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Downland1983

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Posts posted by Downland1983

  6. Posted

    Downland1983 makes a very good point, buying the brand and removing it from the market. However the value placed on the brand is speculation. Hasbro did the same thing with Monopoly and Parker Brothers. Interestingly, Hasbro revived the PB brand a couple of years ago. Somehow they kept PB but not coleco.

     

    Coleco had no videogame hardware IP. It was from texas instruments which nintendo and sega as well as japanese msx computers based their graphics technologies on. And coleco's video game software ip were mostly handcuffed by third party licenses. Coleco abandoned video games in 1985, one year earlier Mattel was able to sell its video games business for $20M.

     

    Actually, Nintendo engineers were well aware of the ColecoVision and greatly impressed by it during the early development stages of the Famicom (which would go on to become the industry dominating NES). According to Nintendo's own devs, the ColecoVision was "a huge influence" on Famicom development.

     

    "During the Famicom’s development, Nintendo was sharply aware of one product in particular. This was the ColecoVision belonging to an American firm called Coleco. (Fig. 1) Coleco was a toy manufacturer that produced items such as a portable game console that incorporated fluorescent display tubes. At the time, the Atari 2600 was a hit in North America. (Fig. 2) ColecoVision was developed by Coleco in order to compete with it.

    Just before Nintendo started work on the Famicom, Coleco employees visited Nintendo with a prototype ColecoVision in tow. R&D2’s engineers were shocked at seeing smoothly animated graphics for the first time.

    Takao Sawano (presently deputy section chief of Nintendo Entertainment Analysis & Development Division 1), a member of the development team and one of the people in charge of software development, brought the ColecoVision home and got his parents to play. Their response was overwhelmingly positive.

    Sawano joined Nintendo in 1972 and, together with Uemura, participated in the development of games that utilized specialized LSI chips as part of R&D2. He was then recruited to R&D1, who had their hands full with developing the Game & Watch. However, he returned to Uemura’s side for the Famicom development project.

    Sawano’s participation had a significant impact on the Famicom’s specifications. It was he that proposed the D-pad on the controller.

    It is often said that the Famicom was modeled on the Atari 2600. Certainly, without Atari‘s success, it’s entirely possible that Nintendo would not have taken the plunge with the development of a domestic game console. However, Uemura states that it was the ColecoVision that technologically spurred him and the ColecoVision he had in mind when considering the image of the product."

    https://www.glitterberri.com/developer-interviews/how-the-famicom-was-born/deciding-on-the-specs/

    • Like 2

  7. Posted

    The coleco brand never had much value even in the 1980s; that's why nobody bought it during their bankruptcy sale. Technically, Hasbro aquired the coleco brand name along with the toy lines they bought; did they actually use the name? And it's not even known what became of the colecovision ip. Coleco's videogames (and table tops) required additional licensing which were generally more valuable than the coleco name. Would you buy something just because it said Atari (some would); more would likely buy something that played Asteroids, Centipede, or Missile Command. And that's the difference between Coleco/RWB and others. Regardless of the brand value Coleco/RWB has no video game IP.

     

    Wouldn't these minicades be more practical as handhelds. Would it sell less if it didn't have the old tabletop form factor?

     

    You are talking about ColecoVision brand name 5 years post crash and without any context. Coleco was half a decade out the video game business at that point. Japanese game companies had already succesfully taken over the console market in the US under their own brand names. Hasbro didn't use the Coleco brand name, because why would they use it in conjunction with the Coleco assets they purchased instead of their own? Hasbro wasn't interested in video game hardware manufacture, so of course they weren't interested in the ColecoVision IP. But, nobody had to coax them into placing a $95 million on Coleco's assets and name ($195 million today). After Coleco offered Hasbro a merger proposal at the January 89' New York Toy Fair, a Senior Executive at Hasbro went around Coleco's back to speak directly to the bankruptcy attorney about buying Coleco outright instead of giving them a chance to emerge from bankruptcy. The most important asset Hasbro wanted from Coleco was the rights to distribute the Cabbage Patch Dolls, which by purchasing Coleco they were able to secure the rights from 89' to 94'. Hasbro was primarily interested in Coleco's toys (Cabbage Patch Dolls) and games divisions. Hasbro to this day still owns the rights to manufacture "Scrabble" in the U.S. and Canada due to their purchase of Coleco in 89'. Hasbro didn't have to buy the Coleco name as part of the assets purchase though. They chose to do so rather than leave a toy competitor's brand name on the open market. It would be stupid for Hasbro to market the Cabbage Patch dolls, Scrabble, and other Coleco assets as "by Coleco" instead of making sure everyone thought of Hasbro when seeing those products on store shelves. That doesn't mean the name Coleco had no value, it means Hasbro thought it had enough value to want to keep any one else from using it in competition against them while at the same time not wanting to dilute the value of their own brand by keeping Coleco's name alive within their own product line.

    • Like 3

  8. Posted

    C'mon you now, you use the moniker of "god's lab rat" ... of all people you should be able to .... just wait!

     

    Yeah, as you wait don't hold your breath :)

     

    PS: it took me forever to read it straight, I always thought it was "gold's a brat" which makes no sense.

     

    Ha, I thought it was God's LA brat as in from Los Angeles.

    • Like 2

  14. Posted

    So, Atari went from this at the outset of the campaign:

     

    "Atari VCS team seeks to work closely with the Atari fan community and gaming industry to prove to the world that the all-new Atari VCS has what it takes to go from “interesting” to “epic!” The Indiegogo partnership helps us to reach out to and connect with highly-engaged community members..."

     

    To this:

     

    "we just feel that often “less is more” on updates."

     

    And why do any of the backers actually think that Atari has proceeded through it's "Q4 2018 Manufacturing" phase when they still have their own status listed on Indiegogo as not having progressed beyond the "March-Q3 2018 Prototype" phase?

     

     

     

    thumbnail-deaf450c2d4183b9309b493f6a7b20
    Andy Blakely 8 hours ago

    @jbpin Q1 delivery is NOT delivery to consumers. It’s delivery from their factory to themselves. That’s why further down the timeline they list MID 2019 availability. It’s why from day-1 all tiers have stated “JULY 2019” estimated delivery.

    @Tommy I agree totally. Except the update is sorta related to the VCS because the contest was for VCS backers. I don’t think they intended to tease us, but that’s what they effectively did, and it didn’t feel good to get excited and then let down.

    thumbnail-deaf450c2d4183b9309b493f6a7b20
    johnphelan1979 11 hours ago

    The atari ceo said in an interview that the atari vcs will be launching July 2019.the daily express said that the Xbox playstation and Nintendo will have a new rival in July by a well known name atari. All this has been confirmed. Rob Wyatt and his team are hard at work on the atari vcs and it’s going to be awesome. Patience everybody I know everyone is nervous and excited and sceptic about the atari vcs but in my opinion it will come out on time and it will be awesome.

    Prototype Stage

     

     

    Concept
    Prototype
    Production
    Shipping
    This campaign has built only a working demo of their product, not the final product.
    • Like 5

  17. Posted

    Great score. Thanks for making me not have to play through this again ;)

     

    LOL, you're welcome! I was on a croc screen trying to climb a tree with a snake on it. Finally, I took my chances in the water but got to the hunter camp screen with just enough health to stumble onto a pit and die. No way I was going through all that again on a work night. I ended up taking my frustrations out on a game of NBA2K19 GM mode season on my Switch instead. Game went into OT and kept me up even later! Thankfully I won, or that would have been a double bummer.

    • Like 2

  22. Posted

    Wellness check!

     

    The campaign is up a bit more, as a few more glimmers of common sense in the world flicker and die

     

     

    John's enthusiasm for "Atari" VCS* and 1980s trash culture continues to know no bounds

     

    attachicon.gifScreen Shot 2019-01-24 at 10.47.05 AM.png

     

    "The 80s were great in my opinion so many great franchises airwolf the a team knight rider these where my favorite TV shows as a kid I'd love to see new games based on each for the atari vcs." I wonder if John Phelan is aware of the "hardwork" being done to bring Knight Rider 2600 to fruition.

    • Like 2
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