The Atari 2600+ is live for preorders!

[Thomas Jentzsch]

8 hours ago, Ben from Plaion said:

Cause you spit the blunt truth backed up with the detail.

I remember @DirtyHairy doing the same.  And he provided a lot of input regarding the dumper.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

12 hours ago, Albert said:

Due to the nature of the system, ROM dumpers generally cannot read Melody carts because of the way they work (the game code is completely inaccessible to a system that attempts to dump the game).  We may not be able to get them to work, but we are going to try. 

What does "going to try" mean here? Are there any concrete and feasible solution options existing? And can you share them?

[Ben from Plaion]

8 hours ago, nateut said:

Sorry if this has been mentioned elsewhere, but how long is the cable on the new CX40+ joystick’s cable ?

1.5m

[H.Fraenkel]

A question about 7800 games that require two buttons: Can I not play them at all? Can I at least connect a two-button controller to the 2600+ if I find one somewhere? Thank you!

[+karri]

Is there some info about what kind of resources are available for homebrew developers for the 2600+? I mean is there RAM, music chip emulation, high score that could be used.

It would be nice to have a "Atari 2600+ Programming" section where we could share tips and tricks about this new target.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

1 hour ago, karri said:

Is there some info about what kind of resources are available for homebrew developers for the 2600+? I mean is there RAM, music chip emulation, high score that could be used.

It would be nice to have a "Atari 2600+ Programming" section where we could share tips and tricks about this new target.

Since the 2600+ uses the latest Stella, which supports any released cart, the only limit is the dumper. So any cart with internal chips are out (most likely forever) and any currently unsupported bankswitching scheme (I hope we will get updated info here soon). The latter can be changed.

 

Everything else should work. Except stuff like creating invalid frames with varying scanlines or incomplete VSync signals, which modern equipment doesn't like.

 

And as long as there is no access to Stella's UI and the build in properties cannot be used too, you should avoid flicker or odd controller code, which Stella cannot auto detect. And PAL-60 will not work too.

 

OK, it is more complicated than I had thought an the beginning of this post.  

Edited November 14, 2023 by Thomas Jentzsch

[+karri]

8 minutes ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

OK, it is more complicated than I had thought an the beginning of this post.

lol...

 

There is also the ProSystem emulator with tons of possibilities. I am currently thinking about making an Retro Adventure pack with 48k games. Thumbwheel selectable. The question is if there is access to a software Pokey for better bg music. Some nice bossa novas, perhaps...

 

[Albert]

5 hours ago, H.Fraenkel said:

A question about 7800 games that require two buttons: Can I not play them at all? Can I at least connect a two-button controller to the 2600+ if I find one somewhere? Thank you!

Yes, two-button 7800-compatible controllers work fine (such as the 7800 ProLine joystick and the Euro game pads). 

 

 ..Al

[Thran]

Just got a shipping notice for my 2600+ order.  Atari says it will ship out on Friday.

[donjn]

3 minutes ago, Thran said:

Just got a shipping notice for my 2600+ order.  Atari says it will ship out on Friday.

I pre-ordered from Amazon quite a while back. It now says "Arriving November 27". Should I cancel and order somewhere else? Where did you order yours from? Id like to have it for this weekend.

[Thran]

I ordered mine directly from Atari.com.  The exact text from the email, with the link to the address form removed.

 

We're excited to announce that the Atari 2600+ collection will begin shipping this Friday! If you've moved or would like us to send your order to a new address, please fill out this form by Wednesday, November 15th.

 

If you haven't moved, you can sit back and relax while we prepare to deliver your order.

 

As always, we appreciate your patience. Thanks for being part of our incredible Atari community!

 

- Atari Team

Edited November 14, 2023 by Thran
Words can be hard to spell correctly.

[82-T/A]

WOO HOO!!! I got my shipping notice too!!!

 

If it ships out Friday, I expect I'll probably get it around middle of next week...

[82-T/A]

10 minutes ago, donjn said:

I pre-ordered from Amazon quite a while back. It now says "Arriving November 27". Should I cancel and order somewhere else? Where did you order yours from? Id like to have it for this weekend.

 

I don't think anyone is getting it this weekend. If it ships on Friday, even if you live next door to the site, you probably still won't get it during the weekend. I'd just wait it out... Amazon always does an order update with a revised / improved shipping date (unless you live really far out from a distribution site).

[+bent_pin]

I'm saving mine until Christmas or until I'm finished with my honey-do list for the year.

[donjn]

8 minutes ago, 82-T/A said:

 

I don't think anyone is getting it this weekend. If it ships on Friday, even if you live next door to the site, you probably still won't get it during the weekend. I'd just wait it out... Amazon always does an order update with a revised / improved shipping date (unless you live really far out from a distribution site).

Hey, its my Ultima buddy!
I like your icon too!

 

 

[MarcinJ]

51 minutes ago, 82-T/A said:

 

I don't think anyone is getting it this weekend. If it ships on Friday, even if you live next door to the site, you probably still won't get it during the weekend. I'd just wait it out... Amazon always does an order update with a revised / improved shipping date (unless you live really far out from a distribution site).

Well, Amazon is still claiming that mine will arrive on November 17, but it is a Christmas gift so I need to wait until December 25. 🙃 

I did not play Atari games for more than 3 decades, so a few more weeks does not matter that much. 

[Bitsized]

Adding to the tally: I have an estimate arrival date of 11/27in Philadelphia USA. Was hoping to dive in on the Turkey holiday here in the states, hopefully it will change for sooner.  🤞🏻 also, no date for the games, yet. 

[82-T/A]

2 hours ago, donjn said:

Hey, its my Ultima buddy!
I like your icon too!

 

Hahah, yup! You know... Al is also a huuuge Ultima fan too. It doesn't come up from time to time, but if I remember correctly, he's got all of them in the original box!

 

 

1 hour ago, MarcinJ said:

Well, Amazon is still claiming that mine will arrive on November 17, but it is a Christmas gift so I need to wait until December 25. 🙃 

I did not play Atari games for more than 3 decades, so a few more weeks does not matter that much. 

 

 

I hate you!!! (j/k)

 

[infinite.pies]

3 hours ago, 82-T/A said:

 

I don't think anyone is getting it this weekend. If it ships on Friday, even if you live next door to the site, you probably still won't get it during the weekend. I'd just wait it out... Amazon always does an order update with a revised / improved shipping date (unless you live really far out from a distribution site).

I'm buying from a local retailer, and it's currently showing as shipping on Thursday to arrive on Friday.

 

We'll see I guess, but I'm planning on saving it until Christmas anyway, so it doesn't make a lot of difference when it arrives!

[Recycled]

Got the email from Atari today that it's shipping Friday.

 

I'm opening it soon as I get my hands on it. Heck with that waiting crap.. 😁

[+karri]

I also got my delivery date to Finland from Amazon.de. They said between 23rd and 25th of November  

[+LS650]

Amazon Canada still saying Nov 21...

[Electric-Dreams]

My Estimated shipping date still Nov 17  (to France) :

 

 

But my wife won't let me open it before Christmas 😅

[donjn]

58 minutes ago, 82-T/A said:

 

Hahah, yup! You know... Al is also a huuuge Ultima fan too. It doesn't come up from time to time, but if I remember correctly, he's got all of them in the original box!

 

Yeah I have all of them boxed on my shelves too including clue books all in great shape. Its awesome.

[82-T/A]

Just now, donjn said:

Yeah I have all of them boxed on my shelves too including clue books all in great shape. Its awesome.

 

I threw all of my stuff away. I went through a phase where I was trying to be an adult and I tossed ALL of my computer game boxes. Like, literally... I had 100s of game boxes. I took all the CD-ROMs, DVDs, and put them into a case logic sleeve bag (a big one). I then took all the disks and put them into a disk caddy. I went through and kept ONLY the most important manuals, and threw everything else out. That included all my other games, as well as all the Wing Commander stuff, all the Ultima stuff... I mean, all of it. I had Ultima 3 through Pagan... tossed all the boxes. Like, literally stomped them so that I could fit them in a trash bag.

 

The ONLY computer game boxes I kept, were the LP ones (Arctic Fox, Starflight), Sentinel Worlds, and my AD&D Gold Box Series games. Everything else... thrown in the trash. Oh well... live and learn. It was like 1999. eBay wasn't really big then, and I'd never considered selling it or better yet, I could have at least given all that stuff away to someone who would have wanted it.