conklin@eecae.UUCP (Terry Conklin) (01/25/88)
Checks of the local Toys-R-Us store has shown sales of the XE Game System to be cruising right along. A friend says when he checked, they were completely sold out. If you could, I would appreciate it if you could call your local retailer and find out how they are doing in your area. If sales of the new machine are good generally (and not just here) I am seriously considering taking time out to develop a new game (which had been 20% developed some time ago, but stopped due to a shrinking Atari market at the time.) Please post replies to the net. Any sales news/numbers from Atari would be appreciated as well. P.S. It seems important to note that the people I have talked to are not only getting the game system, but a disk drive as well. Terry Conklin ihnp4!msudoc!conklin (517) 372-3131 3/12/2400 The Club (313) 334-8877 3/1200 The Club II (w/lotsa files & new 8 bit sysop)
kimes@ihlpe.ATT.COM (Kit Kimes) (01/26/88)
In article <5688@eecae.UUCP>, conklin@eecae.UUCP (Terry Conklin) writes: > > If you could, I would appreciate it if you could call your local > retailer and find out how they are doing in your area. If sales of the > new machine are good generally (and not just here) I am seriously > considering taking time out to develop a new game (which had been 20% > developed some time ago, but stopped due to a shrinking Atari market at > the time.) > > Please post replies to the net. Any sales news/numbers from Atari would > be appreciated as well. > I have been following the situation here in the Western Suburbs of Chicago and have found the status about the sames. Our Toys R Us, Kay Bee Toys and Child's World all sold out their supply of XE game machines. Some of them had a pretty good supply, too. The only down note is that software is very scarce. All the games they had before Christmas were older games such as Tennis, Ms Pac Man, etc and these were going for $19.95 to $24.95. Since Christmas, I have seen two new games, One-On-One and Archon. What I find positive about this is that they are marketed by Atari, even though they were developed by a third party company. This is an absolute MUST. Third party companies are not going to support a system that isn't even supported by the company that developed it. One example is Radio Shack's Color Computer III. This is a relative new system with even less hardware on the market than Atari computers but I just got the new RS sale flyer. Guess what? In the software section for the CoCo 3 is Shanghai and Microscopic Mission, two games I would like to see for the Atari 8bit (Shanghai is supposed to be released for the ST, it looks like a fun game). They also have Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego, which I have been waiting to come out for the 8bit Atari. The point is, these games are marketed by RS and sold through their stores. Activision and Broderbund have little invested other than some time. Atari needs to take this approach a little more than they have in the past. Even if it is just for games that are going to be released on cartridge, they need to do it. One other comment on the XE game machine. Few disk drives were sold here because none of the stores I have visited have ever received any. The manager of the Kay Bee Toys told me that many people had ask him where they could get them and he ask me as a member of the local Atari users group. The sad truth is, I couldn't send him to any place within 20 miles of here. Our users group is inviting new owners of the XE game machine to our club meetings to see how they can get the most out of their machines but until they can buy a disk drive, there isn't much we can do for them. We made up flyers and the manager of the Kay Bee Toy store has been giving them to buyers of the XE-SGS and to anyone who asks about more information on disk drives, etc. We hope to get several new members and help out confused owners in the process. Other groups might try something similar in your area. Try offering three months free membership or free software for joining, etc. The response might be better than you expect. Kit Kimes AT&T--Information Systems Labs ...ihnp4!ihlpe!kimes
njd@ihlpm.ATT.COM (DiMasi) (01/27/88)
Terry Conklin writes: > > Checks of the local Toys-R-Us store has shown sales of the XE Game > System to be cruising right along. A friend says when he checked, they > were completely sold out. > ..... > ..... > P.S. It seems important to note that the people I have talked to are not > only getting the game system, but a disk drive as well. ^^^^^^^^^^ I assume that you are referring to the Atari XF551 DSDD drive? (If not, what drive(s) are being sold?!?) How do these people like this drive? I haven't talked to my local Toys-R-Us, Kay-Bee Toys, etc. , but from the recent ATARI SIG traffic on Delphi from people who have, I see that the XEGSs are a "hit" in at least several major cities in the U.S. If you decide to develop a game for the XEGS, keep in mind that it should be compatible with the rest of the 8-bits too (or at least the XL/XE machines!). There are a lot of us "old 8-bitters" out here (as just a LOCAL [Chicago area] BBS listing I did late last summer showed), and a new game every once in a while helps us keep the "old faithful 8-bit" out of the closet (in my case, my 8-bits are my ONLY home computers - so far... Tramiel(s), where's that 680x0 UNIX(tm) box?). Nick DiMasi Uni'q Digital Technologies (Fox Valley Software subsidiary; ^ working as a contractor at AT&T Bell Labs in Naperville, IL) ( | this is an accent mark, supposed to replace the dot over the 'i')
daryl@ihlpe.ATT.COM (Daryl Monge) (01/27/88)
In article <5688@eecae.UUCP>, conklin@eecae.UUCP (Terry Conklin) writes: > Checks of the local Toys-R-Us store has shown sales of the XE Game > System to be cruising right along. A friend says when he checked, they > were completely sold out. > > If you could, I would appreciate it if you could call your local > retailer and find out how they are doing in your area. If sales of the > new machine are good generally (and not just here) I am seriously > considering taking time out to develop a new game The Child World here in the western Chicago suburbs had nearly a wall of XE game machines. After Christmas, they were nearly sold out. Problem is, mail order seems the only way to find a good selection of software. Local stores are not carrying much, if anything. (But they are covered with C64 stuff - YUCH!) Daryl Monge UUCP: ...!ihnp4!ihcae!daryl AT&T CIS: 72717,65 Bell Labs, Naperville, Ill AT&T 312-979-3603
actor@percival.UUCP (Clif Swinford) (01/29/88)
I work for a computer store here in Portland that specializes in Atari products
and we've been doing a fairly brisk business in XEGM's. Not as much as in ST's,
but a noticeable improvement over the other XEs in sales. We've been sellng
disk drives to about 25% (my estimate) of XEGM buyers. These haven't been the
new Atari drives, since we can't seem to get them (where ARE they, Atari?).
For a while we were selling old 1050's, but since they ran out it's been all
Indus GT's.
--
Clif Swinford
..!tektronix!reed!percival!actor fnord