Podcast: Do The Math
Fred is joined by Derrick of All Games and Rob “Trees” from EZ Mode Unlocked to talk about Atari, Inc.’s illustrious past in light of the information it is entering Chapter 11 bankruptcy (don’t worry, the company will survive no problem, they’re just restructuring). We discuss the history and origins of Atari and what the company did after splitting off from the games division.
Gaming History 101 
Just wanted to say a couple things about this podcast.
First, California Games was not a Lynx game first like Fred claimed. The game was originally released in 1987 on the microcomputers of the time (link to the original review of the C64 version in ZZAP!64 September 1987 http://www.zzap64.co.uk/cgi-bin/displaypage.pl?issue=029&page=018&thumbstart=0&magazine=zzap&check=1). The Lynx version came out in 1989 and was not a simple port of the C64 version, it was an original port, made to take advantage of the Lynx’s superior hardware (although I personally prefer the C64 version). Looking at the BMX event on the C64 and Lynx is proof of this, they look and play completely different to each other.
And the Atari that exists today is nothing like the Atari we all knew back in the day. Despite having truckloads of money from successful lawsuits in the mid 90’s, the company was sold off when the Tramiels left the business in 1996. Eventually Infogrammes got hold of the Atari name and properties in 2001, and, just like the Sega I knew and loved died the day Sammy took them over, the Atari I knew died the day Infogrammes took Atari over.
You can sugar coat it however you want, but as for as I’m concerned, the Atari of today is just Infogrammes renamed and the real Atari has been dead for years.
Sparky Kestrel
August 13, 2018 at 11:03 pm