Curt Vendel Posted May 14, 2002 Share Posted May 14, 2002 Hey, at long last Infogrames is having a 3rd party make an official Atari hardware product, its the same type of system as the Activision TV game, but its a start!!! JAKKS Pacific to Launch Atari TV Games MALIBU, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 14, 2002--JAKKS Pacific, Inc. (Nasdaq:JAKK) announced today that the Company's subsidiary Toymax International has entered into a worldwide licensing agreement with Infogrames Interactive, Inc. to develop and market the Atari® 10-In-1 TV Games, a plug and play 8-bit gaming system utilizing your television set. This second introduction to its TV Games category is expected to hit retail shelves third quarter 2002. "We are very pleased to have Atari® as the next extension to the TV Games category. The retro graphics and sounds that Atari first introduced decades ago are a perfect match for the platform," remarked Stephen Berman, President and COO, JAKKS Pacific. "The combination of 10 vintage video games and all of the hardware built right into the joystick controller make this a portable, affordable and perfect take-anywhere gadget." Atari® 10-In-1 TV Games features 10 classic games from Atari, one of the original creators of video games! It has a lightweight, compact, all-inclusive controller, which allows gamers to play video games anywhere there is a TV with ATV input jacks (standard on almost all sets manufactured within the past decade). Atari 10-In-1 TV Games includes "Centipede®," "Asteroids®," "Missile Command®," "Battlezone®," "Adventure," "Combat" and more, and is available in five colors: blue, red, green, yellow and black. Atari 10-In-1 TV Games is anticipated to retail for approximately $20. New York-based Infogrames, Inc. (Nasdaq:IFGM) is one of the largest third-party publishers of interactive entertainment software in the U.S. The Company develops video games for all consoles (Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft), PCs, and Macintosh systems. Infogrames' catalogue of more than 1,000 titles includes award-winning franchises such as "Civilization®," "Backyard Sports," "Deer Hunter®," "Driver," "RollerCoaster Tycoon®," "Test Drive®," and "Unreal®," and key licenses including Warner Bros. "Looney Tunes," Nickelodeon's "Blue's Clues®," "Dragon Ball Z®," "Mission Impossible®," "Terminator®," "Harley-Davidson®," "Major League Baseball®," and the "National Football League®," among many others. The Company's Humongous Entertainment and MacSoft labels are leaders in children's and Macintosh entertainment software, respectively. Infogrames, Inc. is a majority-owned subsidiary of France-based Infogrames Entertainment SA (IESA) (Euronext 5257), a global publisher and distributor of video games for all platforms. In 2001, IESA acquired Infogrames Interactive, Inc. (formerly Hasbro Interactive), including its line of software based on well-known licenses such as "MONOPOLY," "Jeopardy®," "TONKA," and "Atari®," which are published and distributed in the U.S. by Infogrames, Inc. For more information, visit the Company's Web site at www.infogrames.com. JAKKS Pacific, Inc. (Nasdaq:JAKK) is a multi-brand company that designs and markets a broad range of toys and leisure products. The product categories include: Vehicles, Action Figures, Infant/Pre-School, Plush, Dolls, Water Toys, Sports Activity Toys, Arts & Crafts Activity Kits, Stationery, Writing Instruments and Performance Kites. The products are sold under various brand names including Flying Colors®, Road Champs®, Remco®, Child Guidance®, Pentech®, Toymax®, Funnoodle®, Laser Challenge and Go Fly a Kite®. The Company also participates in a joint venture with THQ Inc. that has exclusive worldwide rights to publish and market World Wrestling Federation® video games. For further information, visit www.jakkspacific.com. ©2002 Infogrames Interactive, Inc. All rights reserved. All marks are the property of their respective owners. This press release contains statements that are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about JAKKS' business based, in part, on assumptions made by its management. These statements are not guarantees of JAKKS' future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in such forward-looking statements due to numerous factors, including, but not limited to, those described above and the following: changes in demand for JAKKS' products, product mix, the timing of customer orders and deliveries, the impact of competitive products and pricing and difficulties encountered in the integration of acquired businesses. The forward-looking statements contained herein speak only as of the date on which they are made, and JAKKS does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this release. CONTACT: JAKKS Pacific, Inc. Genna Goldberg, 310/455-6235 or Integrated Corporate Relations Darren Barker, 562/698-6771 SOURCE: JAKKS Pacific, Inc. Curt The Atari History Museum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eduardo Posted May 14, 2002 Share Posted May 14, 2002 Finally! Our prayers have been heard. I wouldn't mind a true Atari console with a cart slot instead of the All-in-one controller approach, but hey it's a start! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CosmicJoke Posted May 14, 2002 Share Posted May 14, 2002 I'm pretty excited about it. I personally liked the Activision version so I will get this one too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanBoris Posted May 14, 2002 Share Posted May 14, 2002 I still wonder how these units actually work. I see three possible options: 1. A clone of the 2600 hardware 2. An embedded processor running an emulator 3. An embedded processor running ports of the games. I'm tending to thinks it's number three. I think the game selection screen is beyond the graphic capbilities of the 2600 hardware so that would rule out a simple clone of the 2600 hardware. I also don't think a powerful enough embeded processor to do emulation would be economical enough. So that leaves option 3. Dan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassidy Nolen Posted May 14, 2002 Share Posted May 14, 2002 Do you think there would be a way to interchange the game files? For example, if there was a ROM of some sort, could we tap into the legs and run other games to it via a cartridge slot? Sure would be easier to maek the VCSp's with smaller parts! Cassidy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thelen Posted May 14, 2002 Share Posted May 14, 2002 i don't think that would be possible, because the games are remakes of the original games, so no original atari 2600 rom could be used.. will this also be released in europe ? don't think it will thelen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CosmicJoke Posted May 15, 2002 Share Posted May 15, 2002 I am pretty sure the first one used the actual, but slightly modified, Activision 2600 ROMs. Perhaps, Activision Ken would know more? [ 05-14-2002: Message edited by: CosmicJoke ] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariKen64 Posted May 15, 2002 Share Posted May 15, 2002 i JUST said this idea FIVE days ago n another post too bad ic ant find it now..... heres to predictions, and future days! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geogray Posted May 15, 2002 Share Posted May 15, 2002 Glad to see this! Now I can play the Atari games I really like. A portable Missile Command! Very nice. I liked the Activision thingy (with it's various flaws) so I am sure I will like this too! Kudos to Infogrames (or whatever the hell they call themselves.) Now, if only Toymax would do an INTY version and/or an Odyssey II version, my life would be complete... ; ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mindfield Posted May 15, 2002 Share Posted May 15, 2002 Am I the only one not excited about this? I mean it's cool and all that the Atari name is recirculating, particularily linked to all that naff retrogaming and stuff, but it strikes me as so ... cheap. I mean, I do understand that a full-on rollout of a retro 2600 console is rather impractical and probably wouldn't really fly, even at a retro "Under 50 bucks! (50 Bucks?!)" sticker price. Still, the 10-in-1 TV-game thingy just comes across as a shameless ploy to cash in on the retro scene with a cheap shot. Quick cash for Infogrames, but of little real value. I agree that it's a start, of sorts, and in the right direction, but I can't help but feel that its execution is a little off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrizzLee Posted May 15, 2002 Share Posted May 15, 2002 From the description it sounds like it is the same hardware with different roms. If it is of the same quality as the Activison TV games unit, I wouldn't get all that excited about it. I hope that there is more QA on this release than the previous. I hate to see the high quality Atari product line end with such a dismal product like the Activision 10-in-1 piece. On the flip side... if you can ge tit for $10, then it won't be too bad of a deal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godzillajoe Posted May 16, 2002 Share Posted May 16, 2002 What was so bad about the Activision one? I was pretty excited when I heard it was coming out but then never saw it in the store and forgot about it. Can you still find them anywhere? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mindfield Posted May 16, 2002 Share Posted May 16, 2002 If it's cheap enough I might consider getting it, even if just for the nostalgia value. I (still) don't have any real Atari hardware (yet) so it'd be something perhaps to spark the collector that I know is waiting to burst out of me. (And hey, I just got a fat promotion at work, so maybe now I'll be able to afford it. Assuming, as always, that I can find anything in this Atari wasteland... heh) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted May 16, 2002 Share Posted May 16, 2002 According to the famous(?) German computer magazine c't[/i,] the games will be the "unchanged original versions". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heaven/TQA Posted May 16, 2002 Share Posted May 16, 2002 where can i buy them in europe??? heaven ps. thomas...was haellst du von den teilen??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jahfish Posted May 16, 2002 Share Posted May 16, 2002 quote: Originally posted by Lee Krueger: From the description it sounds like it is the same hardware with different roms. If it is of the same quality as the Activison TV games unit, I wouldn't get all that excited about it. I hope that there is more QA on this release than the previous. I hate to see the high quality Atari product line end with such a dismal product like the Activision 10-in-1 piece. so do i .... it's just the same thing that activision allready did long ago. i think atari comes way too late with that .... quote: Originally posted by Lee Krueger: On the flip side... if you can ge tit for $10, then it won't be too bad of a deal it will probably be 20$ i read ..... so that's actually what you can get a console with 10 games ... and that's far more retro than this yellow piece of plastic. honestly, isn't that thing looking more like the nineties? they allready took the atari name tag off from the new arcades they build .... so what surpeise will they come up with next? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranthulfr Posted May 17, 2002 Share Posted May 17, 2002 Any speculation as to what the four unlisted titles might be? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooterb23 Posted May 17, 2002 Share Posted May 17, 2002 If I recall, these are 1 player units right? How the F can they do Combat then???? I can pick up the Activision ones in droves at Toys R US, but I think they are still $20. I may go get one for the heck of it this weekend anyway. While they are at it, they should make the other four games Warlords, Super Breakout, Video Olympics and Circus Atari. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubersaurus Posted May 17, 2002 Share Posted May 17, 2002 Maybe they have s ome sort of scheme to allow two players? I know the activision one allowed for two player freeway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooterb23 Posted May 17, 2002 Share Posted May 17, 2002 Oh ok, I haven't looked at the Activision thing much, but they are still both on just one joystick right? Seems cheesy, I'll probably still buy one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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