Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration - (12 extra games)

[Atari_JaguarVCS]

The new update is now live for Atari 50. In order to update you'll probably need to move some games over to additional USB storage if you haven't already upgraded your Atari VCS 800 with an internal SSD. I think you'll need around 10GB free for the update to download and unpack and update etc. I believe the update itself is around 5GB 

[justclaws]

This is an official announcement video.
There are a lot of new games, which is a lovely and surprising update from Atari. 🙂

Notably for me: Atari Lynx: WARBIRDS! 🙂

 

There are now ~115 games, with 11 new titles for the Atari 2600.
I suspect that some people think that "Atari 50" means it's got 50 games included!
 

Warbirds Lynx!

Bowling 2600
Double Dunk 2600
Maze Craze 2600
Miniature Golf 2600
MotoRodeo 2600
Super Football 2600
Circus Atari 2600

There are also 2 prototypes, and 2 homebrew games.
Aquaventure (prototype) 2600
Save Mary (prototype) 2600

Adventure II (homebrew) 2600
Return to Haunted House (homebrew) 2600
 

 

[scifidude79]

Ha! They added Bowling for the 2600. I love that game, I was playing it the other day on my 2600+.

[MrTrust]

 

Why in the f$@# can I not just download it to my external drive!?

 

And even if I can't, why do I need to free up the entire game's worth of space?  Why is it 5 gigs for a handful of 2600 games?

[Atariboy]

That's odd. The update was under 1 GB on the Xbox. Something like 970 MB's when I updated a few hours ago, iirc.

[roots.genoa]

I don't know how big it was but it took a few seconds on Switch... But is that really surprising that things don't work as it should on the VCS? 🤷‍♂️

[scifidude79]

6 hours ago, MrTrust said:

Why in the f$@# can I not just download it to my external drive!?

 

And even if I can't, why do I need to free up the entire game's worth of space?  Why is it 5 gigs for a handful of 2600 games?

You can transfer stuff to the external hard drive. I started deleting stuff before I realized I can just move stuff to my external SSD that has over 900GB available. Once I figured that out, I moved both of the Atari Vault collections over to get the rest of the space I needed.

 

It's not 5GB for a few 2600 games. The update probably contained more than that. Also, it wasn't just downloading files to the internal SSD. It had to download the files and decompress them, both on the internal drive, then install them wherever, even if it was to the external drive. This just taught me to keep less stuff on my internal drive and more on my 1TB external SSD.

  

6 hours ago, Atariboy said:

That's odd. The update was under 1 GB on the Xbox. Something like 970 MB's when I updated a few hours ago, iirc.

Often, different versions on different systems will have different files. Not only is this due to running on completely different operating systems, but also because there may be different fixes for different systems. There may have been more "bugs" to kill on the Atari VCS than there were on XBOX. I own Atari 50 on both, and I remember when it first came to the VCS. If I was in the game a long time, it wouldn't properly exit, it would freeze on my VCS, forcing me to hard reset the system. This wouldn't happen for short sessions, just long ones. I never had that problem on the XBOX. Hopefully, this update fixed that for the VCS.

Edited December 6, 2023 by scifidude79

[MrTrust]

7 hours ago, scifidude79 said:

Also, it wasn't just downloading files to the internal SSD. It had to download the files and decompress them, both on the internal drive, then install them wherever, even if it was to the external drive. This just taught me to keep less stuff on my internal drive and more on my 1TB external SSD.

 

Now I wish I hadn't already used my eyeroll gif.

[scifidude79]

9 hours ago, MrTrust said:

 

Now I wish I hadn't already used my eyeroll gif.

You're the one making a big deal about having to move a few files around on your system. It's a pretty trivial problem. There are a lot of people (including myself) who can't even buy games on our VCS consoles right now due to the persistent zip code error in the store. Compared to that, having to move a few files around to download a free update for a game I already own isn't even an issue.

[zzip]

21 hours ago, MrTrust said:

On 12/6/2023 at 5:32 AM, scifidude79 said:

Also, it wasn't just downloading files to the internal SSD. It had to download the files and decompress them, both on the internal drive, then install them wherever, even if it was to the external drive. This just taught me to keep less stuff on my internal drive and more on my 1TB external SSD.

 

Now I wish I hadn't already used my eyeroll gif.

This isn't unique to the VCS.  I see PS4/PS5 users complain about this all the time (not being able to download because they need extra space on main drive to decompress large downloads).   It's just that the main storage of the VCS is small.

[Atari_JaguarVCS]

I have these issues quite a lot on other platforms so not just the Atari VCS! My Nintendo Switch has been an absolute nightmare in the update department with some of the newer game releases and over all lack of space. I had to buy a high storage capacity and rather expensive Micro SD card to resolve the issue on the Nintendo Switch but thankfully with the Atari VCS 800 you can mostly just use a cheap USB thumb drive if your on a budget and move things over and so fourth to get round these issues. I don't see the big deal myself, i mean who doesn't have a cheap USB pen laying round these days? I think everyone who has an Atari VCS 800 should have one or better still install an internal m.2 SSD into the Atari VCS its honestly not that difficult to do and there are plenty of guides on YouTube on how to do it. I keep forgetting though, this is the Atari VCS 800 we are talking about here so everyone and there dog has to have a dig at some aspect of the console to try and drag it down even more. The zip code issue is worse than the storage issue 

[MrTrust]

2 hours ago, Atari_JaguarVCS said:

I don't see the big deal myself, i mean who doesn't have a cheap USB pen laying round these days?

 

The big deal is it took me_two_goddamn_hours_to update a compilation of Atari games.  Two hours.
 

15 hours ago, scifidude79 said:

You're the one making a big deal about having to move a few files around on your system.

 

It's not a few files.  It was 7.5 gigs worth of stuff.  It takes forever to move things back and forth on VCS.  I know, I know; silly me.  Here I am using the internal storage as storage, not as a staging area to move stuff from the console to another drive.  No, I will not be "taught" to accommodate stupidity.

 

15 hours ago, scifidude79 said:

There are a lot of people (including myself) who can't even buy games on our VCS consoles right now due to the persistent zip code error in the store.

 

Yeah, man, that sucks.  I'm sorry to hear that.  I hope they do something to make it up to you guys, because there's no excuse for that, just as there is none for this.

 

3 hours ago, zzip said:

This isn't unique to the VCS.  I see PS4/PS5 users complain about this all the time (not being able to download because they need extra space on main drive to decompress large downloads).

 

Okay, then the PS4/5 sucks, too.  Don't defend this, dude; it's ridiculous.  I can take the same machine, download the same game under Linux or Windows, install that game to an external HDD, and then update it in a few minutes without having to do a damn thing so long as the drive it's installed to isn't completely full.  There's no excuse for this on any console at this point, and if it's an issue on the Real Big Boy consoles as well, then that's even more of a disgrace.  It should not be necessary to do this on any machine of modern manufacture, anywhere, ever.  The end.

 

Imagine, in 1997 when I first downloaded Okie Dokie to play on Stella, if someone had told me that one day it would take me two hours to download 10 2600 titles and Lynx game.  I would have assumed some kind of nuclear exchange had happened in the intervening years.
 

3 hours ago, Atari_JaguarVCS said:

My Nintendo Switch has been an absolute nightmare in the update department with some of the newer game releases and over all lack of space.

 

You're not wrong about this, although with a portable console, it's hard to fault it for having lousy onboard storage.  Fortunately, Switch lets you (take notes, Atari) opt to play games without updating them (imagine!).  At least, if you don't want to play online (which I usually don't).  I was playing Warframe for a little bit, but I had to stop and uninstall it, because every other day the game was 5 gigs bigger than it was the day before.  After a while, it just gets ridiculous.

[zzip]

2 minutes ago, MrTrust said:

Okay, then the PS4/5 sucks, too.  Don't defend this, dude; it's ridiculous.  I can take the same machine, download the same game under Linux or Windows, install that game to an external HDD, and then update it in a few minutes without having to do a damn thing so long as the drive it's installed to isn't completely full.  There's no excuse for this on any console at this point, and if it's an issue on the Real Big Boy consoles as well, then that's even more of a disgrace.  It should not be necessary to do this on any machine of modern manufacture, anywhere, ever.  The end.

 

Imagine, in 1997 when I first downloaded Okie Dokie to play on Stella, if someone had told me that one day it would take me two hours to download 10 2600 titles and Lynx game.  I would have assumed some kind of nuclear exchange had happened in the intervening years.

There's two different issues.   One is they forced us to redownload the entire package instead of a delta.   Yes I agree that's lazy.

 

The other is, when you download a compressed package, you need space to hold both the compressed package and uncompressed version.   That's going to happen no matter what platform you are on, and you don't really notice until the files get large.    On VCS, the file size is 1/4 to 1/3 the size of the internal storage. 

[MrTrust]

2 minutes ago, zzip said:

The other is, when you download a compressed package, you need space to hold both the compressed package and uncompressed version.

And I wouldn't give a shit if I could download it to the drive that it is installed on, and that the machine runs it from.  

[zzip]

1 minute ago, MrTrust said:

And I wouldn't give a shit if I could download it to the drive that it is installed on, and that the machine runs it from.  

Same thing other consoles do.  The real problem here is the main drive is only 32GB

[HatNJ]

just did update on my Switch was less than a couple minutes all working good

[roots.genoa]

1 hour ago, zzip said:

One is they forced us to redownload the entire package instead of a delta.

Does it happen if you the compilation is installed on your main drive? Since the update is less than 1GB on other systems, I was wondering if the VCS didn't try to reinstall everything because it didn't find the files on the main drive.

 

And yes, in any case it's ridiculous, but I guess that's what happens when you choose to play something on a wonky system just because it has an Atari logo on it.

[MrTrust]

32 minutes ago, zzip said:

Same thing other consoles do.

 

If a console can read and write external media fast enough to run the game from it without having to dump the entire game into RAM, then why do any consoles do this?  

If I go into an Applebee's, and the waitress forgets to put in my order for 45 minutes, and they burn my burger and give me cold fries they were about to throw out, why do I care that T.G.I. Friday's and Red Robin did the same thing to somebody else last week.  PCs have been able to do what I'm describing for decades now.  Literally the exact PC in question can do it if it's running in a different OS.  This is not some inevitable fact of life; it is a design choice on Atari's part.

 

1 hour ago, zzip said:

The real problem here is the main drive is only 32GB

 

If only there was a simple way of solving this problem, like, maybe have some extra drive that you can plug into the machine and use just like the internal drive...

 

3 minutes ago, roots.genoa said:

Does it happen if you the compilation is installed on your main drive? Since the update is less than 1GB on other systems, I was wondering if the VCS didn't try to reinstall everything because it didn't find the files on the main drive.

 

No, it's any time you update anything on the VCS, you have to download the whole entire game over.  Sometimes you even need to clear more room than the game needs uncompressed.  Skinny & Franko would not download until I cleared 3 GB off the main drive, and the game is 2.5 GB.  I had to delete stuff, download that game, and then redownload the stuff I deleted even though it all actually fit on the drive.

Already annoying, but the most annoying is that, if an update is available for the game, you cannot play the game until you update it, no exceptions.  So, even if I have A50 on an external drive already, and even if I don't want the update, I still have to go through this process or I can't play it as-is.

[zzip]

12 minutes ago, roots.genoa said:

Does it happen if you the compilation is installed on your main drive? Since the update is less than 1GB on other systems, I was wondering if the VCS didn't try to reinstall everything because it didn't find the files on the main drive.

 

And yes, in any case it's ridiculous, but I guess that's what happens when you choose to play something on a wonky system just because it has an Atari logo on it.

Is it?   I thought someone reported that the update was huge on Steam too

 

7 minutes ago, MrTrust said:

No, it's any time you update anything on the VCS, you have to download the whole entire game over.

If every update requires a full reinstall, then maybe the VCS OS doesn't support a patch system that can install deltas.   That's an issue that should be addressed.

 

10 minutes ago, MrTrust said:

Sometimes you even need to clear more room than the game needs uncompressed.  Skinny & Franko would not download until I cleared 3 GB off the main drive, and the game is 2.5 GB. 

Of course you do, because you need the space for both the download package and uncompressed installed game.   Again I cant tell you how many time I've seen Playstation user complain that they have more free space than a game needs and still can't download it.   This part is a non-issue.   The real issues are that the internal drive is only 32Gb and they are forcing you to download the full package instead of deltas.

[MrTrust]

23 minutes ago, zzip said:

If every update requires a full reinstall, then maybe the VCS OS doesn't support a patch system that can install deltas.   That's an issue that should be addressed.

Indeed it should be.  I updated S&F, Doodle Taxi, NeoSprint twice, and now A50, and I've gone through this every time.  I assume this is the case with things like Heroes of Loot as well; I just would not have noticed.  I figured if they were going to put out a delta for anything, it would be this game; didn't happen, so my guess is that they can't do so.

 

24 minutes ago, zzip said:

Again I cant tell you how many time I've seen Playstation user complain that they have more free space than a game needs and still can't download it.

 

Fine, then whatever amount of space you need is what it should say you need on the download page when you go to download it.  How am I supposed to know how much more than the uncompressed game files I'm going to need space for?

 

27 minutes ago, zzip said:

This part is a non-issue.   The real issues are that the internal drive is only 32Gb and they are forcing you to download the full package instead of deltas.

 

Those are issues, and it's an issue that you can't run the game without updating it, and it's an issue that you can't install things directly to external media, which I am fine with having to have.  I don't care that you can't do it on PS5; you should be able to do it on this console.  You can do it on Switch.  You can do it on PC.  Someone needs to explain to me the reason that this cannot be otherwise, or I stand by this.

 

57 minutes ago, roots.genoa said:

And yes, in any case it's ridiculous, but I guess that's what happens when you choose to play something on a wonky system just because it has an Atari logo on it.

 

That's not why I chose to play it on a wonky system.  That wonky system is the only one that actually has proper controls for a substantial number of the included games because of the classic joystick's spinner.  Tempest 2000 with good emulation and overclocking, and a proper spinner control is a centerpiece of the actual game collection part.  All the spinner/roller-based games play like shit on the Switch, and if you're using the Joy-cons, the track ball ones play really badly as well.

roots, if you don't like the machine, nobody's telling you you have to buy it, but for those of us who did, there's a baseline level of functionality that it's reasonable for one to expect out of it.  Like the store should work.  Like mouse input should work.  Like updating a handful of emulators and ROMs with a slideshow attached shouldn't gave to take an entire evening.

 

You have the game on Switch?  Good for you.  I do, too.  What does the fact that you got it working on your Switch have to do with anything?

[Atari_JaguarVCS]

2 hours ago, MrTrust said:

roots, if you don't like the machine, nobody's telling you you have to buy it

This honestly!! its like i said everyone and there dog just wants to have a dig at the Atari VCS 800, if you have nothing reasonable to say you should probably just skip on by and ignore the wonky system 🙂. Anyway am i the only one with a fully maxed out Atari VCS here that was able to download this amazing free update and have the game updated in minutes basically? I really appreciate this update. 

[scifidude79]

1 hour ago, Atari_JaguarVCS said:

This honestly!! its like i said everyone and there dog just wants to have a dig at the Atari VCS 800, if you have nothing reasonable to say you should probably just skip on by and ignore the wonky system 🙂. Anyway am i the only one with a fully maxed out Atari VCS here that was able to download this amazing free update and have the game updated in minutes basically? I really appreciate this update. 

I love the VCS. Even in the midst of the zip code error, I still have no regrets about buying it.

 

As for the update, I did have to move some stuff from my internal drive. But, it didn't take very long to move some stuff over to my SSD to make room for the update. Then the update itself didn't take very long. I'd say I was into the whole thing for maybe 10-15 minutes. I'm probably going to leave that space open on my internal memory in case this sort of thing happens again. Sure, I could expand the internal memory, but I decided to go the lazy route and just hook up the external SSD. 😂

[MrTrust]

2 hours ago, Atari_JaguarVCS said:

This honestly!! its like i said everyone and there dog just wants to have a dig at the Atari VCS 800...

 

It's tough, because on one hand, there is a contingent of VCS boosters that will simply put up with everything and won't hold Atari to any kind of standard, which I don't think is necessarily helpful either.  Sure, I know they're not any happier about the zip code thing than I am, and bitching about it is not going to magically make the resources appear to fix it.  Fair enough, but Rosen has made it clear several times that part of the company's mission is to build good will among the retro gaming set.  Well, that should come at price, which at minimum should include your products working as advertised.

 

On the other hand, why do people have such a problem with this thing?  It was late beyond what is CoVid-excusable, and it was very overpriced at launch.  They did some questionable things like advertise Tempest 4000 without having a real agreement.  These are fairly minor scandals in the history of video games.  I just purchased one of these for less than the price of an SNES Mini.  People act like this is the rip-off of the decade; it's nothing even close.

 

3 hours ago, Atari_JaguarVCS said:

Anyway am i the only one with a fully maxed out Atari VCS here that was able to download this amazing free update and have the game updated in minutes basically? I really appreciate this update. 

 

I bought a second unit, so I will probably start tinkering with my first one more, but I really didn't want to mess with it too much.  Anyone running a hardware platform like this should assume a stock unit when thinking about things like this.   Knowing that the internal storage is so small, and considering people might just for whatever reason not want to screw around with after market peripherals, this should have been made less of an ordeal for stock units.  I bought this thing to play indie retro games and emulate 20-50 year-old games, after all.

 

1 hour ago, scifidude79 said:

As for the update, I did have to move some stuff from my internal drive. But, it didn't take very long to move some stuff over to my SSD to make room for the update. Then the update itself didn't take very long. I'd say I was into the whole thing for maybe 10-15 minutes.

 

That's interesting.  I've been using the PC-mode-on-a-stick thing, whatever the Linux drive they sell is called.  The downloading of the update didn't take nearly so long as installing it did, and moving those 7.5 good to that drive and back again are where the bulk of the time came in.

 

I assume an external SSD would be faster, but that's a fraction of the time it took me.  Weird thing is, the games run from the drive without any perceptible increase in load times.  Transferring files between it and the internal drive doesn't hang up under Debian, but I'm wondering if there isn't a problem with my unit or my thumb drive.

[roots.genoa]

10 hours ago, zzip said:

Is it?   I thought someone reported that the update was huge on Steam too

Actually, I've realized I own the physical release on Switch, so it wasn't going to re-download the full game anyway, but I know several people who confirmed they had a less than 1GB download on Xbox, and it was digital only.

 

And I don't have "a problem" with the VCS. I have a problem with people that keep on complaining about modern gaming and "the big 3", and on convincing themselves that the VCS is better for some reason, then complain because it was clearly not designed as well as systems that benefit from the support or a far bigger, more competent company. If you enjoy the VCS for what it is, good for you, but accept there will always be a few caveats for that kind of niche system.

[MrTrust]

3 hours ago, roots.genoa said:

If you enjoy the VCS for what it is, good for you,

 

If this were sincere, you wouldn't be in here every time someone reports a problem with the system to say "Well, it's the VCS; what did you expect?  I don't have this problem on the Switch.  That's what you get for buying a stupid dum dum console."

 

3 hours ago, roots.genoa said:

...but accept there will always be a few caveats for that kind of niche system.

 

This doesn't make any sense.  Nobody's complaining that it doesn't play Starfield.  They're complaining, on a forum that Atari bought and intended to use to foster a relationship with a particular audience, of which VCS users are a part, that basic things that should work do not work.

 

You are not obtuse enough to try and defend the position that users of a niche system should not expect the store to work.  You are simply here to unfurl your schadenfreude.

 

3 hours ago, roots.genoa said:

I have a problem with people that keep on complaining about modern gaming and "the big 3", and on convincing themselves that the VCS is better for some reason

 

Like who?