I look forward to other 80s video game companies copying this format. Can anyone say Coleco Motel 6?
Friday, February 14, 2020
I really want to stay in the Pitfall! suite
I've got travel on the mind, as my next fortnight is filled with trips to Vegas and Orlando for work. I really wish this Atari hotel was completed in one of those two cities, because, well, it would be fucking cool to stay in the Pong Penthouse.
I look forward to other 80s video game companies copying this format. Can anyone say Coleco Motel 6?
I look forward to other 80s video game companies copying this format. Can anyone say Coleco Motel 6?
I wanted an Atari in elementary school but my mom was too broke so for my birthday she bought me an Odyssey 2 system at a garage sale. That was fine with me, I was just happy to play video games. Until I saw Greg Dodd a few days later. Turns out my mom bought the Odyssey at his garage sale. You cannot imagine the level of ball-busting I received over that. "Yo momma's so poor" jokes for weeks.
ReplyDeleteMy father was irate when I told him this story for Christmas he got me a TI-99, which is also not an Atari. He wouldn't let me take it home, I had to leave it at his house. As a result he would play the games all week and get good at them, then destroy me head-to-head when we played on Saturdays. Almost as much fun as Greg Dodd's yo momma jokes.
In middle school I wanted a Commodore 64 but, true to form, my dad got me a Blue Chip for my birthday. That's a "PC clone" made by Hyundai (they're more famous for cars). It did not have a graphics card so I couldn't play anything other than text games like Hunt the Wumpus. Which is to say it wasn't much fun. I begged and pleaded for a graphics card so for Christmas my dad got me a CGA card. This means I had the most rudimentary graphics possible and it severely limited the games I could play, but at least I moved beyond Hunt the Wumpus. Eventually I saved my money and got an EGA card and a joystick port. And then I lost interest in video games.
That's my story about Atari.
I guess I should add the part where my mom remarried and we all moved in together like a dysfunctional Brady Bunch. My stepbrother had an Intellivision which was pretty rad. He even let me play it.
ReplyDeletez, that was a wild ride thru your youth
ReplyDeleteI too was deprived of video games as a child.
ReplyDeleteI nearly failed out when I got to college and got to play Sega, and especially Tetris on Jugs Carlesimoff's old school Mac which I used to type papers.
I never had a video game systems in the house growing up (we also never had cable). Always had to go to friends' houses to play. For a few years, at Christmas time, my dad would rent a video game console from Blockbuster and we would binge play during Christmas break.
ReplyDeleteI didn’t have cable either. My mom finally got it when they stopped transmitting a non-HD signal. I know it doesn’t make sense but read the comments above, logic isn’t necessary in my family.
ReplyDeleteI had the Atari 2600 and a million of their shitty games. I also was one of 11 people who had the Atari 7800. I had to save for my own Nintendo.
ReplyDeleteAs a kid of divorced parents in their late 30’s who were more focused on restarting social lives, I was left home alone w/ video games for multiple hours all the time. Video games, sports and pro wrestling ruled my life for a few years.
happy birthday to this blog's namesake
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of video game systems, just saw this news:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.fool.com/investing/2020/02/12/nintendo-opens-game-lounges-at-us-airports.aspx
Squeaky!
ReplyDeletehttps://bringatrailer.com/listing/1994-audi-rs2-avant/
more celebrity sightings! ish. the canadian national women’s rowing team is staying at my hotel in sacramento. lots of badass women running around here.
ReplyDeleteWife came home from her most recent work trip with Purple Rain on vinyl. Spinning it now. She’s a keeper.
ReplyDeleteDarling Teedge is a personal fave.
ReplyDeleteIt was 85 degrees in my town yesterday . I’m in Asheville today and the temperature is dipping into the 20s. So fucking cold.
ReplyDeleteIt is 18 here in NJ, heading down to 12. Family is doing a Manhattan vacation for two nights, starting tmrw. Was a perfect idea until the Saturday forecast came out. Sunday should be warmer. I’m dragging my family over the Brooklyn Bridge on foot, so it better warm up.
ReplyDeleteI hear it hit 70 in Antarctica today. Drink in the cold, Mark. It won’t kill you, and you can remember it when temps in FL get oppressive.
ReplyDeleteI have a 14th bday D&D Sleepover happening in my attic right now. It’s warm there...
i’ve been in california all week, where it’s been in the 60s and 70s. getting on a redeye at 11 and headed home, where it’s forecast to be 18. neat.
ReplyDeletePro wrestling ruined you life for a few years, TR? Shut your whore mouth.
ReplyDeleteThe booze is keeping me warm though.
ReplyDeleteMarls’ saucy language and my new gas logs are doing it for me. The booze doesn’t hurt either.
ReplyDeleteThe only video games in my house were the Flintstones, I Dream of Jeannie, and Leave it to Beaver.
ReplyDeleteFor some reason Ward was always worried about the beaver.
We had Intellivision. I wasn't very good at it, and I never logged many hours. We did have basic cable. I had a black and white TV in my room with rabbit ears, which is where I watched Game 7 of the 1986 World Series.
ReplyDeletei was grounded and forbidden from watching game 7 of the 1986 world series because i got suspended from drinking on a school field trip.
ReplyDeleteand redeye flights blow donkeys.
If you know our friend Johnny and mistakenly read Rob’s last sentence with the word “fights” instead of “flights,” it amuses.
ReplyDeleteDefenders!!
ReplyDeleteMy friend’s six-year-old son, a big Washington football fan, just suggested that the Skins get relegated to the XFL and the Defenders get promoted to the NFL. I laughed loudly.
your tribe at home against delaware, winners of seven straight. hens handed w&m its first conference loss earlier in the season. tribe favored by 3. a win gives them sole ownership of second place in the league. it’s a tossup.
ReplyDeleteBloomberg, like Obi Wan, you’re our only hope
ReplyDeletebloomberg is a fucking train wreck, and his money would be much better used electing democrats in the house and senate.
ReplyDeletepour some out for millie west, a w&m legend and a titan in the women’s sports movement dating way back to a time when that was a very lonely path to walk.
ReplyDeleteThere was no bigger train wreck in 2016 than Donald J. Trump. Apparently it’s what people will elect. And I’ll take him over DJT 20 times out of 20. There may be more deserving, noble, enlightened leaders on the Dem docket who will lose with dignity, but I’m going for whoever can unseat the demon. Period.
ReplyDeletebloomberg has been essentially unvetted to date. there’s some ugly shit coming out about his stop and frisk policies, misogynist history as a business leader, and his self-serving recent contributions to republican senators. i’ll vote for him if he’s the nominee, but it ain’t a great commentary on the state of the republic if the richest guy wins because he can buy all the votes.
ReplyDeleteBloomie is not a train wreck. He’s not a Dem, but he’s not a train wreck. City’s gone downhill since he left office. He was a good mayor.
ReplyDeleteStop and frisk worked.
guessing there are a bunch on people who aren’t white that might debate that latter point.
ReplyDeleteexcellent mini-summit with the marls and the kqs (and their dog, bobo and mine, jojo) at a local brewery this evening. dress rehearsal for much hijinks in two weeks.
ReplyDeleteNo video games in my house growing up. Finally got a Nintendo when all the other kids go Super Nintendos or Sega Genesis. My Dad was cheap and he certainly wasn’t paying full price for a video game system.
ReplyDeleteAsheville continues to be cool. The aggressive heartburn I got towards the end of the day was decidedly less cool.
we had intellivision. my brother and i were really good at the football and baseball. we played in a "league" at a kid's house. his older brother had ms and was in a wheelchair and would keep copious stats for the league. so you knew how many yards per carry your running backs averaged and stuff like that. it was nuts.
ReplyDeletei just pulled my calf playing indoor soccer. i should go back to video games.
Bloomberg will get most of the of the moderate, sensible, embarrassed of Trump, logical R's vote. I can't say that about the rest of 'em. Bloomberg can beat him. I don't think anyone else does.
ReplyDeleteDanimal speaks the truth.
ReplyDeleteWalked the Brooklyn Bridge w/ the fam today. My 10 y/o whined about having to pee as soon as we were too far to turn back. He ruined it for everybody. We just wrapped up a somber couple hours at the 9/11 museum.
ReplyDeleteI tend to agree with Danimal re: Bloomberg. Lesser of two evils in many minds.
ReplyDeletei believe the key to beating trump is for young voters to come out in force, especially (as zman has repeatedly said) in places like michigan, pennylvania, wisconsin, etc. my concern with bloomberg is that his nomination will be very disheartening for that group, who've exerted a lot of energy in support of the more left-leaning candidates and who were vital to the dems' success in the midterms. i'll vote for bloomberg if he wins the election, but i'm not convinced he's the best candidate to beat trump.
ReplyDeletedems need someone who doesn't want to ban frakking. they have to win pennsylvania. so biden it is.
ReplyDeleteI could write a whole post on this.
ReplyDeleteThere's an idea
ReplyDeleteThis NBA All-Star game halftime show is not exactly overwhelming. Or whelming, for that matter.
ReplyDeletethe elam ending, on the other hand, is very, very whelming.
ReplyDeleteYou might also consider accounting for the middle-leaning Rs (and some others) who didn't vote for Trump in the first election but who will this time because of the shape of the economy. I don't think that number is insignificant.
ReplyDeleteWithout some type of paradigm shift the far rights/lefts will continue to cast the lion's share of the votes in primaries and give the nomination to someone who has an uphill battle on pulling votes from the middle. Those groups have seemingly grown in % representation in just a few cycles; it's not even clear how many candidates deem the numbers in the middle to be large enough to be worth attracting. Buttigieg seems to be the only D candidate who has placed a priority on that.