Shaggy the Atarian

I just wanted to let everyone know that Cousin Vinnie of Cousin Vinnie's Atari 7800 Panoramic Froo-Froo has joined on as a sponsor for the contest! Thanks CV!

It would be interesting to see some Atari 2600 homebrews take advantage of the expanded capabilities of the 7800. ..Al Or more 5200 homebrews beyond BeefDrop be ported to it as well. But I'd definently love to see some of the 2600 homebrews make the transition.

Hello all, I'm just creating this thread to find out who is working on a 7800 project at the moment. I know of ones that have been announced here in the forum but I've noticed while looking around on here that a few others have mentioned that they are working on something. I'd just like to get a good idea of everything that is in store for the 7800 in 2005. Also if you plan on submitting the project for the homebrew contest, I'd like to know that for obvious reasons.

I think I'll be picking this up today for the Xbox. I hope that it turns out great.

I think I may give this one a shot, although my art skills on a PC aren't that good. I guess we'll see how it may turn out...

I just posted on the other wireless thread about this, but I do agree that they were a pretty good and innovative idea for their time. I've been able to use them anywhere in the room, so I'm not 100% sure about the range, but it's good enough to reach about anywhere in a good-sized bedroom.

I have a pair of those and while I do like them, they are rather bulky and of course require the battery. To be honest, and I'm not sure if I'm the only one who feels this but, it feels really weird to be playing a 2600 with a wireless controller. I guess it's because I'm so used to the really short cords on the regular joysticks. But if you want to sit a little farther from your TV then the wireless joysticks are good.

Since we're talking about new parts for the 7800, anyone know a good source where I can get a 7800 AC adapter from, for less than $20? I've been looking around and haven't had much success so far. And I have found a few on eBay, but I was wondering if any retailers carry them for less than that. What a horrible time to have my AC adapter crap out on me...right before the arrival of Scrapyard Dog

Well so far from what I've heard in response to my initial question (thanks for bringing it up again CV) it sounds like Saboteur is pretty good. To me that's the most important thing since I've been an Atari collector for some time now and I already own most of the games announced for the Flashback. Saboteur is the most intriguing title and now the only way I'll get it outside of emulation (which I have played it on but not for very long as I really don't like playing games on an emulator except to demo them ) is by getting a Flashback. If it has been ported really well then I can justify the purchase of a Flashback, for me the hardcore Atari gamer. I think for us who are 'rabid Atari fans' that's what we should really care about. As far as what the mainstream thinks about it, I don't see why some are so concerned about it. I understand that we don't want a bad impression left of the 2600, but all the Famicom/NES ripoffs out there ( and there are many more than the Flashback with much worse hardware...I remember playing one down in Brazil that was just horrible) haven't made people change their opinions about the actual NES. Anyways, as it stands, I'll be getting a Flashback sometime soon.

That's a cool little demo, I've never seen scrolling at that speed on the 2600 before...of course it was on an emulator, but even still, it was cool.

Interesting. It's almost not surprising. It must have been a big conspiracy on PB's part to flood the world with Frogger carts. This could be bigger than the E.T.-in-the-desert story

I definently believe that now. :wink: But even still I keep hoping that one day instead of being Frogger it will be something like Star Wars the Arcade Game or something else I don't have yet.

That's cool, at least you picked up something decent. Every mystery cart I've pciked up recently has been Frogger. I think I may have 4 copies of Frogger now and I don't want any more!

For those who are demanding the best in quality from Atari, perhaps we should just wait and see what Atari has up their sleeves for next year. The next thing they make could be much better. The Flashback doesn't seem like a bad effort coming from a company that's never been involved in hardware development before. I know I'm in the minority here for taking that position, but I applaud Atari for at least giving it a shot. Perhaps they did it just to make a quick buck but what business doesn't do something with the intention to make some money off it? The people at Atari have to feed their families some how, they aren't running a charity there.

I may have missed this in the thread, but how good is Saboteur on the Flashback anyways? For me that's the primmary reason I want to get a Flashback...I was also wanting it for Planet Smashers in a way since that always ends up to be too expensive on eBay for me and that's the only 7800 game on the Flashback that I don't have. :wink: BTW- If anyone has a spare AC Adapter for the 7800 I really need one. Mine bit the dust

Funny how the version of BZ they show in that ad is the real version and not the Flashback version of the game...

I think that Activision will send you a letter back saying that the contest is over and that they don't offer those patches anymore...or something of that nature. Maybe it would be worth it just to get the letter I suppose

What we should hope for at the very least is that they learn from mistakes made with the Flashback and improve on it next time they decide to release something of this nature. What do we want to see/expect out of a new piece of hardware from Atari in the future? I hope they learn from their mistakes and work on better hardware for the future.

I personally still feel that the smartest option would be to make a special pass-thru cart that has extra RAM and a pokey chip on it, that way only about 300 or so need to be made and it won't be a problem everytime a new homebrew is made to support Pokey sound. Atari had plans for something like it in the past with the prototype RAM module...I just say finish developing the RAM module and throw a Pokey chip on there. MHO of course. Perhaps a way to 'lock' the cart in can be made (like Greg just suggested) so bumping into the machine and losing your game won't be an option.

OK, here's the main beef of the article. It's title is: " Homebrew Gaming Under Fire?" They then go on to explain that hacks of Atari games were the main target and that homebrew games can still be sold. It's too bad that they never sold it back in '83. But Atari was cutting costs back then. It goes on further until it gets to Ms. Bushkin (I keep thinking Bushnell) saying: In that case I wouldn't mind seeing a reproduced Atari 7800, with A/V hookups and repros of some of their existing titles. Of course new games for the classic systems would always be welcome, but I'd never expect a company like Atari to actually develop and release a game for the 2600 or 7800 now. That would be interesting to see though. But of course that is why we have homebrew developers, to take care of that. I find that last part amusing. They just end the article saying that "Atari is within its legal rights to protect its copyrights and trademarks". Not too big of an article but they have a huge picture of Asteroids DC Plus there, so it catches your attention rather easily.

It is the December issue. Sorry about that. Basically the article states that there was worry going through the classic Atari community, especially here at Atari Age, and that GI spoke with Atari about the issue. Atari says that they don't consider themselves the enemy of the classic gaming community and they said something to the effect of "as long as it's original they can release as many homebrews as they want. Just no using our logo and such" (I'm paraphrasing of course) and "Saboteur is not a homebrew, it was developed by Atari and it's always been ours". Sorry, I left the issue somewhere else and I don't have it handy at the moment

I'd pretty much agree with MMF. While I like dual wielding for that extra punch, I'm so used to throwing grenades with the left trigger that it feels 'unnatural' I guess you could say. I also noticed that the vehicles handle a little differently than they do in the first one. I'm not sure how to describe the difference...it's one of those things you have to play to experience. I did notice a glitch or two in the graphics, but I'm not sure if that's because I'm playing on a HDTV and if it's supposed to be rendered a little differently there due to the widescreen format But it wasn't anything really serious. Otherwise, it looks sweet. :wink: I haven't had a chance to play multiplayer yet though. I'll have to wait until this weekend.

Hmm, I've never passed by their forums before. But you're right, it's amazing how quickly something can become a "classic" game according to that forum. Diablo 2 is already a classic game! If I had a scanner I'd post a scan of the article. The one I had bit the dust though. Of course I've got some time on my hands, I could type it out I guess...

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this or if it has been posted already (I looked around and couldn't find any similar posts yet) but the latest issue of GameInformer talks about the situation with InfoAtari and the opinion about it here on Atari Age. Atari says that it's not their intention to get on the bad side of the classic gamers and they are "not the enemy of the classic gaming community". Anyone else have a chance to read this yet? It's on page 28. Thoughts about it (I hope I'm not opening a can of worms here )?

A big label for a big system.