I believe all your complaints come down the retailers. They only have so much shelf space. They also know what sells, at what price for their customers. So a Bed Bath and Beyond customer with their 20% off coupon isn't going to but a top of the line unit with paddles and HD for $100, but they may buy a $40 unit not knowing or caring it's not HD as a gift or spur of the moment purchase.
A lot goes into how and why things are in mass marketing, it just doesn't always fit into how a specific person wants something.
Also I would venture a guess AtGames hasn't made money or enough money to warrant making paddles, otherwise they would be in stock on their website.
Luckily I have paddles and to be honest 4 player paddle games of warlords is 90% of the reason I bought one of these.
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