AtariAge + Atari Q&A

[+S.D.]

So, @Albert, now that you are official historian... when corporate gives you access to all the historical documents and records going back to antiquity, you're going to give us the final story on the SwordQuest prizes right?  Right?!

 

We must know!

[GraffitiTavern]

One genuine question is how will things work with all of Atari's acquisitions. Would say Awesomenauts get a forum/subforum since it's an Atari-owned game now with an active community? What about other acquisitions they have made, say with Nightdive etc. 

[+Fred_M]

3 hours ago, GraffitiTavern said:

One genuine question is how will things work with all of Atari's acquisitions. Would say Awesomenauts get a forum/subforum since it's an Atari-owned game now with an active community? What about other acquisitions they have made, say with Nightdive etc. 

Atari only bought the IPs of Ronimo Games. The company Ronimo games does not exist anymore (bankruptcy in August 2023). Nightdive is an active studio, so this latest acquisition is more comparable to buying Bezerk and other games.

 

But still a valid question!

[GraffitiTavern]

24 minutes ago, Fred_M said:

Atari only bought the IPs of Ronimo Games. The company Ronimo games does not exist anymore (bankruptcy in August 2023). Nightdive is an active studio, so this latest acquisition is more comparable to buying Bezerk and other games.

 

But still a valid question!

Oh I didn't know the company completely dissolved, were they well-known in The Netherlands? I more considered this different because as a MOBA, Awesomenauts has an active community and fanbase. Someone else shared but they have an active subreddit with several thousand members.

[+Fred_M]

4 hours ago, GraffitiTavern said:

Oh I didn't know the company completely dissolved, were they well-known in The Netherlands? I more considered this different because as a MOBA, Awesomenauts has an active community and fanbase. Someone else shared but they have an active subreddit with several thousand members.

Personally I had never heard of them, but I am not active in those kind of games/communities. Only tech related Dutch news websites ran the story of their bankruptcy. Their games were not specific for the Dutch market, I have no idea how well they are known in other countries.

 

But yes, the company is dissolved, so I think Atari has bought those IPs for bargain price

Edited October 26, 2023 by Fred_M

[Matt_B]

They'd be a familiar name to aficionados of the Wii and Wii U eShops - where the Swords & Soldiers games were originally exclusive - as well as the Humble Bundle, to which they contributed several times.

 

Calling them "indie darlings" might be going a bit far but their games always reviewed well. At least they did until Blightbound, the bug ridden mess that I presume was their undoing.

[GraffitiTavern]

10 hours ago, Matt_B said:

They'd be a familiar name to aficionados of the Wii and Wii U eShops - where the Swords & Soldiers games were originally exclusive - as well as the Humble Bundle, to which they contributed several times.

 

Calling them "indie darlings" might be going a bit far but their games always reviewed well. At least they did until Blightbound, the bug ridden mess that I presume was their undoing.

Funny this I was on the Wii U eshop a lot but never heard of Swords & Soldiers. However the cartoony Kingdom Rush-esque art may have turned me off of it at the time.

[jerseystyle]

On 10/26/2023 at 7:16 AM, GraffitiTavern said:

Funny this I was on the Wii U eshop a lot but never heard of Swords & Soldiers. However the cartoony Kingdom Rush-esque art may have turned me off of it at the time.

Swords and Soldiers was a great game. One of my favorites on Wiiware.

[Nall3k]

@Albert forgive me if this has been asked already, but with this acquisition--will AtariAge have a site overhaul that fixes broken links, or maybe receive a new aesthetic design?

[Albert]

1 minute ago, Nall3k said:

@Albert forgive me if this has been asked already, but with this acquisition--will AtariAge have a site overhaul that fixes broken links, or maybe receive a new aesthetic design?

Yes, once I get the store moved to new software and I'm able to reduce the amount of time I presently spend building games, I'm going to tackle the games database and make significant improvements to it (it basically needs to be redone entirely at this point).

 

 ..Al

[Thomas Jentzsch]

1 hour ago, Nall3k said:

...or maybe receive a new aesthetic design?

What's wrong with it?

 

If any, I would like a dark variation of the current AtariAge theme.

[Albert]

Just now, Thomas Jentzsch said:

What's wrong with it?

 

If any, I would like a dark variation of the current AtariAge theme.

I'd also like that, that can probably be arranged, although I'm not sure how good it would look aesthetically without making changes to the colors used in the design (for instance, not sure the dark blue used prominently in the forum would look good against a dark background).

 

 ..Al

[Bitsized]

Will there be an updated FAQ about the acquisition?  I'm still getting my feet wet on this site, as well as the acquisition.  I haven't read through this whole post, but was wondering if Atari would be assisting the homebrew manufacturing process.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

52 minutes ago, Albert said:

I'd also like that, that can probably be arranged, although I'm not sure how good it would look aesthetically without making changes to the colors used in the design (for instance, not sure the dark blue used prominently in the forum would look good against a dark background).

I think it will look fine. I simply inverted all colors except for the buttons and some dark blue areas (just to show how dark blue will look like):

The dark blue works quite well, IMO.

Edited November 7, 2023 by Thomas Jentzsch

[+bfstats]

A choice between light or dark would be ideal, of course. I’ve always considered AtariAge to be one of the “cleanest” sites I visit regularly BECAUSE of the white background.

 

The dark sample by Thomas reminds me of Digital Press… not that there’s anything wrong with that. 

[Albert]

2 minutes ago, bfstats said:

A choice between light or dark would be ideal, of course. I’ve always considered AtariAge to be one of the “cleanest” sites I visit regularly BECAUSE of the white background.

 

The dark sample by Thomas reminds me of Digital Press… not that there’s anything wrong with that. 

There's already a dark theme, it's called Deflection, and you can choose it from the bottom of the page.  Look for the "Theme" link, that will display a popup that lets you choose which theme you'd like to use.  Deflection isn't based on the AtariAge theme, though.

 

 ..Al

[+bfstats]

3 minutes ago, Albert said:

There's already a dark theme, it's called Deflection, and you can choose it from the bottom of the page.  Look for the "Theme" link, that will display a popup that lets you choose which theme you'd like to use.  Deflection isn't based on the AtariAge theme, though.

Interesting, and thanks. I would never have looked for it, though, because of how comfortable I am with the current theme. My input is meant only to encourage the OPTION of "new" or "classic" should there be an overhaul of the site. 

[SumerNivek]

I somehow missed this news until today, Black Friday, when I got an email promoting Atari + AtariAge "being apart of the Atari family."  Congrats on the merge!

[+Starwander]

You deserve it Albert, you have done a great job running the site. I wish you the best of luck. 

[+Living Room Arcade]

Hello, @Albert.  Happy New Year!  When you are back from the holidays and have a moment, there is something I'd like to ask you about.  

[Metal Ghost]

On 9/28/2023 at 7:33 PM, TrogdarRobusto said:

Gonna be funny to see Intellivision as a rank for an Atari employee ... but I guess I'm down for it. I did own an Intellivision as a kid.

Wow….look at this post now!! 🤣 Congrats Atari on today’s Intellivision acquisition announcement!  Maybe @Albert we need that Intellivision Interloper rank!

[phoenixdownita]

@Albert

The acquisition of AtariAge by Atari makes AtariAge part of a for profit commercial company.

 

Is that a correct interpretation or is AA under special statute, say under a non-profit constituency?

 

If there’s no special statute, are you 100% employee of Atari or is yours a consultant role?

 

How about the other moderators? Are they under contract (consultancy, part time or otherwise) or on a voluntary basis or maybe a mix?
 

I ask because I stopped renewing my paid membership this last cycle, I use to renew 1y at a time and in so doing eschew the 2y discount on purpose to show a slightly higher general support. My assumption is AA, you and maybe the moderation team, are now covered by a for profit commercial entity which has sources of revenues and should be perfectly able to pay and support AA as both the website and its moderation team.

 

Am I totally on the left field with my interpretation?

Edited June 2 by phoenixdownita

[phoenixdownita]

9 hours ago, phoenixdownita said:

@Albert

The acquisition of AtariAge by Atari makes AtariAge part of a for profit commercial company.

 

Is that a correct interpretation or is AA under special statute, say under a non-profit constituency?

 

If there’s no special statute, are you 100% employee of Atari or is yours a consultant role?

 

How about the other moderators? Are they under contract (consultancy, part time or otherwise) or on a voluntary basis or maybe a mix?
 

I ask because I stopped renewing my paid membership this last cycle, I use to renew 1y at a time and in so doing eschew the 2y discount on purpose to show a slightly higher general support. My assumption is AA, you and maybe the moderation team, are now covered by a for profit commercial entity which has sources of revenues and should be perfectly able to pay and support AA as both the website and its moderation team.

 

Am I totally on the left field with my interpretation?

So 

states clearly Atari owns AA and you are a full time employee of Atari, it also states Atari resources are available and used for the site ... I should have reread it.

 

That leaves the moderator team. Are they volunteers or contractors/employees?

Edited June 3 by phoenixdownita

[+playsoft]

It looks like the Last Chance Sale did much better than anticipated as Albert thought it might take a month or so to ship all the orders! Hopefully any money made here has gone to Albert, since he is doing all the work and Atari shouldn't be profiting from unlicensed IP.

[phoenixdownita]

Well, for the direct questions then!

Is the membership fee paid to Atari? Given they own AA?

(I assume the answer is yes, I am not saying it is right or wrong, just asking which entity I would be paying if I chose to be a paying member, the choice is mine but it should be obvious who/what entity I am paying)

 

Given the for profit status of Atari and full ownership of AA I am interested in knowing if when I interact with a moderator outside of Albert as his status is clear, am I dealing with an employee or contractor of Atari or a volunteer? Their actions and words have different weights depending on that, in one case they are stewards (but also agents, sorry for the term but I believe it’s the correct word for it) of Atari, in the other case they are not (depending on contract).
If they are working for Atari what they say and do is Atari saying and doing (unless specified otherwise) and it usually comes with training etc… to minimize liabilities, if they are still on a volunteer basis while “working” (not sure the right word here, for commercial entities there are specific ways to handle/allow volunteer work or internships etc… once more due to liabilities) I am honestly not sure how to handle what they say/do. I do not mean wrt being honest and respectful both ways, that is a given, just that if they do not have any “contract” or “agreement” in place with Atari or AA they cannot speak for said entities.

 

Can @TrogdarRobusto or @Albert or any other official Atari employees please clarify?

 

BTW, there should be a new status for official Atari employees instead of simply “member” … in my job I had to at time respond to customers inquiries on company owned forums and it was mandatory to only use officially and clearly marked accounts so customers could always distinguish official answers (which made the company liable of what I wrote btw) vs general members. Wrt volunteering for example my wife signed up for volunteering at school and they had to perform a background check … etc..

 

Finally I believe AA pages should have mentions (footer maybe) of the official affiliation/ownership like say Xbox.com or PlayStation.com do.

 

PS: given the change of ownership I believe the privacy policy may need updates too. In specific I assume now Atari has access to all my posts (even the ones that have been removed from view or are in now hidden threads), store purchases (only one really in my case), Private Messages, address, phone number etc… can you clarify?

Edited June 3 by phoenixdownita