Atari releasing Flashback 2 Portable

werejag · Post by **werejag** » Sun Aug 12, 2007 2:23 am

they will not make the Atari 2600 portable.

jeroen · Post by **jeroen** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 5:23 pm

Euhm I believe this was pretty confirmed.

werejag · Post by **werejag** » Tue Aug 14, 2007 4:27 am

confirmed to never see the light of day Curt Vendel the developer has pulled the project. there will never be a flashback 2 portable and the flashback 3 seems like more of the same.

i was already banned from atariage forums because i was upset that the portable was pulled by Curt Vendel and his handlers. had a few people pile on to me because i didn't buy the tripe i was getting feed.

he post threads wanting input but then when we don't see anything come to market we are suppose to be happy.

probably this forum will be more responsive to the news of no flashback2 portable.

Post by **Sparkfist** » Tue Aug 14, 2007 6:42 am

Disappointing yes, but hardly something to get all worked up about. I was hoping they'd release one, but to be honest the capital investment for making something like a Flashback2Portale is a lot more then just the Flashback2 itself.

werejag · Post by **werejag** » Tue Aug 14, 2007 6:46 pm

now imagne being banned over being upset

loup · Post by **loup** » Wed Aug 15, 2007 2:03 pm

werejag wrote:confirmed to never see the light of day Curt Vendel the developer has pulled the project. there will never be a flashback 2 portable and the flashback 3 seems like more of the same.

What I took from the thread on atariage was that Atari basically lost interest in (or was never all that interested in) making a portable flashback. Curt would still like to make one, but Atari is more interested in the FB3, which is understandable. Atari has already seen some success with the original flashback and the fb2, so the safe bet is on the fb3, not a portable.

Yeah, it sucks, but there is still a possibility that it could come out.

[edit]
I just ran across your last couple of fb3 posts on atariage, and I can understand why you were banned man, you were basically attacking the guy for no reason. He's working for a company that is trying to create and release a product and is asking for feedback from their target audience. You act like he owes you something, he doesn't.

It reminds me of the dtv boards and a couple of the members started attacking a representative from the company that was producing the dtv, and the rep stopped posting on the boards and stopped asking our opinions on things. Now, because of you, Curt has said he isn't going to be sharing with the community anymore because of you.

Curt Vendel wrote:What I can tell everyone "straight up" is there will be no further information until next year, not even little tid bits I will share here and there anymore, so that's it, the plug is pulled on any further sharing of what information I could and wanted to share, now you'll just wait, sorry but I'm not going to have this kind of nonsense such as what is written below thrown in my face, that is totally uncalled for.

werejag · Post by **werejag** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 3:41 am

loup i was not basicly doing anything of the sort but i see how some can see it the way you have which is simply a misunderstanding. but since the mods didnt want to discuss the problem. they simply silenced me and others like me who are also angry.

I would like to apoligize for this misunderstanding but cant im not allowed to.

sorry for talking about this problem here. ill stop discusing my ban from there

anyways

the fb2 prototype will be sold he said. so the project is dead. one doesnt sell the prototype if it has ever a chance to be retail.

a sad day indead and now i cant even read about atari stuff over there

loup · Post by **loup** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 6:08 am

he said he is considering selling one of the prototypes on ebay later this year and that if the portable does end up being released it will actually end up being what was originally planned as the second generation of the portable.

werejag · Post by **werejag** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 8:37 am

yea which means he basicly has no confidence in a release if he is concidering it this far out

jeroen · Post by **jeroen** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 8:46 am

Mmmmmmmm I guess this means an atari pcb is wanted again right? Mmmmmm I have been looking into this stuff lately.

hint hint.

loup · Post by **loup** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 9:44 am

werejag wrote:yea which means he basicly has no confidence in a release if he is concidering it this far out

you do realize he most likely has multiple prototypes, I know one of the development departments in the company I work for makes about 12 prototypes for each of the models they are working on because it allows multiple people to test them and allows for a few spares in case something happens to one of them. While he probably doesn't have 12 of them, he probably has at least 2-3, selling one doesn't mean he's bailing on the concept. Also, the prototype he is thinking about selling is for an early design, he has said that if they do end up mass producing a portable, it will be a revision, therefore, the prototype isn't current.

Why sell a prototype if you aren't scrapping the idea? Maybe because his company is very small and doesn't have unlimited financial resources and he realizes that there are some people out there willing to pay quite a bit of money for the prototype.

werejag · Post by **werejag** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 4:49 pm

loup you do not sell possible reverse engineering material on eBay if you have even a heart beat of a chance of becoming one of your products in the future.

jeroen · Post by **jeroen** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 4:51 pm

Isn't the proto as reverse engineerable as the product? Unless he added all kinds of test points (possible)

werejag · Post by **werejag** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 9:37 pm

usually protos has all kinds of development hooks unlike retail

loup · Post by **loup** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 8:16 am

werejag wrote:loup you do not sell possible reverse engineering material on eBay if you have even a heart beat of a chance of becoming one of your products in the future.

I'm not sure why I'm continuing this...

What is there to reverse engineer? The atari 2600's specifications are easy to find, so it can't be that part of it. Do you think it's the fact that it can hold multiple bins of the games? This technology is already available for the atari via the krokodile cart, and several people have released ways of doing this for other systems. I would guess that wouldn't be too hard to develop for someone that is determined to do the same.

The hardware on this system really isn't worth that much, it's really the games and the name "Atari" that are the valuable part, and if Atari already has a relationship with Curt's company, why would they risk their business relationship with him by putting their name on someone else's portable 2600 instead of his. How many people would really buy this if it didn't come with any games on it and had some generic name like "portable gaming unit?"

In short, it doesn't matter if he sells it on ebay because there is nothing to protect from reverse engineering.