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Atari VCS new


robbo007

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The new Atari is a bad item to back in my opinion - over here in the UK we had a huge selling machine called the ZX Spectrum (Timex in USA) and there's been an Indiegogo campaigns for that. The Vega: back it and get it for £100, and on that one they did make the machine and release it, however anyone buying as a collector or to make money will have lost out as the machines are now between £60 and £70 brand new on Amazon, ebay etc. Then came (or didn't) the Vega +, a handheld version that was funded very easily, and that has never been made, and is now infamous with Indiegogo actually calling in debt collectors to try to recoup the money people put in which was over half a million pounds. If anyone does a google search of 'sinclair vega +' you will see how these crowd funding things can go wrong.

 

I truly don't understand the fascination for new retro machines, when the old machines are still available at a price cheaper - and if you do want to play the old games then there's a world of emulators out there with every game under the sun on them. My old Xbox with modded hard drive has coinops massive running on it and has over 13,000 games on it and cost £70 off ebay - every game works perfectly with the joystick.

 

The Vega came with 1000 games, many were not the best ZX Spectrum games so they want to sell you more, but problems looked like they arose with how owned what game wise - the Atari will probably come with some games, but they will charge you a premium for more, when in honesty those games have been free to play on emulators for years.

 

Everyone out there is trying to cash in on nostalgia, and make money from it - the name Atari holds fond memories for many people and the people behind these kind of campaigns now that. Yes, go back the campaign if you wish, but don't be surprised if it never sees the light of day, or is for sale much cheaper six months after you have backed it. They will offer you 'this and that' to sign it - one off collector editions, but they will rerelease anything again and again if it will make them money.

 

The sinclair vega + should be a warning shot to anyone backing these campaigns, as they say a fool and his money are easily parted, and a nostalgic fool is even easier parted!

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It's good to see people finally learning that most crowdfunding campaigns are frauds. And even better to see that emulation is becoming more and more a viable option for gaming.

 

The entrepreneur's biggest problem with using emulation for gaming: there's very little money in it.

The gamer/enthusiast/collector/historian's favorite aspect of using emulation for gaming: there's very little money in it.

 

I always think about amusement, fun, nostalgia when remembering old games. I always forget that they were put out there for commercial gain, that's the main reason they exist.

 

For new games, you can make the argument "it's important that these companies are profitable, that way we get more innovation and fun things to play." But for old things, especially dead forms like coin-op arcade machines, that were old decades before the internet? It's a little sad that someone's trying to squeeze a few drops out of that old cow for commercial purposes.

 

When I look at advertising pitched at arcade operators like these ... I get a little sad because I never thought about the financial aspect of these. "Maximum earning potential" borders on crass. Pac-Man as a profit machine? Disheartening to this child of the 1980s. Put them on free play already, they've made their money.

 

post-2410-0-23267000-1529943565_thumb.jpgpost-2410-0-14343300-1529943584_thumb.jpg

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When I went into the backrooms of GalaxyWorld I swear I was inside a SandCrawler. The amount of junk was everywhere. It wasn't much later that I realized that these games were made singularly and solely for profit. All my illusions about the purity and uniqueness of arcade games was dismantled.

 

I realized the manufacturers weren't making these games to entertain me in a beneficial manner. They weren't there to improve anything about me as a person. And I was quite shocked to see parts of one arcade machine being transfered into another to get it working. Cannibalization in process.

 

It was all about profit and all about reaching into my pocket to take my money. Suddenly the personality of each game became separated from the cabinet that housed it. There was a whole ugly otherworld with "business" written all over it. Soon I would stop going to places like that. My interest dwindled to that of a layer of fog drifting across the lake. It would burn off entirely. And I would grow to hate the industry for suckering me in.

 

---

 

25 years later today I see no reason to pour money into today's "retrogaming economy". It has "cash grab" written across the board. And because it's retro it's regurgitation. Same old same old. I've had enough glorification of mascots, whether it be Pac-Man or Mario or something else.

Edited by Keatah
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The ZX Spectrum was the Timex Sinclair?!?!? Holy crap all these years I never realized that.

 

Not exactly ...

the ZX-81 was sold in the United States as the Timex-Sinclair 1000.

the ZX Spectrum was not sold in the US, well ... not really. And it would be a pain in the ass to import. And even if you succeeded, all you'd have at the end is a Spectrum.

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When I went into the backrooms of GalaxyWorld I swear I was inside a SandCrawler. The amount of junk was everywhere. It wasn't much later that I realized that these games were made singularly and solely for profit. All my illusions about the purity and uniqueness of arcade games was dismantled.

 

I realized the manufacturers weren't making these games to entertain me in a beneficial manner. They weren't there to improve anything about me as a person. And I was quite shocked to see parts of one arcade machine being transfered into another to get it working. Cannibalization in process.

Yeah, that's a curtain you were never meant to see behind.

 

As an arcade collector though, if you peer past that, to the engineers, programmers, and artists that poured their hearts into these 300lb beasts, there's still beauty, a joy of expression, and a purity of purpose.

 

That's why we turn over entire sections of our homes to celebrate them, and it's what the new Atari and the VCS are missing entirely.

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Well yes today I would see it in a new light. It was such a shocker to me at the time. And these cabs were not sought after by collectors' or enthusiasts'. Not at the time. They were just capital equipment. Maybe smaller (not chain/franchise) arcades handled their cabs differently. IDK.

 

I didn't know any preservationists either. Not until I read the readme.txt that came with the early emulators explaining motivations and why they were being written.

 

---

 

I don't think I'd ever dedicate space to cabs myself. It isn't my thing, but I do understand and respect well-setup home arcades. It is interesting to see them, but for me to get into the mechanics and electronics of tuning them up. No. Best left to enthusiasts.

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And even if you succeeded, all you'd have at the end is a Spectrum.

 

You go too far sir.... I'm shocked and offended that one should deride a cultural icon such as the ZX Spectrum.

 

I demand satisfaction sir - please conatct 'The Laird' who i'm sure will be pleased to act as my second.

 

:)

 

just make sure to check for your wallet and watch afterwards

Edited by saboteur
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Had to look the Odyssey2 up - I think that was a Philips over here in the UK -> looked pretty good for the time.

 

Course it was competing with the VCS so it was going to struggle with market share - although according to wikipedia it sold 2 million units.

 

Not sure if you had it in the UK. It was Philips Videopac elsewhere in Europe. It was kinda poopy. At least the games loaded quickly from cartridge, instead of slowly from tapes from the newsstand.

 

Don't get me wrong, I would have been all over it had I been steeped in it like you lads ... and I'd probably have some nostalgia for certain aspects of it, too.

 

I apologize for my rash words

 

if they apologize no need for further action

this is commonplace, especially between recruits

most disputes die and no one shoots

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Hi all,

I'm just wondering if it would be possible to have the ported games on the new Atari VCS? I see its a linux system and they do state that you can create your own apps etc. Going to be interesting to see what approach Ataris takes relating to ported Atari games. Unless they have a master plan to port their collection for a paid service themselves I don't see this being a problem? Anyone know anything more?

 

I see Tempest 4000 is included, not sure how it was ported??

 

Cheers,

Rob

The people that own the Atari name now are con-men, nothing good will come from anybody giving them money or supporting this BS. I'm sure they mentored under Mike Kennedy.

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I can't believe that Indiegogo is so screwed up (actually wait, I can) that it's not registering... registers correctly but something is super wonky and not adding up with their "perks" - I must be missing something.

 

VCS Bundle - $379 - only 82 claimed

Classic Joystick - $29 - only 13 claimed

Modern Controller - $49 - only 4 claimed

Joystick+Controller - $59 - only 31 claimed

Onyx VCS - $219 - only 3 claimed

VCS Trib Ed. - $299 - a whopping 5 claimed

Onyx all in - $299 - a ground breaking 28

 

So... where are the numbers for the 11,070 backers coming from? I don't see why it would make sense for Indiegogo to hide all the previous purchases if that really is the case.

 

I don't back very many projects and when I do it's always been on Kickstarter. Also, I just noticed but even the entire campaign is ran by a 3rd party and not Atari themselves - Rain Factory? I suppose this shouldn't come as any surprise either.

 

 

 

I think the reason for this is they were running a "early bird" sale and the prices where different. Now thats over I think that the counters are just showing normal prices sales. Most people purchased on the early bird sale.

Edited by robbo007
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I would so steer clear of this machine at those absurd prices - I think taking a chance on a single game at $20 to $50 is one thing, but when the price is in the hundreds it becomes a bigger gamble, and what's the point in backing it as if they make it you will be able to buy it anyway without any of the risk.

 

I remember one Kickstarter for the game Yooka Laylee done by some of the Rare team behind loads of great N64 titles and initially Ultimate Play the Game from Jet Pac, Atic Atack, Knight Lore, Sabre Wulf fame.

 

They wanted to make a new video game harking back to the days of Banjo Kazooie but on the like of PS4 - it smashed its goal, and the game came out and was a big success, I remember seeing it turn up in the store Game in the UK so it certainly did well.

 

Here's an item on how even that had its ups and downs during development

 

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-04-19-i-backed-yooka-laylee

 

They did offer a special N64 retro package for it at a 'Very' high price - £340 - where what was on offer was this: A retro-themed physical package complete with classic box, SIGNED manual and an exclusive Yooka-Laylee N64 cartridge with built-in 64GB flash drive.

 

Now it did shift 250 units of that, but a few people did not quite realise that what you were getting was not a dedicated N64 game, but basically a flash drive in an N64 cartridge, and even though it was meant to be limited to 250 units, the guy who made them up claimed he did 750 of them on reddit. So £340 for a N64 Flash drive was what you got, no game even on the flash drive. I watched the price of that plummet on ebay as people tried to sell it for it profit and quickly realised that a N64 box, a signed manual and a flash drive in a N64 cartridge was not worth £340 - but still it sold over 250 units on the campaign page.

 

I can maybe maybe understand (at a push) people paying £340 for a dedicated new N64 game if it was a playable limited edition cartridge, and only a hundred or so where getting made, but to pay £340 for a 64GB flash drive - that is like stepping back in time to when digital cameras first turned up and memory cost a fortune.

 

In fact Yooka Laylee N64 flash drive almost makes the new Atari look like good value! Almost!

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I think the reason for this is they were running a "early bird" sale and the prices where different. Now thats over I think that the counters are just showing normal prices sales. Most people purchased on the early bird sale.

Some Early Bird deal... they're offering the bare minimum for a device that doesn't even exist (and they have yet to prove otherwise). Having to pay extra for the fake wood grain and additional money for the controllers they've been so proud of just shows how gullible they think people are when it comes to nostalgia and people are proving them right.. all 11,072 gullible backers. If 2014 Atari's track record is any indication, they'll cut and run when things start to go south in the slightest and leave those 11,072 in the dark as they spend their pledge while try to scam more people with the Atari brand on junk nobody asked for or should even exist. If it were not for StopDrop&Retro's video I would have never known about their "Atari Retro Handheld" crowdfunding "campaign" which shouldn't even exist because the Atari Flashback Portable is still on the market and a much better product at that.

Edited by EmOneGarand
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