last. 

Orb-It

Night Terrors

Maniac Motel

Trophies

Clobbearl's Revenge

Saskatchewan Bob for the Atari 2600

Super Clobbearl

Checkers Chumps

Velocipede from Atari

Earl of Cups

Another lost cartridge for the Atari 2600. 

My Favourite Games (Second Generation Era)

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about some of my favourite arcade games. Tonight I consider some of my favourite games from the so-called second generation of video games, chiefly those found on the Atari 2600, the Intellivision and my cousin Darwin's Arcadia 2001 - marketed in Canada as Leisure-Vision.


We didn't have an 8-bit machine in our household - my parents wisely purchased an Atari 400 computer instead - so my experiences with the world of 8-bit games was confined to the times I played at the houses of friends. I don't remember which friend introduced me to Adventure, but I loved it; as a fan of swords and sorcery, I found the notion of slaying dragons and finding the golden chalice pretty enthralling, even if the game is really primitive by today's standards.


On the other hand, I remember playing Outlaws at Paul Ravensdale's place quite vividly; shooting each other through an endless parade of covered wagons was a scream. The frenetic action probably came close to spraining a couple of wrists.


Atari's adaptation of the complex arcade smash, Defender, couldn't emulate the superb graphics and sound of the arcade machine. But the gameplay was pretty good, especially considering they managed to mash all those controls into the Atari joystick. On one memorable afternoon, I managed to roll the score counter, albeit on the easiest setting; it remains the pinnacle of my video game achievements.


As much as I loved high fantasy, I was also a huge fan of jungle adventures thanks to Tarzan and Allan Quatermain. Playing Pitfall was like jumping into one of their tales; it had rolling logs, dangerous snakes, crocodiles and scorpions, underground tunnels, and even swinging on vines over obstacles, complete with a Tarzan yell. I never found all the gold bars, but the joy was in the journey.


When the Intellivoice module was released for Intellivision, a lot of gamers went a little nuts over the revolutionary notion of games that talked. B-17 Bomber was not only a fun World War II flying game, the voices blurted out hilarious warnings such as "Bandits - 6 o'clock!"


Astrosmash for the Intellivision was a faster-paced, more colourful version of Space Invaders. Gameplay may have been simple, but blasting space sponges (at least, that's what they looked like to me) was a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon.


Yar's Revenge was among the very best of Atari's 2600 releases. It was pretty high concept; you played the role of an intelligent being evolved from Earth houseflies, defending your planet from a Death Star-like doomsday cannon protected by a thick layer of shielding. There was also a neutral zone to protect you. You had three weapons: your mandibles, which you could use to eat through the shield, a ray gun, which you could use to shoot the shield, and your own mega cannon, which you had to use to blow up the bad guy's doomsday weapon. What made it especially challenging was the requirement that you had to get out of the way of your own shots when firing your main weapon.


At the time many reviewers panned Combat, the game that came packaged with Atari 2600 systems. Sure, the graphics aren't pretty, but the player vs. player action could get pretty intense, whether you were driving tanks or flying jets or biplanes.


I can't be sure that Darwin had an Arcadia 2001/Leisure-Vision, but the controls and design of the system evoke strong memories. I recall a racing game that put the two of us on the mean streets of a blocky 8-bit suburban neighbourhood, zooming back and forth, heedless of the hazard we presented. But if you ran your car into the exhaust creature that snaked along the roads, you were doomed.

The Arcadia also had a pretty good baseball simulator for its time, which also provided some entertainment. 

Stompin' Sean

Earlier today my brother sent me a text related to video games. Inspired by the combination of Sean and Atari, I made this just now. 

My Favourite Games (Arcade Edition)

Over the years I've played a lot of games, and they've brought me a lot of joy. It only just occurred to me that I've never chronicled my appreciation for those games, so over the next few days I'll share some memories of my favourites.


Whenever I visited my cousin Darwin Jones in Devon, we'd head downtown to play Space War. I loved this game for its complexity; you could choose all kinds of variables, including inertia, gravity, how the edges of the screen behaved and so on. It didn't hurt that one of the ships looked like the Enterprise, and the other like its symbol.


Pac-Man seems pretty old hat now, but when Keith Gylander and I first encountered it at a fish and chips restaurant in Leduc one summer in the very early 1980s, we were hooked. Gameplay is simple but challenging, with the pace growing more frenetic with every level.


At the height of the video arcade craze, Leduc had at least three or four dedicated arcades, plus other machines scattered throughout the city (the roller rink, the used book store, the convenience store, etc.). I played Wild Western pretty obsessively in the arcade closest to Leduc Junior High school; it was nestled on the first floor of an apartment complex. I liked Wild Western for the music and its relatively complex gameplay; not only could you ride and shoot in all directions, you could jump atop the train and gunfight the desperadoes from on high.


I played Berzerk at the 7-11 on 50th street in Leduc. I was amazed by the robot voices, and fighting my way through the mazes gave me the feeling of being on a real adventure, though of course there was no way to truly escape the robots; eventually, you were doomed, as was the way of things in most arcade games.


I loved the movie Tron, and when the game came out I leaped at the chance to enter its world, user-like. Four games in one! You couldn't beat that in 1982. The lightcycle chase was my favourite, even though I wasn't very good at it.


Defender was probably the most challenging game I attempted back in the day; its multiple controls and relentless enemies ate up my three ships with astonishing speed. But having a noble mission - rescuing the spacemen trapped on the planet - provided excellent motivation for me to keep on pumping quarters into the machine. I played Defender in the arcade that used to exist on the top floor of the then-new theatre on 50th street, not far from the 7-11 where I played Berzerk.


Galaga had great audio effects and a really neat feature that kept me coming back: the bad guys could capture your ship, but if you managed to set it free with another ship, it would join with your second ship for double the firepower (and double the exposure to enemy fire, of course).


Star Castle wasn't as popular as a lot of other games, but I enjoyed its clean vector graphics and free-flowing gameplay.


Discs of Tron was played in a neon-lit wraparound cabinet that really drew you into the game. The immersive experience was helped by smooth controls and simple but challenging gameplay; just knock your opponent off his perch with your flying discs, while preventing him from doing the same thing to you.


If I had room for one arcade game in my home it would be the Star Trek Strategic Operations Simulator; specifically, I'd want the sit-down version with the controls on the armrests. Star Trek has a hit-and-miss history when it comes to game adaptations, but this is a great-looking, great-sounding space shooter, with authentic effects and great voiceovers from Spock and Scotty. "Entering sector 1.6..."


Atari's Star Wars simulation was another excellent adaptation, this time giving players the chance to assault the Death Star itself, complete with emulated John William's music and character voices. The cabinet featured a very solid two-handed flight control stick that made you really feel like you were flying an X-Wing.

Of course I played dozens of other arcade games during those golden years of the 1980s, but these are the ones that stand out in my memory. I shudder to imagine how many quarters slipped through my fingers during those years, but they led to many hours of great entertainment. 

Space Invaders Tie

Tomorrow I'm attending an event identified as "business formal," which means I have to wear a tie. I have chosen this cool Space Invaders tie, which came as one of my LootCrates. Thanks Sylvia!

They should really make a T.I.E. fighter tie. 

A Boy Running Down a Mountain

Sometimes it all goes very wrong. I unearthed a somewhat interesting (to me) photo of one of my Grade Six classmates running down a hill in the Badlands. He's too far away to identify. I experimented with the different layers of the photo, wondering if I could make the intersections of the three hills in the original image somehow look more three-dimensional. As you can see, I failed utterly, and instead I have something that looks like a screen capture of an early Intellivision game.