Atari 2600 four-switch "wood veneer" version, dating from 1980-1982
Manufacturer	Atari, Inc.
Type	Video game console
Generation	Second generation
Retail availability	NA October 14, 1977 EU 1978 JP October, 1983 (Atari 2800)
Introductory price	199 USD
Discontinued	January 1, 1992[1]
Units sold	30 million (as of 2004)[2]
Media	ROM cartridge, Tape
CPU	MOS 6507 @ 1.19 MHz
Memory	128 bytes RAM, 4 kB ROM
Controller input	Joystick Paddles Driving Controller Trak-Ball Keypad
Online services	GameLine
Best-selling game	Pac-Man, 7 million (as of September 1, 2006)[3][4]
Predecessor	Atari Pong
Successor	Atari 5200

The Atari 2600 is a video game console released in October 1977 by Atari, Inc. It is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and cartridges containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with all games built in. The first game console to use this format was the Fairchild Channel F; however, the Atari 2600 receives credit for making the plug-in concept popular among the game-playing public.

The console was originally sold as the Atari VCS, for Video Computer System. Following the release of the Atari 5200, in 1982, the VCS was renamed "Atari 2600", after the unit's Atari part number, CX2600. The 2600 was typically bundled with two joystick controllers, a conjoined pair of paddle controllers, and a cartridge game—initially Combat^[5] and later Pac-Man.^[6]

The Atari 2600 was wildly successful, and during much of the 1980s, "Atari" was a synonym for this model in mainstream media and, by extension, for video games in general.^[7]

The Atari 2600 was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame at The Strong in Rochester, New York in 2007. In 2009, the Atari 2600 was named the second greatest video game console of all time by IGN, who cited its remarkable role as the console behind both the first video game boom and the video game crash of 1983, and called it "the console that our entire industry is built upon."^[8]

History[link]

Atari Inc. had purchased an engineering think tank in 1973 called Cyan Engineering to research next-generation video game systems, and had been working on a prototype known as "Stella" (named after one of the engineers' bicycles) for some time. Unlike prior generations of machines that used custom logic to play a small number of games, Stella's core was a complete CPU, the famous MOS Technology 6502 in a cost-reduced version, known as the 6507. It was combined with a RAM-and-I/O chip, the MOS Technology 6532, and a display and sound chip of their own design known as the TIA, for Television Interface Adaptor. Beyond those three, the first two versions of the machine contain just one more chip, a standard CMOS logic buffer IC, bringing the total chip count to the very low and cost-effective number of four. Some later versions of the console eliminated the buffer chip.^{[citation needed]}

Programs for small computers were generally stored on cassette tape, disk or paper tape. By the early 1970s, Hewlett Packard manufactured desktop computers costing thousands of dollars such as the HP 9830, which packaged Read Only Memory (ROM) into removable cartridges to add special programming features, and these were being considered for use in games. At first, the design was not going to be cartridge-based, but after seeing a "fake" cartridge system on another machine, they realized they could place the games on cartridges essentially for the price of the connector and packaging.

In August 1976, Fairchild Semiconductor released their own CPU-based system, the Video Entertainment System. Stella was still not ready for production, but it was clear that it needed to be before there were a number of "me too" products filling up the market—which had happened after they released Pong. Atari Inc. simply did not have the cash flow to complete the system quickly, given that sales of their own Pong systems were cooling. Nolan Bushnell eventually turned to Warner Communications, and sold the company to them in 1976 for US$28 million on the promise that Stella would be produced as soon as possible.

Key to the eventual success of the machine was the hiring of Jay Miner, a chip designer who managed to squeeze an entire wire wrap of equipment making up the TIA into a single chip.^[9] Once that was completed and debugged, the system was ready for shipping. By the time it was released in 1977, the development had cost about US$100 million.

Launch and success[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2006)

Produced in 1978, the second 6 switch model was one of many revisions to the 2600

an example simple of Atari 2600 outputs.

The unit was originally priced at US$199, and shipped with two joysticks and a Combat cartridge (eight additional games were available at launch and sold separately).^[10] In a move to compete directly with the Channel F, Atari Inc. named the machine the Video Computer System (or VCS for short), as the Channel F was at that point known as the VES, for Video Entertainment System. The VCS was also rebadged as the Sears Video Arcade and sold through Sears, Roebuck and Company stores.

When Fairchild learned of Atari Inc.'s naming, they quickly changed the name of their system to become the Channel F. However, both systems were now in the midst of a vicious round of price-cutting: Pong clones that had been made obsolete by these newer and more powerful machines were sold off to discounters for ever-lower prices. Soon many of the clone companies were out of business, and both Fairchild and Atari Inc. were selling to a public that was completely burnt out on Pong. In 1977, Atari Inc. sold only 250,000 VCSs.

For the first year of production, the VCS was manufactured in Sunnyvale, California. The consoles manufactured there had thick internal RF shielding, and thick plastic molding around the sides and bottom. These added weight to the console, and because all six switches were on the front, these consoles were nicknamed "Heavy Sixers". After this first year, production moved to Hong Kong, and the consoles manufactured there had thinner plastic molding. In 1978, only 550,000 units from a production run of 800,000 were sold, requiring further financial support from Warner to cover losses. This led directly to the disagreements that caused Atari Inc. founder Nolan Bushnell to leave the company in 1978.^[11]

Once the public realized it was possible to play video games other than Pong, and programmers learned how to push its hardware's capabilities, the VCS gained popularity. By this point, Fairchild had given up, thinking video games were a passing fad, thereby handing the entire quickly growing market to Atari Inc. By 1979, the VCS was the best-selling Christmas gift (and console), mainly because of its exclusive content, and 1 million units were sold that year.^{[citation needed]}

Atari Inc. then licensed the smash arcade hit Space Invaders by Taito, a killer app which greatly increased the unit's popularity when it was released in January 1980, doubling sales to over 2 million units. The VCS and its cartridges were the main factor behind Atari Inc. grossing more than $2 billion in 1980. Sales then doubled again for the next two years; by 1982, the console had sold 10 million units, while its best-selling game Pac-Man sold 7 million copies.^[12] The console also sold 450,000 units in West Germany by 1984.^[13] By 1982 the 2600 console cost Atari about $40 to make and was sold for an average of $125. The company spent $4.50 to $6 to manufacture each cartridge and $1 to $2 for advertising, and sold it for $18.95 wholesale.^[14]

The all black "Darth Vader" 4-switch model from 1982-

In 1980, the VCS was given a minor revision in which the left and right difficulty switches were moved to the back of the console, leaving four switches on the front. Other than this, these four-switch consoles looked nearly identical to the earlier six-switch models. In 1982, another version of the four-switch console was released without woodgrain. They were nicknamed "Darth Vader" consoles due to their all-black appearance. These were also the first consoles to be officially called "Atari 2600", as the Atari 5200 was released the same year. During this period, Atari Inc. expanded the 2600 family with two other compatible consoles. They designed the Atari 2700, a wireless version of the console that was never released because of a design flaw.^[15] The company also built a sleeker version of the machine dubbed the Atari 2800 to sell directly to the Japanese market in early 1983, but it suffered from competition with the newly released Nintendo Famicom.

In a survey mentioned by Jeff Rovin it is reported that more stores reported breakdowns of the Atari 2600 system than any other, and that Atari repair centers seemed to have the most trouble with consoles manufactured in 1980. In one case it is stated that a system was repaired five times before static electricity from a carpet was discovered as having caused the problem. The controllers were also a source of breakage because of the way they could be gripped by a player holding it with their fist, allowing players to get carried away and over control, which was less likely with other systems released at the time, such as the Odyssey 2, which had controllers that were nearly half its size.^[16]

Sears Tele-Games 2600s[link]

Early Atari 2600 that was branded "Tele-Games" and sold by Sears

Atari Inc. also continued their OEM relationship with Sears under the latter's Tele-Games brand label, which started in 1975 with the original Pong. Sears released several versions of the 2600 as the Sears Video Arcade series from 1977 to 1983. These include the Rev. A "Heavy Sixer" model in 1977, the Rev. B "4 switch" model in 1980, and the US version of the Atari 2800 branded as the Sears Video Arcade II in 1983.^[17]

Sears also released their own versions of Atari Inc.'s games under the Tele-Games brand — often with different titles^[18] — which included the Tele-Games branded variations of text and picture labels. Three games were also produced by Atari Inc. for Sears as exclusive releases under the Tele-Games brand: Steeplechase, Stellar Track, and Submarine Commander.^[18]

Sears' Tele-Games brand was unrelated to the company Telegames, which also produced cartridges for the Atari 2600 — mostly re-issues of M-Network games.^[19]

Decline[link]

During this period, Atari Inc. continued to grow until it had one of the largest R&D divisions in Silicon Valley. However, it spent much of its R&D budget on projects that seemed rather out of place at a video game (or even home computer) company; many of these projects never saw the light of day. Meanwhile, several attempts to bring out newer consoles failed for one reason or another, although Atari Inc.'s home computer systems, the Atari 8-bit family, sold reasonably well, if not spectacularly. Warner was more than happy anyway, as it seemed to have no end to the sales of the 2600, and Atari Inc. was responsible for over half of the company's income.

The programmers of many of Atari Inc.'s biggest hits grew disgruntled with the company for not crediting game developers and many left the company and formed their own independent software companies. The most prominent and longest-lasting of these third-party developers was Activision, founded in 1980, whose titles quickly became more popular than those of Atari Inc. itself. Atari Inc. attempted to block third-party development for the 2600 in court but failed,^{[citation needed]} and soon other publishers, such as Imagic and Coleco, entered the market. Atari Inc. suffered from an image problem when a company named Mystique produced a number of pornographic games for the 2600. The most notorious of these, Custer's Revenge, caused a large number of protests from women's and Native American groups^[20] because it depicts General George Armstrong Custer raping a bound Native American woman.^[21] Atari Inc. sued Mystique in court over the release of the game.^[22]

Atari Inc. continued to scoop up licenses during the shelf life of the 2600, the most prominent of which included Pac-Man and E.T. Public disappointment with these two titles and the market saturation of poor third-party titles are cited as big reasons for the video game crash of 1983. Suddenly, Atari Inc.'s growth meant it was losing massive amounts of money during the crash, at one point about $10,000 a day. Warner quickly grew tired of supporting Atari Inc., and started looking for buyers in 1984. Although not formally discontinued, the 2600 was de-emphasized for two years after Warner's 1984 sale of Atari Inc.'s Consumer Division to Commodore Business Machines founder Jack Tramiel, who wanted to concentrate on home computers. He froze all development of console games, including a 2600 Garfield game and an Atari 5200 port of Super Pac-Man.

Atari 2600 Jr.[link]

The Atari 2600 in its 1984 cost-reduced version, also known as the "2600 Jr."

In 1985, a new version of the 2600 was released (although it was planned for release two years earlier). The new redesigned version of the 2600, unofficially referred to as the 2600 Jr., featured a smaller cost-reduced form factor with a modernized Atari 7800-like appearance. The redesigned 2600 was advertised as a budget gaming system (under $50) that had the ability to run a large collection of classic games. With its introduction came a resurgence in software development both from Atari Corp. and from a few third parties (including Activision, Absolute Entertainment, Froggo, Epyx, and Exus). The Atari 2600 continued to sell in the USA and Europe until 1991, and in Asia until the early 1990s. Its final Atari-licensed release was KLAX in 1990. Over its lifetime, an estimated 30 million units were shipped, and its video game library reportedly numbers more than 900 titles with commercial games being released until 1991. In Brazil, the console became extremely popular in the mid-1980s. The Atari 2600 was officially retired by Atari Corp. on January 1, 1992,^{[citation needed]} making it the longest-lived home video game console (14 years, 2 months) in video game history.

The system was promoted on a United Kingdom TV ad in 1989 in the run-up to Christmas, in which it claimed "The fun is back!" The advertising campaign used its price of under £50 as a selling point. However, despite this the game system was a commercial failure. The advert was a re-dubbed version of the early original campaign in the United States.

Design[link]

Hardware[link]

Standard joystick

The CPU was the MOS Technology 6507, a cut-down version of the 6502, running at 1.19 MHz in the 2600. The 6507 included fewer memory address pins—13 instead of 16—and no external interrupts to fit into a smaller 28-pin package. Smaller packaging was, and still is, an important factor in overall system cost, and since memory was very expensive at the time, the 6507's small 8 kB of maximum external memory space was not going to be used up anyway. In fact, memory was so expensive they could not imagine using up even 4 kB, and when they got a deal on 24-pin connectors for the cartridge socket, they were only too happy to thereby limit the games to 4K.^[23] Later games got around this limitation with bank switching.

The console had only 128 bytes of RAM for run-time data that included the call stack and the state of the game world. There was no frame buffer, as the necessary RAM would have been too expensive. Instead the video device had two bitmapped sprites, two one-pixel "missile" sprites, a one-pixel "ball," and a 40-pixel "playfield" that was drawn by writing a bit pattern for each line into a register just before the television scanned that line. As each line was scanned, a game had to identify the non-sprite objects that overlapped the next line, assemble the appropriate bit patterns to draw for those objects, and write the pattern into the register. In a telling reveal of its Pong heritage, by default, the right side of the screen was a mirrored duplicate of the left; to control it separately, the software had to modify the patterns as the scan line was drawn. After the controller scanned the last active line, a more leisurely vertical blanking interval began, during which the game could process input and update the positions and states of objects in the world. Any mistake in timing produced visual artifacts, a problem programmers called racing the beam.^[24]

The video hardware gave the 2600 a reputation as one of the most complex machines in the world to program, but those programmers who understood it realized that such direct control over the video picture was also a source of flexibility. One advantage the 2600 had over more powerful competitors such as the ColecoVision was that the 2600 had no protection against altering settings in mid-line. For example, although each sprite nominally had only one color, it was possible to color the rows differently by changing the sprite's color as it was drawn. If the two hardware sprites were not enough for a game, a developer could share one sprite among several objects (as with the ghosts in Pac-Man) or draw software sprites, which was only a little more difficult than drawing a fixed playfield. The Pitfall! screenshot below demonstrates some of these tricks: the player is a multi-color sprite, one sprite is multiplexed for the logs and the scorpion, and the swinging vine is drawn by shifting the position of the "ball" on each scan line. Despite the hardware limitations, many Atari 2600 games have a lot of action on the screen, creating an engaging experience.

Additionally, the 2600 supported several types of input devices (joysticks, paddles, keyboards, etc.) and third-party peripherals, and many of these peripherals were interchangeable with the MSX and several other Japanese systems. In some cases, it is possible to use the Atari joysticks with the Sega Master System and Mega Drive/Genesis, though functionality may be limited. Conversely, Master System and Genesis controllers work quite well on the 2600.^{[original research?]}

Color and graphics[link]

The Atari 2600 used different color palettes depending on the television signal format used.^[25] With the NTSC format, a 128-color palette was available, while in PAL, only 104 colors were available. Additionally, the SECAM palette consisted of only 8 colors.

Notable games[link]

During the console's lifetime, Atari Inc and Atari Corp. published many titles. These games include Adventure (often credited as starting the action-adventure game genre^[26]—its creator, Warren Robinett, also introduced the first widely known Easter egg to the gaming world),^[27] Breakout,^[28] and Yars' Revenge.^[29] The console's popularity attracted many third-party developers, which led to popular titles such as Activision's Pitfall!^[30] and Imagic's Atlantis. However, two Atari published titles, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial^[30] and Pac-Man,^[31] are frequently blamed for contributing to the video game crash of 1983.

Legacy[link]

Atari 2000[link]

The Atari 2000 (model number CX-2000) is a prototype version of the Atari 2600 intended to be released as a cheaper alternative for children in 1982. Although identical in specification to the original 2600, the 2000 included built-in controllers and a different case design. The 2000 was originally intended to be black, but it was later recolored blue to appeal more to children. While Atari never officially stated the reason for not releasing the 2000, experts have cited the poor quality and durability of its built-in joysticks and the greater in-house popularity of the competing 2600jr design as the most likely reasons.^[32]

Atari 3200[link]

Atari started work on a replacement to the 2600, called the Atari 3200, with codenames including Super Stella, Sylvia, and PAM (a note attached reads "Super Stella: Multipurpose"). The system was to have compatibility with Atari 2600 cartridges, and was based on a 10-bit processor. It was still unfinished when preliminary game programmers discovered that it was difficult to program. The project was cancelled, and Atari went with the second "System X" also titled PAM, that would later become the Atari 5200. Atari also cloned the Atari 3200 into the Sears Super Arcade II, but this was never released.^[33]

Clones and reissues[link]

The console and its old and new games are very popular with collectors because of its significant impact on video game and consumer electronics history and also due to its nostalgic value for many people, along with a number of games that are still considered highly playable. In addition, modern Atari 2600 clones remain on the market. One example is the Atari Classics 10-in-1 TV Game, manufactured by Jakks Pacific, which emulates the 2600 console, and includes converted versions of 10 games into a single Atari-brand-look-a-like joystick with composite video outputs for connecting directly to modern televisions or VCRs. Another is the TV Boy, which includes 127 games in an enlarged joypad.

The Atari Flashback 2 console, released in 2005, contains 40 games (with four more programs unlockable by a cheat code). The console implements the original 2600 architecture and can be modified to play original 2600 cartridges by adding a cartridge port, and is compatible with original 2600 controllers.

Additionally, Benjamin Heckendorn has created several different versions of a portable 2600, created by cutting apart full-sized vintage units, adding screens and putting them into new enclosures.

In music[link]

Many games for the Atari 2600 have detailed and easily identifiable music, and its distinctive sound makes it ideal for use in modern lo-fi and industrial music. In 2002, Dallas musician and visual artist Paul Slocum developed a cartridge called Synthcart for the Atari 2600, which allows the user to turn an Atari 2600 into a two-voice synthesizer and drum machine. Adapters have also been developed by amateurs enabling the Atari 2600's use with MIDI devices. A number of bands, such as 8 Bit Weapon, MIKE BISON, Bud Melvin, TEMPHUiBIS, Black Moth Super Rainbow and The Squigs, as well as Slocum's own band Tree Wave, use Synthcart to make modern music on the Atari 2600.^{[citation needed]} Some effects units like the MXR Blue Box are often cited for their ability to produce an Atari-like sound. Phonte from the hip-hop group Little Brother, along with fellow lyricist Eccentric, formed a mock-group named Unheralded Symmetrics, and recorded a tribute to the system, entitled "Atari 2600".

Emulation[link]

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Atari 2600 emulation is available for most major operating systems and is now very accurate. Despite the relative simplicity of the 2600 system, it is not an easy system to emulate. While it does not require a lot of computational power to emulate the 2600, it is hard to accurately do so. For example, because of the lack of a frame buffer, 2600 emulators must not only emulate the console, but the television as well. Due to the longevity of the system, many 2600 games used undocumented features, and even exploited bugs in the hardware to squeeze the most out of the system, doing things even the original designers would deem impossible (a notable example is the starfield of the game Cosmic Ark). It took some time for the emulator programmers to mature their software to properly emulate the undocumented features, bugs and quirks of the system.

The MESS emulator supports recording and playing back of Atari 2600 emulation sessions. The Home Action Replay Page^[34] (aka HARP) allows Atari 2600 users to archive their favorite play sessions of the Atari 2600 system and its games. The javatari emulator has a multiplayer mode that allows two users play as Player1 and Player2, as if they were playing on the same console.

Some well known Atari 2600 emulators today are:

• Stella - An open source, multiplatform emulator (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Dreamcast, Nintendo DS, Wii, GP2X).
• z26 – Another open source, multiplatform customizable emulator (Windows, MS-DOS, Linux)
• javatari – Open-source, multiplatform Java based emulator with network multiplayer features and a real console panel user interface.
• PC Atari Emulator – Easy to use, very fast emulator (Windows, MS-DOS). Handles the Cosmic Ark starfield effect correctly.
• MESS – the multi system emulator that supports all old Atari console systems
• The Pocket VCS – PPC – Easy to use, very fast and emulator (Windows Mobile).^{[citation needed]}
• GP2X-2600 – An emulator for the GP2X handheld console

Homebrews[link]

Thomas Jentzsch's Thrust, a homebrew game for the Atari 2600

After 30 years since the launch of the Atari 2600, new homebrew games for the system are still made and sold by hobbyists with several new titles available each year. Most of the development on the platform is still done in 6502 assembly language but a BASIC-like language compiler named batari Basic (or "bB") and visual environment called Visual batari Basic are also available.

Games created for the Atari can be executed using either an emulator or copied directly to a blank cartridge making use of either a PROM or EPROM chip. This allows the construction of homebrew cartridges that will run on an original Atari 2600.

Programmers[link]

This is a partial list of Atari 2600 programmers:

• David Crane
• Tod Frye
• Rob Fulop
• Larry Kaplan was one of the top programmers on the Atari 2600.^[35]
• Alan Miller
• Warren Robinett
• Carol Shaw
• Howard Scott Warshaw
• Bob Whitehead
• Tom Reuterdahl

See also[link]

Computer Science portal

• List of Atari 2600 games
• Coleco Gemini
• TV Games
• TV Boy

Notes[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Atari 2600 at the Open Directory Project
• Gamasutra's A History of Gaming Platforms: Atari 2600 Video Computer System/VCS
• Review of Atari 2600 games
• batari Basic page
• Inside the Atari 2600

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Atari 2600

v t e Atari 2600 Games 1977 launch titles Air-Sea Battle Basic Math Blackjack Combat Indy 500 Star Ship Street Racer Surround Video Olympics Best-selling games Pac-Man Pitfall! Asteroids Missile Command Space Invaders Demon Attack E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Atlantis Adventure River Raid Kaboom! Game lists List of Atari 2600 games List of Atari 2600 prototype games Category:Atari 2600 games Category:Cancelled Atari 2600 games Game developers Atari, Inc. Activision Imagic Coleco M Network Parker Brothers Xonox Hardware and emulation Atari 2600 hardware Television Interface Adaptor Atari Flashback Coleco Gemini GameLine Starpath Supercharger Cuttle Cart Stella z26 javatari (multiplayer emulator) PC Atari Emulator Related articles Atari 2600 homebrew Atari 2500 Atari 2800 Atari Age Racing the Beam: The Atari Video Computer System Category

Jonathan Coulton
Background information
Born	(1970-12-01) December 1, 1970 (age 41)
Origin	Brooklyn, New York City
Genres	Folk rock, power pop, indie rock
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Guitar, banjo, ukulele, zendrum, tenori-on
Years active	2003–present
Associated acts	Paul and Storm Kristen Shirts John Hodgman Molly Lewis Ellen McLain Ze Frank RiffTrax They Might Be Giants
Website	http://www.jonathancoulton.com/

Jonathan Coulton (born December 1, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter, known for his songs about geek culture and his use of the Internet to draw fans. Among his most popular songs are "Code Monkey", "Re: Your Brains", "Still Alive" and "Want You Gone".

A former computer programmer employed at Cluen, a New York City software company^[1], and self-described geek, Coulton tends to write quirky, witty lyrics about science fiction and technology: a man who thinks in simian terms, a mad scientist who falls in love with one of his captives, and the dangers of bacteria. Rare topical songs include 2005's "W's Duty", which sampled President George W. Bush, and 2006's "Tom Cruise Crazy". Most of Coulton's recordings feature his singing over guitar, bass, and drums; some also feature the various other instruments Coulton plays, including accordion, harmonica, mandolin, banjo, ukulele, and glockenspiel.^[2]

Coulton graduated in 1993 from Yale, where he was a member of the Yale Whiffenpoofs^[3] and the Yale Spizzwinks(?). He is now the Contributing Troubadour at Popular Science magazine, whose September 2005 issue was accompanied by a five-song set by him called Our Bodies, Ourselves, Our Cybernetic Arms.^[4] He was also the Musical Director for The Little Gray Book Lectures.^[5]

Career[link]

Coulton's best-known works include his light-acoustic cover of the Sir Mix-a-Lot hit song "Baby Got Back" and original pieces such as "Code Monkey", which was featured on Slashdot^[6] on April 23, 2006 and linked from the webcomic Penny Arcade.^[7] It was also the theme song for an animated show on G4 called Code Monkeys.

His work has been featured on NPR's All Things Considered. Good Morning Silicon Valley featured a link to a video set to his song "Re: Your Brains".

Coulton accompanied John Hodgman on his "700 Hobo Names" promotional track for Hodgman's book The Areas of My Expertise as the guitarist (he was credited as "Jonathan William Coulton, the Colchester Kid"). Coulton also can be heard throughout the audiobook version of the same book, playing the theme song to the book, playing incidental music, and bantering with Hodgman, who reads the audio version of his work. Hodgman has also mentioned Coulton on The Daily Show: a Jonathan Coulton of Colchester, Connecticut, was Hodgman's pick to win an essay contest on overpowering Iraqi resistance to American invasion.^[8] Coulton wrote and performed "the winning entry", a song about dropping snakes from airplanes. Coulton appeared on the tour for Hodgman's second book, More Information Than You Require.

Coulton composed the title music for the show Mystery Diagnosis, and also has contributed other songs under "The Little Gray Book Lectures", a series of audio releases from John Hodgman.

Coulton, Paul and Storm, and Molly Lewis performing at Dragon*Con 2011

In 2006, Coulton began touring with comedy-duo Paul and Storm. At their first few shows, Coulton opened the concerts, but soon after his rise to fame, he was headlining.

Coulton wrote and performed a song titled "Still Alive" for the ending credits of Valve's 2007 video game Portal, with vocals by Ellen McLain. On April 1, 2008, Harmonix made this track available as free downloadable content for the game Rock Band.^[9] A version with Coulton's vocals was also included on the Orange Box Original Soundtrack,^[10] in addition to the one heard at the end of the game. "Still Alive" has also made an appearance as an easter egg in Left 4 Dead 2.^[11] The song has been called "the most influential game music".^[12] In 2011, Coulton followed up the success of "Still Alive" with a new song at the end of Portal 2, "Want You Gone".

A DVD & CD of a concert performed February 22, 2008, at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, entitled Best. Concert. Ever. was released in 2009. At the concert, Coulton played the aforementioned song "Still Alive" on its Rock Band version, along with guest "musicians" and geek/celebrities Leo Laporte, Merlin Mann and Veronica Belmont.^[13]

Coulton opened for They Might Be Giants for a few shows of their March 2010 tour.^[14] He toured with them again in February 2012.

Coulton had been working on his follow-up to the Thing a Week albums, tentatively titled The Aftermath. It has since been stated that the title is merely an umbrella term to classify non-album tracks released after Thing a Week. On May 25, 2010, Coulton said on his official site that he would be working on a new album, to be produced by John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants,^[15] and for the first time ever with a full band, including Marty Beller of They Might Be Giants,^[16] in a professional recording studio. The resulting album: Artificial Heart, was released on September 2, 2011.

In May 2011, Coulton was interviewed on NPR's popular economics-related program Planet Money. He disclosed that he makes about $500,000 a year from his music despite lacking a record label contact. He expressed gratitude towards his fans for his surprise success, the degree of which he called "absurd". In a broader discussion of whether or not the internet is good for musicians, Coulton answered in the affirmative, while journalist Frannie Kelley described him as a "fluke" such as the Snuggie.^[17] Coulton posted a tongue-in-cheek response on his blog about the comparison, saying "to which I say: snarkity snark snark!"^[18]

Licensing[link]

Coulton releases his songs under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license, allowing others to use them in their own noncommercial works. As a result, a number of music videos have been created using his songs, including such machinima as the ILL Clan's video for "Code Monkey" and a kinetic typography video for the song "Shop Vac".^[19]

Thing a Week[link]

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From September 16, 2005, to September 30, 2006, Coulton ran "Thing a Week", during which he recorded 52 musical pieces in an effort to push his creative envelope via a "forced-march approach to writing and recording"; to prove to himself that he could produce creative output to a deadline; and to see whether a professional artist could use the Internet and Creative Commons to support himself. Early indications are that the experiment succeeded in generating a large number of high quality songs, boosting sales of music downloads, expanding Coulton's public presence, and enlarging his fan base. The success of the financial objective is more difficult to judge, but Coulton was quoted in a September 2006 interview as stating that "in some parts of the country, I'd be making a decent living".^[20] In a February 25, 2008, interview with This Week in Tech, he stated that he made more money in 2007 than he did in his last year of working as a programmer, 40% of it from digital downloads and 40% from merchandise and performances.^[21]

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

• Smoking Monkey (2003)
• Where Tradition Meets Tomorrow (2004)
• Our Bodies, Ourselves, Our Cybernetic Arms (2005)
• Thing a Week One (2006)
• Thing a Week Two (2006)
• Thing a Week Three (2006)
• Thing a Week Four (2006)
• Artificial Heart (2011)

Compilations[link]

• JoCo Looks Back (2008)
• Best. Concert. Ever. (Live album - 2009)

Other releases[link]

• Other Experiments (Rarities Collection) (2005)
• Unplugged (Live on Second Life) (2006)
• The Orange Box Original Soundtrack (2007)
  • 1. "Still Alive" (Sung by Ellen McLain)
  • 19. "Still Alive" (Sung by Jonathan Coulton)
• The Aftermath (2009)
• Portal 2 Soundtrack: Songs to Test By - Volume 3 (2011)
  • 13. "Want You Gone" (Sung by Ellen McLain)

Most of Coulton's songs are published on his website as MP3 and FLAC downloads. Some of them are free, and none of them are subject to digital rights management. All of his original songs fall under the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 3.0 License. "Still Alive" and "Want You Gone" are the only exceptions to this, as Coulton assigned all rights for the songs to Valve. Along with "Still Alive," Coulton's song "Re: Your Brains" appears in jukeboxes in Left 4 Dead 2. "Want You Gone" also features in the end credits of Portal 2. All three of these games were designed by Valve.^[22]

Other versions and covers[link]

Pianist Louis Durra recorded an instrumental trio version of "Code Monkey" released on "Mad World EP" and "Arrogant Doormats" (2011).

NES Rock Band I Fight Dragons covered "The Future Soon" on their "IFD Super Secret Exclusives" EP (2009).

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jonathan Coulton

• Official website
• Jonathan Coulton on Myspace
• Jonathan Coulton on Twitter
• Jonathan Coulton at the Internet Movie Database
• Jonathan Coulton at the Open Directory Project
• Sex, Drugs and Updating Your Blog, a profile of Jonathan Coulton in the New York Times Magazine dated May 13, 2007.