déjà vu

[tthurman]

What's old is new again, it's seemingly all coming back! 

 

Saw this posted by I_Did

https://www.intellivisionentertainment.com/

http://bit-tech.net/news/gaming/retro/intellivision-picked-for-a-console-rebirth/1/

I certainly played my share on this console (thanks to my neighbors)

[hansolo77]

Do I suck by saying "not interested?"

Retro consoles are flooding the market now.  With re-releasing the NES mini, the original release of it, and the SNES Mini.. Not to mention the Flashback consoles.. And creeping on the heals of the Atari VCS announcement.  I feel like this is just a sad attempt to up-sell a console that in my mind was inferior.  I mean, granted I'm already a backing supporter of the Atari VCS.  But in my opinion, Intellivision wasn't that great.  I hadn't even heard of the thing till I was in High School (late 90's).  The Coleco was more popular I think.  But it's competitor was the NES.  I read the reports that it was the first 16-bit console, at a time when 8-bit consoles were the thing.  But was it really?  I mean, comparing capabilities, Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, SNES, and the TurboGrafx/PC-Engine were the 16-bit consoles.  Intellivision was more an 8-bit console, maybe along the lines of Atari 5200.  But it's cross-compatibility add-on device was only compatible with the Atari 2600 generation.  So they had a "D-Pad".. it was a disc, not a true pad.  They had official Pro sports licensing.  Big whoop.  They didn't have good games.  They really don't offer anything.  To reboot a console now, you have to compete with Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch.  Intellivision will be a niche market at best, sold to people who knew the brand.  Atari has generations of software to build on.  They may have dropped out of the console game with the Jaguar, but they still made games.  A new console from them will help build their company and allow playability with potentially their entire library.  I don't think Intellivision has had a new game since the 80's.

Nope.. Atari VCS is still my go to.  Will be somewhat interested in seeing where Intellivision goes, but interested in buying/supporting?  Nope.

[Draco1962]

Will probably be able to run Intellivision emulation on the VCS based upon the stats. But why?

[tthurman]

Well If you want to look at it that way then they are all copying Nintendo.  Atari is some drugged up concoction that was almost certainly born off the coattails of the NES classic and SNES classic success.  We don't know what it is really yet except for an old name many hold dear.

2600 released in 77

Intellivision in 79

Colecovision in 82

NES in 83

Each was an advancement from the previous although, in my opinion, the CV represented a defining moment in consoles as it very nearly matched the arcade.  It also had the best controllers for the time period.

[ClassicGMR]

I love the Intellivision. The biggest downside - for me - is that most of the early-midlife games are 2 player. I could fire up my ColecoVision or Atari and play when I was by myself but Mattel insisted on too many multiplayer games early on.

Some of my favorites to play: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons©: Treasure of Tarmin, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons©: Cloudy Mountain, Microsurgeon, Space Battle or Space Spartans.

[Draco1962]

4 hours ago, tthurman said:

Well If you want to look at it that way then they are all copying Nintendo.  Atari is some drugged up concoction that was almost certainly born off the coattails of the NES classic and SNES classic success.  We don't know what it is really yet except for an old name many hold dear.

 

I have to disagree, mi amigo! The NES and SNES Classics were only successful if you consider that Nintendon't intentionally under-produced them to gin-up interest and the sales price.  While it was announced at about the same time as the NES Classic Edition, it was never intended to be a dedicated system for just the Atari titles. 

[RIP-Felix]

They say it won't go to stores. It a collectors edition of the console, you have to register for the right to be selected to buy. They're selling exclusivity. Perhaps a limited run of the original design or a mini, but whichever the case only 100,000 units will be sold. So they say...

That's also Nintendo's thing. Collectors items. Intellivision is making a quick grab off nostalgia. It's a niche console already, so 100,000 is probably a safe figure. I'm sure they don't want to be sitting on thousands of unsold units. So, it's better to under-produce than to overestimate interest. You just call it a collectors item and no one talks back.

[tthurman]

2 hours ago, Draco1962 said:

I have to disagree, mi amigo! The NES and SNES Classics were only successful if you consider that Nintendon't intentionally under-produced them to gin-up interest and the sales price.  While it was announced at about the same time as the NES Classic Edition, it was never intended to be a dedicated system for just the Atari titles. 

I agree, but Nintendo proved the market was there and so others are following.  Had their "classics" been flops, none of this happens.  It spawned a new generation of consoles, retro or otherwise.

 

Atari is nothing but a name now, and certainly not what some of us older gamers remember it to be.

MHO anyway

[Adultery]

8 hours ago, ClassicGMR said:

I love the Intellivision. The biggest downside - for me - is that most of the early-midlife games are 2 player. I could fire up my ColecoVision or Atari and play when I was by myself but Mattel insisted on too many multiplayer games early on.

^^ This. Maybe I show m age on this one, but that system got some play in my house. It would be cool to have, but I wouldn't spend more than $50 on it. I'm pretty sure my mom still has ours in storage and we had a slew of games for it too. I'll have to check. 

[Draco1962]

I am an Atari fanboy and wear it proudly! They may be Atari in name only at this time, but they ushered in the age of the arcade and started the arcade and computer in the home movements with their consoles and 8-bit computers.

[hansolo77]

6 hours ago, Draco1962 said:

I am an Atari fanboy and wear it proudly! They may be Atari in name only at this time, but they ushered in the age of the arcade and started the arcade and computer in the home movements with their consoles and 8-bit computers.

Same.

[tthurman]

Since this thread has already derailed to Atari I may as well post this here.

This about sums how I see the VCS.

 

[Draco1962]

Off the rails on a crazy train...

[tthurman]

 

 

 

 

[RIP-Felix]

I think when they say 4K 60FPS they mean UHD video playback, not gaming resolution for modern games. At least not with the specs quoted.

As for the Intellivision thing, I was too young for that and we still had my dad's 2600 anyway. Those times were tight money wise, so we got our moneysworth out of it. Friends had the NES and SNES. We rented consoles from the video store a few times and later got a Genesis. Intelivision, colecovision, comadore 64, turob graffix and so on are my gaming blind spots I'm ashamed to admit. I'd like to try a few good titles from that era however. Any good ones that come to mind?

[Draco1962]

I believe you are correct about the UHD video playback and not the gaming rez. As for blind spots, mine are more like pot holes and I have many. I started with Pong, then the 2600, Commodore VIC 20 (YIKES! 20 column displays were horrible), to the Atari 800XL and 130XE , jumped to the 386DX with DOS and Windows 3. Experienced the  Nintendo Gameboy and Sega Game Gear with my sons, then various PC and Windows iterations until the original Xbox debut. Have one of each of them. 

I have no desire to fill the potholes. I have more games between my PC (including MAME and Atari 8-bit emulation), Xbox, 360, and One and my pincab than I will finish playing in my remaining lifetime and well into the next.

The VCS is a nostalgia buy and will likely be setup in the living room for casual play and the like.

[hansolo77]

Yup.  I think I posted my history at one point.  I was born into a family that owned an Atari 2600 (1980).  When I was old enough to play video games, it was on the Atari 800.  Dad bought an Atari ST System, and passed down the 800 to me and my brother.  Not sure what happened to the 2600.  A friend of ours had an NES and we played a lot of that after school, during the summer, and sleepovers.  As I got older, we moved on to the 386 PC systems and never really looked back at Atari.  At one point during a sleep over while helping our NES friend move, we discovered they also owned a Coleco, although they only had 2 games for it.  Compared to NES, it sucked to the point we put it back in the box and never looked back.  At our house, they bought us a Sega Genesis.  It was delayed, and given to my brother as a birthday gift rather than a Christmas one for both of us.  So when Dad started the PC era, he gave his old Atari ST to me.  Memory is very foggy here as to what happened with the Atari 800 computer.  I know it was in a box when we moved, but don't recall what happened to it.  I think video went out on it, or the keyboard stopped working.. something.  I had the ST and he had the Sega, good enough.  We upgraded the Sega to include the Sega CD and 32X.  Our NES friend also got a Sega Genesis and CD, and that opened up "borrowing" games.  Not enjoying the constant fighting over getting to play on the Sega, I bought my OWN first console: the PlayStation.  In return, he got an N64 for his birthday.  He kept it and the 3 games less than a year before selling it and all his Sega stuff (of which I owned maybe 80% of due to the games and controllers we had for it).  Got himself a nice $30-40 trade-in credit towards a USED PlayStation.  I still had the Atari ST up until my Junior year of high school (1997).  A buddy of mine I met in school had a computer he couldn't make work.  I spent the summer fixing it, and learned it was a 286 McDonalds Drive-Thru POS.  Soon after, my Dad found some computers in a dumpster where he worked.  They didn't work either so I fixed one of them and learned it was a 486.  Better than Dad's 386!  I was able to install Windows 3.11 on it.  The Atari ST died shortly around that time.  The disk drive stopped reading disks and the plug that connected the spare external drive was smashed during a move.  So with the ST out of commission, I remember very vividly taking it to the dumpster.   I had the PlayStation, and the 486 computer, so I was good there.  Then I started building my first PC with the knowledge I picked up from fixing the POS and 486.  The PS2 came out, and I got that.  My brother moved down to Florida.  I stayed in good 'ol Ohio, playing on my PS2 and custom PC.  I skipped out on the PS3 and Original Xbox.  Continued to upgrade my PC and put GameEX on it.  Xbox 360 came out and I decided to try that.  Loved it..  Fast forward to now.  Skipped the PS4 as I was now a Microsoft fanboy.  The Xbox One came out but I was hesitant.  Heard about the One X, and knew that was my next thing.  Just got it maybe 5 months ago.  Love it!  Next up is the Raspberry Pi and my NESPi build project.  Now that it is basically completed, except from adding more games and stuff to it, I'm in a new lull.  I still have my original PlayStation, and my original PS2.  I have 2 360's and the One X.  I have my custom PC (which has GameEx installed on), and a custom (still building) home server.  And I have my NESPi. 

Never in my history has Intellivision come up.  Actually, I take that back.  My evil b!tch of a stepmom bought one of those "flashback" consoles when we had the fire at our house.  She felt like she needed to do something nice, and remembered playing on that with her daughter and ex-husband.  Funny thing is, the thing she bought was NOTHING like the Intellivision.  (Found it on Amazon!)  It was like your current gen controller, with a left side D-Pad and right side action buttons.  The cord that would go to a console actually just went to the TV, RCA, and it ran on batteries.  There was only 1 game out of the 10 or so that she thought she recognized, but couldn't play it because the controller was unfamiliar to her. THAT is my exposure to Intellivision.  Atari on the other hand, was in my family from my birth, to my youth, to High School.  So I am understandably nostalgic for the brand.