#atari65xe

[koney-scanlines]

OnO-SENDai cyBErsPaCE 7 (BuiLT FRoM AtAri 65Xe)

[arosania]

This was the only software I could get for my #Atari at that time. Nothing more was available here. That means every famous game or program there was at the time, I didn’t have/play it. Now I know all of them, of course, but I couldn’t experience them at the right time. This also meant that every game, program or utility I needed, I made it on my own. Every single line of code is now gone, lost forever. It was a hell of a time, anyway. #Atari65XE #8bitForLife #Memories #Remembrance https://www.instagram.com/p/BylFf46H4NQ/?igshid=1252f63hzdwvj

[arosania]

This was the only software I could get for my #Atari at that time. Nothing more was available here. That means every famous game or program there was at the time, I didn’t have/play it. Now I know all of them, of course, but I couldn’t experience them at the right time. This also meant that every game, program or utility I needed, I made it on my own. Every single line of code is now gone, lost forever. It was a hell of a time, anyway. #Atari65XE #8bitForLife #Memories #Remembrance https://www.instagram.com/p/BylFWQcnZUs/?igshid=ux5pqeva7y73

[arosania]

Continuing my walk through memory lane, this was the only upgrade I could afford at the time for my beloved #Atari65XE . The CX-77 touch tablet. I designed some games with this. I vaguely remember having to program some assembly routines to get the data into BASIC, so I could instruct the ANTIC chip to put the graphics together with my program logic. It was far from the best tablet, but I didn’t care. We really loved what we did back then. #memorylane #8bitForLife #remembrance https://www.instagram.com/p/ByiZ2AOHG5J/?igshid=11ev84rr6k3a0

[arosania]

Throwback to the first computer I ever owned. The one that started me down on this long and winding path I call a career, this path I call life. 6502B CPU running at 1,79 MHz, 64KB of RAM, and yes, a cassette tape recorder. Less than a speck of dust in today’s standards, and yet it was the world to me. Back then when it all mattered, back then when the world was different. Got it in ‘87, unable to afford an Apple ][. Never regretted it. 32 years later, the only computer I ever miss. #Atari65XE #8bitForLife #Nostalgia #Sysadmin #Infosec #Developer #SliceOfLife #Memories https://www.instagram.com/p/ByabWj-HQBh/?igshid=12r21mw5gb1vw

[gamessavedmylife]

Life Savers

Kala, a Poland native, relates how games have guided her life professionally, helped her learn English, and taught her to manage her anxiety. 

The whole three-month period before my holiday leave, which ended a week ago, was like one long bad day. My work sucked all energy out of me. I felt like I was facing professional burnout and I was on tenterhooks waiting for my last day of work. But, on my first day off, I received a phone call asking me if I would like to translate a GAME! This was HUGE for me, as I have always wanted to get closer to the game industry somehow, but a) I can’t do programming, b) I can’t write fiction, c) I can’t animate, d) I totally suck at drawing.

And here I am today, playing Settlers VI for the nth time, this time for reference purposes, and working on my browser-based strategy game. And this is how a game saved my life (professional life, this time) in my twenties, just like other games would save my life earlier.

I know exactly at which moment my tendency to experience anxiety appeared in my life. I don’t know why it did. No enduring family or health problems, I guess it’s just innate in some of us.

To cut a long story short, nothing could alleviate my school panic attacks except for getting engrossed in a game. I guess it started when I was 4. I was very sick and my dad would entertain me by playing his Atari 65XE games for me - River Raid, Hyperblast, and so on. I learned to love this platform, as the games relaxed me. Then, when I got my first PC at 14, I had only a few second-hand games, as they were not very common (and very expensive) in my country those days. This was when I discovered Police Quest 4 and it woke up my desire to be a homicide investigator ;)

But at that moment, my duty was to learn hard to get to high school. I participated in many school contests, which was really stressful stuff. After school, I would inject GTA into my veins as a tranquilizer ;) I can still remember the exact routes I took to complete the missions, as I’ve played it a dozen times.

After I managed to win a tough biology contest, I was sick as hell from nerves. I got a monetary award from my parents and bought my first game, Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Rose Tattoo. This was a great inspiration for me, I started learning advanced English then, as I wanted to understand EVERYTHING Holmes and Watson said. Learning English took my mind off other school subjects because it was something I was able to excel in without suffering from anxiety caused by science subjects. All my games were in English, always. I think it is fair enough to say games saved me from studying medicine. I got admitted to a medical school, but decided to withdraw my papers before the academic year started, and started studying languages instead. The best decision ever.

Although my studies had nothing to do with gaming, I would like to pursue Ph.D. studies on games someday. Don’t know the exact area - maybe translation or a more sociological point of view. I’m gathering materials and thinking on how games influenced my life, e.g. I know that I probably would have not met my husband if it wasn’t for my (and his) craze for games.

When I think of it, I can say that games have laid some solid foundations for my attitude to life. I don’t know how to explain it, but I simply feel happier when I know that there are many people who don’t approach games as a waste of time. The advantages of playing games (learning a language or other stuff - maths or science, improving one’s reflexes, relaxing) are really tangible, at least in my case. Today my Dad plays Zuma or scans photos to take his mind off his nerve-wracking job, and I play the good old Glory of the Roman Empire or format files for my work to take my mind off my (sometimes) nerve-wracking job… Maybe it’s the automaticity of tasks which relaxes us. But there’s definitely more to games than that.