RIP: Atari

[gear02]

From Avault: http://www.avault.com/news/displaynews.asp?story=2122003-101030


The last studio linked to classic video game company Atari is winding down its operations this month. More than 100 employees are losing their jobs. Some of these staffers date back to Atari's glory days in the 1970s. One employee even worked on Atari's second game - Tank. Parent company Midway Games - which bought Atari's arcade division in 1996 - told the NY Daily News that the downsizing is necessary to cut costs.

Atari became famous in the early '70s with a coin-operated cabinet featuring a video tennis game called Pong. The company later made the leap to household name with its 2600 game system and titles such as Asteroids and Centipede. The Atari 2600 was the first multi-game system to attach to a user's TV. Founder Nolan Bushnell sold Atari to Warner in 1976. The company later splintered - with the arcade business going to Midway and many consumer titles eventually landing at French games publisher Infogrames. Infogrames has re-released some titles in formats to match contemporary consoles and is currently using the Atari name to brand high end titles such as Unreal II. But the NY Daily News reports that there'll be no new games from Atari's creators.

While I'm sad to see Atari go, I do think it should have been dead long ago. Infogrames and Midway have been bastardizing the Atari logo for such steaming pile of sh*t such as Frogger and simply using it to promote their games.

[mcs328]

Yes...so sad. I see the Atari logo on t-shirts too. It's sort of like Nike's swoosh. Anyways, they were a good company...I had the Atari Lynx somewhere. It's what any iteration of the gameboy should have been...portable, backlit and afforadble-ish.

[gear02]

I thought when it came out, the Lynx was like 300 bucks. Correct me if I'm wrong.

The ultimate demise of Atari is the Jaguar. After that crap, it really couldn't survive much longer.

Think Sega is next?

[apmiller]

Originally posted by gear02
I thought when it came out, the Lynx was like 300 bucks. Correct me if I'm wrong.

The ultimate demise of Atari is the Jaguar. After that crap, it really couldn't survive much longer.

Think Sega is next?

I think the Lynx was $199 retail, I know it was price too high which was one of the downfalls...

Same with the Jaguar, wasn't that $399? Games ran around $79.99?

Both were good units but neither could get out from under the Nintendo/Sega shadow at the time. I think the TurboGraphic 16 came out that time too. That sytem had some great games for real cheap but again folks either wanted a Sega or Nintendo.

[Jihforce]

Anyone remember Neo-Geo? Anyone own it? :D

[Bires]

Originally posted by Jihforce
Anyone remember Neo-Geo? Anyone own it? :D

Ya...did ANYONE actually pay $80-200 for the games? As an arcade game, it was (and still is) great fun...but man...the $$!

[Tommy Boomfiger]

Originally posted by Bires


Ya...did ANYONE actually pay $80-200 for the games? As an arcade game, it was (and still is) great fun...but man...the $$! i knew someone who did. they totally wasted thier money when they didnt even have enough for it. they had all the game systems and games you could ever want. what a waste of money

[sbp]

Originally posted by gear02
From Avault: http://www.avault.com/news/displaynews.asp?story=2122003-101030



While I'm sad to see Atari go, I do think it should have been dead long ago. Infogrames and Midway have been bastardizing the Atari logo for such steaming pile of sh*t such as Frogger and simply using it to promote their games. I concur. For all intent and purposes the Atari of yonder with its glory days was dead long ago.

Those companies kept dragging out its classic hits and released lame new versions. :kaching: They also banked on name recognition. For youngsters today however, the Atari name {and games} mean little.

[ProMinx]

Originally posted by apmiller


I think the Lynx was $199 retail, I know it was price too high which was one of the downfalls...

Same with the Jaguar, wasn't that $399? Games ran around $79.99?

Both were good units but neither could get out from under the Nintendo/Sega shadow at the time. I think the TurboGraphic 16 came out that time too. That sytem had some great games for real cheap but again folks either wanted a Sega or Nintendo.

I'm pretty sure that the Jaguar was only $250. My neighbors owned the system and I think it was ahead of its time, but no one was willing to turn in their Genesis or SNES for this better system.

The Lynx was awesome. The Lynx and the Gamegear should have both outsruvived the Gameboy. What has come of our beloved video gaming market?

ProMinx

[apmiller]

Originally posted by ProMinx


I'm pretty sure that the Jaguar was only $250. My neighbors owned the system and I think it was ahead of its time, but no one was willing to turn in their Genesis or SNES for this better system.

The Lynx was awesome. The Lynx and the Gamegear should have both outsruvived the Gameboy. What has come of our beloved video gaming market?

ProMinx

I never understood why the Gamegear didn't hold out over GB. I loved my Gamegear! Back lit...color...oh why did it have to go?

I'm looking forward to the release of the N-Gage but worried about the price for the unit and all it's extra's...I can tell already I'm going to need like 5 jobs to maintain that thing!

[gear02]

My thinking of the demise of the Gamegear and Jaguar was that it was really expensive compared to the games and systems of that time. Remember, when the PS2 debuted at $300, we were stunned at the high price. Now, $50 per game and $200-300 for a system is normal to us.

[apmiller]

Originally posted by gear02
My thinking of the demise of the Gamegear and Jaguar was that it was really expensive compared to the games and systems of that time. Remember, when the PS2 debuted at $300, we were stunned at the high price. Now, $50 per game and $200-300 for a system is normal to us.

Good point but I'm not sure I'll ever be used to the high price of the latest game systems. I didn't have a problem paying the 149 for my GC for at the time I was not about to throw out 299 for a PS2 or Xbox. Now that they have come down in price I think more about picking up another system. Now there are rumors of another price drop taking everything down to 99. I rather wait to see if that happens before I fork out the money.

[ProMinx]

Didn't the X-Box and PS2 prices drop to 199 within a week of the Gamcube dropping to 149? I might be wrong, but I thought the timeframe was really close (as it always is for changes in the big three).

ProMinx

ProMinx - I miss SEGA hardware...even if this is an RIP ATARI thread...

[chrissy]

Originally posted by apmiller


Good point but I'm not sure I'll ever be used to the high price of the latest game systems. I didn't have a problem paying the 149 for my GC for at the time I was not about to throw out 299 for a PS2 or Xbox. Now that they have come down in price I think more about picking up another system. Now there are rumors of another price drop taking everything down to 99. I rather wait to see if that happens before I fork out the money.

Or hit CC for the bundled sunshine cube system for $159. Then get the free game on top of it. Then trade in the sunshine somewhere for something you like :) I did this, (kept sunshine for the kids, though) so it was like getting the system for $61ish plus the 59 memory card.

[Tommy Boomfiger]

Originally posted by apmiller
Now there are rumors of another price drop taking everything down to 99. I rather wait to see if that happens before I fork out the money. a console will usually go to $99 right before the new consoles come out probably to help clear out any excess stock. this case is different because of the $50 price gap between GC and the other 2. chances are that when GC goes to $99, PS2 and XB will probably go somewhere between $100 and 150. but because sony has been out for a year longer it might go down to 99 and if nintendo is also at that price ms will have almost no other recourse but to match them or offer big bundles and advertise to let people know

[chrissy]

I can't see any of them going to $99 right now. With the new systems not due out until 2005 (according to the vender reps @ work), they would want to suck up as much as they can at the current price. At least you would think. The Nintendo rep was just in last week and flat out said that the price wasn't going to drop for a while... but that could be smoke.

[gear02]

Originally posted by ProMinx
Didn't the X-Box and PS2 prices drop to 199 within a week of the Gamcube dropping to 149? I might be wrong, but I thought the timeframe was really close (as it always is for changes in the big three).

I'm not sure which was first, but I think that Microsoft announced that the Xbox is going to drop to $199 and Sony adamantly stated they wouldn't drop their price. Then I think Sony dropped theirs first, a couple days before Xbox's announced date for the new price. Then Nintendo Followed suit.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

[apmiller]

Originally posted by gear02


I'm not sure which was first, but I think that Microsoft announced that the Xbox is going to drop to $199 and Sony adamantly stated they wouldn't drop their price. Then I think Sony dropped theirs first, a couple days before Xbox's announced date for the new price. Then Nintendo Followed suit.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

As the story goes...

Nintendo Dropped to $149.99
Xbox stated it was dropping to $199 to stay competitive.
Sony said it had no plans to drop but then dropped to $199.99 the month before the Xbox was going to drop after rumors that the Xbox was going to match Nintendo (which was false).
Xbox one week later dropped to $199 in response to the PS2 price drop.

[gear02]

Originally posted by apmiller


As the story goes...

Nintendo Dropped to $149.99
Xbox stated it was dropping to $199 to stay competitive.
Sony said it had no plans to drop but then dropped to $199.99 the month before the Xbox was going to drop after rumors that the Xbox was going to match Nintendo (which was false).
Xbox one week later dropped to $199 in response to the PS2 price drop.

Nintendo dropped first??

[apmiller]

Originally posted by gear02


Nintendo dropped first??

I'm pretty sure they did. When looked back at a few articles I posted (when I was working over at Tomeeboy.com) that was the order of things.

[mcs328]

I believe the PS2 dropped first since it was an older system to compete with XBOX and GC. Then Xbox dropped to the same b/c I remember looking at BB, CC and COMPUSA ads when they had the old price and then effectively immediately it dropped to the current price. Gamecube was late to drop their prices.

You can get a GC for like 150 plus a game. Maybe cheaper at CC by like 10 bucks.

[Speedfreak]

Originally posted by mcs328
You can get a GC for like 150 plus a game. Maybe cheaper at CC by like 10 bucks.

At Costco you can get the Gamecube with Starfox, Starfox stategy guide, Extra controller, and memory card for $179 after $40 instant rebate.

[Speedfreak]

I had the Atari 2600 and 7800. I got them from selling the most pancake breakfast tickets in Indian Guides. I had a popular house at the time. Everyone wanted to come over and play them.

Now everyone has the games on their cell phones.


R.I.P. Atari. Your suffering of having your name used to sell products *caugh*Unreal*caugh* is over.

[Showtime]

:cheers:

Thanks for the trip dowm memory lane. Atari was the 1st real home game system. My friends and I played til the controllers broke and than dad fixed em.

Somehow theyll use the Atari name again. Hopefully theyll do it right next.

-jel:halo:

[Cantacuzene]

Whenever I bought a game in the past few years and opened it and say the Atari logo on the jewel case, alarms went off in my head. The Atari logo hasnt been a confidence builder lately.