davidcalgary29

This is the approach I took with my parents to get them to buy me an 800 in '83. I promised that I'd learn touch-typing with it -- a big thing for my Dad -- as well. I actually did learn touch-typing, but that was on an old Royal manual typewriter. I don't think that my parents would have gone for a game console, but I didn't want one, anyway. I just thought home computers (keyboards! printers! acoustic coupler modems!) were so much cooler at the time.

First in for MIDI Maze! A 3D dungeon crawler shooter with real-time chat? That could connect players on different platforms? In 1988? With a port for the Atari A8? It's criminal that this never got a commercial release for the system. Okay, it had a fixed camera, but I'm going to give this a pass given the age of the architecture with which were working here.

It's been one of my top ten Lynx games since its release; it's a technical masterpiece. But people wanted Nintendo games in the '90s (and not Klax, as they most definitely should have), and not Atari's products, and I doubt this would have raised the Lynx's profile at all, as tragic as that is. Barring a few missteps, after all, Atari's Lynx library was stellar, and that should have been enough to propel sales if game quality was really the strongest selling point for most consumers.

I love how these queues form on this site. I'm in for two boxed copies!

That's the true Alternate Reality: an early '80s landscape dominated by the TI-99/8, the Compucolor II, Exidy Sorcerer, and the North Star Advantage. MSX would have a strong foothold in North America by 1985, and the Adam would be a success after Coleco fixed their printer issues with the extra money they had not engaging in cutthroat price wars. I'm down for this! I still don't see how Atari could have feasibly introduced a game system based on the A8 platform before 1982 with the existing market economics and the price of components that they had. I still haven't found any reliable source that the home computers division ever made money for Inc., and the cost of producing each "5200" at that point would have been astronomical for an emerging market. Ironically, I think that Commodore could have done this, as the Tramiels figured out how to drastically cut manufacturing costs, which put them at a great advantage. But we all know how the Tramiels felt about video games at that point, so this couldn't have happened. A "what if Jack Tramiel liked video games in 1980?" alternate history scenario would be interesting to explore.

1982. And it would have been called "the 5200" to give it that futuristic, Blade Runner feel, and it would have looked like an 800 without the keyboard. I'm guessing it would stick with the McDonald's colour scheme of the 400 and 800, although it might have been updated for the '80s. Maybe pink and yellow? Sadly, it would have been a commercial flop, because it would have come out in that in-between period that sometimes exists between video game eras that often sinks good tech. It would have also had a weird, unfocussed library that tried to do too much with little third-party involvement. Just saying.

No, because I was silly enough not to take any pictures. I *should* have taken pictures of that card...perhaps the person who bought it will give us a demo!

The homebrews at @arcadeshopper's booth were very nice -- I wish I could have spent time with that Trailblazer/Yoomp playalike!

Okay, a bit of an exaggeration. But the general comments were that the PEB was not an optimal system, and that a modified desktop would be so much better. Is the PEB that bad?

I got into a discussion with a number of TI users at PRGE as I was caressing a PEB and admiring its aesthetic grace and prowess. They scowled and were not impressed, and told me how much more impressive the setup would be if it was in a modified PC desktop case. Can anyone explain why? As an Atari A8 devotee, I can only dream of what the XL expansion box would have looked like in its black and silver glory.

I visited one TI-dominated booth at PRGE and saw a 99 4/A with multiple peripherals daisy-chained to the side. It was quite an impressive length, but the owner said that he was missing several components which could have extended the size. Out of curiosity, exactly how long can the longest daisy chain be on a 4/A? Would this have been any different for the 99/2 or 99/8?

I'm sorry to see this. He was a nice man.

I contacted Robert Schroeder when I ordered my copies of "The Challenge" (in English) and asked him to talk about his involvement in the development of this project. He very graciously wrote back and stated the following: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Text by Robert Schroeder /19.10.2022 Background information to music cassette „The Story Of Final Legacy“ / „The Challenge“ Hi, my name is Robert Schroeder and I am the composer and producer of the music cassette „The Story Of Final Legacy“ (German Version) and of „The Challenge“ (English Version). The music of the german and the english version is absolutely the same. Difference is only the language of the spoken voice and of the speaking persons. The German version of the "Final Legacy" music MC was first produced in 1983 for ATARI Computer Germany as a promotional give away to the computer game "Final Legacy". In 1987 the music MC was also produced for ariolaSOFT with English lyrics. ariolaSOFT was distributed in Germany by the Bertelsmann Group, a short time later also published by ariolaSOFT U.K.. The music for the "Final Legacy" MC should support the dynamics and atmosphere of the game. But how did I end up producing the music for "Final Legacy" in the first place? The music was based on my successful single „SkyWalker“ from 1983 (https://www.news-music.de/schroeder_e/a_shop_cd_e.php#skywalker ). For ATARI, SkyWalker was the ideal music for the game "Final Legacy". I myself had good contacts to ATARI Germany at that time and so it was obvious that I should produce the music as a supplement to the game. The text story was written by ATARI (Wolfgang Bloedorn). The German dubbing voice for Western star "John Wayne", "Arnold Marquis", was chosen as the narrator. This warm and sonorous voice of Arnold Marquis was best suited to bring the text to the Final Legacy music with exciting atmosphere on's tape. Music and voice were a perfect match. The title of the German music version was called „The Story Of Final Legacy“. For the English version the English narrator SERVO was taken. The title of the English music cassette was changed to „The Challenge“. The music of the MC B-Side „The Final Legacy Theme“ respectively „The Challenge Theme“ was produced by tape cutting, means, the tape was cutted in short strips and sticked together with new arrangement. All in all a very interessting and breathtaking music production. For more information please look here: https://www.news-music.de/schroeder_e/a_shop_projekte_e.php#finallegacy . Please take also a look to my website: https://www.news-music.de Have a good time … Robert Schroeder ------------------------------------

Wait just a minute now...I think those action moves just ratcheted this up to Atari LARPing...

That's courtesy of @MacRorie. Someone bought it from him, so no pics of the card, unfortunately.

a.k.a "Winepeg", a la Lynx Hockey. But I concede.

You all should join me in northern Alberta! Of course, I do get bears in my backyard at this time of the year, eating my windfallen pears and apples, but they keep the rifraff away. Life is fine, as long as you avoid the homicidal moose lurking on the side of highways, searching for small sedans to jump on...

Spot the SM124 and the 1040ST (or is it a Falcon?)! And is that a Hotz Box I spy?

I was thinking it might be an idea to have a pinned list of carts that had a commercial release for the Portfolio. Thoughts?

Please tell me that his costume was pixellated.

I heard about this on CBC (Canada's public radio) as I was driving home -- they even had an interview with one of the team members!

Le gasp! This is like claiming that The Typing of the Dead is not the greatest game in the Sega library. Geez, you guys. I bought my first Lynx when I was eighteen and didn't give a second thought to battery life (I used an AC adapter, and treated it like a console) or resolution, which only came up when people wanted to carp about the system (without playing it). I only started to read about the system's "shortcomings" after it died and people attempted to justify its failure restrospectively. I think that the comparative commercial failure of the system didn't really have anything to do with its architecture, in the end.

Did anyone else play VCTR-SCTR at PRGE? Great game!

Just a comment on the quality of the game, not MacRorie's proto. I actually have the Beta, which I got off of eBay years ago from an ex-Atari employee, who sold a whole bunch of Lynx protos in a number of auctions. It's actually worse than the commercial release, if that's possible.