Fort Apocalypse

Great site! Thanks for the link! What are the "Cube games"? I wish that people would just sell licenses to use the arcade ROMs for cheap and then everyone could have a clear conscience playing games on an emulator.

Definitely. The IDE would have to make developing the game much easier and the better games would probably be team efforts. I'm thinking "Garry Kitchen's GameMaker" for the 21st century, allowing wizards for various types of games (3rd person shooter, strategy, mario scroller-type, puzzle type, etc.). Maybe Atari could have competitions and award prizes to the best games (in addition to the money the games could make if they were "for pay"). If you setup an environment that lets gamers write their own games for game console use more easily, I think you're bound to turn a lot of heads. In addition, you could even let kids design their own games. You could have another open-source game creation kit for the 5-7 yr old range that was easy to use and provided no end to imaginative new games that kids could create, play, and even share with each other (maybe with some help from mom and dad).

Ok... since no one else cares to venture into the "what if" arena... My second idea for a game system would be for Atari to create a 128-bit game system and also create an IDE to assist in writing games for it. Make the IDE totally open source so that it could get better and better (put on sourceforge). Then focus on drumming up people to write games for it. All of the cartidges that are sold for this system would be "blank". You take home a blank cartidge and log on to the Atari.com game site and you download games to your blank cartridge (through a USB connecting device that comes with the game system). When a customer programs a cartridge it would also allow them to print the label (a printer label comes with the cartridge). Anyone could become a game programmer by downloading the IDE, writing a game, and then uploading the game to the atari.com site. After it is uploaded and it is verified by Atari to be a viable game, it is either free (if it is an unknown game artist trying to get street cred.) or it is for-pay. In addition, there would be a web-based kiosk at the store to allow you to buy and program blank cartridges (the store still makes the money on blank cartidges). I know this plan has holes in it (maybe too many) but I really like the idea of open sourcing it and trying to open up the game development community.

oops... I meant to say I slobbered over them because they were by the checkout. I don't know if Atari has any influence over where stores will place their products. (Maybe you take the Best Buy executives out to dinner? )

Seriously... who in the heck buys portable cd players anymore? back to the kiosks... Were there flashback (1) kiosks in stores? I think if you put a flashback 2 kiosk in every Best Buy, you'd get a lot more impulse sales. Even better than that is to put them by the cash register though (I slobbered over the jakks atari paddle games I must admit, but I don't like the fact that they are battery powered).

My first take on this is the "ultimate classic gaming system". To do this, I'd start with a very small linux-based system with A/V and s-video output to TV. Have it automatically start-up with a menu of games that are run via number of multi-emulators (arcade emulator such as MAME, Atari 2600, 7800, and 8-bit emulators, C64 emulator, Apple ][ emulator, etc.). The processor and memory should be upgradable, and you should be able to flash the OS and the emulators via USB/firewire or could just be cartridges. Then sell sets of different games to run on it on cartridges. It would come with a cartridge containing a mix of some of the best of breed games for the supported emulators (maybe 100 games total). It would provide generic arcade type controllers that can take a decent amount of abuse. Controllers should be connected via USB and support as many controllers as the game permits (2 controllers come with it, 4 usb ports and you can buy an optional USB hub). Should be able to hook 2 game systems together too through a wireless device (sold separately) so that people in the same neighborhood could play against each other. It would also have a pluggable network card (sold separately) so you could play against others online for games that supported network play. My guess is that you could sell these at $150 using current technology for a decent profit. After a few years you could probably sell them for $50, by which time there would be a ton of games on the market. You could also miniaturize it and do a handheld version after a few years. To make it a bit more affordable/feasible, you could make it linux on a chip (non upgradable) A/V only, and not have networking.

If Atari were to create a game system that could take over the market for home game systems (in other words, a modern Atari system that could become as ubiquitous as Atari 2600 was in its prime), what would it be? (Please limit your theoretical system so that it would be affordable and mass producible within a year just to keep things somewhat realistic.)

I like the idea of including the paddles. I would make it have a kid-proof but easily removable standard memory card in it or a USB hookup that would allow you to load games you wrote yourself with batari basic. However that basically eliminates the need for cartidges (which I think is good in a way, because they are bulky) and it also invites people to be using roms that they don't own (which is probably not good). Finally a modern memory card is probably overkill as it would fit all of the possible atari roms on it and have a ton of space left on it. I would add the ability for it to play 8-bit games also. Do that and I'm sold. I'd pay $30-45.

And there you have it. Curt works for Atari. The man has put his heart and soul into the stuff. Have you done that? If you are so upset, why are you still on these boards? Why not spend your time elsewhere? The answer could be that you have an ulterior motive, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that you are just upset. I like to read the boards because I like Atari. I spent a massive amount of time on our family's Atari 2600 and my friend's Atari 400 as a kid. Because of my time and interest in those games, I got into programming and make a decent living at it. And now I'm getting to spend some time playing those games with my daughter (who gets outside more than I did as a kid ). I think the FB2 is awesome. I think you would do well to think about what Curt has done for us by helping relive good memories and letting us make new ones with our kids.

I think it would be a huge hit to have a dedicated system that could run vector arcade classics like: Asteroids Asteroids Deluxe Battlezone Battlezone Plus! Black Widow Gravitar Lunar Lander Major Havoc Malibu (prototype, unfinished) Quantum Red Baron Space Duel Space War Star Wars Starfighter (prototype, unfinished) Tempest Tempest Tubes The Empire Strikes Back TomCat (concept prototype) Vector Breakout So that said... a few questions: Is it possible to have an Atari Vector Arcade Classics console to be a reasonably priced like the Flashback 2? How much would it cost? How much would you pay? If it is possible: Does Atari/Infogrames own rights for any/all of these roms? Are there any other vector games not in this list that could be included? Would it be possible to finish off any of the unfinished games? Do you think it should be restricted to vector arcade games only?

Does anyone have any hint about what games might be on the FB3?

Ugh... Correction: 5200 not 5600, and add XE. Also, Castle Wolfenstein would be awesome to have on it, although I think it requires keyboard input.

I like the idea of having cartidges. I would totally get into that (especially if $5-7 dollar range with about 40 games each). I think that there needs to be some easy way to load games from a PC or Mac. USB interface to the FB3 or a USB adapter to load games onto a "blank cartridge" would be interesting. If someone develops a good IDE then you'll have folks all over the world writing new games, etc. for it. I know there would be some legal concerns here and I'm not sure how best to handle (ideas anyone?), but I think the ability to load games (disk images and bins) from USB would make it a top seller. You could even sell ALL the games online and not even use cartidges. Would be great if it could run 2600, 5600, 7800, 400, 800, 800XL games My favorites: 400/800: Fort Apocalyspe, Blue Max 2600: Armor Ambush (all-time favorite), Pac Man, E.T. (not kidding, I miss the little guy), Demon Attack, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Empire Strikes Back, Race/Indy 500 w/paddles (racing on ice is awesome) And please sell the paddles and the joysticks on their own or include both in the package. Paddle games rock, and I think a lot of folks wouldn't bother to buy old ones from an online seller. Packaging a keyboard with it would not be that great of an idea imo. Would be too bulky if was large enough to be practical. I don't see myself or my daughter laying on the carpet typing on the FB3, but who knows... And on a totally separate topic... I vote for vector arcade classics on the FB4! BTW - Curt, you rock!