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To leave Commie, hyper to
http://commie.oy.com/commie_leaving.html
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via wapsight.com
I have an Atari computer (not console) in a box in Buffalo ...
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010304/bs/atari_s_rebirth_1.html
NEW YORK (AP) - John Sheppard could never bring himself to get rid
of the old Atari console his parents gave him when he was five.
Packed in a box, the Atari 2600 moved from attics to basements for
more than 20 years along with the owner's favorite game, ``Frogger.''
Last year, Sheppard decided to wipe off the dust and hook up the old
machine in the family log cabin. He figured it would be fun to play
with his wife and kids on rainy days.
``I cleaned it up, found all the necessary wires, connected everything,
placed Frogger in the console and turned it on,'' says Sheppard, the
36-year-old president of a Toronto-based technology company. ``Three
hours later, we were all hooked once again.''
In an age of ever crisper, more realistic graphics, some older video
game fans are nevertheless looking back with zest to the platform of
their youth, craving to get a shot at Space Invaders, Ms. Pac Man or
Pole Position.
Considered the grandfather of video consoles, the Atari is making
something of a 21st century comeback. Maybe it's the rudimentary
joysticks (remember the orange fire button?), or the black plastic
cover and fake wood-grained trim.
The comeback is spurred by emulation software, which allows Atari
games to be played on most of the latest operating systems, from
the rise of online gaming and from a perhaps unexpected quarter -
the coming wireless market.
Video gaming companies think Atari games' basic graphics and small
memory demands could make the brand a major player on wireless handhelds.
Banking on a legendary logo, Atari T-shirts are hot in trendy clothes
stores. And thousands of video gamers are browsing retro Web sites
these days to download or buy revamped Atari games.
``In the '80s, everybody had an Atari,'' says John Hardie of Valley
Stream, N.Y., an Atari collector and gaming expo organizer. ``You
wouldn't even say: 'Do you wanna play video games?' but 'Do you
wanna play Atari?'''
Atari's odyssey began in 1972 when two engineers, Nolan Bushnell
and Ted Dabney founded Atari Inc., named after a term from the
Japanese game Go.
It was the first company to turn arcade games into a living-room
phenomenon, marketing consoles attached to a TV set. Atari was
also the first to introduce on-screen scoring, two-player action
and gaming cartridges.
The Atari 2600 soon became the most popular home video gaming system
worldwide, but mismanagement, overproduction, lack of quality control
and competition ended the Atari saga in the early '90s.
``The company was passed like a football and broken into pieces,''
says Carl Goodman, curator of the American Museum of the Moving
Image, which exhibits old Atari consoles and arcades. ``But nothing
was able to destroy and dampen the sense of nostalgia people had.
Atari games are like mute, black-and-white movies.''
Today, years after the company went bankrupt, buried its cartridges
and sold its licenses, many Atari titles can be found on free Web
sites.
Out of a total of 75 million online players, roughly 5 million
play old classic games at game networks, estimates Sean Wargo,
an analyst at PC data.
Other video game companies are also exploiting the interest for
classic games by reformatting some of their old titles for PCs
or modern consoles.
Launched in 1998 for PCs, a revamped version of ``Frogger'' -
a little frog lost in strange world forced to navigate numerous
obstacles to get home - has sold 6 million copies so far, while
``Frogger 2'' launched last fall is already approaching the
one million mark, says John Hurlbut, senior vice president
of Infogrames Interactive Inc. which owns Atari licenses.
Infogrames even set up an ``Atari Lab'' to find ways to translate
Atari titles onto platforms like cellphones and PDAs.
``Pong on my Palm would be great because it's simple, easy and
people love to play with these games: Atari is a sort of a fast
food in the game genre,'' says Hurlbut.
Up to 5,000 Atari items are regularly auctioned online. Many fans
also end up at O'Shea Ltd., a Kansas City, Mo.-based wholesaler
that owns the world's largest inventory of Atari cartridges.
In 1991, when Atari Corp. liquidated its inventory, company CEO
Bill Houlehan purchased around 2.3 million cartridges in mint
condition. Today, more than one million games are stored in a
limestone mine 300 feet underground.
