Trammeil

[Ze_ro]

quote:

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Originally posted by Inky:

I guess the question now becomes what's next for Atari. Does anybody see Atari regaining its one-time golden age prominence, or is it going to be forever relegated to a footnote in technology history?

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Well, I hardly think Atari is merely a "footnote in technological history"... after all, they achieved a damn lot, and will probably always be remembered as the grandfather of video games. However, I really doubt we'll see anything other than software out of Infogrames. I think it would be amazingly cool of Infogrames to put a few programmers towards making a handful of 2600 titles. Obviously, these would not be distributed, but probably be available via mail order. While I doubt this will ever happen, I think it would be amazingly cool of Infogrames, would probably net them a ton of respect, and likely wouldn't even take all that long (Certainly less time and effort than it takes to make a new game for the PS2, X-Box or Gamecube).

 

Hell, if Activision is listening, I think this would be a really cool idea for them too, hint hint

 

--Zero

[Mindfield]

 I hate to be the party pooper, but I doubt the amount of respect Infogrames would garner from such a project would be worth more than a little word-of-mouth PR. Consider the modern video game demographic: kids. Kids who, for the most part, are too young to remember the NES or SMS, never mind first generation consoles. Kids who were weened on flashy graphics and realistic sound. Kids who have Spyro and Mario burn-in on their retinas. Kids to whom Don Madden is merely a name slapped on a line of football games for PS2 and PC, but for whom Dave Mirra and Tony Hawk are sports Gods. Mention Atari and you'll get responses like "Oh, you mean the company that did Frogger 2: Swampy's Revenge?"

 A VCS project, as cool as we all think it would be, would only draw the likes of us -- old fogeys who owned the machines they're to be played on when they were new, plus a fortunate few who are too young to remember that, but nevertheless have cultivated an affinity for gaming's roots.

 Neither do I think Infogrames would have a chance at making a new gaming console. With Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo all going head-to-head late this fall for the 6th generation console wars, there's no room for another system, and certainly not for a system from a company as comparatively small as Infogrames, and one who's never done the console thing before. Sony in part lucked out with the PSX back in '95 because -- hey, it's a Sony, and they had the funds to push it hard. Microsoft will probably have good success too because -- hey, it's Microsoft. They have the funds to swallow everyone else. That pretty much covers the whole pie, leaving Infogrames little more than crumbs and a smear of filling, which isn't worth fussing over.

 Now, the portable market right now is a little thin. In fact, the only thing going now is the GBA. GBC is slowly dying out, with barely 5 GBC titles scheduled for release between now and Christmas. Ignoring for the moment the failures of the Ban Dai Wonderswan and the SNK NeoGeo Pocket, neither of which really had much of a chance given Nintendo's lock on the portable market, I think Infogrames might have a shot there. At the right price point, and with the right technology, Infogrames could concievably revoke Nintendo's claims to the most powerful handheld system on the market. Give it a similar sized backlit or reflective TFT screen, a low-power high-speed RISC CPU like the Crusoe, a decent amount of main/video RAM, a good GPU and a 32-bit bus, then bundle it in a sturdy, lightweight casing with plenty of available accessories (comission Mad Catz, InterAct or Performance to make 'em), and I think they could have a competitive product. Provided they could get good third party support of course.

 

 I know, it's a pipe dream. But the portable market is the only one where there's even a chance of survival because there is only one competing product. Sure, it's Nintendo's, but that boils down to semantics. A market with only one competitor is ripe for plucking by anyone who does it right. A market with three well-established competitors is just picking over bare branches.

[Ze_ro]

Sadly, you're probably right about Infogrames getting little notice for making a 2600 game... But you have to admit that it would be pretty damn impressive to those of us who would actually notice it!

 

--Zero

[Mindfield]

 Oh, I'd certainly be impressed. I'd love to see a retro re-release of the VCS. Price it cheap, remanufacture some of the better carts, maybe inspire a few old-time game companies to do the same, and I'd buy the whole dang lot. Unfortunately the cost involved in that would be prohibitive, both for the console itself and the carts. There would be little margin in it for the companies -- certainly not enough to make it worth the hassle, especially considering the small demographic it would be aimed at.

 Then again, look at the TV Boy and similar products. Retro releases cheaply made and, I presume, selling at least well enough to garner the attention of many retrogamers. But then, the companies needn't manufacture cartriges for them; the games are built right in, and I think that's the key. Maybe Infogrames could still release a cartrige-based console, but manufacture multicarts with, say, 10 games apiece on each. I think that could sell...

[StanJr]

I so hate to do this, since it is nit-picky and against most everything I stand for, but its JOHN Madden, not Don. My apologizes for coming off like an , Minefield. Its not my intent. But yeah, little punks don't know what REAL video gaming is. I'd buy a new 2600 and most of the games.

[Mindfield]

Doh! I'm usually careful about such things. It was late when I wrote that; names were not exactly floating at the top of the bowl, as it were...

 

...no pun intended...

 

(Uh... bowl ... John ... never mind. :-)

[arcadesdude]

quote:

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Originally posted by Mindfield:

     A VCS project, as cool as we all think it would be, would only

draw

the likes of us -- old fogeys who owned the machines they're to be played on when they were new, plus a fortunate few who are too young to remember that, but nevertheless have cultivated an affinity for gaming's roots.

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Old fogeys? I dunno, if being 18 and playing atari back in 1988-present makes me an old fogey...so be it! I even buy new 2600/7800 games when I find some that I liked on an emulator (stella). Being able to play the game on my 7800 (seem to have lost the 2600, probably still in the attic is alot more fun than playing on the computer; it's just something about the console and the correctly stated 'nearly indestructable cartriges' that makes it seem more comfortable than in front of a computer. Does anyone find playing on the computer unconfortable (because of the interface, no nice comfy bed/couch to lie on)? Oh I still play all the newest games too. Atari is good for quick action (except adventure, etc}, where as my playstation with games (mostly RPGS) like Grandia, are a bit more complex and meant for when I can dedicate more than 1 hour of my time to playing.

 

I'm in to progamming to; for the TI-86 calculator. What?! A Calculator?! Well, its got better [read pure technical] specs than the atari [2600] does. (A 4mhz z80 zilog microproccessor, 98kb ram, 8-64kb usable at run time, 4 level [sofware controlled] greyscale, etc...) There are alot of old arcade/atari like games for these TI calculators like [Centi]Pede, [Ka]Boom!, Arkinoid, Galaxian, Defender, Frogger, etc...

 

New re-released Atari games, would appeal to the 18+ market,those who remember/still play[ing]. I'm sure some young kids would buy multi-all-in-one atari game 'pacs' that are cheap, just because they are cheap. Cost seems to be a big factor to younger kids whose only source of income is a measly allowance. It might appeal to the older crowd too, since they played it back in the day and of course it would be cheap...But to be cost-efficient while providing a great game playing experience has always been a great problem and is the crux of the modern developer.

[Mindfield]

True -- but in cases like this, bulk can go a long way towards making up for the lack of what passes for substance these days. Just look at the bundles available for PCs: 5-in-1, 10-in-1 and various other packs full of older PC games repackaged into one box to try and squeeze that last ounce of marketability out of games that would otherwise have been shelved 'til that magical day when they become classics, and therefore fashionable (and profitable) again. Retro is in, man. Like a fine wine: It's all trod upon grapes gone bad 'til it's aged long enough to become palatable once more.

And yes, cheap is definitely a factor for many people. Working the retail end of the software biz has taught me one thing: the cheaper it is, the more they'll clamour to buy it, especially if it's something they would never have otherwise bought at a higher price. Our store often has "free" (after mail-in rebate) titles on the shelves, and it draws people in droves. Even the crappy titles sell. Give people a bargain -- any bargain, and they'll salivate at the prospect of all the money they'll 'save.'

 

As for the age question -- like I said, there are some few who are too young to properly remember Atari's salad days (just what the hell are salad days, anyway?) but have nevertheless been drawn in by the machine's engaging yet deceptively primitive titles. These too are the blessed, for though they may not have enjoyed these machines in their prime, they're nevertheless enjoying them now, and discovering anew what we discovered back in the day: blocky and noisy and ultimately unrealistic though the games be, they're still damn fine entertainment equal to or greater than anything on the shelves today where pure gameplay is concerned. Just as you've been fortunate enough to discover -- and more power to you for it.

[mos6507]

I hate to be the party pooper, but I doubt the amount of respect Infogrames would garner from such a project would be worth more than a little word-of-mouth PR. Consider the modern video game demographic: kidsQUOTE]

 

I read a statistic not that long ago that said that only 15% of the gaming demographic are under 18.

 

Like comic books, the demographic has shifted more into the 20 something crowd.

 

Now whether hardcore "bleeding edge" gamers in their 20s are interested in anything different from 10 year olds is a matter of debate...