Fort Apocalypse Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 Maybe if the USB Atari Joystick thing that Curt is working on does really well, it could help generate enough cash to get this project back on its feet. Gotta dream right?Hopefully, they'll release the FB portable without Atari's blessing. It would be nice to have the Atari logo on it, but it's not really necessary. Can that even be done legally? The 2600 is off the shelf parts except for the TIA, and that patent expired around 10 years ago. The TIA was covered under patent 4,112,422 "Method and apparatus for generating moving objects on a video display screen" filed by Steve Mayer and Ronald Milner on December 13, 1976 and granted September 5, 1978. So yes, anyone can do a 2600 clone legally. You just can't use the Atari or the 2600 brand names, and you have the issue Jbanes brought up on licensing. That was a big deal with the Flashback2 and why there were only the 2 licensed titles on there, as each license adds cost to the unit. And in this case, without Atari's backing *every* title would be licensed then. In theory then a company such as L.E. with the know-how and experience in such matters might be to create a 2600 clone with joysticks and paddles, include a bunch of homebrew 2600 games that had minimal/no licensing costs and allow new games to be loadable via USB/memory card? Then if there were a site (hosted by said company or an affiliate) that provided an easy way for users to download new games and homebrew developers to upload new games (for free with only a developer agreement to agree to before being able to upload new games), and developer tools were offered via that site with documentation to make it easy to develop new games... Is the issue just $? If you needed additional resources, I'd bet you could scrounge some up in the forums, etc. (For example, I could do some volunteer dev work if needed, and I'm sure there are a ton of game developers that would assist.) I might understand that there could be some fear of not being enough interest in such a product to justify putting your neck out on it, but considering that I'd bet a lot of the hard work has already been done or platform, the major two factors to worry about would be (1) would people buy into an open game development 2600 platform since the technology is so old (although the flipside is that bB-like development could make it much easier) (2) are people to budget conscious to buy in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbanes Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 Is the issue just $? If it was that simple, I imagine they'd issue stocks (long-term equity, but no need to repay) or bonds (sort of like a loan backed by many people) and see if they can raise a bit of capital. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+remowilliams Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 (edited) Is the issue just $? If you needed additional resources, I'd bet you could scrounge some up in the forums, etc. You couldn't 'scrounge up enough money on forums' to pay for even the casing mold die creation for a project like this. That said, here's to high hopes that L-E-G can bring the project to life. Edited October 23, 2008 by remowilliams Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Math You Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 Can that even be done legally? That's like asking if a 2600 clone can be released legally. And we all know the answer to that one. The biggest hurdle would be acquiring the rights to ROMs. Potentially ROMs could be licensed from third parties like Activision. (Who, as I recall, owns much of the GOOD third party library including IMagic's titles.) Perhaps Activision would be interested in funding the FB portable project? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwinChargers Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 Can that even be done legally? That's like asking if a 2600 clone can be released legally. And we all know the answer to that one. The biggest hurdle would be acquiring the rights to ROMs. Potentially ROMs could be licensed from third parties like Activision. (Who, as I recall, owns much of the GOOD third party library including IMagic's titles.) Perhaps Activision would be interested in funding the FB portable project? Would it then only have Activision brand games on it then? Not that that's horrible. How many Activision titles were released for the 2600? They could more than likely all be built in, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fort Apocalypse Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 Can that even be done legally? That's like asking if a 2600 clone can be released legally. And we all know the answer to that one. The biggest hurdle would be acquiring the rights to ROMs. Potentially ROMs could be licensed from third parties like Activision. (Who, as I recall, owns much of the GOOD third party library including IMagic's titles.) Perhaps Activision would be interested in funding the FB portable project? Would it then only have Activision brand games on it then? Not that that's horrible. How many Activision titles were released for the 2600? They could more than likely all be built in, right? The problem I imagine would be that it would just be like the FB2 except without the Atari or 2600 name and with fewer games since the licensing costs for Activision games would be higher (even if Activision Blizzard were to sponsor it). That's just a guess though. I know that Activition and Jakks got together a few years back, so there could also be some existing contract that A/B has with Jakks that might keep them from doing that. I think just having the unit with some homebrew games, a few major titles thrown in if cheap enough, then sell other titles via a site where you could buy games legally or download new homebrew games (for free or for minimal cost), as well as easily register as a new developer and upload titles, then you might have something interesting. Add the ability for it to play Atari 7800 games and Atari 400/800/5200 games and you could snatch up that untouched market as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwinChargers Posted December 2, 2008 Share Posted December 2, 2008 There's a new screen at the Gameport site. I'm not sure if it means the project is dead or that they are working on a webpage, but it is at the very least something different. Gameport link Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+karri Posted December 2, 2008 Share Posted December 2, 2008 There's a new screen at the Gameport site. I'm not sure if it means the project is dead or that they are working on a webpage, but it is at the very least something different. Gameport link It means that the admin threw away all content at the wanga site and the default spaceholder page became active. -- karri Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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