New Atari 7800+, Wireless Controllers and 2600/7800 Games Announced

[Dionoid]

10 hours ago, Ben from Plaion said:

No, as previous releases, 2600 releases will be NTSC and 7800 will have NTSC and PAL versions.

As a PAL game collector, it’s great to hear that the EU distributed 7800+ games will be PAL! Or will these new carts be self-detecting both NTSC and PAL?

 

Is there a specific reason that the new 2600+ games will be NTSC only? That means that those games won’t run correctly on original 2600 PAL machines.

(Note: with “correctly” I mean the correct colors)

[PacManPlus]

9 hours ago, Neon Wraith said:

All this talk about Pokey/Hokey has go me all turned around.  It seems that everyone here is missing the inherent joke in the phrasing and typing it backwards.  It should be Hokey/Pokey and you'll turn yourself around.  That's what it's all about, isn't it?

Did you know that the guy that wrote the Hokey Pokey died?

They had trouble getting him in the coffin though.

They put his left leg in...

[+Fred_M]

9 hours ago, Neon Wraith said:

All this talk about Pokey/Hokey has go me all turned around.  It seems that everyone here is missing the inherent joke in the phrasing and typing it backwards.  It should be Hokey/Pokey and you'll turn yourself around.  That's what it's all about, isn't it?

😂 I am Dutch, not familair with the song. So never spot the joke.

[Ben from Plaion]

6 hours ago, nopaybob said:

Amazon shows preorders delivery by Dec 3rd so delivery for us who ordered from atari direct should be end of January to mid February 🙄

Atari.com and Amazon orders will ship at the same time. Thanks

[Ben from Plaion]

5 hours ago, Dionoid said:

As a PAL game collector, it’s great to hear that the EU distributed 7800+ games will be PAL! Or will these new carts be self-detecting both NTSC and PAL?

 

Is there a specific reason that the new 2600+ games will be NTSC only? That means that those games won’t run correctly on original 2600 PAL machines.

(Note: with “correctly” I mean the correct colors)

I've received two seperate ROMs from Bob himself for each of the new 7800 games that are PAL and NTSC. They are not self-detecting.

 

For 2600 games, this is just a continuation of the way we've handled 2600 game releases thus far. TBH the demand for a specific PAL version is so miniscule its just not worth the bother. 

[+-^CrossBow^-]

15 minutes ago, Ben from Plaion said:

I've received two seperate ROMs from Bob himself for each of the new 7800 games that are PAL and NTSC. They are not self-detecting.

 

For 2600 games, this is just a continuation of the way we've handled 2600 game releases thus far. TBH the demand for a specific PAL version is so miniscule its just not worth the bother. 

In the case of the 7800 games you have to make both since you are designing these to work on original consoles as well,  you have to account for ntsc encryption checking that wasn't present on pal 7800 consoles and games. 

[Ben from Plaion]

17 minutes ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

In the case of the 7800 games you have to make both since you are designing these to work on original consoles as well,  you have to account for ntsc encryption checking that wasn't present on pal 7800 consoles and games. 

Yes, its been quite the nightmare!

[Mayhem]

1 hour ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

In the case of the 7800 games you have to make both since you are designing these to work on original consoles as well,  you have to account for ntsc encryption checking that wasn't present on pal 7800 consoles and games. 

I well know this (hence my exploration 20 years ago about how various NTSC 7800 games played on PAL) but my question was, I guess from a position of hope, that in the 30+ years since, technology had progressed and development was possible to handle both versions on a single cartridge. Given, despite being simpler in concept, the same is possible for 2600 games.

[Rhomaios]

On 8/20/2024 at 10:43 AM, Albert said:

None of the posts I made say that?  Can you point me to what you're seeing?  I did mention that Bounty Bob Strikes Back is one of the new games released, but I didn't state it was included.. 

 

 

 ..Al

Probably a misread on "including." If you read too hastily, I suppose it could seem like BBSB is included with the console.

 

Definitely getting this console. This is fantastic news.

[+Muddyfunster]

16 minutes ago, Mayhem said:

technology had progressed and development was possible to handle both versions on a single cartridge

It is possible to have PAL and NTSC on the same cart.

 

Recognition is easy and switching in the right colours is easy, where things become more challenging is things like timing. NTSC runs at 60hz, PAL at 50Hz so anything you are measuring in frames of activity have to be adjusted. That can be animation cycles, collision detection, amount of pixels or subpixel movement of player or enemies per frame and so on.

 

E.X.O. for example uses some logic on boot to determine what console it's running on and then sets all the variables and system stuff to manage that depending on whether it's PAL or NTSC. On other titles I just did a PAL version with the timings and colours adjusted. So it's not about having some magic bullet "modern" thing to fix it. There is usually a bunch of underlying stuff that needs changing also and having that all in the same cart, well if the game code isn't designed that way to accommodate that design, you have to rewrite code so a "PAL" version becomes the easiest way.

 

2 hours ago, Ben from Plaion said:

TBH the demand for a specific PAL version is so miniscule its just not worth the bother.

I've actually stopped making PAL versions of my games (Koppers was the last) due to lack of demand. 

[JetmanUK]

Boulderdash is switchable between NTSC, PAL and PAL60. Obviously it has to be programmed into the game.  With old games re-released this would be tricky to implement, but new games could be made like this. That said I am happy to be NTSC only!

 

I don't want compromised PAL games thank you, so if NTSC only is the way we have to go then so be it. 

 

Besides if you are concerned about a game running properly on your original PAL console then you can spend money on a Harmony cart and play the ROM. Will be cheaper for you!

 

If it's a new game then there is usually a PAL60 version, in this instance it would be nice to have that in PAL areas for maximum compatibility and performance, but not essential to me, I am happy to stick with NTSC and play it on my 2600 Plus.

Edited August 24 by JetmanUK

[JetmanUK]

15 minutes ago, Muddyfunster said:

It is possible to have PAL and NTSC on the same cart.

 

Recognition is easy and switching in the right colours is easy, where things become more challenging is things like timing. NTSC runs at 60hz, PAL at 50Hz so anything you are measuring in frames of activity have to be adjusted. That can be animation cycles, collision detection, amount of pixels or subpixel movement of player or enemies per frame and so on.

 

E.X.O. for example uses some logic on boot to determine what console it's running on and then sets all the variables and system stuff to manage that. On other titles I just did a PAL version with the timings and colours adjusted. So it's not about having some magic bullet "modern" thing to fix it. There is usually a bunch of underlying stuff that needs changing also.

 

I've actually stopped making PAL versions of my games (Koppers was the last) due to lack of demand. 

That's a shame that you aren't making PAL60 games... but understandable if the demand is low.

Now we have the 2600/7800 Plus demand will only get lower. Less work for you and more people able to play your games without worrying about region! It's actually good news. 🤟🏻😊🤣

[Giles N]

1 hour ago, JetmanUK said:

That's a shame that you aren't making PAL60 games... but understandable if the demand is low.

Now we have the 2600/7800 Plus demand will only get lower. Less work for you and more people able to play your games without worrying about region! It's actually good news. 🤟🏻😊🤣

…a non-coder here, throwing in my opinion: 

   demand for specific PAL-games may grow a lot lower, 

   but demand for new and more 7800 Homebrews (or official new games) will grow, probably get much higher (as long as people get the information they get made, exist and can be bought).

 

I hope Atari will get more new Atari-IP  games made/published for the 7800+ in the future.
 

And with a stream of novel, original games (original homebrews), it may just be that we will see a Cult-Classic System Comeback-Overload (which is more than ok with me).

Edited August 24 by Giles N

[Dionoid]

2 hours ago, JetmanUK said:

Boulderdash is switchable between NTSC, PAL and PAL60. Obviously it has to be programmed into the game.  With old games re-released this would be tricky to implement, but new games could be made like this.

I personally don't like how this was solved in Boulderdash, where you have to set one of the switches in the correct position for NTSC or PAL; I always seem to have the switch in the wrong position, showing weird flickering on my 50Hz CRT television. I would rather have a regular PAL-only version.

But in Draconian this was solved in a pretty nifty manner by using its ARM chip in the cartridge to detect the machine's clock speed (PAL is slightly slower than NTSC) and then auto-switching to either NTSC or PAL.

 

Anyway, I'm happy to know that the new 7800+ games will be available as PAL (50 Hz?) in the EU.

Edited August 24 by Dionoid

[Orange Lynx]

I hope Atari releases Alien Brigade for the Atari 7800 Plus. An original copy is expensive.

[DEANJIMMY]

4 hours ago, Muddyfunster said:

It is possible to have PAL and NTSC on the same cart.

 

Recognition is easy and switching in the right colours is easy, where things become more challenging is things like timing. NTSC runs at 60hz, PAL at 50Hz so anything you are measuring in frames of activity have to be adjusted. That can be animation cycles, collision detection, amount of pixels or subpixel movement of player or enemies per frame and so on.

 

E.X.O. for example uses some logic on boot to determine what console it's running on and then sets all the variables and system stuff to manage that depending on whether it's PAL or NTSC. On other titles I just did a PAL version with the timings and colours adjusted. So it's not about having some magic bullet "modern" thing to fix it. There is usually a bunch of underlying stuff that needs changing also and having that all in the same cart, well if the game code isn't designed that way to accommodate that design, you have to rewrite code so a "PAL" version becomes the easiest way.

 

I've actually stopped making PAL versions of my games (Koppers was the last) due to lack of demand. 

The demand fades with the 2600+!

In the past if a new 7800 cart was released, I switched on my parrot "does it run on a PAL machine and are the colors corect? squawk, squawk"

 

Thanks to 2600+ this bullshit came to an end😡

Edited August 24 by DEANJIMMY

[Cap5750]

I’m going to need a wireless Epyx 500XJ to play summer and winter games with.

 

[Bakasama]

22 hours ago, Albert said:

This is exactly how the European 7800 looks, just without the "+".

 

 

 ..Al

Isn't the 7800+ about the same size as the 2600+?

[Albert]

21 minutes ago, Bakasama said:

Isn't the 7800+ about the same size as the 2600+?

I haven't seen one in person yet, but it's 80% the size of an original 7800. 
 

  ..Al

[+Al_Nafuur]

2 hours ago, Bakasama said:

Isn't the 7800+ about the same size as the 2600+?

1 hour ago, Albert said:

I haven't seen one in person yet, but it's 80% the size of an original 7800. 
 

  ..Al

 

The original 7800 is ~86% of the width of an 2600 and about the same depth. If the 2600+ is 80% of an original 2600 then the 7800+ should be smaller than a 2600+

[Albert]

1 minute ago, Al_Nafuur said:

The original 7800 is ~86% of the width of an 2600 and about the same depth. If the 2600+ is 80% of an original 2600 then the 7800+ should be smaller than a 2600+

I just took a look, the dimensions for the 7800+ are on the Atari website.  They are: 9" x 6.5" x 2.3".  The dimensions of the 2600+ are 10.63” x 7.09” x 2.76”.  

 

 ..Al

[+DrVenkman]

8 hours ago, Orange Lynx said:

I hope Atari releases Alien Brigade for the Atari 7800 Plus. An original copy is expensive.

It’s a really fun game with a light gun on a CRT. I know it can be played with a joystick (which means it can be played on a modern flatscreen) but it’s not nearly as fun as using the gun, unfortunately. 

[+sramirez2008]

5 hours ago, DrVenkman said:

It’s a really fun game with a light gun on a CRT. I know it can be played with a joystick (which means it can be played on a modern flatscreen) but it’s not nearly as fun as using the gun, unfortunately. 

Couldn't agree more. Honestly, Alien Brigade is best experienced on a CRT with a light gun.

[Orange Lynx]

9 hours ago, sramirez2008 said:

Couldn't agree more. Honestly, Alien Brigade is best experienced on a CRT with a light gun.

That's cool as heck.

[+Zeptari]

As an original AV modded NTSC 7800 owner this brings me much joy! Loving the large rainbow across the front, and Bob's work getting the attention he deserves. Kudos to everyone involved!