Sauron

September 18

24 minutes ago, 42bs said:

Didn't you write you are gone?

"I'm leaving this forum!" = "Pay attention to me!"

September 18

Just now, Jag_Mag said:

lol yep do that

Glad we're in agreement.

September 18

4 hours ago, Jag_Mag said:

This can go either way,most are none programers and dictate to members what can and cannot be done,it can be done on Jag would it be worth it?depends on if your a fan of the game or not.A good rule of thumb is look what said member and if they released anything,if they haven't skip their post.

Here's a better idea: look at the username. If it says "Jag_Mag", then skip the post as it will have nothing worthwhile in it, with the quoted message as a prime example.

September 14

6 hours ago, jeremiahjt said:

#43,038 Mr. Run and Jump bought just a little bit ago.

You just beat out my order# of 43027 for Atari VCS Vault 2.

September 13

18 minutes ago, CyranoJ said:

Or, the lawyers know exactly where to send the letters.

Or, you could contact them with a proposal. Something tells me they would at least listen. :cool:

September 12

24 minutes ago, TrogdarRobusto said:

so, what is the state of the Amiga platform in the opinion of this group? Hardware? Software? What is the appetite for Amiga content?

Considering the mess that is the Amiga platform right now, that's probably a door that's better left closed.

September 12

1 minute ago, MegaManFan said:

I respectfully disagree Thomas. I've been here since as close to day one as possible and I'm very optimistic about this move, but as you're a developer I entirely understand the myriad number of concerns you've raised, and as a fan of your work I hope that all of them are fully addressed to your satisfaction.

Yeah same here. Although I don't know if I really count as a "long-time member"...does more than 20 years on this site count? :cool:

September 12

4 minutes ago, famicommander said:

It doesn't. If you put your logo on AtGames products then people will expect AtGames quality from other products with your logo on them. That's just how it works.

Perhaps, but this is not an AtGames product. And on top of that, you're completely avoiding what Albert and I have said to you already. At this point you're arguing just for the sake of arguing, and it's not contributing anything to this thread.

September 12

3 minutes ago, famicommander said:

All I have to go on is the last decade worth of AtGames and MyArcade products, so...yes?

I think there's a big difference between licensed and official products. Atari is releasing the hardware themselves, not licensing their name and IP to be sold by someone else. I think that fact alone should merit some consideration.

September 12

5 minutes ago, famicommander said:

But that's not even relevant to the conversation. You interjected with a non-sequitur. The concern, which came about from a statement from an Atari exec who mentioned future hardware iterations of the 2600+ unprompted, was that Atari would simply keep iterating on hardware. That concern was supported by their recent association with AtGames and their current association with MyArcade. Releasing a sea of sub-par, marginally different yearly hardware iterations is the bread and butter of AtGames and MyArcade.

So my concern was "they release too many devices, they should release fewer and stand by them"

And your response is, "part of standing behind products is updating them."

But that wasn't disputed anywhere. Of course updating devices is standing by them. My post was more or less a plea for them to do exactly that.

But what about the combination of recent AtGames devices, upcoming MyArcade devices, and the Atari exec talking about future iterations of a device that is barely available for preorder suggests we should believe the plan is to stand behind this product with long term improvements via software updates?

I think you're being way too overly critical here. I think most everyone understands the concerns you're expressing, but is it really necessary to nitpick things said in an interview and take them to mean something that hasn't been clearly expressed? You should probably step back, take a deep breath, count to 10, and then post your concerns in a more tactful manner rather than just hammering down on every little detail that you don't like. These are video game products. They're not a matter of life and death.

September 11

11 hours ago, The Helper said:

The connected device is probably your joystick that needs to be updated. I remember I had to do that as well.

Thanks, that took care of it, and in addition, it appears that it solved the problem of Food Fight (7800) randomly resetting during play. I was able to get through a full game without it happening.

EDIT: Spoke too soon about the Food Fight problem. However, I figured out what was causing it. Apparently during the course of gameplay I've been pressing down on the left analog stick, which is mapped as Select, which in turn causes the game to reset. Ugh. Oh well, guess I wouldn't have that problem using the classic controller.

September 10

Just purchased Caverns of Mars Recharged and I've been enjoying it quite a bit. Also downloaded MC:R (2020), it just doesn't play right with a controller. I enjoyed it much more playing it on my phone. I might spring for the updated version.

September 10

I'll add some more love here. I played it a while back on ROM through Stella, and enjoyed it then, and then finding it on the VCS store, I purchased it instantly. Amoeba Jump is probably my favorite 2600 homebrew.

September 10

So I've spent some more time playing around on the VCS today, and some of its rough edges are starting to show more. Here's a few examples:

- I've experienced numerous freezes and reboots when watching video previews of games through the store, where it'll freeze while watching the video, and after about 30 seconds or so the system will reboot on its own. Not a huge issue, but would be nice to not have to deal with it.

- I've been randomly getting a message at the top of the screen about a firmware upgrade being available for a connected device, but when I check the settings I see nothing to indicate that this is the case. Is there a specific place I should be looking?

- I purchased Food Fight for the 7800, and the game randomly resets while playing, which is extremely annoying. In fact, I haven't been able to go through a full game of it without this happening. Also, the MAME interface appears when trying to get out of the game. This is a minor issue, but still, my experience with this 7800 game so far makes me wary of purchasing any others through the VCS.

- Too many truncated or shortened game titles when browsing them through the store, which kinda gives the whole store experience an amateurish feel.

Most of those aren't big issues, but the one with Food Fight most certainly is. All of these problems do add up, though, and this gives the VCS a bit of a half-baked feel, which is a bit disheartening considering that the system has been in player's hands for close to 3 years now. Couple all of that with the fact that there is no clear support system or something even as basic as a repository for known issues severely degrades the overall experience with the VCS.

I'm not trying to be overly nitpicky about all of this, nor am I a naysayer who just wants to dump on the VCS. In fact, I stand by what I said about the VCS before:

On 9/9/2023 at 12:47 PM, Sauron said:

To give my overall impressions so far...the VCS has actually surpassed my expectations, believe it or not. Now, those expectations have been severely tempered by years' worth of groaning about it on these very forums. Obviously, if you're expecting something to compete with the big three console makers, you're going to be severely disappointed. However, Atari has never made any such claims of the VCS. It seems to be a good little system for what it is - a flexible device that pays homage to the past while helping to build a road to the future. And really, that's all I, personally, could really ask for from it.

I like the VCS overall, and I really want Atari to succeed with what they're doing, both with the VCS and with their other endeavors. However, issues like I mentioned above should have been fixed ages ago, and not having done so only works to cheapen the brand. Atari, you can do better.

September 10

I'm in Southern Arizona. I bought my Onyx VCS 800 back during the sale last December, but just hooked it up and started playing around with it 2 days ago.

September 9

11 minutes ago, davpa said:

Well, welcome to the Atari VCS 800 club. I hope you can also join us on the VCS Discords. Recently, there has been Ultimate Ski Jumping battles with a lot of the VCS community in the online section of the game.

Also, if you do go on the VCS Discord, check out the #-guides channel; there are a few BIOS tips to get more out of your VCS.

Thanks! I've already been active in the Discord channels, that's how I was able to get my VCS up and running. I think I'll have to check out that Ultimate Ski Jumping to see what it's all about. :cool:

September 9

Ok, did a little more playing around on the VCS. I ended up purchasing Amoeba Jump just to show some love to the author. It's one of my favorite 2600 homebrews, and I absolutely love it. Since I'm scrapped for cash, I haven't purchased anything else as of yet, although I did download what I guess is a free demo (don't remember the name, but I'm sure any VCS user knows which game I'm talking about). Also, I downloaded the VCS companion app to my iPhone, and tested it out, and it works quite well. Atari definitely deserves kudos for that. Outside of all of that, I haven't really done much else other than explore around the settings and such.

To give my overall impressions so far...the VCS has actually surpassed my expectations, believe it or not. Now, those expectations have been severely tempered by years' worth of groaning about it on these very forums. Obviously, if you're expecting something to compete with the big three console makers, you're going to be severely disappointed. However, Atari has never made any such claims of the VCS. It seems to be a good little system for what it is - a flexible device that pays homage to the past while helping to build a road to the future. And really, that's all I, personally, could really ask for from it.

September 9

25 minutes ago, The Helper said:

There is a phone app you can use I think.

Ahh, yes, I noticed that, thanks for reminding me. That I'll definitely have to check out.

September 9

1 minute ago, famicommander said:

The only one I've tried that responds to any controller inputs at all is Pluto. To use the Netflix, Hulu, Max, ESPN, Disney, Paramount, etc I had to plug in a mouse.

Well that's a shame. There's no way to simulate a mouse with the controller?

September 9

1 minute ago, famicommander said:

Unfortunately they're not really apps, they're just shortcuts that open up those respective websites in a maximized Chrome window.

Yeah, I figured as much. No biggie, but I guess it remains to be seen how well I'll be able to navigate them just with the controller.

September 9

September 9

I actually bought the VCS back in December of last year on a whim thanks to a big sale, yet I've let it sit unopened all this time, kinda afraid to take it out of the box. Well, this evening I finally got the itch and got it setup, and I've got a few unsolicited observations.

First, the setup. Powered the unit on, synced the controller, connected to the wireless network, then update. Got to 83% and just froze there. Well, not unexpected, thanks to having seen many similar complaints before. Hit up the Discord channel, was told to flash the unit. "Oh boy, here we go" I thought. Thankfully, though, that process went much smoother than I expected. The downside to it is that I had to do some digging and asking around just to figure that out. Where's your support page, Atari? Oh, I found it, but all it has is manuals, none of which detail the flashing process. In other words, Atari doesn't seem to have any kind of support infrastructure, even just a support wiki that has fixes for common issues. Seems like you guys need me to build you one. Interested? Someone from Atari send me a PM, I've helped build support infrastructures for two different game publishers now. But I digress...

Anyway, flashed the system, rebooted...and I'm in! The interface is a little clunky, but that's a small issue, and nothing that can't be smoothed out in time. As it is, it's not difficult to navigate. It's nice having the Atari Vault preinstalled, it lets you get to playing something right away without having to hit up the store. So, let's hit up the store and see what goodies are available. Now this was a pleasant surprise. There's more games than I expected there to be. Nothing quite up to AAA standards, but hey, this is the VCS, that's not what this little system is about! All of the Recharged games are there of course, most of which I already own on the Switch. Ohhh, nice! Some 2600 and 7800 games, and for very reasonable prices too! Atari, you guys just won some major points for having Amoeba Jump on the store. Seriously, that game rocks!

Anyway, let's move on. There are some apps here, including ones for AppleTV+, Netflix, YouTube, Paramount+, and Amazon Prime Video. Just add Crunchyroll and HiDive (yes, I'm an otaku, deal with it) and that will have all of my bases covered. Didn't try any of them out, though, I'll get to that later.

Anyways, that's my initial first impression of the VCS. The only gripes I have should be pretty easy fixes. Later I'll start test driving the apps and maybe purchase a game or two from the store.

September 8

Atari-branded keyboard and mice would be awesome.

September 8

2 minutes ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

I had the idea of a community driven AtariAge, where Al is distributing the workload to other people. I am quite sure we would have found voluntaries for almost everything.

Probably, and in many ways AA really has been a community-driven effort. However, volunteer work will often only go so far, especially when it comes to certain things that are tedious but necessary to do. Simply put, I don't think AA would be able to remain the same as it is without a central figure putting time and money into it. Perhaps I'm wrong on that, but again I prefer to see this all through a positive lens.

September 8

Considering the length of this thread and the fact that several questions have been asked numerous times, perhaps it would be a good idea to post an FAQ?

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