Math You

It's going to be a few months before we know what the next Atari Flashback is going to be, so I thought we could kill some time by discussing the future of the Flashback series. So, what do you think the Flashbacks of the future will be? Will Atari bring back all of their computers and consoles or could the old hardware be re-released in a new and imaginitive way? Should there be enhancements to attract a modern audience or should classic hardware be left as it is?

A few more meteorites/asteroids might make it more challenging.

I hope this is still going to happen.

It was mentioned on another thread that it might use an SD card to store game roms.

Is the BBS some kind of text version of the internet?

I think a 2600/7800 hybrid is a real possibility just as the FB3 was going to be a 5200/800 hybrid. I believe the original 7800 used to switch off the 2600's graphics chip though it would be interesting if a new 7800 would allow programmers to switch it back on to provide an extra bitplane for graphics. I still like the idea of a 5200 with built in trakball. It could be plugged into a PC or Mac and used instead of a mouse. It might even attract a few die hard PC gamers.

I suppose anything is possible. I think all the 8 bit Atari's used a similar processor.

That was a very interesting answer, Random Terrain.

I'm sure this question must have been asked before, but after going back through 3 years worth of Atari Age posts I couldn't find a perfect answer. So... Is it legal for a company or individual to use Atari 2600, 5200 ,7800 and 800 roms, whether for private use on their own computer or in a commercial product such as an un-official Flashback style product? I believe that Hasbro released some roms into the public domain though I'm not sure if there were any conditions regarding their use. Thanks Matt BTW I found this post that kind of answers the question: http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=39263

Great name for a game.

I like zany golf. It's so zany http://www.virtualapple.org/zanygolfdisk.html BTW the website address has changed to .org

Lately I've been thinking this is the new Atari plan for spring 2008. Sounds like the 'Omni' project that Atari was working on in the 80's

Curt mentioned that something was in the pipeline: "what was being developed for 08' as an advanced follow-up system has been moved up to the front burner and is being worked on now in place of the original FBP design"

I admit, Atari is partly to blame. In a funny way, the Gameport has motivated Atari to make something better than a 2600 based portable that will hopefully sell for the same price as the FBP.

I think it would be good business sense to design a single circuit board that could be used in different systems. If the FB2 had an LCD driver built into it from day 1 then it could have been used for a Flashback portable without being re-designed. Asaki, will the FB3 definitely use FB2 joysticks?

Actually its quite the opposite, there's nothing that would stop a flood of callers to tech support (which costs money to operate) and irate owners returning said consoles to retailers (which costs more money) because said 25 year old games they happened across won't work. If you think putting a disclaimer is going to stop that, I'd say you haven't been around retail much. Once again, there's a reason why it was left off. Retailers and the product supporter didn't want it for the previously mentioned reasons, regardless of how "unfounded" you claim it is. And retailers have as much to do with shaping a product line as the manufacturer does - because its the retailers who decide what will sell and what won't in their store and why. And it makes no sense to retailers to have a product on their shelves that uses another product that hasn't been manufactured in 25 years. Waste of retail space. I remember reading that somebody bought a hugh amout of Atari cartridges (I think they were found in a cave?) back in the 80's or 90's with the intention of re-releasing the 7800 console. If Atari did bring back a cartridge based system then whoever has these cartridges would probably try to cash in on the idea.

Didn't Samantha Fox write a song about it

I guess there's some truth in the 5200/800 not having the nostalgia that the 2600 had, but as Nathan said, it's more than just a console. I suppose the success of the 800/FB3 will depend on the type of software that comes with it. Personally, I think the 5200/800 FB3 needs a gimmick such as a built in trakball or a membrane keyboard. Joystick/Lightgun design removed for copyright reasons.

I agree with you there, mimo. Atari have been painfully slow with releasing new Flashbacks. How long has it been since the FB2 came out, 2 years or something like that?

This is going to sound really mean, but I really hope that the gameport portable isn't going to go into production. I completely blame gameport for the cancellation of the flashback portable and think that selling a device that relies on software produced by Atari is extremely un-ethical. There, I've got it out of my system. I will now revert to pleasant mode

Could we see some screenshots of the game, just for inspiration BTW what shape should the label be (square, tall rectangle, wide rectangle)

I've been thinking about getting one of these. Isn't the sound slightly different to the original C64?

Missile Command or Star Raiders might work well.

Shame, I thought it looked good for the money. Thanks for your help everybody.

I've just realised that the eclipse logo is very similar to the one used by Digital Eclipse: http://www.digitaleclipse.com/