"Edward S. Baiz Jr." <edbaizjr@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:472d9280410940@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >Can we say the right thing about Jack? Atari was on its way out when
>>Jack bought the company. What you can say is he failed to say Atari,
>>but as for killing it? Well, that is another story. People don't
>>remember the problems Atari had when Jack got ahold of it.
>>
>>- Rich
>
> I agree, but the company could have been saved if Jack had just spent
some
> money. Instead, he kept most of it and left the company high and dry.
When
> the
> Lynx came out, there were retailers who sold out as soon as it hit the
> shelves. They wanted more, but Atari could not supply the demand because
> of
> Jack. Same thing goes for the Jaguar. It was just starting to catch on
> when
> Atari folded.
Unfortunately it wasn't starting to "catch on". Quite the opposite - it
was
being slated in respectable magazines as a consequence of the very poor
quality games that were being produced for it and the investment in
technology (vapourware VR headset and toilet seat style CD unit) wasn't
reaping good returns despite media attention (positive for the VR headset
and negative for the rather crap CD unit).
The Tramiels, ironically, only realised Atari's greatest asset when the
company failed - that Atari was a repository of very profitable patents
that
could (and were and have been) licensed to other companies.
In many territories the Jaguar, at release, sold for $500 in 1995. ****ing
crazy if you think about that price point fact ($500 was a lot of money
for
console hardware in 1995) and the reality that the Jaguar was going head
to
head with the Playstation and the Saturn whose pixel pu****ng power was far
superior and impressive by comparison. Compare Fight for Life with Tekken
(or VF) and you, or anyone with even a single functional brain cell, will
see that the Jaguar was doomed. I bought Fight for Life on eBay a few
years
ago (curiosity got the better of me). What a joke the game is. PS1 Tekken
by
contrast is still more than merely playable. Talking of doom...
There was a small window of op****tunity for the Jaguar with the arrival of
the exceptionally good Jaguar Doom - an op****tunity, surely, for Atari to
develop a relation****p with ID Software that would welcome the arrival of
similar games or mission packs. What did Jaguar owners actually get? Bubsy
the ****ing Bobcat and a stupidly crap version of Defender that was/is
almost unplayable.
I pumped more money in to the bull**** of Atari Corp than I care to think
about. The 800XL was decent kit and the ST did a good job as an affordable
and powerful home computer (cheaper than the Amiga). But there was
ultimately no way that Atari could compete with Sony - just as, it may
turn
out, there's little realistic long term prospect for Sony to compete today
with M$.
Gareth.
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