10 Atari Games that caused the Crash of 1984.

[MrSega]

You had two SNES system's fail from not being played? wow I did not think that could happen with a cart based system! I may dig out my SNES when I got back home to see if it still works.

My other much younger cousin did roughouse their SNES.

As for mine, some douche/friend stole the library for it in '95 and because my stepdad blamed me, I never got to play it again.

[Cross]

They were plugged in the whole time, but I keep all of my other consoles plugged in at all times too. My third SNES has been fine since about 2009 or so, but started not playing cartridges unless I clean them first. I'm pretty much used to that with the NES though.

Hmm maybe it over heated or something? i never leave my Gens plugged mainly bc I don't like how hot the power brick can get. Are there VA for the SNES like there are for gens? Could maybe the SNES Jr not have this prob of the system dieing from being plugged in all the time? I'm still super shocked a cart based system would just stop working from that tho, maybe you need to recap the systems?

[sheath]

Hmm maybe it over heated or something? i never leave my Gens plugged mainly bc I don't like how hot the power brick can get. Are there VA for the SNES like there are for gens? Could maybe the SNES Jr not have this prob of the system dieing from being plugged in all the time? I'm still super shocked a cart based system would just stop working from that tho, maybe you need to recap the systems?

The first one seemed like something directly related to the cart port, the second one started with a chip on the board that was needed for reading the SFX and whatnot off the cartridge. I don't know why it would have anything to do with the system being plugged in. My Master System, Genesis, Sega CD, 32X, Saturn and Dreamcast have all been plugged in for many times as long as my current SNES. I haven't even had an AC Adapter go bad.

I'm also not suggesting that this is a common issue to all SNES. I haven't figured out exactly why that happened with the first two.

[QuickSciFi]

I know exactly what the problem with my SNES AC adapter is: It's not the AC itself, it's not the brick, it's the thin, spaghetti dick of a cable that it was attached to that makes it so flimsy. Just think of a headphone cable that has been used over and over until it snaps at the connection. I don't think they were manufactured cheaply or anything, just bad engineering.

[StarMist]

StarMist, there are guys on this very forum who are still too wounded by the 32X debacle for jokes to be appropriate. It is just too soon.

"Debacle"? I thought the 32X was a roaring success. Didn't you demonstrate that the purchase of a 32X not only pays for itself with the equation [ (# superior games) divided by (equal # inferior top dollar games on an unrelated console) = free console] ? Not only that, but if I recall you also proved by the same equation that the purchase of a 32X pays for itself in the form of cheaper groceries, better motorcar mileage, lower property taxes, and longer erections?

But by all means please inform me the second it is no longer just too soon for jokes cz I have a couple hundred at the ready.

[sheath]

The 32X gives longer erections! I WAS RIPPED OFF!

[NeoZeedeater]

I'm not sure if I should respond to this thread seriously but whatever...

It's very intriguing to hear on how in the early days of console gaming. That Atari gave its partners complete and total freedom over what properties and games could be made for the 2600. It didn't matter how good it was, how stupid the idea, or how offensive it was, as long as it was assured profit, it could be made.

These liberal 3rd party practices were a disaster. Majority of the games were just either cash-ins,poorly distributed clones of other popular titles, and very shoddy Arcade conversions.

This is backwards. Atari didn't give third-parties freedom. They hated the idea of third-party games which is why they sued Activision. They were anti-third-party. Thankfully the courts were not.

And the idea that the licensee model was necessary to prevent the release of shitty games is bullshit. Nintendo created it to have control over third-parties and make more money (an expense that gets passed on to the consumer ultimately). Fuck Sega, Sony, and Microsoft for continuing it. Computer gaming did just fine without a first-party overlord dictating content as do other entertainment industries. I would say the percentage of shovelware on the Game Boy Color and Wii was worse than on any Atari console. The last couple decades have debunked the bad and/or clone games cause industry crashes theory.

I think part of the reason such a big deal was made of the Atari crash is the way history was originally written down afterwards. Herman's 1994 book Phoenix was an ambitious and pioneering timeline of early gaming but you have to consider the source. I admire what the author accomplished and am a big fan of other aspects of the book and his company but he's also someone who does not consider computer games to be video games. It's a strange bit of semantics but one that wasn't uncommon back in the day. You can see how this would make a console crash look like an epic event. Under this definition, you automatically eliminate the most important sector of Western home gaming in the mid '80s. It's incredibly misleading even though it was never likely the intent of the author to distort history.

It's also worth noting that he uses the word "crash" for dedicated consoles in the 1970s caused by the rise of programmables.

[zetastrike]

Only the power of Nintendo could save video games from complete and total annihilation

[NeoZeedeater]

Only the power of Nintendo could save video games from complete and total annihilation

A new book written by Chris Kohler. Coming 2013!

[sheath]

David Sheff already wrote it, and he was such a visionary it was way back in 1993!

[Slutty]

I thought Halloween was pretty unknown to the general public and Atari audiences. Not to mention it is fairly hard to find from what I understand. How did this help in the crash? I thought one of the main reasons it crashed was because of a flood of low quality games that people actually got their hands on. :/

[gamevet]

David Sheff already wrote it, and he was such a visionary it was way back in 1993!

Yeah but the people at Atariage will tell you that he got it wrong.

[tz101]

And the idea that the licensee model was necessary to prevent the release of shitty games is bullshit. Nintendo created it to have control over third-parties and make more money (an expense that gets passed on to the consumer ultimately). Fuck Sega, Sony, and Microsoft for continuing it. Computer gaming did just fine without a first-party overlord dictating content as do other entertainment industries. I would say the percentage of shovelware on the Game Boy Color and Wii was worse than on any Atari console. The last couple decades have debunked the bad and/or clone games cause industry crashes theory.

Well stated. The Nintendo seal of quality on NES and SNES games was a joke. As said, look at other entertainment industries: DVD's are rife with crappy titles but it did not 'crash' the industry.

[StarMist]

And the idea that the licensee model was necessary to prevent the release of shitty games is bullshit. Nintendo created it to have control over third-parties and make more money (an expense that gets passed on to the consumer ultimately). Fuck Sega, Sony, and Microsoft for continuing it. Computer gaming did just fine without a first-party overlord dictating content as do other entertainment industries.

Computer gaming and other media aren't comparable to video game consoles. PCs don't require royalties because they fulfill other interests or needs for the consumer than video gaming; that is, they aren't supported by video gaming. Even in the case of special video game components such as graphics cards, controllers, etc those things pay for themselves at purchase, the manufacturer isn't involved in further risk the way a video game console manufacturer is.
In Nintendo's or Sega's case they could've skipped the licensing fees because they had their own software to profit from, the idea being that stronger 3rd party software would lead to more console sales which would lead to more 1st party software sales, but then again the more 3rd party software available the lesser percentage of 1st party sales due to finite consumer funds (though Nintendo's more recent consoles--and I don't mean the handhelds--sell such a high percentage of 1st party games this concern could be waived).
Without up front licensing fees how do you propose console manufacturers to have made a profit on 3rd party software? They could try to collect royalties on copies sold but they would entail waiting for records, verifying records, and all sorts of ramifications that would lead to constant mistrust and warring between publishers and console manufacturers, along with messy questions like what happens with discounted software. To circumvent all those problems is why the up front, batch payment sell-or-not licensing fees were created to begin with.
Essentially it seems you're arguing in favour of a single console standard. That's what PCs are (effectively, as the games run on Windows) and that's what the rest of the entertainment industries do apart from a few audio compression schemes that might be copyrighted--stereos, home cinema, etc, are all playing the same software, only with different housing and component quality.

[NeoZeedeater]

Without up front licensing fees how do you propose console manufacturers to have made a profit on 3rd party software?

I would argue they don't deserve to profit on other companies' software. First-party control over third-party content bothers me much more than the money part, though.

Essentially it seems you're arguing in favour of a single console standard.

Yes, I am a proponent of making a standard.