From nbs at sonic.net  Sat Mar  9 13:27:22 2024
From: nbs at sonic.net (Bill Kendrick)
Date: Sat, 9 Mar 2024 13:27:22 -0800
Subject: [atariparty-news] Have you played Atari today?
Message-ID: <20240309212722.GA29448@sh.sonic.net>


Hi Atari Partians!  It's Bill, the fellow who brought you
Atari Parties in California from 2009 thru 2017, at which
point I moved out of state.

In case you've been in a cave, you might not have noticed that
"the company that calls itself Atari" (as folks jokingly call it)
had a change of management a while back, and has been coming out with
legitimately _good_ products that seem to satisfy the cravings of us
hardcore nostalgic retrogaming geeks.

If hankering some fresh Atari retrogaming fun, check out some of
what they've done.  (This is not a sponsored email, and currently
I only own one of these products and haven't had nearly as much
time to play with it... I'm just sharing because we all love Atari :) )

 * "Atari 50: The Anniversary Collection"

   A collection of Atari arcade and 2600 (VCS) games (as usual), as
   well as 5200, 7800, Lynx, Jaguar, and 8-bit computer games!
   (Finally, we can all play "Club Drive" again ;-) )

   Available on Steam, for Nintendo Switch, Sony PlayStation 4 & 5,
   Microsoft Xbox One & Series X|S, and the modern "Atari VCS".

   https://atari.com/products/atari-50th-the-anniversary-celebration


 * "Atari 2600+"

   A modern remake of the Atari 2600 (VCS) which works with standard
   Atari game controllers and a majority of 2600 & 7800 cartridges!
   Connects to your TV via HDMI.  Comes with a remake of the original
   CX-40 joystick, and they've also created brand new remakes of
   CX-30 paddles (sold separately) -- these work with classic Ataris!

   https://atari.com/products/atari-2600-plus


 * "Atari 400 Mini" (coming soon, but reviews look good!)

   A tiny version of one of the first two models of Atari 8-bit home
   computers, with 25 built-in games, a USB port for loading games,
   four USB ports in the front for controllers, and it comes with
   a modern USB remake of the CX-40 joystick (with some extra buttons
   for controlling the interface and accessing keyboard features of
   some games).  The tiny fascimilie of the barely-usable membrane
   keyboard that real 400s shipped with doesn't work, but you can
   connect a USB keyboard.  (And yes, you can apparently run BASIC!)

   The 400 was very limited in terms of RAM and had an older OS ROM,
   but the "400 Mini" can emulate XLs and XEs as well as the 5200
   SuperSystem game console (which was bascially a 400 in disguise).

   https://atari.com/products/atari-400-mini-1


 * "Atari 2600" LEGO set

   A 2,532-piece LEGO set version of the 4-switch woodgrain Atari 2600
   (VCS) game console.  (Note: It does NOT play games!)  It includes
   (all LEGO recreations) a CX-40 joystick, "Asteroids", "Centipede",
   and "Adventure" (YAY!!!) cartridges (which plug into the LEGO 2600),
   3D vignettes of those games' cartridge/manual/box art, and a tiny
   diorama of a 1980s-era house with a tiny CRT TV, 2600, and joystick
   and a minifigure of a kid with an Atari t-shirt -- it flips up
   from inside the console.

   https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/atari-2600-10306


If I had all the time & money in the world (and yet another HDMI
switchbox), I'd own all of these. :-D  So far, I've only got "Atari 50"
for the Switch.  (I don't get to play Switch because I'm busy, and
the kids are still busy devouring both "Zelda" games. :-D)  My birthday
IS coming up in May, though. ;-)

Anyway, I hope all are doing well.  While I'm sad that Atari Party in
northern California didn't keep going after I left (hey, it just needs
an insane person to put it together & advertise it!), we DID end up
with a legacy of sorts!  Atari Party East happened again back in December,
over in Pennsylvania: http://www.atariparty.org/

And while not specific to Atari, and generally not a "gaming" event like
our Atari Parties were, there are numerous "Vintage Computer Festivals"
that happen around the country (and globe).

Nearest to Atari Party Davis folks would have been:

 * VCF West, Mountain View last August
 * VCF SoCal, Orange (near Anaheim) last month (February)
   (with a lot of Atari 8-bit computer representation!)

Check out VCFED, the Vintage Computer Federation, for more details:
https://vcfed.org/

Take care,

-- 
-bill!
Sent from my computer