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'Atari' are up to something

SeanR

By SeanR
in Retro & Arcade Gaming

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amc

amc

Posted
Posted

I've seen that fella on the left in a few rip the piss out of the awful product vids on youtube. I think he did a campaign for some gamification watch that was basically a re-skinned cheapo Chinese smart watch. Then something claiming to be a tiny portable computer which was basically Linux on a usb stick. Cant remember the specifics but they were definitely heavily spun descriptively jazzyified generic shit at a silly mark up. Seem to remember him using his kids in a cringe worthy pitch video with them literally pleading  for funding.

 

I don't think I'll be backing it anyway.  

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HOW

HOW

Posted
Posted
On 22/10/2017 at 18:10, amc said:

I've seen that fella on the left in a few rip the piss out of the awful product vids on youtube. I think he did a campaign for some gamification watch that was basically a re-skinned cheapo Chinese smart watch. Then something claiming to be a tiny portable computer which was basically Linux on a usb stick. Cant remember the specifics but they were definitely heavily spun descriptively jazzyified generic shit at a silly mark up. Seem to remember him using his kids in a cringe worthy pitch video with them literally pleading  for funding.

 

I don't think I'll be backing it anyway.  

Interesting

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Vimster

Vimster

Posted
Posted

Reading the Facebook comments on the official AtariVCS page I'm amazed anyone actually backed it. The general tone is "this is a cynical cash-grab" or "this will fail miserably". It does baffle me why people are willing to spend as much as $399 on this. You could argue the Ouya was a crowdfunding success, at least it was a useable console.

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JPickford

JPickford

Posted
Posted

Dodgy as fuck

 

https://snew.github.io/r/Gaming4Gamers/comments/8panh9/tempest_4000_is_the_only_new_game_that_atari/

 



Jeff Minter is essentially Llamasoft. Minter is known for developing Tempest 2000 for the Atari Jaguar, Tempest 3000 for the NUON, TxK for PS Vita (which caused legal troubles with Atari S.A.), and Polybus (PS VR/Oculus), which is used in this NIN music video.

Atari, S.A. is the current rights holder to Tempest. While Minter's Llamasoft is developing Tempest 4000, Atari, S.A. is publishing it.

Last Wednesday, on May 30th, Atari, S.A. launched their crowdfunding campaign for the new Atari VCS console on Indiegogo. They have thus far raised in excess of $2.7 million.

On their official YouTube channel and on their Indiegogo page, Atari, S.A. released this video of the new Atari VCS playing Tempest 4000 in what they call a "modern game test."

The problem is that Jeff Minter says he never ported the game to the platform.

On Jeff Minter's forum at yakyak.org, where he goes by the username gilesgoat, he seems to have been surprised that Tempest 4000 is being shown off for the new Atari VCS.

First, he states he wasn't contracted to make a version for the Atari VCS.

The contract does NOT talk about ataribox .. just to let you know .. not even in the small prints .. actually I don't think there was any ataribox at all when the contract was made ...

And he doesn't know anything about his game being on the platform.

.. I know absolutely NOTHING about it, nor about it running, even less about the Atari box itself.

Minter does not even have any inside information on the project, and knows as much as we do through media reports and press releases.

I don't even know what HW or OS it REALLY is .. I mean "I know as much as you know" like "they say it's like a laptop running some Linux".

Minter goes on to detail that the PC and PS4 versions of Tempest 4000 are done, and that the Xbox One version is awaiting certification, and he specifies frustrations he's had working with Microsoft and the Xbox One platform.

In regards to the Atari VCS version of Tempest 4000, Minter has specific advice for his fans.

"I'll believe it when I'll see it" that's my "best advice" for everyone.

And this is really the best advice coming from "N years of real life experience" .. see what you have in hands when you have it in your hands, don't be afraid/worried of this or that "it's not there until you don't have it".

There are two possible conclusions to draw from this.

It could be that the Atari VCS demo was running Wine software, and the video shown is the PC version.

Here's Minter's response to that speculation:

I never tested it on Wine I don't know if anyone ever did, it could be, it could not be, it's not a "super demanding" graphical thing so it may work but I don't know.

So, this hypothesis is plausible.

Another hypothesis is that Atari, S.A. straight up pulled a Mike Kennedy and faked the footage. Kennedy was a prominent figure in the retro gaming scene and was the publisher of RETRO, a retro gaming magazine. Kennedy fell from favor when his "Retro VGS" console, later renamed to "Coleco Chameleon," proved to be fake. The prototype shown at the 2016 New York Toy Fair proved to be an SNES in a Jaguar shell. He was later busted again for putting a capture card in a clear shell and saying it was the actual hardware.

Both hypotheses are equally possible. In either case, Atari, S.A. has not shown a game running on native hardware. Anyone considering backing this project with their own money should exercise caution.

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f. grimes

f. grimes

Posted
Posted

Not that it matters in the grand scheme but that quoted text isn't from Jeff. As the gilesgoat tag suggests and the style of writing backs up, it's from his partner, Giles.

 

In addition to the wording, anyone that's seen his posts on YakYak will quickly recognise the way quotation marks reflect how Giles puts emphasis in his forum posts.

 

I'm glad to see things confirmed anyway. I had no idea what stage Tempest 4000 had reached on any platform and had a 'Wait a minute...' moment when I watched the video last night. It seemed an odd appearance after all of the linking to early Atari consoles and games via older imagery and I was surprised despite Jeff's history up to the Jaguar.

 

Other than hoping this one might go well as it'd be nice to discover positive associations to change the ongoing direction with the Speccy and C64, I had no feelings whatsoever until certain inserts in their video (Tempest 4000 and using AMD footage to, at best, potentially suggest something is in production).

 

Then I saw the older linked 'hands on' video and the contained black plastic and strip-of-wood box with sockets that... had lights in it!

 

Just lights.

 

Though its scheduled release is far away, no nearby PC or even a laptop to demonstrate the front end that they seem to show in their launch video?

 

I'm not a collector; I just like games. I won't run for the 'Buy' button every time something with a familiar name is released and whether or not this or any other retro-themed package arrives will make no difference to me. I follow things like this a bit out of slight interest and thinking it'd be nice to see awareness, knowledge and interest grow across different age groups but beyond questions on the hardware side, those video inserts gave me pause for thought.

 

If it wouldn't be asking the impossible in these ever-connected times, I'd actually have some happiness if one of these 'retro' computers or even just a wide-ranging collection of games could be released in such a way that it mainly stoked good memories and produced more positive feelings for newcomers than we've seen of late. Some will never be pleased but it'd be nice to see one of these systems (and/or a games bundle, even one that included different consoles/computers!) done really well and reaching shelves, discs or digital stores without the clouds and fog of the attempts we've seen so far.

 

From the Indiegogo campaign page: "Tempest 4000 will be there..."

 

In the context of Giles' comments, wow.

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SeanR

SeanR

Posted
  • Author
Posted
3 hours ago, NEG said:

Due to the early bird pricing, yes.

 

um... an early bird onyx-only, and a preorder twin controller pack is cheaper than the early bird all in onyx pack.

 

you're saying they should pay $20 more to get the controllers 'early'? 

 

 

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NEG

NEG

Posted
Posted
16 minutes ago, SeanR said:

 

um... an early bird onyx-only, and a preorder twin controller pack is cheaper than the early bird all in onyx pack.

 

you're saying they should pay $20 more to get the controllers 'early'? 

 

 

 

The Onyx bundle singular + peripherals costs less because of the consoles Early Bird pricing while the peripherals do not have Early Bird pricing. If the bundle singular wasn't Early Bird pricing, my best guess is you would not save anything by buying the peripherals separately.

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SeanR

SeanR

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Posted
28 minutes ago, NEG said:

 

The Onyx bundle singular + peripherals costs less because of the consoles Early Bird pricing while the peripherals do not have Early Bird pricing. If the bundle singular wasn't Early Bird pricing, my best guess is you would not save anything by buying the peripherals separately.

 

but you do save, over the early bird bundle, which doesnt make sense.

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Camel

Camel

Posted
Posted
59 minutes ago, f. grimes said:

Not that it matters in the grand scheme but that quoted text isn't from Jeff. As the gilesgoat tag suggests and the style of writing backs up, it's from his partner, Giles.

 

In addition to the wording, anyone that's seen his posts on YakYak will quickly recognise the way quotation marks reflect how Giles puts emphasis in his forum posts.

 

I'm glad to see things confirmed anyway. I had no idea what stage Tempest 4000 had reached on any platform and had a 'Wait a minute...' moment when I watched the video last night. It seemed an odd appearance after all of the linking to early Atari consoles and games via older imagery and I was surprised despite Jeff's history up to the Jaguar.

 

Other than hoping this one might go well as it'd be nice to discover positive associations to change the ongoing direction with the Speccy and C64, I had no feelings whatsoever until certain inserts in their video (Tempest 4000 and using AMD footage to, at best, potentially suggest something is in production).

 

Then I saw the older linked 'hands on' video and the contained black plastic and strip-of-wood box with sockets that... had lights in it!

 

Just lights.

 

Though its scheduled release is far away, no nearby PC or even a laptop to demonstrate the front end that they seem to show in their launch video?

 

I'm not a collector; I just like games. I won't run for the 'Buy' button every time something with a familiar name is released and whether or not this or any other retro-themed package arrives will make no difference to me. I follow things like this a bit out of slight interest and thinking it'd be nice to see awareness, knowledge and interest grow across different age groups but beyond questions on the hardware side, those video inserts gave me pause for thought.

 

If it wouldn't be asking the impossible in these ever-connected times, I'd actually have some happiness if one of these 'retro' computers or even just a wide-ranging collection of games could be released in such a way that it mainly stoked good memories and produced more positive feelings for newcomers than we've seen of late. Some will never be pleased but it'd be nice to see one of these systems (and/or a games bundle, even one that included different consoles/computers!) done really well and reaching shelves, discs or digital stores without the clouds and fog of the attempts we've seen so far.

 

From the Indiegogo campaign page: "Tempest 4000 will be there..."

 

In the context of Giles' comments, wow.

 

The Ultimate64 seems to be getting favourable responses.  I know it's a different type of product - for hobbyists rather than nostalgics - but it does show that not all updates of old micros are a shitshow.

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NEG

NEG

Posted
Posted
34 minutes ago, SeanR said:

 

but you do save, over the early bird bundle, which doesnt make sense.

 

Yes, you do indeed. I'm pointing out as to why I think that is, Sean.

 

Just buy a 32X instead.

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SeanR

SeanR

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Posted

Otori, stahp!

 

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/06/21/atari_interview_in_full/

 

Quote

While we at The Register often take a light-hearted and critical perspective on the news of the day, we take our professional obligations as reporters very seriously.

In that capacity, we would like to formally apologize to both Atari and Michael Arzt for digging out a recording of the interview – and for the following article in which we highlight that Atari is so full of crap that it should be designated a hazardous waste zone.

 

You can find the entire 30-minute interview at the bottom, but here are a few short clips covering the most salient parts.

 

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