Subject: [stella] Jim Nitchals From: Ruffin Bailey <rufbo@xxxxxxxxxxx> Date: Tue, 9 Jun 98 23:11:14 -0500 |
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 -- Archives (includes files) at http://www.biglist.com/lists/stella/archives/ Unsub & more at http://www.biglist.com/lists/stella/stella.html
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