Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!lll-winken!uunet!microsoft!w-darekm
From: w-darekm@microsoft.UUCP (Darek Mihocka)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Atari blows it again
Message-ID: <7722@microsoft.UUCP>
Date: 16 Sep 89 22:52:18 GMT
Reply-To: w-darekm@microsoft.UUCP (Darek Mihocka)
Organization: Microsoft Corp., Redmond WA
Lines: 50
References:

What are kids going to be getting this Christamas? Certainly not a video
game with an Atari label on it. I've seen a lot of local stores already 
carrying the Nintendo Gameboy. The machine itself is a piece of garbage, with
a pathetic grey LCD display that looks like a cheap watch display. Although
I haven't seen the Lynx (and probably won't for a long time) if its color
backlit LCD display is as good as those used in the Sony Video Watchman and
similar pocket TV's, it'll blow away the Gameboy's display. 

But, with only about 100 days left till Christams, what's Atari waiting for?
The 1990 Christmas season? All the stores I've been to in the last few weeks
are carrying 3 machines: the Gameboy, the regular Nintendo machine, and the
Sega Gemini. All three look and feel like garbage. But the Gameboy comes
with Tetris which is the hottest thing around these days. I have yet to see
anyone carrying the XE game machine or even carrying any sort of promotional
items about the Lynx.

I'm not a video game fan by any means. I shudder to think of the consequences
of having a generation of kids growing up illeterate and cross eyed because
they spend 24 hours a day glued to these NFG handheld game machines, which
I also feel are an incredible step _backwards_ in technology. In 10 years
we've gone from some pretty decent hi res color stereo arcade video games to
handheld low resolution monochrome 2 inch screens. Although I'm not in favor
of the things, since they do exists and are a source of money for Atari, why
don't they just get of their butts and sell the things. This will probably
be one of the hottest items of the season, and while Atari has been splashing
big posters and ads about the Lynx in magazines, Nintendo has quietly stolen
the market.

We already know from past experience that the majority of consumers couldn't
give two hoots about the technical quality of the machines. Otherwise Atari
8-bit machines would have ruled the market. What consumers want is something
they can buy an give to their kids to shut them up until next Christmas. All
the technical marvels of a vaporware Lynx aren't going to generate any
income for Atari, and I'm sure this will be yet another convenient excuse
for them to delay the release of the vaporware Stacy, vaporware Portfolio,
and vaporware TT machines.

I still want to know why Sam Tramiel can't type for himself at GEnie
conferences and what he'll have to say to us next month when he can't keep
the promises he made at last month's conference.
 
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Darek Mihocka                   ST Xformer II                  CIS: 73657,2714
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(519)-747-0386     A mind is a terrible thing to waste, so just say no to TOS.
Opinions expressed are my own and not those of anyone not named Darek Mihocka.
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