[img width=700 height=437]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a136/DarkTheThief/Jaguar_zps41719970.jpg[/img]
"DO THE MATH!"
Back in 1993, Atari unleashed a machine called the Jaguar to the public in the USA. This 64-Bit beast of a machine was advertised as being superior to it's 16-Bit and 32-Bit Competitors. While this was technically correct, it was difficult to program for, and had little 3rd-Party Support, which, along with Atari's past mistakes and negative word of mouth, doomed it to failure. That being said, here's the story behind it...
The Journey Begins
First introduced in 1993 to New York City and San Francisco Bay at a price of 249.99 US Dollars, it later received a full US Release in early 1994.
The Struggle
The Jaguar was struggling to gain an established user base. Atari themselves had said that it had only sold 17,000 Units in 1993 as part of the Console's initial test market. A good friend of mine, slackur, was present at the launch of the Jaguar. The following are his own words regarding it:
"Launch day for the Jag was practically a non-event, especially compared to the midnight launches nowadays."
slackur went on to mention that the cashier at EB Games had mentioned that they only sold two units before he bought his own, further saying that said cashier seemed surprised that he was excited to get one.
By the end of 1994, Atari still had 100,000 Units in stock, and reduced the price to make the console more competitive.
The Success?
The Jaguar received some praise with Tempest 2000, and it's most successful game during it's first year was Alien VS. Predator. Tempest 2000 was clearly a success story, as the following was recalled by slackur:
"I continued playing that game for years. I would keep the Jag hooked up just to play it on occasion, and finished the first loop of 99 levels."
slackur went on to say the following about Alien VS. Predator:
"The only other game I picked up that truly 'WOW'ed me was Aliens VS Predator."
Unfortunately, the Jaguar's Game Library was too small to challenge the success of it's 16-Bit and 32-Bit Competitors. As such, it's appeal never grew beyond that of a small audience.
The Fall
By the end of 1995, it was clear that the Jaguar had failed. Atari ran early-morning Infomercials to try and sell it's remaining units, but it did not help much. Ultimately, the Jaguar sold less than 250,000 Units.
The Legacy
Despite it's failure in the marketplace, there are people who love the Jaguar, such as myself. There are those who produce homebrew titles for it, as it's source code is public. slackur had the following to say about it:
"I'll probably always have a soft spot for the Jag as a system I believed in when no one else did, and I'm glad I still have it in the collection."
As for myself, I love the Atari Jaguar, and just about everything about it. I have been known to defend it when others speak badly about it, and I have been seen going as far as playing a game that others would call abysmal all the way through on it. Unfortunately, how I came to discover the machine has been lost to time, but that hasn't stopped me from enjoying it.
Early Memories
From what I *can* recall, the first game I played on the thing was Kasumi Ninja. While it is not the system's strongest point, it IS a challenging game, which I enjoy, and think we need more of in this day and age.
The Loss and The Return
At one point, I had to sell my precious Jaguar due to real life problems getting in the way, but I eventually acquired another one, with a working CD Unit no less. It was...painful to lose the thing, to say the least. I think it goes without saying that real life problems will NOT get in my way again.
Building an (expensive) Library
Jaguar Games are expensive. They once sold in the UK for 97p a pop, but here in the US, they can command premium prices today. Two of the more expensive titles are Towers II and Primal Rage. Some people attribute the high prices to stupid eBay Users. All this being said, it's not been an easy task building a library of games for it, but I think I'm doing alright, all things considered.
The Future
I plan to keep building my collection, and I have no intention of stopping anytime soon. As mentioned before, I love the Jaguar, and NOTHING is going to change that. 
Thanks for reading!
Greetings, friends and readers. Today, I bring you a not-so-fun tale...a tale of a disgusting habit, regret, and re-acquisition. Listen...
NOTE: This is a true story. Those of you with weak constitutions may want to turn back now.
Trading Video Games...a disgusting, dark, messed up habit that may bring many problems. Why? Here's why...
Sometime back, I had an Atari Jaguar with the works. What are the works? A working CD Unit, several great games, lots of memorabilia, and then some. I loved that thing even more than my NES for a time. I played it by myself most of the time, but sometimes, I would hook it to my capture card, and play games for the users here, and for the users of AtariAge. I had a blast with it, plain and simple.
So what went wrong? Real life got in the way. I was short on money, and I needed it to live, as we all do. I had sold/traded games before to live, and as such, trading and selling them became a bad habit. I eventually started doing it just for thrills. I don't know how it got so out of control, it just did.
However, I eventually managed to break the habit, but then I needed money again. Sad as it was, I had to sell my precious Jaguar, and everything that went with it. This saddened me. Not only did my disgusting habit rear it's ugly head again, but now I no longer had the device that provided me with endless hours of fun.
Perhaps that sounds strange to you all, considering most people hate the thing, but as I'm sure you all know (and agree), everyone has they're own opinion on what fun is.
Well, fast forward to now, about 2 years later (or so, I wasn't counting), I found a Jaguar with the works in the local Retro Game Store. To make it mine, I have agreed with the owner to pay Layaway on it. As of this writing, I am about 150 Dollars away from the prize.
Despite needing money, I ultimately regretted giving the thing up. I learned a harsh lesson through all this: If I need money that bad, I will sell a more common console, or find some odd jobs to do. I am a Freelancer after all.
So here is some advice for you all: If you have a game you truly love, and appreciate, something that has done it's job and given you a fun, entertaining experience, KEEP IT. Never let it go for anything. You WILL be sorry. Take my word for it. To this day, my habit still rears it's ugly head once in a while, trying to make my gaming life harder. That being said, I will continue trying to break said habit.
Thanks for reading.
P.S.
Once again, this is a true story. If you think it's a pathetic one though, keep it to yourself. I don't need the criticism right now. Thank you.
Being that my last entry was on June 19th, you've all probably been wondering just where on Earth I've been for the past month. Well, here's the story...
My life took an unlikely turn recently. I won't bore you all with the details, but I will say this. That turn has kept me VERY busy. In case your concerned, there's nothing to worry about, as nothing bad happened. It's just been very busy around here lately. But as you can see, I'm still alive. (No pun intended.)
Anyway, I do plan to keep the Blog going, but a lack of ideas recently hit me, and with the recent announcement of Mega Man Legends 3 being cancelled, I've started to boycott everything Capcom. Your probably thinking, how does that keep me busy? Well, I've been supporting a group on Facebook that's dedicated to bringing it back, and that has kept me busy as well.
Anyway, I'm open to EVERYTHING Retro now (Atari 2600 - Playstation 1), so if any of you have any ideas to help me get back to writing, please shout them out in the Comments. Thank you.
P.S.
The Wizard is NOT a bad movie!
Duke Nukem Forever does NOT suck!
And to top it all off, the Power Glove is STILL cool! 
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