The Atari VCS Controversies Thread

[toiletunes]

1 hour ago, Shaggy the Atarian said:

 

They appear to be hell bent on ensuring there's nothing on this platform that you can't find anywhere else though.

 

 

The ataribox userbase is so small that even atari won't give it any exclusives.  That tells you everything you need to know.

 

Now excuse me while I twiddle my handlebar mustache and tie a damsel to the railroad tracks. Us haters have to make a living too, you know.

[Lord Mushroom]

4 hours ago, Shaggy the Atarian said:

Out of everything they've published, Tempest 4000 & Pong Quest seem to be the only remakes with good or decent reviews.

Missile Command: Recharged too.

[82-T/A]

2 hours ago, toiletunes said:

 

The ataribox userbase is so small that even atari won't give it any exclusives.  That tells you everything you need to know.

 

Now excuse me while I twiddle my handlebar mustache and tie a damsel to the railroad tracks. Us haters have to make a living too, you know.

 

I think I'm fascinated by the fact that there are people on here who ... I dunno, you'll have to explain it to me... are so bothered by the Atari VCS that they continue this thread? I can't think of anything... anything at all that I hate that much or feel necessary to try to fight, other than Communism and Socialism... and any forums that support that usually don't WANT anyone in there that doesn't support them for fear we'll say something that changes people's minds to logic. Hahah...

 

So is it that you just have a lot of free time? Cause that's cool... I'm just curious. I don't think I've ever done this kind of thing before...

 

[Albert]

5 minutes ago, 82-T/A said:

other than Communism and Socialism... and any forums that support that usually don't WANT anyone in there that doesn't support them for fear we'll say something that changes people's minds to logic.

C'mon, please keep politics off AtariAge. 
 

Thank you. 
 

  ..Al

[toiletunes]

16 minutes ago, 82-T/A said:

 

... I dunno, you'll have to explain it to me...

 

 

Star Trek TNG "Data, the Comedian?" - YouTube

[82-T/A]

2 hours ago, toiletunes said:

 

Star Trek TNG "Data, the Comedian?" - YouTube

I watched the show when I was a kid… but they don’t have replay value. The movies are still good, but the TV show is just awful now.

[CapitanClassic]

52 minutes ago, 82-T/A said:

I watched the show when I was a kid… but they don’t have replay value. The movies are still good, but the TV show is just awful now.

Them is fighting words.

There are quite a few ST:NG episodes that are good TV. Episodes that explore a moral question, a sci-fi concept, a mystery, or many other themes.

 

On the whole, ST:NG had many more great episodes than ST:TOS.

Cause and Effect

The Lower Decks

The Drumhead

The Measure of a Man

The Inner Light

Best of Both Worlds

First Contact

Nth Degree

Deja Q

Tapestry 

Hollow Pursuits 

Chain of Command

…

Pretty much just ignore the 1st/2nd season (Where Roddenberry said characters couldn’t have conflicts) and the second season which has some really good (and really bad) episodes, and you will find that STNG has solid episodes for most of the 3rd - 6th seasons.

[CapitanClassic]

On 7/30/2021 at 5:13 PM, Shaggy the Atarian said:

Had Atari thought this through with someone competent at the helm(that they actually paid for all of their work), they could have had their own Atari Game Maker Garage thing that would allow anyone to make games for it, and in the style of different Atari platforms of the past. If you could make a game that looks/functions like a 2600/5200/7800 game using a program that doesn't require any coding, or some other way at making it easy for homebrews made here to show up on the VCS store, then that's the kind of gimmick that would be enticing to more people here. Instead it's just 'use Unity and pretty please make something exclusive for it?' Another amusing thing about the Play Date in that regard is that they are promising to release both an SDK and a no-code game builder program for it. They could botch that, but if they follow through then there's another leg up they have on Atari. LOL.

 

I just can't see what the point of a VCS is, and it's extremely unlikely that it'll get better from here, but if you want to go for it, more power to you. 

This might have been a better route than the current VCS. With the success of software like Nintendo’s Game Maker Garage, and stuff like MIT’s Scratch, I could see some people wanting to create and share games that had the simplicity of a 2600/5200/7800 game, because it is easier to create something that looks marginally good with limited graphics.

[digdugnate]

18 hours ago, rayik said:

 

Watch comedian Jim Gaffigan's hot pocket routine.  A real hoot

lol!  That's funny you mentioned that.

 

I started singing the song around the house after seeing the routine on TV a year or two ago; Mrs. Digdug was NOT impressed.

[Lord Mushroom]

11 hours ago, 82-T/A said:

I watched the show when I was a kid… but they don’t have replay value. The movies are still good, but the TV show is just awful now.

I watched the whole thing a year or two ago. I had seen a lot of it before, but had forgotten it. I liked it. 7/10.

[82-T/A]

12 hours ago, CapitanClassic said:

Them is fighting words.

There are quite a few ST:NG episodes that are good TV. Episodes that explore a moral question, a sci-fi concept, a mystery, or many other themes.

 

On the whole, ST:NG had many more great episodes than ST:TOS.

 

2 hours ago, Lord Mushroom said:

I watched the whole thing a year or two ago. I had seen a lot of it before, but had forgotten it. I liked it. 7/10.

 

 

Hahah... I know, I tried to re-watch them. I mean, to be sure... I pretty much saw every single one when I was a kid. I even watched (and taped on VHS) Deep Space Nine for the first few seasons when TNG and DS9 were both overlapping (e.g. Enterprise docked at the station, etc...). I got through maybe half the season of DS9, and then watched a few sporadically... and pretty much lost interest in the show. I also watched several episodes of Voyager, but seemed to have missed the opening.

 

The only ones that have any real replay value for me are the original Star Trek episodes... I don't know why because those really are even more cheesy than TNG...

 

I'm not saying it's a bad show, I just can't get into them anymore... I start watching the show, and then I'm immediately distracted and have to get up and do something else.

 

 

I haven't seen any other Star Trek shows since then... but I've seen most if not all of the movies... but still trying to get through them though.

[Lord Mushroom]

4 minutes ago, 82-T/A said:

I haven't seen any other Star Trek shows since then...

The first season of Star Trek: Discovery is pretty good.

[82-T/A]

51 minutes ago, Lord Mushroom said:

The first season of Star Trek: Discovery is pretty good.

 

Ok... now this is definitely something I could get behind... I'm going to check this out... thanks!!!

 

 

 

[NE146]

oh woops.. I thought this was about the 1977 console. Never mind

Edited August 1, 2021 by NE146

[Shaggy the Atarian]

20 hours ago, 82-T/A said:

 

I think I'm fascinated by the fact that there are people on here who ... I dunno, you'll have to explain it to me... are so bothered by the Atari VCS that they continue this thread? I can't think of anything... anything at all that I hate that much or feel necessary to try to fight, other than Communism and Socialism... and any forums that support that usually don't WANT anyone in there that doesn't support them for fear we'll say something that changes people's minds to logic. Hahah...

 

So is it that you just have a lot of free time? Cause that's cool... I'm just curious. I don't think I've ever done this kind of thing before...

 

Sometimes people just like talking about things because they get amusement out of them. Not everything in life has to be ultra-serious. Hence why the first of these threads became more about tacos than what Atari was half-baking.

 

 

As for Star Trek Discovery vs. TNG...well that seems to sum up the classic Atari vs. modern Atari battle we've had going on here. Most Trekkies still find that the originals hold up extremely well despite the archaic look & effects, while the modern stuff is so devoid of the original spirit & talent, but is super flashy, that STD was CBS' worst rated scripted TV show of 2020, even getting the crap beat out of it by reruns of other shows.

 

Such a mystery as to why, when it has such stirring dialogue like this:

 

[CapitanClassic]

The Orville is the new Star Trek. It started out rough, sort of a Star Trek farce, but as the season went on it the actors and writers started giving the characters their own personality and not just being a STNG knockoff. Tackling social issues, science fiction, with a dose of humor.

About a Girl, Into the Fold, Majority Rule, Mad Idolatry, Ja’Loja, Identity, Lasting Impressions, ….

 

Looking forward to season 3. 

 

Edited August 1, 2021 by CapitanClassic

[Shaggy the Atarian]

Since we're veering off-topic, yeah, if you want Trek right now, The Orville is exactly where it's at. Discovery, Picard and all of the other psuedo-Trek that Kurtzman has crapped out can only be summed up as Star Dreck, and I'm certainly not the only fan that feels that way. 

 

Although I suppose to bring it back on topic in speaking of how dead the VCS is, has there been any news at all about those Atari Hotels? That seemed to generate a lot more Atari talk online than the VCS ever did, but haven't heard anything about that in quite a while.

[82-T/A]

20 minutes ago, Shaggy the Atarian said:

Since we're veering off-topic, yeah, if you want Trek right now, The Orville is exactly where it's at. Discovery, Picard and all of the other psuedo-Trek that Kurtzman has crapped out can only be summed up as Star Dreck, and I'm certainly not the only fan that feels that way. 

 

Although I suppose to bring it back on topic in speaking of how dead the VCS is, has there been any news at all about those Atari Hotels? That seemed to generate a lot more Atari talk online than the VCS ever did, but haven't heard anything about that in quite a while.

 

This is the most recent news... Atari Hotels / October of 2020.

 

https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/atari-hotel-concept-art-las-vegas-phoenix

 

Long and short is... they're still planning it... but with COVID and a likely resurgence, things are probably going to be delayed. Atari has nothing to do with it other than licensing... which is a big part of it of course. I would absolutely stay at the Atari Hotel in Las Vegas. I haven't been in a few years, but I've pretty much stayed at every Vegas hotel... so would definitely stay there.

 

COVID is really screwing things up... but we'll see.

 

EDIT: A bit more news... talks about Steve Wozniak...

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/atari-hotel-in-arizona-one-step-closer-to-reality/ar-BB1ajJR0

 

 

Edited August 1, 2021 by 82-T/A

[Lord Mushroom]

I have made a Star Trek thread here for further Star Trek discussion:

 

[Bill Loguidice]

On 7/30/2021 at 4:23 PM, Shaggy the Atarian said:

In totally unrelated news ( ? ), the new Game Boy-like Play Date handheld sold 20,000 units in 20 minutes of it being announced. 

 

There must be something wrong here, as Atari took 3 years to amass around 11,000 pre-orders, not all for the console either. As I can recall various arguments from the non-haters that nostalgia, a strong brand name, merely being able to be found in a retail store somewhere, PC-mode, being able to upgrade your RAM, having a web browser, and having a few several month old videos with a few views on YouTube are the keys to successful game hardware in 2021, and this has none of those. What am I missing? ? 

My take on the Playdate is that it's one of those one-in-a-million (well, not quite, but that's the saying, right?) systems that happened to, against the odds, transcend the usual niche audience for such things and have that certain something that appealed even to non-gamers. This is undeniable based on who tweeted/talked/covered it. The system is underpowered with weird design choices and arguably completely unnecessary, but that crank gimmick caught on with more than the usual "gadget" audience for whatever reason and the "weird design choices" became "charm." As we know, the VCS was not so lucky, as it had zero gimmick or anything unique really, and had/has nothing about it to broaden its appeal from an ultra-niche consumer, especially because of its relatively high price for what it offers. If someone wants a VCS-like system, they're better off with, among other options, an Xbox Series S, which is far more powerful, far better supported, and has an easy-to-activate developer mode. 

Now, with that said, I suspect (as I mentioned in the other thread) that the luster on the Playdate may fade pretty fast once the system gets into people's hands and some of its quirky limitations becoming quirky usability issues, but the initial hurdle was definitely cleared. There's no scenario where I see the VCS gaining any momentum whatsoever, so, since it never "lived," can we really say it "died?" Probably not.

[Shaggy the Atarian]

14 minutes ago, Bill Loguidice said:

 There's no scenario where I see the VCS gaining any momentum whatsoever, so, since it never "lived," can we really say it "died?" Probably not.

Are you sure? I mean Food Fight has two super popular things in the name - people love food and they love fighting. Combine that with a few months exclusivity and a built-in web browser, I don't see how there won't be a VCS installed into every home in the world by Christmas 2022!

 

 

[tripled79]

On 7/25/2021 at 4:52 PM, jerseystyle said:

I don’t see anything being released, and no one in media is talking about it. No buzz, not even from Atari. What happened to all the people who said that this would compete in store with Switch and Microsoft? The Netflix moms? For those who bought it, do you feel a bit ill used by Atari seemingly dropping support already?

I don't recall anyone saying it would compete with Switch and Microsoft. Seems like the haters just like to say that Atari "promised us this and that"

without any facts...

[jerseystyle]

45 minutes ago, tripled79 said:

I don't recall anyone saying it would compete with Switch and Microsoft. Seems like the haters just like to say that Atari "promised us this and that"

without any facts...

They did make a promise, though. Directly from their Indiegogo page- Game, Stream, Connect Like Never Before. Remember? Which part of the VCS has lived up to that? I also have seen multiple people on here explain how many people would choose VCS over Switch once they could see it on shelves because gaming is too hard now, etc. Or because Windows is bad. It’s a time tested “remember when gaming was fun?” Argument that pops up every few years.

[jerseystyle]

7 hours ago, Bill Loguidice said:

My take on the Playdate is that it's one of those one-in-a-million (well, not quite, but that's the saying, right?) systems that happened to, against the odds, transcend the usual niche audience for such things and have that certain something that appealed even to non-gamers. This is undeniable based on who tweeted/talked/covered it. The system is underpowered with weird design choices and arguably completely unnecessary, but that crank gimmick caught on with more than the usual "gadget" audience for whatever reason and the "weird design choices" became "charm." As we know, the VCS was not so lucky, as it had zero gimmick or anything unique really, and had/has nothing about it to broaden its appeal from an ultra-niche consumer, especially because of its relatively high price for what it offers. If someone wants a VCS-like system, they're better off with, among other options, an Xbox Series S, which is far more powerful, far better supported, and has an easy-to-activate developer mode. 

Now, with that said, I suspect (as I mentioned in the other thread) that the luster on the Playdate may fade pretty fast once the system gets into people's hands and some of its quirky limitations becoming quirky usability issues, but the initial hurdle was definitely cleared. There's no scenario where I see the VCS gaining any momentum whatsoever, so, since it never "lived," can we really say it "died?" Probably not.

I think that the difference is that the Playdate has been able to justify its existence in a way the other “retro” systems haven’t.  The biggest question a console has to answer is “what makes this stand out?” And the crank, games, season plan, and programming tools answer that question right off the bat. 

[Matt_B]

The VCS is fundamentally a games console. Comparisons between it and other games consoles in the same price range are going to happen whether Atari wants them to or not.

 

As for the Playdate, the hardware is frankly ludicrous. However, just take a look at the games release schedule: It's practically a who's who of indie game developers, and all those games will be exclusive to it so many people who are fans of that scene will want one. If Atari had had their wits about them enough to assemble a similar programme for the VCS, I'd have been considerably more impressed by it. However, it's just had a seemingly random dribble of games that are mostly already out on other platforms.

Edited August 2, 2021 by Matt_B