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[Team Andromeda]

Looks like the $70m covers everything including the investment according to page 3: https://archive.org/details/AtariCorporationAnnualReport1994/page/n1/mode/1up?view=theater

Whole report looks like a nightmare really.

Money down the drain, nice one Tom

 

[dave_d]

Digging in my brain. I can’t think of a single video game history book that covered the Panther. Interesting how the glory years were spent making boards in a small room of Nolan Bushnell’s apartment to when Pong took over to when he finally left the company. Not to mention Steve Jobs and his work on reducing the chips on the Breakout board. Granted, this came later. It would have been an interesting piece of the story. I’m glad we got more info on the line of computers Atari produced with the 50th Anniversary Collection. That was before my time. I’m an avid fan of Atari history. The games are simple and fun. As a kid, I browsed the Jaguar and 32X isle, but I was too caught up with Nintendo and owning a Sega Genesis was all I needed.

That was actually Wozniak.(Which is an interesting case since when I heard about that story it definitely made me wonder if Jobs was a literal psychopath.)

 

[dave_d]

It ranks up there with The 3D0 daisy chain setup and the terrible Dreamcast controller.

I personally thought it was a good idea badly executed. What they should have done on the 3DO (and other systems) is that the controllers should have been a Y-Cable. One long wire that would be attached to the controller and one short cable that would end in a controller port. IE you'd plug your controller in but near the plug end would be another plug that another player could plug into.

 

[Sid Of Bee]

I find it hard to believe that much of Panther was done at all or that it would have been more powerful than a SNES or Genesis really, considering that even the Jaguar itself doesn't feel like too much of a leap beyond those systems, particularly considering when it came out. Yeah, the Jaguar has some basic 3D games but they're total garbage. The Super FX games are better on average. I have a Jaguar, trust me I know. I also have a 3DO and there is no comparison there. The 3DO is a much more capable system.

 

[Northeastmonk]

That was actually Wozniak.(Which is an interesting case since when I heard about that story it definitely made me wonder if Jobs was a literal psychopath.)

Yeah they had a competition and Steve Jobs got paid more, but Wozniak didn’t know about it until later. I can definitely see why Wozniak’s outlook on Jobs was soured after that.

 

[Henry Panic]

I find it hard to believe that much of Panther was done at all or that it would have been more powerful than a SNES or Genesis really, considering that even the Jaguar itself doesn't feel like too much of a leap beyond those systems, particularly considering when it came out.

Jaguar ran circles around both outside the lazy Amiga ports.

I know it's an easy console to shit on but let's not get crazy.

Starfox played in slow motion compared to Cybermorph with open levels, and Iron Soldier or Alien wasn't possible on SNES or MD with both add-ons.

It was still terrible compared to the other 3 new consoles but I think the Jaguars biggest problem is you can't really compare it to anything.

What's the gaming machine equal to a Jaguar? Its stronger than a 486 in 1993. But weaker than a computer that can play Elder Scrolls Arena.

It's in a very weird spot.

 

[Dane]

You are very right. They also made hardware for the TXE multi system console too

Ah yes, the console was Konix Multisystem, they also planned a steering wheel add-on, both cancelled with the latter being revived as a PC steering wheel. Their design for jaguar was based on using two cheaper CPUs if i'm correct rather than a single much more expensive one so they could deliver a more affordable product claiming it was just as powerful, but it caused design flaws.

 

[dave_d]

Yeah they had a competition and Steve Jobs got paid more, but Wozniak didn’t know about it until later. I can definitely see why Wozniak’s outlook on Jobs was soured after that.

This is the story I think we're both talking about.

True to form, Wozniak not only completed the prototype over four sleep-deprived nights, but also eliminated 50 extraneous chips from Jobs’ initial design. Jobs was ultimately rewarded with a $750 dollar wage plus a $5000 bonus. Jobs, however, paid Wozniak just $375 for his invaluable assistance – a piece of information that would reportedly put further strain on the pair’s partnership years later.

 

[Team Andromeda]

Ah yes, the console was Konix Multisystem, they also planned a steering wheel add-on, both cancelled with the latter being revived as a PC steering wheel. Their design for jaguar was based on using two cheaper CPUs if i'm correct rather than a single much more expensive one so they could deliver a more affordable product claiming it was just as powerful, but it caused design flaws.

Not quite, It was using the Flair chipset but the TXE was a console released in Taiwan

 

[Mobilemofo]

Most people didn't care about the controller at the time

Many at the time thought the extra keys could be used to port computer games to the Jaguar and add item and menu selection, or help with shortcuts. It wasn't until it was proven to be underutilized that people took a bat to the controller.

They were not looking at it as a Colecovision controller back then. They aren't really comparable either, that's a modern perspective.

It was still ultimately pointless I'm not saying it was a good idea. Just like the CDTV controller tried to wedge a keyboard in the middle. The concept was a good idea but games didn't use it.



Actually early is when Atari was able to trick people and hide the skeletons in their closet the most.

They ALMOST got Midway to release Ultimate MK3 on the system based on lies and PR, thinking there would be enough copies sold to make profits until the truth came out and they took their bags and left.

Atari went under less than 9 months later iirc.

I never really understood what Atari's goal was with the Jaguar. They couldn't make 1 million Jaguars so how were they going to make money?

I guess they were hoping to trick a company into investing millions on the project to save it, but it never happened.

That may have worked with the Panther, but Jaguar was too late for that strategy imo.

3DO made things worse, it had almost all the western and half the Japanese third party support. Leaving Jaguar with Ubisoft and early 90s Activision. Before Tony Hawk, MechWarrior 2, and Spiderman so Activision was garbage during that period.

I remember the time well, as I was the target market and lived in Blackpool at the time. We had a jaguar launch event (can't remember where). Anyhow, even at that point, Atari were well down the pecking order and I knew it back then. It was probably too late for them already, just didn't know it. Shit had evolved in that space at the time.

 

[cartman414]

Nah, the idiocity was having two upgrades planned even before that, and neither were sufficient enough to keep Amiga competitive. Even if those guys stayed it would only help with their reputation and that's all.

As much as people love it the 1200 was nothing. It came out in 1992, you could barely play Alone in the Dark or fast Wolf on it

Not even the other marginal upgrades could run doom even without full screen, ANY OF THEM, even the Mega ST could play doom, Falcon could play Ultimate Doom and someone got it to play a compromised but impressive port of Magic Carpet.

None of those last Amigas could play any popular games 2D or 3D, until their bankruptcy in 1994.

Even office programs were lagging, crashing, or received little if any substantial updates from 1988.

In 1993 it was even falling quickly behind in video and graphic design, it's main forte.

In comparison, Maxed ST and Falcon were still good for audio programs, and you could make games on it and port them upward onto Windows PC easily.

Guess it's too late because you're banned, but Gould/Ali kneecapped the Amiga's development at every step following the 500/2000. The graphics chip that was supposed to be the AAA arrived in watered down form, and years late, as the AGA. Gould/Ali took million dollar salaries at the expense of almost everything else at Commodore.

The Amiga could have been something more had it been properly managed, but Gould/Ali didn't give a shit. That's a hard fact.

 

[Ozzie666]

It's really amazing to follow the progression of computers and graphics across the globe during the 80's. Amiga and ST were basically European machines, and the Sharp 68k was from Japan with the IBM PC compatibles being North American, in the simplest terms. But the approach to graphics was entirely different and it shaped the software on the systems.

The IBM PC was outclassed for many years, even when it caught up it wasn't value for money and was so expensive. The Apple IIgs was such an inferior system to the Amiga and ST. some really poor hardware choices.