Lord Thag

I've stayed out of this thread for a reason, even though I agree with most of the criticism aimed at the kickstarter for this book. I'll say this. They way a lot of folks in this thread reacted makes me pretty sad. Honestly, it's why I've dialed back my participation with online forums, social media in recent years. The fact that a lot of people are more interested in being right than preserving the camaraderie, friendships etc. formed here over the years makes me sad. Plenty of people with legit criticism in this thread were rude, condescending and overbearing. A lead dev for RespQt is stepping down from the project over the way people reacted to him. Sure, I think most of those people had legit criticisms of the above kickstarter, but the way it was handled, while not being actual bullying perhaps, was not polite or respectful. I know it's just a sign of the times, and how the internet works these days, but I remember a time when this sort of things was the exception, rather than the rule. I get we're all passionate about our hobby, but sometimes, I think communities like this would do well to remember that it's the PEOPLE, and the connections between them that make this place great. Being right.... should never be more important than that. Not a lot of us Atari PC folks left in the world, you know? Losing several over a kickstarter dispute... sucks.

I was initially pretty skeptical about this, but there are some real talented devs behind the games. I'll wait and see. I tend to be picky about they games I play, and the 'only 12 games' in a year thing makes me skeptical. And the crank seems silly and gimicky. That said, I love creative indie games, and the developers behind this have real talent. It'll all depend on what type of games for me, and the price. Their lead guy needs to learn not to come across like an entitled twit though. That whole conflict thing with the similarly named Playdate event didn't help their image any, and it should have been easily avoided with some common sense.

I read through the other thread you are referencing. I agree that it's not bullying, like others said... however, I DO think you have a point about this forum sometimes being opinionated, anal and pushy to the point of being highly annoying. It's ... just kinda what happens when you get a bunch of nerds together. It's like this on every forum full of nerds I've ever participated in. Lots of people who care about a thing, having strong opinions about said thing, and beating opinions about said thing to death. Always will be like this too. Not everyone gets involved in the drama though, or likes it. I've gotten frustrated with the rudeness/pushiness too. Take a break. Don't make a decision until you've had some space, and remember, there are ALWAYS lots of people who do like and respect what you've done with RespeQt who have nothing to do with that other thread.

This looks great. I'll buy one on cart in a flat second.

Considering that all the best languages for doing this (Inform, Adrift etc) are all modern PC based, you'll want to do it on a PC. Far, FAR easier. As long as you aim for a lower Z-machine version to compile to, you'll be able to run it on an actual Atari. The more modern formats like .z8, .blorb etc. won't work. The modern languages add so much power and functionality, you'd be crazy not to take advantage of it.

I'm guessing that sub board is the same, that's what I replaced on my full size one. It's an $8 HDMI converter board, which is a lot cheaper than replacing the whole monitor, nor was it hard to do. Literally, the same connectors that the main board already uses. Plug and play, and then the built in monitor takes HDMI. Simple. If you have a spare monitor lying around, no big deal of course, but why not use what you bought?

If these things have the same guts as their bigger brothers, they are super easy to mod. I replaced my video board with a cheap ($10 on amazon) HDMI converter board and added a couple of USB encoders for the controls, and I plugged in a space Super Retrocade I had lying around. Would easily do a Pi as well.

This looks incredibly good!

Not much, really. Started collecting loose carts at flea markets and whatever, which quickly expanded to collecting carts from all systems I liked. I'm more of a player than a collector, so I've never cared about boxes or complete sets. I downsized a few years back and got rid of all the 'interesting but not fun to play' stuff, but that's about the only change.

Having had one, I'd say yes since you have it, but fair warning. It's pretty time consuming to set up. Once you do, it's fine. The more modern solutions are waaaaay easier to deal with.

I just use these, they work great, and are only $15: https://www.8bitclassics.com/shop/computers/atari-8-bit-computer/atari-xl-xe-power-supply/

The tech is currently quite wonky and early. Most gaming isn't that great on VR. However... horror games are incredible. Alien Isolation in VR would probably kill you, for reals lol

Yeah, I did too. And we were all more forgiving of shoddy gameplay at that point. A few years later... not so much.

How good this game is depends on when you encountered it. If you played this when the only other offerings were things like 2600 Basketball, it was amazing. Being able to break the backboard, the janitor coming out etc were details you just had never seen at that point. If you played it later than that, say once intellivision or the nes had made really good basketball games, it's just kinda meh. Really, it was too old to be ported to the 7800. Atari never really got what made a good sports game anyway.

Alien Isolation is up there for sure, it's terrifying. Glad so many hear are giving it it's due. Way scarier than resident evil, by a mile. Great game. That said, have any of you tried some of the VR offerings? It's a whole other ball game. VR takes jump scares and horror tropes and makes your lizard brain think it's real, it's on a whole other level. I played Dreadhalls on that Samsung Oculus VR set they gave you for getting a phone a few years back. Monsters in the dark and the weeping angel things in VR? I tried. Nope. Not happening. About threw the headset across the room. It rivaled IRL situations I've been in that instilled terror. To the point it wasn't fun, actually.

The ones we tried, yes, with two different converters. That said, I'm not much of an SMS fan (sold my set years ago), so that wasn't the focus. But it played everything we threw at it. And from what John said, everything he has on his own as well.

I picked it up. This was one of the few Final Fantasy games I've liked. It reminds me of Phantasy Star IV a bit where you can program your team to act/respond through macros. That, combined with being able to actually see all the enemies and your party being able to auto fight them, well, it removed my main objection to these jrpg games: the endless, tedious, random combat grinding. I hate it. And XII made it bearable, and allowed me to enjoy the story. Unfortunately, back in the day, my PS2 died before I completed it. Looking forward to playing through it on the switch.

That's a Roklan Un-Roller Controller, I think.

A pro controller is the only way to fly with this. It's worth every penny. The other suggestion I'd have for a new owner is to dive into all the great indie releases. This thing is basically what the Steambox was supposed to be: a small, easy to play console with the best of Steam. There are so many great 2D retro style games on it I can't even keep up. Probably gonna end up being my favorite Nintendo console ever.

Yes, this. It's very compatible. Both myself and John Hancock have large genesis collections, and this plays everything we've tested on it. The only thing I have seen in not run were a couple of obscure Euro SMS games through a new, 3rd part Master System adaptor... and that could well be the adaptor.

These are very good, but the 8bitdo wireless Genesis pads are so damn good, I rarely use anything else these days. Great review and teardown!

The Pi is a nod to the older computer companies that named themselves after fruit (acorn, apricot systems etc), particularly in Britain. Also, the board was designed at the outset to be programmed in Python... hence the Pi.

Never seen an original poster, though I have a Star Raiders T-Shirt from back then

Having once had a bigger collection that I've downsized... I pretty much turn down anything I don't actually play these days. It's too easy to get buried in this stuff. If it's not a console I fire up at least once a year to play... you can keep it. But in terms of taste... anything from the PS1/n64 era. I don't like any of those consoles at all, outside the tail end of the Neo Geo releases. Early 3d was ugly, clunky, slow and usually had terrible play control. No thanks. I much prefer sprite based stuff until you get up to the later eras.

Yeah, this game is glitchy. I've had many freezes over the years. It's why I play the 7800 or Atari 8-bit ports.