Company News Atari starts sinking

[Taoreich]

http://money.cnn.com/2006/02/17/commentary/game_over/column_gaming/index.htm

 

[Thrawn05]

"The reason Atari can't succeed is because they have an obscene relationship with Infogrames," he said. "Infogrames, as Atari dwindles, will go bankrupt. Once Infogrames is out of the picture, I believe someone will step up to fund Atari."

That says it all.

 

[Drakron]

God what a idiot ... Inforgrames is Atari, they got the rights to use the Atari name and changed it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari

Only think we can say is Inforgrames "Atari strategy" simply failed.

 

[obediah]

http://money.cnn.com/2006/02/17/commentary/game_over/column_gaming/index.htm

I just read that article, and it hurt my brain - badly. The guy clearly knows that today's 'atari' is just a label purchased by infogames, but he uses every other paragraph to perpetuate the myth that atari somehow spent a decade under the radar before making their comeback.

"Nobody comes in to bid on that," said Pachter. "They wait for the body to stop twitching, then swoop down and pick the meat off the carcass."

"Infogrames, as Atari dwindles, will go bankrupt. Once Infogrames is out of the picture, I believe someone will step up to fund Atari."

The same guy said both of thees things. Maybe he had a stroke between them or something.

 

[Greatatlantic]

Maybe he's saying somebody else would buy the rights to the Atari name and use it for their company. THQ is pretty generic sounding, don't you think? And most of their publishing is children games, if my memory serves, so picking up a name more familiar to the traditional gaming demographic might do them some good... just me thinking.

On another note, I really liked your analysis FireWolf. It seemed really well thought out. The PC does seem to get a fair number of ports that don't make much sense for the platform, like Prince of Persia. Don't get me wrong, I was happy to be able to play Psychonauts, but that is a rare exception to the litany of shallow games that remind me why I ended up a PC gamer and not on consoles. Which makes me wonder why companies traditionally successful on the PC feel the need to start serving the Xbox market en masse(ffect)*cough*.

I do have some hope for the future though, however misplaced it may be. Microsoft really didn't do PC gaming any favors while trying to get the Xbox viable, but the platform lost them a lot of money, something that is likely to repeat with the 360. Why would Microsoft want to keep loosing money supporting a console when PC gaming made them money and helped sell Windows. Already you here Microsoft spokespeople, incuding Peter Moore, saying they are going to be renewing their efforts to make Windows a viable gaming platform, for what thats worth.

 

[Drakron]

Problem is MS is trying to make it more viable by turning it into a console.

 

[Thrawn05]

Problem is MS is trying to make it more viable by turning it into a console.

The circle is now complete. Atari lost ground in the console wars with Nintendo because Nintendo ditched the keyboard, and made it a pure gaming machine, not a PC. Now, years later, we are seeing consoles becoming more like PCs as being the center of your media world.

People in general, will not bother with a real PC, and instead spend that money on "media centers" like xbox and ps.

 

[obediah]

Maybe he's saying somebody else would buy the rights to the Atari name and use it for their company. THQ is pretty generic sounding, don't you think? And most of their publishing is children games, if my memory serves, so picking up a name more familiar to the traditional gaming demographic might do them some good... just me thinking.

I think that's his message. His wording is just bad - it paints a picture of some company swinging in on a rope to save jobs and development projects. All this after his previous statement shows he understands that it will be a bargain acquisition of the rights to the name only off of infogrames warm corpse.

Besides, whoever buys the name will need to let it sit in a box for 5+ years to let everyone forget how pissed they are at Atari.

Which makes me wonder why companies traditionally successful on the PC feel the need to start serving the Xbox market en masse(ffect)*cough*.

I think we're at the point where there are three kinds of companies that make PC games in the U.S. - indie companies, companies that have branched out to consoles, and companies that have gone out of business. No one is safe in the video game industry, and 99% of the people involved are just trying to stay solvent. Of course the other 1% are running slash and burn tactics to get rich personally at the cost of everyone elses solvency.

Already you here Microsoft spokespeople, incuding Peter Moore, saying they are going to be renewing their efforts to make Windows a viable gaming platform, for what thats worth.

Yeah, I'll believe that when I see it. MS saying there going to refocus on PC gaming is about as reliable as a President promising to refocus on going to Mars.

 

[kingcomrade]

What, Mars only like 8 months away. How hard could it be?

 

[obediah]

What, Mars only like 8 months away. How hard could it be?

It's a hard, long term project which means two things:

1. Presidents can make all sorts fo "rah! rah!" comments about it with no intention of following through. I know both Bush's did this and I expect Clinton did as well, but google just turned up gobs of presidential astrology shit.

2. It will never happen until it can either be completed in one term or china makes a serious push at it.

 

[kingcomrade]

I think the real reason is that the Martians are using brain rays to dissuade us from expanding in their direction.

 

[Thrawn05]

1. Presidents can make all sorts fo "rah! rah!" comments about it with no intention of following through. I know both Bush's did this and I expect Clinton did as well, but google just turned up gobs of presidential astrology shit.

Every pres since JFK did this. They do it in the shadow of JFK challenge to the moon. It helps with the polls. NASA gets shafted every year for increases in other parts of the budget.

 

[bryce777]

I imagine it owuld be about 100 times as difficult/costly.

Also, nasa is shit now so they would undoubtedly explode midway there.

 

[obediah]

I imagine it owuld be about 100 times as difficult/costly.

Also, nasa is shit now so they would undoubtedly explode midway there.

Oh yeah, you're old enough to actually have seen NASA do something. I did get to see the huge ass lifter at the space center in Houston. Now that was a fucking rocket.

 

[LlamaGod]

People in general, will not bother with a real PC, and instead spend that money on "media centers" like xbox and ps.

these people need to be burned alive