MrMaddog

Sorry for the necropost, but yeah I've always wanted those TOS workstations or hell even something like MagicMac but they were all too expensive to import to North America at the time. Just glad that FreeMiNT & EmuTOS are still being made and can run on other platforms now... If you can get a hold of a RPi 3 or 4 then do get BeeKey! It's the best and cheapest way to run a modern multitasking FreeMiNT setup and lets you play ST games & demos by double-clicking on the disk images.

I was in the same situtation as a teen, had an 8-bit computer at home while wishing I had a Macintosh used in high school classes. I was able to get my STe as a graduation gift and only because my mom made two years worth of payments. Till then I had to rely on Antic coverdisks for all my software needs. Living in Central PA at the time there just was no place to buy anything for the Atari 8-bit except for driving to malls to get XEGS games. There were a couple of mail order places in the area (Lyco & CMO) but they already closed up by 1990 and I stopped receiving Antic by then. That would have been awesome to see! Still too slow for games but it would have been nice to at least transfer like say DIF files fron SynCalc to something more powerful on the ST or at least still run Atari BASIC programs like ST Xformer.

I've read the newsletters online and it's plain to see why ABE's ACES died, too much in-fighting & people leaving. And it had to be more than just the 8-bit vs. ST issue... BTW, how long did LVAUG last? In the last Hardcopy issue I found a number for The Keep BBS, in the Wilkes-Barre area, which was a board I used to called back in the 90's.

I've heard about Atari user groups splitting up over the 8/16-bit issue, it's a shame there was no way to get the two platforms to co-exist like file exchanging that didn't require modems. I had to get an STe for college because there was a local dealer who supported them (for about a year) but I still kept my XE out for games and used ST Xformer to create graphic screens using Atari BASIC and saving them as DEGAS pics.

Agreed... Sam was only trying to see low cost video games in addition to high end PC's (with no corpoate support), ST's for specialized markets only and handheld systems designed by other companies who never got paid any royalties. Of course Atari Corp. was bound to fail... Jack however was just too damn cheap.

So glad Atari is pubishing 1st party games that aren't the just usual Asteroids/Centipede remakes (though I still like those). I know the post-apocalyptic zombie genre is now old hat but it looks like they also incorpated magic so it'll have like a "Dies The Fire" feel to it. Not my usual type of game but I'll check it out...

Um no...because even as an 80's teen I already know I can play XEGS games on my 130XE and not have to buy a separate system, which was already obsolete, to play incompatible carts. But if you still want to play 800 games on your 5200, then get yourself the Atari 800XL adapter: See? You already have one! 😆

Funny how back then 90's gamers complained about the "old" graphics while current retrogamers would call it A Good Thing!

There's so many games that I really want to play because they look and sound cool, but actually playing them is a PITA. Nastar Warrior, aka Rastan Saga II, is one of them.

TBH, I've always prefered the orginal 8-bit Super Mario games over the 16-bit All Stars remakes as far as gameplay physics goes. And don't get me started on Super Mario World moving the B-Dash button to "Y" and using "B" to jump...

Very true, but don't forget there was a time in the early 80's when home computers from Atari, Commodore & TI had cartridge ports so they received the same type of games as the other 2nd generation consoles. But of course that didn't last long so computers went off to having disk or tape based games while consoles moved on in a different direction. Honestly I still wouldn't group those types of computers with game consoles because they can also do other things, including the Atari XEGS (IMHO of course).

Hopefully unlike Fallout 76...TotK Just Works!

That was exactly why I bought a 360 years ago, because I was getting tired of the shoddy console ports made for the PC and also to play online with my friends. Then I got an Xbox One not only as a console upgrade but to use as a home theater PC with streaming & UWP apps, as well as being able to stream Xbox games to my PC downstairs. But of course Microsoft started making stupid choices and now not only is it not worth for non-gaming purposes but I have to get a wired connection (meaning MOCA adapters) just to stream games between the PC & Xbox w/o problems...and yet cloud gaming works much better than playing off a local Xbox so go figure. I'm still a PC gamer primary though, and to be honest I'm much more excited about new games coming out for the VCS (also available on Steam) than on modern consoles. The whole gaming industry is just full of so much drama it makes my headache reading about it. I'd still like to have a Switch for the Japanese games not available for Steam however...

Sounds like the leaked version of TOS 4.94 that I've heard about before, so no idea...

Well those examples are also a part of the only going cycle of the industry. When one young generation grows out of gaming, another takes over with a different popular game. And those older people who still game move on to other types (ie. Doom, CoD...) and only coming back to their favorites for nostalgic reasons. Back in the early 80's it was assumed by the business media that "one time only" fad like so many things going on in that decade, and it was a lot of crazy things going on then... And then came Nintendo that re-started the industry with younger customers who barely remebered Atari. BTW, I was one of those "computer nerds" who only stuck with it since computers were a very lucruitive career choice unlike say skateboarding...

If this was a serious thread, then the Crash didn't so much affect gamers as much as it did the retailers and publishers. Overglut of games that anyone could make all running on the last-gen 2600 with the only alternatives for consumers were expensive consoles that had "slightly" better graphics or home computers...or just move on to a different hobby. So-called media experts mistaken it as proof of video games being a "fad" instead of realizing that the industry is a cycle and just needed better replacement consoles. But here is OP who being part of the Post-Truth generation (which wasn't even born back then) just had to inject the usual revisionist BS that's so common on social media and hence the well deserved Heap-O'-Scorn...

The only Nightdive game that's currently published by Atari is Blood: Fresh Supply, it's only a matter of porting the KEX engine over to Linux if they so desire. All the other ones, including System Shock Remake, are published by other companies so that involves licesening deals...

Cool! Which one is that? Speaking of MST3K, there was an Atari 800 in Being From Another Planet (aka Time Walker) http://www.starringthecomputer.com/feature.html?f=170

So...sell them as seperate games on the VCS but make them DLCs for other systems??

Well time for me to kick this thread, and OP, down my Ignore hole...

If you're talking about doing a ROM hack that can add a bezel that includes status lights...I guess it could be possible by adding/changing the Display List on the screen. (I am assuming that no one uses old CRTs for their A8's but now run them on flatscreens?)

Digital Eclipse made a dedicated emulator to give the Star Raiders game those enhanced features. Even if you can extract the ROM from it, it'll still the same as what was on the 5200 cart if you play on any emulator. Guess you'll have to get a real hardware console to play it...

Would be nice if Atari offer a way to play this and other 2600/7800 based VCS games not available on Atari 50 for other systems. And I agree that downloading a free ROM while the game is still commercially support is a scummy thing to do. That's why I try to buy such games off Steam, like Rikki & Vikki, to support the developers.

"Try the new Nuttari! Just like original Atari...but with more Nuts!!"