Well, it's with great regret that I am announcing the more-or-less end of Woodgrain Wonderland as an active blog. On October 4, the site will revert to WordPress' free plan. I'm not sure what this entails exactly, but I imagine the basic text will be retained minus any graphic elements or videos. The web address … Continue reading This is goodbye (kind of)
Author: woodgrainwonderland
Venture: Arcade vs Atari 2600 vs ColecoVision
Don't let Winky's permagrin fool you -- Venture is one hard game on any platform.
Homebrew Roundup: 2005 Minigame Multicart (AtariAge, 2005)
Some of the most popular Atari 2600 homebrewers get together to pack a bunch of little games into a cart with some big entertainment.
What was the deal with the Atari 5200 in Canada?
I’m not big on reblogging posts but the main question of the piece still remains. I have a bigger readership than I did back in 2016, so maybe somebody can enlighten me.
Like most classic gamers whose interest in video games goes back further than the NES, I’m a little obsessed with the game crash of 1983: why it happened, how it happened and what companies were actually to blame. Atari generally gets the brunt of the blame – perhaps unfairly, perhaps not. Yes, they did rush supposed-worst-game-of-all-time E.T. to market and overproduced the number of cartridges, but that is really more of a symbol of the crash than the actual cause. Worst thing they did with E.T. is overestimate the literacy of young Gen Xers by expecting them to actually read the manual (seriously, the game is not that hard, folks).
However, I have come here not to hail Caesar but to bury him. There are marketing decisions made by Atari back then I simply do not understand. For one, I still cannot figure out for absolute certainty whether or not…
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Homebrew Roundup: Backfire (Chad Lare, 2003)
Chad Lare presents a hardcore exercise in hand-eye coordination with Backfire.
Atari 2600 Game Reviews: Z-Tack through Zoo Fun
My last set of alphabetical reviews but there's more stuff to come! Atari 2600 game reviews including Z-Tack, Zaxxon, Zippy the Porcupine and Zoo Fun.
Atari 2600 Game Reviews: Worm War I through Yars’ Revenge (yay!)
Atari 2600 game reviews including Worm War I, Xenophobe, Xevious, Yars' Revenge and EXCLUDING X-Man.
Why I now hate video games (at least temporarily)
Don't worry -- it's happened before.
Atari 2600 Game Reviews: Winter Games through Words-Attack
Atari 2600 game reviews including Winter Games, Wizard, Wizard of Wor, Word Zapper and Words-Attack.
Atari 2600 Game Reviews: Warlords through Wings
Atari 2600 game reviews including Warlords, Warplock, Warring Worms, Warring Worms: The Worm (Re)Turns, Wing War and Wings.