[game_preservation] game_preservation Digest, Vol 78, Issue 7

[Raiford Guins]

Hello - I've never posted on this list before but I thought that I'd add my
article to the discussion on E.T. A few years back I published an article
in *design and culture* on the Alamogordo City Landfill where Atari
disposed of its products in 1983. I've attached it to this email. In
addition, I will include an expanded and updated version (including GPS
coordinates of the actual pit) as a chapter in my forthcoming book, *Game
After: A Cultural Study Of Video Game Afterlife*. (MIT Fall 2013)

Thanks,
Raiford Guins

On Tue, Apr 24, 2012 at 12:00 PM, <game_preservation-request at igda.org>wrote:


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> Today's Topics:

>

>   1. Re: Computer Legend and Gaming Pioneer Jack Tramiel Dies at

>      Age 83 (Martin Goldberg)

>   2. Re: Computer Legend and Gaming Pioneer Jack Tramiel Dies at

>      Age 83 (billyjoecain at gmail.com)

>   3. Re: Computer Legend and Gaming Pioneer Jack Tramiel Dies at

>      Age 83 (Devin Monnens)

>   4. Re: Computer Legend and Gaming Pioneer Jack Tramiel Dies at

>      Age 83 (Martin Goldberg)

>

>

> ----------------------------------------------------------------------

>

> Message: 1

> Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2012 15:12:56 -0500

> From: Martin Goldberg <wgungfu at gmail.com>

> Subject: Re: [game_preservation] Computer Legend and Gaming Pioneer

>        Jack Tramiel Dies at Age 83

> To: IGDA Game Preservation SIG <game_preservation at igda.org>

> Message-ID:

>        <CAE5DTMFs2h3mMc+hP+tQE1FJuq6Ez+kfyZe_asAyNBMS-ThsMA at mail.gmail.com

> >

> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

>

> Hey guys, just got back from Silicon Valley then conducting 80

> interviews with people from Atari's Inc.'s Coin and Consumer

> departments, shipping back boxes full of donated materials for the

> archives, and 10 additional pounds on myself from the many lunch and

> dinner meetings. ;)

>

> I'll get the Tramiel piece together, have to submit a followup article

> to Forbes on Jack's legacy and another one for Retro Gamer magazine.

>

> I have to say the most surreal moment was doing a group meeting of

> ex-Consumer people (game programmers and artists) in front of their

> old building on Gibralter. The building is not being used right now,

> so we were able to meet on some stone picnic tables by the entry way.

> Just as we're getting ready to wrap up, the building maintenance guy

> shows up. Some of the guys ask "Hey, can we go in? We used to work

> here when it was owned by Atari." The guy magically said "Sure, why

> not?" and proceeded to let us in. So we wandered through the very

> building the 2600 and 5200 games were coded in all those years ago,

> with everyone reminiscing the entire time on what used to be where.

>

> Unfortunately, David Crane and Howard Scott Warshaw had to leave early

> that day as they missed out on the treat.

>

>

>

> On Wed, Apr 11, 2012 at 4:14 PM, Jim Leonard <trixter at oldskool.org> wrote:

> > On 4/10/2012 12:35 PM, Martin Goldberg wrote:

> >>

> >> also guaranteed the game would be out for the Christmas season, which

> >> meant Howard Scott Warshaw was forced to do an extremely short

> >> development time.

> >

> >

> > A lot of people miss this when talking about ET -- I believe Warshaw had

> > about 6 weeks from nothing to finished product, and when you consider how

> > difficult the 2600 was to program for, it's a very admirable effort. ?I

> > encourage people to read Montfort and Bogost's "Racing The Beam", then

> fire

> > up ET and try to figure out how the title screen graphic was possible.

> >

> > --

> > Jim Leonard (trixter at oldskool.org) ? ? ? ? ? ?http://www.oldskool.org/

> > Check out some trippy MindCandy at ? ? ? ?http://www.mindcandydvd.com/

> > A child borne of the home computer wars: ?http://trixter.oldskool.org/

> > _______________________________________________

> > game_preservation mailing list

> > game_preservation at igda.org

> > http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation

>

>

>

> --

> Marty

>

>

> ------------------------------

>

> Message: 2

> Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2012 21:43:53 -0500

> From: billyjoecain at gmail.com

> Subject: Re: [game_preservation] Computer Legend and Gaming Pioneer

>        Jack Tramiel Dies at Age 83

> To: IGDA Game Preservation SIG <game_preservation at igda.org>

> Message-ID: <dbah5xar9ftkqpi22f27htki.1335235433829 at email.android.com>

> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8

>

> OMG. I hope someone was filming that, because that is one of the greatest

> things I have ever heard.

>

> Hey I wrote this on mah 'SmartPhone' so plz excuse splng.

>

> Martin Goldberg <wgungfu at gmail.com> wrote:

>

> >Hey guys, just got back from Silicon Valley then conducting 80

> >interviews with people from Atari's Inc.'s Coin and Consumer

> >departments, shipping back boxes full of donated materials for the

> >archives, and 10 additional pounds on myself from the many lunch and

> >dinner meetings. ;)

> >

> >I'll get the Tramiel piece together, have to submit a followup article

> >to Forbes on Jack's legacy and another one for Retro Gamer magazine.

> >

> >I have to say the most surreal moment was doing a group meeting of

> >ex-Consumer people (game programmers and artists) in front of their

> >old building on Gibralter. The building is not being used right now,

> >so we were able to meet on some stone picnic tables by the entry way.

> >Just as we're getting ready to wrap up, the building maintenance guy

> >shows up. Some of the guys ask "Hey, can we go in? We used to work

> >here when it was owned by Atari." The guy magically said "Sure, why

> >not?" and proceeded to let us in. So we wandered through the very

> >building the 2600 and 5200 games were coded in all those years ago,

> >with everyone reminiscing the entire time on what used to be where.

> >

> >Unfortunately, David Crane and Howard Scott Warshaw had to leave early

> >that day as they missed out on the treat.

> >

> >

> >

> >On Wed, Apr 11, 2012 at 4:14 PM, Jim Leonard <trixter at oldskool.org>

> wrote:

> >> On 4/10/2012 12:35 PM, Martin Goldberg wrote:

> >>>

> >>> also guaranteed the game would be out for the Christmas season, which

> >>> meant Howard Scott Warshaw was forced to do an extremely short

> >>> development time.

> >>

> >>

> >> A lot of people miss this when talking about ET -- I believe Warshaw had

> >> about 6 weeks from nothing to finished product, and when you consider

> how

> >> difficult the 2600 was to program for, it's a very admirable effort. ?I

> >> encourage people to read Montfort and Bogost's "Racing The Beam", then

> fire

> >> up ET and try to figure out how the title screen graphic was possible.

> >>

> >> --

> >> Jim Leonard (trixter at oldskool.org) ? ? ? ? ? ?http://www.oldskool.org/

> >> Check out some trippy MindCandy at ? ? ? ?http://www.mindcandydvd.com/

> >> A child borne of the home computer wars: ?http://trixter.oldskool.org/

> >> _______________________________________________

> >> game_preservation mailing list

> >> game_preservation at igda.org

> >> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation

> >

> >

> >

> >--

> >Marty

> >_______________________________________________

> >game_preservation mailing list

> >game_preservation at igda.org

> >http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation

>

> ------------------------------

>

> Message: 3

> Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2012 21:43:15 -0600

> From: Devin Monnens <dmonnens at gmail.com>

> Subject: Re: [game_preservation] Computer Legend and Gaming Pioneer

>        Jack Tramiel Dies at Age 83

> To: IGDA Game Preservation SIG <game_preservation at igda.org>

> Message-ID:

>        <CAC-a2OLG-4hs0zbxm-Jp99ybv7o7bVR+EOm1C3qB4JaDVPq5Gw at mail.gmail.com

> >

> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

>

> 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 ;-)

>

> 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. 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!

>

> On Mon, Apr 23, 2012 at 8:43 PM, <billyjoecain at gmail.com> wrote:

>

> > OMG. I hope someone was filming that, because that is one of the greatest

> > things I have ever heard.

> >

> > Hey I wrote this on mah 'SmartPhone' so plz excuse splng.

> >

> > Martin Goldberg <wgungfu at gmail.com> wrote:

> >

> > >Hey guys, just got back from Silicon Valley then conducting 80

> > >interviews with people from Atari's Inc.'s Coin and Consumer

> > >departments, shipping back boxes full of donated materials for the

> > >archives, and 10 additional pounds on myself from the many lunch and

> > >dinner meetings. ;)

> > >

> > >I'll get the Tramiel piece together, have to submit a followup article

> > >to Forbes on Jack's legacy and another one for Retro Gamer magazine.

> > >

> > >I have to say the most surreal moment was doing a group meeting of

> > >ex-Consumer people (game programmers and artists) in front of their

> > >old building on Gibralter. The building is not being used right now,

> > >so we were able to meet on some stone picnic tables by the entry way.

> > >Just as we're getting ready to wrap up, the building maintenance guy

> > >shows up. Some of the guys ask "Hey, can we go in? We used to work

> > >here when it was owned by Atari." The guy magically said "Sure, why

> > >not?" and proceeded to let us in. So we wandered through the very

> > >building the 2600 and 5200 games were coded in all those years ago,

> > >with everyone reminiscing the entire time on what used to be where.

> > >

> > >Unfortunately, David Crane and Howard Scott Warshaw had to leave early

> > >that day as they missed out on the treat.

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > >On Wed, Apr 11, 2012 at 4:14 PM, Jim Leonard <trixter at oldskool.org>

> > wrote:

> > >> On 4/10/2012 12:35 PM, Martin Goldberg wrote:

> > >>>

> > >>> also guaranteed the game would be out for the Christmas season, which

> > >>> meant Howard Scott Warshaw was forced to do an extremely short

> > >>> development time.

> > >>

> > >>

> > >> A lot of people miss this when talking about ET -- I believe Warshaw

> had

> > >> about 6 weeks from nothing to finished product, and when you consider

> > how

> > >> difficult the 2600 was to program for, it's a very admirable effort.

>  I

> > >> encourage people to read Montfort and Bogost's "Racing The Beam", then

> > fire

> > >> up ET and try to figure out how the title screen graphic was possible.

> > >>

> > >> --

> > >> Jim Leonard (trixter at oldskool.org)

> http://www.oldskool.org/

> > >> Check out some trippy MindCandy at

> http://www.mindcandydvd.com/

> > >> A child borne of the home computer wars:

> http://trixter.oldskool.org/

> > >> _______________________________________________

> > >> game_preservation mailing list

> > >> game_preservation at igda.org

> > >> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > >--

> > >Marty

> > >_______________________________________________

> > >game_preservation mailing list

> > >game_preservation at igda.org

> > >http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation

> > _______________________________________________

> > game_preservation mailing list

> > game_preservation at igda.org

> > http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation

> >

>

>

>

> --

> Devin Monnens

> www.deserthat.com

>

> The sleep of Reason produces monsters.

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> ------------------------------

>

> Message: 4

> Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2012 23:47:18 -0500

> From: Martin Goldberg <wgungfu at gmail.com>

> Subject: Re: [game_preservation] Computer Legend and Gaming Pioneer

>        Jack Tramiel Dies at Age 83

> To: IGDA Game Preservation SIG <game_preservation at igda.org>

> Message-ID:

>        <CAE5DTMFG594xH55gBwvJPaLDrX66JiAbGurwD6gZY0Lb2z+Yyg at mail.gmail.com

> >

> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

>

> 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

>

>

> ------------------------------

>

> _______________________________________________

> game_preservation mailing list

> game_preservation at igda.org

> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation

>

>

> End of game_preservation Digest, Vol 78, Issue 7

> ************************************************

>




-- 
Raiford Guins
Principal Editor, Journal of Visual Culture
Curator, William A. Higinbotham Game Studies Collection
Associate Professor of Digital Cultural Studies
Department of Cultural Analysis and Theory
State University of New York
Stony Brook University
2121 Humanities Bldg
Stony Brook, NY 11794-5355

*Game Saved: An Afterlife History of Videogames and their
Preservation. *Forthcoming
Fall 2013, MIT Press
*
The William A. Higinbotham Game Studies Collection. *
http://www.stonybrook.edu/libspecial/videogames/index.html
*
Edited Clean Version: Technology and the Culture of Control*.
http://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/edited-clean-version

*The Object Reader*.
http://www.routledgeart.com/books/The-Object-Reader-isbn9780415452304

*Journal of Visual Culture*. http://www.journalofvisualculture.org/
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