Atari Flashback? Classic Game Console and Atari Anthology

[Chewchilla]

Atari Flashbackâ„¢ Classic Game Console (http://www.atari.com/us/games/atari_flashback/7800)

I have to admit - I think this is pretty freakin' cool! Check it out over at "Atari's" (http://www.atari.com/us/games/atari_flashback/7800) site.

GO 'OLD SCHOOL' FOR THE HOLIDAYS WITH THE 'ATARI FLASHBACK' CLASSIC GAME CONSOLE
New Plug-And-Play System Offers 20 Vintage Atari Titles, Including One Never-Before-Released Game

BEVERLY, MA, September 7, 2004 – It started a revolution and redefined entertainment for a generation…and today, Atari (Nasdaq: ATAR) proves you can go home again with its Atari® Flashback™ Classic Game Console. Coming in time for the holiday season, Atari Flashback is a stand-alone, plug-and-play unit filled with 20 classic Atari games, including Asteroids®, Centipede®, Breakout® and the never-before-released Saboteur™. Atari Flashback, a hybrid of the classic Atari 2600 and 7800 consoles, is modeled to resemble a smaller replica of the 7800 and plugs directly into the TV, for easy access and instant gratification.

“Today’s huge universe of video games fans got its start with these vintage Atari games and the old Atari consoles,� said Wim Stocks, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “For those gamers, Atari Flashback is a rush of nostalgia and retro fun; for younger gamers, it’s a chance to see where it all began and try their hand at gaming old-school style. It’s a must-have gift for the holidays.�

Returning 20 years after the introduction of the Atari 7800, Atari Flashback is a smaller replica of the original Atari 7800 system and comes with two joystick controllers, power supply and a TV cable so gamers can quickly and easily connect to their TV and start playing. Atari Flashback features 20 classic games that defined a generation of players, as well as one previously unreleased game, Saboteur.

The complete list of games found in Atari Flashback includes:

§ Adventure™
§ Air Sea Battle™
§ Asteroids®
§ Battlezone®
§ Breakout®
§ Canyon Bomber
§ Centipede®
§ Crystal Castles®
§ Desert Falcon™
§ Food Fight™
§ Gravitar®
§ Haunted House™
§ Millipede®
§ Planet Smashers™
§ Saboteur™
§ Sky Diver™
§ Solaris™
§ Sprintmaster™
§ Warlords®
§ Yar’s Revenge

Atari Flashback be available in November for a suggested retail price of $44.95. For detailed information on Atari’s entire product lineup, please visit www.atari.com.

About Atari

New York-based Atari, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATAR) develops interactive games for all platforms and is one of the largest third-party publishers of interactive entertainment software in the U.S. The Company’s 1,000+ titles include hard-core, genre-defining games such as DRIV3R™, Enter the Matrix™, Neverwinter Nights™, Stuntman™, Test Drive®, Unreal® Tournament 2004, and Unreal® Championship; and mass-market and children’s games such as Backyard Sports™, Nickelodeon’s Blue’s Clues™ and Dora the Explorer™, Civilization®, Dragon Ball Z® and RollerCoaster Tycoon®. Atari, Inc. is a majority-owned subsidiary of France-based Infogrames Entertainment SA (Euronext 5257), the largest interactive games publisher in Europe. For more information, visit www.atari.com.

© 2004, Atari, Inc. All rights reserved. ATARI, the ATARI logo, and classic Atari game titles and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Atari Interactive, Inc. or its affiliates. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

[Chewchilla]

Atari® Anthology™ (http://www.atari.com/us/games/atari_anthology/playstation2)

More classic Atari goodness for the PS2 (http://www.atari.com/us/games/atari_anthology/playstation2) and Xbox (http://www.atari.com/us/games/atari_anthology/xbox).

[Bryan 'KidHype' Smith]

Boy, once again, they are beating a dead horse dry. Can they pick any more shitty 7800 games then the ones they got? Good lord. I don't even think they are trying any more. Change the molding, slap on some new controllers, suck another $20-$30 out of consumers.

Don't fall for this people.

[Jay Snellen]

Hmmm ... first of all, the idea of a "hybrid of the classic Atari 2600 and 7800 consoles" is an interesting idea considering that the 7800 was a hybrid of the two already (it basically was a 2600 with a new graphics chip and more RAM).

What's even weirder is that the majority of these titles are 2600 games that have been recycled into compilation packs several times already. The only 7800 titles I can recognize are Planet Smashers, Food Fight, and (possibly) Asteroids, Centipede, and Desert Falcon. As a 7800 fan (and aspiring 7800 hobby developer) myself, these aren't exactly the titles I would have chosen.

I agree with Bryan: this sort of thing has long since lost the novelty appeal of the original x-in-one products, and now smells like a cheap and careless attempt to turn a buck on these old tired properties.

[Chewchilla]

Boy, once again, they are beating a dead horse dry. Can they pick any more sh*t 7800 games then the ones they got? Good lord. I don't even think they are trying any more. Change the molding, slap on some new controllers, suck another $20-$30 out of consumers.

Don't fall for this people.

What if they toss E.T. into the unit?

NOW how much would you pay?!?! :wink:

[Demolition Man]

I'll admit, the Atari Anthology compilation looks very good. If its anywhere near the quality on the Intellivision Lives set, it might be worth buying then. :D But I'm going to wait and see how it turns out before buying it, for all I know it will be crap. :cry:

[Demolition Man]

Boy, once again, they are beating a dead horse dry. Can they pick any more sh*t 7800 games then the ones they got? Good lord. I don't even think they are trying any more. Change the molding, slap on some new controllers, suck another $20-$30 out of consumers.

Don't fall for this people.

You nailed it right there Bryan. I'll pass on this, but you know the Joe Sixpack Sheeple will bbbaaaahhhhhhh their way to stores to buy this especially when its on sale the day after Thanksgiving. Guaranteeded.

[Bryan 'KidHype' Smith]

Boy, once again, they are beating a dead horse dry. Can they pick any more sh*t 7800 games then the ones they got? Good lord. I don't even think they are trying any more. Change the molding, slap on some new controllers, suck another $20-$30 out of consumers.

Don't fall for this people.

What if they toss E.T. into the unit?

NOW how much would you pay?!?! :wink:
To be honest with you, I think i'd pick up, "The Shit-iest Games ever Made by Atari" collection long before recycling this hunk of shit again.

It wouldn't be hard to do either...heres my list:

ET
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Pacman
Galaxian
every cart made before Space Invaders (gotta have combat!)

I can't think of any more right now. Any takers? :)

[Shane R. Monroe]

This TV GAME thing is just TOTALLY getting out of hand. Its product saturation I ain't seen since 1982. There is a goddamn TV GAME for everything; for christ sake, CRAYOLA has one!

Once again, we're seeing "quick to market, quick to ducket" versus "Hey, we should be putting some time into this stuff and honoring the games properly that we're claiming to pay homage to".

Its a great disturbance in the Force.

[Chewchilla]

To be honest with you, I think i'd pick up, "The sh*t-iest Games ever Made by Atari" collection long before recycling this hunk of sh*t again.

It wouldn't be hard to do either...heres my list:

ET
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Pacman
Galaxian
every cart made before Space Invaders (gotta have combat!)

I can't think of any more right now. Any takers? :)

Raiders of the Lost Ark?!?! That's a great game! It's a HSW classic for cryin' out loud!

I would yank that one off the list and replace it with 2600 Donkey Kong - easily one of the WORST arcade-to-home conversions of all time.

[Shane R. Monroe]

I dunno why everyone talks bad about Raiders.. Frankly, its one of my favorite games on the 2600.

ET - yeah, I'm on board .. but Raiders????

[Bryan 'KidHype' Smith]

I dunno why everyone talks bad about Raiders.. Frankly, its one of my favorite games on the 2600.

ET - yeah, I'm on board .. but Raiders????
It was just plain too damn hard. To this day i still don't know whats going on in that game. But you are talking to the king of all hatred for Adventure and RPG games.

[Jay Snellen]

It was just plain too damn hard. To this day i still don't know whats going on in that game. But you are talking to the king of all hatred for Adventure and RPG games.
Don't feel bad; I didn't figure out how to beat the game until fourteen years after I bought it. But I too consider it among the all-time greats of the 2600; it's amazing how HSW managed to create such a (conceptually) deep and involving world inside a 2600 game. I might have to consider buying one of these TV games thingies if Raiders came with it, but licensing costs would probably kill that idea.

Speaking of which ... I wonder if the kind of product saturation we're seeing in the battery-powered x-in-one market will lead to a "crash" of sorts. I've been predicting for a while that people will quickly tire of these games piling up in their closets like the dedicated Pong games of the 70s.

[Chewchilla]

Speaking of which ... I wonder if the kind of product saturation we're seeing in the battery-powered x-in-one market will lead to a "crash" of sorts. I've been predicting for a while that people will quickly tire of these games piling up in their closets like the dedicated Pong games of the 70s.

Years from now we'll be wondering if Jakks Pacific REALLY loaded all of their unsold TV Games units into unmarked trucks in the middle of the night, drove them out to the desert somewhere in New Mexico, and buried them right next to the E.T. cartridges. :wink:

[Bryan 'KidHype' Smith]

Well what was fun was when Shane was SUPPOSEDLY supposed to be setting up the Jakks Rep for "Stump a sales rep" at CGE he warned her that he was going to ask her about the imperfect emulation of their products. It basically sent her running back to her booth (the girl actually came to our booth wanting to interview and talk about the product. Yes, kill Shane) and basically said, "i don't know technical details, ask our techinican"

To corner someone representing Jakks and getting them to admit they are cashing in on a fad would have been a major coup for us but also not shedding light on something we already know. I will say this until i can type or speak it any more, Jakks wants your money. They don't care about classic gaming. They never have, they never will. None of these fly by night all in one packagers do. I have more respect for the black market nintendo 1000 in 1 makers than these idiots. When you say Pacman is 30-40 years old, that truly shows you won't even do simple research into what you are selling.

I am begging you...please stop giving these companies your money. I will never own a all in one unit..NEVER!

[WorknMan]

I have listened to Shane rant endlessly about these all-in-one devices and emulation packages. Personally, I wouldn't be interested in them even if the emulation was 100%. If you want me to by these titles legally, then sell me the roms and I will pick which platform to play them on. I'm not about to spend $40 on a 'greatest hits' package which I won't be able play when the console I bought them to play on ends up on Ebay in 2 or 3 years.

Honestly, I don't know why you guys even care, as these things aren't even marketed towards us. And the people that that they do target these things to could probably care less if the sound doesn't rez up properly in the Robotron brain wave.

[Demolition Man]

Sadly WorknMan you are right. The people who these things are targeted towards are the types who are like "oh I don't care, as long as I can play the game and there is a sound effect that sounds like it then I'm happy" as they throw their credit card/check/money on the counter. Purists like Shane, Bryan, and myself are sadly a minority as far as these compilations are concerned - so obviously they don't care if we complain as they run to the bank with all the money they made for doing NEXT TO NOTHING.

[WorknMan]

Purists like Shane, Bryan, and myself are sadly a minority as far as these compilations are concerned - so obviously they don't care if we complain as they run to the bank with all the money they made for doing NEXT TO NOTHING.

From their point of view, they probably have determined that many of the purists would continue to play the games for free in MAME, and they would probably be right. So what would be the point of going through the trouble of making it 100% accurate when most of the people who care about such things wouldn't buy it anyway?

[Shane R. Monroe]

Well, this is typical "we won't give you what you want except on our terms" crap. We'll licesnse these titles to some company that will F them up instead of licensing the ROM images which could give everyone what they want.

Hell, you could make a generic TV CONTROLLER that accepted low cost 'mini-carts' with the actual ROM images on them (obviously in a hardware similar environment) and everyone gets what they want.

I'd pay $50 for a TV controller that did this (gotta come with a couple games tho) and I'd pay $5 a hit for 2 or 3 game carts that worked on similar hardware.

But, that's not how we get rich ... We get rich by doing it exactly the way they are...

[WorknMan]

Well, this is typical "we won't give you what you want except on our terms" crap. We'll licesnse these titles to some company that will F them up instead of licensing the ROM images which could give everyone what they want.

But we're not talking about the same target audience here. The userbase buying these compilations probably don't even know what a ROM image is. As I said, these packages weren't even meant for us. If they were trying to get our dollars (the ones who demand perfection), they'd probably just sell us the ROMs.

[Shane R. Monroe]

The problem with ROM sales .. that would be a good deal ... We can't have that ... the markup ain't high enough ...

Let's look at this ...

Jakks Controller: $20 .. cost to make, say, $5 tops ... $15 profit per sale.

Sell roms $1 each ... profit ... $1. Even selling 5 roms ... still only $5. Its all a matter of money. Makes perfect sense to them.

[WorknMan]

Well, what I'm saying is that selling the controllers and selling the roms is not an either/or kind of thing, because the people buying the controllers are not the same ones that would buy the ROMs, and vice versa. So theoretically, they could sell both, because each one has a different target audience.

[Chewchilla]

So theoretically, they could sell both, because each one has a different target audience.

Response from "All-In-One Games Inc.":

What?!?! Open up TWO manufacturing plants to produce TWO different All-In-One units?!?! Are you crazy?!?! That would cut into our profits! Besides, the "die-hard retro-gamers" would rather build their own arcade cabinet than buy our hunk of cheap plastic.

So we'll stick with our big, casual gamer audience, crank out as many of these sub-par units as possible from our one plant, make a ton of cash, and dump it all for another retro-fad product when Joe Schmo gets sick of replaying the handful of video games he played when he was a kid.

So, anybody here think we can cram a few Jaguar games into one of these plastic joysticks?

[WorknMan]

What?!?! Open up TWO manufacturing plants to produce TWO different All-In-One units?!?! Are you crazy?!?! That would cut into our profits! Besides, the "die-hard retro-gamers" would rather build their own arcade cabinet than buy our hunk of cheap plastic.

Why would they need to set up another manufacturing plant to sell ROM images? All they'd have to do is hire Shane to set up the website. Hell, for this cause, I bet Shane would even be willing to do it for free :)

[Chewchilla]

Why would they need to set up another manufacturing plant to sell ROM images?

Because if "All-In-One Inc." were to sell ROM images, they would HAVE to put them in some kind of retro packaging to attract a larger audience and make more money.

"Ten classic Atari 5200 ROM images in a classic 5200 cartridge-case!" "Ten classic Sega Arcade ROM images in a miniature arcade cabinet-case!"

You get the idea...

[WorknMan]

"Ten classic Atari 5200 ROM images in a classic 5200 cartridge-case!" "Ten classic Sega Arcade ROM images in a miniature arcade cabinet-case!"

I think having the ROMs in a cartridge kind of defeats the whole point. Why would I want it in a cartridge? That would only jack up the price, so just sell me the ROMs without the cartridge. The people who want the cartridge are the ones who are gonna be buying the crappy 10-in-1 packages (or whatever) that are already on the market. Purists (I would think) are more interested in ROMs than cartridges - we already have emulators to play the games on.

[Shane R. Monroe]

Part of the appeal of the Xin1 games is that you can port it around anywhere and play it anywhere on pretty much any TV - even without an extra electrical outlet. ROMs simply cannot be used in that fashion - yet. You can't play ROMs on a Gameboy (not anything worthwhile - they can't even get 2600 crap running full speed). You might be able to get them running on a $500 PDA - no thanks.

There has to be a way to bridge the gap. Everyone makes money ... everyone is nice and legal. Go with a Flash Cart style system. Heck, if people can download to an iPod, they can download to a flash cart. So you can buy the roms, use your flash cart, and pop it in your X in 1 controller - or, play it in your favorite emu on the platform of your choice.

ROMS are like songs in so many ways. RIAA has always favored ALBUM sales over songs because there is more money to be made. The value of an album is the number of good songs on it. Unfortunately, as we all know, you get like 2-3 good songs on an album ($3 value at .99 a song) for $17. Not a good deal by any stretch of the word. ROMS .. same way .. can't make enough at .99 a ROM. You can release "classic packs" til the cows come home - esp. since you can resell the SAME pack everytime there is a new platform or generation.

Someone has to standardize and prove that the methods we come up with are viable BUSINESSWISE and can make the copyright holders money.

I'd love to see some crackshot group take all the Taito ROMs or something and build a prototype device including SUPER EASY interface software that works through a web page that simulates the buying process. Do it as a hobby. Show how EASY it is to MAKE MONEY with it with low overhead. Someone would bite - and it only takes one megolith like Atari or Taito or Capcom to get behind it and everyone would be in.

[Chewchilla]

I think having the ROMs in a cartridge kind of defeats the whole point. Why would I want it in a cartridge?

YOU wouldn't, but Joe Schmo isn't going to buy it unless it catches his eye at Target - and that's the "target" audience (sad but true). "All-In-One Inc." decides to put some ROMS on a CD, put the CD in a shiny case with a blinking light on it, a LOT of Schmo's and a few purists buy the collection, "All-In-One Inc." is rollin' in the dough.


That would only jack up the price, so just sell me the ROMs without the cartridge.

"All-In-One Inc." doesn't think there's enough purists out there to make them rich.


The people who want the cartridge are the ones who are gonna be buying the crappy 10-in-1 packages (or whatever) that are already on the market.

Perfect! More money for "All-In-One Inc."!!! :twisted:


Purists (I would think) are more interested in ROMs than cartridges - we already have emulators to play the games on.

It has been said before, purists would get these All-In-One units if they were made to faithfully reproduce the classic games contained within them. But most folks out there just don't care - if it's pretty close to looking and sounding like Ms. Pac-Man, that's just fine for a lot of casual gamers out there.

[Chewchilla]

Atari Flashbackâ„¢ Classic Game Console (http://www.atari.com/us/games/atari_flashback/7800)
Atari Flashback be available in November for a suggested retail price of $44.95. For detailed information on Atari’s entire product lineup, please visit www.atari.com. (http://www.atari.com.)
Well, it's November and I saw the Atari Flashback Console for sale at Best Buy for $50 - I just couldn't do it. I can buy a REAL Atari 2600 for $50.

[Shane R. Monroe]

$50 is retarded. God, I hope no one gets me one for Christmas ...

DS games for me for Christmas :)

[jamcat]

You could always buy one, keep it sealed, and sell it 20 years later on eBay. :)

[patman]

You could always buy one, keep it sealed, and sell it 20 years later on eBay. :)

They'll just release a reissue of it that is even less accurate and it'll be emulated by then anyway so that will pretty much kill the market for the vintage Atari Flashbackâ„¢ Classic Game Consoles :D




I agree that they don't make those things for us - they're for the 97 percent of people that just want to take a trip down memory lane. For them, all they gotta do is get the games 97 percent right and they're happy. They're not going to notice the little things that we do, and they're not going to care.

I've got a couple of them, the Atari 10-in-1, the Namco 5-in-1, and a Mattel Football II (handheld) reissue. There's things that are disappointing to me about all three of them and things I wish they'd done differently but it is cool to be able to just plug them right into a TV and start playing. My step-son and my friends that are younger than me can get a taste of what those games were like.

I guess I'm not expecting a toy maker to make a faithful emulation of my favorite games anymore. I'm spoiled now that I can play just about anything on the PC under emulation that's going to be spot on. After seeing what the first all-in-1 controllers were like, I realized that they're not going to put the extra time and money into getting them 100 percent right just to satisfy the few of us who really notice and care.

The manufacturers are not interested in trying to make us happy by giving us completely accurate renditions of these games, it's just not worth it to them. Hell, a lot of us bought them anyway, even when we knew they weren't perfect, and even if we didn't buy them, our numbers aren't enough to really effect their bottom line.



For a quick game of Dig-Dug or 2600 Asteroids they're fine but whenever I want to seriously play I'll fire up MAME or whatever.

[jamcat]

So has anybody bought a Flashback system?

I saw them at Best Buy. Was smaller than I thought it would be. The whole package is about the size of a box that PC games used to come in before they got smaller.

I only wish they put Solaris on Atari Anthology as well.

[JayP]

My wife asked if I'd seen the Flashback system and if I wanted one- when I said I didn't, she pouted. Then I saved face and said I might want one. So I expect one for Christmas.

[jamcat]

I also wonder if the joysticks are hardwired into the system, or are removeable.

[JayP]

They look like they are removeable... but I'd doubt it. I'll know Dec 25.