Old School Atari Games for Real Money?

[BeerAndPoker]

I played my share of Atari back when I was a really young kid.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2014-...money-gambling

Atari gets into real-money gambling
By By The Associated Press April 15, 2014

Atari, the maker of classic video games like "Pong" and "Centipede," is about to make things a bit more interesting for players.

The company said Tuesday that it is getting into real-money gambling through a partnership with gambling company Pariplay.

Pariplay will launch Atari's brands across a number of social, online and mobile platforms. This includes a website with real-money gambling on some of Atari's arcade classics, like Centipede, Asteroids and Pong.

The launch is slated for the fourth quarter.

Atari is rebuilding after its U.S. operations filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2013. That was an effort to separate itself from its French parent company, which had filed a similar motion separately in France. The company said at the time that the move was necessary to secure investments needed to grow its mobile and downloadable video games.

Atari has since emerged from bankruptcy protection and taken back control of its US operations.

Pariplay will also make Atari's games available for its network operators to run at their sites. The company, part of a joint venture with Majesco Entertainment Co., operates games used for online gambling, social casinos and lottery systems.

Shares of Majesco Entertainment added a penny to close at 38 cents per share Tuesday.

[SeaCow]

Id snap play someone for a large amount on Duck Tales, or Chip n Dale rescue rangers for NES. Atari was a bit before my time.

[LEVEL ACCOUNT]

I was a contra guy myself... That and lifeforce

[sonatine]

real niggas know.

[simpdog]

[simpdog]

and



and

[Dan Druff]

I played a ton of Atari in the late '70s and early '80s. I got really good at Space Invaders and Asteroids, but was a bit disappointed that the arcade versions of these games played differently and my skills didn't translate. I also really liked Defender.

I had like 50 or more cartridges eventually. I was excited whenever my parents bought me a new one.

I was highly anticipating the release of Pac-man on Atari, hoping to see something similar to this:



My mom showed up on the first day it was available and stood in line for hours to get it (something she typically wouldn't do, but she knew how much I wanted it), and I was optimstic when I looked at the box:



Instead, I got this:



Incredibly disappointing.

I forced myself to like it, but the game really did suck. Even the cool sound-effects were changed, and did not resemble the iconic arcade ones at all.

To show that Atari had the capability of doing better, they released a much-superior Ms. Pac Man version about a year later:



This was much better in terms of gameplay and graphics, even though it still was somewhat different than the arcade. But something like this was more what I was expecting from Pac-Man.

It turns out that the original Atari Pac-Man was just a prototype, and the suits at Atari demanded it was handed over as a finished product, much to the chagrin of the lead programmer, who was embarrassed to be submitting that as finished work.

Pac-Man and E.T. were considered major culprits in Atari's demise about 2 years later.

[Dan Druff]

By the way, even though Atari's home game systems had taken a big hit in 1984, they actually went on to produce some pretty high quality arcade games.

Marble Madness (1984), Paperboy (1984), and 720 Degrees (1986) were three of my mid-80s favorites, and were all ahead of their time in terms of graphics, sound quality, and gameplay.

[4Dragons]

I loved Joust and Asteroids, go play most everything for free:
http://www.free80sarcade.com/



http://www.free80sarcade.com/joust.php

[Dan Druff]

I loved Joust and Asteroids, go play most everything for free:
http://www.free80sarcade.com/



http://www.free80sarcade.com/joust.php

Oh yeah, I forgot about Joust. Great game, and pretty good Atari version.

My skills actually translated well to the arcade, too. I had barely played the arcade when I got the Atari version. After I got really good at the Atari version, I went and tried the arcade again (where I had previously been awful) and got really far -- like level 20 or something. You just have to get used to controlling your bird with the "flap" thing, which I guess was pretty universal for all versions of the game.

[4Dragons]

I loved Joust and Asteroids, go play most everything for free:
http://www.free80sarcade.com/



http://www.free80sarcade.com/joust.php

Oh yeah, I forgot about Joust. Great game, and pretty good Atari version.

My skills actually translated well to the arcade, too. I had barely played the arcade when I got the Atari version. After I got really good at the Atari version, I went and tried the arcade again (where I had previously been awful) and got really far -- like level 20 or something. You just have to get used to controlling your bird with the "flap" thing, which I guess was pretty universal for all versions of the game.

Atari has a nice emulator that is different than the other one I posted:

http://atari.com/arcade#!/arcade/atari-promo

[Corrigan]

[smithbk]

real niggas know.

was the second punch that floored Atari, IMO (previously noted Pac-Man catastrophe was the first)

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

[Corrigan]

I was god at this game

[Corrigan]

[BeerAndPoker]

Here are a few classic atari 2600 gems I remember playing:

[BUBBLES]

The best Atari game ever.

[Indyrick]

[Lord of the Fraud]

If you never jumped school to play Phoenix on Atari for 8 hours straight, then you are a fucking nerd.



If you played Atari in the 80's and still play console games today. Then you're also a fucking nerd.


If all of the above applies to you and you also watch wrestling. Then fuck off.

[smithbk]

River Raid


by request, one of the coolest Activision games.