The Podcasts of Retro Gaming: The Atari 2600 Game by Game Podcast

I have to admit in the short time I have been involved in the retro gaming community I have been impressed. There is a lot of love out there for old games, and a lot of really passionate people who pass the bug of collecting on so easily.

I'm writting this series of blogs about podcasts, because podcasts for me are how I came into the fold. There are a lot of really great retro gaming podcasts out there too, and I want to pass a few of them on to you to give a listen to. 

This first show I am reviewing is not the first one I started listening to initially, I'll cover that one later. But this podcast to me is true embodiment of the retro-gaming community, the shows how that love of this hobby shines from those who are into it.

The Atari Game by Game podcast was started back in February by the host Ferg. In each podcast he usually covers to Atari games, giving a brief synapsis of both games. For each games he provides a brief history of its development, the names of the designers, and technical data on each game. If the games are from a third party company Ferg will often give a brief summary of that particular company, or in some cases the division of it that produced video games. Ferg has also gone as far as tracking down and contacting game designers to ask them about games and has had a few successes doing that. 

Ferg's overall goal of his podcast is to present each Atari 2600 game in order by part (CX) number, squeezing in third party games here and there. In a recent interview I heard Ferg mention that even staying with his weekly format, there may be as many as two to three more years of material for him to cover in Atari 2600 games. 

As far as Ferg himself keep in mind he is not a professional podcaster, or a former radio personality, and that he is the only one on his podcast. So he's not mister booming radio voice, and you can tell he is a little nervous in his first few podcasts. But, his love for retro gaming has come shining through the whole time, and he has always put together a great podcast. 

What I like most about the podcast is the way Ferg describes gameplay, rather then critiquing it. He does share his opinion on games, but he concentrates more on detail. As a new collector and player of 2600 games learning about a new title and gameplay gives me a far better idea as to whether or not it's the type of game I want to add to my collection, and play. Also his part number basis for collecting has also inspired me to make my eBay purchase of games to follow along, I have to say after hearing his first podcast Combat was one of my first buys.