No Quarter

Here’s what I anticipate from (Sh)AtGames in 2022: 1 - more broken promises, 2 - more missed deadlines, 3 - more outright lies, 4 - more “sales” that benefit their bottom line more so than to reward loyal customers & generate goodwill by offering an opportunity for genuine savings, and 5 - more videos of enthusiastic YouTubers with plastered-on smiles acting as PR flaks in exchange for perqs I have genuinely rooted for this company’s success for years now and have tried to follow most every bit of news about it (exclusively, with little-to-no interest in their competitors), but have been disappointed on so many occasions that I’m just utterly frustrated to the point of apathy.

AtGames is currently running a survey pertaining to products (Legends family & Flashbacks) and to retailers (club stores, discount stores & Best Buy): https://m.facebook.com/pages/category/Retail-company/AtGamesGaming/posts/?_se_imp=1flHuTyHrbXOUVAK9 Spread the word and let your voices be heard!

Yep, that’s the one in the ad - $40 starting tomorrow. Happy Turkey Day to you, Rocketfan, et al! Thanks for all of your efforts!

The Menards Black Friday ad has AFB 8 Gold for $40.

@Bill Loguidice: Any possibility of new or re-released flashbacks or Blasts (beyond the samsclub.com B/N version) this holiday season? Direct from AtGames or through retailers? Also, what’s the status of the FB official firmware update that AtGames Support promised me was coming “this year” (i.e., 2021)?

@Bill Loguidice: What did you find out? Are those available from Sam’s online the improved version or just old stock that’s being dumped? Thanks

B/N Arcade Blast! has now been back out-of-stock from the AtGames e-store for some months but just appeared last week on samsclub.com for $25. While the description there doesn’t verify it explicitly, Bill Loguidice revealed in the 2021 speculation thread that they’re coming out with a tweaked version to allow the choice of Portrait or Landscape mode which will be great for Legends Pinball owners who want to use it via the Arcade Play Link feature.

Limited info on AtGames site mentions CoreMax will be APL compatible. My guess is that this means that it will be able to be connected to an ALU or ALUM as a means of “upgrading” the arcade cabinet hardware. I could be wrong, but doubt that it means that FB’s will be able to be APL-connected to the CoreMax. The community is pushing for dual-HDMI ports on the CoreMax in order to be able to output separate signals for pinball play surface & backglass/dmd, so I think that’ll be highly likely to occur. Just noticed that samsclub.com now has the B/N Arcade Blast hdmi dongle ($25), so it’s possible we’ll soon see re-released FB’s at Sam’s, Menard’s, or elsewhere. I’ll keep my eyes peeled.

I’m here in SpringPatch and should’ve offered to let you tryout my GamePad before you placed your order. Mine’s already past it’s 30-day warranty, and I’ve barely touched it. If they’ll let you cancel your order, my offer stands. Just DM me if interested.

Core Max is allegedly going to ship in February, 2022, but take that with a giant grain of salt: (1) First-party lightgun & steering wheel accessories for the Legends family were announced on 6/10/20, and reservations for BitBlaster lightgun began around 7/31/20. Neither product is on the horizon after more than a year of waiting patiently. (2) Their 3/4-scale ALU Mini arcade cabinet as well as the GamePad controller were announced with reservations beginning at the last 2/14/21 National Owners’ Day with a May, 2021 estimated arrival for each. However, the controller didn’t arrive until August, and November is the latest promise for the ALUM.

For those interested, there seems to a price war between WalMart.com & GameStop.com for the Legends Gamer Mini (single-player fight-stick w/ core). WM has it for $61.25, and GS has it for $71.20 but they’ll probably match WM tomorrow based on the recent trend. However, be forewarned that the likely reason for this clearance fire sale is the pending announcement of a Core Max w/ a more powerful chip set akin to that used in the Legends Pinball machine. Reservations for it begin this weekend w/ delivery goal of Feb, ‘22. See wagnerstechtalk.com for more info.

Completely agree that 4-player control panel for ALU 1.1 will not sell well. No clamoring for it in YouTube chats. My guess is that AtGames is playing follow-the-leader in chasing after A1Up’s TMNT & NBA Jam cabs. Best current solution for 4-player gaming w/ ALU is to add a Gamer Pro & separate TV/monitor as has been demonstrated by BuyStuffStore. Conversely, my dream of a combo racing & lightgun control panel would be a game changer w/ universal interest among current owners and the potential to spur many new ALU cab sales. As for now, I’d settle for: (1) fulfillment of my BitBlaster lightgun reservation from more than a year ago(!), (2) the opportunity to obtain the BitRacer steering wheel that was announced 6/10/20(!), (3) a reasonably-priced Sam’s Club ALP (i.e., not $100 over MSRP!), and (4) getting the AFB & LFB official firmware snafu straightened out. Alas, my expectations are that none of the foregoing will come to pass since there’s just too much profit margin in ArcadeNet subscriptions and software (add’l pinball titles).

I’ll believe it when I see it, but here’s a recent reply from AtGames. My question: AtGames Flashback Zone (AFZ) Firmware Update Portal I purchased a Legends Flashback Deluxe - Model FB8660S (LFBD) from my local Sam’s Club in November, 2020 for standalone use as well as for use with my version 1.1 Legends Ultimate (ALU) arcade cabinet’s Arcade Play Link (APL) feature. Out of the box, the LFBD came with firmware version 1.0.4 installed. Given this, why does the AFZ currently show v0.1.8 from 2/13/20 as the latest firmware available? Likewise, why does the Release Notes page not describe ALL of the tweaks that were made with each version thru at least 1.0.4 since that kind of documentation is the whole purpose? In early January, 2021, the AFZ was not fully up-to-date (v1.0.1 maybe?), but it was more up-to-date than it is now. Sometime in late January or early February, the AFZ site was scrubbed for some reason; why was this done? Are there any known problems with versions beyond 0.1.8? The foregoing also typifies what has happened with various other Atari & Legends flashback units. Has AtGames decided to abandon its loyal customers who collect mini-consoles? Just about a year ago on the 4th of July, Glen Planamento (Glen’s Retro Show) and Patton Plays put out YouTube videos promoting the addition of a leaderboard feature for select games on the LFBD; however, for the last 7-8 months, the company’s focus seems to have shifted exclusively to ArcadeNet & Pinball. AtGames Support’s reply: Thank you for reaching out to us and your comments. Your feedback is highly appreciated. Usually, consoles will come with the latest firmware installed even though the actual firmware website is not up to date yet. Please also note that currently we are working on the new firmware release for our consoles and expect it to be live later in the year. Let us know if you have any issues with your current console or firmware and we will be happy to assist you if we can. Again, appreciate your feedback. Best regards, AtGames Customer Support Btw, @Draxxon, you cannot purchase a GamePad controller in a bundle with the Core nor by itself as @BillLoguidice said. At this point, it can only be reserved. I placed my reservation back on NOD as I’m sure many others did in part due to the Core’s incompatibility issues with myriad 3rd-party wireless controllers. At that time (2/14/21), the expectation was that theGamePad would be available in mid-May. However, it was subsequently communicated to us that it’d be delivered in July, but that was then revised to a mid-August commencement for shipping.

LMAO, paisan! Ima gonna havva to treat youze to a sausage & pepper parm sub from Vito at Gallina’s!

Seriously, @Bill Loguidice, what is going on with the AtGames Flashback Zone? It’s been 6 weeks since you were informed by @Draxxon that new AFBX, AFBXD, LFB & LFBD firmware had been posted before being mysteriously deleted. Not only that, but the firmware & release notes pages have been regressively scrubbed clear back to circa 12/19 - 2/20. The LFBD I purchased 11/20 came w/ v1.0.4, and it’d be nice to know what that means. The whole purpose of a Release Notes page is to provide a historical record of ALL changes, no matter how insignificant.

While I do consider it to be the best of the Blasts, I’m just comparing $30 + s&h direct through the AtGames e-store to the $5 I paid last summer at Wal-Mart for the Activision Blast.

This item is finally back on the AtGames e-store for full price ($30), but it’s not clear if this product has undergone any updates. Also, it’s unknown whether any of the usual retailers might carry it, hopefully at a discount. @Bill Loguidice ?

Looks like you got the last one, TC. The offer is no longer there.

LFB2D is available for $40 of that “stimulus” check at your local Sam’s Club on West White Oaks if you’re interested.

No, I’m talking about the 9-pin controller for the LFB’s. (They are supposed to be coming out with a wireless Legends GamePad that’ll work with the Legends Ultimate Arcade, Legends Pinball, Legends Gamer Pro, Legends Gamer Mini, Legends Core, and Legends Connect, but it isn’t due out until May.)

FWIW, after a year or more of being out-of-stock, AtGames’ Classic Joypads recently reappeared under Accessories on their E-store. Perhaps Bill could enlighten whether there is reason to hope that Atari Paddles & Atari Joysticks might similarly be re-stocked.

... and Sam’s Club still has the 2019 Legends FB Deluxe for $40.

Looks like GameStop pushed the Legends Core release date back to 3/31. I haven’t been in a physical store, but that’s what the website shows.