Just wanted to post what I found at http://dadgum.com/glist/updates.html
on Jim in case anyone was interested. Thanks to Bill Heineman for
pointing this page out to me. I was both impressed and a more than a bit
honored that the list includes such "big names" among its ranks.
>In terribly sad and unexpected news, 6502 guru James Nitchals died this
>past Friday. In the glory days of the Apple II Jim
> co-founded Cavalier Computer with Barry Printz and Richard Moore; wrote
>Bug Attack, Asteroid Field, Star Thief, and
> Ring Raiders; and co-authored Teleport and Microwave. This last title was
>the first Apple II game to feature in-game music,
> something considered impossible at the time. Later he worked for
>Electronic Arts and had a substantial hand in games his name
> isn't usually associated with, including Hard Hat Mack and Music
>Construction Set. I've talked to a number of people who
> worked with and learned from Jim over the years, and they consistently
>regarded him as brilliant.
>
> In recent years, Jim was the technical lead for the Cyperpunks'
>Supercharger CD, a deluxe compilation of games and
> development tools for the Starpath Supercharger (a hardware add-on for
>the Atari 2600). He spent considerable time, right up
> through this past April, helping teach 6502 and 2600 programming to a new
>generation of programmers. People would bring
> him code snippets, asking if any improvements were possible, and Jim
>would whittle and optimize them in astounding ways; he
> was credited for doing just this for Oystron, a new hobbyist 2600 game
>released earlier this year.
>
> In the last few months Jim unexpectedly gained wide exposure as the
>"leader" of the anti-spam movement. A recent interview
> with him on the subject is available.
>
> In the words of Doug Ansell, who learned the ins and outs of Apple II
>programming from Jim when they worked together at
> Cavalier, "The industry has truly lost a legend. Time and time again he
>made the impossible possible." Jim Nitchals' web page
> is still online, and is well worth a heartfelt visit.
His site's URL is as follows:
http://pw2.netcom.com/~nitchals/about.html
Ruffin Bailey | Program for the Atari 2600 on your Mac!
rufbo at cetlink.net | http://members.aol.com/~mactari
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