Author: Doctor Clu (shadowout.aafes.com)
Date: 10-26-1999 11:28
Previously...
It's not as if there isn't a market for Atari hardware, afterall according to the majority of Atari commentators, there is supposed to be between 30-40million users/owners of Atari h/w out there, plus on top of that you have Atari users who have since moved on to PC/Mac/Amiga, Sega Sony etc... If this market isn't big enough i don't know what is ...
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You can always tell when someone has a strong feeling for something in their writing based off the amount of run-on sentences and how long they run, and boy did you ever run-on. ;)
Like many here, I am an Atarian through and through. I started on the 2600, then got an Atari 8-bit, and then this last year when I rediscovered Atari, I found out about and bought the Lynx, Jaguar, various Atari ST's and then my favorite, the Atari TT.
First, all of the above are far from being dead. Mostly dead perhaps, but not dead. There are still users making games for the game systems, and there are those making hardware and software for both the 8-bit and ST. These are done by people who have a geniune love for the computers and want to earn a few bucks verses a lot of bucks.
I used to think Amiga users were the most stubborn hackers in the world. Now I'm not so sure.
Reality check though... there are tens of thousands of Atari users and game players in the world. Perhaps even a hundred thousand. In the world from what I've managed to deduce.
There are MILLIONS of PC and Macintosh users. And naturally the ratio is similar when comparing Nintendo/Playstation vs. Jaguar.
Does this mean I want a Playstation. Hell no! (Currently wearing an Atari Jaguar T-Shirt under my sweater at work). Jaguar is a fine machine, and I limit my game playing to that system. I like Atari, don't care to do much else.
BUT! What about others out there who like newer systems, or maybe don't feel like hunting down a used Jaguar/2600/5200 but miss the old games. There we find the new life Atari. As you said, the market is huge, and Atari is there!
Look over the history of Atari. It had hardware, and innovation, and granted, without doing much hardware, you are leaving out a vital part of Atari. But then again, who's to say it won't happen again?
Look at the hardware side this way... Bushnell helped with at least the arcade units and pong. Then Warner Communications released the 2600, the 5200, 7800, and the 8-bit line. Then under Tremmell you get the XE, the Lynx, the Portfolio, the entire ST line, and the Jaguar.
The next owner, JTS, wouldn't do a damn thing.
Hasbro? Hasbro has done quite a lot already. First they have shelled out a ton of money for the advertising of their new games... new products!! Centipede, and their game selection for the Playstation are two.
For the Jaguar, they have released the rights to the developers who cares the encription code and have given the Jaguar community their blessing to please continue. Wow! They could have sold that information, or been jerks about it, but at least they won't sit on the technology till it rots (like Apple has done and is currently doing to their loyal Newton MessagePad community).
Hasbro has been outstanding!
Through history Atari pursued new avenues of technology, and seized opportunities. And of course, you remember "Atarisoft" don't you, who made games for competing games systems to their own 2600... the Coleco Vision, the Intellivision, TI/99, and >gasp!< the Commodore 64.
Later Atari would sell IBM PC computers with an Atari name slapped on it... the PC 1, the PC 5, the Portfolio.
There is no where Atari won't go. Why? Because Atari is cool. It has survived multiple owners, and each owner (with JTS as the exception) has done great things with it. Hasbro is just warming up, and I think it will do fine. Maybe after they've established the Atari name again, perhaps we will see another Atari game system.
And speaking of hardware, it is fun to keep an eye out for what Midway has done with the Atari arcade division. The most recent release....
GAUNTLET/ LEGENDS
Keep the faith,
Doctor Clu
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