Shaggy the Atarian

Very interesting! By my understanding, sounds like it would avoid some of the bus issues brought on by the 68k, although you'd still have the issues in the T&J to work with (by my understanding - would it be accurate to say that if a game was primarily coded on the T&J with little from the 68k, then that would require less work for porting than something that was loaded with 68k code?). Maximum Force used an R3000; I imagine that would create a problem for developments in coding for anything CPU related, since you'd have to have a way to have the code work for boards using the 68020 as well as the R3000. Area 51 sold more units than MF did, assuming that this document is accurate, and combining all of the numbers from the three regions, A51 sold 11,510 units while MF sold 9,574. Still, that put at least 21,000 CoJag units out there. Here are more details on the CoJag in case anyone had missed that before: http://system16.com/hardware.php?id=778 I recall reading that prototype chipsets of the Jaguar used a 68020 and ran with 4MB, so that's also why I think that when it comes to the Jaguar's "potential," CoJag comes to mind as fulfilling that dream of what could have been that all of these threads wonder about. Unfortunately only a few games received a wide release on the platform, so who knows. At the very least it would be fun to see some graphics demos running on both the Jag and CoJag then compare performance.

That would be cool, with the JagSD dev forum and cartridges arriving in the hands of people, I imagine we'll see a bit of that. I'm really looking forward to seeing what possibilities the JagSD opens here. On the CoJag, I know some people who worked at Atari Games back in the 90's; I'll ask around and see if by chance any of them might still have a dev kit or anything else for it. It's a long shot, but might as well check. If there were any software resources created for the CoJag that might still be around or overlooked in a box somewhere, I can't imagine that anyone in the Jag dev community would be adverse to having those released (right?). So, what order # are you for JagSD? Hope you get it soon to take this to the level it needs to be I'll send you a message about the graphics stuff.

I'm sorry it came across like that, I misremembered something about the conversions to think there was a tool or tools in their process, so shouldn't have mentioned ST conversions in the example. I also forgot how easily bent out of shape people get around here. I hope you're not involved in customer service for your regular job.

Big kudos for the stuff you've been working on Clint. From what I've seen of your stuff, I really like the art direction. I've been curious, what resolution are you running everything at? It seems like it's on the higher end. Where I'm constantly flummoxed by coding, perhaps I need to research more about doing art for the Jag (sprite dimensions, color indexing and such). On Fear No Escape, that's an awesome hallway effect and I like the sound of the idea you've got going on there. Apart from Xenophobe, it also looks like it has a Project Firestart vibe to it. If you're able to get a digital/SD release, then I'm there On the CoJag, obviously I have a vested interest in arcade content(even moreso lately, as most arcade developments have been designed for mega-chains flush with cash like Dave & Busters, costing $10k+, $30k+ often times), but just to throw this out there - if a developer were to release something for the CoJag platform, then not only do you get to toy around with that extra power and storage space, you'd get your game into arcades for potentially thousands of people to play. There are a lot of classic & retro-focused bar/arcades out there these days where interesting, but low cost content is sorely needed. At least, I'd love to have something like an enhanced version of Ultra Vortek or a completed version of something like Tube Apart from needing software tools, yes, it would be a little more involved than a typical Jag release. A basic kit could just come with an HDD or CF card (Area 51 and Maximum Force are available on CF, using those IDE-to-CF adapters), although something nicer would also include a marquee & control panel overlay. Still, if a game was properly tested and appropriate for arcades on the CoJag, you could release something and charge a few to several hundred for a game. Teams like NG: Dev Team have made it work with their releases (Gunlord, Neo XYX, Fast Striker, Kraut Buster), although the Neo Geo MVS did sell more than Area 51/Max Force did. Before you shake your inflated head, try comprehending the entire sentence (although I guess the opportunity to get in some dumb sarcasm is too great for that!). I threw out a couple of examples of tools, wasn't throwing shade on your ST stuff, like you seem to think. There aren't any tools I've heard of for the CoJag development that are out in the public, the I'm only aware of one person who had dabbled in that (Tursi).

I just wanted to say thank you for all of your efforts on this cart. I've been promoting it on my Arcade Heroes Twitter, even though that's supposed to be just for arcade stuff I'm really looking forward to getting this. Might be time to finally take a look at RB+ and see if I can do something software related. And I was quite surprised to see that I got #61. Good timing for seeing the pre-order email and placing that order.

If you want to see what Tom & Jerry (the chips, not the cartoon characters) could do, then write something like the ST conversion tool, but for the CoJag arcade board that Atari Games developed. Or let's see RB+ add CoJag support. Then aspiring homebrewers would have a 68020 or R3000 processor (depends on the hardware revision) instead of the 68k, 4MB of RAM, HDD/CF access, and devs could sell their games to arcade ops like me, who will pay a lot more than $70 for a good game kit There are likely more working CoJag boards out there right now than there are working Jag CDs

Now I can say that the Amico is more "Atari" than the VCS is I know you can't use that in marketing though... Moon Patrol! Something that looks like Sopwith (an old DOS favorite of mine)! New Missile Command! Asteroids! Breakout! They look cool from the brief clips, although that new Combat looking game (is it Armor Attack?) is the most exciting to me of the Atari bunch(unless it's Armor Attack :P). And was that final one Ecco the Dolphin? Overall looks like a solid line-up of casual games. I've heard some out there in the Web-Ether whine about exclusive games these days, but I think that's what a console needs to stand out in the pack, aside from the controller. The only complaint I have about the trailer is that the music just doesn't fit for a family & casual focused console (like it's building up a serious Marvel movie). Otherwise, great tease!

Anything that was a movie based game probably should've had an ending or psuedo-ending (gives you an end scene, but lets you keep playing on the next, slightly harder set of scenes) to them. Krull is one that comes to mind; I'm not sure if Fantastic Voyage has any kind of ending or now. Dark Chambers also could've used some kind of ending on both the 2600 & 7800. Of course, a nice boss battle at the end would have also been cool.

I've been in contact with those guys as they've produced arcade machines; I also got to see that PC Classic at a trade show last year. I like how it looked, but there were no games to play yet, "all still early," etc. Latest update is "delayed to 2020" as they've been focusing efforts on developing a new card swipe payment system for arcades. Over on Facebook, one of the True Fans is here to tell us that Atari's doing awesome (by suing people and selling things off, per the link). The link also mentions: -They've spent around €7.4 million on R&D. I don't see a mention of income from IndieGogo though... -They've sold Alone in the Dark and Act of War, so you can't call those Atari games anymore -They've made €1.1 million through litigation, presumably by suing all of those T-shirt/design producers -"Exceeding 10,000 pre-orders" used on the Tacobox, but that's laughable as we've pointed out before (Ouya had more, etc.) -They made some money off of "RollerCoaster Tycoon Touch versions (over 23.5 million downloads) and royalties received from Arcade 1 Up and Atari Flashback products." So I again wonder why no announcement of any RollerCoaster Tycoon game on the VCS... https://www.finanznachrichten.de/nachrichten-2019-08/47422018-atari-2018-2019-annual-statement-of-operations-steady-profitable-growth-399.htm

From the same guys who just released Centipede Chaos a couple of months ago, comes another take on Tetris called Tetris Dimensions. Redemption game for the moment, but will probably have an amusement/non-ticket mode for proper gameplay. Click for pics, video & details: https://arcadeheroes.com/2019/08/16/tetris-dimensions-spotted-on-test-in-ny/

"...probably because they don't have the rights to the game they used to show the potential of the Atari." So does that mean that Atari condones the use of illegal, unlicensed software on their platform? I'm sure that's a selling point that will get developers on-board post haste!

Really looking forward to it! I'm very curious to see how your vision of these classics is going to play out. Vision on these games is something that has sorely been lacking for a long time. You guys should also tag the video with "tacos," just for fun

That really is the rub of it. Once you have your Atari 2600 looking SteamLinux machine, then what? So far it looks like the store is going to be very barebones, with little to no promise of it going anywhere after that. You'll probably find some 2600 ROMs on there, maybe some arcade ones too, but if you've spent $300-$400 on this, you probably already can play 2600 games on a bunch of other things you own. At the moment, the launch library of the Jaguar is more interesting than the VCS. It had two original games (Cybermorph and Trevor McFur). For the VCS, we've got Atari Vault and Tempest 4000. More rehashing, woohoo. Might as well include Super Breakout as the pack-in game and make the shape of the VCS like the 5200. There's the promise of the sandbox mode, but if you're just going to use it for Steam and games through there, you probably have a computer that is far more capable to play the games you'd download there. And you'll need to buy and connect an external hard-drive since you've got a whopping 32GB of storage on there. New versions of Atari classics though? Nothing that they've bothered to tell us about yet. They supposedly have new versions of Ninja Golf, Asteroids and Fatal Run in the works, but they haven't confirmed those for the VCS. They haven't even said that they'll bring Rollercoaster Tycoon, one of the last modern IPs they've got in their catalog that still makes money, to the VCS. It's telling to me that they wouldn't have been touting a flagship IP on the VCS from the get-go(well, you'd have to have solid confidence in your product to be able to do that). Ok, we have Tempest 4000, but apart from that already being available on PS4/PC, it's a niche shooter that only a small handful of fans are into. It's not exactly a system seller like T2k or T3k were for their platforms. OR if someone is really wanting a nostalgia console, they could wait a little longer and put their money into the woodgrain version of the Intellivision Amico. No, it won't have the Atari logo slapped on it, but it will have unique and exclusive Atari games created for it that INTV has licensed and is working on. Sadly, Atari hasn't provided any evidence that they've got quality control for that stuff - look up the recent reboots of Night Driver, Asteroids, and Haunted House...they've all been disasters. So by that, I have much more confidence that INTV will treat the IP properly and give us great games (verdict still out on all of that of course, they could screw it up, but it's hard to outscrew up Atari SA at this point).

"We have some exciting news for you in this regard coming soon!"

Intellivision has a team with direct connections & experience in working on and launching great products, while Atari is the equivalent of saying that their team knows some people who once knew another guy, who once saw a famous person visit the same taco stand that their second cousin also visited.

That's great news! I'm curious about CyberMorph though...thought it would come with BM too. Here's hoping that the complete code to Dracula was found in this acquisition. Or if anything exists of it on the Jaguar CD. Would LOVE to see that one on the Jaggy.

Well that's how you do it - just make a good contact and don't burn a bridge Congrats on the [eventual] pick up I get people asking to buy my Ms. Pac-man and DK machines all the time, but the problem is that those are two 40~ year games that earn and people expect to see. If it's still making it's keep (and the location owns it, as opposed to a route operator), then they won't want to sell. But if a place has some other more obscure classics, then you probably will have better luck in asking. Stuff like Zaxxon tends to be filler and is an easier sell

I have a hunch that this was just confusion over Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator. That was pretty much Star Trek II There was a laserdisc Star Trek III arcade game in development over at Midway, but other than there was a working project of it at one point, nothing else is known about it: http://system16.com/hardware.php?id=592&page=1#1756

Nailed it ^ I've long thought that this entire thing was a ploy to find an interested buyer in the company. They've made no secret that they would really love a buyout. Probably pains Fred every time he hears about some dumb new startup that no one's ever heard of being bought out by some big tech company for millions or billions. Catching up on the thread after vacation, I see we're into August 2019 now, just a few months away from when this fantastic and revolutionary new unconsole is supposed to be shipping and all Atari's got is an interview that says nothing on cable news. On the VCS only having 10,000 units pre-ordered, that's another red flag that the head-in-sand brigade should be noticing, but I'm not surprised that they aren't. 10k is amazing in the arcade industry, but in the home console business? That's a fart in the wind standing near a tornado. Oh, and I noticed for the first time that this thread is tagged 'tacos.' 👏

I don't know Mr. Artz personally, but by this interview, he gives unpolished politicians a run for their money (perhaps it's what he's practicing for after this fiasco is forgotten about). It's like he had a handler there constantly waving "NO!" to the things he was saying. If anything, the "trolls" are definitely living in his head, rent-free. He and Team Taco have had plenty of time to come up with a clear and concise message as to what this platform is and how to market it, but because they can't give legitimate criticisms an inch, they end up talking utter nonsense in the attempt to sound like they've got a handle on things. Instead of giving us polish, expertise and confidence, they look and sound incredibly incompetent. All he wants to say is that we've got a computer for your TV. Unfortunately, that's not revolutionary or unique, so spin away to confuse the listener/reader into forgetting about what the subject was in the first place. It's amusing that the example he uses of this powerful machine is a game that will be eight years old (Borderlands 2) by the time that the Tacobox launches. And assuming that's the same Borderlands shown in that CNET video, it was chugging along at 15-20fps (queue up the "unoptimized" excuses). Why not show us something that was released this year to show us dumb trolls all up? You know the answer...

This is one of my favorite Lynx games. I discovered it back in '98 or so when my friend added it to his collection. I enjoyed the Sierra style games, but this one is a bit more atmospheric. If you really want to get a full experience out of it, I'd suggest playing it at night with the headphones on. As mentioned, there was a longer version of it that Atari made, but as I recall, all of that content was cut as it would have required one of the biggest ROM sizes to use on the system and of course that meant a higher cost that they didn't want to foot that bill (again, as I recall...could be wrong on a detail there, but I know for certain that there was a much bigger version and that ROM has never been found/released). I also have seen Dracula mentioned as an unreleased Jaguar CD title for many years; It would have made for a great addition to the Jag library if it were the same thing, just complete and with enhanced graphics.

What Flojomojo said in his post (not the one I'll be quoting here below) Sounds like Fred has never heard of an arcade game as he tries to define what Atari games are. And "more and more popular?" *Snort* Is that why every reboot the company has attempted to do over the past decade (Haunted House x3, Yars Revenge, Star Raiders, Asteroids, Night Driver) have been badly reviewed flops? "Popular" at Atari:

That's correct. Anything with/made by the Atari Games label is NOT Atari SA, so they have no power there.

Just got back from camping over the weekend and had an email from TeePublic's legal department. It didn't get into detail but did confirm that Atari is suing them (what a surprise!) so that all Atari designs are "off-limits." I would not be surprised if any DIY design source (Teespring, maybe Etsy) is also facing similar action. EDIT: Ok, found an article from a while ago, showing that Atari is suing three other companies (Zazzle& Red Bubble in addition to TP) for trademark infringement: http://patentarcade.com/2018/08/atari-sues-indy-t-shirt-websites.html I wonder if Fred will be taking action against Taco Bell/Del Taco/Taco Time/the rinky dink taco stand on the side of the road soon...

Yeah, at this point it's DIY and satire. Satire is fair use!