Atari Vault Hits Steam, Play 100 Classic Games On PC (slashgear.com) 90
An anonymous reader quotes an article on SlashGear: Classic and retro video game fans will be eager to hear that Atari Vault has just landed on PC via Steam, making it the easiest way possible to enjoy 100 of the most iconic arcade and home console titles from the early generation of gaming. This eliminates the need to use emulators and ROMs to enjoy games like Asteroids, Centipede, Pitfall, and Pong, not to mention it being cheaper than buying several included titles individually.
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People have been pirating music for years and yet Amazon and iTunes still manage to make money selling music. It's hard keeping the honest people honest when the only legitimate way to play these games is by using machines that haven't been sold for years.
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It doesn't help that current music sucks to a large degree.
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Your paddle wearing down isn't 'bitrot'. Please don't erode the meaning of words on Slashdot.
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I have a similar problem from loading Pornhub.
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well, consider a case of asteroids vs. blasteroids.
and this is the most generous comparison on games aging on something that has ATARI slapped on it, too.
blasteroids is a 1987 arcade game, an asteroids clone/sequel, with basically vga grade graphics, some sample music and fm sound and such. as a game it doesn't look too bad and could be something released for mobile this year labeled as "pixel graphics". amiga/atari st versions of it look passable in comparison with the arcade.
asteroids original is a line g
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I think the vector graphics games actually aged decently. Take Tempest for example. It looks stylized and neat.
I don't know if I could play some of the 2600 games though. I have enough trouble getting beyond the look of C64 and Spectrum games as it is.
Didn't need to use an emulator before, either (Score:2)
Atari, Namco, and others released most of their popular old-school titles (in "anthology" form) for the PS/2 years ago. If I remember correctly, every anthology disk I bought was less than $15 - and I think a couple were under $10.
Re:Didn't need to use an emulator before, either (Score:4, Insightful)
PC Only? (Score:1)
That comes off as kind of weird, really. Surely they could have slapped together some kind of Mac or Linux rendition in 23 minutes.
The point of emulators and roms (Score:2)
is to play the extinct Atari and non-Atari games that will never make it to the "Atari 100" list.
--
BMO
Seriously no Linux? (Score:5, Informative)
I'll keep my money then and buy weed with it.
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1995 is that you?
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Many games created with today's engines and toolkits allow multi-platform output. Other than the very top big budget games which need special attention to performance (PC (sometimes), PS4, XBone), the final games can run on Android, OSX, Win7-10, and Linux. The days of hand crafting games went away last decade.
As for PC operating system, you're even more deluded and have no idea what you are talking about. The only thing Linux lacks is consumer applications. Whether you like it or not, games can be generate
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Not all Classic Atari games are made by Atari... (Score:3)
[...] Asteroids, Centipede, Pitfall, and Pong [...]
Pitfall wasn't an Atari title, it was an Activision title. Not sure why it got included in this list.
Atari Vault only includes games created by the company. Classic 2600 games from companies like Activision, Namco, Parker Brothers, and others aren't here, including Berzerk, Empire Strikes Back, Frogger, Joust, Pitfall, Q-Bert, and Pole Position.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/3048362/windows/the-atari-vault-hits-steam-with-100-classic-games-to-scratch-your-retro-2600-itch.html [pcworld.com]
Looks like a relaunch (Score:2)
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System requirements (Score:3, Insightful)
Processor: 2.0 Ghz
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Graphics: OpenGL 2.0 or higher compatible
DirectX: Version 11
Storage: 1 GB available space
What sort of bloat have they put into it?
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Never met a person from 2003 before!
Re:System requirements (Score:4, Informative)
I think that the point was that the "2003-level" specs are still about 4 orders of magnitude greater than those that were originally needed to play these games.
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CPU wise, yes. It's WORSE comparing the RAM since the 2600 only has 128 bytes.
Even that 2600 compilation on the PS2 was running on a machine hundreds of times faster with 250 thousand times as much RAM. I have my only working PS2 stashed away so I'd have to play the disc in the PS3. Meaning a 3.2 Ghz Cell (PPC) emulating a 294 Mhz MIPS R5900 (CECHE model PS3's don't have Emotion Engines), running a 1.19Mhz 6507 emulator.
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It's emulators all the way down?
Darn, Windows only (Score:2, Interesting)
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Serves you right. Next time use a real OS.
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Serves you right. Next time use a real OS.
Are you seriously trying to call Windows a real OS? I don't think that word means what you think it means.
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Serves you right. Next time use a real OS.
Are you seriously trying to call Windows a real OS? I don't think that word means what you think it means.
I have a Windows 7 box dedicated to playing games. So I consider it a "real OS".
Or does "real OS" only include operating systems for work machines?
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the Linux version is coming shortly [steamcommunity.com]
Awesome! Thanks for the information.
No E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial? (Score:1)
BOOOO! They're windows ports only. (Score:1)
I guess the rest of us will be sticking with our emulators for the time being.
Steam re-release (Score:3)
And does it differ from:
Atari: 80 Classic Games in One!
Which I got on Steam several years ago. The store page is long-gone but it's still in my library and substantially the same program.
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Re:So you could (Score:4, Insightful)
You need to add:
- "Illegally" to the first part.
- "Legally" to the second part.
It may not mean anything to you, but some people will pay for that kind of thing if the product is available.
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You also need to add "unethical" to the second part since the rights owner is clearly exploiting the copyright system far beyond the purpose which justifies it's existence.
Furthermore, it's not strictly unethical to download ROMs, and it's not even illegal in all jurisdictions. Cases can be made both that the originals are out of production and no longer deserving protections, and that owners of the original products have every right to acquire additional copies for themselves.
Linux version still coming (Score:4, Informative)
Apparently, plan to release a linux port after they fix some things.
Reference:
https://steamcommunity.com/app... [steamcommunity.com]
What?? No ET?? (Score:3)
That's bullshit. That's the game everyone want to play.
Whine ! Rant! No Linux port! (Score:2, Insightful)
Cry me a river.
Steam is as Linux-friendly a distributor you'll find anywhere. But this is the reality of PC gaming on Steam:
96% of Steam gamers run Windows. 34% 64 Bit Win 10. 3% OSX. 1% Linux. 0.4% Ubuntu. 0.1% Mint. Steam Hardware & Software Survey: February 2016 [steampowered.com]
Wow, 100 games? (Score:5, Informative)
Wow, 100 Atari games?!? For only $15?!? The easiest way possible?
And here I was thinking that the 500+ free Atari games playable for free in your browser on archive.org [archive.org] was the easiest possible way.
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This is steam. If you're paying full price for ANYTHING on it, you're an idiot.
Just wait for a sale and within 6 months you'll probably be able to get it for $10, maybe under $5 by the holidays.
Paying full price for Steam stuff... who does that? And sometimes, it can be cheaper when it goes on sale not during a Steam global sale. One of my games was 33% off during a Steam sale, went 40% off the day after the sale ended.
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These are arcade games, not 2600 games. Shame Hard Drivin' isn't in there.
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oh, well, that's different then [archive.org]. The archive only has 600 or so arcade games. And Admittedly searching for "atari" only gives about 40 results.
And they have the DOS versions of of Hard drivin [archive.org] and Hard Drivin II [archive.org].
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I had the DOS versions of both Hard Drivin' games. They were okay, not as good as the arcade. Sadly MAME isn't that useful for this game because it needs proper analogue controls, a gear stick, pedals etc. It even simulates the clutch.
The best home version was probably the Sega Saturn one.
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DungeonMaster (Score:1)
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AFAIK Dungeon Master wasn't published by Atari. It was from FTL Games. You might give Legend of Grimrock a spin.
The other great game from FTL was Oids, which was like an addictive hybrid of Gravitar and Choplifter. And now there is Graviton 2, which I haven't bought yet, but it looks like a near-clone of Oids.
Valve is the new Atari (Score:2)
Nolan Bushnell once said his biggest regret was selling Atari to Warner when he did. "We could have been Apple and Nintendo under one roof," he mused.
Valve have been pushing into the console space, and they've been doing it very persistently, with Steam OS and Steam Machines and Steam Link and the Steam Controller, not to mention their developer tools. They're encroaching on the console world and also trying to break away from dependence on Microsoft. None of this stuff has been a runaway hit yet, but th
Not sure why this is getting so much press (Score:1)
They've had an ipad/iphone version called Atari Greatest Hits with the same content for much less for some time. I assume there's an android version also.
Sigh (Score:2)