Tavi

This Atari Box project has been a comedy of errors right from the initial Kickstarter that Atari had to pull the plug on and still continuing right up until now, years later. What I still feel is perhaps one of their biggest ones is the lack of any exclusives. Like you said they are too small to get the attention of the big developers, I suspect Atari would consider themselves fortunate to even be considered for a few quick and easy ports from them. There is just no money in it. Granted Ouya had tried this and failed, but perhaps the Atari name might have helped them there to attract some gullible indie developers. As so many people have pointed out, without any exclusives everything the Atari Box does can be done by other existing equipment, and often for cheaper. Their one 'Hail Mary' shot at getting any market notice would be to find the next 'Undertale' or 'Cuphead' and get it as a system exclusive. So that Atari seems to have no interest in supporting developers is a little surprising. Even more shocking as going by Wyatt's and Fergal's experience with Atari, I suspect Atari would pull a stunt like Blizzard just did with Warcraft Reforged and write up a contract so everything developed belonged to them alone. But as this entire Atari Box project could be written up as a 'How to Fail Spectacularly in Every Possible way' guide; I guess I should not be that shocked?

The various Bubble Bobble games, Rainbow Islands, Puzzle Bobble, Parasol Stars... I really enjoy all those games, and at least to myself I find they are equally enjoyable as single player or in co-op/competition play. I certainly would not mind if a game of this genre was eventually released for the Amico.

Wow, the Atari Box is finally showing off its stuff to the public by demoing its ability to run Anstream. ... which is something my six-year-old Galaxy S5 can do with ease. So I am more then a little underwhelmed if this is the best they have to show on the system. Not exactly fulfilling the 'Game, Stream and Connect like never before' promise. It still will be quite interesting to finally hear some first hand, non-vetted reports on the system and how well it actually runs. As for the backers, I sympathize with them a bit over this. .. but at the same time I am getting a lot of entertainment as a spectator for this non-stop trainwreck of a project!

If you have no interest in remakes or updates of classic games, it was mentioned that Intellivision classic game bundles would also be released for the Amico at some point. If I recall correctly, they just did not want to do it immediately after release to avoid the system being mislabeled as another retro Flashback console. So you should be able to buy and play straight ports of classic Intellivision games at some point as well. Which is something I am interested in as well.

I am suspecting it is in part because as soon as they say 'Don't blame us, blame COVID-19!' people will quite rightly and quickly point out they were not even close to being production ready before the outbreak occurred. So it would be a pretty half-assed excuse. But despite how flimsy it is, it is also the best (only?) excuse they have for announcing yet another missed deadline and new delay. Thus I am expecting them to run with it anyways at some point.

Hardly what I was claiming. Tommy had already mentioned that there was a pretty strict game quality vetting process, so concerns about buying sub-par shovelware should be pretty much moot. What I am saying, and it should not be that shocking of a revelation, is that more casual players who will buy and play a title and then eventually rotates to other additional games is a more profitable customer then someone who buys and plays just one or two games exclusively. Especially on a system that will not allow various micro-transactions.

I am thinking May is a the absolute soonest anything could be delivered to backers. Just a few weeks ago their update mentioned that they had just produced another handful of Atari Box developer test units. Which I am certainly no expert on console production and design, but to me it sounds like while they are perhaps closer now to 'Production' then 'Prototype', actual mass production seems like it is still a ways off yet. Sea freight time alone from China to the US is 4 to 6 weeks, putting Atari over their 'Weeks not Months' March 31st delivery deadline right there. The only thing I am curious about is why Atari is putting off announcing this latest new delay. Atari certainly knows they have to move their delivery goalpost yet again, and the backers have to know that there is now no possibility of them having product in hand by March 31st. So if everyone involved knows otherwise, I fail to see what purpose is there in still pretending they still might meet their March 31st delivery date?

The big point I think you are perhaps missing is that regardless if a person buys and plays an Amico game for a few hours before tiring of it, or plays it for hours a week for years; Intellivision (and developers) will make the same amount of money off the game either way. There will be no DLC's, loot boxes, Season Passes, expansions, and the like. You buy the game, you get 100% of the game right there. So play time on any given title is something of an irrelevant point as there is no various micro-transactions (thankfully!) with any of these games. In fact, one could make an argument that Intellivision, et al. will make more money if console owners occasionally move onto buying and playing new and different titles rather then sticking to just a few favourites.

You are going to have to cross Math Fun off that list! I seem to recall reading a request for it to be considered for the Amico from someone who apparently found it to be a great party game; attempting math problems while being completely rat-arsed

I have to say that personally I am thrilled by the Amico having an updated and multiplayer Astrosmash. It is a great game and a lot of fun to play, certainly one of my favourites on the Intellivision. But being single player it was not really a game you fired up with a group. It was not very exciting to spectate, and very limited in 'backseat driver' coaching potential. 'You should shoot the falling rocks' and 'Don't get hit by a falling rock' pretty much covers it. I am also excited in general by the concept of re-imagined classics for the Amico. You can play original Intellivision games on original equipment or in emulation, and while still a lot of fun there is nothing really new or exciting about it either. It sounds like for the Amico that the intent behind their remakes are to keep true to the original game play, but with updated sound and graphics and a few tweaks. It seems a good mixture of old and new.

Hello! The Founders Edition was only available in the woodgrain design. To purchase any of the other console designs you will I think have to wait until they hit the stores.

I am thinking the key missing element is their inability to find and keep someone willing to design for them from the ground up a system that not even Atari themselves seems to know what they want it to be or do. Seeing that no-one at Atari has any practical knowledge or experience in the sort of work required for this project. Oh, and from their prior history with Wyatt and Feargal, it seems this person will be doing all of this work out of the goodness of their heart. As it seems there is no room in the 3 million dollar budget to pay the people actually creating the Atari Box for Atari. ... but once Atari solves that little problem of finding someone willing to do all the work for them in return for absolutely nothing; I am certain the rest of of the project will go quickly and much smoother.

We could use shops like that here in the West! So many electronics get tossed when they can likely be repairable, but no-one works on them anymore.

He did just register yesterday morning for E3, so they might not have updated the list as of yet? Also, Happy Birthday Tommy!

I have never played the PS1 Classic Games, I wonder if it has anything different for games then from the Intellivision Lives! for the PS2? Quite the collection of Intellivision goodies! It is interesting to hear that a laptop adapter will power your Intellivision II. You do see them listed on eBay quite often without cords, it is good to know that is not too much of a problem to find a suitable replacement. As for the flashback, I have heard from several people (and reviews) that the sound quality is unfortunately found lacking. That and a completely broken game (Tower of Doom) put me off of buying one.

Ick. I will have to give it a try tomorrow and see if this is correct. I had plugged in Mouse Trap and other then selecting players and difficulty (both at 2, as 1 was non-responsive) I never had tried the side buttons; I just ran the mouse around the maze a while to test that the directional disc was working properly. Ah well, I guess 50$ CAD or so is a bit of a hit (The UK seller has increased his prices to 12 Pounds each membrane; just my luck!) but at least I know they will work being brand new.

Nice! Finding a cheap non-functioning console, yet with the controls remaining in decent shape was I think going to be a bit of a challenge. If my experience with Atari 2600's is anything to go by, the controls tend to take a lot more of a beating then the consoles ever do. This will certainly be the much better way to go at it. Buying brand new controller membranes takes all the luck and guesswork out of shopping around for some used parts. Thanks for the link, I will give him a shout next week and order myself a set.

I pulled both controllers apart today, and I snipped about an inch off the wire of the frayed one and moved the grommet down to the unbroken cable casing. Which seemed to have helped a bit, the controller is now working except the 1, 4, (I am presuming 7) and clear buttons are non-functional. but the disc and other buttons are working, so I will call that a partial win. The other controller is a complete write-off I am thinking though. Upon dissembling it I found considerable wear on the disc controller contacts (worn through entirely at a few points) and it looks like it also has shorted out at some point (possibly from the wear) and some of the electrical traces look scorched on the disc and keypad. Ah well. It was 35$ with 23 games so I can hardly feel ripped off. I enjoyed taking it all apart and working on it, plus the console itself works perfectly so in theory all I should have to do is find a non-functional Intellivision and move the controllers over to have myself a functional Tandyvision.

I did have a better look at it this morning, and it is indeed broken off inside the grommet. Some pulling and wiggling did move the broken piece a tiny bit so I am thinking I will try your suggestion and see if I can remove the broken bit and move the grommet down. It is a long weekend so thankfully I will have a lot of time to fiddle with it.

Well, if I can just move the grommet that certainly would make it a lot easier. I just assumed the cable casing broke just past it (Wouldn't be the first time I saw that on a controller cable) I will have a look at it again tomorrow morning and see; the controller casing is drying out right now so I am in not a huge hurry to re-assemble it. This was going to be my weekend project, but I decided to get a head start on it tonight. I am also a bit surprised to hear there is a connector for the controllers. The biggest complaint I always heard was the controllers were non-removable, so I guess I had it in the back of my mind they were likely soldered right to the console board; I never even thought to look. It is good I have a few options to tackle this with tomorrow. Thanks Mr_Me!

I recently bought a Tandyvision off eBay, and I was taking it apart and giving it a good cleaning. Plus, there was a worrying rattle to the case when you shook it, which ended up being a small toy that somehow was stuck inside the main unit 🤔 I had put the console back together and was doing the controllers next when I found a wad of black electrical tape on the cable inside one of the controllers. I removed it and discovered that the protective casing had split just past the grommet exposing the wiring, which the wire looks perfectly fine thankfully. I certainly do not want to leave them exposed, but am not terribly keen on making another wad of tape to patch it either. Unlike other controllers I have worked on, the cable on the Intellivision is fixed into the console so replacing it I assume would be a royal pain. As I am relatively new to actually owning an Intellivision (35 years late to the party, but better then never!) I am wondering if there are any recommendations for a decent, or at least nicer looking fix then a ball of electrical tape? Many thanks!

A year and some ago I bought a lot of Atari 2600 games through eBay from what I imagine was a pawn shop cleaning out some old stock they had tucked away in a box in the back for years. Most of them did not work right out of the box, they were pretty dusty and a lot of oxidation on the contacts. I found that cleaning the cartridge contacts with a q-tip soaked in rubbing alcohol, some of them requiring a few q-tips, was all that the majority of them needed to become functional again. That is were I would start at. It is not a very aggressive way of cleaning so I do not believe it should hurt the contacts any; at least I have never had a problem with cleaning them this way so far myself. For a 2600, but the exact same process. In fact, probably easier as there is no dust shield to fight with on the Intellivison cartridges

Sort of? They must have given Walmart and GameStop a definite delivery date as they both have been advertising a shipping date of Tuesday, March 31st to those pre-ordering. That is just a bit over six weeks from now. As they are not even into production, let alone being ready to ship from China to the US, I am thinking as of right now I likely have a higher possibility of winning the lottery while being abducted by aliens then Atari has at meeting that deadline.

I have a cousin who is a vegan. So I have had tofu and vegan meals while there visiting before. Not really my cup of tea, but it was not intolerable either. I do not think I would ever willingly go to a vegan restaurant. I am sure the food is just fine, but instead of eating vegan food that has been made to look and taste like a more appealing meat-based meal I think I would just rather go right for the real thing. Absolutely nothing against vegans, but not being one myself I do not have much desire to settle for a substitute when I can just as easily have exactly what I want. Speaking of the PS2 I have been looking at getting the 'Intellivision Lives!' collection for it. It does offer quite a few titles I do not have yet, and running them through the PS2 means no hassle setting up the console first if I feel like playing a bit. Not nearly as fun as playing on the original system, but being able to just pop in a disc and go does have its appeal as well.

Tofu. Any vegan food equivalent question can usually be answered with 'Tofu' 😁 Quite honestly I still use and never bothered upgrading from my PS2 either. PS1 to PS2 was a huge jump, and that upgrade I had no problems with, but after 2 I was just not that interested in what the PS3+ offered. PS2 graphics are still pretty decent, games are quite cheap now, and there is an astoundingly huge selection of great titles available for the console. I could probably play it for another 20 years and still be discovering new games that I like.