Tag Archives: atari

Myriapod Mania

Posted on August 5, 2021 by Nathan

I played a little bit of Centipede at the Silverball Retro Arcade in Asbury Park this past weekend, and I remembered seeing something online about the manual for the Atari 2600 version having a crazy back story. The game, introduced in … Continue reading →

Posted in Advertising, Animals, Biology, Comics, Donkey Kong, Magic, Mario, Monsters, Science, Video Games | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

The Most Horrific Time of the Year

Posted on October 31, 2019 by Nathan

Here are some thoughts on the horror and horror-adjacent movies that Beth and I watched this month. Halloween in a Box – This documentary is about the cheap costumes that came in what looked like pie boxes, made by Ben … Continue reading →

Posted in Aztec, Cartoons, Halloween, Holidays, Monsters, Mythology, Native American, Snobbery, Star Wars, Television, The Simpsons, Urban Legends, Video Games | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

I Pity the Fool Who Doesn’t Phone Home

Posted on December 3, 2015 by Nathan

Atari: Game Over – This documentary from last year discusses the rise and fall of Atari, centered around the excavation of the 1983 dump of video games in the New Mexico desert. It focuses on the 1982 game E.T the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized, Video Games, VoVat Goes to the Movies | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

I’ve Finally Found a Jungle I Like

Posted on June 3, 2015 by Nathan

My family was pretty late in getting a Nintendo, but we DID have a Texas Instruments 99/4A computer. TI is now better known for its graphing calculators, and those probably have more advanced games than the 99/4A did back then, … Continue reading →

Posted in Advertising, Board Games, Games, Video Games | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Simonized

Posted on April 7, 2014 by Nathan

There are so many games that we all know where I’ve only recently thought to wonder about their origins. We all know Simon Says, a game that’s presumably supposed to teach kids to listen carefully. I checked the Internet to … Continue reading →

Posted in Christianity, Games, Nursery Rhymes, Religion, Technology, Video Games | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Chasing the Dragon

Posted on March 12, 2014 by Nathan

When thinking up ideas for video game related posts, there were two games involving dragons, or at least eight-bit versions of dragons, that came to mind. The first was Adventure, sometimes known as Atari Adventure because its official name is … Continue reading →

Posted in Video Games | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

The Annals of Electronic Entertainment

Posted on July 5, 2012 by Nathan

The Ultimate History of Video Games, by Steven L. Kent – This book provides a good overview of the video game industry from its beginnings (well, actually BEFORE its beginnings, as it says a bit about pinball and other precursors … Continue reading →

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Ain’t No Party Like an Atari Party

Posted on June 27, 2012 by Nathan

Today is the fortieth anniversary of Atari, which ties in nicely with the fact that I’m now reading a book about the history of video games. Founded by Nolan Bushnell and named after a term from the game Go roughly … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Video Games | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Careful What You Pac

Posted on May 23, 2012 by Nathan

In honor of Pac-Man’s thirty-second anniversary (the game came out on 22 May 1980), I come bearing Pac-Man trivia. The game is known in Japan as Pakkuman, with “pakkun” meaning ” to eat whole,” based on the onomatopoeia for opening … Continue reading →

Posted in Beatles, Mario, Music, Pac-Man, Video Games, Weird Al Yankovic | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

I’m on Moon Patrol

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Nathan

Since I mentioned Moon Patrol in a post last week, I thought I’d say a little more about it. Really, there’s not a whole lot to say about these early arcade and Atari games, but there usually was some sort … Continue reading →

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