future of 2600

[mark]

what do you think the future holds for the 2600?

 

some ideas would be a release of a commerative 30th annaversery console. even more new games being made than are now. restoration parts. increase in value. or what do you think?

[mvigor]

Well, I honestly can't see the recently popularity (re)growth turning around in the next few years. I have been very happy in the last year or so to see the number of truly new titles increase in proportion to the number of graphic hacks with new names.

[AtariLeaf]

The only future I see is Hasbro making more of those crappy PC remakes!

[Stella'sGhost]

I asked the same question 10 years ago...

 

A special edition console would be so cool, it would help revitalize retro gaming even more, but really I don't think Atari has any future, its just a name now riding on past glories.

 

It would take a visionary and someone who really cared to do something like bringing Atari back to life again in a real world market where you could actually buy 2600 units in stores again and play old and new games, perhaps on newer, smaller carts or just the same size carts.. whatever the case, it seems like a nostalgic dream that died over 10 years ago....never to return, just like Colecovision, Intellivision, Emerson, Bally, Fairchild, TI, Tandy, commodore.... they have been replaced by Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft, as well as by PC's... however of all those systems, only Ninteno, Sega and Atari exist in any shape or form from the 80's, so that's saying something positive. (Nintendo will probably still be here in the year 2460, hell its already over 100 years old.)

 

I think Atari is gaining in popularity again, slowly but it is, sites like this prove it, and people are more aware now of past technology and others who grew up with Atari are now in a position to collect games again and start to widen the appeal of the retro game thing..... which is really cool.

[mark]

i do think atari is growing in popularity which is great

[Rob Mitchell]

The Atari 2600 on a chip is the future of Atari .. and that will probably be a hobbiest production .. Now if a couple thousand of these are made by hobbiest for hobbiest .. then some manufacturer could pick it up and make it a commercial product in the millions of units .. .. .. .. .. .. (drum roll) that eventually get discounted at WalMart.

 

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA

[gulag picture radio]

I don't know exactly what technology would be necessary, but I think that a mini Atari console would be interesting. There's a company called "Basic Fun" that has manufactured mini versions of classic toys; viewmaster, etch-a-sketch, etc.

 

Imagine a tiny Atari console that still hooks up to a TV set and can take little carts to play games, perhaps even accept a full sized joystick? Of course this would be a technical marvel to achieve I think.

 

Those guys making the 10-in-1 joystick have the right idea. I think that the joystick captures the sense of nostalgia that my mini-2600 idea does, but is eminently more practical.

[Cupcakus]

When the 2600 on a chip comes out, expect a lot of cool Atari products to follow.

[WyldKard]

Well, Im going to Savannah College of Art and Design to study Gaming and Interactivity. Basically I will be making/producing my own games. So a personal goal of mine is to buy Atari Corp off of Infrogames. If I ever do achieve this I will start reproducing the systems. Not sure how I will do it, but I will think of that if I ever get to that point.

[Agent X]

I had been thinking for a while that Atari should have released a "Silver Anniversary" Atari 2600 system this year, with all or at least part of the system colored in silver, or perhaps even plated with real silver. Along with it, they would remanufacture 25 of the best games for the system, with silver-colored casings and labels. This would marketed as sort of a collectible for devoted fans (such as the people that populate this message board ), but of course it would be fully functional as well for those who want to play it. Visualize some of the special edition collectible Monoply and Scrabble sets, and you'll get the idea. That would have been a great way to celebrate the 2600's 25th anniversary.

 

If they didn't want to do anything like that, then they could have produced a software product for current systems that included a high-quality 2600 emulator and a healthy collection of games for it. All of this would be backed up by video interviews with designers and programmers, and other historical information such as digitized manuals, box art, print ads, and TV ads. They did a nice job with Atari Anniversary Edition for arcade games; it would have been joyous to see the 2600 receive similar treatment.

 

Of course, neither of those have actually happened.

[liveinabin]

I think they're gonna stop producing them, the 2600 will go the way of the Dreamcast. Sources say the NES is going to be the next big thing, but they'll need more games for the R.O.B. if that's to happen

[A2600]

I would go for a Silver 2600 you lnw like a vader but istead of having the Atari 2600 in front I would put Atari 2600SE

 

A silver 4-Switch wow!! that sounds nice just of thinking of it!!

 

"The New Atari 2600 Silver anniversary edition!!"

[mark]

id like to see an all woodgrain (made with real wood) heavy sixer. instead of plastic its wood.

[A2600]

Probably it has to be protected wood that avoids it from rotting!!

[Nateo]

Ya know, I'm kind of surprised some company hasn't already done something like this for novelty companies. I mean, heck, if you can still buy brand new record players in these magazines...

 

And for those of you who haven't noticed, this is the first time I've posted since July.

[mark]

it would need to be a real hard wood like oak then stain it black like the darth vader or the other console combos. just visulize a wood 2600. sweeeeeeet!!!

[mos6507]

The problem with the 2600-on-a-chip is that it was not created in a clean-room reverse engineering environment.

 

It was made possible only due to Curt's TIA schematics.

 

That's the only way it would have been possible to really get to 100% authentic compatibility.

 

This limits commercial potential for this device unless it were licensed back to Infogrames. Even then, I don't know whether Infogrames would even have to pay for something that is technically a patent violation. They could probably confiscate the work for free and resell it.

 

None of this may matter if it's possible to make a unit in small enough quantities to be below the radar, or to go grey and do it overseas like the TV Boy, but whatever is done, I think it's clear that the missing link is the LCD screen.

 

We've already had our share of portable 2600s in one shape or another, but none of the attempts have included a screen. I'm not including the VCSps, just units that are all 100% new parts...

 

Nevertheless, the only way to keep costs down with something like that is to mass produce so it would be hard to do something like this at a hobby level.

[mvigor]

id like to see an all woodgrain (made with real wood) heavy sixer. instead of plastic its wood.

 

This is a very excellent idea. I think I'm going to get my Dad interested in this project. He loves working in his wood shop and will have most of the winter free since he works in construction.

[Brian R.]

Hey, Hasbro is now releasing a commemorative series of the original Transformers - out already at TRU are Optimus Prime (good luck finding it), Ultra Magnus and Hot Rod (renamed Rodimus Major, trademark expired). More are coming. Of course, Takara, the Japanese company that makes them, has been doing "reissues" for years now.

 

So, anything is possible. There's a market in nostalgia. All those kids who had to depend on their parents for money for Atari stuff now have their own incomes they can use at will. But if this were to happen, don't be surprised if you were to see a console for $100 and games at $50 - nostalgia pricing, you could say.

 

But, everything is so oriented to high tech, and the next big thing. Witness people turning their backs so quickly on the Dreamcast. Hard to believe it would happen - at least in a console/cartridge format. All we're likely to get are the 10-in-1 controller types, with games that are messed up.