[Coleco Chameleon (formerly Retro VGS)]

One of the questions I'm wondering about is if the original Atari Jaguar moulds have already been modified/damaged beyond repair to make the Retro VGS shells. It seems like a lot of initial interest came to them from Jaguar owners buying clear shells. I like all of the different VGS shell colors but would LOVE for them to be available for the Jag. It would be a shame if those moulds were ruined.

[What's In Your Collection?]

Still rebuilding my collection after my move into a smaller place:

 

 

ATARI
Atari 2600 (4 Switch)
Atari 2600 (New In Box Jr.)
Atari 5200 (4 Port)
Atari 7800
Atari Lynx (Mk.II)
Atari Jaguar

Atari Jaguar CD

NINTENDO
Nintendo NES
Super Nintendo
Nintendo 64

Nintendo 64 DD

Game Boy Advance SP NES Edition

 

SEGA
Sega Master System
Sega Genesis

Sega Game Gear

Sega Dreamcast

 

SONY

PlayStation 4

 

MICROSOFT

Xbox One

CLASSIC GAMING GENERAL
Retron 5

Odyssey 2

 

ARCADE

Ms. Pac-Man / Galaga Namco Class of '81

[The No Swear Gamer]

I love that you pointed out the Atari 7800 ProLine Controller's resemblance to a Star Trek phaser! I always thought the same thing and assumed I was the only one 

[foxbat]

Companies can still make the same mistake.  I'm thinking about Blizzard specifically and their project "Titan". 

 

I'm not saying companies don't make the same mistake, I'm saying the majors in the tech industry are far more secretive today because they've learned from industry-crushing mistakes of the past.

 

Smaller companies still do this. You mentioned Blizzard with Titan, that's a great example. The biggest one that comes to mind is the Phantom video game console from Infinium Labs. They announced it in 2003, Wired had it listed as vaporware in 2004, and they milled around through the end of the decade not doing much. What you don't often see are industry leaders, as Atari was at the time, making this mistake over and over and over.

 

 

[foxbat]

That second one sounds the most plausible. 

 

I agree with you on that for sure. These are where the cracks start to show in Atari and the whole industry as it was back then. So much vaporware was announced, touted in catalogs, magazines and at trade shows. How many cool things have we seen with Atari that never came out? Atari 2700 RC VCS, Atari Cosmos, Atari Mindlink, Atari 7800 Keyboard Computer, probably close to 100 games across all the systems, all announced and never released. That was bad show. It disappointed a lot of people and tarnished Atari's reputation.

 

You'd hardly see this today. Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony, they're all tight-lipped about what's coming out until it's time to announce something. Tech giants like Apple and Google are notoriously secretive. I'd bet you this tight-lipped tech culture we're in today is to some degree a result of Atari contributing to the collapse of an entire industry because of their slack practices.

[Custom Tempest 2000 Arcade Cabinet]

This is really cool Tempest 2000 arcade cabinet conversion done by Jeff Mathews at Classic Arcade Restorations, for Eric Clayberg. Eric posts:

 

 

 

Internally, it's running a 1994 Atari Jaguar and the Tempest 2000 game designed by Jeff Minter (which is itself a remake of the Dave Theurer 1981 arcade classic, Tempest - my all time favorite!). Externally, it is designed to look like an actual dedicated co-op arcade game that could have actually been built by Atari. The attention to detail is amazing (as expected from Jeff!)... custom marquee, control panel, side art, etc. It also has a kick ass sound system built in that does incredible justice to the amazing Tempest 2000 soundtrack. Jeff spent several months researching and building this project, and I am utterly amazed by the results.

 

You can see more photos here: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+EricClayberg/posts/24S4MoGoCns

[Games for Trade]

Games I'm willing to trade:

 

2600:

Combat

Pac-Man

 

What, can't spare an E.T.?

[Stunt Cycle (SC-450) & Video Pinball (C-380) by Atari]

The arcade version of Stunt Cycle was just awesome. Here's a beautiful example. It has that distinct pre-Warner Atari feel to it, like they were still discovering and inventing what an arcade machine actually was.

 

 

[Dark Tower]

Was that the game that looked like a pizza with Devil's Tower from Close Encounters of the Third Kind in the middle?

[The Last True Atari]

So what you're saying is this:

 

 

 

 

[The Last True Atari]

Wait we're giving away a Jaguar? How about we give it to me.

 

I hate saying the Jaguar "was an epic commercial failure" though I don't fault you for saying it. True, Jaguar barely chinked the armor of Nintendo & Sega in its day, but I wonder how many kids went in to buy a Sega CD, saw the Jag and changed their minds. "Epic commercial failure" is relative when compared to 3DO, TurboDuo, FM Towns Marty, Amiga CD32, LaserActive, PC-FX, Sega CD, 32X, and even the Virtual Boy. (Yeah, Virtual Boy was an epic commercial failure.) Remember, this was the era of alternative systems. We don't see that much anymore, underdog systems providing a gaming alternative to the big 3 manufacturers. As far as underdogs go, I think the Jag did pretty well. $249 bought you a lot of fun when compared with rivals like 3DO selling for $700. 3DO was Time magazine's 1994 product of the year, but Jaguar made it into Kay-Bee Toys and Walmart. Unlike other underdogs, the Jag at least took on the big boys in big retail turf. It lost the fight, but it was a fight against Nintendo and Sega both in their prime. For an underdog I think that's pretty cool.

 

What I love about "The Last True Atari" is that it was like the Klingons. It didn't care that it was the underdog. It marched straight into a hopeless battle and picked a fight with the big boys and fought with honor. It went up against MASSIVE marketing campaigns from Nintendo and Sega, against great products, against more niche systems than ever, and fought that battle in a flooded market. Had Sam Tramiel's Atari developed better relationships with 3rd party publishers maybe the story would've been different. I love the Jaguar for its bravery in Silicon Valley's cold cruel world.

[MaximumRD's YouTube Videos]

Wow this is a lot to watch. You have great videos MaxmimumRD, thanks for sharing. Subbed.

[Magic: The Gathering]

These guys look like my houseboys, Marco and My Thai.