I’ve covered the history of several video game publishers over the years. Most of them published games for the Atari 2600, and they were forced to close down due to the North American Video Game Crash. Avalon Hill is a little different. They were a tabletop wargame and role-playing game designer, as well as aContinue reading “Avalon Hill’s Time on the Atari 2600”
Tag Archives: atari 2600
A Strange and Mysterious Video Game Company, Froggo Games
When I start these projects, I ask myself a few questions. Usually, they are “What is this?” and “Who made it?” Those normally get me started and lead to other questions or let me know that what I’m looking at isn’t interesting. This time, I fell down a rabbit hole where I kept finding mysteriousContinue reading “A Strange and Mysterious Video Game Company, Froggo Games”
Lost to Time: A Story about Tax Avoiders on the Atari 2600
Someone made a game about taxes. Well, it was three people. Darrell Wagner, a former Internal Revenue Service employee; Todd Clark Holm, an investment advisor; and John Simonds. These three men came up with the idea and the design for Tax Avoiders on the Atari 2600. Dunhill Electronics programmed the game, and the extremely short-livedContinue reading “Lost to Time: A Story about Tax Avoiders on the Atari 2600”
Painfully Boring: Texas Chainsaw Massacre on the Atari 2600
I would rather listen to someone describe paint drying than play this game. Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of the most boring games I’ve played. It is all about the high score, but why would you want to get it? Your lives go by fast, the graphics aren’t all that great, and the gameplay isContinue reading “Painfully Boring: Texas Chainsaw Massacre on the Atari 2600”
Board Games to Pixels: Parker Brothers on the Atari 2600
I’ve looked at quite a few companies that published games on the Atari 2600. While many of them were shut down in 1983 and 1984 following the North American Video Game Crash, some kept going. A few companies left the video game market but kept going because of other business ventures. This brings us toContinue reading “Board Games to Pixels: Parker Brothers on the Atari 2600”
Digital Blood: A Story about Wizard Video Games
Making a video game based on a movie is a good idea. You get instant name recognition and might get fans of the film to buy the game. The game doesn’t have to be good, but it does have to be playable. As long as the movie has fans, you can exploit the source materialContinue reading “Digital Blood: A Story about Wizard Video Games”
The Story of the Mattel Intellivision | Book Review
I’m glad that Jamie wrote this book. The Intellivision is a console that I didn’t know much about. The first time I heard about it was on an Angry Video Game Nerd episode, so I didn’t learn much about it besides the basics. It came out at an interesting time. Home consoles were trying toContinue reading “The Story of the Mattel Intellivision | Book Review”
The Short Tale of Xonox and the Double Ender Cartridges
There are some strange-looking cartridges out there. You have the unlicensed games on the NES and the EA-manufactured games on the Genesis. The Atari 2600 has a fair share of them, but I think the Xonox Double-Ender games are the strangest. I wonder if these were the first multi-carts. They’re the earliest ones I’ve seen,Continue reading “The Short Tale of Xonox and the Double Ender Cartridges”