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Shaggy the Atarian

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Posts posted by Shaggy the Atarian

  2. Posted

    5 minutes ago, Flojomojo said:

    I want to take some of those 10 or so doods who keep posting about Lynx and Jaguar games to school and remind them that just because something had an Atari label on it when they were children, doesn't mean it's coming back. I liked the SEGA Star Trek game when I was small, SEGA's Frogger for that matter. I didn't know it was Konami until somewhat recently. Atari never owned most of the games we loved to play, they just licensed them out and those days are long gone. We should make a thread where someone names an old game they like, and we can all talk about practical ways to play it, or suggest a worthy replacement. 

    For anyone thinking like that, they must not understand the basics behind game development and publishing. That's what sets up a lot of expectations to be thoroughly crushed. In most cases, a publisher doesn't own the rights to the game itself, that lies with the developer.

     

    We could probably list everything that Atari designed in-house for the Lynx and Jaguar right here without it getting too long. Of course, this does not mean that Atari SA still owns these IP, as we saw with the 2019 IP holdings list a few pages back:

     

    Correct me on any of these if I'm wrong :P Again, this is designed at Atari back in the day, doesn't mean they haven't sold it off since, like BattleZone

     

    Lynx:

     

    Basketbrawl

    BattleZone 2000 

    Dirty Larry: Renegade Cop

    Kung Food

    Lynx Casino (hey, foreshadowing the "opportunity" Atari SA sees in Kenya!)

    Pinball Jam? (not sure, but it looks like it was)

    Robo-Squash

    Super Asteroids & Missile Command

    Warbirds

    World Class Fussball/Soccer

     

    Jaguar:

     

    Club Drive

    Hover Strike

    Fight For Life

    Missile Command 3D

    Tempest 2000

    Trevor McFur in the Crescent Galaxy

     

    Looking at the Atari SA IP list though, they only own the rights for two of the games on each list: Basketbrawl & Super Asteroids on the Lynx; MC3D and T2K on the Jaguar. Well, * on the Jaguar...for some weird reason, they maintain owning the very unfinished and unreleased Space War 2000.

     

    All-in-all, there really isn't much to be excited about from what they could remake or offer on their eShop from their own catalog at this point. 

     

    • Thanks 5

  3. Posted

     

    1 minute ago, Flojomojo said:

    Everyone has a price. Flattery seems to be enough for some, even if common sense should be screaming "run away, don't make eye contact."

     

    A cheap laptop board in a fugly 1970s-ish case running Atari Vault isn't enough to waggle my joystick, turn my paddles, or flip my RESET switch. 

    But it has a FUJI logo on it. How dare you not be a sycophantic Atarian that accepts everything they chuck at you without question. REAL fans know what to do.

    • Haha 5

  6. Posted

    3 minutes ago, OCAT said:

    So what is the story with Hyperchase and Pole Position for the Vectrex?
    Does atari hold any rights to those? not that I would compare the far superior vector based game with the Night Driver. I think Activision made the Vectrx one.

    Atari never held the rights to PP, it was a Namco game. It only showed up in Atari cabinets due to manufacturing contracts/agreements that they put together back-in-the-day (that also applied to stuff like Dig Dug and Xevious). Often the rights were handled separately between arcades and consoles, which is why Midway did Pac-Man in arcades, Atari had it on consoles.

     

    Doing a quick check, Hyperchase was created by Jeff Corsiglia & Chris King for the Vectrex, Pole Position was developed and published by GCE. 

    • Like 5

  7. Posted · Edited by Shaggy the Atarian
    changed a thought.

    32 minutes ago, Serguei2 said:

    Ok. Then all Atari VCS games are the same likes originals, not remakes or remades?

    If you mean the Atari VCS that this thread is about, then they've not announced anything in remake territory beyond what will come with the Atari Vault, while also implying that you'll be able to buy emulated copies of 2600 games through their shop system. They also have shown Tempest 4000, albeit not running on the VCS yet. 

     

    If you want to know what the current Atari has under their ownership, here's a list. They have sold off a lot of their games. One example is BattleZone - that is no longer an Atari property (hasn't been since 2012). https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GTt13SyHyYCSOTUAyKCdHS0TOOthVzGT/view

     

    Atari has done some remakes in recent years, mainly on Haunted House and a bizarre attempt at Asteroids that never made it very far. I also just found out that Ninja Golf is being remade for mobile...not sure why they don't announce it for the VCS too. Night Driver also got a mobile remake. One problem with these remakes though is that they are all crap...they get terrible reviews and are forgotten about overnight. If there is such a thing as "Nintendo Magic" in keep old IP alive with fresh ideas, it's staying far away from Atari HQ. I also find it very interesting that they have not announced any of these games as coming to the VCS; no announcement of their star IP, Rollercoaster Tycoon coming to it either. Why that is, you'll have to ask them, but you'll probably get a non-answer like everyone else does (if a response even comes along).

     

    As Flojomojo pointed out, Atari SA is not the Atari of the Warner or Tramiel eras. They pay 3rd parties to make stuff or just license their IP to others instead of having an in-house development team to code things. What Atari is now is a small team of licensing people and lawyers, who don't know the first thing about making games or game consoles. Which is why this thread is full of skeptics and "haters" (I think the word "realists" is more appropriate ;) ) 

    • Like 5
    • Thanks 5

  8. Posted · Edited by Shaggy the Atarian

    33 minutes ago, Serguei2 said:

    I noted most arcade games will be available at the launch.

     

    Will STUN Runner one of them?

     

    It's just the beginning.

    Well, we're ready when you're ready

     

    tenor.gif?itemid=5885685

     

    As for "most arcade games," I guess it depends on how you define "most." Since you're referring to the poorly reviewed Antstream subscription service, if you mean most Data East games, then kind of. It also has some SNK titles, but nowhere close to all of them. It's a C-grade list for the most part.

     

    In looking over their games list, I recognize a lot of names myself as I'm pretty well-versed in the arcade biz, but a vast majority of the arcade titles are very obscure to every day gamers. Exceptions are there like the Double Dragon games, Rygar, two of the seven Metal Slug arcade games, BurgerTime, Heavy Barrel and Vanguard, but for the most part, Antstream is more for Commodore fans than anything else. They might improve, but overall that service is a crapshoot and for people without the knowledge of setting up an emulator : https://www.antstream.com/gameslist

     

    Sorry, nothing from Atari Games (Atari arcade titles from 1984-2001), Midway, Williams, Nintendo, Sega, Namco, Konami, Capcom & Taito, among others. Atari Vault has some pre-1984 Atari arcade versions on it at least. But part of our criticism has been that you can 1) Get all of these games on other existing platforms (and likely on devices you already own) for cheaper 2) Offering classics in their original (emulated) form isn't exactly novel anymore. It's certainly not a primary reason to spending $300~ on a new platform, at least by my view.

     

     

    • Like 8

  9. Posted

    1 hour ago, Serguei2 said:

    There is something I like more on Atari VCS than other upcoming systems:

     

    It has original Atari 2600 joysticks.

     

    There are lots of bashing of this console in this thread.

    As Flojomojo said, they have the 2600 style, but until people get some hands-on time, it's impossible to make a final judgement on that. But, out of everything Atari has mentioned on the VCS, the joysticks have received the least amount of bashing or "hate."

     

    If you've got some other positive things to give us on the VCS, then let's hear it. Nothing is stopping you from touting it's virtues if it has any to tout. 

    • Like 1

  10. Posted · Edited by Shaggy the Atarian

    25 minutes ago, Flojomojo said:

    I maintain that whether or not it's fake is moot at this point.
     

    They haven't started manufacturing.


    They haven't shown it in public. 

     

    They haven't shown any unique software except for a half-baked selection menu that misspells two of their crown jewel properties. 
     

    The fact that they made it to that hotel suite from the airport should be amazing enough. 

    Hey, it's tough to get through the Vegas airport with an intact wallet for some people with all of those gamblin' machines everywhere. Especially for a group as money-hungry as Atari SA is, they might take that FedEx story to heart and think "Hey, if we get lucky, we'll have this thing properly funded without a hitch!"

  11. Posted

    1 hour ago, racerx said:

    Now that I think about it, though...how awesome would it have been if instead of "Atari VCS: Game, Stream, Connect Like Never Before" they'd gone with "Atari VCS: Trying To Come Up With Something" for the IGG campaign?

    Behold, the hawt new business model that is guaranteed to make you billions of Zimbabwe dollars!

     

    tenor.gif?itemid=3442786

     

    • Thanks 1
    • Haha 2

  12. Posted

    16 minutes ago, Arnaud Giese said:

    I have been following the indiegogo campaign for quite a while now. No need to read 1000+ pages of sarcasms here.

    It's a small team. They made mistakes. Communication is bad, but at least they are trying to come up with something.

    I just don't understand all this hate.

     

    Any time you have a company begging for money to make something, then constantly dropping the ball with that money, you're going to have problems. The longer that goes on, the deeper the resentment gets. A pattern of bad communication over many years doesn't garner respect, it destroys it. For those that loved the Atari of the past, some find what the company has become to be an offense to the efforts and memory of what came before.  

     

    Their IP trolling and lawfare behavior on many fronts rubs a lot of people the wrong way, especially for those who have good memories of Atari in the past. Their behavior of how they treat their development partners is even worse, but most of that stuff isn't public (I know someone who worked on a game that they published and he said that they were one of the worst partners to work with, where Atari did everything possible to screw the development company over - which ended up hurting the players in the end, since they left the online-only game hanging in the wind). That they frequently have no clue about their own products makes them very easy to laugh at ("What's your highest score on Pong?" was perhaps the most embarrassing thing a game company has done since Giant Enemy Crabs and Riiiiidge Raacccuuurhhh - not to mention them showing typos on their own games with the VCS today. Asteroid? Really?)

     

    If it had a bunch of games coming to it that were being made specifically for the platform - not emulated titles, but reimagined classics and some new exclusive stuff, then I'd be less inclined to dump on it. To me, that would show that they are trying, not this half-assed tease-with-crumbs-once-every-several-months method. We're past the 2nd or 3rd time that they promised to have this thing out to people who paid for it, and only today has it been shown to be running in some form. Even then, that they can't simply show it being setup from start to finish with a more hands-on approach, just creates more questions, like we've seen in this thread. I don't know who does their marketing, but they are incompetent at it. It doesn't matter how big or small your team is, if you're launching a device that you've marketed as a game console, you have to give potential customers a reason to buy it, as opposed to spending $300+ on a competing entertainment device. 

     

    There was a place in this thread where many users said that they wanted to see the VCS succeed, but it's Atari's own fault for bringing it to this point. How they treated negative press at The Register was the first indication that Atari is not an honest "doing our best" operation; then that snowballed into not working with developers and not announcing any sort of interesting game for the platform with it about to supposedly launch; not keeping backers/investors updated (which is supposed to be done per their end of the agreement) and constantly moving the goalposts; spinning wheels by constantly rehashing updates; losing their system architects; constantly signaling that you want someone with deep pockets to buy you out - these are not things that a company with an eye towards customer service does. 

     

    Yes, they have something now, but this isn't 1977 anymore - there are many other gaming entertainment options that offer you a much better gaming experience for the money. Nostalgia gets you $3 million it seems, but an impactful game console? Not from the looks of it. That they still can't even promise to show their flagship titles on, like Rollercoaster Tycoon, raises a red flag. It's a bare-bones PC with an Atari logo on it. Now, some people are fine with that. Others find it to be a wasted opportunity, or worse, a scam - using the pretense of a new Atari game console just to get money. You might not feel it was presented that way, but to others it has been. 

     

     

     

     

    • Like 6
    • Thanks 12

  13. Posted

    36 minutes ago, Paul Slocum said:

    but there are basically no notable games or streaming services, and their menu system and emulators so far appear to be in very primitive form. 

     

    It's great that it looks like backers will actually get their PC that can run Windows and x86 Retropie.  But with its price and without any games or streaming apps, it's primed to be one of the worst selling consoles of all time.  Even failed consoles typically sell in the hundreds of thousands or millions.

     

    The price is crazy.  With the 2 controllers, a Windows license, and a hard drive for Windows, aren't you looking at over $500?

    HOW DARE YOU FILL THE INTERNET WITH SUCH HATRED USING UNCOMFORTABLE FACTS

    • Like 2
    • Haha 3

  14. Posted

    Here's another thing that removes the wind from the "well, they just couldn't afford a booth space!" claim - How come the official Atari Pong Table unit has their own booth space?* Why wouldn't Atari chuck in a few bucks to join them and unveil the VCS in it's glory for the whole world to see?

     

    https://twitter.com/ataripongtable/status/1215306302953525248

     

    *Answer:  Because it's being done by a different company that got the Atari license, but where they can afford it, then how come Atari, about to launch a big new product, can't? 

    • Like 7

  15. Posted · Edited by Shaggy the Atarian
    Twitter links didn't embed, so changed to direct links

    Meanwhile, some actual cool tech to be found at CES and on the actual expo floor instead of hiding in the shadows:

     

    12153132742096527361215313274209652736

     

    Notice that no one is mentioning the VCS as cool or interesting tech...or even mentioning it at all

     

    1215313274209652736https://twitter.com/ArcadeDev/status/1215313274209652736

     

    https://twitter.com/3rd_factory_ro/status/1214985049990291456

    • Like 5

  17. Posted

    i.e. they are summarizing this thread for us (sans tacos): There are no games to warrant a $300 price tag, the chances of anyone jumping on board the VCS to bring games that people want when all three console makers are launching more powerful hardware this year are nil, and no one in their right mind would want to buy this to do PC things with.

     

     

    • Like 3
    • Thanks 1
    • Haha 2

  19. Posted

    4 hours ago, DurradonXylles said:

    Gonna be that guy, but Sega's issue wasn't the hardware... Not entirely anyways.

    The 32x was a pretty dumb move on their part, because it did anger retailers and some gamers, if they hadn't passed up on what would become the N64 chipset in favor of the Saturn design, that could have caused an even longer delay for the N64 launch and given them plenty of power to compete with the PSX. But as mentioned, your hardware doesn't matter all that much if your software sucks...just like the VCS.

     

    4 hours ago, MrMaddog said:

    And you know what? We, the Atari fans, went through the same exact thing with the Jaguar back in the 90's...and yes I was guilty of doing it also.

     

    And before anyone says that I'm a "hater" or a "troll" then let me says this...I love all things Atari in spite of the spotty history.  And two years ago, there "was" potiental for the Ataribox as long as Atari SA has a digital storefront for their large IP library (including Infogrames titles) and for retro-inspired indie games.  Since then they sold off all the IP that's not 2600 related, and also Battlezone, and completely ignored all intrested indie developers who could make far more money selling on the Epic Game Launcher.

     

    Edit: It's one thing to be an Atari fanboi, but the way the backers are acting is like they're like a reglious cult that await the second/third/fourth coming of Atari after paying their tithes.  Social media really does strange things to people...

     I was shilling hard for the Jaguar back in the day, even in '98, because I wanted to see Atari return to the glory days. I saw the Telegames releases and the NUON as ways for Atari to come back. But then I realized that I was just into underdogs :P Overall it was pretty shortsighted of me. But did I want there to be a Jaguar 2 and see Atari dominate the gaming scene? Oh yeah.

     

    When I first heard about the VCS, I took a pause from jumping on the bandwagon, as I recalled seeing their full line of Atari branded tablets & phablets at E32015 that never came into being; Then I learned about the Gameband and looked into a variety of practices that they were doing in recent years leading up to 2017 (bashing journalists that gave their games poor scores, not really releasing anything worth writing home about, seeing a pattern of general douchbaggery where they just morphed into an IP troll, etc.). 

     

    It's nice of them to finally show a menu working and getting their partners to setup untouchable displays, but as mentioned, for a system that is supposed to have already been delivered to backers and is supposedly going to be available in March, it's quite underwhelming. And hilarious that the UI they threw together is so rushed that they have glaring typos on two of their key IPs. 

     

    Like has been said, if they manage to get it out to the public, there is nothing appealing about it that is going to drive sales beyond the initial 11k backer base. The current shills keep pretending like they really just wanted an Atari-like computer to use, but that's not how this whole thing started - it was supposed to be some kind of glorious return to console gaming. 

    • Like 6

  20. Posted

    14 hours ago, ColecoJoe said:

    They could at least tell the poor guy they don’t have the license for Pac-Man. 

    But then that would prevent them from shadily touting how you can have it all thanks to Sandbox mode. Can't have anyone thinking that there are limitations!

     

    Given their level of customer service now, it's going to be a hoot watching them attempt to navigate the mine field of teaching these certain users how to get emulators working and finding Pac-Man ROMs.

     

     

    • Haha 4

  24. Posted · Edited by Shaggy the Atarian
    added more TACO

    Here's a Guiness World Record for most tacos served at once...this thread should be added to that achievement :P

     

    214067_largest_serving_of_tacos.jpg

     

    And by that same line, you can still get a taco, but you can't get a VCS nor the classic remake joystick. In fact, we had tacos last night for dinner, and they were great. It's too bad that some people turn the logic centers in their brains off the moment they see a Fuji logo, so onto the next disappointment in March!

    • Like 2
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