Atari acquires Intellivision brand and large game portofilio

[Giles N]

1 minute ago, Nall3k said:

We're probably going to see an Intellivision+

Bookmark this post, I am Nostradamus.

Wouldn’t it be better to contact a third party license-based publisher, since there aren’t that many Intellivision games all-in-all…?

 

I mean, the 2600 has 511 (give or take, as I don’t know how homebrews are counted), and the 2600+ plays also 7800 games which are now over 100, probably 110 all-in-all, but the Intellivision has some more than 130, and then some homebrews.

 

Could Atari benefit from all the work of getting a cart-dumper and emulation PC-core to really be quality, and sell Intellivision repro carts with profit…?

[mr_me]

1 hour ago, number6 said:

Yes, and another speaker gives some detail on Miner 2049er, which happens to appear on my list of BBG International trademarks. As I indicated earlier, I believe it will take some time to iron out where this all goes, much less produce a list.

 

Just to clarify where you said "transfer". Yes, but BBG (as the speaker said) has licenses for those "60" and literally everyone has stated former agreements will remain in place. Ergo, those "60" are not exclusive to either BBG or Atari. Obviously my list was shorter than "60", so either the number is exaggerated or I have more to find.

 

#6

Maybe this is known here but the speaker in the video is suggesting, without saying directly, that Atari SA bought the rights to Miner 2049er. They did publish it on their Atari 400 mini. The speaker developed and published an Intellivision Miner 2049er cartridge a few years ago on his Elektronite label, but apparently lost the license recently. Maybe Atari SA can put that Intellivision version in their offerings.

 

The "60" are part of the classic Intellivision games that Atari SA just acquired. BBG had a license to published them, now those rights are owned by Atari. So if BBG were to do do anything with that license, royalties go back to Atari SA.

 

 

37 minutes ago, Nall3k said:

We're probably going to see an Intellivision+

Bookmark this post, I am Nostradamus.

That would be great but I'd be surprised to see any Intellivision hardware from Atari SA. Maybe Atgames will do another Intellivision Flashback we'll see.

Edited May 28 by mr_me

[famicommander]

I don't think there are enough physical Intellivision carts out there to make something like an Intellivision+ worthwhile.

 

An emulation box with a controller that has a d-pad, face/shoulder buttons, an analog stick, and a keypad focusing on Intellivision, Atari 2600/5200/7800/8bit, and Jaguar games might be worthwhile. The analog stick would let you play 5200 games and 2600 trackball/paddle/rotary games out of the box and the keypad would be good for Intellivision/Jag/5200/keypad 2600 games. 

[number6]

7 minutes ago, mr_me said:

Maybe this is known here but the speaker in the video is suggesting, without saying directly, that Atari SA bought the rights to Miner 2049er. They did publish it on their Atari 400 mini. The speaker developed and published an Intellivision Miner 2049er cartridge a few years ago on his Elektronite label, but apparently lost the license recently. Maybe Atari SA can put that Intellivision version in their offerings.

 

The "60" are part of the classic Intellivision games that Atari SA just acquired. BBG had a license to published them, now those rights are owned by Atari. So if BBG were to do do anything with that license, royalties go back to Atari SA.

 

 

That would be great but I'd be surprised to see any Intellivision hardware from Atari SA. Maybe Atgames will do another Intellivision Flashback we'll see.

I don't expect people to actually read the documents I linked to, so this is again just an illustration in plain English, not legalese.

 

Atari filed legal objection to the BBG filing for the Miner 2049ER trademark. uspto agreed based on that "cursory" examination I mentioned as an early step in the trademark process. When notified by uspto of the rejection based on conflict of same name, BBG pointed uspto to the International registration I linked to.

This registration showed "precedence" by date and therefore uspto basically had to grant BBG their filing.

 

Without spending years reading all the documentation on every mark, I can only conclude this is a shared mark at this point, but it does point to trademark grabbing by multiple parties. This is all dated and clearly coincides with the general knowledge that IE was having issues of some magnitude.

Nothing to be disturbed about, just what is expected in business.

 

My bottom line would be for all parties to communicate and work together if any ill feelings remain, as this is just 1 example. I have not the time to look for all the others.

 

#6

[number6]

@thread

 

As long as we remain in speculation mode, here's one:

 

Why Intellivision Games Could Be Coming To Antstream Arcade

 

mr_me mentioned "Atari 400 mini", which got me thinking. Darren Melbourne, the licensing expert behind all Retro Games Ltd. projects is also co-founder and licensing director at Antstream. Could this also be that gentle way to test the waters before embarking on a more bold venture with the IE brand?

And what better person to consult with regarding any licensing issues that might arise or already exist regarding distribution of titles thought to be off limits?

 

#6

[zzip]

15 hours ago, mr_me said:

Maybe this is known here but the speaker in the video is suggesting, without saying directly, that Atari SA bought the rights to Miner 2049er.

Miner 2049er and Bounty Bob Strikes Back showed up on the last Atari IP list before Atari stopped publishing them (in 2022).  As far as I can tell there was never an announcement about this though.   Those games were also in Atari 50.

 

16 hours ago, mr_me said:

The speaker developed and published an Intellivision Miner 2049er cartridge a few years ago on his Elektronite label, but apparently lost the license recently. Maybe Atari SA can put that Intellivision version in their offerings.

It's possible,  Atari did release the homebrew 7800 Frenzy in the VCS store now that they own that license.    I was shocked to learn that Intellivision didn't have a Miner 2049er game from BITD since that game got ported to everything under the sun!

[number6]

@thread

 

Perhaps this is a bit much and many of you already know all of this?

 

Quite a rapid fire mention of most of the Atari IP and relationships

 

Oddly he mentions RetroGames Ltd., Paul, and Darren multiple times, so obviously a relationship exists there already.

 

#6

[zzip]

17 hours ago, Giles N said:

No, it’s not hard - you just flesh out the categories you mentioned in ways that feels proper to the atmosphere in Adventure and the later homebrew based but recognised sequel Adventure 2.

 

Yes, you may actually have to spend time doing the fleshing-out, but it isn’t hard.

 

This is half-a-joke: I can do the Lore-fleshing-out and general world-reconceptualization for free, if Atari asks me.

It needs to be incremental though, or else you risk dumping a load of lore and new mechanics into Adventure at once and it not feeling like Adventure anymore.  And that would alienate some fans.  Nintendo didn't get from Legend of Zelda to Breath of the Wild in one step, it took many.

 

It's kind of like the Haunted House game Atari released last year,  while it's a fun game, it doesn't really feel connected to the original game other than the cartridge collectibles they throw in to keep reminding you it's an Atari game.

[Giles N]

1 hour ago, zzip said:

It needs to be incremental though, or else you risk dumping a load of lore and new mechanics into Adventure at once and it not feeling like Adventure anymore. 

I feel I took into account that it must have the overall ‘feel’ of its predecessor(s) - even though lots of time have gone by - in my suggestions for new game-mechanics in my ‘New/Modern Adventure’-thread.

I didn’t write much about lore and I’m unsure it’s the kind of game that wants ‘deep’ lore. More characters, sure. Getting to know snd see the characters; sure.

 

Some old-schoolers will never be satisfied, because their personal attachment is psychological (this is not meant as criticism, just description of a common reality) and if the attachment is too solidified, perceive any necessary leaps - in order to make things meaningful as of 2024-standards - to be too large, almost no matter how one went about it. 

 

So, something that’s inbetween - both having many familiar gameplay-mechanics and expand them in a direction distinct to the franchise, and upgrade graphics and sound to at least something meaningful by 2020ies, is what one would want.

 

As to lore, I’m unsure a game like Adventure calls for anything deep; it feels more like an early action-adventure game rather than a rpg.

 

So, - I came with very few if none suggestions for some ‘lore’, but gave several descriptions of gameplay mechanics and some AI concept art (It’s the 2D top-down ones that has anything to do with a natural successor, the others are ‘lets dream out loud’).

The gameplay mechincs may make for a boring read, and it may be hard to envision how it would all play out in the game-world when all elements wouid be included.

And it isn’t meant as complete, but suggestive and open to more feedback or thoughts.

BTW: the thread is also full of bull, as we - at least I had fun - discussing the concepts, good, bad and ugly.

 

The thread isn’t meant as complete, and may be continued by anyone who have some opinion on the subject.

 

I feel that, ahem, oldschoolers may also need to just get unstucked as to what they believe a game should have as ‘feel’. Sure, Haunted House reset the perspective from top-down to isometric, and looked more like a childrens version of Midnight Mutants with less emphasis on action but more on stealth.

I can see the difference there.

 

The Recharged games, keeps the basic gameplay, and often the perspective, then adds weapons, but almost utterly lacks a feel of real progression (new levels with new graphics and new enemies not seen before and new dangers or problems to solve, using the given gameplay).

But then again, they aren’t published as sequels.

As to a New Adventure, the incremental effect would bridge alot of time, with the in-game progression, making the first levels to have you redo much of the things done in Adventure and Adventure 2, and as levels continue, more tasks and getting to grips with mastering more actions, is necessesary to succeed.

Level 1-3 wouid feel fairly much like Adventure 1 and 2 Recharged, level 4-7 would let you feels you’re into a true sequel, and the later levels have you see and do utterly new things.

Edited May 29 by Giles N

[MrBeefy]

23 hours ago, Giles N said:

Ok, and with that element changed - would they be served releasing an Intellivision GameStation…?

Maybe. The Intv Flashback didn't sell as well as the Atari ones. So they might be better served to find ways to incorporate them into the same products as the 2600/7800. I really feel like the Intv doesn't have the same pull as an Atari product for more casuals.

[Giles N]

1 hour ago, MrBeefy said:

Maybe. The Intv Flashback didn't sell as well as the Atari ones. So they might be better served to find ways to incorporate them into the same products as the 2600/7800. I really feel like the Intv doesn't have the same pull as an Atari product for more casuals.

What if they sold it as very complete/complete (ie fantastic hombrews like Princess Quest licensed) and also filled it up with other games from various systems, making it feel very much like a GameStation with something for everyone, it’s mainfeature being the Intellivision line-up, but much broader.

 

They would have to design a comfortable, modern gamestick with numeral keys too, so why not include Atari 5200 games, either what they own or under license done by a collaborative partner…?

It could be cool to see Resque on Fractalus on it. Perhaps Ballblazer and if someone could dig up from whom to license ‘Blsster’ it would be really cool.

 

Sure the income would be spread among the collobarting partners, but as time flies, Atari need to make sure their older systems are remembered and if they want to make Recharged games of Intellivision stuff, they should make sure that gamers get to play the originals easy and with quality before they get even more dated.

 

Yes, its thr question of how much to make money on here, and it’s the other question to stay relevant - get noticed.

 
Their new games will be more easily picked up, if Atari is relevant in the e-shops, on YouTube and in retrogaming hardware stores.

 

If no-one has heard from you for a long time, why should have continued feeling of staying interested and checking out new stuff…?

 

That would limit it to breakthrough releases like Atari 50th, perhaps in part the 2600+… for outsiders.

 

The rest would be for die-hard core.

 

Atari need to show they’re there and makes retrogaming be relevant, accessible and fun…

 

 

Edited May 29 by Giles N

[Giles N]

3 hours ago, zzip said:

new mechanics into Adventure at once and it not feeling like Adventure anymore.

Would you rather sell to 500 Atari fans, than 5000 modern gamers open to anything that looks stylish and have quality gameplay?

(the reality could be 50 oldschoolers vs 50000 modern gamers, if the game is really good in itself, but just doesn’t look ‘enough like the 2600-original’ for the 50 who walks away) 

 

Sure, you can risk turning off oldschoolers with a sequel, but that is what good game-designing is about; making the progress go in right/correct (franchise-)direction, recreate the general atmosphere, build from the core concepts, but expand everything.

 

Edited May 29 by Giles N

[Giles N]

Ok, just got to throw in these ideas that can be used either on a GameStation or a software collection:

 

- add lots of screen filters, even like adjusting your own CRT for these games

 

- add speed-up mode

- add slow down mode

 

- add savestates & rewind

 

- add overclock-mode (making games with possibilities of slowdowns, always run at perfect 60 fps no matter what)

 

[MrBeefy]

5 hours ago, Giles N said:

What if they sold it as very complete/complete (ie fantastic hombrews like Princess Quest licensed) and also filled it up with other games from various systems, making it feel very much like a GameStation with something for everyone, it’s mainfeature being the Intellivision line-up, but much broader.

 

They would have to design a comfortable, modern gamestick with numeral keys too, so why not include Atari 5200 games, either what they own or under license done by a collaborative partner…?

It could be cool to see Resque on Fractalus on it. Perhaps Ballblazer and if someone could dig up from whom to license ‘Blsster’ it would be really cool.

 

Sure the income would be spread among the collobarting partners, but as time flies, Atari need to make sure their older systems are remembered and if they want to make Recharged games of Intellivision stuff, they should make sure that gamers get to play the originals easy and with quality before they get even more dated.

 

Yes, its thr question of how much to make money on here, and it’s the other question to stay relevant - get noticed.

 
Their new games will be more easily picked up, if Atari is relevant in the e-shops, on YouTube and in retrogaming hardware stores.

 

If no-one has heard from you for a long time, why should have continued feeling of staying interested and checking out new stuff…?

 

That would limit it to breakthrough releases like Atari 50th, perhaps in part the 2600+… for outsiders.

 

The rest would be for die-hard core.

 

Atari need to show they’re there and makes retrogaming be relevant, accessible and fun…

 

 

I think having homebrews on it would be cool, but still wouldn't be a big pull outside people like myself who like homebrews.

 

It might be worth a shot, but I think doing multiple systems on a Flashback type device would be a more sure sale than a lone Intv device.

[zzip]

15 hours ago, Giles N said:

Would you rather sell to 500 Atari fans, than 5000 modern gamers open to anything that looks stylish and have quality gameplay?

(the reality could be 50 oldschoolers vs 50000 modern gamers, if the game is really good in itself, but just doesn’t look ‘enough like the 2600-original’ for the 50 who walks away)

If you want to appeal to the latter group,  then what's the point of sticking to the "Adventure" franchise?   It's got a generic name that isn't going to grab genre fans attention as they are scrolling through the online store (unless they are old fans who remember the name), and it has almost no lore.  

[Giles N]

3 hours ago, zzip said:

If you want to appeal to the latter group,  then what's the point of sticking to the "Adventure" franchise? 

If I was Atari, I’d use something that wouid have throwback/retro value, both in case they’d get interested in the historical part of gaming, but also to fill-in/compensate for something that Atari have missed time and time again - build red threads, continuation of franchises and ‘worlds’.

 

As to titles being generic. 
Does generic have to mean boring or unsuccessful?

 

 

Commando’… you’re a Commando-soldier… 
 

Ghost n Goblins: english phrase for fairy-tale spooks.

 

Mercs = abreviation for mercenaries. In the game from Capcom, you are one of three… mercenaries…

 

Street Fighter… hmm; what are the character doing here as to activities? 

 

Utter failures, or epic retro titles…?

 

3 hours ago, zzip said:

It's got a generic name that isn't going to grab genre fans attention as they are scrolling through the online store

 

That’s why you add a cool cover picture, and add something more to ‘Adventure’: ‘Adventure: The Chalice-Born’, ‘Adventure: Return of The Nameless Evil’ ‘Adventure: bookes of dragon fables and chalice tables’, ‘Rise of the Return of Adventure’, Adventure: The Evil Magician Strikes Back’, ‘The NeverEnding ADVENTURE’, ‘The Lord of Adventures’ or similarily totally original ReTitles.

 

You may also notice that modern adventure/rpgs doesn’t have utterly novel, never-ever before used concepts in their titles.

 

You may notice that companies do actively try to build on whatever they have that has some fame.

 

World of Warcraft is totally different genre (massive, multiplayer online rpg) than Warcraft 1 and 2 (top-down/isometric action-strategy).

 

Using the stuff, the names, the concepts where you already have some name and fame, is a very common thing to do.

 

3 hours ago, zzip said:

and it has almost no lore.  

No, and whether it should have a deep lore or just some recognizable items that binds it all together would part of design direction discussion.

 

I would say: a minimalistic lore, - perhaps like Sword of Vermillion for the Genesis; more than that may feel akward.

 

It could however be built upon a tiny bit more, bit-by-bit, for every sequel.

 

If it doesn’t feel like it could truly or at least possibly be found as medieval legend concepts, - but would be made-up to feed into very modern/recent thought-patterns, - speaking from my taste; please leave it out.

 

Edited May 30 by Giles N

[Giles N]

13 hours ago, MrBeefy said:

It might be worth a shot, but I think doing multiple systems on a Flashback type device would be a more sure sale than a lone Intv device.

Yes, either multiple-systems or a leading system with an additional ‘Arcade-Hall’, ‘Video Game Collection’.

 

Often, such systems have some main-feature, or main-brand, even if it also have more content.

 

If they were to make money on the IPs without further acqusitions, they need some way of presenting everything they stuff in-there as a meaningful unity.

[Albert]

Regarding the count of 200+ titles that Atari acquired, I can confirm that there are over 30 Aquarius titles and over 180 Intellivision titles.  This does include games that were never commercially released.  There's nothing Amico-specific as far as I'm aware.

 

 ..Al

[number6]

15 minutes ago, Albert said:

Regarding the count of 200+ titles that Atari acquired, I can confirm that there are over 30 Aquarius titles and over 180 Intellivision titles.  This does include games that were never commercially released.  There's nothing Amico-specific as far as I'm aware.

 

 ..Al

Thank you. And I felt Mr. Moeller was joking when he thought there was.

 

Source timestamp

 

#6

[zzip]

19 minutes ago, Giles N said:

Does generic have to mean boring or unsuccessful?

 

If names didn't matter,  companies wouldn't spend so much time and market research to choose the right one.

 

Back in the 70s and 80s, many games were bringing brand new concepts to video games, so you could call them "pong" or "fire truck" or "asteroids" and it didn't matter since they were defining a genre.  But now every genre is crowded and you need your game to stand out in a crowded app store.

 

29 minutes ago, Giles N said:

Commando’… you’re a Commando-soldier… 
 

Ghost n Goblins: english phrase for fairy-tale spooks.

 

Mercs = abreviation for mercenaries. In the game from Capcom, you are one of three… mercenaries…

 

Street Fighter… hmm; what are the character doing here as to activities? 

The games you mention were arcade games, where it wasn't the name that attracted you as much as the gameplay/attract screen which was the first thing that caught people's attention.    But now in an app store you have about 0.3 seconds to attract a users attention with the name and artwork on your game banner before they scroll to the next one.   The name matters more than ever.

 

40 minutes ago, Giles N said:

That’s why you add a cool cover picture, and add something more to ‘Adventure’: ‘Adventure: The Chalice-Born’, ‘Adventure: Return of The Nameless Evil’ ‘Adventure: bookes of dragon fables and chalice tables’, ‘Rise of the Return of Adventure’, Adventure: The Evil Magician Strikes Back’, ‘The NeverEnding ADVENTURE’, ‘The Lord of Adventures’ or similarily totally original ReTitles.

These names will appeal to the original fans, but don't really say "must play" to people who aren't familiar with the concept. 

 

44 minutes ago, Giles N said:

You may also notice that modern adventure/rpgs doesn’t have utterly novel, never-ever before used concepts in their titles.

 

You nat notice that companies do actively try to build on whatever they have that has some fame.

But they choose names that evoke a particular feel  "Elden Ring" - You may now know what an Elden Ring is but the name sounds like an intriguing Fantasy RPG.   "Fallout" - Sounds post-apocalyptic, if you like post-apocalypic settings, you'll check it out.   "Resident Evil" - sounds like a creepy game.

"Adventure" - is it point and click?  What is the setting?   The name offers almost no information about the game

 

This is why I think SwordQuest was a much better name for an adventure or RPG franchise since it gives a sense that it will be a fantasy game and the name will attract the attention of those players.  Hell, they might even click on the game and watch the trailer!  

 

 

 

[Giles N]

18 minutes ago, Albert said:

This does include games that were never commercially released. 

Can they say anything about whether these games were completed, but unreleased, or whether they need additional work to be completed?

[Albert]

3 minutes ago, Giles N said:

Can they say anything about whether these games were completed, but unreleased, or whether they need additional work to be completed?

Not yet, we probably have to go through and make that determination for those games.

 

 ..Al

[Giles N]

28 minutes ago, zzip said:

"Adventure" - is it point and click?  What is the setting?   The name offers almost no information about the game

Yes, but since Atari have released several collections including Adventure (some of these may probably have reached at least some younger gamers, particulary deep-cut nerd types) and also introduced Adventure in the Lego 2600 (which then is used by children [and their parents?]) , at least it’s familiar to many, or at least a user group, through those means, and since the name ‘Adventure’ is generic, it’s so much you can fill in the ‘episode title’ (my examples above were on the humorous side, with the exception of ‘ChaliceBorn’. Actually any iteration that would have the remainder of the title include words like ‘Chalice, Realms, Dragons’ would immediatly set a particular tone.

 

And it wouldn’t feel wierd that the next sequel would again have the Main/Franchise-title ‘Adventure’ then followed by some other medieavel concepts in the title.

 

Of course, these secondary, episode-titles should sound interesting or create an atmosphere/feel.

 

And by all this, I will also say it serves Ataris own interest to make the Atari 5200/Atari 8-bit Adventure 2, widely known, as its backdrop graphics presents a much more recognizable visual feel/atmosphere to larger groups. 
The generation of gamers that are now 15-30, get regularily exposed to faux 8-bit and faux 16-bit modern-made games.

 

Adventure 2 for the 5200/8-Bit shouldn’t be ‘hard on the eyes’ even if the gameplay is minimalistic and I guess somewhat repetetive for modern gamers.

 

It should be a part of some DLC for the Atari 50th.

 

And Atari shouldn’t wait around like forever, before they get people aquainted with the quality stuff that are out there.

Edited May 30 by Giles N

[+jeremiahjt]

44 minutes ago, Albert said:

Regarding the count of 200+ titles that Atari acquired, I can confirm that there are over 30 Aquarius titles and over 180 Intellivision titles.  This does include games that were never commercially released.  There's nothing Amico-specific as far as I'm aware.

 

 ..Al

Can you confirm if there were any more M Network 2600 titles in there?

[MrBeefy]

12 minutes ago, Giles N said:

Yes, but since Atari have released several collections including Adventure (some of these may probably have reached at least some younger gamers, particulary deep-cut nerd types) and also introduced Adventure in the Lego 2600 (which then is used by children [and their parents?]) , at least it’s familiar to many, or at least a user group, through those means, and since the name ‘Adventure’ is generic, it’s so much you can fill in the ‘episode title’ (my examples above were on the humorous side, with the exception of ‘ChaliceBorn’. Actually any iteration that would have the remainder if title include words like ‘Chalice, Realms, Dragons’ would immediatly set a particular tone.

 

And it wouldn’t feel wierd that the next sequel would again have the Main/Franchise-title ‘Adventure’ then followed by some other medieavel concepts in the title.

 

Of course, these secondary, episode-titles should sound interesting or create an atmosphere/feel.

 

 

I think you could take the concept of Adventure and either do one RPG or break it up into several RPGs related to each other. Adventure: Quest for the Golden Chalice, Adventure: Shadow of the Black Tower, etc. etc. Or one based off one of my favorite homebrews. Adventure: Evil Magician Returns.

 

I'm not sold on the name, but the main character could be named Adventure.