Atari Game Plan 1981

[Atari Game Plan 1981]

Heh, if you got it from eBay I've been eyeing that one for a few months now, but just couldn't pull the trigger on it.  

[are we really sure the Intellivision only sold 3 million]

15 hours ago, mr_me said:

When Mattel sold all their video game assets in 1984, it included unsold stock of consoles and cartridges.  The group that bought them continued to supply retailers.  They ran out of that stock in 1984 or 1985 and that's when they started making the black and silver INTV System III.  INTV continued to supply retailers for several years.  So there were lots of Intellivisions that went to retail that's not counted in the "more than three million consoles".  I'm assuming Christmas 1983 sales are included but don't know that for sure.  When INTV finally closed around 1990, I doubt there was much in unsold stock.

Excellent info, thanks.

[are we really sure the Intellivision only sold 3 million]

The other consideration is if back then they separated out sold through vs. shipped vs. manufactured. Seems reasonable that even if the formal sold number was three million, there could have been, say, another million hanging around that ended up in the collectors market from old store and warehouse stock. 

[Which Games Have Become More Collectible During the Quarantine?]

Wii Fit is the popular go-to now that Ring Fit is essentially sold out worldwide, unless you love overpaying a scalper. Not too surprised its price may go up slightly. 

[Atari Club Letter + Order Form Scans]

I know, the Bowl of Night! Sounds like a D&D magic item. Here's the page on it from the OG Atari Age Magazine:

[Microvision replacement screen project - pre-order & purchase here]

I saw something somewhere a while back where it was suggested you could use aluminum foil on your Microvision to improve the screen, but can no longer find the video or post. Anyone remember what this is about?

[Want To Buy: Rarer 2600 Games]

If someone has a spare copy of Red Sea Crossing, I'm down for paying $5 for it. I won't pay shipping, though. Consider it a favor to help you out!

[Atari Club Letter + Order Form Scans]

I recently picked up a lot of 2600 stuff that had some great documentation and sales flyers with it, and figured I'd share the Atari Club stuff that was in the lot:

 

 

[Some old sales ads from the early 80's]

I recently picked up a nice Atari 2600 lot and found that the original owner kept great records of the things they picked up and when, including a bunch of old sales ads from newspapers in the Rhode Island area in 1982-3. Figured I'd share. 

[Where are the Midway arcade games?]

Having worked directly on the IP under WB in a community management role I can attest that the licensing is a bit complex, but that was the state I saw it during the original rollout of Midway Arcade for mobile. It would not surprise me if WB mixed it in with Lego Dimensions and Arcade1up has it for physical cabinets that it might be difficult to sort through, and the financial gain is up in the air. 

[Independent Amico Discussion Thread]

Yeah, especially this fall I'd imagine a $250 price point isn't that big of a deal on the consumer level, will still be probably about half the price of the PS5/Xbox One X Series X One Box

 

 

[Independent Amico Discussion Thread]

I mean, the worst port that could come to the Amico would be Custer's Revenge. 

[RF to HDMI converter?]

I have been using a good VCR I found at a thrift store for $5 (Panasonic PV-8451) combined with a Rasvox RCA to HDMI converter picked up for $30 on Amazon for a few months, and it works great both for getting it into HDMI and for getting it into a stream capture device (Elgato HD60S). I found before settling on this set up that a lot of the digital RF inputs can't pick up the Atari signal very well, but your mileage will vary based on the TV or unit you are using. This is the converter I am using so far without issue: https://www.amazon.com/Rasfox-Converter-Composite-Upscaler-High-End/dp/B0719G5TL9/

[New Atari Console that Ataribox?]

Y'all were laughing at Atari's stock but given the crappy day(s) in the markets WHO IS LAUGHING NOW!!!! HAHAHAHAHAH:

 

 

My Pong-based speculation is totally gonna make me a billionaire as defined by me. You thought this was a $20 joke investment? No! Doing way better than the couple of bucks I buried in the backyard then forgot where I dug it as a kid. 

 

For other big-money investors like myself out there I strongly suggest buying crappy stocks that stay crappy. At least then you won't be disappointed or scared. 

[The Atlantis II "Weight Test" Validity?]

Someone who is less familiar with Atari recently posted on the AtariAge Facebook page to ask if the Atlantis II weight test was legit or Internet rumor. I figured a quick Google search would give me an easy answer (and I assumed it was nonsense), but surprisingly I did some digging without result. Since the Google search turned up AA threads from 2011 or so I figured it might be time to update this for 2020. Anyone know? 

 

Rumor being based largely on a widely-circulated YouTube video that the Atlantis II cart doesn't weigh the same as an Atlantis cart. 

[Over 37 years later, a new U.S. Games box found!]

Saw this on your Twitter, too cool! Putting a label over another label was fairly common from what I'd read, as it saved these companies a lot of money to re-use carts that weren't sold. 

[Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A]

15 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

Just found something out about the issue the person had (who mentioned our customer service is non-existent).

 

He incorrectly entered his e-mail address into our system when he contacted us!  So when we immediately replied (within 24 hours of his request) we never heard back.

 

Simple mistake on his part. 

 

I would say under the circumstances... maybe a little unfair to say our customer service is "non-existent".

 

OMG the number of times this has happened with the company I work for. Also, the folks who googled "email *our company name*" and sent an all-caps email to whatever result came up is in the thousands. 

[New Atari Console that Ataribox?]

Keep up the great work, fools, in proving again and again your own obliviousness to your idiocy. You are nearing Reddit-levels of dumbassery. Up next - 4Chan!

[Independent Amico Discussion Thread]

I still think the Intellivision crew will need to compromise on their all-exclusive, family friendly, less than $10 approach as the console (hopefully) gets its life cycle. For now, though, it makes sense I guess from a marketing and positioning perspective. I have been pleasantly proven wrong so far on IE's abilities to get games in the works for it. 

[The End of an Era: The Sonic movie is actually great!]

Someone else I know brought up Tomb Raider, so I guess that probably wins. Still, Sonic is great.

[Nintendo Play Station Auction]

This is going to be cool to watch.

[The End of an Era: The Sonic movie is actually great!]

Just got out of a first-day screening of the new Sonic the Hedgehog movie and am happy to report that it was fantastic. Genuine heart, smart writing, surprisingly excellent action set pieces, charismatic acting, the list goes on.

 

For my life until now I've never heard of a good movie based on a video game. If it exists, I haven't seen it. 

 

As far as I can tell of all things can ya believe it - 2020 and the Sonic the Hedgehog movie is the first good movie based on a video game, and was absolutely a blast to watch. I loved it!

[Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A]

The amount of money I'd be willing to spend on a modern version of Tron: Deadly Discs is embarassing. 

[Independent Amico Discussion Thread]

Mobile gaming dwarfs console gaming when it comes to gross revenue, and there is a lot of data to prove it. Depending on the sku, some consoles have been competitive with mobile in what is called ARPPU, or Average Revenue per Paying User. This is a measure of "if someone gives us money, how much money to do they give us?" and is a separate metric than the total number of concurrencies or overall revenue. The revolution that jetted mobile to the top is partly fueled by business data showing ARPPU on mobile is often much much higher than a traditional video game. Which is why we live in an era of post-sale DLC, season passes, loot boxes, etc. 

That said, one of the highest ARPPU's I've ever seen was for the Playstation Vita, and I think that model could well be what the Amico sees. A small but very dedicated community willing to spend real money on games. It is why, despite the Internet's belief that the Vita was a failure, a whole bunch of indie game devs released their games on it, and some even reported significantly higher sales than on Steam. It may have been a failure in terms of raw number console wars, but Playstation laughed all the way to the bank on it. 

[Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A]

Caught up on recent pages and had a few things on some of the games talked about:

 

Harness Racing - sounds great. I have not seen a fun horse racing game in years, and never one with harnesses. OMG Horse Racing 2016 for PS4 may be the winner of worst game I played on the console. 

 

Stardew Valley - I get the pixel art comments, but that game would be AMAZING on the Amico. Could be a killer app even. Think Animal Crossing meets light RPG.

 

Drifting games - There are some out there, but none that have been very good. The best Drift game mechanic for me was in the PS4's Driveclub, which had a pretty darn good drifting feel and mechanic. 

 

Photo-taking instead of shooting - I remember one about 5-10 years ago where you were in Africa taking pictures instead of hunting. Worked great.