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Matt_B

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Posts posted by Matt_B

  2. Posted

    5 hours ago, mr_me said:

    Are native adobe flash graphics vector based, like adobe illustrator?  If that's the case than vector graphics does limit the graphics style compared to raster graphics.  I do know that adobe flash also supports inserting raster images and video.

    Vectors might be a bit harder to create than bitmaps but I don't think they limit your graphical style much. The main advantage of them is that they scale well, regardless of the underlying resolution, so you won't get something that starts to look blocky and jagged on a larger display like raster graphics get when you zoom in past a point. Compare the look of, say, Hollow Knight versus Dead Cells on a 4K display.

     

    Mind you, a lot of people are just going for the pixelated look as an artistic choice these days.

  4. Posted

    I'd think that comparing the Amico to the Switch and the VCS is pointless for different reasons.

     

    The Switch is a massively successful machine that the Amico can't even hope to grasp the coattails of. They'll walk away happy if they get a hundredth of its sales and a tenth would be beyond their wildest dreams.

     

    On the other hand, the VCS has just been a rolling dumpster fire of lawsuits, faked footage and delays. You don't have to be particularly optimistic for the Amico to see it as considerably more worthy.

  5. Posted

    It's worth bearing in mind that the typical $150 laptop is typically built out of mostly obsolescent parts by a manufacturer who has since moved their cutting edge and profitable models onto newer technologies, and can offset their nominal value against the costs of continuing to warehouse them. It takes incredibly efficient practices where practically nothing goes to waste to turn a marginal profit at such prices, and Atari couldn't even hope to compete with them. I doubt they're even making that much of a profit at $390 with the way they do business.

    • Like 2

  6. Posted

    4 hours ago, OCAT said:

    32eMMC, I never understand why they do not make 64GB standard and save the purchaser the frustration. I guess they gotta save that $4.99 component cost.

    Presumably, they're still living in the dreamland where it's a useful product with just the built in Linux-based OS.

     

    Increasing the size of the eMMC just so you can put Windows on it without recourse to an external drive would be a dead giveaway.

    • Like 1

  9. Posted

    3 hours ago, Chopsus said:

    Yes, but after four false starts, even Rodger Moore with a Zimmer frame has a chance to cross the finish line ... what we don’t actually know is if those promised units are actually being produced? Given the increased efforts to raise funds by pushing more preorders and retail arrangements, it is fair to wonder in the latter is funding the former and at what pace?

    Sorry to break it to you, but the only way Roger Moore is crossing that finish line is when continental drift takes Monaco cemetery over it.

    • Haha 1

  10. Posted

    25 minutes ago, Stephen said:

    Any hard core developers here get one of the 1st 96 to go out?  What are you working on?  I can't contain myself with excitement.

    I've a feeling that the only "hard core" this VCS is ever likely to see is the rubble that goes in to the landfill on top of it.

    • Haha 8

  11. Posted

    3 hours ago, roots.genoa said:

    I don't understand how you can play 4 player games with only one Amico. Just curious. :)
    I also seriously hope Farkle is not a $10 game. And I don't think I ever paid more than $50 for a Switch game (physical editions cost less), but whatever...

    You can apparently use phones as controllers for some games. Download an app, sync over Bluetooth, job done.

     

    The same is true of the Switch, for what it's worth, but phones make for pretty poor controllers in most games. Maybe the Amico will fare better.

  12. Posted

    6 minutes ago, Osgeld said:

    technically you need a "drive" as pi's don't come with storage "out of the box" unless you're one of the people that buy a kit with a 25$ pi 8.99 power supply, a 2$ case, and a 5.99 16 gig sd card for 129$ (+ postage)

    Fair enough.


    Still better value than the 'All-In' bundle though. 😀

    • Haha 1

  13. Posted

    1 hour ago, godslabrat said:

    So... let me get this straight... this guy's really impressed that a cheap PC can load an OS intended specifically for cheap PCs?

    ChromeOS can literally run on a Raspberry Pi out of the box.

     

    The VCS is going to need an external drive for it, that'll probably cost you more than a Raspberry Pi. Bargain. 😀

    • Like 3

  15. Posted

    2 hours ago, Agillig said:

    The number doesn't seem as bad once you convert it to to US dollars, but it's still outrageous.  I'm not sure why they'd even bother.

    I'm used to Australian prices and it still seems eye-gougingly expensive to me.


    Let's face it. You could buy an XBox One S and a Switch right now and still have around $20 left towards a PS4 for the price of the 'All-In' bundle.

     

    I'd think 'Taken-In' would be a better name for it. 😀

    • Like 7

  16. Posted

    9 hours ago, OCAT said:

    Since 2017 Nintendo has sold 60 million Switches, in that same time frame Atari has allegedly built 96 consoles and given 1 away to a young girl of the mom that is working on the Atari hotel... big asperations for this system, I am sure that all the devs are beating each other over the head to get a spot to make exclusives for the VCS. Why do I feel that this entire thing paired with Antstream is the 2020 modern version of Action 52 for the NES... all garbage. You are going to get what you pay for, or maybe not.
    Just to satisfy the Atari rooters...

    GOOD WORK ATARI! YOU REALLY NAILED THIS CONSOLE ON THE %^&*$ HEAD! Homerun hit right out of the stadium! ⚾
    KUDOS!!! 💪🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽🤜🏽🤛🏽👏🏽👌🏽
     

    Action 52 was apparently developed in the space of three months, and it shows. Still, they got the thing to market.

     

    Three years and counting for Atari, and they'd still appear to be nowhere near that.

     

     

    • Like 2

  17. Posted

    22 hours ago, godslabrat said:

    OT: Now that flashcarts have made the storage limitations of carts irrelevant, I wonder if someone would make a CD-sized game for the N64.  Would be an interesting technical experiment.

    You could, but it's not like it'd open up any radical new gameplay possibilities. The main advantage of CD media at the time was the ability to store a large amount of pre-rendered video and audio tracks and even back in the day it was possible, if a bit complex technically, to deliver these on the N64 if your publisher was prepared to pay for a large enough cartridge.

     

    Few were, although here's a good article about how Resident Evil 2 was ported over:

     

    https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2018-retro-why-resident-evil-2-n64-is-one-of-the-most-ambitious-ports-of-all-time

     

    • Like 1

  18. Posted

    Every morning I start the day with a large glass of haterade with a dish of hater tots on the side. 😀

     

    Seriously, I don't hate the modern day Atari. I just see them as what they are; a supplier of badges for other people who make actual products. Some of those products are good - Vault, Tempest 4000, Rollercoaster Tycoon Classic - while others like the Flashback are still OK for what you're paying.

     

    Most are absolute dreck though and the Ataribox/VCS has always seemed destined for that category. It's been like watching a slow motion car crash for the past three years. I'd still hope that the backers eventually get something but it's almost certainly not going to be great.

     

    As for the Amico, it's not something that interests me in the slightest. I believe they'll still let people cancel their preorders for a full refund though.

    • Like 2

  19. Posted

    4 hours ago, godslabrat said:

    Restating the question I asked before: if Atari were financially capable of producing the backer units, is there any reason for them to not do so?

     

    I get the feeling that the last thing Atari want right now is for someone who hasn't signed an NDA to get their hands on the hardware.

    • Like 3
    • Thanks 1
    • Haha 3

  20. Posted

    2 hours ago, Osgeld said:

    that does beg the question, if I can get a thin client running windows (ffs windows 10 for pi is free isnt it) how come a "big name" like atari can't strike a deal? Long-dong or OneHung-Lo managed to do it, and have been able to do it for years now off of aliexpress  

    There are two versions of Windows 10 that you can run on the Pi and only one of them (Windows 10 Internet of Things) is free. That's the version that only lets you run universal apps, so no Steam, no browser other than Edge, and everything runs in a performance-crippling sandbox. It's fun for a couple of days, but even if you don't hate Microsoft it'll have you back to running Linux soon enough.

     

    The other version, Windows 10 on ARM - which will run Win32 applications via emulation - isn't free, isn't officially supported, and doesn't entirely work. That a cheap single-board computer can even run a hacked preview build is impressive though, considering where we were only a few years back.

     

    None of this would matter to Atari since they've got an x86 CPU. They'd just have to give Microsoft some money, and I think we've already established how little they like paying for things.

    • Haha 3

  21. Posted

    4 hours ago, OCAT said:

    Atari should just pay microsoft to put windows on some units, much cheaper. They sell Walmart laptops for $129US with Windows 10 Home and 1 year of online office (worth about $1 to me) . I am guessing microsoft would charge Atari more because it is a "gaming console" form factor and they do not want "competition" to the Xbox seriesX1 box thing whatever it is called, using their own OS. Not to mention Xbox is going through some shakey waters becuase of the "backwards compatible to windows 3.1" feature 🙃

     

    On that $139 PC you'll also be getting a ton of bundled crapware and that's basically what's paying for your Windows license.

     

    I doubt Microsoft would care much if Atari wanted to do the same. The idea that they are in any way competitors would probably prompt fits of laughter and snorts of derision.

    Atari presumably just want to take the money for the crapware (i.e. premium subscription services) while using a free OS. That might actually be a smart move were it not for the level of comic ineptness elsewhere.

  24. Posted

    1 hour ago, rayik said:

    Atari will license anything, even if it offers the same things as the VCS at a fraction of the cost.

     

    Microcenter is selling Atari Pi Kit Bundle for $80 which includes:

     

    USB Gamepad

    32GB MicroSD card with game download utility containing 100+ licensed Atari Game

    Power supply

    HDMI cable

    Custom DYI Raspberry PI Atari case

    Raspberry Pi 3 B+

    Starter Guide

     

    This is in stock and available now.  Great way to play fully licensed Atari classics for much less than the VCS.  Custom case too, just like the VCS.    Only 320 less than the VCS bundle!

     

     

    If you already have everything, $17 buys you just the Atari Custom Pi Case

    That $17 gets you a real wood veneer too. 🤣

    • Like 1

  25. Posted

    The irony is that if Atari had actually built the machine they said they were going to build three years ago and delivered it on time, it'd probably already be deader than the Ouya by now.

     

    All of us who wanted one would have been able to pick it up for $50 on eBay and customize it into the media/emulation/gaming machine we wanted but knew they'd never be able to put together by themselves.

     

    Either that or there'd be some cheaper and better Chinese clone now like all those knockoffs of the GCW Zero that sprung up in the past couple of years.

     

    But no, their rank incompetence and shady practices keep them continuing to fail to deliver and there's still that set of coat tails for the dreamers to cling to.

    • Like 2
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