Atarians : 5 Q's from TigerV2600 to 7800XM to Concerto Cart & more...

[Trebor]

I see, couldn't be argued the Famicom and 7800 were still being made in early 1983?

 

Sure, but the Famicom was being sold in July '83. The 7800 was being referred to as the 3600 in October '83 and unfinished into '84 (Acceptance specs sign-off for the 'final' Maria (GCC1702B) was in March '84). Regardless, years posted with the consoles and expansions/adapters was more denoting released/sold year, instead of actual or literal development time frames.

[ataritiger]

Indeed but during the 82 or 83 era, that is when consoles starting having a dedicated chip for video and another for audio and basically, basically before 1982 is was just all in 1 chip trebor?

[Trebor]

Indeed but during the 82 or 83 era, that is when consoles starting having a dedicated chip for video and another for audio and basically, basically before 1982 is was just all in 1 chip trebor?

 

Negative. Intellivision (1980) also had separate chips for audio and video.

[tep392]

Bally Astrocade has seperate chips as well. Sound is produced by the I/O chip which is used to read the inputs. Much like the POKEY.

[Lynxpro]

July 1984, the original Atari Inc. was broken up.

 

Atari Consumer division sold to Jack Tramiel's Trammel (sic) Technology Ltd. This was renamed into Atari Corp and operated under names such as Atari Entertainment Electronics and Atari Computer divisions. Released the Atari XE and ST computer lines in 1985, re-released the 2600 Jr. and 7800 in 1986. Later released the Lynx and Jaguar. Reverse-merged into the flop that was JTS Storage in 1996. Later sold to Hasbro and became a brand of Hasbro Interactive. Hasbro Interactive later sold to Infogrames of France in a last minute deal under the noses of Midway who wanted sole control of the Atari brand. Infogrames later renamed itself Atari Inc. Currently a brand caught in a corporate shell game.

 

Atari Coin - the arcade division, the original Atari - was retained by Warner Communications. Other parts of Atari Inc. folded into Atari Coin. Later renamed Atari Games Inc and shortly thereafter, Atari Games Corp. Sold to Namco including Atari's arcades. Atari Games almost immediate decides to get involved into home video game market but can't use the "Atari" name there so they create the "Tengen" brand. After much success yet so many expensive lawsuits with Nintendo, Namco sells Atari Games back to its employees. The employees then sell the company back to Warner, err, Time Warner now. Time Warner approaches Atari Corp circa 1991 about buying it up but is rebuffed. Around 1994, Time Warner decides to fold Atari Games into their "Time Warner Interactive" sub-brand of various properties. In 1996, Time Warner sells Time Warner Interactive to WMS Industries and the "Atari Games" brand returns. WMS - Williams Midway - later decides to concentrate on its casino slot machine business and spins off the video game company as "Midway Entertainment". Midway brand is emphasized. Midway renames Atari Games as "Midway Games West". Closes the division circa 2004 [or was it 2002?]. Midway later goes bankrupt circa 2006 [or 2008-09, I forget]. Time Warner swoops in and buys up Midway's pieces in bankruptcy and folds it into its WB Games subsidiary.

 

AtariTel. Retained by Warner after July 1984 fire sale of Atari Consumer. Later sold to Mitsubishi.

 

And that's the history of the "Atari" brand post July 1984. What a mess. If you happen to be an Isaac Asimov fan, it's very difficult trying to decide which of the two Ataris would be the analog to the First and Second "Foundations".

 

 

Time Warner Inc. basically has always been Warner Communications, Inc. It was Steve Ross' grandiose idea and although it was meant to be a debt-free merger, the hostile bid for Warner by Paramount [Gulf+Western] wrecked that and cause Time Inc. to bid for Warner. Warner management essentially took control of the whole thing, not counting Gerald Levin's reign. Time's magazine assets were spun off over a year ago so they really should revert back to the Warner branding for the parent company, IMHO.

Edited February 16, 2015 by Lynxpro

[ataritiger]

Thank you for that great post and the answer Lynxpro, also to Trebor and Tep for their answers as always.

[ataritiger]

Cuttle Cart 2 issues over time?

[Trebor]

Cuttle Cart 2 issues over time?

 

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=afV99iWv1jU

 

It was brought up previously here.

 

Nonetheless, as a side note, if there's an issue specific to just that Cuttle Cart 2 and not the console, the video lacks a proper comparison of games.

 

He ran:

1. Cuttle Cart 2 - Menu, RealSports Baseball

2. Dark Chambers 2600

3. Harmony 2600 - Menu

4. Cuttle Cart 2 - Menu, BasketBrawl

 

If there's a problem with 7800 (Maria) video overall, running any 2600 (TIA) video cartridges does not eliminate that possibility. The video needs to show the same console running a stand alone 7800 cartridge, or better yet, compare the same 7800 games running both from the Cuttle Cart 2 and then from a stand alone cart, to definitively demonstrate it is indeed an issue specific to running 7800 games from that Cuttle Cart 2.

 

Then again, per the same person who posted the video, more details and a solution they found seems to conclusively show it's an issue with that Cuttle Cart 2 specifically, as opposed to 7800 games overall.

 

Regardless, the Cuttle Cart 2 has been out of production for many years now and we have the Harmony Concerto to look forward to that should hopefully see a mass release this year.

[ataritiger]

As usual thank you Trebor. Did you guys check out this great documentary?