Atari Age

As an avid reader of comics and player of video games, it's a rare treat to discover new ephemera. Yesterday Atari Force came to my attention!

At the height of the VCS 2600's popularity Atari developed, in conjunction with Warner Communications stablemate DC Comics, mini comics that were included as part of game cartridge pack-ins (only in the USA as far as I'm aware). Here's an extract from the press release:

They burst onto the scene with Defender--came together as a team in Berzerk--and soared into the multi-dimensional cosmos in Star Raiders. They are the Atari Force, a daring team of adventurers traveling through time and space, carrying the excitement of Atari into the thrill-a-minute world of comic books.

Grab an issue from AtariAge. I've emailed the editor regarding whether or not they'll make PDF editions available in the future.

Back to pack-ins. As a consumer-savvy kid I always looked forward to opening a new Star Wars or Transformers toy and leafing through the enclosed booklet(s) for forthcoming products. Karl Marx would've demonstrated disdain at my imprudence.

Yahoo! has released a fully customizable beta toolbar for Firefox (1.1 should be in beta soon) and, holy software shenanigans, it's available for Mac OS X! MacMonkies newest desktops got a mention on MacMinute. Loving the limelight.