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I've just completed a new SDD 99 demo on the P-System: I had to splice it together from 3 takes, since my Amiga monitor blacks out every couple of minutes. You'll notice that continuity is violated at least once, but nevertheless this is the P-System running on bare metal with the SDD. As I mention in the video, I'm currently in the process of designing the final board (assuming there are no bugs). Since I decided I won't have a bus pass-through, I can decrease the width of the board by 2cm, and I'm also adding a plug for an external power source. There is still quite some work on software left, but this can be done later, in part even after the SDD ships.

Both Amico and VCS are charging current gen prices and both have talked about the major competitor products. Putting all of that aside, while I feel satisfied I know what the game offerings are on the Amico (and what their associated philosophical approach is) and that they're offering games not available elsewhere (whether you like them or not is a different discussion), there is nothing equivalent on the VCS side. Nothing. "Retro titles" and "indie games" are literally available on 100% of all existing computers, consoles, and mobile devices, and even on most streaming boxes. So again, if the VCS is not competing against existing and future products, and not even competitive against the Amico (who again, has shown actual exclusive games targeted to a specific demographic), what exactly is its purpose, especially at its price point? Please explain that to those of us who are "willfully ignorant."

New Firmware release for CV core (Rev7) in first post -Re-written SN and AY sound modules -Fix for early Opcode games (Magical Tree, Road Fighter, and sky jaguar)

I made new image (for SD card, UltraSatan, Satandisk, ICD type adapters) with lot of hard disk adapted games, special for people with TOS 1.00 or 1.02 in their ST, Mega ST. Needed to take care about low RAM usage of driver and buffers, so partitions are smaller size. This works with higher TOS versions too, so can use with STE, Mega STE, TT . https://www.mediafire.com/file/hgkdnnwym334ilg/1000GamesT02.zip/file Size is 541 MB. Unpacked: 1.2 GB, so need card of min 2 GB size.

LOL, what a weak argument in the defense of an incompetent company. If they weren't "intending" to compete with the XSX/PS5/Switch, then why didn't they just make yet another Flashback? It doesn't matter what you assume Atari is "trying" to do. You have to look at what they are doing. You can pretend all day long that it's not "intending" to compete with Microsoft/Sony/Nintendo, but it is regardless. Of course it stands no chance against them in terms of hardware, software, & marketing, so you have to spin reality like a politician getting caught texting underage girls. "I was hacked!!" Like it or not, they have made a gaming device that connects to your TV - a product that the rest of the world calls a "console." -It is shaped like one of the most iconic consoles in game history -The word "Atari" specifically evokes the idea of playing video games on it before anything else. -It has controllers for it like a console, offering an equally iconic joystick style that has been used to represent consoles for decades. -Unlike most All-In-One "retro consoles" like the Flashback, it does allow you to purchase or load games onto it to play. -It is priced in a similar range of other game consoles, especially when you have to throw in all of the extra hardware needed for a "complete" experience (controllers, additional storage space, an OS). -It has a digital storefront of some kind, like all modern consoles do. I haven't seen such a thing come with the NES Classic, the Flashbacks or AtGames' Sega remakes -It was initially pitched as a console, until Atari figured out that the power of their name alone wasn't enough to gain sales needed, then they've waffled back and forth on the "unconsole" moniker since. This is because they have no idea what their market is, so they don't know how to grow sales beyond the 11k pre-orders of people who will buy anything with a Fuji logo on it. -The primary function of the VCS is to play games, not function as a web server, a video editing device or to calculate spreadsheets. Rob Wyatt added the "open system" concept to it as a clever workaround for a complete lack of interest from developers. That's why it was an afterthought instead of a feature announced from the get-go. Atari announced the VCS, found tepid support on pre-orders and little interest from developers. So the solution was to cheat by letting people install Steam or GOG on it, then they could claim that it does in fact have thousands, if not millions of games. -They are trying to sell it through companies like GameStop & Wal-Mart gaming, not Wayfair, JCPenny or Verizon stores -You say that it's an "alternative gaming experience." So you are saying that the Switch doesn't offer an alternative to the PS4/PS5, or that phones don't offer an alternative to playing games on your PC? That's what every console is - an alternative to other gaming products out there. The only reason it's focused on retro/indie games is because Atari can't convince any studio worth their salt to develop something just for it, and they don't have a game development department. A company like EA or ActiVision or anyone else doesn't want to flush money down the toilet on an obvious flop. It's basic economics 101. Because the VCS is a console, it is competing with every other concurrent console on the market. Same goes for the Amico. Atari is asking people to spend a few/several hundred dollars on it, and the money that most people have is going to be limited to one or two gaming devices per generation (aka, they're competing for consumer dollars that would be set aside for such entertainment use). Guess you never heard of the Ouya, who did provide updates throughout the Kickstarter process...but at least the Ouya company didn't lie about the process and string people along for four years. Wait, I thought that the VCS didn't have competition because it's some sort of unique alternative gaming experience?? The Amico hadn't been announced prior to the VCS announcement, so in a universe with zero competitors, what would they need to be worried about?

So just to be clear, you're saying the VCS is going to be appealing to those who either have thus far not been interested in emulators or emulation or lack the skills to set up emulators or emulation to suddenly set up said emulators and emulation? For the former group, they're still not going to be interested and for the latter group there are plenty of turnkey solutions to do just that already. I haven't taken a survey - and neither have you, of course - but I suspect most people are not targeting this as an emulation box. If that's what you're targeting it as, great, but I think that market is far smaller than you probably care to realize. There's simply nothing here with the VCS for the average person to give it even a cursory glance. It's DOA if it ever even makes it to wide release unless there's something more to it than they already revealed, which I find unlikely. I suspect this will top out in the 20k sales range at best and have little to no support, either first or third party, again assuming it even sees a wide release. It might just be released to market as-is and the fact that a user can go to the trouble of installing Windows themselves will be their out in terms of delivering on some of the past promises or when the default OS is all but empty after not having the resources to maintain support to such a low population of users who are not making purchases or subscribing to things.

You didn't make any points. You suggested that it was for people who didn't have PCs in 2020... implying that the only thing preventing them from buying one was the lack of an Atari logo on it. The HTPC aspect is the most bizarre logic pretzel that's come up in this project. "The Ataribox is good because it'll have a bunch of games." "All those games are available on other platforms, already, and for the same money or even less." "Yeah, but it's also a PC, so you can install your own stuff on it." "I can already do that with any PC." "Yeah, but some people don't know how to do that. So it has its own OS." "You mean the OS that runs nothing new or original? And quite honestly, barely anything at all?" "It can run anything you want! You just install it! A hobbyists dream!" "...which is what a PC has been, for almost half a century now."

Now your trolling is just too blatant. You went one or two steps too far. There is no competition and no need to "one up their new product." This is not on any "competitor's" radar.

What original content? So far, nada. You would think we'd hear about some of this original content since the console was already supposed to have been released long ago. AntStream, AirConsole, and Game Jolt, like everything else for the VCS, are already available on tons of other platforms. No need for a VCS to experience those monthly pay services. The "Atari Modern Controller" is basically an Xbox controller. The "Atari Classic Joystick" concept has been well-received and will likely be the only enduring legacy of the whole VCS concept, but it remains to be seen what features they'll keep in from the original vision versus what we'll actually get once released. Also, it's not a "universal retro gaming device." I don't know where you're getting that from, but you seem to be running with that pet idea. That's not what it's being pitched as, and you'll certainly have to go through some hoops to make it anything remotely like that. It's easy to get excited by big dollar amounts on an Indiegogo campaign and Kickstarter, but roughly 10,000 system backers (being generous, as you need to account for those who just put in for updates or controllers) on Indiegogo is not exactly a big number. Keep in mind that the Ouya had over 60,000 system backers on Kickstarter (a more impressive platform than Indiegogo) and was able to get on physical shelves in places like Target, and still had limited game support and, more critically, few game purchases from owners. So the VCS has far bigger hurdles than Ouya in a market with more options than ever to do everything the VCS does and more (and better).

Here's a render of the box for Ninjish Guy in Low Res World. Coming soon!

I thought we've established that the VCS was for the niche market of taco shell warmers? Too bad they couldn't keep the original design as I think that would have been better for warming hard shells. Niche or not any new console needs to get itself established and dig into that niche/not niche market. I haven't really seen any marketing suggesting who it is for. So when like Bill said it has current gen prices you can't get mad when its compared to that. Not to mention I think I saw an article somewhere saying there is a new Ryzen chip. Which will once again make the VCS hardware even more less relevant. It is a pretty taco warmer, but I can easily do that with a skillet that is way cheaper. As of this past week my entire family (family of 6 siblings) all have a Switch in their household. That includes my boomer mother. Why? Because Nintendo is welcoming to all, they have great communication, ignore whoever tries to shout them down, doesn't insult them, continues to do what Nintendo does, and does a great job at it. All of them were like, "We need this for Animal Crossing." I haven't seen all my family jump into a single system like that since the Wii, and not everyone had a Wii either. Maybe if companies like Atari VCS spent less time trying to edit/delete reddit posts/etc and focus on doing, and showing we wouldn't be where we are at. Right now the VCS just seems to be trying to cash in on those who loved the good ole days. It would be an acceptable Steam box for lower end games, but they aren't even really marketing that (ignoring pricing and such). On a side note, I'm a little embarrassed today because my slowly getting older butt fell asleep while playing Animal Crossing, and my boomer mother was able to stay up later than me (Gaming fail). My redemption thought is I've had tacos for the past two nights and I'm going to try and get some for lunch to make it a Hat Trick.

Boy, do I feel dumb. When doing CALL LOAD("DSKXXX") the error message is I/O ERROR 00. The first digit is the operation that caused the error which is OPEN and the second digit means "Bad Device Name" In my font loader CALL LOAD("DSKXXX") gives the error messages I/O ERROR 50. The first digit is the operation that caused the error which is LOAD and the second digit means "Bad Device Name" So it turns out the error reporting is doing what it should and the only error is a "layer 8" error.

For those who are new to this little Taco World we live in. I am a day one backer of this paperweight. I was easily sold on fancy renders and gimmicky videos. I am not a gamer at all. I just thought it was an interesting idea. So I have been with this mess since the beginning. Atari lies, cheats and deletes. That simple. I don't think Atari ever intended to make this thing. It was a quick cash grab to get a corporate buyout because here is an upcoming underdog effort with a big following. Classic story with a happy ending! Right? Wrong. I don't trust anything they do. They would go months with no updates. They would make excuse after excuse. They sue or slander anyone or anything they don't like. This is not a reputable company. Do not give them your money or you will regret it. I count giving them money as a top mistake in my life. It rates up with this time I dated a girl twice. Sometimes you learn the hard way. I did. Now back to tacos.

Well...speaking as a collector of over two two decades now: I don't understand. ?‍♂️ I don't understand the thought process that ends at the notion that sticking stuff in plastic cases emblazoned with some number assigned by a self-credentialed organization makes it intrinsically more valuable by orders of magnitude--while simultaneously disregarding that said organization has a vested interest in their items being valued as highly as possible by virtue of their partnership with Heritage Auctions--and buying into that notion to the tune of $114,000. The "collector" here essentially trades a new Maserati for what amounts to glorified shelf candy (which will more likely be stored in a safe deposit box or somesuch anyway), and since it's sealed in its airtight, sterile case, no "gamer" will ever get to play it. Nobody wins here except Wata and Heritage Auctions. (And if it doesn't turn out that the one person who would spend that amount of money on it already has, then the collector investor, too. Good for him/her.) Personally, my problem really isn't about any of that, though. People can spend their money how they want--that's their business. It's just disappointing that there is such a large and ever-growing speculative element in the classic gaming scene that, when it comes down to it, isn't in it for the games, community, preservation, or even its own nostalgia, but rather to exploit and profit from our collective passion. A regrettably natural consequence of the scene growing exponentially over the last quarter-century, but disappointing nonetheless. Wata/Heritage Auctions and their grading scheme represent the apex of it--the logical extreme of speculation culture mutated and run amok. "Prestigious" high profile sales like this do not help; they only contribute to artificial price inflation and make it harder for collectors to collect, and for gamers to game. Classic gaming doesn't need prestige--at least not from outsiders with dollar signs in their eyes.

Slight improvement:

4th Entry - A little improvement. The goal is 100k plus, but that damn invisible robot is DREADFUL!!! ?

Finally broke 20K. The higher you get the faster your score goes up, but the harder it gets. Getting pretty good at shooting the red space ship.

Update: Manuals just arrived, thanks Mark T! Overlays are in the mail, boxes being assembled now.

So, you're saying it's a PC, for people who don't have PCs, so they can enjoy the benefits of having a PC... by buying a PC? is that about right?

I used the board to make a GRAM-device (like GRAM-Kracker) with battery backup and logic for bank switching the >6000 ROM XB-style. The two stacked NEC D43256 are the GRAM, two 6264 (below the leaked battery) are the ROM (when write protected).

34,008 patience, patience, patience, oops, no, whew!

5:30 seems about right. This is my best run. I took one potion, died several times, and dawdled a bit in a few rooms.

I only have 5 days to play Space Armada ... I really need 6 days to catch Rickster... but I’ll try LOL

Finally, destroyed that enemy mothership! 31,671!

Now see? If Atari had that kind of clear-headed thinking running the company, they wouldn't be in this mess. And we'd have tacos.

A little better ... 122,700

Rear lights of Chevrolet Impala 1960, 63 colors. amarok_impala_rear.xex

Oh Karen, you are so cute when you're mad.

In reading the last few posts, I realized (suddenly) that I'm in much the same boat. I'm a developer (of sorts) in that I'm a podcaster and I like to think my content would be of moderate value to the 11,000 people buying a FujiSphere. In theory, I should want to contact Atari and ask if they could provide some sort of access to my show from their box. It has an internet connection, right? So there should be a way to do it, with minimal assistance from me personally. And I doubt I'd have to offer much in the way of incentives for such a low-budget project. On paper, a few e-mails could put me in touch with 11,000 new listeners. But I won't do that. I won't even bother to draft an e-mail. Why? Because I have no confidence that Atari will deliver this box, and if they do, I actually think it would be a negative to have my name associated with it. The best case scenario (if this ever ships) is that there are thousands of disappointed backers. More likely, this project will be buried under class action lawsuits and calls from developers who went unpaid. I'm a guy who runs a podcast out of his guest room, and could "develop" something for this console for nothing, and it's actually not worth it to me to do so. It's too toxic for ME, and I'm a NOBODY.

24500

The way you word this though makes it sound like we're supposed to blindly spend hundreds of dollars on a product without researching it. If that floats your boat, then ok, but not for me. I have been following this since the get-go, and it offers zero reason for me to spend money on it. I would play one if I came across it out of sheer curiosity, although my interest is more in the CX-40 remake. I have access to three PCs between work and home, if I want to emulate stuff there, it's no problem; If I want one of the VCS games, I can buy them on Steam; If I was remotely interested in the streaming services that they've announced for it, I'd just use one right now. I have a Raspberry Pi too connected to a TV that I could adjust for gaming if I wanted to do so. I'd missed this when writing my first response to you, so sorry about the 2nd post, but it bears mentioning. It is easier than ever to connect a PC, Laptop or a phone to a TV. This isn't 1997. Plenty of devices out there (Amazon FireTV, Roku, Apple TV, Chromecast, Raspberry Pi, etc., etc.) feature retro and indie games that you've got a hard-on for, and it's easy to run emulators on these if you know how to look up and follow instructions. Setting up emulators is a niche thing no matter how you slice it, and the VCS isn't going to come with MAME, MESS or Stella pre-installed and configured like you are alluding to. If you find it difficult to play games in the living room these days, then maybe you should find a different hobby. There may have been potential for the VCS to be a great device for indies or homebrewers, but that evaporated after Atari setup an email for gathering developers, then didn't respond to any of them. That's because they don't give a crap about the indie developer. They want AAA studios to support it, but they had no clue how you're supposed to get that support (doesn't help that Atari has a huge reputation in the game development community for skirting their financial obligations and not paying up what they promised). Again, getting back to economics 101, game developers cannot make a game for free. It takes a lot of money to do so, and it's a big risk. To diminish that risk, you make games for a target platform with the largest user base possible. This is why most games go to PC first, then consoles later. Big install base = bigger chance for success. If there is one thing that the VCS will not have, it's users to sell to. 11,000 (less than that, since not all pre-orders are for the console but just the joystick) units is nothing. Chances are that any game worth playing is going to take a few hundred thousand dollars to develop. Even if we were generous and said that there are going to be 11,000 VCS units out there this Winter, then posit an impossible 100% attach rate for a non-pack-in game scenario, a developer wouldn't make their money back. If an indie developer wants to get noticed, then they should contact Nintendo and get in on the Nindies program. This might shock you, but the Nintendo Switch already offers hundreds of retro and indie games on it through the Nintendo eShop. Many indies have praised the Switch, as they've found that their game sells more on that platform in some cases than on Steam. Guaranteed that no one will be saying the same thing about the VCS, in fact it would be a miracle if an indie game even shows up as a blip on the general multi-plat sales charts, because the installed user base of the system will be so minuscule that it will manage to be a footnote in game history, at best. When all is said and done, I'd bet the cost of a top-o-the-line VCS that it will fail to sell more units than the Atari Jaguar did. You really should study what happened to the Ouya, a console with a much lower price tag than the VCS and initially shipped 5-6 times the numbers the VCS did. It had a huge amount of non-exclusive games and emulators available for it. It was still a massive failure. Just because the VCS has the Atari logo on it and it allows you to load up your own OS (which very, very few VCS users are going to do; zero "Netflix moms" or their kids will bother to do so) doesn't mean it will magically become the hottest selling console this Winter or any Winter.

I remember being able to get to 80,000 on this one. Took a while, then it was over pretty quick. Haven't played this one in a while, but it was a favorite as a kid. Here's my first entry:

Hi everyone, gosh things have changed since I first got my hands on an Atari 400 mid 1981. I remember going to a computer club where most computers had black & white displays and were mainly, Atoms, Pets & 1 Ti99-4a (cassette loaded stuff). When they saw my Atari 400 with rom carts loading instantly, and the colour display (TV) with sound, their jaws dropped. A crowd gathered around the machine. A bit about me (Atariwise). I went onto 800's, XL's then the ST's of course. I think my first PC was about 1993 the web was primitive in the UK back then. I'm afraid that's when the Atari stuff took a back seat. I just couldn't get rid of my Atari gear, thank goodness, and now I find quite a lot of add on hardware about! Great. Well now to dust off the cobwebs. Lets play..... Martin.

You aren't suggesting that l'Atari, who literally said they would not provide review units to anyone who had an "agenda" they disliked, would be attempting to hide something?

I did one of those "spur of the moment" Ebay searches. This time for some Avery 4241 pin-feed, 3.5" disk labels. After not being able to find them for a couple of years, I found a vendor that had A BOX in stock and I was able to snag it for a few cents over $12. That will keep me going for quite some time with the hundred or so that I currently have to work with.

Old cell phones from the 40s could only take photos in black and white. ..Al

For those interested using a TI-99/4A as a logic analyser, we (TI User Club Mannheim) developed a 16Bit Logic Analyser for the TI in the early 90`s. It uses a special hardware with a 16-Bit port and of course a 16Bit 32K Memory. But the hardware is no longer avaiable, so I thought about using only a TI-PIO as an 8-Bit port. During the last weeks I rewrote the basic routines to support the TI-Pio and modified the measurement routines to 8-Bit only. So have look to the "TI-Spy" an doing some measurements with a "trigger" to start the measurement:

Hello HSC ! I'm new to this website. I thought I would try my luck in this contest. Here is my Night Stalker score. I just wish I didn't miss the cutoff for Space Armada. Hopefully I can catch up with my other games. Happy Intellivision'ing guys !!!

73300 Mame, gravis gamepad (xmapped) didn't quite make it to the invisible robot The legend says that a 12 year old kid was brought in for testing and got further than anyone at Mattel.

Captain Beeble: 66,400 (regular speed) Completed the first run of 8 stages, and was one level away from completing the second run (lethal walls) Some hints for the Beebs: Conserve your fuel! If you're actively pressing the joystick, fuel depletes quickly. If you let go of the joystick and coast, you'll still lose fuel, but at a MUCH slower rate. Coast as often as you can, especially in the later levels. There's no shame in bouncing along the bottom of the level. Or stopping to rest on the ground while you watch the pattern of a moving block, rather than "hovering" in midair. Conserving fuel, in addition to keeping you alive, also nets a bonus when you return the crystal to the C.P.U. The catch is, you only get the fuel bonus if you've beaten the level on one life. Killing all of the bugs gives you a big bonus. Shooting a bug is 100 points. Killing every bug in the level nets you a bonus of 100 x (number of bugs in the level) when you return to the C.P.U. You still get this bonus if you've used more than one life to beat a level. Beware of the little "explosion" that happens after you shoot a bug - it won't kill you, but you can bounce off of it, potentially sending you into something deadly. One of the levels is reversed (maybe level 7?), meaning that you get the crystal at the beginning, and must transport it to the end. I find it easiest to fly through the level once before picking up the crystal, clearing out baddies, and then returning to pick up the crystal when the coast is clear. On the level with the moving C.P.U., hover above and let it come to you - perhaps even flying slowly upward. If you're accelerating downward, you'll pass through the C.P.U. and hit the deadly wall on the bottom. The bugs are constrained to invisible "zones" which prevents them from getting in the way of the moving blocks and other hazards. You can use this to your advantage: stay on one side of a moving block and pick off the bugs from a distance.

3rd Entry - Ohhh goodie, at 80,000 pts the black robot is invisible. I forgot about that 'wonderful' detail.... ?

It won't be much if any at all. The VCS faithful have shown a cult-like ability to swallow whatever excuses Atari feeds them. They're the people still following a "prophet" on May 7th when he said the world would end on the 6th.

There will be another delay. But tacos will never let you down.

xesf: You appear to be new here, and can't be faulted to not wanting to read the past 1,151 pages of this thread. Please let me try to condense it down for you, and I apologize in advance for any nuance that will be lost in the process. Having tracked this project since the day it was announced, this thread has gathered substantial evidence that Atari never actually intended to manufacture the Atari VCS. Their strategy appeared to be to make themselves appealing for a company buyout, and the company that bought them would have had the ultimate responsibility of delivering the crowdfunded Atari VCS. When no buyout happened, Atari found themselves in the predicament of being legally obligated to deliver a product while not having the finances, know-how, or (quite honestly) desire to do so. So when we're noticing delays, lack of communication, questionable messaging, etc., this isn't coming from a place of concern for the project. This is coming from pattern recognition from several other scam projects that went down this exact same path. The Atari VCS isn't the first crowdfunded console that was never even close to being delivered. It's not even the fifth. It's simply the highest-profile example to people outside the hobby.

Man,I love this game! I was determined to read the booklet and learn how to play. I beat beginner level,and even if that's all I ever accomplish on the game,I am just so happy to have had the chance to play it. Outstanding with your intellivoice hooked up,and the replayability is very high. Great work David and the whole team!?

I like this game: 16,500!

Then you make a long line of tacos.

Thanks for taking the time, it does clear things for me. I am new indeed and browsed a bit until I notice the thousand pages :). Insane the amount of content in a single thread.