New(ish) 7800 Games and Accessories announced by Atari and Plaion compatible with the 2600+

[Ben from Plaion]

17 hours ago, ForceInfinity said:

My only complaint is I can see a crease through the middle of the Food Fight end-label along the seam where the two halves of the cartridge shell come together.   (Minor, minor detail and nothing even remotely worth returning over).   Atari does pack the games WAY better than Amazon.  Boxes all arrived in great condition

Thanks for the feedback have you a photo of the crease please?

[Ben from Plaion]

On 7/11/2024 at 9:28 AM, GoldLeader said:

 

It would work,  but they shouldn't have to.  I think expecting an item to arrive undamaged is not asking too much.  Something tells me that the people (or Robots) handling these don't even realize these are video games,  and they sure don't care that they're going to collectors.  It would be an easy fix,  but I'm sure they'll consider this too much work.  If they insist on sending things like this,  then the description should say, "Item will arrive in a white bubble mailer,  CLICK HERE FOR A BOX $2 additional fee"   It's Win-Win.

 

 

PS I just pulled "$2" out of the air,  I mean whatever it runs.  If we're already paying for Prime, we shouldn't have to incentivize them too much to do the job they should be doing right in the first place.  I mean what next?   Paying extra for "insurance" at the post Office to make sure they don't lose a package we've already paid them to deliver?   (Oooh,  Bad Example)...

No, no, no! This thread is really getting me hot and bothered. Consumers should expect to have their purchases arrive in perfect condition. Paying an additional premium to ensure your product is delivered securely is not something I support.

 

I've been working at Plaion in the physical videogame hardware and software manufacture business for over 15 years, I have been responsible for the product and outer carton packaging for millions of items manufactured in China and shipped all around the world over the years. We take great care in the design and material choice for all items packaging. In the case of all the Atari games we've manufactured. They are all shipped in 4 inner cartons of 20 and then in an outer carton of 80 units in double walled sideflute cardboard. The stock that is shipped to retail once it reaches North America, Europe and Australia is in perfect box fresh condition.

 

Now I've got that out the way, first thing I think about in these situations is what is the scale of this issue really is. We have shipped many thousands of units of these latest releases, so I need to see the % returns rate, then ask for all returns to be evaluated by the warehouse to tell me the cause of the return. Then I'll go from there.

 

I have been think of anything I can initiate to prevent this box crushing but I'm stuck, as the legal owner of the stock ceases to be Plaion once the goods are shipped to a retailers warehouse. I cant bring myself to individually packing a game in its own protective carton as this will increase the costs of materials, assembly and shipping and we need to stick to the keen pricing to consumers we've set out with.

 

Anyway, its Friday night and I'm going to relax and have a few beers.

 

 

 

 

[tradyblix]

So my package arrived from amazon today and, as I expected, like ninety nine percent of all the packages like it from amazon, it was in great condition. Did it come with the proper kind of support that I would expect like bubble packing?

 

No, but it was at least in a box. and pristine.

 

So go ahead and relax Ben, because these anecdotal reports are just that. Anecdotal. I was also prepared for it being a mess, but I decided to do this to prove a point, that you can take a risk on a random sample and still have a good experience.

 

Either way, it doesn't prove anything, except that maybe take what you read on forums as "not a representative or scientific sample". 

 

Anyone can have a good or bad experience, and then obviously if you have an experience not like mine, you might go and tell everyone on AtariAge that "Amazon sucks at shipping" when it's clearly not always the case for everyone. 

 

 

 

20240712_141949.heic20240712_142346.heic20240712_142407.heic20240712_142412.heic20240712_142417.heic

Edited July 12 by tradyblix

[Ben from Plaion]

1 hour ago, tradyblix said:

So my package arrived from amazon today and, as I expected, like ninety nine percent of all the packages like it from amazon, it was in great condition. Did it come with the proper kind of support that I would expect like bubble packing?

 

No, but it was at least in a box. and pristine.

 

So go ahead and relax Ben, because these anecdotal reports are just that. Anecdotal. I was also prepared for it being a mess, but I decided to do this to prove a point, that you can take a risk on a random sample and still have a good experience.

 

Either way, it doesn't prove anything, except that maybe take what you read on forums as "not a representative or scientific sample". 

 

Anyone can have a good or bad experience, and then obviously if you have an experience not like mine, you might go and tell everyone on AtariAge that "Amazon sucks at shipping" when it's clearly not always the case for everyone. 

 

 

 

20240712_141949.heic 1.1 MB · 6 downloads 20240712_142346.heic 1.4 MB · 2 downloads 20240712_142407.heic 1.42 MB · 2 downloads 20240712_142412.heic 2.4 MB · 0 downloads 20240712_142417.heic 1.53 MB · 1 download

Fatal Run looking sweet as there. Nice.

[ForceInfinity]

3 hours ago, Ben from Plaion said:

Thanks for the feedback have you a photo of the crease please?

Hey Ben, I attached the photo.  The cartridge sleeve is a bit off too

[Ben from Plaion]

2 minutes ago, ForceInfinity said:

Hey Ben, I attached the photo.  The cartridge sleeve is a bit off too

Worse still you can see the plastic injection cap marks throught the label. Can you see/feel those two dimples?

[ForceInfinity]

3 hours ago, Ben from Plaion said:

Thanks for the feedback have you a photo of the crease please?

Ninja Golf and Fatal Run from same order.  Creasing not as visible but both have a bulge near same relative location on bottom right of label.  Again, not something that I will return over or make a big fuss about, but just catches my eye the wrong way when I see it

[Ben from Plaion]

1 minute ago, ForceInfinity said:

Ninja Golf and Fatal Run from same order.  Creasing not as visible but both have a bulge near same relative location on bottom right of label.  Again, not something that I will return over or make a big fuss about, but just catches my eye the wrong way when I see it

Yeah thats on every single cart from the 2600+ releases. Albert pulled me up on it.

 

I'm not fond of making changes to the molds of plastic injected parts for consistancy but this one I need to do something about.

[ForceInfinity]

8 minutes ago, Ben from Plaion said:

Worse still you can see the plastic injection cap marks throught the label. Can you see/feel those two dimples?

I can see the dimples more than feel them (can barely feel it when I run my finger on it).  And as you can see on post, all three carts have that problem.   Went back to Berzerk Enhanced and me Run & Jump and they both didn’t have the crease or dimple.   
 

Again, not something I am going to raise a big controversy over since all 3 games boot and play with no fuss.  Just a small disappointment was all

Edited July 12 by ForceInfinity

[Ben from Plaion]

3 minutes ago, ForceInfinity said:

I can see the dimples more than feel them (can barely feel it when I run my finger on it).  And as you can see on post, all three carts have that problem.   Went back to Berzerk Enhanced and me Run & Jump and they both didn’t have the crease or dimple.   

Very interesting. You know I had to tool a new mould for the 7800 carts, maybe there are subtle differences to the 2600 cart design. I'm going to take the end labels off a load of carts on Monday to see!

[ForceInfinity]

20 minutes ago, Ben from Plaion said:

Very interesting. You know I had to tool a new mould for the 7800 carts, maybe there are subtle differences to the 2600 cart design. I'm going to take the end labels off a load of carts on Monday to see!

Appreciate the replies Ben.   Again all 3 games work beautifully on the 2600+ so all’s well there at least.   

[MMarcoux66]

2 hours ago, Ben from Plaion said:

Fatal Run looking sweet as there. Nice.

Yes, totally agree and jealous . If Amazon was consistent about using boxes like Atari and not using the plastic or paper envelopes, more people would have this same experience. The problem is that it appears to be a gamble with Amazon. 

 

On a happy note...  My Atari direct order of the 3 7800 games arrives tomorrow.

Edited July 12 by MMarcoux66

[tradyblix]

2 hours ago, MMarcoux66 said:

Yes, totally agree and jealous . If Amazon was consistent about using boxes like Atari and not using the plastic or paper envelopes, more people would have this same experience. The problem is that it appears to be a gamble with Amazon. 

 

On a happy note...  My Atari direct order of the 3 7800 games arrives tomorrow.

Post it, let's keep everyone accountable lol  I wanna see that vaunted Atari packaging care.

 

Btw, this is such an odd game. It's kind of like "Outrun" meets "Spy Hunter" with a bit of "Car Wars" post-apocalyptic fun thrown in for good measure.

 

While it's no "Rad Racer" or "SMS Outrun" it's still a pretty neat curio. The only other 7800 game like this is Motorpsycho which I don't really rate... this is better. 

 

Finally, my cart is pretty acceptable with regards to the crease. While I can see it's there, I also have this on a few other older 2600 carts too, or something similar to it, and I've learned not to obssess over the labels, although it really bothers me on the ones where someone's poked through the screwholes, like on my copy of Phoenix.

 

I compared it to my original copy of Galaga 7800 and it's also got a hint of that. So to me, it was always like that. To be clear tho, the guy who posted in this thread about his version had it worse. I guess we're probably all spoiled with how professional most NES carts were just a few years later; Better designed cart IMO. Even the famicom carts were better. That's part of the 2600 charm tho. IMO. 

 

One final pet peeve: Just like on Pole Position II the cover artwork depicts a differently colored car. The car is red, why does the art show a blue car !!! lol. And why did the PP2 designers not use a classic Formula one color but chose... Orangish Yellow lol 

 

Here is a pic of the carts In a more old fashioned media format that this forum can still display. 

 

 

Edited July 13 by tradyblix
updated

[gpn]

On 7/10/2024 at 8:22 AM, Intellivision Master said:

Probably revenge for what Atari did to E.T.

 

I ordered Mr. Run and Jump from Woot (shipped by Amazon). It arrived in a bubble mailer slightly crushed.

I ordered Food Fight from Amazon. It arrived in a bubble mailer slightly crushed.

I ordered Ninja Golf and Fatal Run from Atari. They arrived in a box with no damage.

 

I will be ordering future games from Atari. At least I hope there will be future games.

[tradyblix]

 

41 minutes ago, gpn said:

Probably revenge for what Atari did to E.T.

 

I ordered Mr. Run and Jump from Woot (shipped by Amazon). It arrived in a bubble mailer slightly crushed.

I ordered Food Fight from Amazon. It arrived in a bubble mailer slightly crushed.

I ordered Ninja Golf and Fatal Run from Atari. They arrived in a box with no damage.

 

I will be ordering future games from Atari. At least I hope there will be future games.

I ordered the 2600+ from Amazon. It arrived undamaged A MONTH faster than Atari's orders system. The posts are STILL in this forum with unhappy customers complaining about it.

 

I JUST ORDERED Fatal Run to PROVE Amazon ships stuff FINE. It arrived fine, IN A BOX, undamaged in just 2 days. Without charging me a shipping fee. 

 

Two can play this game. You wanna keep playing, I'll keep playing. 

 

Speaking of nonsensical BS, How about the people on eBay that are SCAMMING everyone right now by selling copies of new Ninja Golf for 99 dollars....those are the real folks you should be mad at, not Amazon:

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/126560923860?itmmeta=01J2N3KD466FXT6YC12DBFT22V&hash=item1d779e70d4:g:bYYAAOSwu6FmiC0G&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA4C9FxpeiDxt63H3rSQ8NrKRHNVI%2BNz8IIwfoW66E1ld8bsEMyYB5fXoOYjPMbL5U1DYcv6Yru2kVGlmaDwm1gdFBTz9%2BCfXepdcJsQ8kiHJt%2BkW9krgPFZJUgfG4IKyc8FCy4Uf2R6E64feSQ%2Frsm6aQfo1lYwlwOY8wUlUhSmLDZ5d6KYyl4T7HE%2BkTDVNMYs9YrsC1oBmpgRBtpTRsJcexl8jMc6C1YMEv3uzqxf1GmttLjuxHW3WEU%2FfSA1e1yN5DACQCbWHevDk5uxcml2zMboYcFX9C3ORwF8fuxvrL|tkp%3ABFBMotLNo5Vk

 

 

 

 

 

[+jeremiahjt]

4 hours ago, MMarcoux66 said:

Yes, totally agree and jealous . If Amazon was consistent about using boxes like Atari and not using the plastic or paper envelopes, more people would have this same experience. The problem is that it appears to be a gamble with Amazon. 

 

On a happy note...  My Atari direct order of the 3 7800 games arrives tomorrow.

Uh oh, you posted something negative about Amazon. tradyblix will be here momentarily to scold you about expecting even the bare minimum from the great and wonderful Amazon.

 

Edit: I guess I should have read further before replying.

[infinite.pies]

5 hours ago, MMarcoux66 said:

Yes, totally agree and jealous . If Amazon was consistent about using boxes like Atari and not using the plastic or paper envelopes, more people would have this same experience. The problem is that it appears to be a gamble with Amazon. 

 

On a happy note...  My Atari direct order of the 3 7800 games arrives tomorrow.

It depends to a degree on which Amazon store you buy from.

 

I rarely buy from Amazon these days as I prefer to buy local, but Amazon in Australia now usually sends out orders that are the size of a single game in a paper envelope, so there’s not much protection. Amazon in other countries may well package them in a different way, but using the bare minimum packaging is one of the ways they cut cost.

Edited July 13 by infinite.pies

[tradyblix]

38 minutes ago, jeremiahjt said:

Uh oh, you posted something negative about Amazon. tradyblix will be here momentarily to scold you about expecting even the bare minimum from the great and wonderful Amazon.

 

Edit: I guess I should have read further before replying.

Ah yes, restoring to mockery. The true sign of winning an argument.

 

Look, I came on here and I noticed a couple people having a bad experience and then representing to others that somehow Atari is exempt from shipping issues. Or is a better choice. But I know what happened over Christmas last year when people tried relying on them. So I have to speak up. I had my 2600 while watching posts in this forum for WEEKS where they were waiting on a shipment from Atari and I even watched our Ben intervene personally for them because Atari Corporate's customer relations department dropped the ball. That's all facts. 

 

I don't think there's anything wrong with standing up for the truth, especially as it might help people that are reading the uh, status quo here, let's say, and probably taking it at face value. 

 

Anyone can have problems with Shipping. There are a couple big advantages to Amazon:

 

1.) You get 2 day shipping and a great return replacement policy with minimal hassle. 

2.) If you have prime, you've likely already paid up front for all your 2 day shipping and don't have to pay another shipping fee per shipment.

3.) Shipping is inherently risky. People representing an entire country of millions of people (earlier people were saying Italy never has problems with shipping from Amazon, it's just the US, etc) from one or two people's bad experiences, unlucky experiences, which I am sure happened btw, that's just not the right way to look at things. You can have trouble with a partially crushed box, lost shipment, or anything depending on any retailer you buy from.

That's all. I actually did what I said I was gonna do and I took a big risk doing so, so yeah, It annoys me when people just go back to doing that same thing that was like... not applicable to everyone. And proved it. 

 

Anyway I've said my peace on the subject. Go ahead and think Atari is better, that's fine. I know who I trust more when it comes to getting something and being covered. 

 

 

Edited July 13 by tradyblix

[+GoldLeader]

4 minutes ago, tradyblix said:

Ah yes, restoring to mockery. The true sign of winning an argument.

 

Look, I came on here and I noticed a couple people having a bad experience and then representing to others that somehow Atari is exempt from shipping issues. Or is a better choice. But I know what happened over Christmas last year when people tried relying on them. So I have to speak up. I had my 2600 while watching posts in this forum for WEEKS where they were waiting on a shipment from Atari and I even watched our Ben intervene personally for them because Atari Corporate's customer relations department dropped the ball. That's all facts. 

 

I don't think there's anything wrong with standing up for the truth, especially as it might help people that are reading the uh, status quo here, let's say, and probably taking it at face value. 

 

Anyone can have problems with Shipping. There are a couple big advantages to Amazon:

 

1.) You get 2 day shipping and a great return replacement policy with minimal hassle. 

2.) If you have prime, you've likely already paid up front for all your 2 day shipping and don't have to pay another shipping fee per shipment.

3.) Shipping is inherently risky. People representing an entire country of millions of people (earlier people were saying Italy never has problems with shipping from Amazon, it's just the US, etc) from one or two people's bad experiences, unlucky experiences, which I am sure happened btw, that's just not the right way to look at things. You can have trouble with a partially crushed box, lost shipment, or anything depending on any retailer you buy from.

That's all. I actually did what I said I was gonna do and I took a big risk doing so, so yeah, It annoys me when people just go back to doing that same thing that was like... not applicable to everyone. And proved it. 

 

Anyway I've said my peace on the subject. Go ahead and think Atari is better, that's fine. I know who I trust more when it comes to getting something and being covered. 

 

 

 

And then you said your stuff arrived perfectly in mint condition,  but didn't put up pics (JPEGS) but some downloadable thing my computer can't decipher....Don't get me wrong I, I still believe you,  just...

[+jeremiahjt]

5 minutes ago, tradyblix said:

Ah yes, restoring to mockery. The true sign of winning an argument.

 

Look, I came on here and I noticed a couple people having a bad experience and then representing to others that somehow Atari is exempt from shipping issues. Or is a better choice. But I know what happened over Christmas last year when people tried relying on them. So I have to speak up. I had my 2600 while watching posts in this forum for WEEKS where they were waiting on a shipment from Atari and I even watched our Ben intervene personally for them because Atari Corporate's customer relations department dropped the ball. That's all facts. 

 

I don't think there's anything wrong with standing up for the truth, especially as it might help people that are reading the uh, status quo here, let's say, and probably taking it at face value. 

 

Anyone can have problems with Shipping. There are a couple big advantages to Amazon:

 

1.) You get 2 day shipping and a great return replacement policy with minimal hassle. 

2.) If you have prime, you've likely already paid up front for all your 2 day shipping and don't have to pay another shipping fee per shipment.

3.) Shipping is inherently risky. People representing an entire country of millions of people (earlier people were saying Italy never has problems with shipping from Amazon, it's just the US, etc) from one or two people's bad experiences, unlucky experiences, which I am sure happened btw, that's just not the right way to look at things. You can have trouble with a partially crushed box, lost shipment, or anything depending on any retailer you buy from.

That's all. I actually did what I said I was gonna do and I took a big risk doing so, so yeah, It annoys me when people just go back to doing that same thing that was like... not applicable to everyone. And proved it. 

 

Anyway I've said my peace on the subject. Go ahead and think Atari is better, that's fine. I know who I trust more when it comes to getting something and being covered. 

 

 

Amazon shipped your game in a box, the proper way. Multiple people here received games from Amazon in a bubble mailer, which is not the proper way to ship something like this. You defending Amazon for shipping games in that state is ridiculous.

 

You even said it was unreasonable for people to expect Amazon to deliver their games in new condition. That is mind blowing. If somebody buys something new from Amazon, the correct expectation is that it arrives in new condition.

 

Even the person who mentioned Amazon canceling their pre-order did not invoke a condemnation of Amazon from you. You instead mentioned that the game has not been available for months, which has nothing to do with Amazon taking a customer's pre-order, and then canceling it. Which is not something I would think most people think is okay.

 

It is one thing to give a contrary opinion, it is quite another to continously goal tend. And goal tend for one of the biggest companies in the world at that.

[tradyblix]

2 minutes ago, GoldLeader said:

 

And then you said your stuff arrived perfectly in mint condition,  but didn't put up pics (JPEGS) but some downloadable thing my computer can't decipher....Don't get me wrong I, I still believe you,  just...

heic files come from modern cameras. This forum software is ancient and doesn't know about them. Most people can view them, I think windows users might need to install a driver as you know, it's windows.

But since you were having trouble and seeming doubtful, I converted them to jpgs for you.

[tradyblix]

3 minutes ago, jeremiahjt said:

You even said it was unreasonable for people to expect Amazon to deliver their games in new condition. That is mind blowing. If somebody buys something new from Amazon, the correct expectation is that it arrives in new condition.

That is FALSE.

What I said was, it's not reasonable for people who are looking to get stuff in MINT condition, ie, collectors copies, pristine, what have you via mass market shipping options.

You have to accept there may be some slight shelfwear or damage. Hell, even my copy has very tight shrinkwrap and some minor damage. I was simply saying, if you expect that level of stuff, buy it from a store where you can see what you're getting. 

 

In any event, you just ask for amazon to replace it. and you can do it multiple times without issue with amazon. they won't care. They may not ship it right either, but that's life. However I didn't have any problems, as you can see. 

 

I'm not trying to invalidate anyones experiences. But there was a bunch of angry, silly crap in here about how Amazon sucks and Ataris so much better and I just had to laugh at that, especially after watching people stress before christmas last year after Atari didn't ship their 2600 in a timely way, leaving them unclear what was going on, while i had mine already and got it from Amazon within 2 days. 

 

 

[Striker667xbl]

8 hours ago, ForceInfinity said:

Hey Ben, I attached the photo.  The cartridge sleeve is a bit off too

My Fatal Run sleeve is exactly like this too! Everything else was pristine though! 

[tradyblix]

29 minutes ago, jeremiahjt said:

It is one thing to give a contrary opinion, it is quite another to continously goal tend. And goal tend for one of the biggest companies in the world at that.

I'm giving a contrary opinion. It's even an educated opinion based on real world experiences.

That's fine. I'm used to people on the internet not being able to handle differing opinions,  so whatever. The ignore button is right there for you if you can't handle it . 

 

I hope that the Atari stuff arrives tomorrow without issue. All I'm saying, which I don't think should be controversial, is that the conventional wisdom in this thread appears suspect to me and I thought I could show easily that it, well, was suspect. I feel like I've done that, and we can all go back to waiting for Ninja golf to you know, not be scalped on ebay for 99 dollars someday and be as available as cheaply as old Fatal Run here. 

 

Also, here's another opinion many others don't share: I don't want those sleeves. The original games never had them, they make it so the carts don't fit in 2600 cart holders... I am loathe to throw mine away... I know they are loved but man, It's a lot of wasted paper IMO

 

 

Edited July 13 by tradyblix

[+GoldLeader]

17 minutes ago, tradyblix said:

heic files come from modern cameras. This forum software is ancient and doesn't know about them. Most people can view them, I think windows users might need to install a driver as you know, it's windows.

But since you were having trouble and seeming doubtful, I converted them to jpgs for you.

 

OK NOW I believe you.  Just kidding I believed you before but my computer couldn't show me the proof.

 

 

As far as buying in stores,  BITD,  I always remember Atari cartridges in boxes being pretty much pristine condition.  And Believe you me I WISH stores carried them.  But who?   Maybe you're lucky enough to have a mom and pop game store left or a Good game store without driving for 2 hours,  but around here we have corporate crap like GameStop and nothing else.  They haven't been relevant in years to me...In fact GameStop DID carry the Atari Flashback (I forget which number, maybe 6 or 8...something), but they specifically carried the SD model with AV out and NOTHING ELSE!  I asked where the GOLD model was or the Activision,  the HD stuff,  or the one I wanted,  the Deluxe model with Paddles,  and they looked at me like I was speaking Chinese.  In fact the last time I actually tried shopping at GameStop,  I found ONE PS3 game used that I wanted,  and one of only 3 used games in the Entire store that had a box!   I took it up and the kid behind the counter horked the box when I looked away and stuck the game in some marker riddled plastic crap sleeve and handed it to me.  For a minute I gave an unbelieving blank stare,  then said,  "I don't want this."  I just handed you a game IN THE BOX.  One of like 3 Game boxes in your entire store!  What happened to the box???  And he looked at me and said,  "Oh you Wanted the box?"

 

And I said "What kind of twisted person Doesn't want the box??  tradyblix maybe..."

(OK NOT the last sentence,  but everything else my hand to God)...

 

 

ATARI,  if you ever do get this stuff into stores...Preferably stores around here,  but Denver'd be OK,  do be a dear and let me know OK?