[ Newsbits ] May 1, 2014
May 1st, 2014 by Benj Edwards
Recent News
- See Atari’s Buried Treasure: E.T. Among 30 Retro Games Unearthed In The Desert
I never thought I’d live to see the day“The legend was true, but that’s not all. Atari buried a lot of stuff back in 1983–and this is just the tip of the iceberg.
- Andy Warhol’s Amiga Computer Art Found 30 Years Later
Always felt Amiga + Warhol was one of the more bizarre partnerships in computer history“The Andy Warhol Museum has recovered a set of images, doodles, and photos created by the seminal pop artist on a Commodore Amiga home computer. The artworks, made by Warhol as part of a collaboration with Commodore Amiga, had been stranded on Amiga floppy disks for almost twenty years after the artist saved them in the mid-1980s.
- ICHEG Preserves Atari Coin-Op Divisions Collection
It gives me great mental relief to know someone is doing this so well and so thoroughly“ICHEG has acquired a massive collection of materials chronicling the history of Atari’s pioneering video arcade and pinball machine divisions from 1972 to 1999. The collection represents the largest and most comprehensive assemblage of archival records and other documentary items related to Atari’s coin-operated games anywhere in the world.
- Bob Hoskins, Actor Who Played Mario, Dead at 71
Now both live-action Marios are gone“Bob Hoskins, the pugnacious British actor known for playing gangsters, tough guys and working-class gentlemen in such films as ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit,’ ‘The Long Good Friday’ and ‘Mermaids,’ has died, publicist Clair Dobbs said Wednesday.
- Fifty Years of BASIC, the Programming Language That Made Computers Personal
Harry McCracken’s epic study of BASIC on its 50th“Once upon a time, knowing how to use a computer was virtually synonymous with knowing how to program one. And the thing that made it possible was a programming language called BASIC.
- A Short History of BASIC, as Told in Animated GIFs
An animated supplement to McCracken’s BASIC story above“I used a neat program called Camtasia and some post-processing in Photoshop to create animated GIFs capturing what I saw as I loaded some significant BASIC programs, listed the code and then ran it.
- Sony Quietly Removes Ability to Download PSP/PS One Games Unlocked a Few Days Ago on PS Vita
An update to last week’s Vita story“A few days ago we reported about Sony suddenly unlocking a large amount of PSP games and PlayStation Classics for download and play on the PS Vita. Unfortunately its time to mourn, as that ability was quietly removed this morning. None of those games is available for download anymore.
- Atari Landfill Tweet from Scott Weinberg
“My generation buried those E.T. Atari cartridges for a reason. You’re awakening something not even Lovecraft could imagine.
Cool Links
- Jim and Charlie Gerrie’s Basic Game Programs and Other Software for the TRS-80 MC-10
The underrated MC-10 gets some programming love - “Drunk Hunt” NES Cartridge Flask
“We wanted our product to look and feel exactly like the game cartridges we grew up with, and then BAM SUPRISE! it holds your favorite real-life health potion. Amiright? Amiright?
- A Game Boy That Looks Like It Could Survive Ten Thousand Years
Kotaku’s Plunkett examines a neat Game Boy mod“Vadu Amka’s ‘Brick’ work turns an old Game Boy into a brick wall from the Zelda series.
- L.E.D. Zeppelin Photo
Amusing promotional tweet from Atmel“And for their next hit, L.E.D. Zeppelin presents ‘DI’Yer Maker!’
- BBEdit on System 6 on a Galaxy Note 3
Twitter user @bergmayer hooked up an original Mac mouse and keyboard too
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May 2nd, 2014 at 1:45 pm
I’ll see your Amiga+Warhol and raise you Intellivision+Plimpton.