The Paddles

[Ben from Plaion]

7 hours ago, fluxit said:

 

I find the fact that they are sold out on the Atari.com store to be a bit of a head-scratcher.  Was it not a popular product?  Was it an unprofitable product?  It isn't "limited edition," so if it's sold out, I'd think that that would mean that it *was,* in fact- popular.  Atari just wants to leave some money on the table for someone else, I guess.

It's just supply and demand. Difficult to forecast future sales coupled with long manufacturing times. Overstocking a line can be disastrous, conversely no one involved wants to see out of stock messages 

 

Trust me, everyone involved wants as much availability as possible.

[Ben from Plaion]

6 hours ago, akator said:

They were in stock yesterday on Amazon, now they're sold out.  Like others, I'm disappointed the paddle set appears to be sold out everywhere except for scalpers.  I was hoping to pick up a set on the first of next month.  Oh well...

Amazon US comes in and out of stock quite regularly. I think it's due to how big the US is geographically with Amazon moving stocks around DCs.

 

Maybe there was a rush on 4in1 paddle sets. Last week the Amazon levels looked healthy, I'll see in the new year.

[fluxit]

6 hours ago, Ben from Plaion said:

It's just supply and demand. Difficult to forecast future sales coupled with long manufacturing times. Overstocking a line can be disastrous, conversely no one involved wants to see out of stock messages 

 

Trust me, everyone involved wants as much availability as possible.

My recommendation would be to not use "Sold Out" to indicate "Temporarily Out of Stock."

 

Sold out is too ambiguous.  Atari.com apparently uses it to mean both "Temporarily Out of Stock," and "Permanently Out of Stock," depending on the listing.

 

Various different stores have taught me that "Sold Out" *can* mean any of the following:

1. We don't have any more for sale, and we don't anticipate having any in the future.

2. Temporarily out of stock.

3. They are still being produced, and sold, but we aren't selling them anymore.

4. This listing has been superceded by another, but we aren't going to help you by letting you know.

Edited December 26, 2023 by fluxit
typo

[Ben from Plaion]

22 minutes ago, fluxit said:

My recommendation would be to not use "Sold Out" to indicate "Temporarily Out of Stock."

 

Sold out is too ambiguous.  Atari.com apparently uses it to mean both "Temporarily Out of Stock," and "Permanently Out of Stock," depending on the listing.

 

Various different stores have taught me that "Sold Out" *can* mean any of the following:

1. We don't have any more for sale, and we don't anticipate having any in the future.

2. Temporarily out of stock.

3. They are still being produced, and sold, but we aren't selling them anymore.

4. This listing has been superceded by another, but we aren't going to help you by letting you know.

Indeed. My contact at Atari did talk about this the other day and I think they will be changing things up soon. 

[infinite.pies]

 

9 hours ago, Ben from Plaion said:

Amazon US comes in and out of stock quite regularly. I think it's due to how big the US is geographically with Amazon moving stocks around DCs.

 

Maybe there was a rush on 4in1 paddle sets. Last week the Amazon levels looked healthy, I'll see in the new year.

The 4-in-1 paddle set was the first of the new products to completely sell out at local retailers here in New Zealand.

 

I guess it was a lot more popular than anticipated? I'm glad I ordered early.

Edited December 26, 2023 by infinite.pies

[Ben from Plaion]

41 minutes ago, infinite.pies said:

 

The 4-in-1 paddle set was the first of the new products to completely sell out at local retailers here in New Zealand.

 

I guess it was a lot more popular than anticipated? I'm glad I ordered early.

I need to catch up with the Aus/NZ office. Far as I know everything has gone according to plan.

 

All I keep thinking about the 4in1 paddle is that we set pricing a touch too low! 

 

It's a popular SKU.

[infinite.pies]

7 minutes ago, Ben from Plaion said:

I need to catch up with the Aus/NZ office. Far as I know everything has gone according to plan.

 

All I keep thinking about the 4in1 paddle is that we set pricing a touch too low! 

 

It's a popular SKU.

We've had good availability of everything apart from the paddles here. In NZ, we don't have Amazon, although we can buy some things from Amazon Australia, but that usually costs more than buying locally.

 

The Atari was available in at 3 least local online retailers, so it was easy to buy, and was despatched for delivery on launch day, so it went very smoothly. However, the console is now showing as low stock in the retailer I purchased from.

 

Actually, I do agree with you on the price of the paddles set - I think it is low, especially when you get 4 games and 2 controllers.

[scifidude79]

18 hours ago, fluxit said:

I too, would like to purchase a set.  I'm curious how they compare to the AtGames paddles.  The game selection on the multi-cart isn't exactly what I would have chosen, but they're not bad games, either.

I got mine today. Luckily, I ordered from Atari.com before they went out of stock. They're definitely higher quality than the AtGames paddles. The AtGames ones aren't a bad option, but they're lighter and more hollow sounding than the original paddles or the CX30+ paddles. The CX30+ ones are almost the same as my original paddles. The button has a bit more of a "click" sound to it, but they definitely feel more significant than the AtGames ones and they don't sound hollow when you press the button. So, I'd say they're on par with the originals, mine just may not have an audible "click" anymore like the new ones do.

 

20 minutes ago, infinite.pies said:

Actually, I do agree with you on the price of the paddles set - I think it is low, especially when you get 4 games and 2 controllers.

It's a really good deal. I can't even do better with original hardware. I looked up the four games using the cheapest price plus shipping filter on Ebay and I came up to $23.31. The paddles are a little weird. I can't even find a tested pair for under $20. Untested, sure. But, you may not want to take that chance. I stopped looking once I hit $20, because that plus the cost of the games is $43.31, more expensive than the CX30+ set. And the CX30+ set is brand new and comes with a guarantee that it will work. So, for me, it's a no brainer. CX30+ for the win. 😎

[Gamma Ray]

2 hours ago, Ben from Plaion said:

I need to catch up with the Aus/NZ office. Far as I know everything has gone according to plan.

 

All I keep thinking about the 4in1 paddle is that we set pricing a touch too low! 

 

It's a popular SKU.

No, the price is good. You keep making new sets with new multicarts at this price or even paddles only at an appropriate price, I'll keep buying them. I already bought two of the current sets just for the paddles, and I know these paddles are darn good. I'm interested in getting more backups in the future. Jack up the price, and I become disgruntled, and you see overall less money from me because I'll decide to simply not buy them or buy less instead of getting gouged.

 

I bought a couple sets from Best way back in 2010 or so, and they're still fine, but these new ones are really, really good.

[Ben from Plaion]

35 minutes ago, Gamma Ray said:

No, the price is good. You keep making new sets with new multicarts at this price or even paddles only at an appropriate price, I'll keep buying them. I already bought two of the current sets just for the paddles, and I know these paddles are darn good. I'm interested in getting more backups in the future. Jack up the price, and I become disgruntled, and you see overall less money from me because I'll decide to simply not buy them or buy less instead of getting gouged.

 

I bought a couple sets from Best way back in 2010 or so, and they're still fine, but these new ones are really, really good.

There are no plans to raise the price of the 4in1 paddle set. That would not be a good idea.

[Sean_1970]

On 12/24/2023 at 8:54 PM, Ben from Plaion said:

There was a press release on launch day, three new accessories and four games. Solus paddles is one of the accessories.

Definitely need a second set of paddles. Hopefully the experience with the 4-in-1 will mean an appropriate amount of just paddles is made 😉

 

Nice thing about the controllers on their own is you have a market beyond the 2600+ fans. Might be an idea to use some kind of teardown video with old/new as a promotional tool to appeal to the longtime collectors?

[Gamma Ray]

2 hours ago, Ben from Plaion said:

There are no plans to raise the price of the 4in1 paddle set. That would not be a good idea.

Woo hoo.

[Magpieboy]

9 hours ago, Ben from Plaion said:

I need to catch up with the Aus/NZ office. Far as I know everything has gone according to plan.

 

All I keep thinking about the 4in1 paddle is that we set pricing a touch too low! 

 

It's a popular SKU.

The paddles have been just about non-existent here in Australia, they were available very early for preorder around about the time they announced, and now on some sites like EB Games there's not even a listing for them. I ordered some from Amazon Australia (but the supplier was Amazon UK, even though they list them as currently unavailable) at more than what the retail price was here and all I got sent was paddles and no game. I sent it straight back to Amazon for a refund. I've included some screenshots of some of the stores here that do list them. I reckon the Amazon one is a scam, because how can you have an Amazon UK exclusive, and they don't even have any stock. Hell you can't even get them on Ebay here.

[JetmanUK]

7 hours ago, Ben from Plaion said:

There are no plans to raise the price of the 4in1 paddle set. That would not be a good idea.

Agreed. What would be a good idea though is offering two driving controllers and Indy 500 Enhanced for the same price!* 😋😁

 

OK, I'll even pay £34.99. 🤟🏻

 

*And I own 3 driving controllers already! 

[+Atari2600PAL]

1 hour ago, Magpieboy said:

The paddles have been just about non-existent here in Australia, they were available very early for preorder around about the time they announced, and now on some sites like EB Games there's not even a listing for them. I ordered some from Amazon Australia (but the supplier was Amazon UK, even though they list them as currently unavailable) at more than what the retail price was here and all I got sent was paddles and no game. I sent it straight back to Amazon for a refund. I've included some screenshots of some of the stores here that do list them. I reckon the Amazon one is a scam, because how can you have an Amazon UK exclusive, and they don't even have any stock. Hell you can't even get them on Ebay here.

They show as Amazon UK exclusives here in the UK in the description of all the 2600+ items (2600+, CX40+ & 4 in 1 Paddle set)

 

I ordered all 3 on the 19th and they arrived on the 21st. All seem to be standard retail price (2600+ has actually dropped £10 now)

 

I guess the Australian listing could be fake though?

[bradhig1]

Wil that 4 in 1 paddle set be restocked?

[ukaskew]

Ordered the 4 in 1 paddle set on Amazon UK on Christmas day and it arrived yesterday, so glad I bought it, they are wonderful things and Video Olympics was a massive hit with the family yesterday 

 

Still showing stock on the UK site (the only official source for 2600+ stuff in the UK) so if they ship to your country it might be worth a look.

 

My wife is putting together a printable mini-guide for the 4 in 1 cart that we can keep next to the TV, between the 4 games and the various game modes each have, there are 80+ combinations selectable via the Select and Reset switches, but absolutely no indication of what they are anywhere.

Edited December 28, 2023 by ukaskew

[ShiftLock]

I think the paddles feel great, very authentic. However, mine are not stable when playing games. For example, when I play Breakout, the bar at the bottom of the screen wobbles back and forth quickly making playing difficult, and this happens on both controllers and was like this out of the box. Oddly enough, when I use the paddles on my original Junior through a CRT the wobbling is even worse!

 

Has anyone else experienced this? I saw the same issue on a video of some guy at a retro gaming show (Portland?) but he said that that controller had been dropped. Keen to hear about other’s experiences.

[Sean_1970]

4 hours ago, ukaskew said:

Ordered the 4 in 1 paddle set on Amazon UK on Christmas day and it arrived yesterday, so glad I bought it, they are wonderful things and Video Olympics was a massive hit with the family yesterday 

 

Still showing stock on the UK site (the only official source for 2600+ stuff in the UK) so if they ship to your country it might be worth a look.

 

My wife is putting together a printable mini-guide for the 4 in 1 cart that we can keep next to the TV, between the 4 games and the various game modes each have, there are 80+ combinations selectable via the Select and Reset switches, but absolutely no indication of what they are anywhere.

I have loads of manual printouts as the majority of my carts came without. Thankfully they’re not too hard to find in PDF format online, but a game select chart with the new ones would have been nice!

[JetBootJack]

15 hours ago, ShiftLock said:

I think the paddles feel great, very authentic. However, mine are not stable when playing games. For example, when I play Breakout, the bar at the bottom of the screen wobbles back and forth quickly making playing difficult, and this happens on both controllers and was like this out of the box. Oddly enough, when I use the paddles on my original Junior through a CRT the wobbling is even worse!

 

Has anyone else experienced this? I saw the same issue on a video of some guy at a retro gaming show (Portland?) but he said that that controller had been dropped. Keen to hear about other’s experiences.

Similar here. Playing breakout I find latency the biggest issue. There is a slight delay between turning the paddle knob and the bar moving. Earlier I also found the bar shaking a bit too. Anyone know what I can do to resolve this?

 

(Also night driver is tough especially as you don’t even know which way the car is pointing until you start to accelerate!)

[akator]

The paddle pack is back in stock at Amazon US.

[+remowilliams]

  

On 12/29/2023 at 7:10 PM, Glokenpop said:

Is there any improvement in Paddle support? On my system the emulation would move in chunks rather than pixel by pixel. This video shows this issue it did the same thing with my system.

15 hours ago, DEANJIMMY said:

BUT Super Breakout and Kaboom give you a jerky paddle on very same setup (same paddles, same TV in game mode) they jump pixels and it is no fun to play.

 

On the subject of paddle movement being more jumpy/coarse on the 2600+ in Breakout.

 

I was trying out the new Atari paddles earlier.  These videos are the new Atari paddles being moved slowly - 2600 on the left, 2600+ on the right.  I can't say I'm seeing much difference ?

 

   

 

 

 

 

[Gamma Ray]

I don't know about jittering back and forth, but I have used the new paddles on my old 7800, and they're fine there. The 2600+ currently has issues reading paddle inputs.

[tradyblix]

On 12/26/2023 at 5:22 AM, Ben from Plaion said:

 Overstocking a line can be disastrous, conversely no one involved wants to see out of stock messages 

 

Trust me, everyone involved wants as much availability as possible.

Of course, if you overstock, you can always bury it in a landfill and people will go grab it 40 years later lol

[tradyblix]

1 hour ago, remowilliams said:

  

 

On the subject of paddle movement being more jumpy/coarse on the 2600+ in Breakout.

 

I was trying out the new Atari paddles earlier.  These videos are the new Atari paddles being moved slowly - 2600 on the left, 2600+ on the right.  I can't say I'm seeing much difference ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

People just don't have the paddle skills these days... 

 

Personally it does seem to be jumpy to me in super breakout vs say warlords, but the travel distance is shorter. Also I'm not using the official paddles. 

 

Need to check on the 1.1 firmware.

Edited December 31, 2023 by tradyblix