The Forum Will Expire April 2023

[Packrat]

I can agree with most of Janzl's reasons. The O2 community is not exactly what it used to be.

Thanks for the ride Janzl, it has been fun (for the most part).

[Elias]

Thanks for your nice words, Tom!

[RayXambeR]

Too bad news... I really appreciate this forum and the community involved in it. I am not a real Videopac fan as I haven't got this system at the time (I have the Intellivision system) but I have truly discovered this system by this homebrew side (even I have played this system at the time, a friend of mine's had it) and specially the revival studios release (mayhem, mage...). Also the prototype like flashpoint or the CCC releases are really great to know more about the history.
Since this time I always reviewed the VP/O2 new games in retrogaming magazines and really love the new creations, generally original, not "copy" of existing games. And since some years I have launch a project about this aspect in Videopac history and it will come in 2023 in the form of a book and a new game from Rafael in bundle, with Côté Gamers.

I have just discussed with Côté Gamers and we would be pleased to maintain this forum. The goal is not to get our hands on the VP/O2 community, far from us this idea, but to continue the effort. I can make the parallel with Vectrex community about freeware game releases: mark shaker steps down to john dondzila who steps down  to Packrat VG actually. and it is an excellent thing in my opinion as the games are always available to everyone.
It must be the same for this forum as it is part of the history of this system and contains lots of informations that will be dramatic to lost in my opinion (it is also the reason why I make efforts to write books about that: for the knowledge but also for the preservation!). So if Côté Gamers and I could help to maintain this so cool forum, we would do that with pleasure.

Janzl and other people here, discuss and consider this suggestion. We have time between now and april 2023 but time flies you know...

Keep up the very good work and I always take pleasure to come here even I am not really regular. I am not very "socialite"

[Tom Beck]

Côté Gamers has had an excellent reputation for me since Frozen Fort was released. I was very pleased that just as much care and love went into this game as for the other much more popular systems. This is not a matter of course. And the fact that with Videopac has been planned even more is wonderful.

I am personally very grateful for the suggestion that the forum might be taken over. Since the announcement to end the forum, there is a black shadow over my hobby, which clouds my joy in it a bit. You only notice when it's gone that something is missing. And I would really miss Videopac.nl.

So I would be very grateful if someone would continue what has grown for years. And if that someone were Côté Gamers, that would be more than ok for me.
Thank you very much for this suggestion.

[polluks]

I see
maybe someone wants to continue the forum somehow

[Janzl]

Hi everybody,

I am responding in general to all the people who have reached out to me considering the ending/takeover of the forum.

I'm really pleased with the kind responses I have received here and in private. And I'm really pleasantly surprised that no one has called me a fascist, or something similar, and I haven't had any death threats. Apparently there's still hope for the internet  :D

I am still considering what to do and a couple of future events will determine my final choice incuding a meeting I will have at the the end of november. So at least until then I will make no furhter decisions.

Again, thanks to everybody who had responded and please be patient.

[Pickaxe Brad!]

... I'm really pleasantly surprised that no one has called me a fascist, or something similar, and I haven't had any death threats. ...

Of course we wouldn't do that!  If we started there, we'd have no where to go as April got closer.  This way the tension can build...

We'll just make oblique references to your untimely demise for a while. 

And it's likely that we all are suspicious that this is just an elaborate April Fool's Day joke, so we're just playing along.

[Janzl]

And it's likely that we all are suspicious that this is just an elaborate April Fool's Day joke, so we're just playing along.[/size]

:D

[Jim]

I rarely post, but I lurk quite a bit.  Thanks for providing this service for so many years.

Some decade when I have more free time I hope to try programming for the O2.  I hope all the knowledge here is preserved somehow.

[scottith]

Sorry to hear about your decision, Janzl.  I'll echo what others have said - I understand your reasoning behind it.  Hopefully someone will step forward and take it over, because the O2 community here is very much a community, much like how the newsgroups used to be.  The escalating prices and values for games are across the board - both home systems and arcade machines.  It might level off at some point, but I don't see it dropping any time soon.

What's next? I can only think of Atariage as a starting point. I didn't really like the forum there. I was always happy to return here.

Atariage's forum is pretty much a catch-all for everything, with a section for most everyone, but the vibe there has always had an unappealing side to it, and that's reflective of the owner and the people he chose to moderate it.  It's run like a business because that's exactly what it is for the owner - something to make money from.

[Seob]

Just dropping in. I also lost a bid of drive for collecting, because it went from hobby to business with those prices. That's the reason i hardly post anymore on most of the forums i used to visit. I'm happy to have met the people here, some in person. Thanks for the ride, Robert.

[Wilco2009]

I had missed this thread and I am totally sorry.
I absolutely subscribe to all the words of support that have been said here, and I hope someone takes over.
The truth is that I have entered the forum with the intention of giving you what I consider good news, and I have come across this.

[Mux]

Joined a while back but not really been active enough. I still have a bunch of games I want to do and this forum would be the place to get them out. Anyway, unless somebody is willing to take over, it'll be missed.. I might be interested but it really depends on time and cost. I'll send a PM to get some ideas..

Regardless, my very very first console was a G7000 as Atari was way outside my / my parents' budget... So yeah, fond memories!

-Mux

[SLotman]

Just my luck. When I begin to make something for the first console I had in my life, the #1 resource is closing down

I'm also a lurker here for quite a while - never posted anything because O2 programming seemed way too complicated for me, until last week when I got an animated sprite moving on screen 

I am the same SLotman from MSX Files / Icon Games, who made several MSX games over the years... and yet, even knowing Z80 ASM, I still find O2 programming daunting!

I have no idea what went on with Brazilians (even me being one) - the only thing I saw was on Facebook: a fight over the "Odyssey" brand registration here, which made me decide to stay clear from those guys.

I truly hope you reconsider closing down the forum. If not, maybe preserve it as a 'read only' resource somehow?

Anyway, thank you for all your work over the years!

[gertk]

Sorry to hear that Robbert but understandable.

Maybe Atariage is a good alternative or VCF but that is probably not the right place since they focus on old computers mostly but it might be worth a shot to ask if they can open a space for the Videopac/Odyssey.