I wish Disney would buy up the classic gaming franchises

[Flojomojo]

It doesn't have to be Disney, but they have deep pockets and are doing interesting things with Marvel and Star Wars, two other favorites from my youth. Atari is squandering these important parts of our culture.

 

While we're at it, I wish someone would save the Activision Classics from the same fate.

[Cynicaster]

Why? So they can attempt to monetize them with gratuitous-shitty-ass-iOS-touchscreen-d-pad re-issues, and C&D the life out of the emulation scene with their sniveling lawyers? No thanks.

[Atariboy]

Disney doesn't even do their own heritage justice. Why would I want them handling someone else's?

[Zap!]

They're about to ruin Star Wars, so no thanks.

[Crazy Climber]

Some things are better left a memory brother, now matter how bad you want them back....

[+Curious Sofa]

I will agree wholeheartedly with the OP; there's nowhere to go but up for the old Atari name at this point.

And whether or not everyone agrees, I absolutely love the new Marvel movies and the higher quality level of Star Wars merch that's out these days.

Disney may be awful, and evil, and bad in many ways (though I would argue they're not nearly as bad as UPS, State Farm, Sony, or a dozen others, but that's getting away from the point I'm making...), but they have some positive results for the end consumer.

[Gentlegamer]

I'd rather them go into the public domain.

[swlovinist]

The only thing that I wish for would be a retro console that would accept atari carts with modern hookups. Other than that, the retogaming community has done a fine job supporting all things of my childhood very much. I feel that if a big corporation comes in and tries to relive the past with millions of dollars, it would be a huge waste.

 

One a side note, many of my Atari systems are working just fine, and going on 37 years old. I could not be happier.

[BassGuitari]

They're about to ruin Star Wars, so no thanks.

You haven't seen the prequel trilogy, have you?

[BillyHW]

They're about to ruin Star Wars, so no thanks.

 

Could it possibly be ruined any worse?

[Crazy Climber]

Yeah, as far as Star Wars goes Im rather confident Disney will do just fine...unless Stormtroopers break into syncronized song and dance I think they can only improve the series

[AtariLeaf]

They're about to un-ruin Star Wars that was ruined by the prequels so thanks very much.

 

Fixed to properly reflect reality

[Atariboy]

I will agree wholeheartedly with the OP; there's nowhere to go but up for the old Atari name at this point.

And whether or not everyone agrees, I absolutely love the new Marvel movies and the higher quality level of Star Wars merch that's out these days.

Disney may be awful, and evil, and bad in many ways (though I would argue they're not nearly as bad as UPS, State Farm, Sony, or a dozen others, but that's getting away from the point I'm making...), but they have some positive results for the end consumer.

 

Atari is part of the past. Instead of foolhardy attempts to reinvent and somehow make this property relevant again, the hope should be that it ends up somewhere eventually where that heritage is taken advantage of by making it as accessible as possible to modern audiences.

 

Rereleases, not attempts to attach the name to something where it doesn't belong or remakes of classic properties that almost inevitably fall flat on their face (For every Tempest 2000 we've seen over the past 20 years, how many success stories have we had?), should be what the owner of these properties focuses on.

 

And in that regard, Disney does a pretty poor job with their own heritage (Look at the awful job they've done with their animated theatrical classics on Blu-Ray that have been ran through the digital blender, recolorized, and so on to the horror of many a film fan for one small example). I don't see them being up to the task of respecting and taking full advantage of someone else's IP portfolio under such a situation.

 

I want someone that is focused on the past and how best to present that to modern audiences, rather than some attempt to reinvigorate the Atari name or attach it to some other company, to be at the reigns of this brand. None of these attempts or proposals had any lasting power, did justice to this legacy, or appeared to really have a chance at any sort of long-term success.

 

I don't see any sense in someone else taking a crack at it with similar plans, especially a company like Disney.

Edited February 2, 2015 by Atariboy

[Torr]

Yeah, as far as Star Wars goes Im rather confident Disney will do just fine...unless Stormtroopers break into syncronized song and dance I think they can only improve the series

 

I hate to say it, but it wouldn't surprise me. It really wouldn't.

In fact, as an attraction at Disney World/Land, I would probably bet on it.

 

I've been playing some Dark Forces 1&2 and X-Wing/Tie Fighter, being they were recently released on GOG, and it reminded me of the days when I was looking forward to the prequel trilogy. How is it that these old games held better story lines...

Hell, I was even hyped over the re-releases of the original trilogy with added footage... little did I know the "New" footage would be of a rubberneck Han Solo, Mini Jaba the Hutt, and a BRUTALIZING replacement of 2 awesome songs from RotJ; Max Rebo's number at Jabba's Palace and the closing celebrations on Endor.

Edited February 2, 2015 by Torr

[Rhomaios]

I'd rather them go into the public domain.

 

This. Let's go back to the original copyright law of 14 years/28 years if the original owner is alive.

[BillyHW]

 

This. Let's go back to the original copyright law of 14 years/28 years if the original owner is alive.

 

Current copyright is way too long.

[high voltage]

Maybe there will be a Star Wars Holiday Special part 2

[Flojomojo]

 

This. Let's go back to the original copyright law of 14 years/28 years if the original owner is alive.

I would support such a move. Disney is doing good things with Marvel and Star Wars, but Disney is the mortal enemy of public domain.

 

Crazy Climber is right, these things belong in the past and Archive.org's preservation is doing pretty nice things.

 

Maybe I should stop re-buying stuff on GOG, eh?

[Crazy Climber]

Another thing people have to remember about this kind of stuff is how much more judgmental we become as we get older. I have a somewhat recent friend of the same age that grew up in a cave basically. He had never played a video game, never saw Star Wars or Indiana Jones so of course as a retro enthusiast I saw it as my mission to make sure he was aware of all this GOLD he missed out on....

 

Well, he thought Atari sucked, he thought Star Wars was boring and felt Indiana Jones was geared towards young children/etc..

Honestly, with his energy rubbing off on me I too started to agree with some of the things he was saying...I didn't like that feeling...

 

So...how much of this stuff was awesome and how much of it was just awesome because of the era of time we were in. My 6 year old daughter loves Atari, she is not judgmental yet. My 40 year old friend hated atari, he is old and judgmental. Neither of them had ever played it, but the difference in opinion has a lot to do with how old we are now. I Now think both the old and new are awesome, it just takes a bit of adapting to see that...but I didn't always see it that way.

 

I'm sure I would have loved the Last 3 Star Wars movies if I was 5-10 years old all over again, but I wasn't and I thought they sucked. I wanted an exact re creation of how I felt with the movies I grew up with, but thats impossible, because my mind is no longer the way it was back then. I have more experience now, I have more to compare it to now, I just have a lot on my plate these days...

 

Of course we will have all kinds of issues with the new Star Wars movies from Disney, but if we were young again we wouldn't. We would look past all that and make the best with what we were provided since as a child that really is your only job. To have the most fun possible with the materials provided to you. As we get older we start looking for flaws, looking for complaints, finding ways to say we were ripped off and overall just comparing EVERYTHING to a mindset we had a long long time ago when in fact all those flaws were present then as well, we just didn't care because we were having too much fun.

 

If you have kids try your best to take an interest in the things they like (even though they are not as good as the stuff we had of course, lol)

With their help you will find you can recreate that magic mindset we had back then with whats available now, it's tricky, but you can do it. I've been having a blast collecting My Little Ponies with my oldest, we played a Disney Princess game on the Wii and even though I would have normally disregarded it as a horrendous piece of shit it is probably the most fun I have had with a video game in years.

 

I have learned instead of trying to push MY childhood on others, if I open my mind, and remember what it was like to be at that age, everything we have now is just fine. Not to mention, just imagine how much MORE fun you would have had if your parents took an interest in YOUR hobbies back in the day instead of pushing their hobbies on to you

 

It's hard to put into words but I assure you 30 years ago, there was an older group of guys just like us, sitting around a coffee pot or in a dimly lit bar saying how all the crap thats available (atari, star wars, etc) is just a big pile of shit compared to what was around when they were kids. I can also assure you 30 years into the future, there will be a group of people just like us, posting on space forums, talking about how lucky they were to be able to have lived in the era of time they did (new star wars movies, new video games, etc..)

 

The magic never goes away and is always available, we just let life take it away from us. Now matter how hard you try it's not going to happen with stuff from our era of time anymore. Nostalgia only makes it worse, lol. Never forget where we came from but don't close your mind to that magic that is still out there. I did for a long time but I'm having a blast again just like I was young again, and most of it is stuff I would have instantly regarded as crap if not for my kids

 

You can be a kid again if you try

Edited February 2, 2015 by Crazy Climber

[Torr]

I can half agree with that.

I can definitely say that without my own childhood experiences, the Atari would mean NOTHING to me; and for that same reason I'll never be interested in things like Pong consoles, Bally Astrocade, Fairchild Channel F, Etc.

I must also say that in retrospect watching the movies, the original Star Wars (A New Hope) is a little lackluster by today's standards; but I also remember being very into the Dark Forces Storyline, and REALLY into The Corellian Trilogy of books of by Roger MacBride Allen. I was about 16 at the time, and then when TPM came out I was 18 and I was BORED watching that movie... I watched the first half numerous times trying to figure out what WAS going on with the Trade Federation and who was really back-stabbing who to get ahead, and it was just... blah... the whole thing was terrible except for the fights with Darth Maul and luckily the Pod Race spawned an awesome racing game. In fact I know that whatever they do with the new trilogy of movies, it's not going to be as great as The Corellian Trilogy, and not just because I was younger when I read it, but because nowadays more than EVER Hollywood (especially a company like Disney) is appealing to the lowest common denominator. And they will also want a specific number of characters and areas and vehicles so that they can therefor sell a specific number of toys/merchandise to coincide. The original Star Wars was fluke. A good fluke. George just made a rip-off serial style movie that became a conglomerate, he didn't purposely create the movie to sell toys, but luckily for him, when the toys WERE made, they sold. Now unfortunately when they make a movie they are planning what toys and how many will sell, probably before the pen even hits paper regarding a story.

 

Indiana Jones geared towards YOUNG children??? What kind of childhood did HE have where WWII, Nazi's & Religious Artifacts (Adolph Hitler's obsession with them to be precise) are typical of CHILDREN'S entertainment? Not to mention the deaths in those movies easily top the original Hallowe'en in goriness; with peoples faces melting off, a man being caught in a plane propeller, a beating heart ripped out of a man's chest, alligators tearing apart a body... and NONE of these are bloodless deaths. About the only thing 'childish' would be Short Round and Indy's Father who were used as comedic relief, something the original (Raiders of the Lost Ark) did not have, it was just straight up action and adventure.

 

However to top it off, it IS true that as a kid, you can make ANYTHING great in your mind. And years later, it is mostly the greatness that left an imprint and the boredom and stupid things just get thrown into the recycle bin and eventually emptied.

[Cynicaster]

I must also say that in retrospect watching the movies, the original Star Wars (A New Hope) is a little lackluster by today's standards;

What do you mean "by today's standards"? Please don't tell me you're trying to insinuate that these sorts of movies have elevated to a pinnacle of cinematic and dramatic greatness that just wasn't possible in 1977.

 

Nowadays, it seems like any time you've got a sci-fi/action/summer-blockbuster/superhero/{insert nerd-bait here} type movie, it starts out as a big special effects wank off, and in rare cases, a compelling story might shake out as an afterthought.

 

Sure, A New Hope isn't as densely packed with action sequences and visual effects, and the effects that are present aren't as elaborate as what see today, but at least the effects that are used do their job well and their limitations mean that they do not get in the way of telling a story.

[+cmart604]

Another thing people have to remember about this kind of stuff is how much more judgmental we become as we get older. I have a somewhat recent friend of the same age that grew up in a cave basically. He had never played a video game, never saw Star Wars or Indiana Jones so of course as a retro enthusiast I saw it as my mission to make sure he was aware of all this GOLD he missed out on....

 

Well, he thought Atari sucked, he thought Star Wars was boring and felt Indiana Jones was geared towards young children/etc..

Honestly, with his energy rubbing off on me I too started to agree with some of the things he was saying...I didn't like that feeling...

 

So...how much of this stuff was awesome and how much of it was just awesome because of the era of time we were in. My 6 year old daughter loves Atari, she is not judgmental yet. My 40 year old friend hated atari, he is old and judgmental. Neither of them had ever played it, but the difference in opinion has a lot to do with how old we are now. I Now think both the old and new are awesome, it just takes a bit of adapting to see that...but I didn't always see it that way.

 

I'm sure I would have loved the Last 3 Star Wars movies if I was 5-10 years old all over again, but I wasn't and I thought they sucked. I wanted an exact re creation of how I felt with the movies I grew up with, but thats impossible, because my mind is no longer the way it was back then. I have more experience now, I have more to compare it to now, I just have a lot on my plate these days...

 

Of course we will have all kinds of issues with the new Star Wars movies from Disney, but if we were young again we wouldn't. We would look past all that and make the best with what we were provided since as a child that really is your only job. To have the most fun possible with the materials provided to you. As we get older we start looking for flaws, looking for complaints, finding ways to say we were ripped off and overall just comparing EVERYTHING to a mindset we had a long long time ago when in fact all those flaws were present then as well, we just didn't care because we were having too much fun.

 

If you have kids try your best to take an interest in the things they like (even though they are not as good as the stuff we had of course, lol)

With their help you will find you can recreate that magic mindset we had back then with whats available now, it's tricky, but you can do it. I've been having a blast collecting My Little Ponies with my oldest, we played a Disney Princess game on the Wii and even though I would have normally disregarded it as a horrendous piece of shit it is probably the most fun I have had with a video game in years.

 

I have learned instead of trying to push MY childhood on others, if I open my mind, and remember what it was like to be at that age, everything we have now is just fine. Not to mention, just imagine how much MORE fun you would have had if your parents took an interest in YOUR hobbies back in the day instead of pushing their hobbies on to you

 

It's hard to put into words but I assure you 30 years ago, there was an older group of guys just like us, sitting around a coffee pot or in a dimly lit bar saying how all the crap thats available (atari, star wars, etc) is just a big pile of shit compared to what was around when they were kids. I can also assure you 30 years into the future, there will be a group of people just like us, posting on space forums, talking about how lucky they were to be able to have lived in the era of time they did (new star wars movies, new video games, etc..)

 

The magic never goes away and is always available, we just let life take it away from us. Now matter how hard you try it's not going to happen with stuff from our era of time anymore. Nostalgia only makes it worse, lol. Never forget where we came from but don't close your mind to that magic that is still out there. I did for a long time but I'm having a blast again just like I was young again, and most of it is stuff I would have instantly regarded as crap if not for my kids

 

You can be a kid again if you try

Excellent post

[BassGuitari]

Viewed through the prism of adulthood...Star Wars is pretty campy. That doesn't necessarily make it a worse movie though.

(But I can unfortunately now see ROTJ's hammy, soap-opera acting for what it is.)

[Torr]

What do you mean "by today's standards"? Please don't tell me you're trying to insinuate that these sorts of movies have elevated to a pinnacle of cinematic and dramatic greatness that just wasn't possible in 1977.

 

I'd say I was incorrect by saying "by today's standards", I should have said "compared to other movies in the trilogy" or "other movies in the genre" or something along those lines. It just doesn't have the oomph that Episodes V & VI have. For instance, the one Light Sabre duel has nothing on the fights that would appear in every other movie, and as cringe inducing as I find it to watch Yoda fight Dooku, it at least had some choreography going on, and that is one aspect that really IS a sign of the times it was made in; it wasn't intended to be the conglomerate it became, so I'm sure George saw so no real need to have a crazy-ass fight, especially considering someone was going to have to go over each frame of this piece of film and add in glowing sabres over their broomsticks, at the time the glowing light sword was special effect enough to dazzle an audience. Action wise, not much really happens until the escape from the Death Star and the Death Star's destruction. At the time, without any sequels to compare it to, it obviously had more power, but compared to the Hoth Battle, Endor Battle, Death Star II Battle, Luke vs Vader on Bespin and Death Star II... As a story centered on the poor farm boy turned rebellion hero it's great but as part of the whole series it just doesn't hold up in my eyes, which kind of sucks to when I think about it, but yeah, I think I just summed up my feelings pretty well there. Episode IV, a good movie on it's own, but the weakest of the original Trilogy. But hey, that's just my opinion.

 

Compare A New Hope to The Phantom Menace; TPM had sweet fight sequences, a space battle, and ground skrimish, all well done... but the story just sucked... and that's probably A New Hope's strongest feature, IS it's story, it's characters, and the fact you really care about each of them. Even the Politician/Military Heads/Whatever guys on the Death Star are memorable... heh now I'm starting to feel RotJ is the weakest.. but no... enough musing for now!

[Cynicaster]

I'd say I was incorrect by saying "by today's standards", I should have said "compared to other movies in the trilogy" or "other movies in the genre" or something along those lines. It just doesn't have the oomph that Episodes V & VI have.

A matter of perspective, I suppose. For me, the original film is the best one of the 6, narrowly surpassing Empire. I don’t think it’s “nostalgia” talking either, because, for me, the whole original trilogy might as well have been all released at once in 1983 or so; I was too young to see or care about the first two films when they actually came out.

 

As for ROTJ, IMO, it’s a distant third for me… in fact, I think I would place Revenge of the Sith higher, despite its oft-cited shortcomings. ROTJ had the “turn it up to 11” factor going for it in the space battle, which was cool, but in the end it was another Death Star battle… been there, done that. The Ewoks suck, and their triumph over “an entire legion” of the Emperor’s “best troops”—by means of slingshots, rocks, and logs, no less—is downright absurd. The blue-screen SFX for the barges on Tatooine and the speeder bikes on Endor are among the least convincing visuals in all 6 films, to my eyes.