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Antstream Arcade - on Atari VCS (in VCS Store)


justclaws

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Atari announced that they had partnered with Antstream Arcade.
https://atarivcs.medium.com/here-come-the-games-7f50f5a17b85

Linking with them for e-sports activities is an interesting idea, although for me, I'm too old-school for e-sports activity.
https://gaminglyfe.com/atari-and-antstream-arcade-invite-fans-to-participate-in-a-week-long-online-asteroids-challenge/

This was demo'd months ago, but now there are lots of videos on YouTube.


Other videos, found by a search for "Atari VCS Antstream Arcade" on YouTube.
e.g.



* I am not connected to the Atari company, Antstream, or any related developer.

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I don't have my new VCS yet, but I have been on Antstream's Discord server.

 

One of the staff at Antstream said this four days ago to an existing Antstream user inquiring about gaining access to the exclusive content:

Quote

So when you get it, you will get a VCS access version. There may be some complications as you already have an account. Just let us know and we will open you up to VCS access too. The only difference is you will get all of the Atari games. I think there is 50 of them

 

image.thumb.png.fc13de505a7cdd233ee0e17041b18526.png

 

I've seen in my other searches of their Discord that they think a new Atari game will be added each month.

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I still want to know what the "exclusive" games will be. 

There appear to be a few Activision titles and a few Atari 8-bit computer titles already available.   

 

It would be nice if you could create short-cuts (deep links) into Ant-Stream and Atari Vault so you could play your favorite games directly from the interface.    That would be a nice Atari-VCS-Only feature for apps that otherwise exist on almost every other platform.

 

 

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18 hours ago, Wizzard said:

Is anybody able to login to this game? I am not able to enter any login as the keyboard and other devices are unresponsive after running this app. Running on PC, not real VCS.

Yes. I have been playing it both on PC since the summer and on the VCS in recent days. I have noticed, however, that especially in the past few days their service has been suffering a bit. I assume it is the result of their free for a year promotion, which is pretty crazy, and makes it kind of a no-brainer to sign up for. So, I think the service is getting hit harder than they can handle. 

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If you are wondering what this Antstream Arcade is, I posted a link to a YouTube video in the reviews thread
which has quite a nice demo about it, and it's worth checking out. (Later, it will likely be lost in a sea of reviews
so it's worth keeping a pointer.) Lots of people don't know what it is so never installed so far, but it's also great.
There are so many of the games people want to play on the VCS, which are NOT from Atari, and it has them. 

 

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Various people have said that Antstream Arcade only has 3-4 good games and nothing of interest.
I imagine the answer must be one of these, but maybe I'm missing something. 
It's free to try for a month, but it was also possible to get a year for free...

1) They tried it ages ago, when it first started, and didn't look again. ? 
2) They don't really like or know of any classic game system games. :-D 

3) For some reason, they just hate Antstream Arcade; it's on the VCS? ? 
4) It requires an Internet connection, and they don't want to use that. :-D 
5) ???
* I think the problem is, it's just clear what it is. Thus, I try to help...

This is what you see, rather like Netflix etc., showing popular games etc..
antstream.thumb.png.41a5e5eaffe9ab19c2e5d9ec1f69f95a.png

Yes, there are 1151 games as of today.
antstream2.thumb.png.47956518769a3e16c193f0dbe8c0cecd.png

Obviously it's not all the Atari 8-bit games, and nor is it all CBM-64 games, 
and nor is it all ZX-Spectrum games, etc., and nor is it all arcade games. :-D
They do have lots of great ones!

antstream3.thumb.png.29b9dd0f152839108562f87f9a3917ee.png

As the Sinclair ZX Spectrum was MY first computer, and yes, as well as writing
games for it, I also played them. I think "Horace Goes Skiing" and "Arcadia"
were 2 of my first and favourite games. Yes, the search results are a bit wrong.

antstream4.thumb.png.df9acf17d2e23aee175649dae60e7de8.png

Oh, and for those people who love "Earthworm Jim" or Dizzy games - Antstream!

If there's really nothing modern on the VCS you like, and nothing in Atari Vault or
Atari Vault 2, and nothing in Antstream Arcade, maybe you just don't like games! :-D  
Cheers, Richard.
 

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5 hours ago, Mockduck said:

Antstream appears to have improved significantly since I last saw it this summer, and it wasn't terrible then, although a bit unpolished. I've really enjoyed using Antstream on the VCS and coinciding the VCS launch with the year free promotion is kinda killer. 

How did you land a free year? That's awesome. Everything I've seen placed the trial at 30 days. Glad you're enjoying!

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10 hours ago, Atarick said:

How did you land a free year? That's awesome. Everything I've seen placed the trial at 30 days. Glad you're enjoying!

I signed up for the trial, even before I got my VCS, just before Christmas, as I read Atari had partnered with Antstream.
They had an offer over Christmas for a free year upgrade, sent by email, on Boxing Day. (26th of Deccember, British term.)

I had already thought I'd probably subscribe, paid, so the one year was a fantastic and welcome surprise. Nostalgia fun!
The only down-side so far is that the login page uses a pop-up keyboard which is a PITA, but they're working on that.

e.g. Although I had a ZX Spectrum as my first computer, back in 1982, I'm divorced a few years, and I lost my collection.
I think the machine, accessories, cassettes, microdrives, including my self-written games, either went to charity, or the bin.
The fun of playing Horace Goes Skiing on the VCS this Christmas was very reminiscent of playing it at Christmas in 1982.

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14 hours ago, Atarick said:

How did you land a free year? That's awesome. Everything I've seen placed the trial at 30 days. Glad you're enjoying!

Just after Christmas Antstream announced a free year long subscription to anyone who signed up. They offered it for about a week. Yes, it was a super no brainer! Also made sure all of my PC friends signed up too. 

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20 hours ago, justclaws said:

Various people have said that Antstream Arcade only has 3-4 good games and nothing of interest.
I imagine the answer must be one of these, but maybe I'm missing something. 
It's free to try for a month, but it was also possible to get a year for free...

1) They tried it ages ago, when it first started, and didn't look again. ? 
2) They don't really like or know of any classic game system games. :-D 

3) For some reason, they just hate Antstream Arcade; it's on the VCS? ? 
4) It requires an Internet connection, and they don't want to use that. :-D 
5) ???
* I think the problem is, it's just clear what it is. Thus, I try to help...

This is what you see, rather like Netflix etc., showing popular games etc..
antstream.thumb.png.41a5e5eaffe9ab19c2e5d9ec1f69f95a.png

Yes, there are 1151 games as of today.
antstream2.thumb.png.47956518769a3e16c193f0dbe8c0cecd.png

Obviously it's not all the Atari 8-bit games, and nor is it all CBM-64 games, 
and nor is it all ZX-Spectrum games, etc., and nor is it all arcade games. :-D
They do have lots of great ones!

antstream3.thumb.png.29b9dd0f152839108562f87f9a3917ee.png

As the Sinclair ZX Spectrum was MY first computer, and yes, as well as writing
games for it, I also played them. I think "Horace Goes Skiing" and "Arcadia"
were 2 of my first and favourite games. Yes, the search results are a bit wrong.

antstream4.thumb.png.df9acf17d2e23aee175649dae60e7de8.png

Oh, and for those people who love "Earthworm Jim" or Dizzy games - Antstream!

If there's really nothing modern on the VCS you like, and nothing in Atari Vault or
Atari Vault 2, and nothing in Antstream Arcade, maybe you just don't like games! :-D  
Cheers, Richard.
 

Agreed.  True, perhaps a lot of people in North American may not be familiar with these titles, especially those from the ZX Spectrum.  Still, between Atari Vault 1, Atari Vault 2, and Antstream Arcade, there are plenty of games to look into while playing this system.

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I actually love that it gives me access to a bunch of European titles I'd not heard of. Their catalog does appear to have increased in size dramatically in the past 6 months, and it is likely that the more mainstream US stuff is gonna run into more complex licensing, so the lack of what I think of as "big" games is ok by me. Does have some, though, including Data East and some others.

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Hot from the Founder's Discord, one of the VCS team states:

 

Quote

Antstream has modified their offer to provide 30 days of ad-free access to VCS owners. After which you can continue with the free, ad-supported service, or pay an annual fee for ad-free access. This brings their offer back into alignment with the original, and VCS backers also have access to 50 Atari games that other Antstream users cannot access. https://www.antstream.com/atari

 

 

This should be good for folks who missed out on the year for free offer around the holidays. 

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On 12/30/2020 at 4:16 PM, Wizzard said:

Is anybody able to login to this game? I am not able to enter any login as the keyboard and other devices are unresponsive after running this app. Running on PC, not real VCS.

I am having the same problem using an actual Atari VCS... when I get to the AntStream login nothing works all I can do is go back to the main Atari Dashboard.  I have tried the Atari Classic and Modern Controllers, the VCS Companion App and attaching a wired keyboard...  I'm curious how people are getting past this.

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6 hours ago, MarcelM said:

My controllers only work when connected with USB, but than I can enter and I love this concept. More good games than expected. Great fun, especially the challenges. 

The controller issues should be solved with an update.
However, I was playing it tonight (after reinstalling Antstream Arcade) and it worked fine for the login
and for in-game play using the Atari modern controller, and on bluetooth. So maybe it's updated, but
there was no announcement yet. (They keyboard is still a PIT - and the cursor keys exist but don't work.)

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

This "game" got a major new update on the VCS, just after the AtariOS update was released.
The classic controller now works from login and in the games. That's a big problem resolved.

* I have found a couple of random games so far where the classic controller does not work.
  e.g. Boulder Dash, Atari XL version. Other Atari XL games work fine, so it makes no sense...
* I would like to be able to login using the keyboard, but in this update, that does not work.

Antstream Arcade also have a Discord channel, like Atari and most other VCS developers,
so it's also possible to report bugs, or get support, direct from Antstream, which is helpful.

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Weird, I was using the Classic just fine (wired) with Boulder Dash for the video I made. 

 

Yes, though, Antstream's update was really nice, and it makes a big difference. The service has actually proven itself to be a really good fit for the VCS, both in terms of games, performance, and community-building. That I got a whole year of it for free is icing on the cake. 

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3 hours ago, Mockduck said:

Weird, I was using the Classic just fine (wired) with Boulder Dash for the video I made. 

Are we talking about the same one?
I am referring to the OLD Atari XL Boulder Dash in Antstream Arcade, not the Boulder Dash update for the VCS,
and also AFTER the Antstream arcade update.
I'm not sure how many versions there are, on the Antstream Arcade platform!

Of course, it could also be that it was a temporary glitch in Antstream, but it worked fine on the modern controller.

I'll test it again, and I intended to report it the bug on the Antstream Discord.
There were some other games, the same, but it was not logical to me, if one game works, why another would not.

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