Atari has shifted to so many different corporate owners. And hasn't made any good games to note in ages. Along with the PS4 dominance. It will likely be a failure if true. Probably even dead on arrival.
Brand power and recognition, is the only way to convince modern day consumers to throw down money. And Atari's brand power died decades ago.
Atari hasn't been relevant since the 80's.
Oh they were relevant... mainly to fans of the most popular anime at the time.
I remember when they tried to make a comeback in the late 90's with Jaguar. All the power it boasted for its day, and even having the historical name recognition to ride on; didn't end well.
I remember when they tried to make a comeback in the late 90's with Jaguar. All the power it boasted for its day, and even having the historical name recognition to ride on; didn't end well.
By the time the Jaguar launched, Atari consoles had acquired a negative reputation. Atari had already attempted a failed comeback in the NES era with the 7800 and XEGS. So it's not like gamers were looking forward to yet another failed Atari comeback. Atari's name recognition didn't mean much.
Not to mention the Jaguar's power was over-hyped and disappointing. It had powerful 2D capabilities, but inferior 3D capabilities, compared to the 3DO, Saturn, and PS1.
I remember when they tried to make a comeback in the late 90's with Jaguar. All the power it boasted for its day, and even having the historical name recognition to ride on; didn't end well.
Atari Jaguar's graphics processor is mostly software driven and it lacks dedicated GPU hardware function.
https://www.atariage.com/Jaguar/faq/
A key to understanding the Jaguar's performance is to realize that most effects are accomplished by programming one of the processors to do the job. To perform texture-mapping, for instance, required a developer to write a texture-mapping routine for the GPU and/or blitter, then call it as needed. The general-purpose nature of the Jaguar architecture gave developers a lot of flexibility; unfortunately, the drawback was that software routines for such effects are invariably slower and less efficient than dedicated hardware chips and components.
For texture mapper, there's no dedicated TMUs. This is like using PS3 CELL's SPUs for GPU work.
Modern PC based GPUs with unified shaders has TMUs for texture related processing.
I would say there is literally less than an 0.001% chance that this is anything other than perhaps a NES mini type of thing... or a hoax. However, I like my chances and will stay optimistic... lol :P
I remember when they tried to make a comeback in the late 90's with Jaguar. All the power it boasted for its day, and even having the historical name recognition to ride on; didn't end well.
Atari Jaguar's graphics processor is mostly software driven and it lacks dedicated GPU hardware function.
https://www.atariage.com/Jaguar/faq/
A key to understanding the Jaguar's performance is to realize that most effects are accomplished by programming one of the processors to do the job. To perform texture-mapping, for instance, required a developer to write a texture-mapping routine for the GPU and/or blitter, then call it as needed. The general-purpose nature of the Jaguar architecture gave developers a lot of flexibility; unfortunately, the drawback was that software routines for such effects are invariably slower and less efficient than dedicated hardware chips and components.
For texture mapper, there's no dedicated TMUs. This is like using PS3 CELL's SPUs for GPU work.
Modern PC based GPUs with unified shaders has TMUs for texture related processing.
You're comparing 20 year old tech by modern standards. Of course it's crap looking at it that way. I even said Jaguar's graphics were impressive for its day, back when graphics were still primarily 2D pixel based, and 3D was only just emerging in the home market. That console delivered some damn pretty visuals by 90's standards, regardless of what under-the-hood method was used.
I remember when they tried to make a comeback in the late 90's with Jaguar. All the power it boasted for its day, and even having the historical name recognition to ride on; didn't end well.
Atari Jaguar's graphics processor is mostly software driven and it lacks dedicated GPU hardware function.
https://www.atariage.com/Jaguar/faq/
A key to understanding the Jaguar's performance is to realize that most effects are accomplished by programming one of the processors to do the job. To perform texture-mapping, for instance, required a developer to write a texture-mapping routine for the GPU and/or blitter, then call it as needed. The general-purpose nature of the Jaguar architecture gave developers a lot of flexibility; unfortunately, the drawback was that software routines for such effects are invariably slower and less efficient than dedicated hardware chips and components.
For texture mapper, there's no dedicated TMUs. This is like using PS3 CELL's SPUs for GPU work.
Modern PC based GPUs with unified shaders has TMUs for texture related processing.
You're comparing 20 year old tech by modern standards. Of course it's crap looking at it that way. I even said Jaguar's graphics were impressive for its day, back when graphics were still primarily 2D pixel based, and 3D was only just emerging in the home market. That console delivered some damn pretty visuals by 90's standards, regardless of what under-the-hood method was used.
Jaguar tech is about 25 years old, development of the Flare Two technology and the existence of Atari Jaguar was known by mid 1991, after Atari officially scrapped the 32-bit 'Panther' it had been working on.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Jaguar
The Atari Jaguar was released in late 1993.
Atari had also got far into the development of a then next-gen Jaguar II, codename 'Midsummer' by 1995-1996 (not to be confused with the unreleased JagDuo combo of Jaguar and JagCD.). Jaguar II was designed to be a full fledged polygon texture-mapping console, with about 4 times the performance of the PlayStation, and probably compete with 3DO's never release M2 console.
Jaguar II article http://www.atarimuseum.com/videogames/consoles/jaguar/jag2.html
Jaguar II schematics http://www.atarimuseum.com/videogames/consoles/jaguar/jag2sch.jpg
Jaguar II specifications http://www.atarimuseum.com/videogames/consoles/jaguar/jag2specs.html
Keeping with the whole theme of the codename of the console: "Midsummer" as in William Shakespears "Midsummers night dream" The new Tom & Jerry II chipset was also given codenames reflecting the characters from the well known play: Oberon & Puck (a label underneath this unit says Oberon &Theseus.)
Unfortunately, just as the play's own message says "Love is blind" so was the fact that Atari was blindly travelling down a short and windy road headed for its painful demise as 1996 approached and with it the end of the Jaguar, the hopeful Jaguar II and Atari itself as the company would be reverse merged into JTS Corp, a small hard drive maker who quickly squandered Atari's money and liquidated the warehouse of Atari Lynx & Jaguar stock, then filed for bankruptcy in 1998.
So in fairness, the Jaguar II technology which never saw the light of day, is roughly 20 years old.
I remember when they tried to make a comeback in the late 90's with Jaguar. All the power it boasted for its day, and even having the historical name recognition to ride on; didn't end well.
Atari Jaguar's graphics processor is mostly software driven and it lacks dedicated GPU hardware function.
https://www.atariage.com/Jaguar/faq/
A key to understanding the Jaguar's performance is to realize that most effects are accomplished by programming one of the processors to do the job. To perform texture-mapping, for instance, required a developer to write a texture-mapping routine for the GPU and/or blitter, then call it as needed. The general-purpose nature of the Jaguar architecture gave developers a lot of flexibility; unfortunately, the drawback was that software routines for such effects are invariably slower and less efficient than dedicated hardware chips and components.
For texture mapper, there's no dedicated TMUs. This is like using PS3 CELL's SPUs for GPU work.
Modern PC based GPUs with unified shaders has TMUs for texture related processing.
You're comparing 20 year old tech by modern standards. Of course it's crap looking at it that way. I even said Jaguar's graphics were impressive for its day, back when graphics were still primarily 2D pixel based, and 3D was only just emerging in the home market. That console delivered some damn pretty visuals by 90's standards, regardless of what under-the-hood method was used.
Atari Jaguar was released on November 1993.
3DO was released on October 1993 with the original designers from Commodore Amiga 1000. 3DO was superior to Jaguar.
I would say there is literally less than an 0.001% chance that this is anything other than perhaps a NES mini type of thing... or a hoax. However, I like my chances and will stay optimistic... lol :P
You're comparing 20 year old tech by modern standards. Of course it's crap looking at it that way. I even said Jaguar's graphics were impressive for its day, back when graphics were still primarily 2D pixel based, and 3D was only just emerging in the home market. That console delivered some damn pretty visuals by 90's standards, regardless of what under-the-hood method was used.
When it released in '93, the Jaguar was outclassed by the 3DO, which released a month earlier. And then the following year, the Sega 32X also outclassed the Jaguar. The Jaguar was weaker than the 32-bit systems, despite being marketed as a "64-bit" system.
Atari pushed for the Jaguar to be released a little too early, its design was actually unfinished and a little buggy.
Even so, from what I understand there are still a lot of trade-offs between Jaguar and 3DO, Jaguar was apparently a 2D powerhouse and was better even than PS1 and N64 in this area, so Jaguar maybe could've done a much better job with Capcom fighting games, possibly having games that were closer to 2D Saturn titles in this area (not sure what the prices of the cartridges would've been like though).
Old school FPS games were also 2D initially (enemies were done with sprites that they increased in size as you got closer and such), so Jaguar would've had pretty good FPS games in the early part of the generation before they moved to 3D. The 3DO was never going to compete with the Jaguar with any first person shooters (and you could kinda' see this coming through in the games at the time).
Apparently it had good raw computational power, so physics and AI in Jaguar games could've been pretty good.
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The problem was always with textured polygons really, and that was a big deal for that era, but maybe even more important was the lack of experienced programmers working on the system, most of the games were made by low quality companies or start-ups.
Experienced programmers would've maybe eventually been able to produce something akin to a generation 1 PS1 title.
3DO was better suited to the times but it was very expensive, if Jaguar had been released with the bugs ironed out and proper development tools available from launch it could've been a pretty cost-effective budget machine (certainly moreso than 32X).
I remember wanting the Atari Jaguar way back when. I also remember it flopping hardcore.
Not sure the console space would have room for another startup console. Microsoft had to sink a lot of money into Xbox to make it viable in the industry.
Rumor has it that Atari is making something more powerful than One X but only to play old games like Tank and Adventure. Not remakes. Not re-releases. Just the old ass cartridges floating around the world.
Take this rumor with a grain of salt but my source report many other news events that turned out to be true.
If it's just a steam machine or something that plays PC games call me not interested. I want a proper uniquely made console with it's own exclusives and OS with features it can call it's own. The whole MS / Sony / Nintendo war is getting pretty boring in all honesty. Nothing feels like its evolving or getting better. There needs to be some new companies to join the fray and kick this console war into third gear.
This teaser trailer shows that this is no ordinary Flashback console. It's possibly a legit new console that game developers can make with. Not sure if it's fake, but the web page is registered to Atari. So far, the new console is being called the Atari Box.
No it isn't, and by the way these things are actually really easy to look up. It's a GoDaddy registered domain and the registration information is private by way of DomainsByProxy. The Youtube channel is also brand new and comments are disabled for the video. If it weren't for the fact that an Atari rep has confirmed that this is legit, I'd say it looks fake AF.
Another flop in the makings ... I dont think theres room for a new console that most likely will lack exclusives , have zero mascots that people are die hard fan of similar to Mario for example or if you want having zero established IPs similar to what Zelda/Mario is for Nintendo , Halo/Forza/Gears for MS and the usual Sony stuff.
I mean i dont how theyll try to compete with other consoles if its a console and not something fancy. Im really curious .
Is this the same Atari that is currently still in bankruptcy? I've lost track on what company is currently using the Atari name, it seems to change every month.
Either way I can't imagine this being good, nothing good has come from a company using the Atari brand in a very long time.
If they can present to me a fairly beefy console with features of it's own, at least 2-3 exclusive quality titles at launch, and an affordable price tag of £300 or less. Sign me up.
Atari pushed for the Jaguar to be released a little too early, its design was actually unfinished and a little buggy.
Even so, from what I understand there are still a lot of trade-offs between Jaguar and 3DO, Jaguar was apparently a 2D powerhouse and was better even than PS1 and N64 in this area, so Jaguar maybe could've done a much better job with Capcom fighting games, possibly having games that were closer to 2D Saturn titles in this area (not sure what the prices of the cartridges would've been like though).
Old school FPS games were also 2D initially (enemies were done with sprites that they increased in size as you got closer and such), so Jaguar would've had pretty good FPS games in the early part of the generation before they moved to 3D. The 3DO was never going to compete with the Jaguar with any first person shooters (and you could kinda' see this coming through in the games at the time).
Apparently it had good raw computational power, so physics and AI in Jaguar games could've been pretty good.
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The problem was always with textured polygons really, and that was a big deal for that era, but maybe even more important was the lack of experienced programmers working on the system, most of the games were made by low quality companies or start-ups.
Experienced programmers would've maybe eventually been able to produce something akin to a generation 1 PS1 title.
3DO was better suited to the times but it was very expensive, if Jaguar had been released with the bugs ironed out and proper development tools available from launch it could've been a pretty cost-effective budget machine (certainly moreso than 32X).
In terms of 2D capabilities that gen, it would go something like this:
Classic Atari is the kind of legacy games which can't really be appreciated any more. Too simplistic. The old Atari 2600 games were severely limited by both the hardware and controller. I would argue the next gen is the real cut off point for retro appreciation. That's not to say you can't appreciate the arcade games of that era, but on home console? Too many games were just awful. I remember them. Particularly on Atari. You could still get a kick from computers of that era but I doubt there's a market.
If Atari wants to get back into gaming, fine. But they wont make waves dining off a nostalgia that doesn't really exist. No one is hankering for the worst version of pac man, or the confusing Indiana Jones game. Maybe if Atari brings the old arcade machines to the home they might have more success. Get sega in on the deal. I'd buy a machine with outrun on it.
What if their controller is something like this? And then make modern arcade games?
Rumor has it that Atari is making something more powerful than One X but only to play old games like Tank and Adventure. Not remakes. Not re-releases. Just the old ass cartridges floating around the world.
Take this rumor with a grain of salt but my source report many other news events that turned out to be true.
GTX 1060 and RX-580 wouldn't be enough to beat X1X.
Classic Atari is the kind of legacy games which can't really be appreciated any more. Too simplistic. The old Atari 2600 games were severely limited by both the hardware and controller. I would argue the next gen is the real cut off point for retro appreciation. That's not to say you can't appreciate the arcade games of that era, but on home console? Too many games were just awful. I remember them. Particularly on Atari. You could still get a kick from computers of that era but I doubt there's a market.
If Atari wants to get back into gaming, fine. But they wont make waves dining off a nostalgia that doesn't really exist. No one is hankering for the worst version of pac man, or the confusing Indiana Jones game. Maybe if Atari brings the old arcade machines to the home they might have more success. Get sega in on the deal. I'd buy a machine with outrun on it.
What if their controller is something like this? And then make modern arcade games?
I'd love to see an old school arcade system like the Neo Geo where they make new IP's. That would be epic to have some fresh titles after playing MAME roms for the past 20 years.
MS and Nintendo put in so little effort into their systems compared to Sony this gen. MS needs to make more good games and Nintendo's system is underpowered and overpriced and is struggling to get 3rd party games because its underpowered as a console and the game card limit for their system is still 32GB. I'm sure that Atari would easily get more 3rd party support than Nintendo. 3rd party companies seem to want more power than sales and of course they'd like to have both power and sales.
Is this the same Atari that is currently still in bankruptcy? I've lost track on what company is currently using the Atari name, it seems to change every month.
Either way I can't imagine this being good, nothing good has come from a company using the Atari brand in a very long time.
This is why I can't imagine it will be a current AAA gaming machine. Got some f*ing snark in the other thread about that opinion, like it was somehow this crazy notion that it wouldn't be, but being "based on PC hardware" and a "new machine" does not even remotely confirm Battlefront II capability and support in any way, shape or form. And given their tenuous grasp on life, I think the cost of developing, manufacturing, and trying to gain software support for such a AAA gaming machine could destroy Atari in the process if it failed to sell like hotcakes.
Don't get me wrong: if it IS a new AAA gaming machine, I'm very intrigued. As a nerd, I'd love the news. I'm not rooting against this here. But... I will believe it when I see it.
I'm still pissed at what Atari did with the new Haunted House and the Alone in the Dark games...terrible. People spent $17 for Haunted House then they pulled it and took our money with them.
Is this the same Atari that is currently still in bankruptcy? I've lost track on what company is currently using the Atari name, it seems to change every month.
Either way I can't imagine this being good, nothing good has come from a company using the Atari brand in a very long time.
This is why I can't imagine it will be a current AAA gaming machine. Got some f*ing snark in the other thread about that opinion, but being "based on PC hardware" and a "new machine" does not even remotely confirm Battlefront II capability and support in any way, shape or form. And I think the cost of developing and trying to gain support for such a AAA gaming machine could destroy Atari in the process, given their tenuous grasp on life.
Don't get me wrong: if it IS a new AAA gaming machine, I'm very intrigued. As a nerd, I'd love the news. I'm not rooting against this here. But... I will believe it when I see it.
You have to give Atari a chance. Who knows how good they'll do. Also, Atari has been bought. That means someone else is in charge of Atari.
In terms of 2D capabilities that gen, it would go something like this:
Saturn > PS1 > N64 > Jaguar > 32X > 3DO
What is the source for your thoughts on this?
Most coders I've run into say the Jaguar is 2nd only to the Saturn, and IIRC there are literally no professional examples of 2D games made on this system. Games like Rayman and Raiden run on the 68000 management chip, not the actual primary processor.
@GameboyTroy: I'm not rooting against them here. As I said, I'd be stoked if it was some kind of crazy, out-of-nowhere bombshell on the scene. Would be cool
In terms of 2D capabilities that gen, it would go something like this:
Saturn > PS1 > N64 > Jaguar > 32X > 3DO
What is the source for your thoughts on this?
Most coders I've run into say the Jaguar is 2nd only to the Saturn, and IIRC there are literally no professional examples of 2D games made on this system. Games like Rayman and Raiden run on the 68000 management chip, not the actual primary processor.
Atari Jaguar Capabilities
SCPCD demonstrated with a highly gpu optimised code + the OP pushed to the limit, that the Jaguar can display 1900 4x4 sprites at 60fps in 320x240
now I have a code from the ps1 sdk demonstrating 3000 16x16 sprites at 60fps in 640x480 running on my ps1.
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