Ken Newquist 
Battlezone is a first-person tank game released by Atari in 1980. Like Star Wars Arcade, it uses vector graphics to create a three-dimensional representation of its gaming world. It helps inform the visuals of Ready Player One. Quote On the surface, Archaide looked exactly like the environment of the 1981 game Battlezone, another vector-graphic classic from Atari. In … Read more
I made steady progress through Nuketown’s Summer Reading List in June 2023, completing three books and starting two new ones. At this point, I’ve read six of the 13 books on my reading list. Given that we’re headed into high summer, that’s a pretty good pace. You can my reading list on Goodreads and The Story Graph. Children of Memory (Children … Read more
Star Wars Aracade is a vector graphics-based video game released by Atari in 1983. Additional versions were released for home consoles (albeit with inferior graphics). The game plays a minor role in Ready Player One, serving as the inspiration for the arcade museum planet of Archaide. Quote The planet’s only surface feature was a web … Read more
As we move into summer, I’m gearing up for two Cyberpunk RED campaigns – one a Lair of Secrets actual play campaign and the other a supplemental campaign for the Blackrazor Guild. The Lair Cyberpunk RED Campaign The Lair of Secrets campaign is a long-0time coming – my co-host David and I started talking about it after GenCon 2022 … Read more
Madness and the Minotaur is a text adventure game for the TRS-80 in 1981 by Spectral Associates. It plays a minor role in the book Ready Player One. Quote I knew from my research that the cassette recorder functoned as the TRS-80’s “tape drive”. It stored data as analog sound on magneetic audiotapes. When Halliday had first … Read more
At 51, with a kid in college and another in high school, I’m firmly in the Sandwich Generation (and have been for years). These are the folks who find themselves caring for kids and providing support for their older parents. In this episode, I talk about my experiences and offer advice for others in a … Read more
After three years of Dungeons & Dragons and Fast and Furious GURPS, my lunchtime gaming group is changing gears and playing Monster of the Week. Monster of the Week is a Powered by the Apocalypse game inspired by series like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Supernatural, and The X-Files … all of which are very much in my wheelhouse. Players take on … Read more
Pyramid – aka Pyramid 2000 – is a clone of Colossal Cave Adventure that trades the original game’s fantasy tropes for an Egyptian-themed pyramid crawler. Radio Shack published the game in 1979 for the TRS-80. Quote I knew from my research that the cassette recorder functoned as the TRS-80’s “tape drive”. It stored data as analog sound on … Read more
Nuketown’s Summer Reading List for 2023 is off to a strong start. I started a week earlier than normal – my traditional kickoff is Memorial Day Weekend, but hey, I make the traditions. I finished three books on my reading list and kicked off two more. You can track my progress on Goodreads and The Story Graph. … Read more
Bedlam is a text adventure game released by Radio Shack for the TRS-80. Written by Robert Arnstein (Raaka-Tu, Pyramid 2000) and released in 1982, the game sets you up as a patient trying to escape an asylum. Quote I knew from my research that the cassette recorder functoned as the TRS-80’s “tape drive”. It stored … Read more