Bring me the head of Jack Tramiel!!!!

[LiquidPenguin]

It's also not really fair, in my mind, to compare the Infogrames atari with the Atari of yesteryear. Yeah, I know the arguments. Companies like IBM have been around for years, much longer than any of its CEOs have been alive. But it's not the same. The deal with Atari is like someone trying to bring back the Delorean. Sure, the name is there, but is it the same company then? No not really. Delorean died and so did Atari. What Infogrames had done is essentially dig up the Atari corpse, mount the skeleton in a glass case in a museum, then charge a fee for people to gawk at it.

 

I will not now, nor will I ever in the future consider Infogrames atari the same company as Atari.

[Brad2600]

Infogrames is doing the Atari name injustice.

 

However, why wouldn't someone buy up the Atari name and start making consoles and games again?I would if I was rich.

[ubersaurus]

The Atari name was slapped on Godzilla for Gamecube. I would hardly call that "injustice". That game is one of the best on there if you ask me.

[MegaManFan]

The Atari name was slapped on Godzilla for Gamecube. I would hardly call that "injustice". That game is one of the best on there if you ask me.

 

I would second that; I rented it and it's pretty darn sweet. Based on the recommendations in Modern Gaming, I'm picking up that and Metroid Prime.

[mos6507]

The Tramiels were guilty of a multitude of sins. There is no way to reduce it down to one or two missteps. There were countless missed opportunities.

 

But I think the first mistake was thinking that the game business was a dead-end. It obviously wasn't.

 

And the other thing is that software sells hardware. Without great games, you can't develop a userbase.

 

By 1984, the Atari 8-bit might have been a distant 3rd in userbase behind the C=64 and the Apple II, but it still had a significant userbase. In fact that was Atari's ONLY home computer userbase.

 

The Tramiels chose not to cultivate that userbase, instead trying to ram the ST down their throats while letting the 8-bit mostly wither on the vine.

 

It really didn't matter whether or not the 8-bit was "obsolete". The C=64s most popular days were post-crash, for instance, and the 2600's best years were when it was technically obsolete. There was an overlap period until the early 90s when 8-bit computing coexisted with 16-bit computing as a respectable low-pricepoint niche.

 

What was missing was A-list internal software development.

 

Since the Tramiels never had any respect for videogames, they never rebuilt the team.

[Mister VCS]

Tramiel or not: The 7800 was a good machine, but NOT the high-end

killer machine. It was ready in 1984, the year of the first 16-bit-machines

(Intellivision doesn´t count for me).

1 the 7800 had the soundchip of the 2600- big mistake from Warner-Atari

2 the 7800 was technical too close to the 5200 and the XL-series: the

gameline was nearly identical (Ms Pac-Man, Dig Dug, Xevious and so

on- who needed this games for the 2nd or 3rd time with MINOR

differences??? - big mistake from Warner-Atari

 

 

Any questions?

 

Mister VCS

[Klove]

I wouldn't bash Jack Tramiel too bad. Ya' gotta' remember, after atari took their big hit in '84, anyone in the console market at all would've had to of been nervous about doing anything with another console. I'm betting that this was Jack' take on dishing out another console. True, it was mainly Atari's fault for flooding the market with bad titles, but ya' can't hold it against him for being nervous about introducing another console after the first one crashed hard.

 

Also, ya' gotta' remember.. at that time 'round '84, the home computer was really taking off and there was alot of capital to be made there as well. Once the home computer became affordable to everyone, more people moved to it from their consoles. Maybe I'm just speaking from my opwn experiences, but I don't think so. You could get better quality titles out of it, and there wasn't any shortage of developers either.

 

If I had to point my finger at anyone in the Atari empire that helped to screw the company, it would probably be Sam "Our console is better than anything out there i the market today" Tramiel. His business politics were just the worst.

 

At at time when Atari couldn't afford to not have quality developers and publishers on-board for the Jaguar system, he constantly bashed everyone who questioned the Jaguar or Atari. Most publishers that I know of, didn't want to have anything to do with him or the company after that kind of banter.

 

I've heard nothing but good things about Jack Tramiel from the people that I know in the industry. I think it would've been nice to of worked with him at one point in my career.

 

I suppose that'll never happen now, though.

 

- Ken

[rolenta]

I wouldn't bash Jack Tramiel too bad. Ya' gotta' remember, after atari took their big hit in '84, anyone in the console market at all would've had to of been nervous about doing anything with another console. I'm betting that this was Jack' take on dishing out another console. True, it was mainly Atari's fault for flooding the market with bad titles, but ya' can't hold it against him for being nervous about introducing another console after the first one crashed hard.

 

My belief is that Jack Tramiel bought Atari for one reason, and one reason only: To get back at Commodore for dumping him! Jack had no interest in videogames and the only reason he rereleased the 2600 and released the 7800 was because hwe had a warehouse full of them collecting dust. Since the NES was doing so well, Tramiel had nothing to lose by releasing them.

[Nukey Shay]

LOL Sure, maybe Tramiel should have used Ninmafia's approach to stir up demand for games.

 

People buy companies to MAKE MONEY...there is no other reason. If that means that a leather company has to resort to making a videogame console...so be it.

[BoOchan!]

According to his Bio that I Found in google, he's 79 now. Wouldn't he be dead already?

[Witchfynde]

Also, ya' gotta' remember.. at that time 'round '84, the home computer was really taking off and there was alot of capital to be made there as well. Once the home computer became affordable to everyone, more people moved to it from their consoles.

 

Yeah, and I have an Electronic Games mag, I think it is, from that time period, saying that "gaming only" consoles would cease to exist. I believed it too, but here in nearly 2003 games-only consoles are still around ('course, they can do a lot more nowadays, like play cds, DVDs, connect to the internet, etc., but they're still game consoles at heart). Predicting the future (i. e. guessing!) is pretty difficult for the most part.