RIP Jack Tramiel

[TheSonicRetard]

You don't think using parts of the aborted 32-bit panther instead of the full, original jaguar design isn't horrible?

[Phantar]

He had NOTHING to do with that. Tengen / Atari Games were a different company.

You are right, I apologize, I had a name mixed up there. I still stand by everything I said about the ST, the Jaguar and the Lynx though. (You could also principally add the Handling of the Atari 7800 to that list, particularly its belated 1986 release).

[Kogen]

This is the best death news since Steve Jobs.

[gamevet]

He had NOTHING to do with that. Tengen / Atari Games were a different company.

Oh and nothing about the Jag design was horrible only the way the machine was marketed and supported. If you worked past the bugs the hardware is awesome.

R.I.P. Jack and thanks for all the great memories.

I believe Sam Tramiel was in charge of Atari during the time of the Jaguar, not Jack.

[j_factor]

You are right, I apologize, I had a name mixed up there. I still stand by everything I said about the ST, the Jaguar and the Lynx though. (You could also principally add the Handling of the Atari 7800 to that list, particularly its belated 1986 release).

The Lynx was created by Epyx. Atari just sold it. You can argue their marketing sucked, but I think the main reason for system's lack of success was the hardware itself, and secondarily the lack of compelling software (which Epyx was supposed to provide). The Jaguar was Sam Tramiel all the way. I think Jack stepped down in 1989. Which also puts the Falcon disaster on Sam. Jack's worst flub was the XEGS.

[Phantar]

I've read an interview with the Original Lynx-developers at Epyx who made no secret out of their mistrust towards (specifically) Jack Tramiel. According to them (which, granted, is a very subjective POV), he practically drove Epyx to ruin so that he could buy the company for a bargain, which made it impossible for them to produce any more software. Also, Software sells Hardware - lack of decent third party support can kill any hardware regardless of quality, and by the time the Lynx rolled our there weren't many software developers left who were willing to do business with the Tramiels. But even worse, he had also managed to piss off retailers, greatly diminishing the possible places where Atari could sell their product - admittedly, that probably was a more important factor.

By the way, by no means do I want to belittle what Jack Tramiel did for the industry! Especially during his Commodore days he managed to immensely push progress. There's no denying though that during his lifetime there was a lot of hatred aimed at the guy, not all that unjustified in my opinion (though a colleague of mine happened to meet him once at a con after his retirement, and he described him as "one heck of a funny guy".) Speak no ill of the dead, I suppose...

[Black_Tiger]

Reading all these positive comments is strange after seeing years of hatred on the AtariAge forums...

I was never touched by the Commodore 64, so I'm indifferent...

It's classy to criticize someone for their mistakes while they're alive and it's classy to praise their acomplishments after they're dead.

[gamevet]

If anyone is interested, here's a youtube video (1 hour and 28 minutes long) celebrating the 25th anniversay of the C64. The show features Jack Tramiel, talking about the C64, and how he got his start in the industry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBvbsPNBIyk

[Crackdown]

There is so much wrong information in this thread I am stunned. People really shouldn't post stuff like this unless they know their video game history.

You don't think using parts of the aborted 32-bit panther instead of the full, original jaguar design isn't horrible?

The ONLY thing the Jaguar shares with the Panther is a Motorola 68000 and even then in the Jaguar its not used as the CPU like it was in the Panther. Two totally different designs.

He's the one that stopped the 7800 in 84..Seeing how good the NES sold in 86' He just though the 7800 out there

No he wasn't and this mis-information has been corrected so many times its unreal. When Jack bought Atari it didn't include the 7800. He had to negotiate the rights with Warner Bros and pay off the designers of the machine GCC before he was able to release it. This is what caused the delay in its release nothing else. The 7800 did much better than the NES in its test market and was the machine everyone wanted, Nintendo took big advantage of this delay. Jack wanted the 7800 from day one but unfortunately had to fight to get it.

The Lynx was created by Epyx. Atari just sold it. You can argue their marketing sucked, but I think the main reason for system's lack of success was the hardware itself, and secondarily the lack of compelling software (which Epyx was supposed to provide). The Jaguar was Sam Tramiel all the way. I think Jack stepped down in 1989. Which also puts the Falcon disaster on Sam. Jack's worst flub was the XEGS.

And the Jaguar was designed by Flare, Atari just sold it. Both Jack and Sam were in charge during the Jag's lifetime.

[j_factor]

And the Jaguar was designed by Flare, Atari just sold it.

That's correct, but not analogous.

[16-bit]

http://archive.org/details/LowEndCo1985

There's was really cool series (I think it used to air on PBS) called "The Computer Chronicles" meant to educate people about the basics of certain topics. This episode specifically deals with lower end computers of the time like the Commodore 64, and Atari ST. There's a pretty cool interview with both Jack Tramiel and Leonard Tramiel (his son) at 4:44 in the video about how they were able to sell the ST for less, and how he marketed it.

[tomaitheous]

The 7800 did much better than the NES in its test market and was the machine everyone wanted, Nintendo took big advantage of this delay. Jack wanted the 7800 from day one but unfortunately had to fight to get it.

Not that it would have mattered much though. NES still would have beat the crap out of it.

[gamevet]

Not that it would have mattered much though. NES still would have beat the crap out of it.

The 7800 was doomed from the start, with most of its library consisting of Atari's 8-bit (old arcade games) computer ports.

[Guntz]

http://archive.org/details/LowEndCo1985

There's was really cool series (I think it used to air on PBS) called "The Computer Chronicles" meant to educate people about the basics of certain topics. This episode specifically deals with lower end computers of the time like the Commodore 64, and Atari ST. There's a pretty cool interview with both Jack Tramiel and Leonard Tramiel (his son) at 4:44 in the video about how they were able to sell the ST for less, and how he marketed it.

I actually downloaded that video, very interesting to watch. Thanks for the link!

[TailsAlone]

RIP, Jack. I do not consider you a moral role model in how you ran your businesses, but no one can deny that you helped make gaming what it is today.