We Need To Talk About AtariAge...

Just to clarify, I got the timeline wrong on the Coleco Chameleon Retro VGS thing. I was going off memory, oops.

I'm still waiting on my last chance sales orders from last year.

I believe Albert said that the Last Chance Sale was TWO years worth of regular orders. I am glad he gave us a chance to buy those games instead of just pulling them. I do want my order, though. I want to play Popeye.

A couple of points, the Last Chance Sale was not a pre-order. All of those games had already been released. Second point, I am sure once the Last Chance Sale orders are done things will gp back to normal. Atari is supposed to start helping with manufacturing, but Atari really cannot get involved until all those Last Chance Sale orders are done. I am sure they want to stay at arms' reach for legal reasons.

I got my last chance copy of Stargate for the 5200 a few months ago. I truly appreciate his hard work. He even sold me just the box for Adventure II after I learned that they made boxes in a reprint once. Now I've got a nice complete copy. I love all of my stuff that I've gotten from them over the years. I was unaware how long it could take before, but I came to understand why. Hopefully he gets everything sorted out. It's truly a great site still. Now I just wish someone would make Adventure III for the 7800! lol

Im still waiting on my last chance games too. STILL not getting any response even from the last time I talked to you about this. Nothing. He needs to send out a email to everyone involved. At this point there is no excuse. Atari does need to step in at this point. Ive been nice and respectful with every email.

This really spoke to me, because I am the demographic you mentioned: someone who had a 2600 as a kid, and just since the 2600+ got back into it! I actaully placed my very first order from Atariage during the last chance sale .. it took FOREVER to get my games, but I got them. It required me to send several emails asking for udates, but I got them. I placed another order last year, and I had to threaten to cancel my order (After several emails) because it was taking so long - in the end, I got my order. Now, since I satarted watching your channel, and since you confirmed that the Bently Bear game for the 7800 works on the 2600+, I went ahead 3 days ago and ordered it .... I knew what I was doing when I ordered it, lol, I know it's going to take forever - I'm a patient person, but I have my limits - I'm going to wait 4 weeks before I send an email out, but seems like every order I've made with them (I think this is my 4th order), I've had to email several times in order to get a response/results. I'm glad you brought this up, because, well, I never knew there was a resource for the old, atari stuff until recently - and now, I want to dive deeper into the new stuff - I hope they can improve, I hope they can hire more people, and I agree 100%: now that Atari owns it, it's even LESS acceptable for months and months of wait time.

I ordered a game from Atari Age, its been 10 years now, but I'm confident Albert will come thru, he always does and you can always count on Albert. God bless you Albert. A one man band.

I think your position is reasonable. Perhaps they could do more to warn people about the slow nature of order fulfillment.

Average Poster: I just found a prototype of an Atari 2600 game. Atari Age Users: DUMP IT! DUMP IT! WE HAVE TO PRESERVE IT!!! Average Poster: Oh by the way, does anyone know where I can get a copy of the final ROM for the homebrew game Mega Space Blaster? It's been out of production for about a decade now, and the only copies on eBay are going for $200+ Atari Age Users: YOU FILTHY PIRATE!!! HOW DARE YOU ASK FOR A ROM OF A HOMEBREW GAME!!!

Fair points about AtariAge. I waited for around 18-24 months to get Bentley Bear's Crystal Quest due to a combination of Covid and Brexit, and it was tied up with a Jaguar game pre-order. After some communication, I was able to get some of my order shipped but had to remind about my Crystal Quest boxed game. Other than that, things have been reasonably prompt. I understand that it's largely a one-man operation, but hopefully things will pick up under Atari's ownership.

I put in an order for Bentley Bear and got my copy about 3 months later. I had done my research though and knew there would be a delay between ordering and shipping. I do agree it would be nice to get some kind of ETA, but I knew I would eventually get my game and to be honest, I got it sooner than I expected. I can’t speak to the last chance orders as I missed the boat on that, but I do read on the forums when people get theirs and it seems to come in batches.

I pre-ordered Penult 2600 in January and am still waiting, so he must really be behind. This is fine as I'm in no hurry. I just want to make sure my order wasn't lost or forgotten. After hearing this, I'm sure he's just swamped as I've never had to wait more than a few days for my atari age order. This is however the first pre-order I've made and it did say 2-3 months. But that was 6 months ago. Like I said tho I'm not angry or impatient because I understand how these small operation work, and I do feel better now knowing why it's taking so long. Thanks for the info😊

I received my last chance order last year. It contained Galaxian and Boulder Dash. I also ordered Odynexus for Lynx 3 months ago, but I haven’t heard a word about it. Al is slow, but he does come through.

Albert is an outstanding guy and I have very good dealings with him over the years. I just have the impression that his hands are tied somewhat now that Atari Age is owned by the newly resurrected Atari. I don’t have any great things to say about the Atari Customer Support. I ordered a Lunar Lander arcade PCB when they first came out. They were advertised as being able to add parts and have an operating arcade cabinet board. I have the real original Lunar Lander game. Problem is: There was silkscreened printing covering the through-hole parts of the board which prevented soldering components to make it an arcade-quality Lunar Lander. I contacted Customer Support. Two years went by with sometimes months of no contact from Atari, and even then it was always a different person and you felt like you were starting over again with the complaint several times. The final dissatisfaction came when they said that the board is sold that way period. Even though you could buy a silkscreened board from an alternate reseller or the reproduction one that should have been solder-able but was not. The board without the fancy silkscreened version is the one I chose, but never received the right one. Again, nothing to do with Atari Age, but with a new owner comes the inevitable thing of having to conform and accept the new ways, whatever they may be. I hope Atari Age remains intact, but the customer support by the new Atari has me skeptical.

The Facebook group lost their sense of humor.

Funny this just came out now, I got my order today that I ordered and paid for 13 months ago. I understand delays but this is just unacceptable.

The problem with the Intelivison scam involving TT was that at least one mod over at AA was a bigtime defender and deleted comments against the Intellivision left and right.

I have great respect for Albert as well but I cannot see myself ordering in the foreseeable future. I was one of the 1st to get a small last chance order and mine took 7 months. I don’t understand why they won’t pause selling games either. Another mystery is that Atari Age has an eBay store that estimates delivery in under 2 weeks. I feel the worst for new enthusiasts and am glad you have brought this up

It's seems to be a common issue with a lot of these sellers of homebrew games. Wish they more transparent and realistic about how long it takes to fulfill your order. If there's delays, that's fine, just give me a heads up is all I ask.