Gury Posted May 12, 2007 Share Posted May 12, 2007 Interesting poll is going on for some time: http://www.retrogamer.net/forum/viewtopic....135&start=0 But our machine was not in the selection Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimo Posted May 12, 2007 Share Posted May 12, 2007 There is a lot missing from that little selection! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross PK Posted May 12, 2007 Share Posted May 12, 2007 It just wasn't really known in the UK. In the whole of my life I only know two people who had one, one was my nephew, and I think the other person only used his for business. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimo Posted May 12, 2007 Share Posted May 12, 2007 It just wasn't really known in the UK. In the whole of my life I only know two people who had one, one was my nephew, and I think the other person only used his for business. I am finding this out now, after getting back into the scene. Where I lived there were at least 20 other Atari users in my Village alone, and the scene in Leicester was quite large with two really good computer shops, Mays and Cavendish computers, although Cavandish ultimately went down the C= route in the end. I have dim and distant memories of Silica shop having a location in Leicester for a short while. I guess what I am trying to say is I have memories of the Atari scene being just as big as the C= scene, and you were laughed out of School if you had one of Sir Clives "finest" toy computers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdh Posted May 12, 2007 Share Posted May 12, 2007 Interesting poll is going on for some time: http://www.retrogamer.net/forum/viewtopic....135&start=0 But our machine was not in the selection Nice one Gury you flew the Atari Flag with passion in that forum, even though heavily outnumbered by those C64 bullies Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gury Posted May 12, 2007 Author Share Posted May 12, 2007 (edited) But I will never understand those C64 fanatics..., they just don't wanna give up, they are full of superiority. Edited May 12, 2007 by Gury Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pengwin Posted May 12, 2007 Share Posted May 12, 2007 I can't understand the fanatics either. Whilst I love using my 800XL, and playing the various games on it, I still make room for other 8-bits. Even C64 (under emulation though). It sounds to me that a certain poster in that thread either needs to get a life, or a girlfriend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gury Posted May 12, 2007 Author Share Posted May 12, 2007 Good point Pengwin Those people just don't want to accept the facts that their machine also has certain weaknesses. But who cares, everybody loves retro computer which he/she played with in childhood and that actually matters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pengwin Posted May 12, 2007 Share Posted May 12, 2007 and besides, we all know that the C64 is a pale imitation of an Atari 800 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gury Posted May 13, 2007 Author Share Posted May 13, 2007 (edited) and besides, we all know that the C64 is a pale imitation of an Atari 800 Sure it is And great that you got involved in that forum too... You too Allas... that's the way to go Edited May 13, 2007 by Gury Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pengwin Posted May 13, 2007 Share Posted May 13, 2007 Just had another look at that thread, even though oswald is starting to bore me with his pro-commodore and anti-every_other_8-bit rants. It looks like he might be starting to soften actually the atari can do granted a lot of stuff which on the c64 took long long years of learning how to trick the HW into doing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomasholzer Posted May 13, 2007 Share Posted May 13, 2007 gosh, reading through the Retro Gamer forum, bunch of idiots there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fröhn Posted May 13, 2007 Share Posted May 13, 2007 But I will never understand those C64 fanatics..., they just don't wanna give up, they are full of superiority. Strange enough the C64 vs A8 topic hardly ever comes up in any C64 forum or production, while there are tons of anti-commodore demos on A8 Now who is full of superiority? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gury Posted May 13, 2007 Author Share Posted May 13, 2007 (edited) to you Atarimania and Emkay, you gave good arguments on the topic. Edited May 13, 2007 by Gury Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdh Posted May 13, 2007 Share Posted May 13, 2007 to you Atarimania and Emkay, you gave good arguments on the topic. Yes methinks a certain poster has a virtual bloody nose now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gury Posted May 13, 2007 Author Share Posted May 13, 2007 True reinforcement / breakthrough for Atari on that thread... Like C64 huge userbase, there will also be Atari community, even if not so big, but loyal, which does actually matter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted May 14, 2007 Share Posted May 14, 2007 IMO the C64 IS the better game machine of the two. Sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastRobPlus Posted May 14, 2007 Share Posted May 14, 2007 IMO the C64 IS the better game machine of the two. Sorry. I could argue pretty well for both sides. Between the two they represent the best of the 8-bit era. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carmel_andrews Posted May 15, 2007 Share Posted May 15, 2007 (edited) what the people on retrogamer mag don't realise is that, if it wasn't for an out of court settlement betw. Atari and Activision way back when (which led to the creation of third party games development industry) the games software industry in the UK/EU would still be regarded as a 'back bedroom' job and not the professional, business oriented approach that we've become accustomed to Essentially the Atari/Activision out of court settlement allowed machines like the C64, spectrum, Amstrad's etc to become the successes they were as these machines benefited both directly and indirectly from then Atari/activision deal Edited May 15, 2007 by carmel_andrews Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
www.atarimania.com Posted May 15, 2007 Share Posted May 15, 2007 Well, not really, computers like the Apple and PET already had third-party software support before that... -- Atari Frog http://www.atarimania.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TMR Posted May 15, 2007 Share Posted May 15, 2007 Essentially the Atari/Activision out of court settlement allowed machines like the C64, spectrum, Amstrad's etc to become the successes they were as these machines benefited both directly and indirectly from then Atari/activision deal You might want to back this up with some actual evidence because it looks like rubbish to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastRobPlus Posted May 15, 2007 Share Posted May 15, 2007 (edited) One problem the 400/800 clearly had was Atari's terrible attitude towards third party development early on. I remember reading in the book Hackers that from late ‘79 into perhaps ‘81 or ‘82 the Atari was largely a mystery system with documentation about its inner workings a closely guarded secret. Looking at most Apple II games from 1980 - 1982 and comparing them with Atari 800 reveals that the Atari was far inferior, with the Apple running colorful machine language programs and the Atari running blocky BASIC ports. It didn’t seem to flip-flop until 1983, and by this time the Apple II was cemented in the US and the new systems were poised to begin dominating the lower end of the market. It seems like a safe bet that Atari would have been in a better position if they had opened the system up earlier. Edited May 15, 2007 by FastRobPlus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TMR Posted May 15, 2007 Share Posted May 15, 2007 One problem the 400/800 clearly had was Atari's terrible attitude towards third party development early on. I remember reading in the book Hackers that from late ‘79 into perhaps ‘81 or ‘82 the Atari was largely a mystery system with documentation about its inner workings a closely guarded secret. That's a coincidence, i'm just re-reading that part of Hackers again. =-) But yeah, if it's really as bad as the book makes out (and i know it needs to be taken with a pinch of salt in a few places) then Atari's attitude to outside developers was pretty weak; i don't know if it's related, but i found trying to get any programming docs over 'ere was hard too - the Programmer's Reference Guides from Commodore were easy, the Spectrum came with a decent manual to start with but my poor 800XL just had the pamphlet it arrived with. =-( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.