Zafinn Books Posted August 31, 2020 Share Posted August 31, 2020 3 hours ago, DanBoris said: Very sad. I only got to meet Curt a few times but I enjoyed the little time I got to spend with him. Last time I saw him was at last year's VCF East. He brought a fantastic Atari display. Lovely photo, he was in his element there! I remember him putting that display together in his garage, you can tell how proud he is of it. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacman000 Posted August 31, 2020 Share Posted August 31, 2020 His Atari History Museum was the first website I spent any amount of time on, it was beautiful, & easy to navigate, like a kiosk in a museum. This shocks me; it really does. Wasn’t he still working on some projects? Business is War? Goodbye Curt. I never met you; we never even talked, but you touched my life. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+bf2k+ Posted August 31, 2020 Share Posted August 31, 2020 RIP Curt. You are already missed... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sargie Posted August 31, 2020 Share Posted August 31, 2020 RIP Curt. Thank you so much for all the cool Atari stuff you've shared over the years - it was very much appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adam242 Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 RIP, Curt. Thank you for everything you contributed to the hobby. This year just keeps getting worse... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilsaluki Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 I never met Curt, but it is obvious that he touched a lot of folks. Job well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sugarland Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 God bless him. He's in a better place. Sorry to see him go so young and full of enthusiasm. Thank you Curt! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redman Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 I met him at the VCF in New Jersey a few years ago. He had some good stories about the early days of Atari. Very sad news. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Iacovelli Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 very sad, I have met curt at classic gaming expos in vegas we even had meeting with fellow atari players at gameworks once after cge. he will be missed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariTexas Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 Incredibly sad! He was such a pillar to the Atari community. Prayers to his family Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idavis Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 Oh no... Rest in peace Curt. You will be missed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 This is a shock. RIP Curt. A big part of the Atari community and probably the biggest insofar as bringing the old history to light and preserving it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilheim Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 I’m speechless. Rest in peace, Curt! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leech Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 Damn, Curt was a great person. I'm sure he's popped up in helping me with something on the forums a few times. He'll be sorely missed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 3 hours ago, mstulir said: I am beyond devastated. I am pleased and proud to have worked with him on the Flashback/Flashback 2 Engineering Team for Atari and his contributions of rare games during the founding days of the American Classic Arcade Museum. He will be missed. Thank you, and thanks also for your work with Curt on the Flashbacks. I hope you don't mind, but I posted your 1999 interview with Curt from "Back in Time" over here in another thread. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg2600 Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 My PC went off-line and I just fixed it, and got back on-line and saw the news on FB from Marty (Atari Museum) being shared. Curt as many here knew had battled hard through many health scares, but this is still a shock and quite sad. I think we all would agree that few have devoted so much time, effort, and love to the Atari community. He was the Godfather of Atari history, and without him I would have to imagine that very history would have been forgotten or just simply unknown. Here is a statement from Marty (Atari Museum FB Group) which I think belongs here. Quote Posting this here just to let people know if you had stuff in progress with Curt, whether it was something he had sold you or was working on for you or anything else, it is safe and will be in limbo for a bit. Nothing has been gotten rid of or sold off yet from the Atari Museum or any of the other parts of his workspace or collection. I am going to be working with his wife to go through everything best as possible. Hold on to any documentation that we can use to verify your dealings with him with. When things are ready I will be asking people to provide that. As far as the XM project right now I have no idea what will happen with that. It would be great if I could arrange for other people to finish it up, but being as I wasn’t directly involved in it I have no idea about the logistics of anything right now. Right now they’re just focusing on funeral arrangements and getting things stable. I also don’t know what will become of the other two books we had planned now. I can’t do it on my own, they needed the both of us and our combined resources and skill sets. And here's a segment from Len Herman on his passing... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
777ismyname Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 Big ups to Curt, keep the 8 bit machines alive wherever you are \m/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mstulir Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 25 minutes ago, jaybird3rd said: Thank you, and thanks also for your work with Curt on the Flashbacks. I hope you don't mind, but I posted your 1999 interview with Curt from "Back in Time" over here in another thread. I am totally OK with reposting that interview. Thank you. Curt was the genius behind those consoles & he is the one who deserves all of the credit. All of it. Yeah, Flashback was not what anyone wanted. We can thank Atari for that. However, the sales of Flashback is what paved the way for Flashback 2 to happen. I know I am totally biased, but I am so proud of what was accomplished with Flashback 2, particularly the cartridge port hack and running Atari hardware in ASIC. No emulators there. Hopefuly, COVID-19 restrictions in New York will not prevent me from attending any service that Michele & the family is planning. There was once a time I was driving to Curt's from Philadelphia every other weekend to do Flashback work. Driving to his funeral is going to be upsetting. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 8 hours ago, mstulir said: I am totally OK with reposting that interview. Thank you. Curt was the genius behind those consoles & he is the one who deserves all of the credit. All of it. Yeah, Flashback was not what anyone wanted. We can thank Atari for that. However, the sales of Flashback is what paved the way for Flashback 2 to happen. I know I am totally biased, but I am so proud of what was accomplished with Flashback 2, particularly the cartridge port hack and running Atari hardware in ASIC. No emulators there. Absolutely. The Flashback 2 is almost unique in that regard: just about every other retro console that I know of, before and since, has either been based on emulation or re-implementations of the original games. I have the FB2 and the FB2+, and they'll always have a prominent place in my collection, especially now. I remember that, in the years after the Flashback 2, Curt was floating the idea of doing a Flashback 3 based on the 5200 or 400/800 hardware. I did my best to try to pitch the idea at the time, and Curt's involvement, in the (perhaps naïve) hope that someone at Atari would see it. I'm still saddened that it never came to be; I'm sure that you and he would have done an amazing job with it. Quote Hopefuly, COVID-19 restrictions in New York will not prevent me from attending any service that Michele & the family is planning. There was once a time I was driving to Curt's from Philadelphia every other weekend to do Flashback work. Driving to his funeral is going to be upsetting. I can only imagine. My condolences to you, and of course, to Curt's family as well. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caterpiggle Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 Please forgive me for a little too strong question. His funeral web site does not say anything why he die of ? 53 years old ... I would love to visit there but unfortunately. I live too far from Yonker, NY. Yes, I did visited that town before. Just once. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 6 minutes ago, Caterpiggle said: Please forgive me for a little too strong question. His funeral web site does not say anything why he die of ? 53 years old ... We don't know for certain, but he suffered from a heart condition for several years. He talked about it in this thread, over ten years ago now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caterpiggle Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 Thank you Jaybird3rd , Are you close to Curt Vendel ? Met him in a person before ? For me , never met him in a person ever. I wish I would love to met him in a person to person. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 Just now, Caterpiggle said: Are you close to Curt Vendel ? Met him in a person before ? For me , never met him in a person ever. I wish I would love to met him in a person to person. I regret that I never had the pleasure, either. We exchanged a few messages, going back to the late 90s, but nothing more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DjayBee Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 It's so sad. In his last interview with the Fulton brothers he was so full of energy and so convinced that he finally had defeated his heart problems ... RIP Curt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fultonbot Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 1 minute ago, DjayBee said: It's so sad. In his last interview with the Fulton brothers he was so full of energy and so convinced that he finally had defeated his heart problems ... RIP Curt Yeah, I thought he was really on the upswing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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