Ep. 1: 1979: Star Raiders

Player/Missile - An Atari 8-bit Retrospective

Welcome to 1979! Episode 1 includes a brief summary of the technical specifications of the Atari 400 & 800 that were first released at the end of the year, discussion of Creative Computing issues starting from April and the very first Compute! magazine, and a review of a game original to the Atari 8- bits and destined to become an all-time classic game: Star Raiders.

Introduction

• Douglas Adams Collected Works

Feedback

• Drop /// Inches with Mike Maginnis and Paul Hagstrom, a fairly technical podcast about the Apple ///
• Rick Keene's cover for STLog Issue 18

Technical details

• http://atariage.com/forums/topic/183619-total-number-of-a8-units-sold-worldwide/

Creative Computing Overview

• David H. Ahl and the History of Creative Computing
• Creative Computing Vol 5, #4, April 1979
  • Vector 1
  • Sexism in Computer Science
  • No Quarter #94: Mike and Carrington talk about gender stereotypes and games
• Creative Computing Vol 5, #5, May 1979
  • More Basic Computer Games
  • White & Nerdy
• Creative Computing Vol 5, #7, July 1979
  • The Code Book
• Creative Computing Vol 5, #8, August 1979
  • The Intellivisionaries Podcast
  • GET LAMP by Jason Scott (of archive.org)
• Creative Computing Vol 5, #9, September 1979
  • human-computer chess matches
• Creative Computing Vol 5, #10, October 1979
• Creative Computing Vol 5, #11, November 1979
• Creative Computing Vol 5, #12, December 1979

COMPUTE! Overview

• Compute! #1, Fall 1979
  • http://atariage.com/forums/topic/123010-first-atari-8-bit-vaporware/

Game Review: STAR RAIDERS

• NY Times article on 10 most important video games of all time

Modern Updates

• New version with less slowdown
• More modern Star Raiders-like game XTAL
• XTAL at AtariMania

Production Notes

• Music: Stef Animal's Bandcamp page
• Episode page: Episode 1
• Twitter: @atari8bitgames