tigerstyle
Active member
All stuff from the golden era, it covers 1983 to 1992:
http://www.textfiles.com/games/ATARIMAIL/
Thats 10 years worth of internal ATARI emails in an easy to read format; it contains tons of interesting internal discussions about royalties, credits and bonuses (a guy has a massive shitfit about that in vax83.txt), tons of infos about developpement, prices of parts and whatsnot.. It's really interesting to read!
This covers the coin-up AND the console departements.. Vax83.txt has discussions about how the coin-up section is in the red and how the whole company is surviving thanks to the console sales!
I love geek stuff like this:
It seems that on august 3, lots of people lost their jobs
http://www.textfiles.com/games/ATARIMAIL/
Thats 10 years worth of internal ATARI emails in an easy to read format; it contains tons of interesting internal discussions about royalties, credits and bonuses (a guy has a massive shitfit about that in vax83.txt), tons of infos about developpement, prices of parts and whatsnot.. It's really interesting to read!
This covers the coin-up AND the console departements.. Vax83.txt has discussions about how the coin-up section is in the red and how the whole company is surviving thanks to the console sales!
I love geek stuff like this:
Does your game have trouble reproducing the speech patterns of
females and (other) alien life forms? If so, you may wish to avail yourself
of the 10 kHz sample rate option. The current sample rate is 8 kHz, which is
optimal for male voice and requires less memory storage. To use the 10 kHz
option, you must:
1) Change the clock for the TI 5220 from 640 kHz to 800 kHz.
2) You may need to adjust any lowpass filter for the speech output,
as the new bandwidth will be 5 kHz instead of 4 kHz. The cutoff frequency
can have a big effect on how the speech sounds - see me for details.
3) Tell us to analyze your speech at the 10 kHz rate, and to have
RPM call the speech routine a little more often. (The new frame period is
20 ms instead of 25 ms.)
4) Allow for 25% more rom storage (I would let this be a deciding
factor only if there is little difference between the sound quality at the
8 and 10 kHz rates.)
If you're unsure which rate to use, or if you have sound effects or
a mix of male and female voices you wish to try, we can try it both ways and
see which sounds best.
While we're on the subject of clock speeds, Brad mentions that since
the Yamaha chip needs a 3.579545451 mHz (colorburst crystal) clock speed,
it will be easy to derive the 1.7etcetc mHz clock to run the pokeys at the
speed at which they run on the 800, so that the sounds we develop on the
800 development system won't sound different in the games.
It seems that on august 3, lots of people lost their jobs
From: KIM::ALBAUGH 3-AUG-1984 09:34
To: @SYS$MAIL:JUNK
Subj: Phone list (again)
If you have not done so already, please take a few minutes to
send me your name, address, and phone #. Not only those who are leaving,
but those who are staying. I hope we can keep up the many valuable friendships.
As before, anyone who sends me their info gets a copy of the whole list.
Please use the following form:
Mike Albaugh
xxxxxxxxxxxx
(xxx) xxx-xxxx
Thank you,
Mike.
p.s. The list will also be available on Jeff Bell's B.B.S. (xxx) xxx-xxxx.
The current plan is to have the list accesible to anyone who is on it. For
more details, see Jeff.
___________________________________________________________________________
From: KIM::MENCONI 3-AUG-1984 10:00
To: @SYS$MAIL:JUNK
Subj: This is Goodby...
It has been good working with all of you. I mean it sincerely when I
say that I have always considered Coin-Op to be the elite of the game
divisions. Keep it up!
I like Atari. I have been here (but not in this "division") almost 3 years
and have grown quite attached to the ol' fuji. I wish you all the best and
sincerely hope that each of you, and Atari as a whole, succeeds. You still
have hard times ahead of you but I have faith that you will pull through.
Good luck,
Dave
___________________________________________________________________________
From: KIM::GARFIELD 3-AUG-1984 10:18
To: @SYS$MAIL:ENGINEER.UAF
Garfield Is Dead! Long Live Garfield!
___________________________________________________________________________
From: KIM::RAY 3-AUG-1984 10:50
To: @SYS$MAIL:JUNK
Subj: Farewell
I'm sad to say that I will be leaving ATARI after 7 very enjoyable
years. I doubt that I will ever again be able to work with as many
exceptionally talented and fun people.
I wish each of you all the best wherever life takes you. To those
of you who are staying with ATARI, I wish you the best of luck in
turning this see-saw industry around.
I hope that I someday have the opportunity to work with you again.
It's been REAL!!
Sincerely,
John Ray
___________________________________________________________________________
From: KIM::VICKERS 3-AUG-1984 11:00
To: @SYS$MAIL:JUNK
Subj: The "Newer" ATARI
From: KIM:EUS 3-AUG-1984 11:35
To: @SYS$MAIL:JUNK
Subj: GOODBY AND GOODLUCK
THIS IS THE FIRST TIME AND THE LAST TIME I AM USING THE MAIL .
YES ,I HAVE FEW WORDS TO SAY.ATARI HAS BEEN GOOD TO ME AND I HAVE NO
REGRETS.IT HAS BEEN FUN WORKING WITH ALL OF YOU AND GOOD LUCK TO ALL
OF YOU WHERE EVER YOU MAY END UP.AS VERY WISE OLD TURK TOLD ME:
" THIS IS IT"
"THERE ARE NO HIDDEN MEANINGS"
" THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS ,EACH MAN MUST DO FOR HIMSELF"
I MAY BE CONTACTED AT HOME FOR THOSE WHO MAY WANT TO CHAT ABOUT
ANYTHING.MY HOME ADDRESS AND PHONE NUMBER IS:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
(xxx) xxx-xxxx
SO LONG, SAM DEUS
___________________________________________________________________________
From: KIM::RUBIN 3-AUG-1984 12:15
To: @SYS$MAIL:ENGINEER.UAF
Subj: Garfield is in good company
Garfield may be dead...but he was seen leaving carrying a
set of golf clubs!!!!!!!!
Golf has died too!
-O-
___________________________________________________________________________
From: KIM::BABCOCK 3-AUG-1984 13:20
To: @SYS$MAIL:ENGINEER
Subj: One more for the road
Goodbye to all those whose lifes intersected with mine. I've enjoyed
working with you all these past few years. Good luck to all those
who must now carry on the tradition of Atari, "the serious funtakers."
May we meet again in future incarnations, and may you never take any
wooden garfields.
Eddie Dean Babcock, Jr.
P.S. I'm listed in the Albaugh white pages.
___________________________________________________________________________
From: KIM::SINGH 3-AUG-1984 13:47
To: @SYS$MAIL:JUNK
Subj: GOODBYE TO ALL
GOODBY... TO EVERYONE ... ITS BEEN GREAT WORKING HERE.
DURING MY THREE AND HALF YEARS OF EMPLOYMENT AT *ATARI* I HAVE ENJOYED THE
WORKING ENVIRONMENT AND ALL THE SPECIAL PEOPLE OUT THEIR.I FEEL FORTUNATE
TO HAVE WORKED ON THE VARIOUS COMPUTER GRAPHICS SYSTEM AT ATARI. MY FUTURE
GOALS ARE TO CONTINUE IN COMPUTER GRAPHICS,VOLUNTEER FOR SIGGRAPH, CONTINUE
WITH MY STUDIES IN PROGRAMMING AND BE A GOOD MOTHER.
AND NOW I'M GOING OUT IN THE ATARI TRADITION .... "POUR ME ANOTHER ONE PLEASE"
*****GOOD FORTUNE****
TO EVERYONE
___________________________________________________________________________
From: KIM::RUBIN 3-AUG-1984 14:18
To: @SYS$MAIL:ENGINEER
Subj: Owen doesn't work here any more...
I just wanted to say good bye to all the great people I have
worked with these past 8 years.
"good bye to all the great people I have worked with these
past 8 years"
I've really enjoyed the Atari experience. I hope those staying
can pull the company out of this deep hole. Who know, maybe the company
will grow big enough again that I can someday come back and disrupt
everything again. And if not, and if it gets smaller and smaller...
who knows, maybe one day I can come back and buy it!!!!!!!!
Ill be about one more week, so get your abuse while you still
can!!!!!
It feels like graduation from school again...so now I got to go
out into the real world and find a job!!!!!!
Im in the Albaugh white pages, feel free to call anytime, either for
a chat, or for the Rubin answering message of the month!
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