aeroflott

Xmas time again and I have a new run of books in stock ready to ship. To sweeten the deal for new purchasers, I'm including a set of limited-edition postcards and access to exclusive bonus digital content with every purchase. If you're struggling for Xmas present ideas, here it is! Ordering details are here: https://arcadeblogger.com/2022/11/21/missile-commander-book-2022-update/ All books are signed, and I ship globally. Thanks everyone for your support! p.s. if you're a previous purchaser, just PM me your name, or contact me via the blog and I'll send you the access link to the bonus content.

Xmas time again and I have a new run of books in stock ready to ship. To sweeten the deal for new purchasers, I'm including a set of limited-edition postcards and access to exclusive bonus digital content with every purchase. If you're struggling for Xmas present ideas, here it is! Ordering details are here: https://arcadeblogger.com/2022/11/21/missile-commander-book-2022-update/ All books are signed, and I ship globally. Thanks everyone for your support! p.s. if you're a previous purchaser, just PM me your name, or contact me via the blog and I'll send you the access link to the bonus content.

A recent blog post about a cautionary tale relating to arcade preservation. The cabinet in question was a Ridge Racer Full Scale - Namco's audacious and over the top arcade racing sim from the early nineties, which utilises an actual Mazda MX5 car shell and a huge triple display screen. This particular example, still operated until recently in the UK, is believed to be the last working example in the world, (ok I might be a bit premature with that assumption, but it made a good headline). It was almost lost forever, following the actions of a careless 'collector' with questionable judgement, if it were not for some pioneering detective work by UK arcade enthusiasts looking to preserve this cabinet and save the code contained within it. It's quite the yarn, so do check it out: Article here

I'd highly recommend Warren Davis' book "Creating Q*Bert". Real fascinating stuff about developing arcade titles in the early to mid eighties. Not just about Q*Bert. Warren has great stories and had the foresight to take pics at the time too. Amazon UK Link

If anyone missed out earlier this year on grabbing a copy of my book, I have another batch of the hardback version of Missile Commander available now ready to ship out. The price is discounted for all orders made this month - the book is now just £19.99 including shipping to the UK. (Global shipping also available). With Xmas coming up, get your other half to order you one, or it makes a great gift! More detail about the book and what you are getting can be found here. Or go straight to the UK ordering page here. Thanks!

If anyone missed out earlier this year on grabbing a copy of my book, I have another batch of the hardback version of Missile Commander available now ready to ship out. The price is discounted for all orders made this month - the book is now just £19.99 including shipping to the UK. (Global shipping also available). With Xmas coming up, get your other half to order you one, or it makes a great gift! More detail about the book and what you are getting can be found here. Or go straight to the UK ordering page here. Thanks!

Thank you sir! Thanks! I'm really glad you enjoyed the read. If you get 2 minutes, could I ask you to leave a review on Amazon? - would be a huge help! As for bonus content, there's a few things out there that are worth checking out: 1. Try Roy's return to bodybuilding (potentially unpleasant/NSFW). Don't say I didn't warn you. 2. His original interview with the TV show Disinformation is always worth a watch. YouTube is a bit of a rabbit hole full of more stuff related to him if you search around. Slightly more on topic, I recently uploaded the footage of my 4.4 million point World Record game on Missile Command which you can check out here. If anyone would like a signed hardback copy of Missile Commander, you can still grab one from from my site here. I'm shipping daily. Thanks again gents. Tony

Had a few people asking about this - the ebook version of Missile Commander is now available on Amazon: Click here

Had a few people asking about this - the ebook version of Missile Commander is now available on Amazon: Click here

Hi folks, more stock from the printers is due in this week. If you'd like a copy before Xmas, now's the time! Ta!

Hi folks, more stock from the printers is due in this week. If you'd like a copy before Xmas, now's the time! Ta!

These are just my random thoughts for a Saturday afternoon. I think ultimately its about getting comfortable with why you do your creative thing. (And I assume here we're talking about being creative rather than trying to earn a living). One thing that used to constantly frustrate me running my blog, is the amount of work I would put into an article, vs the level of feedback/likes I got. And the sad reality is that the bulk of people don't read anything that's longer than the length of a tweet anymore, or would rather sit passively watching a video on YouTube rathe than having to actually digest something using their brain. I write about arcade history, and there are accounts on Twitter that post a picture of an old Defender cabinet, along with a pithy comment like: "Defender is today's game of the day!". And they will receive endless comments, likes and retweets. Meanwhile, I can post a link to a well-researched 2,000 word article about Defender's history that I've toiled over for two days, and get no feedback at all. The lowest common denominator will win every time. But what is that feedback worth? Not much in my view. I'd rather not have it, frankly. So I took some time out to figure out why I run my blog, and came to the conclusion that I wasn't doing it for "likes" or money, but for myself. I want to create a body of work with my name attached to it, that records arcade history - if people do like what I do, they will seek me out and feedback, share, like etc. So what I did was to detach myself from chasing likes (which is a pointless currency anyway - you're only as good as the last "like" you got), and continue to output on my terms, and my personal standards, on a regular basis. My blog continues to grow organically, and you end up with a group of followers who genuinely appreciate what you do and engage with the content. Feedback for me these days, is a nicely worded email or PM about a particular topic that I've written about. I get a couple of those most weeks. The thing that frustrates me now, is the amount of plagiarism that goes on. My stuff gets copied wholesale, without shame, constantly. Images, my copy, entire articles. You name it. But that's another story. So just be honest with yourself and detach yourself from the expectation of feedback. Forget about likes, and let your quality speak for itself. A smaller following of engaged users is worth much more to me emotionally, than 1,000 randoms who know how to click a like button. The other thing to remember, is that there are a lot of people out there who might enjoy your work, but simply don't acknowledge it. I found this recently when I released my first book. The sales have been phenomenal (for a one man band, self published effort). So many people came out the woodwork and said "I love what you do, and this is going to be great - ordered!". Way beyond any expectations I had. Organic growth is the key. I think as soon as you start chasing validation, you're on the wrong path, and you'll be compromising your usual standard of output, chasing your tail for the next like. If what you do is good, the people who you want to see it, will do so eventually.

I am yes. The key to Missile Command is not to panic. The game is actually very rhythmic - once you get into that frame of mind you get to an autopilot stage ("in the zone" its commonly called) where you're seeing everything and dealing with it well ahead of trouble. Thanks again for the orders everyone - everything has shipped. I hope you enjoy the read!

Thanks! Response has been great so far!

E-Book is in the works, but will be a few months away. If you order a physical copy, more than happy to get a complimentary digital version to you when it's ready if that helps. The book itself is a quality thing, you won't be disappointed with it on your shelf when you're done.

Good spot sir! (I'll never be an author!) And thank you!

Books are now in stock and orders received have now shipped! Thanks for your support!

Books are now in stock and orders received have now shipped! Thanks for your support!

Hi all. I've just self-published my first book, Missile Commander. I've been rolling it out gradually to ensure that I can fulfil orders in good time without being swamped (which turns out to be the right decision as orders have exceeded my expectations so far). It's been suggested that I make it available here, as I figure it will be of interest to you all. Missile Commander has been a 7-year project. If you've not figured it out by the title, the book takes a deep dive into the creation of the arcade game Missile Command, from initial concept through to its release in the arcades during the summer of 1980. It also tells the tale of how I got the Guinness World Record on the game – from playing as a kid in local arcades in Bristol, through to encountering all sorts of drama in more recent years, with stories and anecdotes along the way. So why should you buy it? Well, there’s no waiting around for a Kickstarter – the book is done and printed. Second, it’s not the usual glossy coffee-table type collectable with pretty pictures and stuff that gamers already know – it’s a full-length, detailed hardback book printed on quality 104 gsm paper – 77,000 words spanning 267 pages. There are 60 colour images to support the dialogue, many previously unpublished, including a few surprises for the collectors and gaming historians out there. In short, if you enjoy my blog and classic arcade gaming, and "old" Atari, then this will be right up your street. Lots of previously unknown detail and info is revealed. What I think I've produced is a properly researched, well-written, quality product that people with an interest in video game history are going to enjoy. I've always felt that the story of the development of Missile Command has never been properly told and I wanted to address that. The icing on the cake (well, for me at least), is that Dave Theurer, the creator of Missile Command was good enough to write the foreword; and this year marks the 40th anniversary of the release of the original arcade game. There’s more detail about the contents on the ordering page below if you want to check it out: www.missilecommander.com Feedback from initial recipients of the book has been very positive in terms of shipping, the physical quality of the book and its detailed content. Risks: Payment is by Paypal, so buyers get the usual protections there should I get run over by a bus, or disappear to Rio with your cash. I'm an active part of the arcade collecting/restoring community, and have no plans to sully my name by failing to deliver on expectations. To reiterate, this isn't a "6 month Kickstarter wait" situation - the book is done and ready to go! Current shipping status: The first batch has sold out, but I expect another batch to arrive next week, which is when I will ship your book to you. In short I don't anticipate a long lead time here. I will update shipping status in this thread to keep you all up to speed. (The post office at the moment appears to be rather sporadic with delivery times depending on where you are, so please bear with me). I'm not a publisher. This has been a personal indie project. As a one man band, I've self-published, which means I don't have the leverage of volume production and marketing from a publisher or distributor behind me and of course I'm not in a position to order and store 1,000 copies of the book up front. But I’ve kept the price as low as I can - the UK price of £24.99 includes shipping in a protective Amazon-style cardboard bookwrap and some freebies too for the first bunch of orders. I can also ship outside the UK if required (at an additional cost obviously) - more detail on the landing page. Happy to answer any further questions anyone might have. If you choose to order a copy, I am very grateful for your support. I am confident you will enjoy this celebration of one of Atari's best-loved arcade titles. Thank you! Click here to place your order: www.missilecommander.com Tony (Also posted in Retro/Arcade Gaming folder)

Hi all. I've just self-published my first book, Missile Commander. I've been rolling it out gradually to ensure that I can fulfil orders in good time without being swamped (which turns out to be the right decision as orders have exceeded my expectations so far). It's been suggested that I make it available here, as I figure it will be of interest to you all. Missile Commander has been a 7-year project. If you've not figured it out by the title, the book takes a deep dive into the creation of the arcade game Missile Command, from initial concept through to its release in the arcades during the summer of 1980. It also tells the tale of how I got the Guinness World Record on the game – from playing as a kid in local arcades in Bristol, through to encountering all sorts of drama in more recent years, with stories and anecdotes along the way. So why should you buy it? Well, there’s no waiting around for a Kickstarter – the book is done and printed. Second, it’s not the usual glossy coffee-table type collectable with pretty pictures and stuff that gamers already know – it’s a full-length, detailed hardback book printed on quality 104 gsm paper – 77,000 words spanning 267 pages. There are 60 colour images to support the dialogue, many previously unpublished, including a few surprises for the collectors and gaming historians out there. In short, if you enjoy my blog and classic arcade gaming, and "old" Atari, then this will be right up your street. Lots of previously unknown detail and info is revealed. What I think I've produced is a properly researched, well-written, quality product that people with an interest in video game history are going to enjoy. I've always felt that the story of the development of Missile Command has never been properly told and I wanted to address that. The icing on the cake (well, for me at least), is that Dave Theurer, the creator of Missile Command was good enough to write the foreword; and this year marks the 40th anniversary of the release of the original arcade game. There’s more detail about the contents on the ordering page below if you want to check it out: www.missilecommander.com Feedback from initial recipients of the book has been very positive in terms of shipping, the physical quality of the book and its detailed content. Risks: Payment is by Paypal, so buyers get the usual protections there should I get run over by a bus, or disappear to Rio with your cash. I'm an active part of the arcade collecting/restoring community, and have no plans to sully my name by failing to deliver on expectations. To reiterate, this isn't a "6 month Kickstarter wait" situation - the book is done and ready to go! Current shipping status: The first batch has sold out, but I expect another batch to arrive next week, which is when I will ship your book to you. In short I don't anticipate a long lead time here. I will update shipping status in this thread to keep you all up to speed. (The post office at the moment appears to be rather sporadic with delivery times depending on where you are, so please bear with me). I'm not a publisher. This has been a personal indie project. As a one man band, I've self-published, which means I don't have the leverage of volume production and marketing from a publisher or distributor behind me and of course I'm not in a position to order and store 1,000 copies of the book up front. But I’ve kept the price as low as I can - the UK price of £24.99 includes shipping in a protective Amazon-style cardboard bookwrap and some freebies too for the first bunch of orders. I can also ship outside the UK if required (at an additional cost obviously) - more detail on the landing page. Happy to answer any further questions anyone might have. If you choose to order a copy, I am very grateful for your support. I am confident you will enjoy this celebration of one of Atari's best-loved arcade titles. Thank you! Click here to place your order: www.missilecommander.com Tony (Also posted in Creative folder)

The man was a game changer. Really hard to process this news. I guess if I had one musical hero, it was Eddie Van Halen. I first saw them at Donnington in 1984, and have been fortunate enough to see them live in the US a few times in more recent years. This is how I'll remember him. His solo at 2:30 is mind blowing.

Appreciate the feedback gents. Thank you. Next month's guest is a cracker, so keep an eye out!

I need to stop reading this thread. I'm caving in.

I was about to say he named checked you! He seemed genuinely amazed that you pulled it off.

Microsoft seem to be getting it together generally these days. They have some nice consumer hardware out there, Windows 10 is a great, reliable experience (speaking personally anyway), and the new Edge Browser is seeing good pickup (and it's excellent). With the new X Box imminent, it will be interesting to see where they are in 5 years.