RAR! Alt-history scenario for G&C!

[LordShaithis]

It's the seventies. You're sent back in time, and made the head of a certain little company. A company that is getting ready to develop what will become the Atari 2600. It's still early enough for you to alter the design of that console as you see fit, and you'll always remain in control of the company so long as you don't run it into the ground. Armed with your knowledge of the future, your goal is to establish a monolithic empire that will rule the industry clear through to the present day.

What do you do? I have my own ideas, but I want to hear from others first.

[DarkSilver]

First off, with foreknowledge of the future Video Game collapses, and what caused them, I can possibly hope to avoid them with a few correct decisions.

First off: I go ahead and find the guys who created ET game. I proceed to shoot them and dump thier bodies into the nearest large pit. Never to early to stop that horror from being made.

Second: All games released for the Atari will conform to a standard, that standard shall be Pitfall. If a game can't match up to Pitfall in quality of graphics and gameplay, then it does not get released for the Atari.

Third: I make sure Pitfall is released as soon as humanly possible. Damn that game was to fun not to let people play.

I let everything go like it should, just tweaking the Atari lineup as we go, doing the things which kept Atari successful in the past. When it comes to the early 80's, began work on the new Atari console, one that will run edge to edge with the Master System and the NES. Make sure it's released in america before both of those systems.

From there, make sure Atari is ahead of the times, putting out our "16 bit" and "64 bit" systems just prior to the Sega, Nintendo and Sony releases. With luck and some proper strategy, Atari would keep to the fore of the game system revolutions.

[LordShaithis]

Firstly, I'd tweak the 2600 a bit. I'd give it a controller with a directional pad, two primary buttons, a select and start button, and a nice rounded design. Essentially a copy of the late-model NES controller. Also, I'd think of something better to replace those godawful switches on the front.

As to software, I'd look to the arcades and start porting over whatever the kids were playing. This eventually worked for Atari OTL, but not until 1980 when they released Space Invaders. I'd try to get on that wagon as soon as possible. I would treat my developers with respect and give them due credit, and thus hopefully avoid their splintering off to form Activision.

Knowing that the glut of third-party developers was inevitable, however, I would pre-empt it with a strict licensing system similar to the one Nintendo used for the NES. I would do my best to lean on retailers caught selling unlicensed games, AGGRESSIVELY hype the Official Seal of Quality in my advertising, and generally be as ruthless as possible in a crusade against shovelware. Perhaps I would be able to stem the tide of cheap-shit games that eventually crashed the market. If not, then hopefully I would have at least disassociated my company from the tide of shit in the minds of consumers.

I'd better hope to avert or simply avoid the effects of the crash, because around 1982 I'm coming out with my second console. For simplicity's sake, call it the Atari 5200. This system, however, would be much different than the OTL console of the same name. It would be backwards compatible with 2600 games, and would be technologically superior to the Colecovision, even if this meant coming to the market a little later.

Now that I've made a name for myself with the 2600, I would begin moving in on fledgling developers whom I know will eventually become important thanks to my knowledge of the what's to come. I would do my level best to sign these companies to exclusivity deals, ensuring that they would only develop for the 5200. I'd do my best to buy the console rights to as many big arcade hits as possible, and I would be a raving lawsuit-happy douchebag when it came to persecuting clones. If I'm selling my console with Asteroids, you can bet the guy trying to sell an identical game called Meteoroids is gonna get dragged into court.

Around the time my neo-5200 is taking off, a little company called Nintendo will be mulling over an entry into the console market. I will committ every goddamn bit of leverage and corporate muscle at my disposal towards sweet-talking them into becoming the exclusive distributor of MY consoles in Japan, under whatever name they like. I'll also promise to aggressively market their games in America, granting them a share of the profits much more generous than that received by a typical developer.

I'll do whatever it takes, because if my new-and-improved Atari can successfully pull Nintendo into it's camp, it's game fucking over for everyone else. Market analysts of the era will sit around laughing about how I let that Japanese company fuck me in the ass with the generous deal I put forth to win them over, but I know better.

It's the mid-eighties. Say hello to the Atari 7800. As with the 5200, this "new" 7800 will bear little resemblace to it's misbegotten OTL sibling. It'll be technologically superior, and will boast titles like Super Mario Brothers, Metroid, and Legend of Zelda. Cue the Imperial March. Nintendo boasted a marketshare of over 90% at the peak of the NES era, and I plan to do better. Developers will shit their pants with joy when I toss an exclusivity deal their way, because everything I touch just "happens" to turn to gold.

If Sega decides to challenge me with the Genesis in the late eighties, well, good luck to them in securing third-party developers worth a damn. I'll gut them and nail their carcass to the wall with... the Atari 9600, the SNES of this new timeline. (Bit of a flub on the numbering, but the Atari 10400 just doesn't sound as cool.)

I'll continue with my strategy for the 90's later.

[Instant Sunrise]

Atari was sitting on a contract to market the Famicom in the United States. The executives were set to sign it at the Summer 1983 CES, when they discovered that Coleco was using Donkey Kong to demo one of their machines, This pissed off the Atari CEO and accused Nintendo of double-dealing, this led to a re-negotiation for the two, which by the time they finished, the game crash occurred, and Atari couldn't afford the contract, thus Atari never got to market in time.

I would stop the game crash from happening, and make sure I get the rights to sell the Famicom in the US, come hell or high water. Also I would add the ability to play 2600 games to the Famicom and push that as the Atari Entertainment System.

[LordShaithis]

Ah, but the objective is to forge an empire that will crush the competition, not to become Nintendo's distributor/bitch. You know all their plans before even they do. Assimilate them, or crush them.

EDIT: Assume you're allowed to bring back all the notes and literature you like. However, you're required to stick to the thread's topic. No selling Atari, betting the proceeds on sports (ala Biff in Back to the Future 2) until you're a billionaire, and then trying to take over the world.