Justin

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If you see enough interest to print more physical copies of issue #1 I am definitely interested - thank you.

Awesome!  Thank you for posting.
Colecovision is one of those systems I have and love, but never have time to play and enjoy.  I need to work on that.  Dang it. 
 

These pictures are so dang awesome.  Thanks so much for this gift.  They take me back in time, no DeLorean needed. 

I created a new Photo Album for all of my Toys R Us pictures from around this time. I was launching this website during that fall and it became a pretty big part of my life during that time, and in my memory the two are intertwined pretty closely, so there are a few early pictures of the site in there too. Many of these photos were taken specifically for our first Blog entry for this website - an article titled "The Toys R Us Affair: The Influence of Atari Today" which documented Atari-related items being sold in Toys R Us at that time. You'll notice some early internet graphics and pictures of TRU associates holding up Pac-Man and Galaga for PC, etc. I dragged and dropped most everything I found in that folder to be able to share with you, I'll sort through these pictures and add more details in the future, as well as update this thread with more memories and stores at some point in the future. It's been nearly 25 years at this point, I should write them down and share them before I forget them 
Enjoy:
 
 

I updated the Toys R Us Memories topic with a new Photo Album with some of my personal Toys R Us pictures from back then, plus more!  Enjoy:
 
 

A look at Christmas shopping in the '90s:
 

Here are six hours of '80s Christmas commercials, enjoy :P
 

Agreed. When I worked at Toys R Us 25 years ago they were telling us there was serious competition from Walmart and Target that cut deep into our customer base that we could not keep up with. Walmart sells their toys at very competitive prices - some are loss leaders - these were prices that Toys 'R' Us couldn't match as some were at or below cost. Walmart is happy to sell toys at very little markup to draw in customers who shop for other items that Walmart sells at a high profit, whereas Toys R Us has to make profit from toys to stay in business.
Walmart keeps toy prices very low to draw mom and dad in on the way home from work, on a busy day etc., knowing parents can shop for groceries and everything they need in one stop - toys included- without having to drive across town, fighting traffic and finding parking near a mall to get to Toys 'R' Us. Why do that when you can just stop at Walmart and get what you need in one stop for less? Or better yet, online? Even a couple years ago I would meet people who would say "Our son loves Paw Patrol! Toys 'R' Us is so expensive, we always go to Walmart for toys." 
Toys 'R' Us tried to combat this by offering exclusive products and new product lines. Imaginarium educational toys, quality stuffed animals, children's clothing, American Girl dolls, free assembly on bicycles and Power Wheels, etc. It wasn't enough to make the difference. Pile on everything @RickR mentioned and desperate management, and it turned into another dead store.
I had a topic all about Toys 'R' Us memories with photos I had taken at the time, around the year 2000. I still have more I need to upload. If I can find the time I'll do that soon. Here's the original thread from a few years ago:
 

That's awesome!  Thanks for sharing!

That's awesome!  Thanks for sharing!

Just noticed this posted by retroillucid over on Atariage. 
I checked and the link will allow access to the post and ROM whether or not you are signed in so non members are fine, HOWEVER if you are a member be sure to post a THANKS as well. 👍🏻
Being the huge ColecoVision fan I am I had to share the news for anyone not aware. 
CollectorVision shares the prototype ROM as they tend to do. 
I don't feel it's my place to share the ROM here so if you are interested check out his post on AA HERE to grab it:
https://forums.atariage.com/topic/358637-he-man-motu-prototype-for-christmas-2023/
 

Well, if more people like you would come by, we could definitely get more action going.  Actually this is a great place since everyone here is super friendly and I've never witnessed anyone being rude or insulting to anyone in all the years I've been here.. and I've been here 7 years.  Oh and since I'm here, I'm still maintaining the TI lists as well (as I get information).  So please, feel free to invite anyone over that you think is a good person.

thankyou Omega, brilliant video 🙂   Nice to see my games being enjoyed

@socrates63 me too. That picture is sad 😞
 

Created a temporary spot in my Atari Room for the 2600+. I’m going to really start playing it tomorrow and Monday with both of my sons. I’m expecting to permanently swap places with my S-Video modded 2600 Jr, once the “update(s) have been provided. The Jr. is currently connected to our living room TV.

I can confirm that the Edladdin Super Twin joystick works with the 2600+.

I have a client that has sent their SMS II for me to do some work on. One of the requests was to see if I could add a separate Reset switch to the console because for some odd reason, Sega didn't think that was needed on the smaller model II SMS? Now, I've not looked into the reasons for why you want this that much, but I understand that some cheat options for games require the use of the soft reset function that the original models have?
Well, in looking through schematics and other online stuff, all I could really find was info on how the soft reset function works on the PAL model of this console. That wasn't going to help me but as luck would have it, the NTSC model II SMS is literally just a smaller version of the model 1. Same chips...same schematics.
So, in looking at the mode 1 schematics you find that the reset switch on the console was tied to pin 22 of the gate array IO chip. That pin doesn't appear to be connected to anything else on the system. In the model 1 console, when you press the reset switch, it just grounds pin 22 on the gate array chip and that sends a soft reset command to the rest of the system. As a result, the actual reset line on pin 26 of the Z80 CPU isn't really used on the model 1 SMS console.
On the model 2 SMS, Sega instead decided to use a diode/resistor combo to cause a safe quick short circuit to the Z80's reset line when you power the console off/on. Or rather, when you apply power the console, it also sends a hard reset to the Z80 at the same time and that is it. That is the only way to reset a game on the SMS II console is by cycling power. 
Well, you can easily restore the soft reset function by using two lengths of wire and a momentary switch that you install on the console somewhere.
Simply solder one end of a length of wire off pin 22 of the gate array IO chip (marked as 315-5216). This pin is marked and easy to find and is soldered to the board but has NO traces running to it. The other end of that wire you solder to one side leg of your switch. Then solder the other length of wire from the other leg of the switch to a point attached to ground. 
That's it... that is all you have to do! I made a quick video that demonstrates this in action below.
 

Not a perfect solution but....
 

I had not seen or heard of this trick yet! Very nice. I will give it a shot, but there is a difference between what I get and what the older TEDs were doing. The older 1.x version TEDs simply never show up as Hucards you can play on the Analogue and that is what this seems to get around. The issue with my TED 2.5 version and most other 2.x versions is that they do appear and we can run it, but then the TED boots up tossing an SD IO error or other error related to accessing the SD card. 
So I will see if this does anything different and report back.
 

Hey all, just a quick introduction for the channel, The Atari Network started back in July of 2023 as a channel dedicated solely to the Atari 7800.  It soon there after expanded to allow for more coverage on modern and classic Atari consoles and news.  In that time we've gained 1200 subscribers, nearly 8,000 hours of watch time and over 80,000 views! We have also hosted the Atari 7800 Forever Podcast for several months now which is the brainchild of Vinnie Vineyard aka Funkmaster V (Big N Funky Productions on YouTube) who started the atari7800forever.com website many years ago!
Unfortunately the last episode of the Atari 7800 Forever podcast is airing on December 29th at 7:30pm EST.  Which is very sad for both Vinnie and myself but good news!  The Atari Network Podcast starts 2 weeks later!  One vision I have for the new podcast is to allow for an occasional rotating slot for a 3rd or even 4th chair to get more opinions and points of view on the show.  Myself and Vinnie will still be on every week!  But despite our different personalities we share a lot of the same views and opinions. I think having other opinions represented on the channel is important for the wider community to feel they have a voice.
Our guests in the past have mostly been in an interview style format where we focus solely on them and give them a platform to talk about their achievements in the Atari community.  And we'll still do that but I also want to have guests who have insight on certain topics that we cover and want to engage in the conversation.  These topics and conversations could be about classic Atari consoles or games, certain eras of Atari, new releases like stuff on the VCS, 2600+ or the XP line of games and much more.
You don't have to be actively creative in the community, you don't have to be a developer or tech person, all you need is a willingness to talk and a passion about Atari.  I've been reaching out to people but I want to give others the same opportunity Vinnie gave me last June.  So if your interested in joining in on a few episodes a year all you have to do is send me a message.  From there we'll just chat a little bit and see where a good fit would be.  Then when a topic comes up in your wheel house you might be invited on.
Also this is a good opportunity for people to practice public speaking or attempt to overcome personal fears, or stuff like that.  I'm not delusional our reach is very small right now lol.  Active unique viewers for the live show right now is between 30-50 people (usually less than 20 at a time) and they get about 125-300 views after the fact.  So your not putting yourself out to a massive audience but we hope that will change soon!  If you have your own YouTube channel you can stream it to your audience too.  Your free to redistribute your appearances after the fact.  You can also promote any of your own projects on the show during the introduction or ending!
That's really it guys.  If your interested in appearing let me know.  Audio only is fine too for people who don't have cameras but video preferred.  And if you have your own podcast or show I'm very open in appearing and discussing on your show as long as I can promote my channel 😁 ok thanks guys hope you all have a great day and most importantly, Stay Classy Atari IO!
 

<--- raises hand...
 

You'd be an incredible person to have on as Vinnie and I are notoriously awful with technical aspects.  After December 25th I'll send you a message and we can work something out.  Thank you!