+sramirez2008 Posted November 9, 2017 Share Posted November 9, 2017 Interesting that it includes an HD cable. I wonder if any of the other HD Flashbacks include one? Also the box looks like the regular Gold version, but I'm glad to see a version with paddles! Sweet! Glad to see that there will be a F8G Deluxe. Looks like this will be the version for me. My wife's favorite games (Breakout, Centipede, Frogger, Kaboom and Millipede) are all included, so we could both enjoy this one. I'll wait to see if anyone else has the Deluxe version for less, but this version makes the most sense for us. I can always play the Activision exclusives on my actual hardware. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariLeaf Posted November 9, 2017 Share Posted November 9, 2017 Bed Bath and Beyond Canada has no Flashback listed Visions has older models Bestbuy Canada is showing the 8 the the new version portable 84.99- online only https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/Search/SearchResults.aspx?query=flashback Yea this kind of pisses me off. I emailed AtGames and got a non-committal "we're looking into it" reply. I really don't understand it. Canada's not some 3rd world country. Would really like an official explanation for this. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBerel Posted November 9, 2017 Share Posted November 9, 2017 No offense to Canada. Wonderful people up there, but it's damn cold in the winter. I'm not looking forward to moving there once the rank and file Americans loose their social media and start eatin' each other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swami Posted November 10, 2017 Share Posted November 10, 2017 Yea this kind of pisses me off. I emailed AtGames and got a non-committal "we're looking into it" reply. I really don't understand it. Canada's not some 3rd world country. Would really like an official explanation for this. Wow! And Walmart.ca appears to have no atari flashbacks at all! But having moved to Canada for work for three years and moving back to the US, I can tell you with the different banking systems and tax codes and US importing/exporting and border issues - there is surprisingly little overlap. I don't know how it works now, but ten years ago, you could not use an American debit card in a Canadian ATM; You could not send American money to a Canadian bank or vice/versa electronically; American goods were 30% more expensive in Canada than the were just across the border. Things like your credit score and car insurance rating evaporate when you cross the border. I could not get a Canadian tax preparer to touch my US Tax forms with a 10-foot pole. Also, there is no truly Canadian beer in the US and no truly American beer in Canada, for which Canadians can be thankful. Like the advertisements used to say: Canada, it's a whole other country. Oh, and the postage is more than twice as high, just to get through customs. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmadgames Posted November 10, 2017 Share Posted November 10, 2017 Wow! And Walmart.ca appears to have no atari flashbacks at all! But having moved to Canada for work for three years and moving back to the US, I can tell you with the different banking systems and tax codes and US importing/exporting and border issues - there is surprisingly little overlap. I don't know how it works now, but ten years ago, you could not use an American debit card in a Canadian ATM; You could not send American money to a Canadian bank or vice/versa electronically; American goods were 30% more expensive in Canada than the were just across the border. Things like your credit score and car insurance rating evaporate when you cross the border. I could not get a Canadian tax preparer to touch my US Tax forms with a 10-foot pole. Also, there is no truly Canadian beer in the US and no truly American beer in Canada, for which Canadians can be thankful. Like the advertisements used to say: Canada, it's a whole other country. Oh, and the postage is more than twice as high, just to get through customs. I can second this. For my business, we have to run everything in Canada separately. I'm sure it's a big headache for AtGames to just sell a few more units. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atarifan88 Posted November 10, 2017 Share Posted November 10, 2017 (edited) With all the different Atari Flashback variations this year, it's difficult to tell who is going to stock which versions. The way I see it, Sam's club always stocks the Deluxe Edition, but right now only has the SD Deluxe version. Walmart is getting the Activision Edition and QVC has the Gold Deluxe Edition. Both of which are HD versions. Seeing as AtGames is not showing a Deluxe Activision Edition, it may be safe to assume there will not be one. So if you want a version with paddles (which are hard to come by separately), your best bet is the Gold Deluxe Edition for the HD resolution. That said, with all the different versions out there, I think it's going to be much more difficult to get the version you are looking for because the retailers are not going to stock every version. I'm beginning to think this may be the year to buy early! BTW, I see these are available for sale now so what ever happened to the "exclusive pre-order offers" that were supposed to be promoted? Did Atgames drop the ball on this or did the retailers release their stock too early (ala Toys R Us)? Edited November 10, 2017 by atarifan88 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Loguidice Posted November 10, 2017 Share Posted November 10, 2017 BTW, I see these are available for sale now so what ever happened to the "exclusive pre-order offers" that were supposed to be promoted? Did Atgames drop the ball on this or did the retailers release their stock too early (ala Toys R Us)? That fell through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swami Posted November 10, 2017 Share Posted November 10, 2017 That fell through. Since the Activision Edition does not come with paddles and loose paddles don't seem practically available, will paddles from any Flashback 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8 deluxe edition work with the 8 AE? I assume the "paddle games" on the 8AE still work with paddles. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Loguidice Posted November 10, 2017 Share Posted November 10, 2017 Since the Activision Edition does not come with paddles and loose paddles don't seem practically available, will paddles from any Flashback 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8 deluxe edition work with the 8 AE? I assume the "paddle games" on the 8AE still work with paddles. Original and Flashback paddles all work without issue on all Flashback systems and original systems. Wired controller compatibility should never change on these units. The only things that won't work on the HD Flashbacks are the old wireless Flashback joysticks because those were infrared-based. The new ones are 2.4Ghz, similar to Bluetooth. Similarly, the new wireless joysticks won't work on the older, infrared-based Flashbacks. And the latest standard definition Flashback, the Atari Flashback 8, doesn't have a capability to use any wireless joysticks. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NE146 Posted November 10, 2017 Share Posted November 10, 2017 Saw them on display at the local Target last night.. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmadgames Posted November 10, 2017 Share Posted November 10, 2017 Saw them on display at the local Target last night.. 2017-11-09 20.49.50.jpg Glad to see the HD units making it to stores. None of the Targets near me have them in store yet at least. Just Flashback 7s and SD 8s. Hopefully, the HD units end up selling well so more can be produced in the future, but I think the casual observer won't understand the different skus--certainly if the HD availability is more limited in store. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hydro Thunder Posted November 10, 2017 Share Posted November 10, 2017 Re: The Flashback Portable I just got on the cheap from Toys R Us This may have been posted somewhere around these parts before, but I thought it was funny enough to throw out here: It amuses me that they spent the time / money to make a special, molded plastic Atari battery cover but couldn't be bothered to remove the Genesis sticker. Hooray, I have a portable Atari Sega Genesis! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TF14 Posted November 11, 2017 Share Posted November 11, 2017 Saw them on display at the local Target last night.. 2017-11-09 20.49.50.jpg The Atari Flashback 8 HD looks sold out on Target.com (not even listed anymore). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TF14 Posted November 11, 2017 Share Posted November 11, 2017 Original and Flashback paddles all work without issue on all Flashback systems and original systems. Wired controller compatibility should never change on these units. The only things that won't work on the HD Flashbacks are the old wireless Flashback joysticks because those were infrared-based. The new ones are 2.4Ghz, similar to Bluetooth. Similarly, the new wireless joysticks won't work on the older, infrared-based Flashbacks. And the latest standard definition Flashback, the Atari Flashback 8, doesn't have a capability to use any wireless joysticks. Just tested Kaboom with an original pair of wired Atari paddles on my Flashback 8 Gold Activision Edition. It works much much better than any emulator I have tried and Kaboom is an unforgiving game with the reaction time required on the paddles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TF14 Posted November 11, 2017 Share Posted November 11, 2017 Since the Activision Edition does not come with paddles and loose paddles don't seem practically available, will paddles from any Flashback 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8 deluxe edition work with the 8 AE? I assume the "paddle games" on the 8AE still work with paddles. I picked up a pair of paddles from eBay - make sure the seller accepts returns. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swami Posted November 11, 2017 Share Posted November 11, 2017 I picked up a pair of paddles from eBay - make sure the seller accepts returns. Thanks. I have some originals. I got the impression the originals didn't work from some other posts complaining about not being able to get flashback paddles or joysticks. Although they may have just been afraid of getting jittery used ones. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TF14 Posted November 11, 2017 Share Posted November 11, 2017 Thanks. I have some originals. I got the impression the originals didn't work from some other posts complaining about not being able to get flashback paddles or joysticks. Although they may have just been afraid of getting jittery used ones. I purchased 2 pairs of original paddles - one works great and the other was returned due to the jitters. Also, all menu navigation and choosing the game level occurs with the wireless joysticks. One last tip - be sure to remove the paddles when don't need them for a game. I left them in and started Activision's ice Hockey - but the wireless joystick wouldn't respond to pressing left in the game. When I pulled the paddles from the jack, everything worked as normal with the paddles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atarifan88 Posted November 11, 2017 Share Posted November 11, 2017 I picked up a pair of paddles from eBay - make sure the seller accepts returns. Or you could look for the Gold Deluxe version that comes with brand new paddles, guaranteed not to have any issues. The problem with the original Atari paddles is, unless you have those premium pots installed from Best Electronics, they will need cleaned often, which is no big deal, but it gets old after a while... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atarifan88 Posted November 11, 2017 Share Posted November 11, 2017 One last tip - be sure to remove the paddles when don't need them for a game. I left them in and started Activision's ice Hockey - but the wireless joystick wouldn't respond to pressing left in the game. When I pulled the paddles from the jack, everything worked as normal with the paddles. I was wondering what would happen if you left the paddles plugged in. I was thinking of doing the same thing and just leaving the paddles plugged in all the time so it reduces wear and tear on the joystick ports. Oh well! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thorr Posted November 13, 2017 Share Posted November 13, 2017 Seriously, cartridge and SD card support, among other improvements, are being considered for 2018. It's not purposely being held back. That's very cool in addition to full compatibility. It would basically be a brand new Atari at that point. The next step for 2019 would be to add Atari 5200 and 7800 compatibility. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hwlngmad Posted November 13, 2017 Share Posted November 13, 2017 That's very cool in addition to full compatibility. It would basically be a brand new Atari at that point. The next step for 2019 would be to add Atari 5200 and 7800 compatibility. Unfortunately the 5200 (along with the 8-bit computer line) and 7800 are kinda, sorta red-headed step children at this point. I would like those systems to get some retro-love, but I don't know if and/or when that will happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atarifan88 Posted November 13, 2017 Share Posted November 13, 2017 Looks like QVC is sold out of the Deluxe Gold version is sold out. The only way to get it it now is on the AT Games site. Hopefully someone else will be stocking it (Sam's Club)! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Atari_Warlord Posted November 13, 2017 Share Posted November 13, 2017 Played with the HD Activision unit for a little while last night. It was very easy to hook up and navigation slightly un-intuitive. (If the categories were moved to the top of the screen, it may be possible to use the Joystick for everything) Speaking of the Joysticks, will we be able to buy replacements or is it back to a wired option if they break? I need to know how much to yell at people to be careful with them . It sounds like there are some good improvements in coming years that could keep me interested in future products: 1. Full compatiblity 2. Cartridge / SD port 3. Wireless Paddles? (add a spinner on the right side of the Joystick, base) 4. Built in manuals to see what game variations are. (I didn't look at the instructions yet, so don't know if this is already provided.) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swami Posted November 14, 2017 Share Posted November 14, 2017 Played with the HD Activision unit for a little while last night. It was very easy to hook up and navigation slightly un-intuitive. (If the categories were moved to the top of the screen, it may be possible to use the Joystick for everything) Speaking of the Joysticks, will we be able to buy replacements or is it back to a wired option if they break? I need to know how much to yell at people to be careful with them . It sounds like there are some good improvements in coming years that could keep me interested in future products: 1. Full compatiblity 2. Cartridge / SD port 3. Wireless Paddles? (add a spinner on the right side of the Joystick, base) 4. Built in manuals to see what game variations are. (I didn't look at the instructions yet, so don't know if this is already provided.) Ive never understood why the joysticks and paddles arent made more available as separate units. They are only sold on the Atgames site and are then always out of stock. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted November 14, 2017 Share Posted November 14, 2017 Because nobody* likes paddle games? *I know, I know, YOU like paddle games, I think SOME paddle games are okay (yay Kaboom!) but they're so limited and weird and there aren't that many of them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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