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Dateline Atari! with Bob Brodie
Oct. 1, 1993
Host - Lou Rocha
<[Host] ST.LOU> Good evening and welcome to Dateline Atari! with
Bob Brodie. It is my pleasure to welcome Bob to our monthly gathering
on GEnie, the official online home of Atari Corp. Our guest is Bob
Brodie, Director of Communications for Atari.
As we begin tonight's session, I would like to once again thank Bob
for his live conference from the Glendale show on September 18th. The
transcript is available here in library 13 of the ST RoundTable. That
conference generated a lot of interest, specifically around the Jaguar
rollout. We also heard a little more about TT production and I see
that a Current Notes ad for Computer Studio says they will be
restocking soon.
Bob's Glendale conference was picked up by Atari Explorer Online and
published in AEO_2016. Apparently, another online magazine also picked
up the transcript and used it to provide their own show 'report'
(along with an error that has become routine in their reporting). I
guess we should be flattered <grin>.
There is one other item of business to clear up related to the
Glendale conference. In response to my question to sysop Mike Allen
about the demos at the Lexicor booth, Mike posted that he hadn't seen
the booth because of the crowds but that he thought it was near the
washrooms. It has been noted that Lexicor posted some objection to
this comment on another service. In checking with show organizer John
King Tarpinian, it seems there were some booths in the area and one
was mistaken as the Lexicor booth. In fact, Lexicor was unable to
attend the show due to last minute problems. On behalf of Mike and
myself, we regret the error.
This evening I anticipate lots of questions about the Jaguar, the
Falcon, TT production, Atari stock and a number of other related
topics. I am ready to open the floodgates after Bob's opening
comments. Sit back and enjoy the October Dateline at GEnie's new
reduced rates. Bob, the floor is yours! GA
<BOB-BRODIE> Good evening, one and all! Welcome to the October
installment of our Dateline: Atari session!!!
It's crunch time here at Atari. Upstairs, even as I type this, there is
a host of people hard at work on getting Jaguar titles ready to send out
the door for the big Jaguar roll out next month. Game testers,
programmers, artists, and musicians are all on hand as we labor to get
this exciting product out the door.
Earlier this week I had an opportunity to take a fresh look at how some
of the titles for the Jaguar are coming along. To say that I'm impressed
is an understatement! The art work on the titles is truly striking, and
the game play has improved dramatically since I last visited them.
This month, you'll have a chance of the initial reactions of some of the
game press. Be sure to check out the October issue of Game Pro, where
the Cutting Edge feature showcases the Jaguar in a full four color page
layout. Just Fed Ex'ed up to me today is issue 11 of The Die Hard Game
Fan...possibly one of the most colorful magazine out on the market has
started a whole new section for the Jaguar called "Jaguar's Domain", as
well as a really flattering editorial about the Jaguar. The Jaguar's
Domain also features a four page, full color layout of screen shots from
Jaguar titles including Raiden, Tiny Toons, Crescent Galaxy, Club Drive,
Cybermorph, and more. Be sure to look for copies of those screen shots
to be uploaded here to GEnie, our official online service! As always,
you'll find these files online here FIRST!!! The pictures will be 24
true color Targa files, so you will have a chance to see the images in
the very best possible format.
On the computer front, we just completed a terrific show in Glendale,
and the sales results were terrific. The San Diego Computer Club also
hosted a multiplatform event, which the Atari Club won an award for the
best booth for their presentation of MIDI Maze at the show.
Congratulations to both John King Tarpinian for another successful
Glendale Show, and to the members of SDACE for their efforts at making
their appearance a success at the show.
With all of the hectic preparations here at Atari for the Jaguar, I
regret that time hasn't given me more time to prepare a long set of
opening remarks. So, rather than tie up our time any longer, let's cut
straight to our users and their questions, Lou. As always, I'm excited
to meet with all of our customers here on our official online service,
GEnie. Let's go, Lou.
<[Sir Fransis] K.DRAKE> Bob, are there any plans in the immediate
(spring '94) future to introduce any advanced controllers? By advanced,
I mean (NO GUNS) a steering wheel or analog joystick.
<BOB-BRODIE> Hi Kenneth, I am not aware of any plans for Atari to do so,
but spoke with a game developer earlier this week that is working on a
fighting game to compete with Street Fighter II. He plans on making a
new controller to sell along with the game.
<[steve] S.OLSON2> Can you give us a time frame of when to expect the
next list of developers and can you give a background of some of the
little known ones already announced?
<BOB-BRODIE> Hi Steve, hmmmm we really haven't set a date for another
press release to do that. What I plan on doing is meeting with Bill
Rehbock late next week (he's out of town right now) to discuss the
"credentials" of the developers.
<BOB-BRODIE> I agree with you that we need to do a better job of telling
the public who the developers are. Some of the names that are in the
press release are the finest game developers in Europe.
<[steve] S.OLSON2> Bob, real quick can you explain why EGM has a biased
against Atari and will they get a black box so they can rate lynx games
again?
<BOB-BRODIE> I've had a number of discussions with EGM about their
attitude about Atari. There is hope for things to improve. I think part
of the issue might be that there are a number of people there that are
former employees of Atari, including the publisher.
<BOB-BRODIE> On the other hand, when they go out of their way to blast
the president of the company in a sister publication of theirs, they
don't give me a lot of ammo to try to change the way things are between
us.
<BOB-BRODIE> Re the Black Box...they don't need a black box to rate the
games. We send them pre-release eprom cartridges of the games, and
provide them with slides of screen shots of the games. This is the same
level of support that we give to all of the other magazines as well, and
none of them are complaining about. The reality is that the "Black Box"
is a development tool, not just something to take screen shots with. It
is NOT an essential tool for them to have for their Lynx coverage.
<B.AEIN> Bob, will there be a CD-rom derived from the Jags for a low
cost Falcon one? I would like to say that as a new Falcon owner that
Atari Must take the SCSI to DMA (SLM) project in house and DELIVER as
promised! Any comments?
<BOB-BRODIE> No the interface for the Jaguar CD ROM is different from
the Falcons, so I don't see that as a common project. I share your
thoughts about seeing the SCSI to DMA project getting done, and spoke
with Bill about it at length earlier this week. I can assure you that he
is working on a solution, and believes that it is close at hand.
<[Sam030] SAM-RAPP> Hey Bob! Can you give any SPECIFICS as to Jaguars
where/when? Are there boxed production units in a warehouse somewhere?
Can I have one? Now? Please? ;-) AND.... Is there anyone on GEnie that
can discuss the Jaguar development process in the RT? Thanks!!
<BOB-BRODIE> Hi Sam, as to exact locations, no...I can't give you that
information tonight. No, there are not stacks of boxed productions units
sitting in a warehouse somewhere, but there has been a pilot production
run made, and now units are being sent to developers for use, and to
potential developers for evalution.
Bill Rehbock is capable of discussing the development process, but I
don't think he has the time to do it, at least right now. Please
understand that it really is a "CRUNCH TIME" for us here right now.
We're all trying to stay very focused on getting a quality product out
the door with a great release as well.
<[Sam030] SAM-RAPP> When will the first consumer run be made?
<BOB-BRODIE> Rather than tell you when it's being made, look for it to
be available for purchase (much more significant) the weekend after
Thanksgiving.
<[Host] ST.LOU> Is that Canadian Thanksgiving, Bob? :-) <Oct. 12th>
<BOB-BRODIE> We're not shipping to Canada til '94, Lou. Sorry.
<[SPEEDO Racer] J.TORRES17> This may have been covered previously...
Since I am nowhere near a test market. Is Atari going to set up a 1800
number (like for the LYNX) and a Jaguar help line?
<BOB-BRODIE> Initially, we will not have the Jaguar available for sale
via the 800 line. This is at the request of our retailers. Yes, there
will be a Jaguar section on our help line to give out hints, tips, and
easter eggs.
<[Graham] B.STEVAN> Bob, thanks for joining us again tonight. I have a
question(s) about Atari's servicing. We spoke to Shirley Taylor just
yesterday regarding a bunch of Portfolios we sent back for an exchange.
We were informed that NO Portfolios will be available until the NEW
YEAR! The customers have already been waiting for about 2 months, as we
had to try to get an RMA#, then had to wait for delivery to Atari, then
wait to get info from Atari. Needless to say we have several customers
that are very angry! We also have a similar situation with 2 1040STe
warranty units that we sent down. My question is...what is causing the
delays with the Portfolios? Why does Atari seem to treat customer
service as a low priority, the lack of parts and replacement units being
an example. On the positive side I have had tons of customers asking
about the Jaguar. Is there any chance Atari would consider releasing it
everywhere before X-Mas rather than just the announced test markets. I
can't see any reason (other than lack of promotion) why the Jaguar
wouldn't succeed everywhere, especially if a ton of them were sold over
Christmas.
<BOB-BRODIE> Hi Graham, Shirley is being a bit pessimistic about the
Portfolio situation. We simply ran out of units, and as I'm sure you
know, we typically replace the defective Ports with another. We are
bringing in Ports from another subsidiary in Europe to re-stock our
supply, but are finding that we need to have a subcontractor to rework
the keyboards to a North American type set. Finding the right company to
do that is a bit of a problem right now. We changed our entire
manufacturing and warranty process on the Falcon030 so that we would be
providing our customers with .... higher level of customer service, and
eliminated the need to replace on board components. Instead on the
Falcon, all that needs to be done is that there are 6 main components
that a dealer has to worry about replacing. The keyboard, the ram board,
the floppy disk, the hard disk, the power supply and the mother board.
So you see, we ARE improving our efforts at making service much more
efficent.
Re the Jaguar...remember that the chipsets Tom and Jerry, are very
special chips. We will not be able to get more than 50,000 units made
before the holiday season. We feel that we can sell that many units in
the markets that we've chosen. In addition to that, we can do a very
well planned, and executed campaign in those two cities.... for an
affordable amount of money. Trying to go national or global at this
point is simply too expensive in terms of promoting the product.
<[Sir Fransis] K.DRAKE> Will the .GIFs be uploaded right after the
conference? Also, the polygon game screenshots are non-texture mapped.
Is this by design or for necessity?
<BOB-BRODIE> Not right after the conference, but thanks for your
interest. :) I will be sending some to the staff of Atari Explorer
Online for them to bundle with their issue, and allow them (just like we
do the other mags) decide which ones they want to see printed. Re the
polygon screen shots, gee...I don't know. Sorry.
<[DarkChild] R.HALL49> This question applies to when the cd-rom unit is
in place because I know that video\audio takes up an enormous amount of
storage space, but how does video playback look? ummmm I don't mean
digital "stills" either...thanx ga.
<BOB-BRODIE> It looks terrific! We won't have any of the "loading"
messages that some of the other CD units have.
<[Chris] C.OATES2> A while back, the possibility of a Falcon special
issue of BAM was mentioned. Was this shelved or just delayed? Also, any
other Falcon related Press coverage lately?
<BOB-BRODIE> Chris, I don't know what happened to that special issue of
BAM. James isn't on hand for me to consult tonight on that. My best
guess would be that they decided to hold off with it until they have a
real "killer app" like Cubase Audio for Falcon to really showcase the
unit. And no, we've not pursued any additional press on the Falcon
lately.
<[Iver] I.POSSEHL1> Bob - I'm looking for a dealer near Fargo, North
Dakota. Could you again give us the number to call at Atari for this
info? I'm getting the itch to buy a Falcon. :-) Also - for those of us
living in the sticks. Will there be a way to mail-order a Jaguar?
<BOB-BRODIE> Hi Iver, I'm sorry that we don't have a dealer in North
Dakota right now. We are in discussions with a VAR in Mynot, but nothing
has been firmed up yet. From North Dakota, I'd say your closest dealers
are in Minnesota. Try Roger Doger Music in North Hopkins, MN. The phone
number is 612-932-9441. Re the Jaguar...in 1994 we'll be going National,
so you should be able to buy via mail order then.
<ARCHIVIST> Bob, there has been a lot of speculation about TOS 5 lately.
Is this a new TOS for the falcon or will it be for general use like TOS
2.06?
<BOB-BRODIE> Charlie, I'm not 100% sure on that. From what I know, the
plans for TOS 5 are "Multi-TOS" like...I don't expect it to be an EPROM
or ROM for the other machines. But I really want to empahsize that I'm
not up to speed on that. Sorry.
<B.AEIN> Will Atari try to censore either violent or sexually( R rated
in movie land) orientated games? When will the ad's for the Jag start
showing up? When will the V.R. helment be anounced, as it should cause
an ATC stock leap.
<BOB-BRODIE> I am not aware of any plans to censor any of the titles.
However, I have also not seen any titles to date that might have those
kind of problems (specifically sex and violence). The only thing I can
point to is the Dracula game, which had been "accused" having a lot of
cleavage in a couple of scenes with the brides of Dracula. Most of the
ads will run concurrent with when the Jaguar is released for sale. And
the VR helmet is not a project that we're doing, there is a developer
doing it, so I can't comment on when that will be done.
<[F.S.U. #1!] AEO.MAG> Bob, while in my lurkings on several online nets,
I've seen people claim that mail order houses are NOW taking orders for
Jaguars. Some houses (I don't remember any names) were claiming 1993
delivery. Some, even October 1993 delivery. Would you care to comment on
that before Atari gets a "black eye" from these tactics?
<[F.S. WHO???] BOB-BRODIE> Sure Travis, we have a very clear policy on
mail order for the Jaguar. We are not selling to any of the mail order
firms this year. We will, however, be selling to a single distributor in
NYC. We expect that he will be able to sell his units in the metro NY
area. The possiblity exists that there may be a few units that do make
it to the mail order arena. We also expect that at least one of the
retailers will, over our objections, try to go national with their
units.
<[Kool-Aid Man] C.CASSADAY> Bob, can you comment on the rumor about
Dallas being a third test market for the Jaguar? Also, the picture of
the Jaguar in the October GAMEPRO only shows three plugs and the
expansion bus. (I think... I lent the issue out to a friend.) Has the
Jaguar changed since GAMEPRO took the pictures of it? I ask this because
of the statement by Atari that the Jaguar has SVHS, Composite, etc.
video. Are there more video ports on the sides of the Jaguar?
<BOB-BRODIE> I've got my issue right here, Chris...lemme look at what
the shot. Ah, nope. They are showing the correct images. The S Video
output comes off the expansion port on the rear on the unit, as shown on
page 16 of the October issue of GAME PRO. We're making a separate set of
cables that will give SVIDEO, RGB, etc. The RF connector is just to the
side of the expansion ports. BTW, the screen shots that are in Game Pro
were taken with an RGB cable connected up to a Jaguar unit, with input
to a video board on a Mac.
<[Steve @ NLS] STEVE-J> Is the Jaguar price DEFINITELY set now (at
$199.95 or whatever)? We've only been told "around $200" so far. Also,
one of the mags said the 'JagCD' might cost as much as $350 -- can you
say it WILL only be $200-$250? GA
<BOB-BRODIE> There are no plans for the Jaguar's CD unit to cost as much
as $350. May I ask where you read that?
<[Steve @ NLS] STEVE-J> It was one of the game mags, but I forget which.
<BOB-BRODIE> Does Ralph do a game mag now??? :)
<[SPEEDO Racer] J.TORRES17> Is Atari developing CD's for the STe/Falcon?
Encyclopedias? Jaguar Encyclopedia? Can you hook a Jaguar to a SC1435?
<BOB-BRODIE> We are creating a developer CD for the Falcon. But not
encyclopedias. We don't have enough manpower here to be able to do a
project like that ourselves. We have suggested to a number of developers
that it would be a good project for them to do. Hopefully, one of them
will be up to the task. Re the Jaguar to an SC1435...YES! And it looks
fabulous!!!
<S.CHAPMAN> Will Atari have a booth at WCES. If so, how big and where?
<:^)
<BOB-BRODIE> Our recently hired marketing director, Terry Valeski, is
hard at work on a number of things, inlcuding the CES Show. I don't know
where our booth will be, but I'm sure we will have a very big presence
at the show. We really want to show the Jaguar off in a big way at this
show.
<[DarkChild] R.HALL49> With price cuts by nearly every other competitor,
will we see a slash in the price of the Falcon? (I think it's worth
every cent...but am curious). Same question in regards to the STe
(especially with the STe price cuts in the UK). One more thing, is there
a cd-rom being developed for the Falcon...would love to see this even
though the user-base is still small (for now). Oh yeah, ATARI RULES!!!
(overly enthusiastic shot in the arm!) thanx GA. oops, Joe took my
question...
<BOB-BRODIE> Ron, there are presently no plans to cut prices on the
Falcon030. Here in the US, we're not selling the STE at this time, so we
can't cut the price on the unit. :) The Falcon030 can use industry
standard CD ROMs _right now_ via the SCSI port. There are even
developers with CD ROM products for the Atari Falcon030. Send email here
on GEnie to GREG for information on his products. That's Greg Kopchak.
I'm sure he has a topic in the Bulletin Board as well.
<[Sam 030] SAM-RAPP> Hi again Bob! While waiting for my Jaguar T-shirt I
was wondering what the pack-in will be?
<BOB-BRODIE> Sam, you're greedy! I tell ya gang, I sent this guy a
really neat RED Atari hat (limited edition, mind you!), and a truly cool
Lynx T-Shirt (also a collector's item), and all I hear is where is my
Jaguar t-shirt!!!! The pack in game hasn't been 100% decided. I think it
should be Crescent Galaxy, but there are others that are pushing for
Cybermorph.
<[Host] ST.LOU> I never got one <sniff>
<BOB-BRODIE> Bill Rehbock is among them, and threatened to wrestle me
for it. That's good news for Crescent Galaxy. :)
<[Anthony] A.DIPIETRO> Atari out-sourced MultiTOS is there any chance of
outsourcing GEM? (not the AES or TOS just the Desktop portion)?
<BOB-BRODIE> We really didn't outsource MultiTOS, we bought it, and then
hired the developer. At this point, I'd say NO...no chance of that
happening.
<[Steve @ NLS] STEVE-J> Could you answer my previous question (if the
Jaguar's price is definitely set and, if so, what it is)? My NEW
questions are: Can you name any Jaguar retailers (in the test markets)?
Also, when the Jaguar goes national, will marketing progress from the
coasts inward (I live in Portland, OR)?
<BOB-BRODIE> The price is set, but we're not announcing it tonight. Nor
will we name the retailers yet either. As we've stated in the past,
virtually every major retailer has expressed interest in carrying the
Jaguar.
<[Host] ST.LOU> Bob, if you would like to ship me 100 Jaguars, I will handle
the sales on GEnie for you :-) You pick a price! <grin>
<BOB-BRODIE> Re the marketing effort, yes...we will properly support the
Jaguar in all of the markets that it will be sold in. That's part of the
reason we want to control where it goes to for the roll out, we want to
be sure that we properly support it where it is sold.
<[Host] ST.LOU> Jim Thornhill gets the wrap up tonight......
<[JaguarJim] J.THORNHILL> Bob, I have heard that Atari has purchased a 4 ft
display section at TRU for the Jaguar, is that true?
<[Host] ST.LOU> Toys R Us..!
<BOB-BRODIE> Not that I'm aware of, Jim. Sorry.
<[Host] ST.LOU> Well, that brings us to the end of another session and
once again I am thrilled that Bob has chosen this service to meet with
Atari users each month. The transcripts seem to be more popular than
ever and the last edition has been downloaded almost 650 times so
far.... Bob, we really appreciate your efforts at the end of a long work
week. I have enjoyed this session and surely look forward to our meeting
in November.
<BOB-BRODIE> Thanks for such a wonderful job of moderating tonight Lou.
This time always serves as a reminder of why GEnie is the Number 1
online service for Atari owners world wide. The staff of the Atari RTs
have always gone out of their way to serve the needs of the users. As
always, I appreciate the opportunity to meet with our customers online
in a live setting here on GEnie! Thanks to all for attending tonight!!
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