Changes

Antic:  Yeah, so maybe we can start out with what you do and where you live?

Antic:  Yeah, so maybe we can start out with what you do and where you live?

AY:  I live in Austin, Texas and I moved here in 1997 having lived in Boston previously. I moved here to work for Looking Glass Technologies, a now defunct game developer, responsible for some of the Ultima games like �-1Ultima Underworld�-0, �-1Flight Unlimited�-0, �-1System Shock�-0, and a few others.  So, moved in here in'97 after we finished up a project in Boston and I loved Austin, I came back, came down here to visit, loved the city, moved here a month later and, on July 1, a month and a half after I moved here, Looking Glass shut our offices down.  So, that actually turned out to be pretty interesting.  A core group of us stood together and we had a ready-to-go game development team and we ended up setting up an office in Austin for �-1Ion Storm�-0 and developing �-1Deus Ex�-0.  So that actually worked out pretty well.  I have been here ever since.

AY:  I live in Austin, Texas and I moved here in 1997 having lived in Boston previously. I moved here to work for Looking Glass Technologies, a now defunct game developer, responsible for some of the Ultima games like '''Ultima Underworld''', '''Flight Unlimited''', '''System Shock''', and a few others.  So, moved in here in'97 after we finished up a project in Boston and I loved Austin, I came back, came down here to visit, loved the city, moved here a month later and, on July 1, a month and a half after I moved here, Looking Glass shut our offices down.  So, that actually turned out to be pretty interesting.  A core group of us stood together and we had a ready-to-go game development team and we ended up setting up an office in Austin for '''Ion Storm''' and developing '''Deus Ex'''.  So that actually worked out pretty well.  I have been here ever since.

Antic:  Well, that sounds like a very interesting job.

Antic:  Well, that sounds like a very interesting job.

Antic:  Wow.  So, I have to ask you, I mean, this is an Atari 8-bit podcast ... How did you or what's your background in the Atari 8-bit hardware?

Antic:  Wow.  So, I have to ask you, I mean, this is an Atari 8-bit podcast ... How did you or what's your background in the Atari 8-bit hardware?

AY:  Let's see.  That's a long story, but, the first time I saw an Atari 8-bit computer was an Atari 800.  It was at a friend's house.  I had to have been less than ten years old (or nine maybe) and I saw �-1Star Raiders�-0 running on an 800 and I thought it was absolutely amazing and, I wanted to play the game, but they didn't want the kids near the computer at the time. So, I could watch for little bit and that's about it.  And then I forgot about that, you know, for a couple of years.  Then, in school, computers in like junior high school, Apple ][s were just starting to get in schools and I was really interested in that and I, but the Apple was �Way�H too expensive.  I mean, I could not afford to buy one of those and neither could my parents.  So, I started saving my money doing cutting lawns and shoveling snow--something we do not have to worry about in Texas--and saved up enough money to buy an Atari 800XL, a 1050 drive and a 1030 modem from Toys R Us back when they kept everything in a glass display case.

AY:  Let's see.  That's a long story, but, the first time I saw an Atari 8-bit computer was an Atari 800.  It was at a friend's house.  I had to have been less than ten years old (or nine maybe) and I saw '''Star Raiders''' running on an 800 and I thought it was absolutely amazing and, I wanted to play the game, but they didn't want the kids near the computer at the time. So, I could watch for little bit and that's about it.  And then I forgot about that, you know, for a couple of years.  Then, in school, computers in like junior high school, Apple ][s were just starting to get in schools and I was really interested in that and I, but the Apple was way too expensive.  I mean, I could not afford to buy one of those and neither could my parents.  So, I started saving my money doing cutting lawns and shoveling snow--something we do not have to worry about in Texas--and saved up enough money to buy an Atari 800XL, a 1050 drive and a 1030 modem from Toys R Us back when they kept everything in a glass display case.

Antic:    I remember that!

Antic:    I remember that!

AY:  It's been rare that I have actually contracted anyone to actually [say] "hey, I really want to see this type of game written" or "I have an idea for a game,"  It is usually come up with the games entirely on their own and they start developing the game and, at some point, I'll start paying attention to it--if not from the beginning depending on the type of project--and people will often approach me--if I do not approach them--saying "Hey, I have written this game.  Can you take a look at it? Are you interested in publishing it in the AtariAge store?" and then we talk from there.  So, it would be interesting to solicit people and say "Hey, nobody's written a game about this subject or this game or I have an idea for this."  People are all developing games on their own and then ultimately want to get them published.

AY:  It's been rare that I have actually contracted anyone to actually [say] "hey, I really want to see this type of game written" or "I have an idea for a game,"  It is usually come up with the games entirely on their own and they start developing the game and, at some point, I'll start paying attention to it--if not from the beginning depending on the type of project--and people will often approach me--if I do not approach them--saying "Hey, I have written this game.  Can you take a look at it? Are you interested in publishing it in the AtariAge store?" and then we talk from there.  So, it would be interesting to solicit people and say "Hey, nobody's written a game about this subject or this game or I have an idea for this."  People are all developing games on their own and then ultimately want to get them published.

Antic:    Is there any relationship between AtariAge, the site, and the original �-1Atari Age�-0 magazine?

Antic:    Is there any relationship between AtariAge, the site, and the original '''Atari Age''' magazine?

AY:  No, none at all and we really didn't have the magazine name in mind when we created the site.  We just thought, you know "AtariAge," age of Atari, really.  You know it was a pretty pithy name for the site. �-1Atari Age�-0 magazine used two words, we put it together as one word.  But, I mean, certainly, it is an easy association to make.  We have scans of those magazines on the site as well.  But there is no official relationship between those two things.

AY:  No, none at all and we really didn't have the magazine name in mind when we created the site.  We just thought, you know "AtariAge," age of Atari, really.  You know it was a pretty pithy name for the site. '''Atari Age''' magazine used two words, we put it together as one word.  But, I mean, certainly, it is an easy association to make.  We have scans of those magazines on the site as well.  But there is no official relationship between those two things.

Antic:    We just talked about how busy the AtariAge site is and all that is going on there, I am just curious as to how much work is involved in keeping that going and how much of that do you do?  I mean what are your actual duties in keeping AtariAge going?

Antic:    We just talked about how busy the AtariAge site is and all that is going on there, I am just curious as to how much work is involved in keeping that going and how much of that do you do?  I mean what are your actual duties in keeping AtariAge going?

Antic:    I was just wondering if the site paid for itself or is it a labor of love.

Antic:    I was just wondering if the site paid for itself or is it a labor of love.

AY:  So they site came about as a labor of love between Alex and I and selling the games came about because we thought it would be nice if we did not have to put ads on the site in order to pay for the hosting because hosting is pretty expensive every month.  Because AtariAge runs on a pretty beefy server and any given time there might be 5-600 people just on the forums and software costs.  So, the store, we decided we could sell games and the proceeds from those to keep the site on >line as opposed to having ads because we were not a really big fan of advertisements.  AtariAge has not had ads on it.  There are a lot of costs in making the games and the games are not sold for a lot.  They're sold from anywhere from 20 to 30 bucks--without a box (more with the box).  And there are royalties for the authors as well.  Between ? and ? costs and the royalties, there is not a lot left over.  Especially when you consider the time that it takes to physically make the games.  I have not calculated exactly how much I am making per hour, but it is �4not�5 much!  Certainly much less than minimum wage, but, again, it is a labor of love, I am have been really beginning to enjoy getting the games in physical form out there to people and try to maintain pretty high quality in terms of the cartridges, the labels and the manuals and the boxes and all that.  You know, so it will be representative of what people would expect if they bought a game, back in the day.  It does pay for the site, which is nice and allows me to invest in hardware or software development of new type of circuit board or buy a nice printer so I can print the manuals myself which allows me to do small runs of games for people.  So, if someone wants to do 20 copies of a game, they can still be sold with a manual and still have it professionally printed manual, without it having to expensive and without them having to print it somewhere else.  Where if you were to print 20 copies of a game manual in a print shop, it might be a lot more expensive for a small run like that.

AY:  So they site came about as a labor of love between Alex and I and selling the games came about because we thought it would be nice if we did not have to put ads on the site in order to pay for the hosting because hosting is pretty expensive every month.  Because AtariAge runs on a pretty beefy server and any given time there might be 5-600 people just on the forums and software costs.  So, the store, we decided we could sell games and the proceeds from those to keep the site on >line as opposed to having ads because we were not a really big fan of advertisements.  AtariAge has not had ads on it.  There are a lot of costs in making the games and the games are not sold for a lot.  They're sold from anywhere from 20 to 30 bucks--without a box (more with the box).  And there are royalties for the authors as well.  Between ? and ? costs and the royalties, there is not a lot left over.  Especially when you consider the time that it takes to physically make the games.  I have not calculated exactly how much I am making per hour, but it is '''not''' much!  Certainly much less than minimum wage, but, again, it is a labor of love, I am have been really beginning to enjoy getting the games in physical form out there to people and try to maintain pretty high quality in terms of the cartridges, the labels and the manuals and the boxes and all that.  You know, so it will be representative of what people would expect if they bought a game, back in the day.  It does pay for the site, which is nice and allows me to invest in hardware or software development of new type of circuit board or buy a nice printer so I can print the manuals myself which allows me to do small runs of games for people.  So, if someone wants to do 20 copies of a game, they can still be sold with a manual and still have it professionally printed manual, without it having to expensive and without them having to print it somewhere else.  Where if you were to print 20 copies of a game manual in a print shop, it might be a lot more expensive for a small run like that.

Antic:  I understand you have written some books as well, is that true?

Antic:  I understand you have written some books as well, is that true?

Antic:  You mentioned huge rig that you had with your Atari stuff, back in the day.  Do you still have of those or what computers or gaming consoles do you actually have today?

Antic:  You mentioned huge rig that you had with your Atari stuff, back in the day.  Do you still have of those or what computers or gaming consoles do you actually have today?

AY:  You know, I really wish I still had all that hardware.  It greatly saddens me when this comes up because I sold all that hardware before I went off to school and--at that point--I had migrated to the Atari ST, but--in hindsight--I wish I had kept it all.  So, I have re-acquired big portions of that hardware and I would love to actually put an Atari BBS back online in some form connected to the internet.  There is actually a thread on AtariAge about that.  I started a thread recently saying, "Hey, what is actually required in order for me to put an Atari 8 BBS back online?"  Because I have a good portion of than hardware.  I don't have a 1MB MIO yet or even a 256k one.  But, I do kind of want to get my hands on one of those.  But that's not even necessary these days.  That's just kind of nostalgic more than anything else.  But, again, it would be fun.  I have got enough hardware now, I could put a BBS back online or an 8-bit back online.  I would just need the hardware to connect it to the Internet.  So, the answer to your question, the short answer to the story is: No, I do not.  Now, that answer to the other one as far as what consoles and computers do I have today, well, as far as the current generation, I have a PlayStation 4 and WiiU.  They Playstation 4 gets more use, but the WiiU is also a quite of bit of fun.  I am not really interested in an XBOX One.  I have a PS3 and an XBOX 360, WiiU, and a lot of the previous generation of consoles.  Quite a few consoles.  I have a badass gaming PC that I can use to play PC games through Steam or otherwise.  I started playing the Ultima games from scratch.  I am a huge Ultima fan and wanted to play them all from beginning in order, starting from Ultima I.  I posted pictures, I think, a year ago or a year and half ago.  I was playing �-1Ultima IV�-0 or one of the Ultima     on a 30-inch computer monitor, which is really funny. The pixels, you know these games are not very high resolution, 320x200 and seeing them on a 30" monitor was pretty funny.  But, I do not get to do as much gaming as I would like.  Then, of course, all the old consoles as well.  I have got an Atari 2600 hooked up to my flat screen TV using a Frameister XRGB, which is a device that will take the output from these old game systems and just make it look really sharp on a regular television, plus you can apply various effects, like set scan lines and things like that.  Which you can't really do normally on a plain LCD television.  An Atari 2600, you really have to use a system that has been modified with S-Video or composite, which is what I am doing.  I have a lot of those that I use for game shows.  I probably have 20 Atari 2600s that have been modified with s-video or composite output.  So, yes, I do still game and it is a lot of fun.

AY:  You know, I really wish I still had all that hardware.  It greatly saddens me when this comes up because I sold all that hardware before I went off to school and--at that point--I had migrated to the Atari ST, but--in hindsight--I wish I had kept it all.  So, I have re-acquired big portions of that hardware and I would love to actually put an Atari BBS back online in some form connected to the internet.  There is actually a thread on AtariAge about that.  I started a thread recently saying, "Hey, what is actually required in order for me to put an Atari 8 BBS back online?"  Because I have a good portion of than hardware.  I don't have a 1MB MIO yet or even a 256k one.  But, I do kind of want to get my hands on one of those.  But that's not even necessary these days.  That's just kind of nostalgic more than anything else.  But, again, it would be fun.  I have got enough hardware now, I could put a BBS back online or an 8-bit back online.  I would just need the hardware to connect it to the Internet.  So, the answer to your question, the short answer to the story is: No, I do not.  Now, that answer to the other one as far as what consoles and computers do I have today, well, as far as the current generation, I have a PlayStation 4 and WiiU.  They Playstation 4 gets more use, but the WiiU is also a quite of bit of fun.  I am not really interested in an XBOX One.  I have a PS3 and an XBOX 360, WiiU, and a lot of the previous generation of consoles.  Quite a few consoles.  I have a badass gaming PC that I can use to play PC games through Steam or otherwise.  I started playing the Ultima games from scratch.  I am a huge Ultima fan and wanted to play them all from beginning in order, starting from Ultima I.  I posted pictures, I think, a year ago or a year and half ago.  I was playing '''Ultima IV''' or one of the Ultima     on a 30-inch computer monitor, which is really funny. The pixels, you know these games are not very high resolution, 320x200 and seeing them on a 30" monitor was pretty funny.  But, I do not get to do as much gaming as I would like.  Then, of course, all the old consoles as well.  I have got an Atari 2600 hooked up to my flat screen TV using a Frameister XRGB, which is a device that will take the output from these old game systems and just make it look really sharp on a regular television, plus you can apply various effects, like set scan lines and things like that.  Which you can't really do normally on a plain LCD television.  An Atari 2600, you really have to use a system that has been modified with S-Video or composite, which is what I am doing.  I have a lot of those that I use for game shows.  I probably have 20 Atari 2600s that have been modified with s-video or composite output.  So, yes, I do still game and it is a lot of fun.

Antic:  Yes, I believe you attend a lot of vintage shows every year, right, is that correct?

Antic:  Yes, I believe you attend a lot of vintage shows every year, right, is that correct?

Antic:    Sure.  Sure.  Is there anything else that you want to talk about?

Antic:    Sure.  Sure.  Is there anything else that you want to talk about?

AY:  As far as Atari stuff, we have covered quite a bit already.  Software development is what I do professionally and that is a lot of fun.  That all harks back to the days back on the Atari 8-bit when I learned Atari BASIC and then Assembly language.  Then did a lot of programming on Mark Williams C on the Atari ST where a friend and I wrote a big bulletin board called a Digitally Mastered Software and we never published it, but we had it running!  We could actually connect multiple STs via MIDI connections.  SO, we could have multiple lines calling into boards, so that was fun.  That was how I taught myself C programming.  Which, of course, I went to school later and learned how to �-1properly�-0 do a lot of that stuff.  But, that is not to say you can't learn without going to school. But, when you are learning all of it ad hoc like that, you do a lot of things the wrong way.  It's a lot of fun.  But, yeah, there are other hobbies, too.  For instance, mountain biking and trail-building here in Austin.  We have a great community of trail builders and mountain bikers here in Austin.  That's one of the things I love about Austin, I don't have to deal with snow in the winter time any more or very rarely.  So, I can be outside every day of the year.  It was 85 degrees here today which is pretty warm.

AY:  As far as Atari stuff, we have covered quite a bit already.  Software development is what I do professionally and that is a lot of fun.  That all harks back to the days back on the Atari 8-bit when I learned Atari BASIC and then Assembly language.  Then did a lot of programming on Mark Williams C on the Atari ST where a friend and I wrote a big bulletin board called a Digitally Mastered Software and we never published it, but we had it running!  We could actually connect multiple STs via MIDI connections.  SO, we could have multiple lines calling into boards, so that was fun.  That was how I taught myself C programming.  Which, of course, I went to school later and learned how to '''properly''' do a lot of that stuff.  But, that is not to say you can't learn without going to school. But, when you are learning all of it ad hoc like that, you do a lot of things the wrong way.  It's a lot of fun.  But, yeah, there are other hobbies, too.  For instance, mountain biking and trail-building here in Austin.  We have a great community of trail builders and mountain bikers here in Austin.  That's one of the things I love about Austin, I don't have to deal with snow in the winter time any more or very rarely.  So, I can be outside every day of the year.  It was 85 degrees here today which is pretty warm.

Antic:    85 degrees?  We had 34 degrees, so . . . I don't think I had any other questions.  IS there anything else, I should have asked about or that you'd like to kind of close with here?

Antic:    85 degrees?  We had 34 degrees, so . . . I don't think I had any other questions.  IS there anything else, I should have asked about or that you'd like to kind of close with here?

AY:  One thing.  I had made a list of some of my favorite Atari 8-bit games that I remember playing back in the day.  That's the other thing, one thing that got me really excited about the Atari 8-bit is shortly after I got my 800XL and I, somehow, learned about this Connecticut Atari Systems Enthusiasts User Group and I don't even rememberhow that happened because we didn't have the Internet back then.  Probably, just by dialing into BBSs, I found out about that.  But, a friend of mine--someone I had met through the BBSs--invited me over to his place because he wanted to show me some games.  The very first game he showed me was the original �-1Alternate Reality�-0.  I was just dumbfounded at how amazing that game was.  I had never seen anything quite like that on a computer at all and I had to immediately go out and buy that game.  I just got lost going through that game.  Not lost like wandering around a map, but I sat down and played that game as much as I could, including mapping everything out on graph paper--which you really had to do on that game--and I had so much fun playing that.  Then the second Alternate Reality, Tale of Beta Lyre some other games like Realm of Possibility, Rainbow Walker, of course, Star Raiders.  I had to have Star Raiders and, eventually, Star Raiders II.  Bounty Bob Strikes Back was a big blast.  Pretty much everything LucasFilm (or was is LucasArts?  I think it was LucasFilm) released.BallBlazer, Rescue on Fractulus, Eidolon, Koronis Rift . . .

AY:  One thing.  I had made a list of some of my favorite Atari 8-bit games that I remember playing back in the day.  That's the other thing, one thing that got me really excited about the Atari 8-bit is shortly after I got my 800XL and I, somehow, learned about this Connecticut Atari Systems Enthusiasts User Group and I don't even rememberhow that happened because we didn't have the Internet back then.  Probably, just by dialing into BBSs, I found out about that.  But, a friend of mine--someone I had met through the BBSs--invited me over to his place because he wanted to show me some games.  The very first game he showed me was the original '''Alternate Reality'''.  I was just dumbfounded at how amazing that game was.  I had never seen anything quite like that on a computer at all and I had to immediately go out and buy that game.  I just got lost going through that game.  Not lost like wandering around a map, but I sat down and played that game as much as I could, including mapping everything out on graph paper--which you really had to do on that game--and I had so much fun playing that.  Then the second Alternate Reality, Tale of Beta Lyre some other games like Realm of Possibility, Rainbow Walker, of course, Star Raiders.  I had to have Star Raiders and, eventually, Star Raiders II.  Bounty Bob Strikes Back was a big blast.  Pretty much everything LucasFilm (or was is LucasArts?  I think it was LucasFilm) released.BallBlazer, Rescue on Fractulus, Eidolon, Koronis Rift . . .

Antic:    Well, then you are going to like one of the interviews I have coming up, then, because I have David Fox, who worked at LucasArts.  

Antic:    Well, then you are going to like one of the interviews I have coming up, then, because I have David Fox, who worked at LucasArts.  

Antic:    It is pretty amazing what people have been able to producethese days on the limited Atari 2600 hardware.  It is just pretty crazy.

Antic:    It is pretty amazing what people have been able to producethese days on the limited Atari 2600 hardware.  It is just pretty crazy.

AY:  Yeah, it is a much different environment that it was back in the day. Like the programmers at Atari, every one was very secretive between the companies, especially Atari, they didn't want secrets leaking out as far as how to develop the games.  of course, they were foiled when a group of people left and formed Activision.  Of course, that's a whole story in and of itself.  There was not sharing of information like there is on the Internet now.  They didn't have emulators where they could instantly make a change, run it, and see how it affected the game.  There was a much slower development process.  The tools, as far as �-1Stella�-0, for instance, on the Atari 2600 with an integrated debugger makes it much easier.  The discussion forums where people freely share their source code.  You can ask experienced programmers how to do this or that.  It's definitely a much better environment and, of course, there are 4k games.  The original 2600 games are 2k, then later on they did 8k games.  I think Asteroids was the first bank-switched game.  Atari released games that were up to 32k in size for the 2600.  Nowadays, we have much more advanced techniques.  We can put a small ARM processor on a 2600 cartridge circuit board and that's what the Melody boards use.  The Melody boards use a basically use aDPC+ mode similar to what Pitfall II used for the music so that you can do additional processing on the cartridge itself beyond what can be done on the 2600 so this has allowed some more advanced games by putting some processing to the cartridge which is cheating a little bit.  So, that's how games like Space Rocks, for instance, us that.  There are whole bunch of other games.  Some games like Star Castle Starcade that is coming is a pretty remarkable port of Star Castle.  That game does not use any advanced hardware.  It uses a new circuit board that has some flash RAM so you can save the high scores.  But, other than that, it is just running on 2600 hardware without any tricks.

AY:  Yeah, it is a much different environment that it was back in the day. Like the programmers at Atari, every one was very secretive between the companies, especially Atari, they didn't want secrets leaking out as far as how to develop the games.  of course, they were foiled when a group of people left and formed Activision.  Of course, that's a whole story in and of itself.  There was not sharing of information like there is on the Internet now.  They didn't have emulators where they could instantly make a change, run it, and see how it affected the game.  There was a much slower development process.  The tools, as far as '''Stella''', for instance, on the Atari 2600 with an integrated debugger makes it much easier.  The discussion forums where people freely share their source code.  You can ask experienced programmers how to do this or that.  It's definitely a much better environment and, of course, there are 4k games.  The original 2600 games are 2k, then later on they did 8k games.  I think Asteroids was the first bank-switched game.  Atari released games that were up to 32k in size for the 2600.  Nowadays, we have much more advanced techniques.  We can put a small ARM processor on a 2600 cartridge circuit board and that's what the Melody boards use.  The Melody boards use a basically use aDPC+ mode similar to what Pitfall II used for the music so that you can do additional processing on the cartridge itself beyond what can be done on the 2600 so this has allowed some more advanced games by putting some processing to the cartridge which is cheating a little bit.  So, that's how games like Space Rocks, for instance, us that.  There are whole bunch of other games.  Some games like Star Castle Starcade that is coming is a pretty remarkable port of Star Castle.  That game does not use any advanced hardware.  It uses a new circuit board that has some flash RAM so you can save the high scores.  But, other than that, it is just running on 2600 hardware without any tricks.

Antic:    You owned an ST for awhile, do you remember a game called MidiMaze?

Antic:    You owned an ST for awhile, do you remember a game called MidiMaze?

Antic:    It's amazing when you think about it.  Why do we love these machines that--like you said are 35 years old--but they're still useful, they're still fun, there is still a lot that you can do with them.

Antic:    It's amazing when you think about it.  Why do we love these machines that--like you said are 35 years old--but they're still useful, they're still fun, there is still a lot that you can do with them.

AY:  Oh, absolutely, a day does not go buy where I do not see something new that I haven't seen before whether it be on Atari systems or other non-Atari console or computer:  "Wow, I had no idea �-1that�-0 existed and that's pretty damn cool!"  This goes from hardware to homebrew games, web pages people created.  The Internet has just been a great facilitator for all this.  There is no way, it just wouldn't happen with it.  There would be no forum, no podcasts like you're doing.  These systems would be dead for all practical purposes at this point.  As well as sites like eBay that allow people to get their hands on hardware.  eBay, even with its problems, it is a much easier way to get your hands on this stuff than trying to find something at a flea market or a goodwill or yard sales, because they have pretty much dried up.

AY:  Oh, absolutely, a day does not go buy where I do not see something new that I haven't seen before whether it be on Atari systems or other non-Atari console or computer:  "Wow, I had no idea '''that''' existed and that's pretty damn cool!"  This goes from hardware to homebrew games, web pages people created.  The Internet has just been a great facilitator for all this.  There is no way, it just wouldn't happen with it.  There would be no forum, no podcasts like you're doing.  These systems would be dead for all practical purposes at this point.  As well as sites like eBay that allow people to get their hands on hardware.  eBay, even with its problems, it is a much easier way to get your hands on this stuff than trying to find something at a flea market or a goodwill or yard sales, because they have pretty much dried up.

Antic:    It has!  I have probably gotten 90% of the stuff I have off of eBay.  Sometimes it is a little �-1too�-0 easy to get it on eBay!

Antic:    It has!  I have probably gotten 90% of the stuff I have off of eBay.  Sometimes it is a little '''too''' easy to get it on eBay!

AY:  Oh, it is!  I agree with you, especially when you start looking for rare, more expensive things you would never find locally.  When I started hunting the 2600 games, back in the mid-1990s or late 1990s, you could still find 2600s and games out in the wild.  But, it did not really take long, once eBay came onto the scene, people started using eBay, "Hey, these systems are actually worth something!"  Over time, it didn't take a lot of time, people would hang onto the systems or buy them for the exclusive purpose of putting them on eBay.  It's pretty exciting if you can find something now.  Of course, I see posts all the time on AtariAge and Facebook saying, "Hey, Look what I found today!"  I don't really actively look for the stuffanymore.  It's really tough in a city like Austin, too, where you have a huge community of gamers and your odds of finding something before somebody else are pretty low in this town.  But--when you do find something--it's pretty damn cool to see it.  But, yeah, like you, eBay is pretty much where it's at.  And the forums on AtariAge, people post a lot of stuff too, which is nice.  Of course, sometimes they're just posting links to their eBay auction, but people will offer stuff for sale.  Like new hardware and software doesn't always end up on eBay.  The homebrews and things people are developing, so those you do need to pay attention to the various forums.

AY:  Oh, it is!  I agree with you, especially when you start looking for rare, more expensive things you would never find locally.  When I started hunting the 2600 games, back in the mid-1990s or late 1990s, you could still find 2600s and games out in the wild.  But, it did not really take long, once eBay came onto the scene, people started using eBay, "Hey, these systems are actually worth something!"  Over time, it didn't take a lot of time, people would hang onto the systems or buy them for the exclusive purpose of putting them on eBay.  It's pretty exciting if you can find something now.  Of course, I see posts all the time on AtariAge and Facebook saying, "Hey, Look what I found today!"  I don't really actively look for the stuffanymore.  It's really tough in a city like Austin, too, where you have a huge community of gamers and your odds of finding something before somebody else are pretty low in this town.  But--when you do find something--it's pretty damn cool to see it.  But, yeah, like you, eBay is pretty much where it's at.  And the forums on AtariAge, people post a lot of stuff too, which is nice.  Of course, sometimes they're just posting links to their eBay auction, but people will offer stuff for sale.  Like new hardware and software doesn't always end up on eBay.  The homebrews and things people are developing, so those you do need to pay attention to the various forums.