(Insert stupid Blog name here)

They still do. For example, ZPH got a takedown notice for mentioning the name of his (deceased) cat Atari, which is depicted on a ZPH T-shirt. He also had to change the shape of his awards.

That's true - I forgot about the T-shirt thing. I don't recall the details - I think the T-shirt website itself flagged it as an off-limits IP. But however that was done, Atari is still behind it. And I don't think that instance had anything to do with the Atari logo.

 

The ZPH awards is a little more understandable though, since they weren't actually "Atari" awards, and the logo was the dominant feature of it. It implied they were from Atari, rather than for games for Atari systems. I think they should just be renamed the ZPH awards, and make the award look like the ZPH logo. Then James would be free to do what he wished with them. (They're sort-of that way now, but it's really a ZPH production, and I think it should be identified as such.)

 

It would be nice though if Atari wasn't so immediately dismissive of fan projects. But they're a corporation, and they're protective of their IPs. Not their fans.

True.

Thinking back to my pre-2008 self, I believe there was a version of me that wanted to work for Atari, or impress Atari.  How fun it would be to work for Atari.

 

Then we, or at least I, got a different view of Atari when Combat 2 and Adventure 2 were being worked on.  An Atari that did not care that we had a childhood love for the system, or the games, or wanted so much a pat on the head for even remembering a game system that had long been obsolete.  The Atari we got to know said "drop what you're doing and step away from the innovation".

 

Atari figuratively held us by our ankles and shook loose anything that was theirs (the Atari emblem, and anything that remotely looked like their property) and once that was all shaken out, went back to their offices where they were not heard from for a while.

 

And it was then I realized the Atari of my childhood was no more.  But there were places I could go and have fun with fans, and that spirit of wonder we could all share together.  And I found it interesting that "Atariage" lasted longer than the original time of Atari.

 

And there are still such places the wonder of Atari and early games can be shared.  And until this place is gutted as a corporate asset (not a matter of if but a matter of when), you can do that for a while here too.

On 9/11/2023 at 12:45 AM, Thomas Jentzsch said:

They still do. For example, ZPH got a takedown notice for mentioning the name of his (deceased) cat Atari, which is depicted on a ZPH T-shirt. He also had to change the shape of his awards.

They had to change the shape of the awards?   Interesting!   I guess I need to pay them another look.

(Guess I'm glad we got ours when we did).