zzip
-
Posts
9,668 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
5
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Blogs
Gallery
Events
Store
Community Map
Posts posted by zzip
-
-
11 hours ago, MrTrust said:
Yes, of course I tried both rear ports. It's weird, because I installed some games on it and booted from the Atari OS, and they seem to run without any appreciable lag, even End's Reach. When I boot Debian from the drive, though, everything is slower than death. Once you actually get an application open, it seems to run okay, but other than that, nope. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling Chrome, but no joy. Firefox seems to work somewhat better, but it's not too great either.
Machine is totally stock. Connected to WiFi at 5g. A little far away from the router, but I have not had any issues with other devices at the same distance.
If it is wifi related, there was an issue where some Linux kernels keep trying to put the WIFI adapter into sleep mode and that affects performance.
The solution was to edit this file:
/etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/default-wifi-powersave-on.conf
and change this line:
wifi.powersave = 3
to
wifi.powersave = 2
Not sure if that requires a reboot
-
10 minutes ago, Wildstar said:
True. Of course they were kind of introduced to the idea by us. They got hyper excited about it. The idea was new to them. Being that they got into this after WW II. We had mascots in games for like 50-60 year and so it was kind of been there done that with Americans but it was new fad thing for the Japanese. So we just are a little less flamboyantly excited about mascots. It's last week's toy to us. It's a new toy to them. We still get excited but less so on average.
Yeah, JRPGs too. They were inspired by our RPGs, but took them to another level
-
2 hours ago, leech said:
Just a random thought (after watching a video about why people love Valve, but hate Epic). Wouldn't it be interesting to have the VCS store available on Windows / Linux? Then it can be one more place to buy games made for the VCS, and you could play on almost any platform.
Granted, then I wouldn't double dip VCS and Steam...
right now, Atari only has to play test stuff in the store on VCS hardware. If they opened it up to more hardware, it will be a lot more QA work to test various configurations.
It might not seem like a big deal, but I do my coding on a PC with an nVidia card. When I copy my code over to VCS, I'll often have unexpected visual glitches that I never encountered on my PC that I have to track down and fix, apparently AMD and nVidia do some things a little differently and you need to make sure your code works on both.
Now if a VCS game is already on Steam, it might not be an issue, but some developers are porting mobile games and others are writing code specifically for VCS and that might cause problems.
-
1
-
-
2 minutes ago, roots.genoa said:
Btw I just remembered something else: mascots are very important in Japan, not only in video games. I know US sports team have mascots as well, but in Japan, every city has its mascot, a lot of companies have mascots... Phoenix Wright games make fun of that with a mascot for the police force. But in the West, we tend to dismiss those as childish.
Yeah I noticed that in clips of Japanese TV shows, where there would be a costumed characted just standing there, in a way that seems out of place by our standards. As you mentioned, costumed character mascots aren't unusual in US culture, but Japan takes it up a notch or three.
-
1
-
-
1 hour ago, MrFish said:
3) Sheet music for providing the notes readily available
You could find the sheet music to just about anything at music stores, All those AMS + MIDI files came from somewhere
But use anything from the 20th century then you risked having a sticky rights issue on your hands.
Some games had to alter their music due to this. Frogger was affected. The Pengo arcade game had the 1969 instrumental "Popcorn" as its theme, and had to issue a new version.
-
1
-
-
12 minutes ago, MrFish said:
Unfortunately, it's a lot less common at this time.
That's because these days game development teams usually include somebody to compose new music for the game.
-
On 9/27/2023 at 10:19 AM, newtmonkey said:
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
I was intrigued to hear that this is sort of Star Wars Dark Souls, and although my PC can run it, it uses EA's awful DRM/client... so I decided to pick up a cheap used copy on PS4. It's a great looking game, and even though I don't care much for Star Wars, it was definitely a cool moment when the hero pulled out his lightsaber for the first time!
I don't know why this game always gets compared to Dark Souls, just because it's light saber based? I didn't find it very Souls like, nor a particularly great Star Wars game.. Though I agree visually it looks great!
-
1
-
-
10 minutes ago, Giles N said:
So, practically, what will (should) their use of the PolyMega-collaboration pull off…?
What should it offer?
No idea what will come of that. In terms of popularity, producing 2600/7800 cart reader makes the most sense, but does it make sense in light of the 2600+ The most interesting might be a Jaguar module or a 5200 module with durable controllers, but doubt if there's enough of a market to justify either
-
8 hours ago, roots.genoa said:
That's the whole point. That kind of thread is like asking "would you like to be rich?" 🤷♂️ Why would we be against the idea of a Lynx+?
If they announced one, it would be the usual drama: "No not like that!"
"It shouldn't be emulation based!" "FPGA is too expensive!"
"The form factor is all wrong!"
"Why isn't it using an OLED screen?" "Why is it using an OLED screen when the original didn't have one?"
"Why does it have a permanent battery, and I can't change it like the original?"
-
4
-
-
Classical music was very common in 80s games. Because it was reproduced in chiptune format, we 80s kids didn't realize we were getting cultured
I suspect classical music was used for two reasons:
1) those games were often designed by one or two people, and the average programmer is not a music composer.
2) A lot of classical music is now public domain so no royalty issues.
-
2
-
-
53 minutes ago, Giles N said:
I also mentioned software.
Moreover, one thing is to build the entire thing so uniquely that it becomes its own world of hardware to make games for (which isn’t smart as to gaming-hardware).
Another thing is to add specialized hardware-components that just makes it something different, something extra, but with full compatibility to everything Steam and Android etc.
Software- that ship has sailed. They had a chance in the mid-80s but botched it time and again. While Nintendo and Sega were building game franchises that kept their fans coming back to every new console, Atari failed to develop any such franchises. Their biggest is probably Roller Coaster Tycoon, but that came through later acquisitions and doesn't have the pull it once did. So right now, Atari doesn't have a software franchise that they could sell a million consoles off of. It isn't easy to develop one, franchise games can cost tens of millions or even over a hundred million to develop. That's larger than current Atari's market cap. Maybe they could get lucky and discover the next Minecraft, an inexpensive game to develop that becomes a major sensation. But the odds are against that.
I don't know what new hardware they could possibly develop that wouldn't be seen as a gimmick and couldn't be duplicated by Sony/Microsoft/Nintendo, and new hardware is useless without the software to support it.
Right now, Atari is making a lot of moves with acquisitions and products that are raising their profile. If they continue this path and it is successful, in five years they may be a bigger company than they are now, but they still won't be anywhere near Nintendo.
-
1
-
-
14 hours ago, guitarmas said:
I've been watching YouTube videos to get a feel for how the graphics may look. They don't come close to doing the system justice. I was thinking about getting a somewhat cheap gaming laptop but this does exactly what I want it to...play Doom Eternal!
Yeah Youtube videos are always compressed so you don't get the full detail. Even though I have a PS5 now, PS4 visuals still hold up well
-
15 hours ago, Giles N said:
Is it any of the things you mention, which it does, that I couldn’t do by using a PC or Mac…?
In today's world, there is virtually nothing that cannot be done on a PC
15 hours ago, Giles N said:When yoo say play all these titles: it’s through emulation-software, or some e-shop that have all the titles released for Atari-systems…?
Emulation in PC Mode, the Atari shop only carries retro titles Atari can legally sell.
15 hours ago, Giles N said:What such a costly thing - a GamerPC with inbuilt FPGA hardware would do is to be a thing for Atari retro-collectors.
And for retro-collectors who would want to buy from the homebrew scene.For Retro gamers who’d like to have their collections and homebrews playable from one and same unit.
The market for such a thing is much smaller than you think and not getting any bigger as time goes on. If it was there, the marketing people would sniff it out and build a product for it.
15 hours ago, Giles N said:Why get an VCS at all..?
What can it do that are really special…?
By the same logic, what can a 2600+ do that a $30 Raspberry Pi can't? All this jumping through hoops to try to ensure that the many cart bank-switching schemes are compatible, and the heartbreak that certain carts schemes may never work, including Pitfall II-- none of that is an issue with a pure emulation scheme. But people will pay 4x as much for a 2600+ because it is a more nostalgic and has the Atari name attached
So same reason why Atari fans would buy an Atari VCS over some generic mini-PC, nostalgic design, nostalgic controllers and Atari branded.
1 hour ago, Giles N said:If the VCS had cost 400$ or 450$ and had had special inbuilt hardware and software giving gamers opportunities and gaming experiences they couldn’t find elsewhere, but provided lots of fun, many would probably buy it anyway (that is, despite a high cost).
The proprietary hardware era is over and has been over for a long time. Virtually anything built today is going to be built around ARM or X86-based CPUs, AMD or nVidia graphics, standard sound. There are decades of engineering behind these designs that an upstart simply cannot compete with. Even the big boy consoles from Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft are using this hardware instead of rolling their own. There is no hardware Atari can conceivably come up with that can do things that nVidia/AMD/ARM/x86 cannot. It would also be much harder to attract developers to a proprietary platform since the development tools would be lacking. Even back in the day Atari struggled to get developers to support their custom hardware designs, it would be much harder now with a smaller userbase.
As of right now, every few days there is a new game release in the VCS store because the effort and cost to port things is fairly low. I can guarantee that would not be the case if the VCS was based off proprietary hardware.
-
1
-
-
2 minutes ago, Giles N said:
I’d say just add to the price, so we get to 900-1000$ , because it then also runs Android-games, Windows and Linux games, - you can even just use it as a phone with your 95 inch flatscreen displaying your face-time chat.
And then it would be for those who would want to go full Atari-retro-play-it-all, and also not disliking the possibility to use a wide selection of Android Apps, Steam and Windows content and make their modern telly, their at-home-chat device.
Fair enough, not saying Atari have that kind of money in their pocket right now.
However, since they are doing the VCS, what does the VCS give a consumer/buyer, that cannot be gotten elsewhere…?
The VCS does everything you mention here, it can play virtually any Atari game released for any Atari system including Jaguar now thanks to BigPemu, it can run Android, Windows, Linux, Steam
People say the VCS is somehow overpriced at $299 bundle (which includes two $60 controllers!) But yet a $900-$1000 system would be acceptable????
-
6 hours ago, GoldLeader said:
I was about to say, Well technically there's 2! But Yep! Lord Mushroom posted some stuff earlier that I thought made total sense.
Are you 41 already? Damn seems like just 4 years ago you were just 37...Boyee time flies! I like hanging out with some of my older friends, because then they can call me "kid"...
They sure grow up fast these days! Four years ago I was 25 and today I'm still 25!
-
1
-
-
The cars in Activision's Grand Prix were quite impressive at the time:
Tunnel Runner- was impressive as a first person game, especially at the faster levels
The title screens of Swordquest Earthworld with the shining sword and E.T. I had never seen that level of detail on the 2600 before
-
42 minutes ago, Flojomojo said:
That’s really great, I love it!
maybe they should have put a little disclaimer “ADVENTURE is (c)1980 from Atari” since the company has been known to be rather litigious
Or it's paid promotion for the 2600+?
-
Probably seeing Space Invaders running on 2600 at JC Penney
I saw a few arcade games before that, including possibly Canyon Bomber, but I don't recall Atari's name or Logo (I was young then)
-
3
-
-
4 minutes ago, MrTrust said:
Well, like I said, it works just fine in PC mode under Windows. I haven't tried it in Debian, if that's what you're asking here.
You know, that's one thing I didn't think about, because evidently you can add games to your Steam library so long as they are installed on your computer (presumably, this wouldn't confer a license to re-download them, but maybe they would otherwise run through steam? Any VCS games that are also compatible with Steam might conceivably work this way. Interesting. Worth a shot anyway.I have gotten Steamlink to minimize the GUI and let me get access to my desktop through my phone, and I did get Mame to launch this way. The problem there is getting input to work, since everything is still done through this Steam overlay, so it doesn't seem to read input devices like normal. I wasn't able to get anything to play with the controller, anyway, but maybe there is a way to do that.
I don't know why I didn't think about just trying that, but it's definitely something I'll have to mess around with.
You can easily run the VCS games under Linux, but be aware that some of the VCS games don't have a clean exit function so you'd have to kill the process. Not sure if Steamlink provides an easy way to do this.
-
On 9/30/2023 at 1:05 PM, guitarmas said:
I really like the first version. Are there any known issues with this model?
Mine hasn't really had many issues other than:
- Fan gets loud over time, periodically opening it up cleaning out the dust helps
- Original Dual Shock 4 rubber wears off on thumbsticks, this can be mitigated with cheap thumbstick protectors or using a newer Dual Shock that doesn't have this issue.
- (minor annoyance) the "power" and "eject disc" buttons aren't physical buttons but hot spots on the front of the console that are easy to accidentally trigger by the slightest touch. The later revision of the PS4 changed these to physical buttons
Some users complained about discs ejecting at "random". seems it's more of a problem for units that sit horizontally. Mine has always sat vertically and I never had this issue.
The OG PS4 also has and optical audio port to plug into an external audio system. This is good for reducing audio lag in rhythm games. The Slim removed this port.
-
On 8/29/2023 at 5:43 PM, donjn said:
So that leaves me with:
- Atari Flashback Classics
- Atari VCS Store?
There are no loose 5200 games in the Atari VCS store, other than what's included in Atari Vault 1 + 2 and Atari 50.
On 8/29/2023 at 5:54 PM, donjn said:Ive had issues getting that to work. I need to keep trying.
It works great when I download it to RetroArch via my Steam Deck setup but have yet to get it working right for PC.
I agree the 5200 emulator situation isn't what it should be Have you tried Atari++? It's based on Atari800 but I've had better luck getting controllers working in Atari++
-
23 hours ago, MrTrust said:
but is it possible to find a workaround through Linux in PC mode?
Can Steamlink be used in PC Mode? I've never used it, but can it be exteded to non-Steam games?
-
1
-
-
On 9/30/2023 at 4:37 AM, ledzep said:
I'm just surprised that these modern consoles offer the arcade classics but not the controllers to go with them. What, they hate making more money? Seems short-sighted. You know enough gamers would buy a real trak-ball controller or a spinner (both of which would probably still have an analog stick and many buttons, too, to make them a bit more useful for more games). I know I would. Back in the day lots of companies were making controllers for the 2600, some really oddball looking ones, too, why not now?
You can buy all sorts of arcade controllers these days with arcade style joysticks and buttons, but trackballs and spinners seem to be a rarity. I wonder if these modern arcade releases are even programmed to work with a trackball? Or would they be limited to using a track ball in joystick emulations mode, like the old Atari home trackballs had. It's not the same because then the speed you move the trackball doesn't have an effect.
On 9/30/2023 at 4:37 AM, ledzep said:Yes! I would love for Atari to go through their pile of unreleased/rejected games from back in the day and get someone to complete them. You know there must have been lots of cool ideas that got passed over for whatever reasons, primarily that the game wouldn't make enough money in the arcades. But this isn't the arcade era anymore, maybe those ideas would fit better with home consoles? I mean, some bands put out remastered CDs of old albums with extra tracks, Japanese-only tracks, single b-sides, demos, why can't Atari do the same?
They have started to do this. They put the unreleased Akka Arrh arcade game on Atari 50, and released a modern stand-alone version by Jeff Minter.
On 9/30/2023 at 4:56 AM, ledzep said:Ya, that's why I was saying that this reimagined version is "not the original" anymore. The game is the same (clear the dark haunted house, assemble the urn) but the perspective is very different and the graphics far better. Obviously the top-down perspective is more true to the original. But these reimagined games seem to be allowed to take more liberties with the originals? Maybe depends on the game.
I guess the question is if you want to modernize old games, is it better to stay true to the original mechanics or stay true to the theme? Look at what Nintendo has done with Mario. If all they did was remake Donkey Kong every few years with slightly update graphics, Mario would barely be a thing, instead he shows up in various games.
Haunted House is a fairly simple game that is limited by the 2600's capabilities. If Atari wanted to turn it into a horror franchise, should all the games stay true to the original 2600 mechanics/graphics, or should they update the complexity/graphics and sense of creepiness as the hardware capabilities expand? I'd say the latter. But problem is Atari never evolved the game through new installments back then, so when they release a modern version, it's inevitably going to feel quite disconnected from the original, unlike Mario which always contains lots of familiar elements while pushing into new territory.
On 9/30/2023 at 4:56 AM, ledzep said:I don't know how that Dracula game would have worked as a game with those angled views. Amazed that they'd even attempt that.
I guess it's telling that the Colecovision Dracula never released! But an isometric view like that might be a good way to evolve a 5200 or 7800 version of Haunted House 2. You could check the furniture for the missing parts, instead of just having it appear in the middle of a non-descript room
On 9/30/2023 at 4:56 AM, ledzep said:This seems even more removed from the original than the reimagined version is. Looks interesting, like Scooby-Doo: The Game but it's adding way more variety and options than the original had. I feel like the reimagined version didn't expand too far in that sense, you still had the same basic limitations (can only hold one thing at a time, simple walls/doors, same enemies) with better graphics. And the wrong perspective, though I don't see how you get all those graphics improvements with the original's top-down design.
Yeah it does feel more Scooby Doo than the original 2600 haunted house. On the other hand, It goes back to what I said at the top of my post. I don't think a simple "collect three object pieces and escape" is enough variety for a modern remake. That was imposed by the limits of the 2600 and rom sizes of the day. But at the same time 40 years have passed without incremental improvements of the game, so any modern remake is going to feel disconnected from the original.
-
2
-
-
I can't find the post now, but I asked either Ben or Trogdar whether roms could be sideloaded via USB (to play games the cart dumper can't handle, for instance). The response was as far as they knew USB was only for power and firmware updates.
-
1
-
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Berzerk Recharged has just been announced!
in Atari General
Posted
I've been expecting this..
But the real question is, will it have a synthwave soundtrack? (ducks)