Atari 7800.com

I dont want to put down your efforts, because I think it's great to see people doing what they can to keep Atari alive. If you guys can contribute by creating a few choice titles, then more power to you. However thinking of ideas and not knowing the slightest thing about programing an Atari 2600 game doesn't sound like the most promissing plan. Infogrames seems very anxious to sue. So please be cautious. Also it is very arrogant of you to call yourselvs "The ONLY Atari Company" Im sorry but I had to laugh at that. I know about ten others including myself who run some sort of Atari organization, not to mention Infogrames, and Ill be the first to tell you, you are fighting an uphill fight. But good luck. Justin PS- Stella's Ghost - Im not quite sure how to build a Time Machine, but id be willing to let you borrow my DeLorean for the afternoon if you care to let me join you as we walk into Atari corporate headquarters in 1981 and smack the crap out of the guy who did pac-man.

Fish- Thanks for the info! Ill correct it immediately.

Not only do we know it sucks, but the guys at Atari knew it sucked too. That's the main reason it was never released nor completed. They didnt want to dissapoint excited gamers as they had done with their lousy conversion of Pac-Man, etc. But I have to admit, its pretty cool to finally get to play it. I think Ill stick to Tempest 2000 for now. Justin

Wow you guys are really excited! I just wanted to let you know all know that the site officially launched today at 2:00 pm Eastern Standard time. I hope you guys enjoy it! By the way, we are in need of game reviewers, as well as tips & tricks for 7800 games. If anybody has anything they would like to submit, you can email me directly at [email protected] Dont forget to include your name and email so we can credit you for your help. Justin PS- Thanks for hanging in there with us Fish.

quote Thats funny, that's exactly what we were going to do... but last night at 12:01 am I was hard at work, trying to make sure it would even launch today. Things got pretty backed up and I was working thru the night. I had it up by 11am Pacific so I dont think that was too bad : ) ...now its on to fix everything thats wrong Cya Justin PS- I just want to add that we have nothing to do with what Joe Rivera puts on his site. We linked to it because we thought it was funny, but its really sorta psycho now that I get a look at it.

Just a few updates for those of you feeling a bit dissapointed... We didnt realize that the site wasnt netscape-friendly until just recently. To be quite honest, the site really wasnt ready to launch today, but we were tired of making people wait so we hurried it out the door before we could perfect these problems. We havent turned a blind eye to the problems though. Also, we are well aware that a few links were broken today, and there are some spelling errors, etc. These are all things we didnt catch in pre-launch testing and we are working hard to correct these problems within the next few days. Keep in mind this is a brand new site and there are alot of pages to go through. We are adding a direct link to these very message boards from our system pages. Look for the small Atari Age Icon on the left to appear within the week. Click on it, and it will take you right here. Other sections that should be up and running this month include game reviews, tips and tricks, and the FAQ. If you notice anything else that is not working, please dont hesitate to email us. This site is for you guys to enjoy, and we want to make it enjoyable for you. Justin Atari 7800.com [email protected]

Yeah there are some things we are still working on. We didnt want to delay the site launch any further though, there will always be things that need perfecting. I know that in netscape, things just dont seem to line up very well right now, but everything should work fine in Explorer. We haven't had any obnoxious messages pop up for flash download, but that sounds like something microsoft would do. And again were working on it. We are designing it so that your computer only has to access an image or flash object once, saving it to the cache. Once you go back to navigate again, they should load much faster. Either way its the best we could do for now. But we do want to hear all of your complaints as we continue to refine the site. You can email me directly at [email protected] with any concerns. Justin

Just give me a fewww more minutes.... :-)

Another issue I forgot to mention was the rights to the name "Atari 7800." Initially, it was a registered trademark of Atari Inc. under Warner Communications, and then also Atari Corp, under Jack Tramiel. However the Tramiels, infamous for lots of things, never really seemed to care much about keeping track of paperwork. (I once heard somebody quote one of Jack's former secretarys as saying "Mr. Tramiel isn't to be bothered with such things as paperwork." pretty scarry huh?) Since Jack owned Atari it has been sold to JTS (1996) then Hasbro (1998?) and then most recently to Infogrames. However the paperwork dating back to 1984 is a MESS. If someone (and their lawyer) were to call up Infogrames and ask about purchasing the rights to the 7800, they probabally wouldnt be interested, mainly because they would have nothing to give you that actually proves ownership or copyright of the 7800 name. However, you could (if you sunk the money into development and everything) produce a 7800 clone system and call it the 7800 and just pray that they dont sue. So it's really a double-edged sword, and a pretty bad situation. To anyone who can sink whatever it takes into making a new 7800, im behind you 100% Justin

All this stuff you guys are talking about... manufacturing new Atari 7800s, publishing new games for it...we've looked into it. I mean seriously looked in to it with financial investors and all the fun business stuff. Reproducing the Atari 7800 would be a wonderful thing, but unfortunately it requires too many unique and antiquated chips in the motherboard from specific asian manufacturers whom Jack Tramiel never payed when they made the chips for the first batch of 7800s. These companies are not willing to produce these chips again unless we (or someone else) pay them the debt they are owed from the Tramiels, which is a stagering figure. Not to mention having to pay for dies to be made to mold new plastic shells, etc. Its all very expensive and it would be very difficult to do. But that doesnt totally rule it out either. As far as games go....just sit tight. Justin Atari 7800.com

Hey everyone. I am currently in the market for a sit-down "cockpit" version of Roadblasters. If you have one you would part with, or know of someone who has one available, please contact me directly at [email protected] Thanks! Justin