[game_preservation] Computer Legend and Gaming Pioneer Jack Tramiel Dies at Age 83

[Martin Goldberg]

On Mon, Apr 23, 2012 at 10:43 PM, Devin Monnens <dmonnens at gmail.com> wrote:

> Glad to hear your experiences, Martin! I second that hope that you brought a

> voice or video recorder along :) There's no excuse not to have one since

> everyone now has their smartypants phones ;-)

>


Yes, I had my recorder going the entire time and was taking pictures
with my current gen iPad.

If anyone is using an android phone (mine's the Motorola Electrify) I
really have to give strong recommendations for the app PCM Recorder.
Records uncompressed 48,000 hz PCM audio, and combined with the
natural noise reduction technology in the phone it worked like a
dream. Especially in some of the noisy locations we were in. Crystal
clear voices. Used Dropbox to back up each day's files.


> Howard Scott Warshaw is a legend, and he's got a wonderful personality from

> the videos I've seen. He was the only guy with the balls - and skills - to

> say he could do ET.


Well, he was asked to do ET specifically by Spielberg because he had
previously done Raiders. Funny story one of the guys recounted was
that on the day he interviewed at the location, Howard was coming
around the corner of some cubiles in a Fedora and cracking a bullwhip.
The interviewee was like "What kind of a place is this?" Howard had
been getting in character to code Raiders. Even more hilarious? Howard
mentioned he was almost not hired at Atari because he was considered
too straight laced.


> In an interview, he said if the pile of ET cartridges

> buried in the desert was real, he would have known about it and had his

> photograph taken standing on the pile before they bulldozed it under!


The burial in Alamogordo, NM is actualy a fact. What's not a fact is
that it was a pile of E.T. cartridges. Really, it was one of several
dumps in different time periods across the US. Atari even used to take
overstock of products such as ICs and steamroll them to poor concrete
over for the foundation of several warehouses. Alamogordo was the
result of the shutting down of Atari's Texas manufacturing plant, and
consisted of computer and console hardware, and games (many different
titles). Occuring over several days (yes, it was covered daily in the
local newspaper) and from a good number of semis full of product, when
kids started scavenging working game cartridges they decided to
steamroll the landfill, dump concrete over it, and then refill it.

-- 
Marty