1 00:00:04,200 --> 00:00:13,280 Speaker 1: Get in Touch with Technology textuffm Hey there and welcome 2 00:00:13,360 --> 00:00:16,000 Speaker 1: to text UFF. I'm Jonathan Strickland. With me in the 3 00:00:16,040 --> 00:00:19,080 Speaker 1: studio is Chuck Bryant. We have been here for hours. 4 00:00:19,800 --> 00:00:23,239 Speaker 1: It feels like it. Literally it has been two hours. 5 00:00:23,320 --> 00:00:25,520 Speaker 1: But it's funny but that we were just talking though 6 00:00:25,560 --> 00:00:28,520 Speaker 1: off Mike about how this is a three parter and 7 00:00:28,520 --> 00:00:31,120 Speaker 1: were we could do a whole season on this if 8 00:00:31,160 --> 00:00:33,160 Speaker 1: you really wanted to get into all the details. Yeah. 9 00:00:33,159 --> 00:00:36,440 Speaker 1: In fact, I came across some websites and by all this, 10 00:00:36,440 --> 00:00:39,040 Speaker 1: we're of course talking about the rise and fall of 11 00:00:39,040 --> 00:00:42,080 Speaker 1: Atari things. This was a request from Jeff on Facebook. 12 00:00:42,080 --> 00:00:46,160 Speaker 1: He wanted to know about this. We could go there 13 00:00:46,200 --> 00:00:49,159 Speaker 1: could be seven eight episodes where we talk about all 14 00:00:49,240 --> 00:00:51,840 Speaker 1: the things we're going on. There were incredible political moves 15 00:00:51,840 --> 00:00:54,960 Speaker 1: going on behind the scenes. There were some amazing technological development. 16 00:00:55,560 --> 00:00:59,080 Speaker 1: We haven't really touched on the major competitors with Atari 17 00:00:59,240 --> 00:01:02,560 Speaker 1: that we're causing extra problems for them, like uh, you 18 00:01:02,600 --> 00:01:05,600 Speaker 1: know the early on the in television and Cliko, but 19 00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:08,640 Speaker 1: then later on we're talking Nintendo and Sega and then 20 00:01:08,720 --> 00:01:11,520 Speaker 1: Sony with the PlayStation. I mean by that time Atari 21 00:01:11,600 --> 00:01:14,360 Speaker 1: is pretty much out of the picture. Anyway. But I mean, 22 00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:17,479 Speaker 1: it's just so much to talk about. I found some 23 00:01:17,480 --> 00:01:21,920 Speaker 1: some websites that even broke it down into when Atari 24 00:01:22,040 --> 00:01:24,800 Speaker 1: hired people. And I'm not talking about the big names 25 00:01:24,840 --> 00:01:28,920 Speaker 1: we've mentioned talking about like Marty Accounting exactly. I mean, 26 00:01:28,920 --> 00:01:32,520 Speaker 1: it was phenomenal. The documentation that's out there. So we're 27 00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:36,680 Speaker 1: going to now pick up in UH that tells you 28 00:01:36,720 --> 00:01:38,759 Speaker 1: how detailed we've been. If you haven't heard the first 29 00:01:38,760 --> 00:01:41,680 Speaker 1: two episodes in this series, go back listen to those first. 30 00:01:42,280 --> 00:01:46,720 Speaker 1: It's an amazing story. So is when something happens to 31 00:01:46,760 --> 00:01:52,600 Speaker 1: Atari that redefines everything, and some people consider this yet 32 00:01:52,640 --> 00:01:56,560 Speaker 1: another death of the company. That's when Warner, which had 33 00:01:56,600 --> 00:02:01,520 Speaker 1: purchased Attari from Nolan Bushnell, the founder of Atari. Warner 34 00:02:01,640 --> 00:02:05,720 Speaker 1: splits Atari into two entities one of it one of 35 00:02:05,760 --> 00:02:09,919 Speaker 1: them is a home computing division, which is called the 36 00:02:10,200 --> 00:02:14,800 Speaker 1: Atari Corporation, and the other is the arcade division, which 37 00:02:14,840 --> 00:02:18,919 Speaker 1: is called Atari Games. And it sells off the home 38 00:02:18,960 --> 00:02:22,600 Speaker 1: computing division. So Atari Corporation gets sold to a man 39 00:02:23,160 --> 00:02:26,800 Speaker 1: named Jack Tramiel. Yeah, he was the original founder of 40 00:02:27,120 --> 00:02:31,119 Speaker 1: Commodore UH in the famous Commodore sixty four computer, which 41 00:02:31,200 --> 00:02:34,280 Speaker 1: was great for its time. Oh, Yeah, fantastic. There's a 42 00:02:34,360 --> 00:02:37,919 Speaker 1: full Tech Stuff episode about Commodore published on February first, 43 00:02:37,919 --> 00:02:41,160 Speaker 1: two thousand twelve. It's good, it was. It was fun 44 00:02:41,200 --> 00:02:43,320 Speaker 1: to talk about that too, to talk about the development 45 00:02:43,480 --> 00:02:49,200 Speaker 1: of the Commodore system. So Tramiel was another another pioneer 46 00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:52,720 Speaker 1: in personal computing and home electronics, and he saw some 47 00:02:52,760 --> 00:02:56,720 Speaker 1: promise in that home computing division of Atari, something that 48 00:02:57,040 --> 00:03:00,640 Speaker 1: after the video game crash of a lot people thought 49 00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:05,240 Speaker 1: had no value whatsoever. Yeah, he renamed it, uh I 50 00:03:05,240 --> 00:03:08,080 Speaker 1: think he renamed it the Atari Corporation. Yeah, Yeah, he 51 00:03:08,120 --> 00:03:11,120 Speaker 1: decided to call it that because obviously, you know, now 52 00:03:11,160 --> 00:03:13,680 Speaker 1: you have two separate entities that both have the Atari 53 00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:16,239 Speaker 1: name in them, Yeah, which is always confusing in the marketplace, 54 00:03:16,280 --> 00:03:17,960 Speaker 1: and it's going to be confusing in this episode because 55 00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:20,280 Speaker 1: we're gonna be talking about the fate of both of them, right, 56 00:03:20,480 --> 00:03:22,480 Speaker 1: So we're gonna follow both the fate of the Atari 57 00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:25,639 Speaker 1: Corporation and the fate of Atari Games. So Atari Games 58 00:03:25,760 --> 00:03:28,519 Speaker 1: at in nineteen eighty four was still with Warner, not 59 00:03:29,080 --> 00:03:32,560 Speaker 1: not for long, in fact, would be when that changes. 60 00:03:32,600 --> 00:03:35,960 Speaker 1: So some big stuff happens in home video games. That's 61 00:03:35,960 --> 00:03:39,000 Speaker 1: when the Fama com also known as Nintendo Entertainment System 62 00:03:39,320 --> 00:03:47,160 Speaker 1: is released in the United States, which was Tyson's punch 63 00:03:47,160 --> 00:03:52,839 Speaker 1: out right there. Um. Yeah, so that was something that 64 00:03:53,160 --> 00:03:56,800 Speaker 1: convinced people maybe home video games aren't as dead as 65 00:03:56,800 --> 00:03:58,920 Speaker 1: we thought they were. Because the video game crash, we 66 00:03:59,040 --> 00:04:01,400 Speaker 1: pretty much thought that's it. Personal computers are going to 67 00:04:01,520 --> 00:04:05,320 Speaker 1: take over. There won't be any home consoles dedicated video 68 00:04:05,320 --> 00:04:08,080 Speaker 1: games anymore. Because that idea played itself out. Apples on 69 00:04:08,080 --> 00:04:10,480 Speaker 1: the scene at this point, Yeah, making a stink. Yeah. 70 00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:14,040 Speaker 1: In fact, by they're selling the Macintosh because that came 71 00:04:14,040 --> 00:04:20,360 Speaker 1: out four so they Yeah. But the brilliant thing Nintendo 72 00:04:20,440 --> 00:04:23,160 Speaker 1: did was they learned from Attari's mistakes. They said, all right, well, 73 00:04:23,240 --> 00:04:26,039 Speaker 1: we are going to license games like they have to 74 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:30,840 Speaker 1: be certified by US. You can't develop for Nintendo independently 75 00:04:30,920 --> 00:04:34,159 Speaker 1: without submitting the game for US for certification. That way 76 00:04:34,160 --> 00:04:37,840 Speaker 1: we still have some control over warners wanted, but they 77 00:04:37,839 --> 00:04:40,560 Speaker 1: didn't get out ahead of it in time like Nintendo did. 78 00:04:40,640 --> 00:04:44,760 Speaker 1: No Act Activision pretty much doomed Atari because Activisions set 79 00:04:44,839 --> 00:04:48,080 Speaker 1: that that precedent that a third party developer can can 80 00:04:48,120 --> 00:04:52,560 Speaker 1: create uh cartridges for another platform that they don't own. 81 00:04:53,160 --> 00:04:56,360 Speaker 1: Once that precedent was set and that policy wasn't in place. 82 00:04:56,400 --> 00:05:00,280 Speaker 1: It was. It was game on literally for everybody wanted 83 00:05:00,320 --> 00:05:03,000 Speaker 1: to develop for Atari. Yeah, and pardon my ignorance because 84 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:05,640 Speaker 1: I'm not a current gamer. I'm still stuck in the eighties. 85 00:05:06,400 --> 00:05:10,600 Speaker 1: Activision still around, right, uh huh, Well it's part of 86 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:14,160 Speaker 1: something bigger. But yes, but they survived everything and did 87 00:05:14,200 --> 00:05:17,120 Speaker 1: well for them. Well, I mean I could do a 88 00:05:17,160 --> 00:05:19,560 Speaker 1: full episode on what happened Activision too. It's kind of 89 00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:22,760 Speaker 1: like it's kind of like a Tari you know how 90 00:05:23,360 --> 00:05:29,680 Speaker 1: Atari technically still exists today, so at any rate. Um uh. 91 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:34,400 Speaker 1: Also in that's when Warner Communications sells the arcade division 92 00:05:34,440 --> 00:05:38,760 Speaker 1: of Atari Games to a competitor, Namco. Yes, so that's 93 00:05:38,839 --> 00:05:42,479 Speaker 1: the company that that developed pac Man. Yeah. Namco only 94 00:05:42,520 --> 00:05:45,279 Speaker 1: owned it for about a year, and then some employees 95 00:05:45,600 --> 00:05:50,599 Speaker 1: bought Atari Games from Namco and then uh made a 96 00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:53,640 Speaker 1: few more pretty good arcade games, Paper one, it was 97 00:05:53,680 --> 00:05:56,440 Speaker 1: a big one. Gauntlet, Yeah, Gauntlet was a big one. 98 00:05:56,839 --> 00:06:02,080 Speaker 1: Wizard needs food, good games, so they pumped a little 99 00:06:02,120 --> 00:06:06,520 Speaker 1: more lifeblood into the car Atari Games division. Yeah, they 100 00:06:06,560 --> 00:06:09,320 Speaker 1: also started to develop home games. But here's the thing. 101 00:06:10,040 --> 00:06:14,040 Speaker 1: When Warner split it up between uh Atari Corporation and 102 00:06:14,080 --> 00:06:19,400 Speaker 1: Atari games, Atari Corporation had the sole right to sell 103 00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:23,440 Speaker 1: home games under the Atari brand, yeah, which they had 104 00:06:23,440 --> 00:06:28,360 Speaker 1: already proved the struggle post without a really great, solid 105 00:06:28,400 --> 00:06:32,320 Speaker 1: follow up that didn't didn't jump over. Yeah. And then 106 00:06:32,360 --> 00:06:36,120 Speaker 1: you've got Atari Games that was making these these arcade games, 107 00:06:36,120 --> 00:06:38,040 Speaker 1: and they wanted to make home video games, but they 108 00:06:38,040 --> 00:06:41,400 Speaker 1: couldn't do it under the Atari brand because that belonged 109 00:06:41,440 --> 00:06:45,479 Speaker 1: to Atari Corporation. So they created a new brand called 110 00:06:46,080 --> 00:06:50,440 Speaker 1: Tension t E N G E N, which also comes 111 00:06:50,640 --> 00:06:54,600 Speaker 1: from a uh an aspect of the old board game 112 00:06:54,839 --> 00:06:59,480 Speaker 1: Go Atari in Tension the game the board game the 113 00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:03,680 Speaker 1: Japanese for a game Go, or it's great, Yeah, it's um. 114 00:07:03,720 --> 00:07:06,960 Speaker 1: In fact, there's a great story that uh going way 115 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:09,000 Speaker 1: back to the first episode we talked about the the 116 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:12,160 Speaker 1: founders of Atari, they used to play Go in their office, 117 00:07:12,160 --> 00:07:14,320 Speaker 1: which was an office that was originally meant for one person, 118 00:07:14,360 --> 00:07:17,200 Speaker 1: but two people had to share it, so they would 119 00:07:17,240 --> 00:07:21,160 Speaker 1: play games of Go in between actually getting any work done, 120 00:07:21,840 --> 00:07:26,760 Speaker 1: although according to uh Ted, Mr Nolan never really actually 121 00:07:26,760 --> 00:07:29,720 Speaker 1: did any work as far as he could tell. But 122 00:07:29,800 --> 00:07:32,400 Speaker 1: then I remember he had a lot of sour grapes 123 00:07:32,840 --> 00:07:36,320 Speaker 1: for legitimate reasons. So if you notice what's going on 124 00:07:36,360 --> 00:07:40,880 Speaker 1: now is Atari UM the corporation is getting really fractured. 125 00:07:41,600 --> 00:07:45,880 Speaker 1: Um their home computer business with the eight hundred, we're 126 00:07:45,880 --> 00:07:51,240 Speaker 1: doing okay, but they were behind the curve, so to speak, 127 00:07:51,520 --> 00:07:54,800 Speaker 1: and they were playing catch up. They were announcing a 128 00:07:54,920 --> 00:07:58,800 Speaker 1: new computer system, the Atari ST. They did that at 129 00:07:58,840 --> 00:08:03,360 Speaker 1: the Winter SES. I did an episode about CS once 130 00:08:03,360 --> 00:08:05,720 Speaker 1: where I explained this. But once upon a time there 131 00:08:05,720 --> 00:08:08,160 Speaker 1: were two big c S events. One happened in the 132 00:08:08,160 --> 00:08:11,720 Speaker 1: winter and one happened in the summer, and now there's 133 00:08:11,880 --> 00:08:15,600 Speaker 1: only the winter version. But so this this was back 134 00:08:15,600 --> 00:08:18,440 Speaker 1: when there were still two and at Winter c S 135 00:08:18,440 --> 00:08:20,720 Speaker 1: they announced a r S T. The ST stands for 136 00:08:20,960 --> 00:08:25,640 Speaker 1: sixteen slash thirty two, which refers to the microprocessor and 137 00:08:25,680 --> 00:08:28,480 Speaker 1: its internal and external bus connections. But anyway, it had 138 00:08:28,480 --> 00:08:33,560 Speaker 1: five kilobytes of RAM yeah, smoking fast yeah, and uh 139 00:08:33,600 --> 00:08:36,400 Speaker 1: it could be expanded up to four megabytes. So there's that. 140 00:08:37,280 --> 00:08:40,840 Speaker 1: Had a graphical user interface. So jewey uh or gooey 141 00:08:40,880 --> 00:08:44,040 Speaker 1: if you prefer. Once the whole Jeff gift thing came out, 142 00:08:45,200 --> 00:08:48,559 Speaker 1: it messes everything up. I always say gooey because jewey 143 00:08:48,640 --> 00:08:52,200 Speaker 1: does not sound like it's appropriate to me at any rate. 144 00:08:52,840 --> 00:08:56,840 Speaker 1: It we'll go with gooey. I think that's the more 145 00:08:56,880 --> 00:09:01,079 Speaker 1: than more than overwhelming choice. It also had a floppy 146 00:09:01,120 --> 00:09:03,880 Speaker 1: disk drive, and it would be the cartridge drive. Yes, 147 00:09:03,920 --> 00:09:05,720 Speaker 1: so I had both. Yeah, and it would be produced 148 00:09:05,800 --> 00:09:08,640 Speaker 1: up until the early nineteen nineties. Yeah, and it was 149 00:09:08,679 --> 00:09:13,280 Speaker 1: the cheapest sixteen bit computer. Um. And like like you said, 150 00:09:13,280 --> 00:09:16,120 Speaker 1: if it was around to the nine nineties, it did okay. Yeah. 151 00:09:16,120 --> 00:09:18,839 Speaker 1: In fact, in Europe it did pretty well. Here in 152 00:09:18,840 --> 00:09:21,040 Speaker 1: the United States did okay, and in Europe it did 153 00:09:21,080 --> 00:09:24,920 Speaker 1: it did better. Um. And then we've got, uh, the 154 00:09:25,000 --> 00:09:29,000 Speaker 1: Atari Corporation releasing the Atari seventy eight hundred Pro system 155 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:32,439 Speaker 1: In nine six soft dred had come out, and then 156 00:09:32,480 --> 00:09:35,080 Speaker 1: the seventy eight hundred comes out. It had digital joysticks 157 00:09:35,160 --> 00:09:38,040 Speaker 1: rather than the older analog type, and the seventy hundred 158 00:09:38,080 --> 00:09:41,680 Speaker 1: had a weird little story and that it was manufactured 159 00:09:41,880 --> 00:09:45,679 Speaker 1: and then shelves in a warehouse basically for um, I'm 160 00:09:45,720 --> 00:09:48,000 Speaker 1: not really sure how long. Two years. Yeah, two years. 161 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:50,560 Speaker 1: They basically were just going to sit on it, and 162 00:09:50,559 --> 00:09:53,720 Speaker 1: then finally they said, well, the decision was really as 163 00:09:53,800 --> 00:09:57,240 Speaker 1: arbitrary as let's just sell these things. Yeah. They released 164 00:09:57,280 --> 00:10:00,600 Speaker 1: like a couple of early models U but in that 165 00:10:00,640 --> 00:10:02,840 Speaker 1: two year period. But they, like you were saying, they 166 00:10:02,840 --> 00:10:05,640 Speaker 1: didn't sell it like it. People talk about it being 167 00:10:05,880 --> 00:10:11,720 Speaker 1: uh uh re debuted or reintroduced, but it never was 168 00:10:11,800 --> 00:10:15,640 Speaker 1: fully introduced in the first place. But one cool thing 169 00:10:15,679 --> 00:10:20,760 Speaker 1: about it was it was backwards compatible with almost all games. Uh. Yeah, 170 00:10:21,040 --> 00:10:22,760 Speaker 1: so that's kind of neat, you know, it's better than 171 00:10:22,760 --> 00:10:28,440 Speaker 1: theft UM and yeah, it ended up uh not really 172 00:10:29,040 --> 00:10:32,680 Speaker 1: competing very well against the Nintendo Entertainment System. It would 173 00:10:32,679 --> 00:10:38,199 Speaker 1: only be produced until or supported until that's when Atari 174 00:10:38,240 --> 00:10:42,400 Speaker 1: announced they would no longer UM produced games or consoles. 175 00:10:43,559 --> 00:10:50,000 Speaker 1: There was also JR companion model to basically that the public. 176 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:54,559 Speaker 1: At this point, uh, Nintendo Fever had struck and Sega 177 00:10:55,040 --> 00:10:57,520 Speaker 1: started to come out with their systems, and Atari was 178 00:10:57,600 --> 00:11:00,640 Speaker 1: just kind of sadly lost in a shuffle there as 179 00:11:00,640 --> 00:11:02,719 Speaker 1: far as the home systems go. Yeah, if you're if 180 00:11:02,760 --> 00:11:06,959 Speaker 1: your mascot wasn't a little Italian plumber, yeah, you were 181 00:11:06,960 --> 00:11:14,200 Speaker 1: out of luck. So Attari would release the Atari x 182 00:11:14,280 --> 00:11:17,960 Speaker 1: E Video Game System a k a. The Atari x 183 00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:20,800 Speaker 1: E g S, which was based off the eight bit 184 00:11:20,840 --> 00:11:24,400 Speaker 1: computers Attari had previously created. UM. So think of like 185 00:11:24,440 --> 00:11:27,360 Speaker 1: the fifty two hundred was kind of the video game 186 00:11:27,360 --> 00:11:30,000 Speaker 1: console of the four eight hundred bit or four D 187 00:11:30,120 --> 00:11:34,280 Speaker 1: eight hundred Atari computers. This one was the next general 188 00:11:34,320 --> 00:11:36,240 Speaker 1: it was based off the next generation of those same 189 00:11:36,320 --> 00:11:39,440 Speaker 1: home computers. Yeah, those confusion in the marketplace, and I 190 00:11:39,480 --> 00:11:42,040 Speaker 1: think confusion within Atari. I don't think they even knew 191 00:11:42,080 --> 00:11:43,680 Speaker 1: what kind of company they were at this point. No, 192 00:11:44,160 --> 00:11:46,280 Speaker 1: I don't think so. And this one actually had one 193 00:11:46,320 --> 00:11:50,839 Speaker 1: game hard coded into it. So the Atari you could 194 00:11:51,240 --> 00:11:53,800 Speaker 1: play other games, like you could get the disks for 195 00:11:53,880 --> 00:11:56,280 Speaker 1: other games and play them, but it had one game 196 00:11:56,320 --> 00:11:59,640 Speaker 1: that was hard coded into it, and that was Missile Command. 197 00:12:00,559 --> 00:12:03,520 Speaker 1: So it's not a bad choice. But yeah, it was 198 00:12:03,920 --> 00:12:06,120 Speaker 1: again one of those things where you might feel that 199 00:12:06,160 --> 00:12:09,360 Speaker 1: Atari didn't have a clear vision for what its place was. 200 00:12:10,320 --> 00:12:14,040 Speaker 1: Things just some kind of money. And in nine they 201 00:12:14,040 --> 00:12:17,080 Speaker 1: would release the five twenty st E and the ten 202 00:12:17,240 --> 00:12:21,200 Speaker 1: forty STE models of its home computer, which had an 203 00:12:21,200 --> 00:12:25,520 Speaker 1: increased color palette and a graphics processor, right, a dedicated 204 00:12:25,600 --> 00:12:29,120 Speaker 1: coprocessor for the graphics, which is something that's common now 205 00:12:29,200 --> 00:12:31,319 Speaker 1: but at the time was pretty new. Yeah. So, I 206 00:12:31,360 --> 00:12:32,880 Speaker 1: mean they were they were doing some of the right 207 00:12:32,920 --> 00:12:35,440 Speaker 1: things on the home computer front, but there was just 208 00:12:35,480 --> 00:12:38,360 Speaker 1: so much more competition. Now, Yeah, you had you had Apple, 209 00:12:38,520 --> 00:12:42,360 Speaker 1: you had the IBM compatibles, and you had IBM plus. 210 00:12:42,400 --> 00:12:45,000 Speaker 1: The Amiga was still out there. Um you can't forget 211 00:12:45,040 --> 00:12:47,360 Speaker 1: about the Amiga. No. I had a friend who was 212 00:12:47,600 --> 00:12:51,199 Speaker 1: a die hard Amiga fan, and I gotta admit the Amiga. 213 00:12:51,400 --> 00:12:53,520 Speaker 1: The thing I loved about the Amiga was that, well 214 00:12:53,640 --> 00:12:58,000 Speaker 1: before anyone else, it was doing amazing sound and graphics, 215 00:12:58,520 --> 00:13:02,880 Speaker 1: like years before anyone else had managed to do that 216 00:13:02,920 --> 00:13:06,600 Speaker 1: in an affordable way. And uh so, I remember my 217 00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:10,400 Speaker 1: friend had several games for the Amiga that I found 218 00:13:10,559 --> 00:13:13,920 Speaker 1: to be like light years beyond anything I could play 219 00:13:13,920 --> 00:13:16,000 Speaker 1: on my Apple two E or my two eight six 220 00:13:16,040 --> 00:13:20,640 Speaker 1: at home. Um so, but the the CPU on these 221 00:13:20,920 --> 00:13:25,280 Speaker 1: devices had a blistering speed of eight mega hurts. We're 222 00:13:25,280 --> 00:13:27,760 Speaker 1: talking about the multiple Giga hurts now, and it's a 223 00:13:27,760 --> 00:13:29,480 Speaker 1: little a little slow on that and in fact, my 224 00:13:29,520 --> 00:13:34,760 Speaker 1: phone is way faster than that. Um But that's also 225 00:13:34,760 --> 00:13:37,840 Speaker 1: when Atari Corporation acquired the right to manufacture and sell 226 00:13:37,960 --> 00:13:40,960 Speaker 1: a handheld gaming console that had been developed by a 227 00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:45,760 Speaker 1: different company. Yeah, yeah, yeah, the links was really cool. 228 00:13:45,800 --> 00:13:48,000 Speaker 1: It had been developed by a company called Epics E 229 00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:51,880 Speaker 1: P y X but Epics had entered financial difficulty and 230 00:13:51,920 --> 00:13:54,400 Speaker 1: it owed a lot of money to various companies. The 231 00:13:54,520 --> 00:13:57,360 Speaker 1: largest that it owed money too was Atari. Actually the 232 00:13:57,400 --> 00:14:01,000 Speaker 1: largest amount it owed was to Atari, and so they 233 00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:03,000 Speaker 1: had this kind of settlement to say, like, well, how 234 00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:04,520 Speaker 1: are we going to make good on this because Epics 235 00:14:04,600 --> 00:14:08,480 Speaker 1: is on the verge of just disappearing, And as part 236 00:14:08,520 --> 00:14:12,360 Speaker 1: of the deal, essentially they signed over this this handheld 237 00:14:12,360 --> 00:14:15,040 Speaker 1: gaming system they had been developing, and that became the 238 00:14:15,040 --> 00:14:17,920 Speaker 1: Atari Links. And the Links was great. I remember I 239 00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:20,680 Speaker 1: had a couple of friends I had it. It um. 240 00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:23,080 Speaker 1: It was released around the same time as the Game Boy, 241 00:14:23,240 --> 00:14:26,120 Speaker 1: but it had full color graphics. It looked better, it 242 00:14:26,240 --> 00:14:28,920 Speaker 1: sounded better. You could link them together. Yeah, you could 243 00:14:28,920 --> 00:14:31,600 Speaker 1: link them together. It was it was sort of large. Um. 244 00:14:31,680 --> 00:14:36,920 Speaker 1: It was had a horizontal UM I guess body UM. 245 00:14:36,960 --> 00:14:39,160 Speaker 1: So it was big, which wasn't great. It was a 246 00:14:39,160 --> 00:14:41,920 Speaker 1: little ungainly. The battery life would only last four to 247 00:14:42,080 --> 00:14:44,240 Speaker 1: five hours, so that was kind of frustrating because this 248 00:14:44,320 --> 00:14:47,160 Speaker 1: is this is not the era of rechargeable batteries for 249 00:14:47,240 --> 00:14:50,280 Speaker 1: most people. You were popping out old ones and replacing 250 00:14:50,320 --> 00:14:52,680 Speaker 1: them with new ones, so that could get really frustrating. 251 00:14:52,880 --> 00:14:55,960 Speaker 1: But the one thing Links did not have was a 252 00:14:56,000 --> 00:15:00,480 Speaker 1: game called Tetrish, and that is what basically was the 253 00:15:00,560 --> 00:15:05,480 Speaker 1: death blow was just such a huge deal. It was 254 00:15:05,520 --> 00:15:07,880 Speaker 1: the killer app. It was the killer app, and it's 255 00:15:07,880 --> 00:15:10,360 Speaker 1: what made game Boy what it was. And I got 256 00:15:10,360 --> 00:15:14,720 Speaker 1: the game Boy. Yeah, and then and then like you 257 00:15:14,720 --> 00:15:17,000 Speaker 1: would think that, well, maybe if they can stick it out, 258 00:15:17,360 --> 00:15:19,840 Speaker 1: then the Links will have a chance because the Nintendo 259 00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:22,920 Speaker 1: game Boy, once everyone's got that, they'll see that the 260 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:26,560 Speaker 1: Lynx has got uh better stats, and maybe I'll go 261 00:15:26,560 --> 00:15:29,560 Speaker 1: with that. But then in Sega came out with the 262 00:15:29,600 --> 00:15:35,000 Speaker 1: game Gear, and Sega was already doing really good business too, 263 00:15:35,040 --> 00:15:37,120 Speaker 1: and that just that just meant that the Links had 264 00:15:37,200 --> 00:15:41,000 Speaker 1: no place in that competition. I feel bad for a 265 00:15:41,080 --> 00:15:44,560 Speaker 1: try at this point, because they're coming up with superior products. 266 00:15:44,640 --> 00:15:47,640 Speaker 1: In certain cases, it still can't get market. It's either 267 00:15:47,760 --> 00:15:50,400 Speaker 1: bad timing or it's a combination of bad timing and 268 00:15:50,560 --> 00:15:53,880 Speaker 1: a lack of a compelling library to these games. It 269 00:15:53,920 --> 00:15:57,880 Speaker 1: really shows how you need to have strong launch titles 270 00:15:58,080 --> 00:16:00,400 Speaker 1: to move a console. Yeah, there's a lot more to 271 00:16:00,480 --> 00:16:03,440 Speaker 1: it than just like this has the best graphics. In fact, 272 00:16:03,920 --> 00:16:07,320 Speaker 1: you know, going into personal account here, I don't own 273 00:16:07,360 --> 00:16:11,320 Speaker 1: a current generation game. I love gaming. I consider myself 274 00:16:11,320 --> 00:16:14,160 Speaker 1: to be a gamer. I'm not a hardcore gamer, and 275 00:16:14,240 --> 00:16:17,480 Speaker 1: certainly I'm sure any of my listeners listening could beat 276 00:16:17,520 --> 00:16:20,040 Speaker 1: me at any game of their choice. So I don't 277 00:16:20,080 --> 00:16:21,920 Speaker 1: want to I don't want to put that out there, 278 00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:24,800 Speaker 1: but but I will say that I love gaming. But 279 00:16:24,880 --> 00:16:27,520 Speaker 1: I haven't purchased an Xbox One or a PS four 280 00:16:27,560 --> 00:16:30,680 Speaker 1: because we're finally at a point now where it's different. 281 00:16:30,760 --> 00:16:34,080 Speaker 1: But for the longest time, the libraries weren't compelling enough 282 00:16:34,120 --> 00:16:37,680 Speaker 1: for me to make that investment. Right, so I would think, yes, 283 00:16:37,760 --> 00:16:40,600 Speaker 1: it's clearly superior to the system I have now, but 284 00:16:40,680 --> 00:16:43,360 Speaker 1: the games aren't games that I want to play yet. 285 00:16:43,760 --> 00:16:46,040 Speaker 1: I want to wait until there are enough games that 286 00:16:46,080 --> 00:16:49,360 Speaker 1: I want to play to justify that expense, and now 287 00:16:49,360 --> 00:16:52,040 Speaker 1: we're at that point. I just haven't well. For one thing, 288 00:16:52,080 --> 00:16:54,120 Speaker 1: I'm not allowed to have a present for another year 289 00:16:54,160 --> 00:16:57,200 Speaker 1: and a half. I have a two year two year 290 00:16:57,280 --> 00:16:59,400 Speaker 1: period where I can't get presents, or at least my 291 00:16:59,400 --> 00:17:02,080 Speaker 1: wife won't buy me presence. For a good reason, and 292 00:17:02,120 --> 00:17:03,640 Speaker 1: it's not a bad one. It's that I made a 293 00:17:03,680 --> 00:17:08,280 Speaker 1: substantial donation to a nonprofit and in return, the agreement 294 00:17:08,359 --> 00:17:11,960 Speaker 1: was two years no presence, you're a good man. Here's 295 00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:16,440 Speaker 1: my deal with gaming now is I uh played Nintendo 296 00:17:16,560 --> 00:17:21,000 Speaker 1: and stuff through the through the sixty in college, was 297 00:17:21,240 --> 00:17:23,760 Speaker 1: way into it and then sort of dropped out for 298 00:17:23,800 --> 00:17:28,440 Speaker 1: a long time until my stepfather, I'm sorry, my father 299 00:17:28,520 --> 00:17:32,000 Speaker 1: in law gave me his PS three a couple of 300 00:17:32,040 --> 00:17:36,440 Speaker 1: years ago because he just didn't want it. And since then, 301 00:17:36,600 --> 00:17:39,400 Speaker 1: I buy like I just look up once a year 302 00:17:39,480 --> 00:17:41,600 Speaker 1: and buy like the two best reviewed games of the year, 303 00:17:42,200 --> 00:17:44,440 Speaker 1: and I'll play those for about a month and then 304 00:17:44,600 --> 00:17:46,439 Speaker 1: that's it. Well, we don't have the time to go 305 00:17:46,760 --> 00:17:50,639 Speaker 1: to gaming three years old, you know, to fix up 306 00:17:50,640 --> 00:17:52,520 Speaker 1: my house. I know, I've got a house, I got 307 00:17:52,560 --> 00:17:56,440 Speaker 1: a puppy, I got four animals. Yeah, we've gotten to 308 00:17:56,480 --> 00:17:59,399 Speaker 1: a white We're obviously getting a little off topic, but 309 00:17:59,520 --> 00:18:01,440 Speaker 1: it's true, like we we just have reached the point 310 00:18:01,440 --> 00:18:03,000 Speaker 1: in our lives where now you just can't game like 311 00:18:03,200 --> 00:18:08,280 Speaker 1: anymore about about the last of us. Fantastic game, fantastic game. 312 00:18:08,359 --> 00:18:10,280 Speaker 1: But see, I still have that gamer in me because 313 00:18:10,400 --> 00:18:13,520 Speaker 1: I was addicted to this game. Yeah. Um, and then 314 00:18:13,560 --> 00:18:19,080 Speaker 1: I bought one of the bio BioShock BioShock, but the 315 00:18:19,400 --> 00:18:22,960 Speaker 1: steam Punk win, right, so BioShock Infinite. Yeah, that one, 316 00:18:23,080 --> 00:18:24,960 Speaker 1: and I played that one through and that was really great. 317 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:28,000 Speaker 1: The music in that game is amazing. Yeah, and that's 318 00:18:28,119 --> 00:18:30,879 Speaker 1: the extent of my gaming. Now I hear two years, 319 00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:33,040 Speaker 1: I'll buy the best two games. Although after the last 320 00:18:33,040 --> 00:18:34,879 Speaker 1: of us, I don't I mean, I don't see how 321 00:18:34,880 --> 00:18:37,000 Speaker 1: you can get any better. It was a very emotionally 322 00:18:37,040 --> 00:18:42,520 Speaker 1: impactful game. I mean, right at my stories. Uh so, yeah, 323 00:18:42,520 --> 00:18:46,879 Speaker 1: back to the get back to No, I love doing this. 324 00:18:46,920 --> 00:18:49,879 Speaker 1: I would just totally continue on that conversation otherwise. But No, 325 00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:52,639 Speaker 1: there's only one thing I have to mention, which is 326 00:18:52,680 --> 00:18:55,880 Speaker 1: that Atari Corporation released the Atari t T zero three 327 00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:58,639 Speaker 1: zero or zero thirty. Never heard of it. It's workstation 328 00:18:59,600 --> 00:19:02,760 Speaker 1: three Mega hurts processor workstation. So they were still staying 329 00:19:02,760 --> 00:19:05,840 Speaker 1: in the home computer business at that point. Yeah, they're 330 00:19:05,880 --> 00:19:08,080 Speaker 1: they're trying to hang in there. Uh. And I don't 331 00:19:08,119 --> 00:19:12,560 Speaker 1: have any notes for ninety one, but in yeah, in 332 00:19:12,680 --> 00:19:15,520 Speaker 1: ninety two, Atari Corporation would release the Falcon, which would 333 00:19:15,520 --> 00:19:18,720 Speaker 1: be the last of its computer systems. The Falcon was 334 00:19:18,760 --> 00:19:20,840 Speaker 1: the last time they tried to do a home computer, 335 00:19:21,280 --> 00:19:24,159 Speaker 1: and then they made the decision to switch back to 336 00:19:24,280 --> 00:19:30,040 Speaker 1: trying to do video game consoles. Again. So that's why 337 00:19:30,200 --> 00:19:34,320 Speaker 1: we see the release of the Atari jag Jagua if 338 00:19:34,359 --> 00:19:37,480 Speaker 1: you want to go with the British pronunciation jack again, 339 00:19:37,640 --> 00:19:40,320 Speaker 1: Atari is doing the right thing there ahead of the curve. 340 00:19:40,400 --> 00:19:43,720 Speaker 1: It's the first sixty four bit system. Yeah, so it's 341 00:19:43,800 --> 00:19:47,000 Speaker 1: so it is graphically and as far as the processor 342 00:19:47,080 --> 00:19:50,240 Speaker 1: goes more powerful than any of the competitors on the 343 00:19:50,280 --> 00:19:52,439 Speaker 1: market at that Yeah, and had had a couple of 344 00:19:52,800 --> 00:19:56,880 Speaker 1: success successful titles that think the Aliens Predator, that's one 345 00:19:56,960 --> 00:19:58,960 Speaker 1: that's considered to be one of the best titles for 346 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:01,960 Speaker 1: that system. Tim This two thousand that was the other one, 347 00:20:02,200 --> 00:20:06,600 Speaker 1: was really good, um, but the controller on it was terrible. Yeah. 348 00:20:06,600 --> 00:20:10,520 Speaker 1: It was huge and it was unwieldy, um, and didn't 349 00:20:10,520 --> 00:20:13,720 Speaker 1: have a lot of software support. Right to the titles 350 00:20:13,720 --> 00:20:16,200 Speaker 1: that we just mentioned are pretty much I was like, well, 351 00:20:16,240 --> 00:20:18,920 Speaker 1: beyond that, I can't really justify buying this. It says 352 00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:22,680 Speaker 1: there were sixty seven games ever released, and I don't 353 00:20:22,680 --> 00:20:26,240 Speaker 1: think more than ten of them registered on the radar. 354 00:20:26,520 --> 00:20:28,639 Speaker 1: You read over the them and you're just like, well, 355 00:20:28,840 --> 00:20:31,359 Speaker 1: I never heard of this there. That's got to be 356 00:20:31,359 --> 00:20:35,320 Speaker 1: one of the reasons why this Jaguar never took off. Yeah, 357 00:20:35,320 --> 00:20:37,879 Speaker 1: well in the sixty four was just awesome and they 358 00:20:37,920 --> 00:20:40,959 Speaker 1: had good games, and then you had the PlayStation coming on, 359 00:20:41,160 --> 00:20:44,119 Speaker 1: like when Sony starts really throwing down then it really 360 00:20:44,840 --> 00:20:48,080 Speaker 1: this was like a last like a star in the 361 00:20:48,440 --> 00:20:50,480 Speaker 1: just reaching for that rope at the end of the rope, 362 00:20:50,480 --> 00:20:53,200 Speaker 1: trying to grab ahold of it and Nintendo and Sonny 363 00:20:53,359 --> 00:20:55,720 Speaker 1: was just pulling the rope higher. So we haven't talked 364 00:20:55,720 --> 00:20:58,160 Speaker 1: about Tory Games for a little bit. That's the that's 365 00:20:58,160 --> 00:21:01,919 Speaker 1: the branch that did the Arcade Ursians not and also 366 00:21:02,240 --> 00:21:06,600 Speaker 1: produced some home video under home video games under tension. Uh, 367 00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:10,639 Speaker 1: Time Warner Communications. Just in case you didn't know, Warner 368 00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:13,919 Speaker 1: and Time merged in nine, just a little bit of 369 00:21:13,920 --> 00:21:18,520 Speaker 1: a merger. Yeah, Time Warner Communications purchased controlling interest in 370 00:21:18,560 --> 00:21:21,320 Speaker 1: Atari Games, so Atari Games would get consolidated with other 371 00:21:21,359 --> 00:21:25,880 Speaker 1: properties in nine and become known as Time Warner Interactive. 372 00:21:25,920 --> 00:21:28,720 Speaker 1: So Atari Games was part of Time Warner Interactive. But 373 00:21:29,440 --> 00:21:32,320 Speaker 1: this means that part of Atari is back with Warner. 374 00:21:32,359 --> 00:21:36,280 Speaker 1: Remember Warner was the one that sold it off, So yeah, 375 00:21:36,560 --> 00:21:39,120 Speaker 1: Warner had sold it off to Namco. Then employees bought 376 00:21:39,119 --> 00:21:43,280 Speaker 1: it back from Namco and then Time Warner Communications buys it, 377 00:21:43,440 --> 00:21:46,160 Speaker 1: and it's just this is why it gets really hard 378 00:21:46,200 --> 00:21:48,960 Speaker 1: to talk about the end of Atari UM. And in 379 00:21:50,720 --> 00:21:57,439 Speaker 1: another confusing thing, uh, JT Storage was a hard disc manufacturer. Yeah, 380 00:21:57,600 --> 00:22:00,720 Speaker 1: JT has merges with Atari Corporate Shian So this is 381 00:22:00,760 --> 00:22:03,760 Speaker 1: the home computer one, not the Atari games one. So 382 00:22:03,840 --> 00:22:07,680 Speaker 1: JTS merges with Atari Corporation. But JTS was in a 383 00:22:07,680 --> 00:22:13,920 Speaker 1: tough spot because it was already had a cash flow problem, 384 00:22:14,040 --> 00:22:17,320 Speaker 1: and so it was looking for a way to avoid 385 00:22:17,359 --> 00:22:20,800 Speaker 1: going into bankruptcy and thought that by acquiring Atari, which 386 00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:23,680 Speaker 1: had lots of cash, but not a whole lot of 387 00:22:24,119 --> 00:22:26,960 Speaker 1: market share because most of the cash from Attari was 388 00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:32,560 Speaker 1: actually coming from lawsuits like they were going after other companies. Yeah, 389 00:22:32,640 --> 00:22:34,920 Speaker 1: so they weren't making money off their products as much 390 00:22:34,920 --> 00:22:39,320 Speaker 1: as they were off some of the lawsuits. So JTS 391 00:22:39,400 --> 00:22:42,639 Speaker 1: comes in, acquires Atari, then fires almost all of the 392 00:22:42,680 --> 00:22:48,560 Speaker 1: former Atari employees and liquidates the remaining Atari inventory as 393 00:22:48,560 --> 00:22:53,520 Speaker 1: a means of helping stave off this impending disaster, which 394 00:22:53,520 --> 00:22:57,240 Speaker 1: it did not do. Two years after that has bro 395 00:22:57,400 --> 00:23:03,600 Speaker 1: Interactive UM by JTS for five million bucks. Yeah, essentially 396 00:23:03,600 --> 00:23:06,879 Speaker 1: it bought the Atari Corporation from JTS for five million 397 00:23:06,960 --> 00:23:10,280 Speaker 1: JTS actually went bankrupt that year. It essentially bought the 398 00:23:10,320 --> 00:23:13,200 Speaker 1: Atari name for five million. Yeah, because at that point 399 00:23:13,240 --> 00:23:16,119 Speaker 1: there really was nothing left, right because and at this 400 00:23:16,160 --> 00:23:19,480 Speaker 1: point in the name, it's like your your drunk uncle 401 00:23:19,520 --> 00:23:22,119 Speaker 1: who was he was a big shot in high school. 402 00:23:22,440 --> 00:23:24,760 Speaker 1: That's what Atari is at this point. Yeah, it's like 403 00:23:25,200 --> 00:23:27,640 Speaker 1: you know, stumbling around in the alley, you know, don't 404 00:23:27,680 --> 00:23:29,840 Speaker 1: you know who I am? And around the same time, 405 00:23:29,880 --> 00:23:32,879 Speaker 1: to make matters worse. Okay, So that that's Atari Corporation, right, 406 00:23:32,920 --> 00:23:37,439 Speaker 1: getting acquired for five million by Hasbro Interactive. Meanwhile, around 407 00:23:37,440 --> 00:23:40,680 Speaker 1: that same time, Atari Games was split off from Time 408 00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:44,240 Speaker 1: Warner Interactive, so it didn't stay at Time Warner very 409 00:23:44,280 --> 00:23:47,760 Speaker 1: long either, like three years it was gone. It splits 410 00:23:47,800 --> 00:23:52,000 Speaker 1: off and is purchased by w m S Industries, which 411 00:23:52,040 --> 00:23:56,280 Speaker 1: was the parent company or Williams and Bally Midway. Right, 412 00:23:56,680 --> 00:24:00,439 Speaker 1: So now we're seeing a consolidation of the big games that, 413 00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:04,520 Speaker 1: you know, twenty years earlier have been the defining names 414 00:24:04,760 --> 00:24:12,160 Speaker 1: in in arcade entertainments. So they purchase Atari Games. Uh, 415 00:24:12,240 --> 00:24:18,240 Speaker 1: And meanwhile you've got Hasbro Interactive that's acquired the Atari Corporation. 416 00:24:18,600 --> 00:24:22,320 Speaker 1: So at that point, yeah, that's true, but don't get 417 00:24:22,320 --> 00:24:26,240 Speaker 1: ahead of me. So at that point, when when Hasbro 418 00:24:26,359 --> 00:24:31,639 Speaker 1: gets hold of Atari Corporation, w MS Industries doesn't want confusion. 419 00:24:32,080 --> 00:24:35,080 Speaker 1: You know, they just purchased Atari Games earlier. Yeah. Yeah, 420 00:24:35,080 --> 00:24:37,479 Speaker 1: we're already confused. So what they do is they rename 421 00:24:37,520 --> 00:24:42,520 Speaker 1: Atari Games. Atari Games gets renamed into Midway Games West. 422 00:24:43,920 --> 00:24:46,800 Speaker 1: So now when I talk about Atari Games, I'm actually 423 00:24:46,800 --> 00:24:49,879 Speaker 1: talking Midway Games West. Don't worry, we'll come back around 424 00:24:49,960 --> 00:24:53,440 Speaker 1: to make things more confusing later. So yeah, so now 425 00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:55,920 Speaker 1: we get to two thousand, that's when the dot com 426 00:24:56,000 --> 00:25:01,240 Speaker 1: bubble bursts. Poor Atari because through two bubble bursts, right, 427 00:25:01,359 --> 00:25:03,680 Speaker 1: the video game bubble and then the dot com bubble. 428 00:25:03,760 --> 00:25:06,719 Speaker 1: Man So they probably had were affected by the real 429 00:25:06,840 --> 00:25:09,440 Speaker 1: estate bubble in some way too. Probably I was affected 430 00:25:09,440 --> 00:25:11,680 Speaker 1: by the dot com bubble. I worked for a human 431 00:25:11,720 --> 00:25:13,960 Speaker 1: resources management consulting firm at the time, and most of 432 00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:18,200 Speaker 1: our clients were dot com companies. Yeah, suddenly our client 433 00:25:18,240 --> 00:25:20,320 Speaker 1: lists got a lot smaller. Yeah, but look where you 434 00:25:20,320 --> 00:25:23,920 Speaker 1: are now. Yeah, it was a long road, but I'm 435 00:25:23,920 --> 00:25:29,119 Speaker 1: glad I'm here. Uh so Hasbro, because Hasbro Interactive was 436 00:25:29,200 --> 00:25:32,320 Speaker 1: hit hard by this dot com verse. Everyone was right, 437 00:25:32,359 --> 00:25:34,720 Speaker 1: you mean, you just had this. It was another market 438 00:25:34,880 --> 00:25:39,560 Speaker 1: correction that was then devastated a lot of companies and lives. 439 00:25:40,040 --> 00:25:43,919 Speaker 1: So Hasbro decides to sell off Hasbro Interactive, including the 440 00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:48,080 Speaker 1: intellectual property from Atari Corporation. Remember that's the home computing one. 441 00:25:48,520 --> 00:25:51,240 Speaker 1: They sell it to a French company that I always 442 00:25:51,359 --> 00:25:54,440 Speaker 1: misspelled because I always think that the name is a typo. 443 00:25:54,680 --> 00:25:58,600 Speaker 1: Yeah in in info Games. Yeah, I keep thinking it's 444 00:25:58,600 --> 00:26:01,600 Speaker 1: Info Games. It's info gram because it's spelled like info 445 00:26:01,680 --> 00:26:03,840 Speaker 1: Games but with an extra are there right after the 446 00:26:03,840 --> 00:26:06,960 Speaker 1: ga the French that was in two thousand Yeah, and 447 00:26:07,119 --> 00:26:12,159 Speaker 1: uh So Hasbro Interactive becomes info Grams Interactive and in 448 00:26:12,200 --> 00:26:15,240 Speaker 1: two thousand three, unless you have anything between two thousand 449 00:26:15,280 --> 00:26:18,359 Speaker 1: and two thousand three, thank goodness. So in two thousand three, 450 00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:24,600 Speaker 1: Info Grams Interactive is renamed Atari Interactive, and Infograms creates 451 00:26:24,600 --> 00:26:29,360 Speaker 1: a subsidiary called Atari Incorporated, which has its own listing 452 00:26:29,560 --> 00:26:32,280 Speaker 1: on NASDAC. Yeah, they still saw value in that Atari 453 00:26:32,400 --> 00:26:35,080 Speaker 1: name despite the pummeling it took over the years. And 454 00:26:35,160 --> 00:26:39,359 Speaker 1: keep in mind that by this point there's nothing left 455 00:26:39,400 --> 00:26:42,879 Speaker 1: of the original Atari attached to the Satari name. The 456 00:26:42,920 --> 00:26:45,600 Speaker 1: Atari name is a name and an idea, but it's 457 00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:50,159 Speaker 1: no longer associated with the original company at all. So 458 00:26:50,200 --> 00:26:53,680 Speaker 1: the European branch of Infograms became known as Atari Europe 459 00:26:54,200 --> 00:26:58,959 Speaker 1: and Infograms Australia became Atari Australia Infograms the UK became 460 00:27:00,080 --> 00:27:03,119 Speaker 1: Atari u K. Yeah, And there were re releases of 461 00:27:03,119 --> 00:27:06,280 Speaker 1: some of the classic games. There were some newer games. 462 00:27:06,480 --> 00:27:08,480 Speaker 1: One called Alone in the Dark in two thousand and 463 00:27:08,520 --> 00:27:11,440 Speaker 1: eight was supposed to be pretty good. I never played it. 464 00:27:11,680 --> 00:27:15,040 Speaker 1: Fantastic good. So they had some successes, but again that 465 00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:18,160 Speaker 1: was just confusing because they were, you know, a publisher 466 00:27:18,200 --> 00:27:20,760 Speaker 1: and a distributor, and they really didn't really know what 467 00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:24,879 Speaker 1: they were doing completely with the Atari name. Right. Infogrums 468 00:27:24,880 --> 00:27:28,560 Speaker 1: in particular was into this like acquisition mania, like they 469 00:27:28,600 --> 00:27:30,560 Speaker 1: were they were buying up properties left and right, Yeah, 470 00:27:30,560 --> 00:27:33,280 Speaker 1: which is always a little dangerous, yeah, because it can 471 00:27:33,520 --> 00:27:35,879 Speaker 1: lead to a lack of focus, which is exactly what 472 00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:40,200 Speaker 1: happened in this case. I mean, obviously hindsight tells us that, right, 473 00:27:40,760 --> 00:27:43,520 Speaker 1: we wouldn't necessarily know that otherwise, But it is the 474 00:27:43,560 --> 00:27:47,160 Speaker 1: case Midway Games in two thousand three, Midway Games West, 475 00:27:47,160 --> 00:27:50,720 Speaker 1: I should say, what used to be Atari Games. Now 476 00:27:50,800 --> 00:27:55,679 Speaker 1: Midway Games West disbands, So now Atari Games is just 477 00:27:55,800 --> 00:27:57,639 Speaker 1: a name. In fact, there was a holding company that 478 00:27:57,680 --> 00:27:59,639 Speaker 1: was still called Midway Games West, but it was just 479 00:27:59,720 --> 00:28:03,040 Speaker 1: a whole in company. There was no nothing else to it. 480 00:28:03,119 --> 00:28:06,879 Speaker 1: It was not an office, no that secretary, no games 481 00:28:06,920 --> 00:28:10,720 Speaker 1: coming out of it, nothing, So it only exists as 482 00:28:10,720 --> 00:28:15,040 Speaker 1: a name. Literally. At this point, two thousand four, the 483 00:28:15,080 --> 00:28:19,080 Speaker 1: Atari Flashback launches. Now the Flashback is a dedicated console 484 00:28:19,160 --> 00:28:21,240 Speaker 1: with games that are hard baked into it, so it 485 00:28:21,240 --> 00:28:23,920 Speaker 1: doesn't use cartridges as a selection of games. It looked 486 00:28:23,960 --> 00:28:28,240 Speaker 1: like except for some added buttons here and there. Um, 487 00:28:28,359 --> 00:28:30,000 Speaker 1: I bought. I don't know who made it, but I bought. 488 00:28:30,480 --> 00:28:34,000 Speaker 1: At one point someone was selling the joystick plugs directly 489 00:28:34,040 --> 00:28:36,160 Speaker 1: into the Yeah, that had like twenty games or something 490 00:28:36,200 --> 00:28:38,760 Speaker 1: on it. Um, and that was I played the heck 491 00:28:38,760 --> 00:28:40,320 Speaker 1: out of that thing. Oh yeah, I did too. I 492 00:28:40,640 --> 00:28:42,160 Speaker 1: have one of those at home. But I have one 493 00:28:42,160 --> 00:28:44,960 Speaker 1: of those at home right next to my TV. So 494 00:28:46,160 --> 00:28:48,080 Speaker 1: not trying to brag or anything. I mean, I realized 495 00:28:48,120 --> 00:28:50,120 Speaker 1: that almost everyone out there probably has a larger TV, 496 00:28:50,200 --> 00:28:53,480 Speaker 1: so please don't mind me feel badly about myself. But 497 00:28:53,960 --> 00:28:56,680 Speaker 1: the Flashback did okay, And they came out with different 498 00:28:56,760 --> 00:28:59,520 Speaker 1: versions of that thing exactly like the first one, did 499 00:28:59,520 --> 00:29:01,920 Speaker 1: not have ver eate and it's so that just did 500 00:29:01,920 --> 00:29:03,840 Speaker 1: not fly with me. Yeah, but it's all for the 501 00:29:03,920 --> 00:29:07,320 Speaker 1: nostalgia crowd. Yeah. So that came out with models in 502 00:29:07,360 --> 00:29:10,440 Speaker 1: two thousand four, two thousand five, two thousand eleven, and 503 00:29:10,520 --> 00:29:13,640 Speaker 1: two thousand twelve. Different companies would produce it over the years, 504 00:29:13,960 --> 00:29:17,520 Speaker 1: but they were all licensed by Atari. And by Atari 505 00:29:17,560 --> 00:29:21,760 Speaker 1: I mean Atari Home Computing, which means uh infograms as 506 00:29:21,800 --> 00:29:25,560 Speaker 1: opposed to Midway Games West, which is I know, really 507 00:29:25,880 --> 00:29:30,000 Speaker 1: two thousand five. Okay, seriously, has Bro, what the heck 508 00:29:30,040 --> 00:29:33,200 Speaker 1: are you doing? Has Bro buys back some intellectual property 509 00:29:33,280 --> 00:29:38,520 Speaker 1: from Atari s A, which is the info Grams version, 510 00:29:38,600 --> 00:29:42,120 Speaker 1: the home computer version also known as Atari Inc. As 511 00:29:42,160 --> 00:29:46,280 Speaker 1: the subsidiary of Atari, say, for sixty five million dollars. See, 512 00:29:46,320 --> 00:29:49,280 Speaker 1: that's what's confusing. Yeah, that's crazy that Hasbro got out 513 00:29:49,320 --> 00:29:51,120 Speaker 1: of the game and then literally got back into it, 514 00:29:51,200 --> 00:29:56,200 Speaker 1: you know for that. Yeah, clearly that dot com bubble 515 00:29:56,600 --> 00:30:00,080 Speaker 1: scared everybody, and then once we started seeing recover are 516 00:30:00,280 --> 00:30:02,040 Speaker 1: people wanted to get back into it. The ones that 517 00:30:02,080 --> 00:30:05,360 Speaker 1: were still around anyway. Now, now At is not your 518 00:30:05,440 --> 00:30:09,000 Speaker 1: drunk uncle, it's just the abused, like confused, I don't 519 00:30:09,000 --> 00:30:10,920 Speaker 1: even know which which way is up at this point. 520 00:30:10,960 --> 00:30:13,320 Speaker 1: This is this is the this is the person who's 521 00:30:13,400 --> 00:30:16,680 Speaker 1: just wandering the street and talking about how you know, 522 00:30:16,720 --> 00:30:19,520 Speaker 1: the trees are convincing them to buy Dorito's. That's what 523 00:30:19,600 --> 00:30:21,920 Speaker 1: this is. That now we're at that point. Yeah. So 524 00:30:22,840 --> 00:30:26,840 Speaker 1: in two eight, Infograms offers to buy out Atari Incorporated 525 00:30:26,880 --> 00:30:30,760 Speaker 1: shares to make Infograms the sole owner of Atari Incorporated 526 00:30:30,760 --> 00:30:34,239 Speaker 1: again because they had listed Atri Incorporated on NASDAC, so 527 00:30:34,280 --> 00:30:37,800 Speaker 1: they sold shares to other parties, making it a publicly 528 00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:41,080 Speaker 1: traded company. But now they're saying, well, we need to 529 00:30:41,200 --> 00:30:44,040 Speaker 1: fix Atari like this, this brand is not doing what 530 00:30:44,080 --> 00:30:47,240 Speaker 1: we needed to do. We think that this brand, Yeah, 531 00:30:47,320 --> 00:30:51,120 Speaker 1: we think this brand could save us because Infograms as 532 00:30:51,120 --> 00:30:53,640 Speaker 1: a whole was having a lot of issues. We want 533 00:30:53,680 --> 00:30:56,080 Speaker 1: to be able to rebrand ourselves. But in order to 534 00:30:56,120 --> 00:30:58,760 Speaker 1: do that, we first need to get all of Atari 535 00:30:58,960 --> 00:31:01,440 Speaker 1: back belonging to us. So they offered to buy it out. 536 00:31:02,200 --> 00:31:07,920 Speaker 1: It's accepted, and Infograms reacquires Atari uh completely, so now 537 00:31:08,080 --> 00:31:12,400 Speaker 1: it totally belongs to Infograms uh. Atari meanwhile had acquired 538 00:31:12,400 --> 00:31:15,240 Speaker 1: another company called Cryptic Studios, which developed a game called 539 00:31:15,280 --> 00:31:18,840 Speaker 1: City of Heroes. It's an online multiplayer game where you 540 00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:22,800 Speaker 1: create a superhero um and you an original superhero that 541 00:31:22,800 --> 00:31:24,280 Speaker 1: you can play. It was one that I always wanted 542 00:31:24,320 --> 00:31:26,600 Speaker 1: to get into it, but I never I never had 543 00:31:26,640 --> 00:31:30,880 Speaker 1: the time to dedicate to those massive online games and 544 00:31:30,920 --> 00:31:33,800 Speaker 1: their monthly subscription base. For well, now they're mostly free 545 00:31:33,840 --> 00:31:36,440 Speaker 1: to play, but back then they were all monthly subscriptions, 546 00:31:36,480 --> 00:31:38,880 Speaker 1: and you're busy creating your own real life superhero persona. 547 00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:42,200 Speaker 1: That's true, but you know that's a that's an alter 548 00:31:42,320 --> 00:31:50,200 Speaker 1: ego thing that we need to steer away from. So 549 00:31:50,280 --> 00:31:55,440 Speaker 1: two thousand nine, good grief, could this story get more ridiculous? 550 00:31:55,520 --> 00:32:01,239 Speaker 1: Warner Brothers Entertainment purchases the Midway intellectual property, including the 551 00:32:01,360 --> 00:32:07,440 Speaker 1: name Atari Games. So for the third time, Warner Warner 552 00:32:07,520 --> 00:32:13,680 Speaker 1: owns something called Atari. Yeah nuts, three times buying and selling. 553 00:32:13,880 --> 00:32:19,320 Speaker 1: I don't know. So meanwhile, Namco Bandai acquires Atari Europe 554 00:32:19,400 --> 00:32:24,200 Speaker 1: from Infograms. Infograms itself changes its name to Atari Essay 555 00:32:24,320 --> 00:32:26,880 Speaker 1: to create a united company, and it also has the 556 00:32:26,920 --> 00:32:29,440 Speaker 1: Atari Group, which is a collection of divisions from around 557 00:32:29,440 --> 00:32:32,920 Speaker 1: the world, like Atari Italia, that kind of thing. Um 558 00:32:32,960 --> 00:32:38,160 Speaker 1: that still have the Atari brand name. Here's a name 559 00:32:38,200 --> 00:32:41,960 Speaker 1: we haven't heard for a while. Bushnell. He comes back. 560 00:32:42,720 --> 00:32:47,000 Speaker 1: He actually because of an acquisition ends up on the 561 00:32:47,040 --> 00:32:53,120 Speaker 1: board of directors for Atari, so Atari Incorporated specifically, so 562 00:32:53,400 --> 00:32:57,040 Speaker 1: they brought him back for that very reason, right to 563 00:32:57,080 --> 00:32:59,720 Speaker 1: sort of get some attention again, I imagine. So yeah, 564 00:32:59,720 --> 00:33:02,680 Speaker 1: because this is again one of those things where you've 565 00:33:02,680 --> 00:33:06,680 Speaker 1: got the name but otherwise there's no connection. But now 566 00:33:06,760 --> 00:33:10,240 Speaker 1: you've got the guy who founded the company. So that's 567 00:33:10,280 --> 00:33:12,800 Speaker 1: big news. And it definitely did get a lot of 568 00:33:12,800 --> 00:33:17,120 Speaker 1: people writing about it at the time, although if you 569 00:33:17,200 --> 00:33:20,440 Speaker 1: look at two now you realize not a whole lot 570 00:33:20,600 --> 00:33:24,280 Speaker 1: has will remind you of the old golden age of 571 00:33:24,280 --> 00:33:29,960 Speaker 1: Atari um So. In eleven, Atari Incorporated sells off Cryptic Studios, 572 00:33:30,280 --> 00:33:32,520 Speaker 1: the one that they had bought the City Heroes one. 573 00:33:33,080 --> 00:33:39,920 Speaker 1: And in ten Atari Incorporated files for bankruptcy January. Oh 574 00:33:40,680 --> 00:33:44,560 Speaker 1: so remember this is the This was formally Infograms Atari 575 00:33:44,600 --> 00:33:47,360 Speaker 1: Incorporated was formerly part of Infograms, now part of Ataria. Say. 576 00:33:47,800 --> 00:33:51,200 Speaker 1: Atari Incorporated files from bankruptcy partly to escape the debt 577 00:33:51,240 --> 00:33:54,320 Speaker 1: accrued by its parent company h and In. In an 578 00:33:54,320 --> 00:33:56,560 Speaker 1: effort to pay off the debt, they attempt to sell 579 00:33:56,600 --> 00:33:59,600 Speaker 1: off the portfolio of more than two video games, but 580 00:33:59,640 --> 00:34:05,680 Speaker 1: they received fifteen preliminary bids and none of them approach 581 00:34:05,760 --> 00:34:09,040 Speaker 1: the price that Atari was hoping for, so they don't 582 00:34:09,040 --> 00:34:13,040 Speaker 1: accept any of them. Instead, they decide they'll sell bits 583 00:34:13,040 --> 00:34:17,200 Speaker 1: and pieces off rather than rather than sell everything off 584 00:34:17,239 --> 00:34:19,239 Speaker 1: at a price too low, They're going to sell bits 585 00:34:19,239 --> 00:34:20,960 Speaker 1: and pieces off and try and get themselves through it. 586 00:34:21,320 --> 00:34:24,760 Speaker 1: And it works. I mean they sell some stuff, not everything, 587 00:34:24,800 --> 00:34:26,759 Speaker 1: but they sell some stuff, and then by the end 588 00:34:26,800 --> 00:34:31,200 Speaker 1: often they emerged from bankruptcy December. So like the entire 589 00:34:31,280 --> 00:34:35,120 Speaker 1: year of Ati Incorporated is in bankruptcy, the saddest year. 590 00:34:36,280 --> 00:34:38,520 Speaker 1: Maybe it's hard, I mean, there's a lot of competition 591 00:34:38,600 --> 00:34:42,879 Speaker 1: for that time that titleen Finally last year, that's when 592 00:34:42,880 --> 00:34:45,400 Speaker 1: we have the documentary that we talked about previously, the 593 00:34:45,400 --> 00:34:47,480 Speaker 1: one that went out to the desert to dig up 594 00:34:48,160 --> 00:34:51,480 Speaker 1: to find out if et really was beneath it the cartridge, 595 00:34:51,560 --> 00:34:54,239 Speaker 1: not the character, and that kind of resurrected a little 596 00:34:54,239 --> 00:34:56,880 Speaker 1: bit of interest in Attari again. Yeah. Yeah, there was 597 00:34:56,920 --> 00:34:58,239 Speaker 1: a lot of talk about there were a lot of 598 00:34:58,239 --> 00:35:00,000 Speaker 1: people wondering whether or not they were actually gonna find 599 00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:03,240 Speaker 1: to anything, if they would just find scraps as opposed 600 00:35:03,280 --> 00:35:06,120 Speaker 1: to entire cartridges, And as we mentioned in the previous episode, 601 00:35:06,120 --> 00:35:09,600 Speaker 1: they did find cartridges. So Um. Yeah. The whole story 602 00:35:09,640 --> 00:35:15,879 Speaker 1: behind that is they manufactured four million cartridges. They were 603 00:35:15,960 --> 00:35:18,480 Speaker 1: unable to move three and a half million of those. 604 00:35:18,840 --> 00:35:22,160 Speaker 1: Man So they had only a couple of choices. Do 605 00:35:22,239 --> 00:35:25,279 Speaker 1: you store this and hope that you can one day 606 00:35:25,360 --> 00:35:28,680 Speaker 1: sell it, because keep in mind, storing stuff costs money, right, 607 00:35:28,800 --> 00:35:31,320 Speaker 1: you can't. It's not like there's just a magical space 608 00:35:31,640 --> 00:35:34,520 Speaker 1: like that. It's gonna occupy space that you would otherwise 609 00:35:34,600 --> 00:35:37,040 Speaker 1: use for something else. Or do you call it a 610 00:35:37,080 --> 00:35:40,040 Speaker 1: loss and throw it away? And they chose option number two. 611 00:35:40,800 --> 00:35:42,920 Speaker 1: And so what's amazing to me about the whole et 612 00:35:43,040 --> 00:35:45,799 Speaker 1: debacle is that, um, word got it. I mean this 613 00:35:45,840 --> 00:35:48,320 Speaker 1: is pre Internet and word still got around that fast. 614 00:35:48,600 --> 00:35:51,600 Speaker 1: From Johnny telling his neighbor Billy how bad it sucked, 615 00:35:51,760 --> 00:35:57,480 Speaker 1: and Billy telling his neighbors there wasn't copies. There was 616 00:35:57,520 --> 00:35:59,800 Speaker 1: no like kataku for him or something for people to 617 00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:03,480 Speaker 1: say like this is still in cul the sex Yeah, 618 00:36:03,840 --> 00:36:07,120 Speaker 1: and then and then scoffing over bargain bins at your 619 00:36:07,160 --> 00:36:10,680 Speaker 1: local toy store. Um. And so what's going on with 620 00:36:10,680 --> 00:36:14,880 Speaker 1: a Try now, Well, it's focusing on developing games for 621 00:36:14,920 --> 00:36:18,360 Speaker 1: social platforms like Facebook and for mobile devices primarily, although 622 00:36:18,400 --> 00:36:20,879 Speaker 1: they're looking at some other stuff as well. Right. Yeah, 623 00:36:20,920 --> 00:36:24,480 Speaker 1: a former employee name Fred Uh, I don't know how 624 00:36:24,480 --> 00:36:26,920 Speaker 1: to pronounce that. C H E s in a I S. 625 00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:30,040 Speaker 1: I believe is one of the French fellows from info Grams. 626 00:36:30,800 --> 00:36:34,200 Speaker 1: Perhaps perhaps he's now the CEO. And he said that 627 00:36:34,239 --> 00:36:36,719 Speaker 1: he is going to try and be relevant in the 628 00:36:36,719 --> 00:36:42,839 Speaker 1: PC world again with a few different things. Uh, notably gambling. Yeah, 629 00:36:43,239 --> 00:36:46,640 Speaker 1: real casino gambling and just for fun casino gambling. So 630 00:36:46,680 --> 00:36:48,799 Speaker 1: I think this would be like if you walked into 631 00:36:48,800 --> 00:36:51,040 Speaker 1: a casino, you know how you see all those licensed 632 00:36:51,560 --> 00:36:54,960 Speaker 1: slot machines like Lord of the Rings. That one, by 633 00:36:54,960 --> 00:36:56,560 Speaker 1: the way, treats me really well. So I love the 634 00:36:56,560 --> 00:36:58,799 Speaker 1: Lord of the Ring slot machine, but I can see 635 00:36:58,840 --> 00:37:02,160 Speaker 1: like the Centipe slot machine, and then some of the game. 636 00:37:02,480 --> 00:37:04,760 Speaker 1: They're gonna do both. They're gonna have a licensing program 637 00:37:04,800 --> 00:37:08,840 Speaker 1: and they're gonna have an actual online casino social casino 638 00:37:08,880 --> 00:37:13,160 Speaker 1: with virtual money, and so the gambling thing and licensing 639 00:37:13,840 --> 00:37:17,719 Speaker 1: and games. They said, the flashback they're gonna keep around. Uh. 640 00:37:17,760 --> 00:37:20,000 Speaker 1: They have one idea for they're going to create some 641 00:37:20,040 --> 00:37:22,920 Speaker 1: new I p s. One is for the LGBT community 642 00:37:22,920 --> 00:37:27,279 Speaker 1: called pride Fest, and um, he said, they're developing a 643 00:37:27,320 --> 00:37:30,880 Speaker 1: new Asteroids game that is a PC game where you 644 00:37:30,920 --> 00:37:37,200 Speaker 1: will actually be surviving on the asteroid itself. So turn 645 00:37:37,320 --> 00:37:40,520 Speaker 1: things around a little bit. They're trying, Um he thinks 646 00:37:40,560 --> 00:37:44,399 Speaker 1: that they can capitalize on that Atari name and get 647 00:37:44,440 --> 00:37:48,360 Speaker 1: it back to relevance again. But I don't know. Yeah, 648 00:37:48,440 --> 00:37:53,240 Speaker 1: so you know, it's whether or not we see anything 649 00:37:53,239 --> 00:37:55,760 Speaker 1: coming out of this division. Also, keep in mind the 650 00:37:55,760 --> 00:38:00,120 Speaker 1: the Atari games that was purchased by Warner Brothers Entertainment. Know, 651 00:38:00,200 --> 00:38:03,200 Speaker 1: the story is not necessarily over for Atari, although you 652 00:38:03,200 --> 00:38:06,400 Speaker 1: could argue that as far as the original company is concerned, 653 00:38:06,440 --> 00:38:11,760 Speaker 1: that story has been over since the eighties. So uh, 654 00:38:11,800 --> 00:38:15,640 Speaker 1: it's an interesting and and sometimes upsetting story, the rise 655 00:38:15,680 --> 00:38:19,520 Speaker 1: and fall of the of Atari and it all. Yeah, 656 00:38:19,600 --> 00:38:23,000 Speaker 1: and and there's people I remember reading things like could 657 00:38:23,000 --> 00:38:26,560 Speaker 1: the video game crash happen again? And if you look, 658 00:38:26,800 --> 00:38:30,239 Speaker 1: there is a large number of different providers that are 659 00:38:30,280 --> 00:38:32,359 Speaker 1: all trying to clamor for attention. Now, when we think 660 00:38:32,400 --> 00:38:36,080 Speaker 1: of consoles, we think Nintendo, Sony an Xbox. Some people 661 00:38:36,120 --> 00:38:38,160 Speaker 1: would say just Sony an Xbox. They don't even think 662 00:38:38,200 --> 00:38:42,040 Speaker 1: of Nintendo. Um, but then we have the mobile game market, 663 00:38:42,120 --> 00:38:47,200 Speaker 1: we have computers, PC gaming is hitting a resurgence. So uh, 664 00:38:47,239 --> 00:38:49,200 Speaker 1: and then there are people like me who hold back 665 00:38:49,239 --> 00:38:52,879 Speaker 1: from buying current generation consoles because we don't necessarily see 666 00:38:52,920 --> 00:38:56,080 Speaker 1: the value in them or the reason to upgrade, or 667 00:38:56,160 --> 00:38:58,799 Speaker 1: I was given one by my father in law. Yeah. 668 00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:01,160 Speaker 1: The ending by one, we get to that point where 669 00:39:01,160 --> 00:39:05,120 Speaker 1: we think, you know, it's it is possible. You can't 670 00:39:05,640 --> 00:39:08,200 Speaker 1: never say that you're too big to fail. Yeah, that's 671 00:39:08,200 --> 00:39:11,520 Speaker 1: a rookie massake Kip, Pride comes before the fall. That 672 00:39:11,520 --> 00:39:14,560 Speaker 1: that's true. So we have completed the story of Attari. 673 00:39:14,600 --> 00:39:16,280 Speaker 1: But now we've got a little time to talk about 674 00:39:16,280 --> 00:39:19,839 Speaker 1: some personal reflections beyond the stuff that we've talked about 675 00:39:19,840 --> 00:39:23,480 Speaker 1: in the previous episodes. So, Chuck, what are some of 676 00:39:23,480 --> 00:39:30,040 Speaker 1: your fond memories of Atari in general? Uh? Well, buying 677 00:39:30,360 --> 00:39:33,480 Speaker 1: pac Man on Christmas Day? You know it's stunk. The 678 00:39:33,520 --> 00:39:36,520 Speaker 1: buying was great. Yeah, and actually, man, I actually enjoyed 679 00:39:36,560 --> 00:39:41,680 Speaker 1: playing it as um a twelve year old. Um. I 680 00:39:41,680 --> 00:39:45,120 Speaker 1: didn't realize how bad it's stunk at the time because 681 00:39:45,120 --> 00:39:47,880 Speaker 1: it was pac Man in my house. Um. And you know, 682 00:39:47,960 --> 00:39:49,759 Speaker 1: as a little kid, you're not like, oh, this doesn't 683 00:39:49,760 --> 00:39:52,120 Speaker 1: look just like it and sound just like it. I 684 00:39:52,160 --> 00:39:55,160 Speaker 1: think older kids probably were a little more like that, 685 00:39:55,680 --> 00:39:57,440 Speaker 1: but um, I was young enough to where I enjoyed 686 00:39:57,440 --> 00:40:01,120 Speaker 1: it adventure. Like we talked about man um the imagination 687 00:40:02,400 --> 00:40:06,160 Speaker 1: playing adventure well, the fact that they incorporated things like 688 00:40:06,200 --> 00:40:10,000 Speaker 1: the bat mechanic, which meant that you could never expect 689 00:40:10,080 --> 00:40:13,319 Speaker 1: the same gameplay experience two times in a row, which 690 00:40:13,360 --> 00:40:16,080 Speaker 1: was pretty interesting. Like a lot of these games, like 691 00:40:16,120 --> 00:40:20,200 Speaker 1: the early games, it involved memorizing patterns, and if you 692 00:40:20,239 --> 00:40:24,520 Speaker 1: memorize the pattern, you could play definitely, but that didn't 693 00:40:24,560 --> 00:40:28,160 Speaker 1: work for games that actually would uh introduce some sort 694 00:40:28,200 --> 00:40:32,560 Speaker 1: of element that could at least be perceived as random. Yeah, 695 00:40:33,000 --> 00:40:36,600 Speaker 1: River Raid fantastic, huge game to me, that holds up 696 00:40:36,640 --> 00:40:39,359 Speaker 1: still today. Yeah, it's a good game. I think out 697 00:40:39,360 --> 00:40:42,319 Speaker 1: of all the shooter games. That's like by shooter, I 698 00:40:42,320 --> 00:40:44,600 Speaker 1: mean like you're controlling a ship that's moving around and 699 00:40:44,600 --> 00:40:46,440 Speaker 1: shooting things. In this case, it's a it's a jet, 700 00:40:46,840 --> 00:40:51,080 Speaker 1: it's flying over a river. Uh, that one. I didn't 701 00:40:51,120 --> 00:40:53,160 Speaker 1: own River Raid, but a friend of mine from down 702 00:40:53,200 --> 00:40:54,799 Speaker 1: the street owned it, and I would go over to 703 00:40:54,800 --> 00:40:56,960 Speaker 1: his house all the time to play it because it 704 00:40:57,120 --> 00:41:00,360 Speaker 1: was the one title on Atari that I really did 705 00:41:00,680 --> 00:41:02,359 Speaker 1: but did not have. Well, actually, No, there were two 706 00:41:02,680 --> 00:41:04,960 Speaker 1: river Raiate and Pitfall. I never owned either of those, 707 00:41:05,000 --> 00:41:06,719 Speaker 1: but I played the heck out of them. I think 708 00:41:06,760 --> 00:41:10,400 Speaker 1: river Raid was the first top scroll game. Yeah. Uh, 709 00:41:10,560 --> 00:41:13,959 Speaker 1: Pitfall was huge and that kind of introduced the platforming 710 00:41:14,960 --> 00:41:23,880 Speaker 1: genre of video games. Yeah, and Warlords. Uh man. I 711 00:41:23,920 --> 00:41:26,560 Speaker 1: had a ton of Oh, Frogger. I mean, I know 712 00:41:26,640 --> 00:41:29,359 Speaker 1: that was sort of a kids game, but I still 713 00:41:29,400 --> 00:41:32,680 Speaker 1: like Frogger. It's still challenging. I liked Frogger as well. 714 00:41:32,760 --> 00:41:35,719 Speaker 1: I remember I had some games that I wish had 715 00:41:35,760 --> 00:41:38,600 Speaker 1: been better, Like I had Donkey Kong Jr. That really 716 00:41:38,680 --> 00:41:41,520 Speaker 1: was it didn't measure up nearly as well to the 717 00:41:41,640 --> 00:41:46,000 Speaker 1: arcade version. I had Popeye, which also didn't measure up 718 00:41:46,120 --> 00:41:49,319 Speaker 1: very well to the arcade version. Um, but I mean 719 00:41:49,360 --> 00:41:50,800 Speaker 1: it was. It was like I had a lot of 720 00:41:50,840 --> 00:41:56,160 Speaker 1: those those games licensed games and stuff as well. Uh yeah. 721 00:41:56,400 --> 00:42:00,840 Speaker 1: I I also have really fond memories of arcades, Like, oh, dude, 722 00:42:00,960 --> 00:42:05,000 Speaker 1: you know, there were there were times where I would 723 00:42:05,040 --> 00:42:08,080 Speaker 1: just go to the arcade to um, you know, spend 724 00:42:08,080 --> 00:42:10,640 Speaker 1: a dollar or whatever, and you know, you always try 725 00:42:10,640 --> 00:42:12,200 Speaker 1: and find the game that you figure you're gonna get 726 00:42:12,200 --> 00:42:15,120 Speaker 1: the most value for your money. Like I can play 727 00:42:15,160 --> 00:42:16,960 Speaker 1: this one for a long time. I'm going to play 728 00:42:17,000 --> 00:42:20,200 Speaker 1: this one. Um. And luckily there were also a lot 729 00:42:20,239 --> 00:42:22,920 Speaker 1: of them made by Atari that were really fun. I mean, 730 00:42:22,960 --> 00:42:26,359 Speaker 1: Star Wars is still like I love the Star Wars 731 00:42:26,440 --> 00:42:30,320 Speaker 1: trilogy game that came out that was modeled after closer 732 00:42:30,360 --> 00:42:32,799 Speaker 1: after the movies, like with better graphics and everything. But 733 00:42:32,840 --> 00:42:35,400 Speaker 1: there's still a place in my heart for that vector 734 00:42:35,440 --> 00:42:39,239 Speaker 1: graphics Star Wars game. And I wasn't kidding when I 735 00:42:39,280 --> 00:42:42,000 Speaker 1: said that I would actually consider purchasing one of those 736 00:42:42,040 --> 00:42:46,960 Speaker 1: because that was, um such an such a fond memory. 737 00:42:47,000 --> 00:42:49,680 Speaker 1: Like the two Arcade games I went back to over 738 00:42:49,680 --> 00:42:54,480 Speaker 1: and over, We're We're Star Wars and Spy Hunter. Um No, 739 00:42:54,600 --> 00:42:57,000 Speaker 1: Spy Hunter was not an Atari game, but oddly enough, 740 00:42:57,600 --> 00:43:00,920 Speaker 1: I think Spy Hunter two ended up being distributed under Ratari, 741 00:43:01,320 --> 00:43:03,760 Speaker 1: even though Atari had nothing to do with the original 742 00:43:03,800 --> 00:43:06,120 Speaker 1: Spy Hunter. But that just shows another way that the 743 00:43:06,200 --> 00:43:09,040 Speaker 1: Stari story makes no sense when you look at the 744 00:43:09,040 --> 00:43:11,879 Speaker 1: whole thing. Yeah, and you know, I hate to sound 745 00:43:11,920 --> 00:43:16,600 Speaker 1: like the old guy, but um, I'm really thankful that 746 00:43:16,680 --> 00:43:18,840 Speaker 1: we grew up in that generation. There was something really 747 00:43:18,880 --> 00:43:26,080 Speaker 1: special about seeing something invented for us, uh, right in 748 00:43:26,120 --> 00:43:29,000 Speaker 1: front of our very eyes created out of nowhere, like 749 00:43:29,080 --> 00:43:31,560 Speaker 1: we talked about in I think episode two, when there 750 00:43:31,560 --> 00:43:33,759 Speaker 1: were three TV stations or you know, five or six 751 00:43:33,800 --> 00:43:38,160 Speaker 1: TV stations and crappy handheld games and it was just 752 00:43:38,400 --> 00:43:41,040 Speaker 1: it blew my mind. And I spent a lot of 753 00:43:41,080 --> 00:43:43,760 Speaker 1: time in the arcade, and the games today are amazing, 754 00:43:43,800 --> 00:43:47,680 Speaker 1: but the mind blow isn't there like it was back then, 755 00:43:47,760 --> 00:43:50,480 Speaker 1: because it's all building on what happened before it, and 756 00:43:50,480 --> 00:43:53,680 Speaker 1: this was building on out of thin air. And it also, 757 00:43:53,760 --> 00:43:56,520 Speaker 1: I mean, it was an era where a single person 758 00:43:56,880 --> 00:43:59,239 Speaker 1: could develop a game from beginning to finish. You know, 759 00:43:59,400 --> 00:44:03,080 Speaker 1: now we have companies that have entire divisions dedicated to that. 760 00:44:03,560 --> 00:44:08,080 Speaker 1: It was also an era where people were making weird games, 761 00:44:08,120 --> 00:44:11,160 Speaker 1: like weird games that could be a lot of fun 762 00:44:11,280 --> 00:44:13,239 Speaker 1: but had nothing to do with it. Like you look 763 00:44:13,239 --> 00:44:15,319 Speaker 1: at yours Revenge, I dare you to tell me what 764 00:44:15,480 --> 00:44:18,600 Speaker 1: that's supposed to be. It is bizarre, but it's awesome, 765 00:44:19,080 --> 00:44:22,760 Speaker 1: and there are a lot of really fun games. Yeah, huge, 766 00:44:22,920 --> 00:44:25,440 Speaker 1: huge risks right both in the arcade and in the 767 00:44:25,440 --> 00:44:28,719 Speaker 1: home video game market, just people saying let's create some 768 00:44:28,920 --> 00:44:33,000 Speaker 1: a fun experience. It doesn't matter if it quote unquote 769 00:44:33,000 --> 00:44:35,760 Speaker 1: makes sense or whatever. These days, you look at video 770 00:44:35,800 --> 00:44:38,000 Speaker 1: games and a lot of the companies tend to get 771 00:44:38,080 --> 00:44:41,120 Speaker 1: hung up on creating franchises. They want they want to 772 00:44:41,160 --> 00:44:45,200 Speaker 1: create a title that they can make essentially clones of 773 00:44:45,440 --> 00:44:51,360 Speaker 1: with modifications. Yeah, and then that way they have built 774 00:44:51,360 --> 00:44:53,520 Speaker 1: in a built an audience they've got. All right, these 775 00:44:53,520 --> 00:44:56,000 Speaker 1: are the people who are Call of Duty players. So 776 00:44:56,239 --> 00:44:58,640 Speaker 1: let's put out a Call of Duty game every single year. 777 00:44:58,960 --> 00:45:01,560 Speaker 1: They'll buy it. We we we know they'll buy it because 778 00:45:01,600 --> 00:45:04,240 Speaker 1: they are Called of Duty fans, as opposed to saying 779 00:45:04,600 --> 00:45:07,719 Speaker 1: what kind of cool experience can we create, which is 780 00:45:08,080 --> 00:45:12,480 Speaker 1: sort of given rise to the independent developer community. So 781 00:45:12,960 --> 00:45:16,320 Speaker 1: in a way, those early Atari days are very similar 782 00:45:16,320 --> 00:45:19,800 Speaker 1: to what we see with the independent game community these days, except, 783 00:45:19,800 --> 00:45:22,759 Speaker 1: of course, the independent game developers are are not, as 784 00:45:23,120 --> 00:45:26,480 Speaker 1: you know, not as organized in a sense, they're nonder 785 00:45:26,520 --> 00:45:29,680 Speaker 1: an umbrella like Atari was. But other than that, they're 786 00:45:29,760 --> 00:45:32,279 Speaker 1: they're operating in a very similar way. You look at 787 00:45:32,280 --> 00:45:34,759 Speaker 1: those early days of Attari, it really did sound a 788 00:45:34,800 --> 00:45:39,640 Speaker 1: lot like what an Internet startups sounds like today. Yeah, 789 00:45:39,760 --> 00:45:43,120 Speaker 1: you were defining what you did and so there weren't 790 00:45:43,200 --> 00:45:47,680 Speaker 1: rules because no one had done it before. Yeah, we're 791 00:45:47,680 --> 00:45:51,279 Speaker 1: talking earlier so man needs to get on that Atari movie. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 792 00:45:51,360 --> 00:45:53,319 Speaker 1: We talked about the possibility of you know, someone needs 793 00:45:53,360 --> 00:45:56,800 Speaker 1: to do a documentary about this, like take this idea 794 00:45:56,920 --> 00:45:59,359 Speaker 1: of the rise and Fall, the three episodes that we 795 00:45:59,400 --> 00:46:03,399 Speaker 1: have done, um, and really look into it and make 796 00:46:03,440 --> 00:46:08,480 Speaker 1: it a film to document what happened and explain the 797 00:46:08,520 --> 00:46:13,759 Speaker 1: processes and uh, because it does get so so convoluted 798 00:46:13,760 --> 00:46:15,920 Speaker 1: and complex towards the end of its existence. And of 799 00:46:15,920 --> 00:46:20,600 Speaker 1: course we could argue that by that time, it's you know, 800 00:46:20,640 --> 00:46:23,319 Speaker 1: it's saying the name Atari is meaningless because again it's 801 00:46:23,360 --> 00:46:26,560 Speaker 1: just a word at that point, um, which is sad. It. 802 00:46:26,560 --> 00:46:29,360 Speaker 1: It did have such an important part in my childhood. 803 00:46:29,360 --> 00:46:32,319 Speaker 1: I mean, I I played so much both in the 804 00:46:32,400 --> 00:46:36,480 Speaker 1: arcade and blister my hand. Oh yeah, oh no, yeah, 805 00:46:36,520 --> 00:46:39,200 Speaker 1: you would get like I remember because by the way 806 00:46:39,200 --> 00:46:43,480 Speaker 1: I would hold the joystick, um in the in between 807 00:46:43,480 --> 00:46:46,360 Speaker 1: my thumb and forefinger, where I would I would grip 808 00:46:46,400 --> 00:46:49,760 Speaker 1: the thumb stick, I would have a blister right there, 809 00:46:50,680 --> 00:46:53,440 Speaker 1: and um. Yeah. It also was one of those things 810 00:46:53,480 --> 00:46:55,480 Speaker 1: that would frustrate me because I'm a left hander, and 811 00:46:55,560 --> 00:47:01,799 Speaker 1: so I I ended up Yeah, I coped well enough, 812 00:47:02,040 --> 00:47:04,600 Speaker 1: but yeah, it was a little if I guess it 813 00:47:04,680 --> 00:47:06,839 Speaker 1: kind of helped with my precision of my right hand. 814 00:47:06,880 --> 00:47:09,560 Speaker 1: Otherwise I probably would just be flailing around the office 815 00:47:09,560 --> 00:47:12,319 Speaker 1: on fire all the time. So I thank Atari for 816 00:47:12,360 --> 00:47:14,960 Speaker 1: that as well. Yeah, but yeah, it's funny because I 817 00:47:15,000 --> 00:47:18,399 Speaker 1: never owned you know, when the Atari crap video game 818 00:47:18,400 --> 00:47:20,920 Speaker 1: crash happened. Atari was the only video game console I 819 00:47:20,920 --> 00:47:26,600 Speaker 1: owned at the time of video game consoles being being built. Right, 820 00:47:27,000 --> 00:47:29,080 Speaker 1: So I got in television, but that was after in 821 00:47:29,120 --> 00:47:31,880 Speaker 1: television had was no longer a thing that was. That 822 00:47:32,000 --> 00:47:34,600 Speaker 1: was a hand me down. I didn't get a Nintendo. 823 00:47:35,040 --> 00:47:37,680 Speaker 1: I never had roommate had one, so I didn't buy 824 00:47:37,719 --> 00:47:39,640 Speaker 1: one of those. You see. I what I did was 825 00:47:40,120 --> 00:47:44,520 Speaker 1: I transitioned over to computers, and I got I became 826 00:47:44,560 --> 00:47:48,279 Speaker 1: one of those snooty computer gamers because the games on 827 00:47:48,320 --> 00:47:53,160 Speaker 1: computers were deeper, more sophisticated. They didn't have the arcady 828 00:47:53,280 --> 00:47:56,560 Speaker 1: kind of graphics that dedicated video game consoles could have, 829 00:47:57,200 --> 00:47:59,759 Speaker 1: but they did have a richer game experience in my mind, 830 00:48:00,080 --> 00:48:02,480 Speaker 1: and so I became a computer gamer. Now it's funny 831 00:48:02,480 --> 00:48:05,520 Speaker 1: because now I'm a console gamer again, although I'm now 832 00:48:05,560 --> 00:48:09,560 Speaker 1: transitioning back the computer gamer, and that's because of services 833 00:48:09,600 --> 00:48:11,840 Speaker 1: like Steam, which allowed me to buy games and have 834 00:48:11,960 --> 00:48:14,880 Speaker 1: them download directly to my computer, and I don't have 835 00:48:14,920 --> 00:48:16,799 Speaker 1: to go to a store. I don't have to buy 836 00:48:16,800 --> 00:48:19,799 Speaker 1: a box. I get the game delivered straight to my 837 00:48:19,960 --> 00:48:21,640 Speaker 1: computer and I can play it off of there. So 838 00:48:21,719 --> 00:48:23,440 Speaker 1: it's funny because I keep going back and forth. I 839 00:48:23,480 --> 00:48:27,600 Speaker 1: went console to PC two console. In fact, I was 840 00:48:27,640 --> 00:48:32,200 Speaker 1: consoled for a long time with the uh In sixty four, GameCube, 841 00:48:32,680 --> 00:48:36,160 Speaker 1: the PS two, the PS three, the Xbox, the Xbox 842 00:48:36,200 --> 00:48:39,719 Speaker 1: three sixty I have all of those and the Dreamcast. 843 00:48:39,760 --> 00:48:42,239 Speaker 1: I've got a Dreamcast too. I'm thinking back now, I've 844 00:48:42,280 --> 00:48:46,880 Speaker 1: never bought a console. You've only been given was Christmas. 845 00:48:48,400 --> 00:48:53,080 Speaker 1: My college roommate had the first Nintendo, had the Super Nintendo. 846 00:48:53,400 --> 00:48:56,279 Speaker 1: Another college roommate had the sixty four. My friend in 847 00:48:56,440 --> 00:48:58,440 Speaker 1: l A had the Xbox. Who lived next door to 848 00:48:58,440 --> 00:49:03,160 Speaker 1: men who bought me the or gave me the three. 849 00:49:03,280 --> 00:49:05,759 Speaker 1: Not all of us can walk outside and expect consoles 850 00:49:05,760 --> 00:49:08,520 Speaker 1: to rain down from the heaven. Never bought one. Just 851 00:49:09,040 --> 00:49:11,640 Speaker 1: occurred to me, to be fair, some of those word 852 00:49:11,680 --> 00:49:14,560 Speaker 1: gifts to me. Actually, the Dreamcast was given to me 853 00:49:14,680 --> 00:49:18,520 Speaker 1: after Dreamcast had already folded and uh my wife bought 854 00:49:18,520 --> 00:49:21,319 Speaker 1: it like a used Dreamcast and then we just got 855 00:49:21,320 --> 00:49:24,040 Speaker 1: like a folder full of games that that came out 856 00:49:24,080 --> 00:49:26,479 Speaker 1: for it. By the way, I should do a full 857 00:49:26,520 --> 00:49:29,920 Speaker 1: episode just on the Dreamcast some point, because that was 858 00:49:29,960 --> 00:49:35,439 Speaker 1: also an amazing system, uh that died unnecessarily like it 859 00:49:35,440 --> 00:49:37,839 Speaker 1: it was. It was kind of like the Jaguar and 860 00:49:37,880 --> 00:49:42,200 Speaker 1: that it came out and it was clearly superior to 861 00:49:43,080 --> 00:49:47,040 Speaker 1: it's it's uh competitors in space, but because of bad 862 00:49:47,080 --> 00:49:50,640 Speaker 1: timing and a bad library early on, it never took off, 863 00:49:51,120 --> 00:49:53,560 Speaker 1: at least not to a point that could sustain a company. 864 00:49:54,160 --> 00:49:57,160 Speaker 1: Um So, Yeah, a lot of warning messages in this 865 00:49:57,320 --> 00:50:00,880 Speaker 1: in this series too, But Chuck, I gotta thank you 866 00:50:00,960 --> 00:50:02,879 Speaker 1: for joining me on this. This was so much fun. 867 00:50:02,920 --> 00:50:05,040 Speaker 1: Who knew it was going to be an epic three 868 00:50:05,040 --> 00:50:08,680 Speaker 1: part started out? Yeah, thanks for having men. Thank you. 869 00:50:08,760 --> 00:50:11,640 Speaker 1: We've been in this studio for nearly three hours a 870 00:50:12,600 --> 00:50:18,360 Speaker 1: little bit. Yeah, it turns out dude soup in this uh, 871 00:50:18,480 --> 00:50:21,040 Speaker 1: because we we've got first of all, I think at 872 00:50:21,080 --> 00:50:23,759 Speaker 1: six pm they turn off the air conditioning system because 873 00:50:23,760 --> 00:50:27,440 Speaker 1: I'm reading it and says off on it, and yeah, 874 00:50:27,480 --> 00:50:29,759 Speaker 1: there's just three of us in this tiny little room. 875 00:50:30,000 --> 00:50:33,200 Speaker 1: But thank you for joining me. Remember you can find 876 00:50:33,320 --> 00:50:36,640 Speaker 1: Chuck's stuff over at stuff You should know a phenomenal show. 877 00:50:36,680 --> 00:50:40,200 Speaker 1: If you have not subscribed to that, well join the 878 00:50:40,239 --> 00:50:42,719 Speaker 1: rest of the human race. Come on, you gotta check 879 00:50:42,760 --> 00:50:46,640 Speaker 1: it out. Josh and Chuck are phenomenal. They break down 880 00:50:46,719 --> 00:50:50,200 Speaker 1: topics in a way that's accessible and funny and informative. 881 00:50:50,600 --> 00:50:52,640 Speaker 1: Check it out. Thank you, my friend. You are welcome. 882 00:50:52,680 --> 00:50:55,080 Speaker 1: And if you have any questions, comments, you've got a 883 00:50:55,120 --> 00:50:57,680 Speaker 1: suggestion for a future episode, write me. My address is 884 00:50:57,719 --> 00:51:00,680 Speaker 1: tech Stuff at how stuff works dot com. Drop me 885 00:51:00,680 --> 00:51:03,040 Speaker 1: a line on Facebook, Twitter or Tumbler. The handle at 886 00:51:03,080 --> 00:51:06,160 Speaker 1: all three is tech Stuff h s W and we'll 887 00:51:06,160 --> 00:51:13,680 Speaker 1: talk to you again. Releason for more on this and 888 00:51:13,760 --> 00:51:16,319 Speaker 1: thousands of other topics. Does it have stuff works dot 889 00:51:16,360 --> 00:51:26,240 Speaker 1: com