XPost: comp.sys.atari.8bit, comp.sys.cbm
From: bill@newbreedsoftware.com
Responding to the bait. Sorry ;)
In comp.sys.atari.8bit Commodorus
wrote:
> The ATARI 800 has 8 mediocre sprites. 4 1-colored players, only 8 lores
> pixels wide and 4 missiles, only 2 pixels wide.
>
> This is ridiculous compared to the 8 HiRes sprites of the C64 which are
> 24*21 pixels in HiRes or 12*21 in Multicolor.
Sure, but not bad for coming out _3 years_ earlier. :^) Computing
technology moves pretty fast.
> C64 wins
I don't think anyone was arguing whether the C=64 had better sprites. :)
> The ATARI has 256 colors - but where? All the colors look the same and admit
> it, the ATARI doesn't even have a decent red. The colors of the ATARI 8 Bits
> are blurry, ridiculous and not as sharp as the C64's colors.
I'm not sure how a 'color' can be 'blurry'. Maybe you've never seen an
Atari connected to a decent display using an Svideo cable...?
> In HiRes, the A8 can only use 2 colors.The C64 can use all 16. The
> A8 can use artifacting, but the colors look like old PC CGA
> colors.Ugly.And this doesn't work on PAL machines, all they get is a
> monochrome screen.
I thought that PAL simply got slightly different colors.
> ATARI's 256 color mode - ridiculous, the resolution is only 80*96 and these
> pictures look bad.
80x192, actually.
> Sound :
> Not much to say.
Agreed. Though when listening to streaming chiptunes (e.g., Kohina),
I'm often pleased to see "Atari XL" music composed by "X-Ray" which sounds
about as good as some of the best C=64 stuff I hear on that station! >:^)
*ducks for cover*
> The ATARI had always compatibility issues. How many different ATARI
> 8 Bit machines are there? Some with 16K like 400 or 600 XL, some
> with 48K like the 800 and some with 64K like the 800 XL and the
> 128K 130 XE.
Sometimes users like choice. Visit your local toothpaste or cereal
aisle at the super market. :^)
> They have at least 2 different versions of the OS. Some old programs
> won't work on the XL/XE machines. XL/XE programs won't work
> on the old 48K machines with the old OS.
I'm not sure how that's a bad thing. Do C=128-specific programs run
on C=64s?
> They didn't really improve th XL/XE machines. No better
> graphics, still the same 1-colored 4 players and 4 missiles
> and the extra 16K RAM are almost impossible to find.
Well, we all know that Atari had really lame priorities ever since...
well... when did Bushnell leave? :)
> The C64 did never have this compatibility issues. Programs worked
> on every C64.
Regarding DOSes, it's not hard to simply boot another DOS on the Atari,
since they're on disk. No ROM chips to swap out. :)
> And the C64 didn't have such a lame DOS. It has its disk operating
> system and it works.You don't have to search for the correct DOS,
> you have only one density and everything works on every C64.
I'm _very_ glad I have MyDOS, and do not have to deal with C=64's "DOS"
from 1982. ;^)
> And don't let us talk about cassette recorders. The ATARI
> cassette recorders are slow.Very slow. They can play music
> while loading, but who needs that? The C64 can load
> very fast from tapes, while loading with the ATARI takes
> ages.
People still use cassettes? :) Oh wait, you're talking about back
when the C=64 came out.
People still used cassettes in 1983!? :)
> BUT, it forced us to learn POKEs and learning POKEs is
> the first step to learn Assembler, machine language.
I went straight from Atari BASIC to Action!, and then into C.
Thanks to Atari, Action! and C courses in college, I'm now employed
full-time as a video game developer.
I'm not sure how much 6502 experience would help. I haven't done _one lick_
of assembly in the years I've worked hear. It's practically shunned upon.
(These are phones with 100x the computing power of the Atari or C=64,
with threaded OSes and such!)
> Many ATARI users keep telling us that the ATARI had
> "incredibly" strong games in the early 80s such as
> Ballblazer or Koronis Rift. Yes, this may be the truth,
> because the ATARI was a machine of the 70s and
> the early 80s.
>
> After 1985,
After 85, I wouldn't even really be thinking about the C=64 any more,
either. I would have moved on to the Amiga. ;^)
> The C64 totally beats the ATARI machines. The ATARI
> machines are absolutely inferior and they can only
> be compared with systems like the VC20 or the Apple II.
You seemed to focus a lot on games. Of course, we all know that
IBM PC and Apple killed the Atari and Commodore both, simply because
so many more people wanted to do _non_game_ tasks.
> This is the reason, the C64 dominated the 80s and the
> 8 Bit era. It was cheap, powerful and easy to
> understand while the ATARI was old-fashioned,
> weak and far too complicated.
Don't tell that to me when I try to sit down and load a game on a C=64.
Sure, the Penny Arcade theme song is catchy, but my friends and I
had to ask the artist what the hell "L shift O to the quote and then dollah"
actually _meant_.
Jeez... anyone at Commodore ever hear of typing "DIR" [return] to get
a disk directory!?!? :)
--
-bill!
bill@newbreedsoftware.com
http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
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