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ATARI BYTES

Remember those great Atari 2600 games? I have fond memories of playing classics like Pitfall or Yar's Revenge or River Raid. In this podcast, I take another look at the games, but as a writer, not a gamer. When I think of these games now, I see writing prompts; taking inspiration from the game plots or maybe even the titles to create original short stories. But this isn't simply fan fiction. The stories, more often than not, spin-off into some weird places in all kinds of genres. Sometimes funny, occasionally serious, always unique.
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Now displaying: August, 2019

Remember those great Atari 2600 games? Sure, they were fun to play, but didn't you ever wonder why they sent a plumber to take out Donkey Kong? What Yar was seeking revenge against? What the Defender was defending or why those robots went Berserk? Me too! ATARI BYTES is a game review podcast like no other. We review not just the game play, but the STORY within these classic games. We take a BYTE out of the story (get it?) and see if that story BYTES us back (now do you get it?).

Aug 25, 2019

You know, we here at ATARI BYTES are tired of hearing people whine about video games dumbing down generations and making kids illiterate. We happen to think there's lots of educational value to be had and these games are designed by sharp literate people with impeccable language and spelling skills. Just consider the game in episode 187: WIZARD OF WOR.

Uh. Never mind.

 But does the dubious spelling belie a great game? Joyne usss to fynd owt.

This week's short story: THE NATIONAL ANTHEM OF WAR 

Thanks to Kevin McLeod at Incompetech.com for creative commons use of his songs "Take a Chance", "Pinball Spring" and "Reformat".

Thanks to Mike Mann for the "Mad Mike Hughes Update" theme.

Thanks to Sean Courtney for the "Storytime" theme. 

You can find links to social media, show notes, info about my other podcast IT'S  A PODCAST, CHARLIE BROWN at www.carnivalofgleecreations.com 

Check out my short story collection MISERY BANANA: VERY SHORT STORIES INSPIRED BY OLD GAMES AND ODD THOUGHTS. You can get it wherever you like to order books. Some of those ebook and print book order links and more info on that and other books can be found at www.carnivalofgleecreations.com

Pick up "Go play some old games, they've missed you." shirts and mugs at Zazzle.com/ab_pod__store 

Support the show financially as part of our patreon project on the Atari Bytes Patreon page at patreon.com

 

Aug 18, 2019

In episode 186, we're playing FLASH GORDON, the 1983 Twentieth Century Fox game inspired by the golden age comic book character. Flash Gordon is a blow-dried, blonde, muscular polo-playing-space-football-astronaut.

Who says video games aren't relatable to our real lives?

This week's short story is: WHY IS EVERYONE FLASHING GORDON?

Thanks to Kevin McLeod at Incompetech.com for creative commons use of his songs "Reformat", "Pinball Spring" and "Take a Chance".

Thanks to Mike Mann for the "Mad Mike Hughes" theme.

Thanks to Sean Courtney for the "Storytime" theme.

Find links to show notes, episodes, social media and books written by ME at www.carnivalofgleecreations.com 

Pick up "Go play some old games. They've missed you" mugs and shirts at Zazzle.com/ab_pod_Store. 

Please consider supporting the show financially as part of the Patreon project here. 

Check out my short story collection in print and ebook wherever you like to order books. It's MISERY BANANA: VERY SHORT STORIES INSPIRED BY OLD GAMES AND ODD THOUGHTS. Here's one of the places you can get it.

Aug 11, 2019

In episode 185, imagine yourself on an early Sunday morning in a crowded, noisy breakfast joint. The scents of coffee and waffles waft through the air. Your arms are pleasingly sticky from syrup residue on the table. What are you doing to pass the time until your twelve egg omelette and bacon with a side of heart attack arrives?

Playing HANGMAN on the placemat of course! And this week, we've got Atari's 1978 placemat-fun-in-a-cartridge answer to the pen and paper icon. You provide your own greasy breakfast meat.

In a fun experiment, this week's short story is provided by friends of the show Dave Ciampa and Greg Klein from the podcast "Ciampa & Klein: The Knight Rider Years". It might be called "Those Are My Alpha-Bits" or maybe it doesn't have a title. Dunno. It's pretty good though.

Thanks to Kevin McLeod at Incompetech.com for creative commons use of his songs "Take a Chance", "Reformat" and "Pinball Spring".

Thanks to Mike Mann for the "Mad Mike Hughes" theme.

Thanks to Sean Courtney for the "Storytime" theme.

Go to www.carnivalofgleecreations.com for more about my podcasts and books!

Pick up Atari Bytes shirts and mugs at AB_Pod_Store on Zazzle.com

Support the podcast financially on the Atari Bytes Patreon here.

Pick up MISERY BANANA: VERY SHORT STORIES INSPIRED BY OLD GAMES AND ODD THOUGHTS in e-book and print pretty much wherever you buy books. Here's one such place.

Aug 5, 2019

In 1977, Atari said, "We need a small batch of games to show off this new video console we've got."

Larry Kaplan heard this and was like, "Great! Here's like six of them. Car racing. Skiing. Airplanes. All sorts of stuff."

"But, Larry," Atari said, "we've only got room in the catalog for one more."

Larry grumbled a bit and instead of scrapping his six games, he stuffed them all into one cart, slapped a STREET RACER label on it and went home to dinner.* Before Atari knew it, the misnomer STREET RACE became one of the "original nine" of Atari...and episode 184 of this podcast. 

*We totally made that up. But what if we didn't?

This week's short story: BAD POETRY CORNER: MOVING ON, STANDING STILL

Thanks to Kevin McLeod at Incompetech.com for creative commons use of his songs "Take a Chance", "Reformat" and "Pinball Spring". 

Thanks to Mike Mann for the "Mad Mike Hughes" update theme.

Thanks to Sean Courtney for the "Storytime" theme.

Check out carnivalofgleecreations.com for podcast info, book publishing info and social media links. 

You can pick up MISERY BANANA VERY SHORT STORIES INSPIRED By OLD GAMES AND ODD THOUGHTS in ebook and print many places. Here's one.

Support the show financially on the Patreon page here.

AB_Pod_Store on Zazzle.com has Atari Bytes mugs and shirts.

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