Curt Vendel Posted June 23, 2006 Share Posted June 23, 2006 Just a note to everyone - There are 60K Rev C's on the water heading for the US, most likely these will all wind up at Walmart in the coming weeks, these are the last of the FB2's... These are a batch we had sitting out in HK for a while and Atari has requested them to be shipped to the US. These are all on the micro-mini PCB boards, they have all of the contact points in the upper left corner of the board and its easier to perform the cartridge mod on them. So if you open a unit up, and see the micro PCB inside, its the Rev C's Window for starting production of FB 2.5 / FB 3 is going to close in 1 week, if Atari doesn't commission it, it wont make it for this 06' holiday season. Curt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+FujiSkunk Posted June 23, 2006 Share Posted June 23, 2006 (edited) There are 60K Rev C's on the water heading for the US, most likely these will all wind up at Walmart in the coming weeks... Yahoo!!! Hey Curt, you mentioned before that the Rev C's would have something different on the packaging that we could look for. Is that not the case anymore? Either way, thanks a bunch for the heads-up! Edited June 23, 2006 by skunkworx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NightSprinter Posted June 23, 2006 Share Posted June 23, 2006 I do have to say this is fairly good news, Curt. Is there any idea as to what is fixed in terms of the on-board games, or compatibility with real Atari 2600 games for the cartridge mod? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted June 23, 2006 Share Posted June 23, 2006 Bravo Curt, and thanks for the update! I'm glad to hear that the Rev. C isn't dead after all. I'm also interested in knowing if there are any distinguishing marks that would help us spot the C. Here's hoping that Atari commissions the FB3; I'd love to see it become a reality, sooner rather than later if possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted June 23, 2006 Share Posted June 23, 2006 Great to hear that they are on the way--I periodically get email from people asking where they can buy a Flashback 2. Given that these new units will be easier to hack with a cartridge port, I will probably purchase several myself. ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaysmith2000 Posted June 23, 2006 Share Posted June 23, 2006 I plan to snag one of these as well, thanks for the heads up Curt. Of course, it won't be as cool as that hand-signed one I have... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walter_J64bit Posted June 23, 2006 Share Posted June 23, 2006 DUh! I hate Wal-mart but I'll be there looking for the FB2! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacob Rose Posted June 23, 2006 Share Posted June 23, 2006 There are 60K Rev C's on the water heading for the US, most likely these will all wind up at Walmart in the coming weeks, these are the last of the FB2's... These are a batch we had sitting out in HK for a while and Atari has requested them to be shipped to the US. Great! Thank you! Where can I get one? No, seriously, where can I get one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrekkiELO Posted June 23, 2006 Share Posted June 23, 2006 (edited) Thanks Curt, I really want a rev C, however, our North Western Indiana Wal-Marts have plenty of stock, but are 30-50 miles away from me plus add in high gas prices on my tight budget! How do we spot these without having to buy them, then open one up and take it back if it's not Signed, Rick Vendl II Edited June 23, 2006 by TrekkiELO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt Vendel Posted June 23, 2006 Author Share Posted June 23, 2006 Just wanted to clear a few things up for everyone so they understand - We had developed and put into the final runs of chips last year the Rev C chips. Atari requested the final 60K pieces of the original 860,000 piece run done in 2005. These are the final deliverables of the 2005 order. There is nothing in packaging to externally show any difference. All I can offer to everyone is the very small PCB's inside (I'll provide a phot later tonight) on these last 60K pieces has the Rev C in it. We addressed the list of issues such as Cosmic Ark, Galaxians and some of the other Hmoves issues and several of the Activision games not being compatible due to the memory scheme. This is not a new issue or a Rev 2.5 or a Rev 3, these are just the final FB2's. As I mentioned, the offer of an FB 2.5 and/or aka FB 2.5 called an FB 3 has been made and the clock is ticking, Atari has a week for the greenlight otherwise it will be impossible to meet shipment deadlines for the holiday 06' season for any product. In the labs we have a newer version of the FB 2 (in this case we'll refer to it as the FB 2.5) with different selection of games and a microslot that is 2600 cart electrically compatible and the games come on a micro card instead of being onboard, that was the proposed design. FB 2 Portable - we designed a handheld 2.5" TFT LCD system, same games as the FB2 and we had started working on an FB3 based on the 800/5200 chipset. The FB 2.5 could make it this year, but if nothing moves forward by July 7th the window of opportunity for this year is closed. I pulled together a group of investors, we even directly offered to Bonnell to finance the entire product, but no response from Atari or Bonnell whatsoever, so its now out of my hands guys, I have gone above and beyond to get another Atari product out for everyone. Curt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregory DG Posted June 23, 2006 Share Posted June 23, 2006 (edited) A portable FB2 would have been nice. Edited June 23, 2006 by Gregory DG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+FujiSkunk Posted June 23, 2006 Share Posted June 23, 2006 Curt, I for one appreciate everything you've done and continue to do for the community. It's a rare and novel thing when passion, know-how, and clout all come together, and I am grateful that it did here, even if only briefly. Thanks also for keeping us aware of things, as much as you've been able (and allowed). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrekkiELO Posted June 23, 2006 Share Posted June 23, 2006 (edited) Just wanted to clear a few things up for everyone so they understand - We had developed and put into the final runs of chips last year the Rev C chips. Atari requested the final 60K pieces of the original 860,000 piece run done in 2005. These are the final deliverables of the 2005 order. There is nothing in packaging to externally show any difference. All I can offer to everyone is the very small PCB's inside (I'll provide a phot later tonight) on these last 60K pieces has the Rev C in it. We addressed the list of issues such as Cosmic Ark, Galaxians and some of the other Hmoves issues and several of the Activision games not being compatible due to the memory scheme. This is not a new issue or a Rev 2.5 or a Rev 3, these are just the final FB2's. Curt Thanks again Curt, one last question! Is this the same rev C where you along with your other programmers fixed flicker in games like Yars Return, Caverns Of Mars, Lunar Lander et al and also made Adventure 2's colors brighter? Rick Edited June 23, 2006 by TrekkiELO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt Vendel Posted June 23, 2006 Author Share Posted June 23, 2006 Rick, Actually that wasn't anything to do with the chip it had to do with better timing in the games themselves, Dennis Debro and John (Champ Games) were commissioned by me after the release of Fb2 to do improved versions of Lunar Lander, Caverns of Mars, Yars' Return and I had corrected the colors in Adventure II for the Rev B/C release, the earlier Rev A release the colors were too dark between the brown and dark green... the idea was to have more of a dark forest kind of motif, but it was just not appropriate for most glass TVs, though on LCD and Plasma displays the colors actually appeared fine. Curt Just wanted to clear a few things up for everyone so they understand - We had developed and put into the final runs of chips last year the Rev C chips. Atari requested the final 60K pieces of the original 860,000 piece run done in 2005. These are the final deliverables of the 2005 order. There is nothing in packaging to externally show any difference. All I can offer to everyone is the very small PCB's inside (I'll provide a phot later tonight) on these last 60K pieces has the Rev C in it. We addressed the list of issues such as Cosmic Ark, Galaxians and some of the other Hmoves issues and several of the Activision games not being compatible due to the memory scheme. This is not a new issue or a Rev 2.5 or a Rev 3, these are just the final FB2's. Curt Thanks again Curt, one last question! Is this the same rev C where you along with your other programmers fixed flicker in games like Yars Return, Caverns Of Mars, Lunar Lander et al and also made Adventure 2's colors brighter? Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deathtrappomegranate Posted June 23, 2006 Share Posted June 23, 2006 Curt, I for one appreciate everything you've done and continue to do for the community. It's a rare and novel thing when passion, know-how, and clout all come together, and I am grateful that it did here, even if only briefly. Thanks also for keeping us aware of things, as much as you've been able (and allowed). Ditto Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geosteve Posted June 24, 2006 Share Posted June 24, 2006 I'll keep my fingers crossed that Atari gives the OK on FB3 and the other projects Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrekkiELO Posted June 24, 2006 Share Posted June 24, 2006 (edited) Rick, Actually that wasn't anything to do with the chip it had to do with better timing in the games themselves, Dennis Debro and John (Champ Games) were commissioned by me after the release of Fb2 to do improved versions of Lunar Lander, Caverns of Mars, Yars' Return Curt Thanks Curt, sorry about my misquote, so again, just to confirm, your commissioned improved versions of Lunar Lander, Caverns Of Mars and Yars Return are all on these "60,000 Rev Cs" right? Rick Edited June 24, 2006 by TrekkiELO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted June 24, 2006 Share Posted June 24, 2006 I'll keep my fingers crossed that Atari gives the OK on FB3 and the other projects Same here, would be great to see a Flashback 3!! ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feralstorm Posted June 24, 2006 Share Posted June 24, 2006 I certainly hope the Rev.C, not to mention the Portable FB2 and/or FB3, finds its way to me and the general public one way or another. If I can identify it as such, I'll grab a Rev.C - can always use some more joysticks to break. (I'm apparently tougher on the controllers than some) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paranoid Posted June 24, 2006 Share Posted June 24, 2006 I think Skunkworx said it best. Regardless of what comes of this, thanks for giving it your best shot, Curt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DEBRO Posted June 24, 2006 Share Posted June 24, 2006 (edited) Thanks Curt, sorry about my misquote, so again, just to confirm, your commissioned improved versions of Lunar Lander, Caverns Of Mars and Yars Return are all on these "60,000 Rev Cs" right? No If you'd like a version of Caverns of Mars the way it should have been done then check out Conquest of Mars. Edited June 24, 2006 by DEBRO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atariboy Posted June 24, 2006 Share Posted June 24, 2006 (edited) If they're not on there I guess I just saved $30. I really hope some of these other projects happen. Thanks also for all the work you've put into it and in giving it your best shot to get these other things out. I've had a lot of fun with my FB2 as have many other people. Edited June 24, 2006 by Atariboy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrekkiELO Posted June 24, 2006 Share Posted June 24, 2006 Thanks Curt, sorry about my misquote, so again, just to confirm, your commissioned improved versions of Lunar Lander, Caverns Of Mars and Yars Return are all on these "60,000 Rev Cs" right? No If you'd like a version of Caverns of Mars the way it should have been done then check out Conquest of Mars. Thanks Dennis. What about Yars Return and Lunar Lander? Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DEBRO Posted June 24, 2006 Share Posted June 24, 2006 What about Yars Return and Lunar Lander? No, the games we worked on are not on this unit. Only the original games that shipped with the earlier units. I don't know what will ever happen with the work John did on Lunar Lander (and Pong...he fixed that pass through bug) and the work I did on Yar's Return. I guess they'll stay on our CC2s for now Speaking on Yar's Return, now that the game is playable, I think the design was pretty good. I play it more than the original Yar's Revenge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atwwong Posted June 24, 2006 Share Posted June 24, 2006 What about Yars Return and Lunar Lander? No, the games we worked on are not on this unit. Only the original games that shipped with the earlier units. I don't know what will ever happen with the work John did on Lunar Lander (and Pong...he fixed that pass through bug) and the work I did on Yar's Return. I guess they'll stay on our CC2s for now Unfortunate... maybe one day... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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