In the 80’s we published A.N.A.L.O.G. Computing magazine, the leading Atari computer magazine. ANALOG was an anagram for “Atari Newsletter and Lots of Games.” The magazine was a major computer and gaming title in the early of days of personal computers, we sold a lot of copies every month and the magazine was well respected for the original, often commercial-grade, high-quality programs and games we included in each issue that readers could type into their own computers. We were later a pioneer in new media followed by running our own BBS (Bulletin Board System.) At the same time, we also ran a successful Atari computer store in central Massachusetts. Later we rolled out ST-Log for the Atari 16-bit computers, as well as some Atari books and commercially distributed games.
Even to this day there are websites in the US, Germany and Japan with back issues of the magazine available for download and we see ANALOG mentioned on Atari and gaming retro sites…the games we published at the time are still played and in circulation. Well, in June 2016 I received the following email from Warner Bros. Studios asking for permission to use ANALOG as a set dressing for the upcoming film Ready Player One.
“I work in the Warner Bros. Theatrical Clearance Department. We would like to request permission to use various issues of ANALOG Computing Magazine as a prop and piece of set decoration in our upcoming movie currently titled “Ready Player One,” directed by Steven Spielberg and based on the bestselling novel by Ernest Cline.
Although our story is set in 2044, the film features and celebrates iconic properties from the 1980s & 90’s. We would like to include the magazines in various scenes throughout the film as a way to highlight the gaming and coding culture that developed during the era.”
So, of course, I gave them permission, how cool that something we created was an 80’s geek pop culture icon! The movie was still a year-and-a-half away from release and the chances of ANALOG making it in the movie were slim.
So, we were blown away when we spotted a pile of our magazines on the floor in one of the scenes. And in the same room with a poster of a favorite movie of mine, Big Trouble in Little China. And also next to a pile of Nintendo Power magazines!
