What's New at   Back In Time?

Man, has my plate been full for the last two months.  I can't believe all of the positive things I have been able to accomplish for this web site this spring.  First off, my trip to E3 was a ton of fun.  I think I have decided to make the trip every year.  I posted the E3 webcast a few days ago, so be sure to check it out.

Last week, FunSpot & Twin Galaxies held their annual Classic Pinball & Video Game Championship.  I was there for all four days of the tournament, and recorded another episode of the webcast while I was there.  Look for it to be posted shortly.  I'd have to say that my highlight of the tournament was an award that was presented to me by Walter Day of Twin Galaxies.  The award is intended to commemorate the work I have done with the web site & webcasts over the last several years.

So, what is ahead for the rest of the spring & into the summer?  Well, the Vintage Computing Festival (which has been traditionally held in California) will be holding their first event on the east coast -- specifically outside Boston in Marlborough, MA.   It will be held at the Royal Plaza Trade Center on July 28th & 29th, 2001.   I'll be doing a webcast from VCF.  That webcast will probably consist of some speeches that will be made during the event.  Although the schedule has not been finalized, the keynote address will be given by Wayne Green -- founder of Byte Magazine.

Also on the agenda is Eugene Jarvis.  Anyone who has ever played video games like Defender, Robotron: 2084, etc. should recognize his name.  Eugene is one of the most creative video game designers in the history of coin-op gaming.  I had the pleasure of meeting him at E3, and he has agreed to appear on a future webcast.  I have a personal trip to my hometown in Illinois scheduled for early September.  Since Mr. Jarvis is based out of the Chicago area, I hope to meet up with him during that trip & record an episode of the webcast.

As for the web site itself, it is going to start growing again.  I'm adding two staff members -- both are friends of mine with ties to classic gaming.  Look for that announcement soon.

All in all, things are looking great.  Thanks for visiting!

Has it really been almost a year since I have updated the "What's New" page?  Shesh, I guess it has.

Things have been very quiet here at the web site for several months.  The product reviews seem to be the only part of the site I have kept up with.  I haven't done any "real" site maintenance in quite some time.  This includes the radio show.  I haven't done a new episode of that since June of last year.

Here is the story:  The latter half of the year 2000 was pretty rough for me from a professional standpoint.   I'm not going to go into a long sob story about it, but many problems in my professional life were keeping me from my video game hobby.  Luckily, things started to turn around near the end of the year, and I seem to have my career back on track.

A lot of exciting things are going on right now.  PhillyClassic is just around the corner, and I do hope I can make the trip.  I will be broadcasting (again) from the Twin Galaxies Classic Pinball & Video Game Championship, which will be held this spring.  There has been some talk that the organizers of the "Vintage Computer Festival" may try to hold an east coast event this spring.  I have already been in contact with them, and if they can get an event scheduled, I will be broadcasting from there as well.

Things are getting better, so keep your eyes on Back In Time.

Greetings programs:

Sorry, I couldn't resist.  I watched Tron last night.  :)

As I have been threatening to do for the last few months, I moved Back In Time to my a new host this morning.  Back In Time is now hosted by Emulation World, the same host for some of the top emulation web sites such as Retrogames, and Zophar's Domain.

The new location is http://backintime.emulationworld.com

I will be able to get my own domain name at some point.  Of course, every flavor of "Back In Time" has already been taken, so I will have to figure something out to address that.  :(

I have severed my broadcasting ties with GT2K.  From now on, the hosting of the radio show will be from my web site.  (No more external links to stream the show.   WOOHOO!!)

OK, so now the questions:  Why did I do this?  Well, there are a number of reasons.  For starters, Emulation World will no doubt bring better exposure for the web site.

Emuclassics was kind enough to host the site for the last 18 months, and I do thank them for their efforts.  However, in recent months, the servers have been down frequently.   I have received a ton of e-mail from my visitors on this topic, and it has been frustrating to me as well.  It is a major motivating factor for this move.

One of the biggest questions on your minds right now is "Where is the Nolan Bushnell interview that you promised?"  Well, it is done.  In fact, it has been done and ready for broadcast for several weeks.  The problem is that the staff at GT2K seems to have fallen off the face of the earth.  The new show has not been posted, and they are not answering my e-mail messages.  In fact, their web site hasn't been updated in almost 3 months, so I don't know what is going on with them.

Since Emulation World will now be providing streaming services for the show, I will no longer be dependant on a third-party to post the show for the public.  The best part is that there will now be two versions of each show.  A "low-bandwidth" edition for slower connections, and a "high-bandwidth" edition for people (like me) with a cable modem, or DSL.  The "high-bandwidth" edition should sound cleaner, and the visuals will be better.

The Emulation World staff is putting the finishing touches on the Real Audio streaming services now, so I expect to have the "Nolan" interview available to the public in a few more days.  I hate to pat myself on the back, but this episode is pretty damn good.  Nolan talks about a bunch of stuff he has never shared publicly before.   I didn't ask the same tired boring old questions, so I hope my listeners will be pleased.  We spend a lot of time talking about the state of console & computer gaming today, the rebirth of classic games, and his new video game company.  Yes, we do talk about some Atari stuff, but we discussed little known aspects of Atari's business, like the short-lived Pinball Machine division.  The show is roughly 1 hour & 15 minutes long.

Stay tuned for an announcement when the new show has been posted.

One other note:  Atari/Hasbro Interactive released Q*Bert for the PC & PSX a while back.  I have posted a complete review of this product.  Be sure to check it out.

That about wraps up the news.  I hope that these changes will make things easier for my visitors.  Please feel free to touch base with me if you have any questions or comments.  My new e-mail address isn't up yet, but I expect that you will be able to reach me at backintime@emuclassics.com for a few more days.

Mike Stulir, Webmaster
Back In Time
http://backintime.emulationworld.com

Happy New Year!!! - If I hear one more uninformed media person hyping the "new century" and the "new Millenium" I think I am going to hurl.  People, look at the calendar.  The new Millennium isn't until 2001!

Y2K seems to be a "non-event" so far.  I can't say I am suprised.  I do LAN/WAN design & consulting for a living, and I have spent the better part of the last 18 months working with companies on Y2K solutions and testing.  I had a pretty good idea that things would be OK, and it looks like there won't be too many problems, and those problems should be minor.

Anyway, I had some time over the long weekend to make a ton of changes to the site.  There has been some new content added, and most of the pages on the site now have the new color scheme implemented.

Expect to see the old green colors completely gone over the next week or so.

I've also been re-arranging the layout of many pages to make them a bit easier to read. 

Where are the updates?  - Shesh, I have been so busy writing reviews, and doing site maintenance, that I haven't updated the "What's New" page in almost two months.  UGH!  OK, here is what is new:

• Officially started work on a site redesign.  The new logo has been put up, and the Atari 8-bit computer section has been redesigned with a new color scheme.  More to follow.

• Posted a review for Pac-Man World

• Posted a review for Sinistar: Unleashed

• Posted a review for Pong

• Posted a review for Missile Command

• Posted a review for Arena Blast

Thanks to Karl Morris of the Atari Time Machine for designing our awesome new logo!!!

On top of all that, I have been preparing for the next episode of the radio show.  The Back In Time radio webcast will be broadcasting from FUNSPOT in Weirs Beach, NH on January 8th & 9th.  I will be covering the Coronation Day Championship, sponsored by
Twin Galaxies -- The Official Book of Video Game and Pinball World Records.  Details on the event can be found here and here.

The contest will feature competition between the nation's best players on five different coin-op games and five different console games.  Several guests will appear on the show, including Billy Mitchell -- the first person to achieve a perfect score in Pac-Man.

Pong Launch Party  - I was fortunate enough to be invited to the launch party for Pong, and it was a blast.  The party was held at the home of Jayson Hill of Hasbro Interactive.  We even had an original Pong coin-op unit, which was brought by the Atari HIstorical Society.  All in all, the party was a blast.  Pong is now available for the PC, and the Sony Playstation.

I have posted some photos below.

Mark Goodreau & Matt Collins

     
Several employees from Hasbro Interactive try their
hand playing Pong for the Sony Playstation
(Click on imgaes to enlarge)

Radio Show News  - Well, things have been very unusual for my Back In Time web site over the past few weeks.   The amount of updates has been greatly reduced, and the new Back In Time radio show is EXTREMELY late.  I’d like to take a minute and explain what exactly is going on…..

The interview with Buckner & Garcia was taped several weeks ago, and is almost ready for broadcast.  The other interviews that I have lined up for this fall, including Nolan Bushnell, are still on track.   The reason that the Buckner & Garcia interview has not been posted yet has to do with my streaming audio host, GT2K.  They have made a business decision to move away from the Real Audio format to Shoutcasting via MP3.  While this is a sound business decision for them, it puts my show in a bit of a pickle.  Back In Time does take advantage of the video capabilities of the Real Audio format.  Converting the Back In Time radio show to the .MP3 format would be the end of video.  There would be no more photos, screen captures, etc., included with my interviews.  Many of my listeners have expressed that the video adds a whole new aspect to the program, so I am reluctant to stop providing the video feed.

I am working with GT2K to find a solution to this problem, and I hope to have it addressed as soon as possible.  Again, this was a business decision for GT2K, and while it does directly impact my program, I do feel that they have made the right decision for future support of the majority of their programming.  Hopefully, we will have a solution in the next week or two, and the Buckner & Garcia interview will be posted shortly after that.

Mike's Arcade  - Here is the other reason for the lack of updates lately.  I had my basement finished over the summer, and I have been on the lookout for some cool coin-op games to put in my new geek room.  I recently acquired my first Atari coin-op, which I have been in the process of restoring over the last few weeks.

I recently purchased an Atari "Time 2000" pinball machine.  Many people don’t know it, but Atari briefly entered the pinball market between 1977-1980.  Atari produced 7 different pinball models, and had an additional 4 models on the drawing board before the entire line was scrapped.

The "Time 2000" machine that I purchased was co-designed by Eugene Jarvis.  Many of you may already know of Mr. Jarvis, as he went on to design some of the most entertaining coin-op video games for Williams Electronics.  His video games include Defender, Stargate, Robotron: 2084, and Blaster. More recently, he designed Crusin’ USA.

The photo on the right was taken before it was shipped to me.  I bought it from a guy in Olympia, Washington.  Let me tell you; getting that thing to Boston from the Seattle area was NOT an easy task!!!

I also have a lead on yet another Atari pinball machine, and I will be adding it to my collection soon if all goes right.   Stay tuned.

Site News  - Well, I just got back from visiting my family in Illinois for just a few days, and what do I do to celebrate the fact that I am home?  What else, rent a house on Cape Cod.   I've been on a beach in Brewster, MA (or as we say in New England -- BREWSTA) for the last three days.  I just got home a while ago (10:00pm) and found that a new beta of MAME has been released.  Haven't had a chance to check it out yet, but it looks like about 40 new games/clones have been added.

I still have two reviews to post this week -- Centipede & The Next Tetris for the Playstation.  Hope to have them up in a few days.

I still haven't forgotten about the new show.  Thanks to the dozens of people who have written wanting to know where it is.  It is on the way, I promise.  Having two vacations during the month of August have made it hard to find the time to get the show done.  I promise, it is just a few more days away.

I'm still trying to get caught up on E-Mail.  If you have written, and I haven't answered, you should hear from me in a few more days.  :)

Site News  - I'm back from my trip home to see my family.  I'm in the process now of getting the news sections updated for the stuff that was missed while I was gone.  Oh, and the radio show is REALLY late.  A new episode should be up in another week or so.  Thanks to all of the people who wrote to make sure that I hadn't forgotten about a new show.

Still slowly plugging away at the coin-op arcade game database.  This is going to be a killer reference, assuming I ever get it done.  :)

Site updates  - I haven't had too much time for anything other than news updates for the last few weeks.   Today, I set out to fix some problems, and post some new sections.  I added a new section on the new Atari 7800 emulator called v7800.  Deleted the references to the Omega Core emulator, which appeared to be a dead project.   Updated almost all of the arcade emulator pages, and some of the various Atari emulator pages.

Busy Busy Busy!!!  - Wow, no updates for 10 days!  I've been managing a project at work for a client of ours, and I have been pulling 12-14 hour days for the last two weeks.  I haven't had any time for the site, or the show.  Things should be back to (ab)normal now, and I just posted updates that cover everything I missed over the last few days.

I'm working on a new page for V7800, the new Atari 7800 emulator by Dan Boris.  I hope to have it up in a few days.

Site updates  - Corrected some factual errors on the AtariSoft page.  The changes were sent to me by Vic Twenty George.  Thanks for the information!!!!

CGE Update  - Nolan Bushnell has officially announced that he will NOT be attending Classic Gaming Expo.   Here is an excerpt from the press release:

Due to questionable actions on the part of one of the organizers of "Classic Gaming Expo 99," Nolan Bushnell will no longer be participating in, nor endorsing this year's event (scheduled to take place August 14th and 15th at the Plaza Hotel in Las Vegas).

This has made me seriously reconsider my position with CGE.  I know that I have been promoting CGE for some time, but I am beginning to have my doubts about the ability of the CGE team to produce a quality event.   Stay tuned.....

Nolan Bushnell  - I went to New York City yesterday and linked up with Curt Vendel from the Atari Historical Society.  Curt and I got to spend the whole day at the PGL Tournament with Nolan Bushnell and Loni Reeder.  Nolan is the Commissioner of the PGL events.

I can't even begin to say how much fun I had.  Meeting Nolan and Loni was a truly memorable experience.

I met up in New York with Curt Vendel, and we went to XS New York, where the PGL tournament was held.  XS New York is right in the middle of Times Square, on the corner of 42nd & Broadway.

I thought I would be lucky if I could see Nolan and Loni for an hour.  Well, Nolan and Loni spent the whole day with Curt & I, and even went out to lunch with us.  They had some incredible stories about the early days at Atari.  Nolan and Loni were very friendly, and I felt completely at ease talking with them.

The Pong Machine below is the property of Curt Vendel & the Atari Historical Society.  Serial #:  ZZ-001.

     
(Left)  Mike Stulir of Back In Time & Nolan Bushnell
(Center)  Nolan Bushnell at the PGL Awards Ceremony
(Right)  Nolan Bushnell & Curt Vendel playing Deathmatch Pong.  (Curt won!)

One of the high points of the day was a Pong tournament.  Nolan, Curt, and I managed to get one of the original home Pong consoles hooked up to a projection TV system so the tournament could be viewed by all of the PGL attendees.  The contestants were Nolan Bushnell, and Dennis "Thresh" Fong.   You may recognize his name if you play a lot of Quake on the Internet.   Needless to say, Nolan kicked ass, and beat Thresh 15-5.  Who says there is no skill in Pong?

I also got to see a Computer Space Machine, the Atari 2700 prototype, the Atari CX-2000 "Val" prototype, and many other items that are part of the Atari Historical Society.  It was an incredible day that I will never forget.

Thanks to Curt Vendel for inviting me to NYC.    Thanks to Nolan and Loni for an incredible day.