Sabertooth

I recieved my replacements late yesterday and opened them this morning. I'm happy with the resolution. I gotta say, the quality of the new cart labels is vastly superior to the originals. If anything, this unfortunate situation should improve the QA for all subsequent XP runs.
Anyway, good on Atari for making it right.

Pretty cool clip from Atari50 from an interview with Ernest Cline.
 

Evercade announced a partnership with Amiga.  From the release:
Blaze Entertainment will be able to license and publish Amiga games from multiple publishers for Evercade. At this time there is no public confirmation of which games and publishers will feature in Evercade’s quickly expanding home computer lineup, but work is already underway to bring high-quality Amiga games to Evercade in 2023 and beyond.
https://evercade.co.uk/news-blaze-entertainment-announces-partnership-with-amiga/
 

Trust me when I say it isn't much. Compared to what I know @sramirez2008 and @TrekMD picked up plus others I saw walking about with several grocery sized cloth bags full of stuff. No... mine is a pittance in pickups for what a person might normally get a convention. 
And to be quite fair, there are quite a few more AtariAge releases I plan to get, but since many of them didn't have the boxes ready at the show, I decided I will wait until they hit the AA store next month. 
One game I've quite disappointed about is E.X.O. It was supposed to get released at PRGE, but due to issues with the HOKEY still not working right with it, that wasn't possible. It has been told to Muddyfunster that E.X.O. isn't likely to come out until 2nd or 3rd qtr of 2023 possibly.
 

My latest pickups are of course from PRGE 2022! I didn't get as much this year as I have in the past, but that was mostly due to just being very busy the entire weekend and also a lack of space in my suitcase for the return trip home. Additionally, I had a heads up that some of the new releases at AtariAge might not actually be available and boxes not available so I decided to wait until everything is in the store later for other stuff I'm wanting to get. That said...here is what I did grab.
First up is a new Atari 8-bit game from the AtariAge booth. I already own Adventure II with all the feelies for the 5200, but I know that Ron made some refinements to the game on this newer XE release and I just couldn't say no to that box art! The other 3 are new releases from the Intellivision Revolution booth. And yes, that Raiders is indeed a remake of the 2600 game but with enhanced Intelly graphics! Parsec is a port of the Ti-99 game and even retains the Ti logo in the background and makes use of the Intellivoice module!

 
These are my pickups mainly from the AtariAge booth. I was able to get the new release of Popeye for the 7800, along with Gorf Arcade for the 2600 and one of only about a dozen available working carts of Petscii Robots for the 7800. Petscii comes with a new SNES 2 Atari adapter that as the name implies, allows you to use the SNES controller with the game on a 7800. Astro Grover I picked up from John Hancock's booth and is one of the original 50 released and sold back during PRGE 2012. And I was even able to hand out a few of my new ITC cards to folks that were interested in console upgrades and services.

 
The last of my pickups came from the AA booth, Songbird, and another vendor that had some excellent prices on games and hardware. I picked up Asteroite for the Jaguar, a Jaguar Gamedrive (My biggest purchase of the event), one of Fred's latest Concerto's with a HOKEY chip pre-installed, an extra HOKEY to use in whatever I want, an extra AtariVox+ for use mainly with my Vectrex, and then an interesting but very decent controller and the Mr. Do and manual for the 2600. To give an idea on pricing, the Mr. Do with the manual was only $15. That was a great price and I saw at least one other Mr. Do at the event sans manual and with a much worse label that a vendor was asking $40 for?! 

So yeah, I didn't pick up that much but I still manage to spend about what I always do all the same LOL!
 

This was a late birthday gift... maybe by about 37 years but still, glad to finally have one to actually use

Love the Atari branded ink cartridge that somehow still works.

 

New arrivals...



SECRET COLLECTORVISION GAMES

@TrekMD you get the most interesting stuff! I'll have to check out that Lynx homebrew ❤️
 
Here are my recent pick-ups.
six GB games from someone in a local gaming group Lynx homebrews from Songbird. Another gamer posted that he bought Wyvern Tales. I had it on my wishlist, and he told me that only one copy remained, so I got the last copy of this batch. GB and Playstation games from ebay Switch OLED model mount by Fixture Gaming with John Riggs skin. I picked it up at PAX (the only thing I got at PAX this year). I was pleasantly surprised to see the mount for the OLED Switch at Fixture's booth as it's not yet listed on their website. In my rush in and out of the house, 🤦‍♂️ I can't remember where I put the box and holder so here's a placeholder photo.

I recieved my replacements late yesterday and opened them this morning. I'm happy with the resolution. I gotta say, the quality of the new cart labels is vastly superior to the originals. If anything, this unfortunate situation should improve the QA for all subsequent XP runs.
Anyway, good on Atari for making it right.

Evercade announced a partnership with Amiga.  From the release:
Blaze Entertainment will be able to license and publish Amiga games from multiple publishers for Evercade. At this time there is no public confirmation of which games and publishers will feature in Evercade’s quickly expanding home computer lineup, but work is already underway to bring high-quality Amiga games to Evercade in 2023 and beyond.
https://evercade.co.uk/news-blaze-entertainment-announces-partnership-with-amiga/
 

I recieved my replacements late yesterday and opened them this morning. I'm happy with the resolution. I gotta say, the quality of the new cart labels is vastly superior to the originals. If anything, this unfortunate situation should improve the QA for all subsequent XP runs.
Anyway, good on Atari for making it right.

"Atari Future Home Thermostat" - Atari Consumer Electronics Division 1983 

Conceptualized around the same time the Atari XL line was released, Atari had considered offering a line of matching (what we would now call) futuristic smart home devices, starting with this high-end digital thermostat. 
 
You can imagine the sleek metal buttons running down the middle with simplicity in mind. Giving you 3 main functions of access, increase cooling, increase heating and A in the middle for Automatic. 
 
The center square above housed an LCD-like screen, similar to those found in Casio watches at the time only much larger and included backlit illumination. The top red LED to the left would display when the unit was operational and would be housed in a plastic casing with the design lines borrowed from the original Atari 2600, having a bit of blue color flare on the top fascia. The primary computerized part would be housed in a separate box and installed behind the wall or concealed in a closet-like location, with the control interface shown merely being the way to access and control it all. 
Atari had more in mind however. The grill lines would reveal a small speaker and mic setup with a two-way communication function built-in for answering guests at the front door while holding down the transparent red button on the bottom of the unit. Atari was trying to think of it all!
 
Evolved models could have been able to accept a CCTV camera that would automatically switch to viewing  mode while using the communications feature to speak to guests at your front door. The small circular IR spot on the bottom right suggests that it could be used with an IR wristwatch and would have given the technology embracing futuristic homeowner of the 80s a way to control the thermostat from across the room like many of us take for granted today with smartphones and WiFi, seemingly a luxury only the rich could afford then but made for the masses.
 
As with many great ideas shelved due to the video game crash of the 80s, this would prove to be another far fetched causality never to see the light of day. 

"Atari Transparent LCD Arcades" - Atari Arcade Division 1987

Concept sketch idea only, reflects emerging LCD technologies in the marketplace at the time.
Due to the high cost of color LCDs in the 80s, this custom transparent LCD Arcade was proposed for luxury resorts only (casinos, cruise boats, high-end hotels). The idea was to allow the player to play a game on one side while allowing on-lookers to see the action from the other side passing by! The kind of futuristic Atari Arcade that you would only expect to see in something like Blade Runner.
Would also include the cool cabinet art on the backside with illuminated top marquee and some funky design lines only found in the 80s!

"Disclaimer: This thread is purely a work of fiction created just for fun. All works of art, pictures, stories or concept drawings within are not real and any resemblance to possible Atari concepts of the past, present, future or otherwise are completely coincidental." 😉 <-- obligatory wink face

I love experimenting with new technologies, love Atari, love time travel and have always loved the concept product sketches you would find on the Atari Museum website.
Stuff that would mostly never see the light of day but was at some point, conceived as an idea within Atari to consider. With that said, I’ll post one every so often from my recent travels back to the various Atari office buildings and warehouses from the early 80's through the 90s. I'll continue to share based on interest or just how much plutonium is left for the DeLorean, as time permits. 😄 Hopefully it all proves to be fun and entertaining. So here they are, some of my “imagination gone wild” takes on product concepts that could have actually been considered within Atari at some point in time.

First product concept sketch pulled from the archives (scanned in for your viewing pleasure):

"Atari Walk'n'Talky" - Atari Consumer Electronics Division 1983 - Product sketch number 79a83x


Someone at Atari around 1982 or 83 thought it would be a good idea to update one of the most popular electronic educational tech toys of the late 70s!
Featuring a book-like design that would allow it to snugly sit in-place on any bookshelf with a slight overhang, as well as a handle to lug it around, Atari's modern twist on their very own Speak and Spell clone would be coined "Walk'n'Talky". Atari would bring futuristic flare with a sleeker design, dual LCD displays (one at bottom for the Speak & Spell functions) and one near the top that would allow for touch screen text to be entered with a speaker voice box just above that. It would also sport a big red power button prominently placed just to the right. It is believed to have required 6-C batteries for an operating time of close to 8 hours if used in read-back only mode or non-interactive mode.

Other unconfirmed rumors indicated there to be a cartridge port, standard Atari joystick port and headphone jack that would turn the device into an electronic digital book reader of the 80s! It could also display animated graphics while emitting arcade quality digital music and sounds. Most importantly, it could read back dozens of digitized books on cartridge for children to enjoy using the synthetic voice capabilities of the then popular Pokey sound chip.
Pokey was already used in several Atari computers and their upcoming cartridges for use with the Atari 7800 game console. The increased chip production as a result would have allowed Atari a leading edge in pricing them even lower. The joystick port lends the idea that you would have also been able to play simple games on one of the LCD screens, though to what extent is unknown.
One of the proposed add-on accessories included a comm device (thereby actually turning it into a walkie talkie to play with friends) though that would have been an expensive walkie talkie! Sadly, with the gaming crash of 1983 and the Tramiels buyout of Atari in 1984, this would force the concept to be permanently shelved, never to see the light of day again.
Forgive the image quality, it was around 2AM when I found this paperwork and was really dark in the warehouse. Having to rush due to security, this was the best one I got out of a few shots taken:


Appears to read:
Internal Atari Memo
"David,
After researching the component list for the Walky Talky project, I'm uncertain? we'll be able to reach an agreement for the chips needed from Texas Instruments. As you know, our options for this are limited. Have you spoke with Alan in engineering to see if some of the old stock chips from earlier arcade machines could be used? It may be worth considering.
Despite his initial interest, I should also note that Ray does not seem to be on board with this idea at the moment? point in time? It may prove to be a hard push without actual working prototypes in hand.
Regards,
Jason S."
Personally, I think it would have been really cool to see and as a kid of the 80s, feel like this would have been really futuristic feeling. Would have helped quench some of that technological thirst I desired but wouldn't have access to until the 90s!
What do you think of a Speak and Spell inspired device from Atari in the early 80s?
Could you imagine sitting in the back seat of your parents car on a vacation trip, playing games or listening to dozens of digitized text-to-speech books being read with the Pokey sound chip, while also including bizarre music notes and sound effects throughout the book to make it even more fun?

Crushed my high score 🙃.

I think that my biggest chance for improvement would be bettering my performance in the bonus stage. I have yet to get close to getting all of the pumpkins.

Well Saboteur was the worst of them. But they all have that odd light edging on them where the lamination layer is very obvious. This isn't seen on the newer labels. So yeah again, I've no issues with sending them back these sub part quality initial carts.
My current issue with both original and newer carts, is that there is some slop in the PCB because I have to kinda wiggle the cart when inserting it for it to actually seat and go into the slot properly. I don't seem to have this issue with other carts. But it is a minor thing.
 

I had meant to post this here earlier and forgot. But here is an example of why I have NO problem sending them my original non working carts. In the pics below you can see that my originally received Saboteur has a nasty bubble line across the middle of it where the lamination layer didn't take well. If you look closely, you can see something similar around the edges of the label as well and all three of the originally received carts have something similar on them. The replacement on the right looks great and doesn't have any of these issues, plus it actually works.

I think you're going to like what it is.  🙂

I wonder if it's Atari or their manufacturing partner that absorbed the cost of this debacle. Either way, it will surely result in improved QA/QC processes in both assembly a copy/proof approval.
Also, thanks for not spoiling the bonus goodies. I'm on the West Coast so I still haven't received my SE replacements from PA.

Strangely I've NOT gotten any notices about the manuals. Only the notice that my carts had shipped and been delivered. Nothing since. It isn't that big a deal but I did already replace the carts with the new ones that work and have the originals boxed back up an labeled ready to send back to Atari XP in Philly.
I'm kinda surprised there are folks that don't plan to send their originals back as they feel it is part of the story and collection of the games? Funny to hear these same folks get bent out of shape about the games now working and demanding Atari fix the issue and then also feel okay with keeping the buggered carts? I hope that Atari XP has their card info on file and charges those folks for at least the cost of the replacements and shipping. If they had given the option, that is one thing, but they specifically ask in the emails that we return the originals, and there is a letter in the box with the replacements asking again to send back the originals.
The recycle process is likely nothing more than gutting them open to reuse the shells in future releases and I think that is fine. The current Atari and their smaller companies they are working with, do at least appear to be trying and I can give them credit for that and I feel we can all do a small part to help. If they want the originals that don't work sent back, then I say do it. They provided better looking and working replacements, with some extra goodies we didn't have to pay for. The cost of the non working and ugly labeled originals they sent us going back to them, is a cost I'm happy to pay.
 

Yep, I got notified about the manual today as well.  I'm guessing they won't be asking for the original manuals be returned. 

It will be worth the wait once you get them. Wait and see...
I've also heard that some folks have gotten notice about replacement manuals on the way too. I'm assuming to correct for the missing section that exists in at least the Aquaventure manual?
 

My replacement carts are on their way!

Mine arrived today and they had some unexpected extras.  I won't spoil it.  🙂

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