Atari's Crusade

[AlphaUMi]

It appears that Atari is leading a ferocious crusade against emulators, fansites, and homebrew content in name of his "name" (what a pun!).

Just two examples:

First reading

Second reading

This last one is very funny (if I can say so) because Atari attacked an hobbist who studies REAL asteroids: but, according to Atari's lawyer, he can't even say asteroids because that word belongs only to Atari!

Boh....

[Adultery]

Seriously? Get real guys! Your shitty company hasn't served any real purpose since the 80's. Your 600 rehashes of the same crap make me sick, and to be honest most of your crap was just that... Crap. I should throw my Ghostbustets game right in the trash based on this alone. To be honest that would take more time than I spent actually playing it!

Bet they go after AtariAge next if they haven't already done so. Ungrateful bastards.

[mesk]

Its because they and every other company scour the web and every emulation site(looking at you M$,with your "game room" of $5.00 2600 games).when the mame guys tried contacting these companies back in 2000 a majority of them all said they want nothing to do with their old games,they are looking to the future,not the past.then they see all these emu sites and all they see is $$$ and now all of sudden they want to talk about their old games.go figure

Im amazed that atari has the $$ to even hire a legal team,exactly what was their last successful game? the jaguar,lynx,5200 & 7800 were all flops.so im guessing some 2600 games?

[Adultery]

Yeah, so they can sell another crappy Asteroids remake on Virtual Console for $10. Bogus, Atari... Bogus.

[mesk]

Yeah, so they can sell another crappy Asteroids remake on Virtual Console for $10. Bogus, Atari... Bogus.

Or worse:they try and update a classic for current gen XBLA & PSN.what a trainwreck those games are

[hansolo77]

I find that second reading absolutely rediculous. Just because the guy has 'asteroids' in his domain name, he's getting a ceast and desist order?! That's like them going after a pest control website that gets rid of 'centipede' problems! How can they possibly own the rights to a common word? Next, they'll be trying to sue NASA for using the term 'lunar lander'. What a joke! Clearly a sign of the crippling economy, with them trying to sue for outrageous claims just to try and get some money.

[AlphaUMi]

I find that second reading absolutely rediculous. Just because the guy has 'asteroids' in his domain name, he's getting a ceast and desist order?! That's like them going after a pest control website that gets rid of 'centipede' problems! How can they possibly own the rights to a common word? Next, they'll be trying to sue NASA for using the term 'lunar lander'. What a joke! Clearly a sign of the crippling economy, with them trying to sue for outrageous claims just to try and get some money.

Yeah, I find the second reading an example of one of the most ridiculous and absurd behaviour a human can have. These avid bastards are trying to spill money from the veins of humble and normal people.

[Draco1962]

This is pretty much the same stuff they pulled on the Atari 8-bit scene when they all but pulled out of the US market totally with the exception of lukewarm support for the Atari ST. Of course, they blamed piracy for the demise of 8-bit support but anyone that lived through and sees the history of the 80's knows that they failed to innovate until too late and the arcade console market crashed.

[hansolo77]

Yup, I vaguely remember Atari's downfall. I told dad about this this thread, and about how Atari's is treating that "asteroids" guy. He just went nuts. Dad was always an Atari fanboy. He had the 2600, 2 of the Atari 800 8-bit computers, and the Atari ST. He was a full supporter (although also a pirate <snicker>). He said Atari just one day decided to stop everything and completely left the scene, leaving it's fanbase stranded. For YEARS they were silent, non-supportive of anything the population tried to do, and ultimately turned their backs to everything. Atari just flat out gave up, and didn't care anymore. Now all of a sudden, they CARE? They don't want anything to tarnish their name? For Christ's sake, they abandoned everybody and the entire industry, without warning. When you do that, you pretty much have no control anymore over the things people do.

Kinda reminds me of what happened to the guys that created the Superman comics. For years, they tried to get their comic going in the newspapers, but nobody wanted to publish them. So they developed a comic book and found a publisher (later known as DC Comics) to publish their stories. All of a sudden, the population loved them, and the newspapers were quick to want to buy into the biz. Many years later, the creators had a problem with the way DC Comics were controlling their stories, preventing them from telling them the way they wanted. So DC Comics FIRED the creators, saying Superman was a DC trademark and they could do whatever they wanted with him. That put the 2 creators of the greatest comic book hero out on the street because the company took over. They tried to sue DC for rights infringement, and for not paying out royalties to them. They lost, and for something like 30 years the creator's were forgotten. Then they made the Christopher Reeve movies, and the director pitied the situation with the creators, and fought the DC Comics company. They never got their job back, never got their super hero back, but now get a percentage of royalties, and a subtitle at the start of the comics saying they're created it.