I forgot to update my progress on the Tank 8 project. I was able to finish it, and bring it to California Extreme this year (www.caextreme.org). It received nearly ‘round the clock’ play during the two days of the show. Check out the pictures in the Photo Albums section.

I have been trying to locate a Tank 8 for the last 15 years. I searched high and low, but never had any luck locating anything at all, besides a manual and a CPU board. I spoke with countless ex-Atari employees with not a single lead. That all changed in 2004, when Atari closed it’s Milpitas facility. I met an employee who said that he had some parts for one in his storage unit. He was not looking to sell them, and that’s as far as the conversation went.

Jump to 2009, when I received a call from Ken Chaney, who said he had picked up the ‘Topper/Marquee’ for Tank 8 and several sets of controls. We met up, and he showed me the parts. I took some pictures and then contacted the guy who had all the Tank 8 parts. I asked him if he was ready to get rid of the items, and he said ‘Come pick them up on Tuesday’. When I arrived, I picked up the monitor assembly, the wiring harness, 6 sets of controls, the control interface boards, and three sets of CPU & Audio boards. Bill Esquiviel and I packed everything in his truck, and headed back to my warehouse to access the situation.

I was quickly able to determine that one board set mostly worked, the monitor worked, and the harness was mostly complete. I also figured out that I was missing the control panel/cabinet top and the entire frame for the cabinet. I also was able to determine that the cabinet/metal frame was exactly the same as a Sprint 4. I contacted a collector friend who had three Sprint 4’s, and he gave me one to get this project underway.

I had to build the entire top section out of wood. The original was fiberglass, but there was no way I could complete that in the 2 months that I had to get this ready for California Extreme show in July. I enlisted the help of my friend Mike to help with the painting and bondo work. I built the wood frame up over a weeks time, and then started on the control panel boxes. My friend Mike bondoed/primered/painted all the boxes, the control panel, the metal panels, as well as the metal frame. I wired the cabinet and assembled the electronics and controls. I did have to spend another 10 hours troubleshooting the CPU board, which died two days before the show. After a furious repair session, I was able to get it up and running again.

In all, it took about 100 hours to get the game playable and ready for the show. I’m pretty sure it’s the only Tank 8 still operational in the wild. There may be another tucked away somewhere, in the dank, dark corner of someone’s garage.

I had an hour last week to spend working on some games. I was able to get this QWAK prototype working. It has been sitting for 4 years, but I finally got it working after 45 minutes of concentrated effort. It’s a touchscreen game from the very early 80’s. This game was never released, and there is a joystick version of the board floating around. I still need to repair the touch screen. Hopefully I will have it working for the 2009 California Extreme show (www.caextreme.org).

Here are some prototype controls that I came across this weekend, while cleaning up the warehouse. The all black joystick is for Foodfight, the gold joystick is from the unreleased Warp Speed vector game. The clear handle joystick, is from an early version of Star Wars. The black and pink ‘boobs’ are from Gotcha.

After a 15 year search, I have finally located an Atari Tank 8 game. This was produced in very small numbers, and it appears that not many have survived the last 30+ years. It’s a huge 4 foot x 4 Foot, 8 player tank game. I am working on restoring it, and it should be ready to play at California Extreme 2009 (www.caextreme.org). Check the photo section for pictures of the electronics and canopy.

I just scanned the contents of the Bally/Midway service note binder that I have. It’s 100+ pages of repair and retrofit/upgrade tips for classic Bally/Midway games like Tron, Galaga, Pac Man, etc. Download it, from the Documentation link on the left.

Here is a document that describes an Indiana Jones Laserdisc game. I doubt any work was ever done on this, but it's interesting reading.

indylasergameplay

UPDATE- Both parts are now available in the Video section of the website.

Here is the first installment of the California Extreme 2006 Atari Panel Discussion video. The video features Al Alcorn, Eujene Jarvis, Ed Rotberg, Steve Ritchie and Dave Sheppard. Look for part two in a couple of days. Watch part one in the 'Videos' section.

Here are some concept sketches for the Food Fight arcade game. These sketches were typically done, to present the graphics treatment to management/marketing. A small scale model of the cabinet was also put together to show what the graphics would look like when applied to the game.

How about this? Instead of modern days shots of the Winchester Building, I have some original black and white shots from 1973-74 era. This is the front of the building, and the lobby.

Atari started in a small workshop building, and needed a place to build Pong machines. They found this old Roller Rink in Santa Clara. It's on Martin Ave, near Scott Blvd. Al Alcorn, who designed Pong, said "When we got it it was an old roller skating rink.  I remember the hardwood floors.  Before we moved in I took my Triumph 650 motorcycle for a spin inside.  I almost fell due to the film of dust on the slick hardwood floor." It's currently for sale for $3.8 Million.

I lived in Silicon Valley for 30 years, and I passed this intersection all the time. I finally stopped by this week, and got some pictures of the first building Atari occupied. This is the building where Pong was born. It has a small office in the front, with a workshop and roll-up door in the back. It's the office on the corner of the building. 2962 Scott Blvd in Santa Clara. Currently it's a machine tool service facility for a large Japanese company. Nothing special, but I figured some people would like to see it.

Over 60 pages of Centipede related memos. Design docs, field review, collections and other interesting information. Check it out in the Document Library.

So you wanted to be a game programmer at Atari? Well, here is a programmers reference manual for working on Atari hardware. Check it out in the Documentation Library.atariprogramref

I added a picture section for Primal Rage II characters. These are pictures of the models used for promotional purposes. Check them out in the Photo Album links.

I scanned the manual for this unreleased game. Check it out in the Document Library.

I scanned the original Marble Madness design document. It shows many ideas that did not make it into the final game, as well as the original title for the game. Read more in the Document Library.

I just added a new document to the Document section. It's the Marble Madness II Field Test Report- This document explains alot about the end product, and clears up alot of rumors. It explains the name change, why the surviving machines have joysticks, and what players thought about the game.

I saw an auction on ebay last week, for the unreleased Atari Breakout handheld game. It sold for $821. I dug thorough my collection of stuff and found this interesting piece. It's an unfolded box for the game. The artwork is by George Opperman.

Here are a bunch of random shots from California Extreme 20007. Check them out in the Photo area.

I added pictures of a bunch of Atari promotional items. Check them out in the picture section
.

The Movie page has been updated. Lots of new stuff to watch.

Check out these pictures of the never released BMX Heat prototype game. Based on Hard Drivin hardware, and a very complicated bicycle assembly. Built in fans keep you cool, as you pedal away on the track. Check out the pictures in the photo section.

I just added a bunch of new documents from the 1970's to the Document Library

.

I just added several pictures of the Atari 4x4 Pinball machine that I picked up this summer. It's one of two that exist. The other is owned by the Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas. Check out the picture in the Photo Section.

Now that I have failed at my first attempt at updating the website for the New Year, I think I finally have everything working again.

1/1/07 -WOW, 2006 has come and gone.  I had hoped to make more progress on the website, but I just ran out of time last year.  To kick off the new year, I put together an update that I hope you will enjoy.  It’s a bunch of historic photos from the Atari factory in December of 1973 and the 1983 AMOA show in New Orleans.  Check them out in the photo area
.

(Updated 9/24/05) I just heard the terrible news, that Kelly Turner has passed away. Kelly had been an invaluable source of information for the web site, for many years. Kelly had provided me with invaluable video tapes, documentation and information in my research on Atari Games. Kelly was also featured in the Atari Panel discussions at California Extreme 2003 and 2004. He was always willing to help out, and he had some great stories to tell. He will be missed....
Kelly started programming computer games in 1976. His first job in the game industry came in 1984 when he joined Atari Coin-op. Kelly spent 10 years at Atari and was involved in programming , game design , and producing. Some of his coin-op achievements include : Super Sprint , Championship Sprint , Vindicators , Tetris , Batman , Badlands , and Off the Wall.
After Atari , Kelly spent a year at P.F. Magic and another two at Virgin. Along the way he picked up some experience in the Special FX field of the film industry and at an L.A. based company , Rhythm & Hues. Kelly also worked at 3DO and was known for the Army Men series of games.

Kelly Turner passed away today after a brief and completely unexpected illness. He was rushed to Irvine Medical Center on September 5th with an extremely high temperature, extremely low blood pressure, and possible organ damage. He remained in Intensive Care for several days while doctors attempted to stabilize him and figure out what had happened. Despite their best efforts, including dialysis to take the load off his organs, he fell into a persistent vegetative state on September 13th, with no brain activity. He had a Living Will and left explicit instructions that extraordinary measures should not be taken to preserve his life, so life support was withdrawn yesterday afternoon, in the presence of his family, in accordance with his wishes. He passed peacefully in his sleep this morning in the arms of his life partner.

Video game producer Kelly Turner died of multi-systemic organ failure Sept. 18 in Irvine, Calif. He was 43. A memorial service will be held Sunday, Sept. 25 at 10 a.m. at El Camino Memorial Park, 5600 Carroll Canyon Rd., San Diego.
Turner started in the game industry as a programmer at the coin-op division of Atari in 1984. Over the last 20 years, he worked in virtually every aspect of development and production at companies that included, in addition to Atari, P.F. Magic, Virgin Interactive, Rhythm& HuesRhythm & Hues, The 3DO Company and Eidos. He most recently joined videogame maker Point of View in Irvine, Calif.
Turner had been involved with the Producers Guild of America New Media Council for two years, most recently as Vice Chair.
He is survived by his partner, Tom Grissinger; his mother, a sister and a brother.
Donations may be made to the Producers Guild of America, Kelly Turner Memorial Fund.

(this article has been compiled from various sources on the internet)

(9/19/05) Here is a short movie clip, featuring the game play of the unreleased Hot Rod Rebels game. This was to be the sequel to Rush 2049. This is the last game that Atari worked on, before they closed down the coin-op division. The game was never finished, but this clip will give you a taste for what could have been. Watch it here. You can also learn more about the game here.

Here is another game that Atari was working on in 1997-98. Steve Ritchie was the producer for this game, and this was after California Speed had been released. The game is very much, a modern day Roadblasters. The game is not tuned, and it had a long way to go before the 'fun' would have been there. The coolest thing about this demo, is the level layout. The multi level freeway is awesome! Watch a clip of this game here.

Okay, I know this is not an Atari proto, but it is from a company that was started by ex- Atari employees. This game is built upon the Amiga 500 hardware platform. It has a I/O sound interface, and the ROM daughter card added to the base Amiga system. The game uses two joysticks, just like Robotron. One to move, one to fire. You movements are restricted to jumping one square at a time, like Qbert. You can fire in four directions. There is an additional button, which activates your Jet Pack. The Jet Pack allows you to jump more than one square at a time, and also allows you to jump up onto platforms and obstacles. Several enemies try to kill you including some blob looking creatures, a tornado, and an atom particle. You goal is to get from one end of the level to the other, while avoiding the enemies. You can also collect gems along the way, which raises your payload meter. When you are hit or shot by an enemy, you lose some portion of your shield. When your shield is worn down, you die. You can also die, by falling off the platforms. You can recharge your shield, by jumping on a square that contains 'radiation'. A radiation meter, helps you locate those squares.
This is a very cool game. I finally got this working, and it will be at California Extreme 2006. Here are some pictures of the boards and some game play: pic1 pic2 pic3 pic4 pic5 pic6 pic7 pic8 pic9 pic10