E. King

February 17

On 2/12/2024 at 5:59 PM, HSW3ET said:

Hi E. King!
Yes! Of course I would consider it. I would just like to do this the right way and for the community to show interest in my games.
Any suggestions on how I should proceed? I'm waiting for ideas. Thank you!
Cheers!
Leandro Camara

Awesome! please email David Paige at david.paige@atari.com to offer your games for the VCS store.

February 5

On 1/22/2024 at 3:47 PM, HSW3ET said:

Here is my new game for the ATARI 2600!

ESCAPE FROM MARS

"Help the astronauts who populated the red planet to move to new space colonies, before the enemy ends their mission!"

Order list open! Initial numbered edition limited to 50 pieces.

Send your request to email [ skyline2600games@gmail.com ] if you are interested in the game.

Hope you like it!

Cheers!
Leandro Camara

Would you consider putting your games on the Atari VCS digital storefront for sale there so we can play your cool games on the VCS?

Thank you

January 28

2ndBoss brought Savage Halloween, Biolab Wars, Milli & Greg and Wild Dogs to the Atari VCS.

Their next game release is Darkest Abyss , a cool looking Castlevania type game.

Here is a gameplay video.

January 28

Played the demo update. It was fun to play the 4th sector with the new Bounce GunR and the additional control option.

I like both the original and the newly added control options.

The Bounce GunR ship is effective for shooting around corners.

PolyGunR is a very cool game and it's nice that we get to play the demo on the VCS.

January 27

22 minutes ago, joeatari1 said:

A game is a game is a game. It matters not whether it's delivered digitally or on some other medium. All of the game data is digital anyway.

That is hilarious 🤣

January 26

3 hours ago, zzip said:

The VCS already has more official releases than the 5200, 7800, Jaguar and Lynx, I'm not sure what would be special about 250 games, the next logical milestone would be to beat the 2600 at around ~500 games.

You can't compare number of releases of an all digital mini pc with all digital releases to real cartridge based game consoles with all physical releases.

It is an absurd comparison.

January 25

3 minutes ago, joeatari1 said:

Why so cynical? Which games are you describing as "overpriced mobile game shovelware"? So far I've not seen, nor played anything that resembles that description on the VCS.

Actually not being sarcastic. The VCS needs a lot more shovelware like this so the platform can one day reach 250 games and then the fanboys can proudly say "The VCS has 250 games"

All platforms have shovelware and the VCS is no different. There is a lot of shovelware on the VCS but I am not going to name them all for you here as it would be off topic to do so.

If you want to start a new topic about shovelware on the VCS maybe I will list them there for you 🤣

As far as I know, the majority of Orange Pixels games that he brings to the VCS are overpriced recycled old mobile shovelware games.

January 25

Awesome to get a free PolyGunR demo on the VCS.

I played it quite a bit and enjoyed it a lot.

Very unique and fun game.

I particularly liked how it controlled and the challenge of building the skill needed to get good at maneuvering through the levels while taking minimal damage.

I look forward to the full release whenever it is ready.

January 25

Atari has yet to fully commit to bringing Lunar Lander Beyond to their own platform the Atari VCS.

It all boils down to Atari not currently having enough loyalty to their own platform to commit to bring this Atari game to their own Atari VCS platform.

It may not be a cost effective venture since the dollars don't make sense obviously Atari does not expect enough return from the time and cost involved in porting to the VCS.

If Atari had full brand loyalty to their own platform then a VCS port would have been mandated in the original contract with the Lunar Lander developers.

Maybe Atari will wake up and increase their loyalty levels to their own platform and their most die hard customers who bought into and supported the VCS platform for years which is what fueld Atari to make a comeback.

Atari owes everything to the VCS customers since they were responsible for bringing Atari back from the dead.

If only Atari had more loyalty to their own platform and their biggest supporters no matter how niche the VCS customer base is they deserve better.

January 25

Great! The VCS needs more overpriced mobile game shovelware.

January 25

Great! The VCS needs more overpriced mobile game shovelware.

January 15

Never said all Bravias and the title is true the VCS hates Bravias

not all Bravias but many of them and other TVs too

It is a known issue that has gone unfixed

January 15

It is not all Bravias and also it happens with other brands too.

I just used Bravia as an example because that is the TV I was trying to use my VCS on today.

The VCS has a flaw in the Atari OS that is known issue and has not been fixed.

It is not the TV because the VCS fits the screen perfectly in PC mode.

It is Atari OS that is not correctly programmed to auto fit to screen.

I have no issues with other game systems on the same TVs that I have issues with the VCS.

Not all TVs have the settings to adjust to the VCS Atari OS screen fit flaw.

January 14

2 hours ago, THX-1138 said:

Overscan?

No. Not all TVs have that setting.

The VCS screen fit is incompatible with many TVs due to a major flaw in the Atari OS.

January 14

Atari VCS Hates Sony Bravia TVs and no there is no setting on the TV to fix the cutoff screen, It is the VCS that does not autofit to the TV like all other game systems do.

January 7

The nubby nobby paddle on GSP is not acceptable for a good enjoyable playing experience in Kaboom.

December 10, 2023

Did this customer happen to get a defective Atari 2600+ console ? or is there something else going on here ?

Watch entire video and then share your conclusion.

December 9, 2023

On 12/4/2023 at 8:07 PM, joeatari1 said:

While I'm hopeful it is a permanent solution, I am not confident. Atari has sent this same message out before and the error has persisted a week later. Luckily, I have not had this error and my experience with the VCS has been reasonably smooth from day one. I did have a controller issue early on which was resolved with a firmware update and also was unable to download purchased games once or twice, but those were very minor inconveniences that were quickly fixed. For everyone's sake, and Atari's, I hope this is a permanent fix.

You were correct. I guess I was being to positive and optimistic. I should have known better.

December 9, 2023

Atari's distribution center messed up on the first shipping wave going out of order and not shipping the earliest orders out first but I do think they improved in the 2nd wave as I have seen a lot of people who ordered early from Atari.com getting their 2600+ orders shipped out this week.

I think someone at Atari did the right thing and did what they could to prioritize most of those early Atari.com orders that got missed in the 1st wave.

December 4, 2023

Good news, Atari engineers say they have resolved the zip code glitch.

This message from Atari Support implies that a permanent solution has been found and we should never get the zip code glitch again.

Things are looking up for the VCS going into 2024.

Now bring on the games!

November 30, 2023

ordered 8/22 and still no tracking number

November 29, 2023

16 minutes ago, John Stamos Mullet said:

You guys can call this “white knighting” for Atari all you want, but SD carts like the harmony etc. are only available because for the better part of the last 30 years, Atari hasn’t made consoles, or cartridges that are compatible with those consoles. They are a result of Atari no longer being in the business of supporting that hardware model. So all of the legally/ethically questionable positions regarding roms and SD carts didn’t really matter much.

But now that they are back in that business - it matters again.

The entitlement of some people, demanding that a legally questionable product that was born out of a dwindling/dead gaming market, and a niche fan desire, that clearly violates the original software maker’s copyrights for the majority of games - be supported on their new hardware designed to capture the spirit of the original and intended to be a profitable product - it’s just plain facepalm worthy.

Atari is a for profit company, not a charity entity. They are not the “make a software pirate wish foundation”.

being upset that Atari’s new console isn’t immediately hackable/exploitable is like being mad at the movie theater owner for putting locks on the back door so you can’t sneak all your friends in.

The 2600+ is much like buying a vinyl record player in 2023. You’re not going to buy one and then complain it doesn’t play your CDs or MP3’s. Right? Right???

Your “white knighting” for Atari is very Hilarious!

As if Atari did not just put their brand name on the Gamestation Pro with an SD card slot that launched basically right along side the 2600+.

And as if Atari did not just buy Atari Age who sells Harmony carts and 7800 Game Drives.

Is Atari all of a sudden going to recall the Gamestation Pro because of the sd card slot? Nope!

Is Atari all of a sudden going to stop selling Harmony carts and 7800 Game Drives? Nope!

These products are needed to play awesome Homebrew game roms that will never see a physical cartridge release.

If Atari does not update the 2600+ with more Harmony and/or 7800Gamedrive compatibility then you better believe there is going to be a hack/mod sooner rather than later that will allow expanded rom play somehow.

November 29, 2023

1 hour ago, GoldLeader said:

No Cartridge Left Behind

Yeah whoever came up with that slogan should be very proud of themselves. It is probably the same person that now describes the VCS as "seamless" 🤣

That is for sure very misleading and quite hilarious.

Even though they seem pretty confident they can vastly improve compatibility with updates, most people will never update their firmware and will be stuck with the way it shipped.

November 29, 2023

When I started this thread, I wrongfully assumed the Harmony cart would work with most any rom size.

It makes no sense the Harmony cart only works on the 2600+ with 4kb or less roms.

Why would I use the 2600+ for 2600 games on hdmi screen when my Retron 77 has an sd card slot with more capabilities.

The Atari Gamestation also has an sd card slot but unfortunately no 9 pin ports.

We will see if Atari cares enough to fix compatibility for playing roms from Harmony.

The fact remains they should have done the right thing and just included an sd card slot as they have done in other devices.

November 28, 2023

1 hour ago, donjn said:

I am a little down on the 2600+.

I ended up returning mine to Amazon. Its just not for me. It is not an economically viable solution to chase down some of my favorite Atari games like H.E.R.O. ($60), Saboteur ($40) and many more when Stella does a great job on my PC especially with this amazing guy https://atari.com/products/classic-joystick which has a great spinner for Breakout, etc.. I also think any new Atari 2600+ products should have offered support for Atari USB joysticks like the one below which is my favorite classic Atari joystick ever.

We are seeing games like Outlaw, Fatal Run and others get a re-release and as long as those continue, there will never be a push internally for ROM support.

So what would have been my solution? I would have offered a menu system and the option to purchase electronic roms that include a menu with the game instructions. The rom purchase would only work with your system serial number to prevent them form being distributed. And yes, I would have done whatever it takes to get Activision games included as purchases. That way both parties are satisfied. If you want the feel of plugging in a cartridge, you still get that.

I enjoyed plugging in my cartridges into the Atari 2600+. However, the nostalgia and need for this lasted about 15 minutes. After that, I began to see potential issues. The 2600 games are slightly loose (obviously because 7800 cartridges are a little bigger) and I still to this day wonder over time on using old, corroded cartridges (not all of us are going to spend the time it takes to clean them completely) on a brand new piece of hardware and how easy it would be to clean 2600+ contacts.

I think scan-lines should have been an option instead of 4:3 and 16:9 (I don't know anyone who would play these games stretched).

I will still watch this thread and might someday give it a go again and I appreciate @Ben from Plaion and @Albert tremendously for their tireless work and answering all of our questions!