This is the Atari Falcon. One of the greatest computers ever made. But, so few people have heard of it, t's almost
like Atari were trying to keep it a secret. Why happened? and why is that? [intro sequence] [industrial electronic music plays] It's 1989, the Atari ST range has been in
production since 1985, but it's traction into homes has been limited... until now. With new tempting game bundles appearing in
shops, the STFM became an appealing, and cost effective choice for bringing a true computer
into the home, with enough entertainment to last for months. The 16 Bit ST was far more powerful than the
Spectrums and Commodore 64s found in most households of the time, and bundled with 20
games, the sub £400 price tag was a tantalising temptation. However, its hardware capabilities still lagged
behind that of the Amiga 500, and Atari knew they'd need to do something to keep up. The first attempt to balance the scales came
in the form of the Atari STE, an Enhanced ST, which had been in development since at
least 1987. Original specifications had detailed a 640x240
resolution with 256 on screen colours - a significant improvement over the ST. However, on launch, although the STE had an
expanded colour palette from 512 to 4,096, it was still restricted to a meagre 16 on
screen without programming tricks. "Really the point has been missed. It's all very well having extra colours, but
what's the use if you can't display more on screen?" On the plus side, additional Genlock support
for video editing was added, along with a blitter co-processor, which put the machine
more on par with the Amiga's graphical capabilities. A new PCM audio chip was also added to play
back 8 bit samples and somewhat make up for the limited AY sound chip found in earlier
models. Although the STE was a moderate improvement
over existing hardware, its high compatibility with the original system was - if anything,
its downfall. Given the ST was far more abundant, software
developers stuck to making games for the original hardware, rather than releasing titles for
the few STE owners. Some games had enhancements for the STE, but
most of these were half hearted and couldn't tempt Amiga owners and future Amiga owners
away from their enhanced chipset capabilities. As the 90s began, people were starting to
focus their energy and indeed, money, on either the Amiga or a Japanese console for gaming. But, in typical Atari fashion, alongside the
STE, they had also been developing a number of other machines, including the TT and a
machine known as the Atari Transputer. The Trannsputer was a high end workstation
released in 1989 with minimal sales. It ran on HeliosOS and was incompatible with
the ST range, whilst the TT - although intended as a Unix workstation - would end up really,
as just a beefier ST, with TT standing for Thirty Two, Thirty Two; rather than the Sixteen
Thirty Two of the ST. This is because the TT also has a 32 bit data
bus, paired with a Motorola 68030 CPU, offering significant performance improvements over
previous machines. Both of these machines weren't bad at all,
but they were expensive, and pretty unsuccessful, failing to find a suitable market. Mostly, they just weren't taken seriously
as professional machines, and the TT was too expensive to be viewed as a suitable ST upgrade. Luckily, Atari were also sticking true to
their brands origins and a number of game systems were in the pipeline. The Atari Lynx had already launched in September
1989, and sales were thankfully ahead of their new desktop machines at least. The Lynx was also a generation ahead of rival
handhelds of the time in terms of technical specifications. Atari had also been developing the Panther
and with a nudge from ex-Sinclair Research employees, Martin Brennan and John Mathieson,
a more 3D capable console called the Jaguar. The Panther was due for release first in 1991
and lined up to challenge consoles like the Sega Mega Drive. In the mean time, it was down to the ST and
Lynx to carry the brand. BUT, times were changing and if Atari weren't
careful, they'd lose the home computer market entirely. ---- In early 1991, the Atari Lynx II was launched
to better compete and try and boost sales, whilst the Panther console was dropped, so
Atari could focus on the Jaguar. The Jaguar's development was moving faster
than anticipated, but clearly not a company to have too few pies on the table, another
2 projects began, known as Sparrow and Falcon. Unphased by the lack of success of previous
machines, Jack Tramiel - the CEO of Atari Corporation - knew that a new machine was
required to compete with the Amiga and more importantly to Jack, the rising dominance
of the IBM PC Compatible. 1991's attempt was to repackage the STE in a desktop case, cram
in some TT features and sell it as a business machine, known the Mega STE - following suit
with the Mega ST and Mega ST 2 which came some years previous. It was cheaper than the TT, less capable than
the TT and somewhat of a backward step in this area of the market. But, like the TT, it was still somewhat unsuccessful. Atari either needed something better or to
change tact. The original Falcon specification was therefore
intended to blow other computers clear out of the water. Like the TT, a Motorola 68040 CPU would be
at its core - a CPU which could easily compete with the abundant Intel 386 processor. The TT's FastRAM was also a consideration,
along with fast expansion BUS and extensive upgrade paths. Developed by Atari in Texas, led by John Horton,
this was a computer designed to enter the PC market. Alongside this, Sparrow was more of an upgrade
card for the ST, using an as yet undecided Motorola processor and lacking the faster
bus and expansion options of the Falcon. This was being developed by Atari's Israel
operation, led by Mosche Segal and Eran Dariel. Outside of Atari's walls, knowledge of a upcoming
Jaguar console was already public, but there was also speculation of a Jaguar based COMPUTER
floating about. Sources from Atari also suggest there were
plans to make the Falcon and Jaguar semi compatible, or develop a Jaguar card for the Falcon at
least, but Jack Tramiel was against the notion and pushed for them to be unique systems. In late 1991, with the Jaguar Computer rumours
quashed, Atari seemed to reluctantly confirm they were working on a Super TT machine called
the Falcon. Incorporating a Motorola 68040 CPU and a possible
built in CD-ROM, this was a machine of the average Atari user's dreams. But this was a short lived dream, as only
a few months after their admission, THIS Falcon was pushed aside, and instead the Sparrow
project was stepped up to take its place under the development name of FX-1. One could speculate that this decision was
down to the dwindling finances of Atari Corporation; the Sparrow used many existing components
- making it cheap and quick, whilst the Super TT Falcon needed further investment and resources
- tricky, especially with the Jaguar's development well underway. It's clear from the Sparrow's December 1991
Revision 10 Design specifications, that this was the machine destined to be the Falcon
we would soon all know and love. All the specifications are present, as is
the intention to be "a compatible, high-performance extension of the Atari STe architecture.". But at this point, it was still very much
known as Sparrow, and the Falcon name was fizzling away. Aside from the ST Book which would arrive
in the UK early in 1992, the new year had a seemingly cleaner plan for Atari; to launch
the Sparrow as their next computer, and the Jaguar as a brand new, advanced console. It was around this point that companies such
as Imagitec who were working on Raiden, Dino Dudes and Road Riot for the now cancelled
Atari Panther console, were asked to instead begin porting code to the Sparrow. Richard Miller was currently Atari's President
of Research & Development and was responsible for leading the new projects and was apparently
keen to make the Sparrow into a system "his mother could use", stating "You can never
underestimate the consumer... so the computer should be just as good as
the consumer's CD player, or television". The specifications were then hammered out
to make it affordable, but capable, with; - CPU: Motorola 68030 (16 MHz) central processor
unit - GPU: Blitter graphics co-processor (16 MHz):
64 million pixel per second - DMA: DMA engine: fast memory access to/from
SCSI, audio, peripherals, etc. - DSP: Motorola 56001 (32 MHz/16 MIPS) Digital
Signal Processor unit With an optional - FPU: Motorola 68881/2 Floating
Point mathematic co-processor unit. Of course, we can't forget the Videl video
controller offering 262,144 colours, chunky 16 bit truecolour and various bitplane modes. Now this all sounds reasonable enough, pretty
awesome in fact, but there is a small caveat....although the video bus is 32 bits wide, the main processor
bus is only 16 bits, somewhat limiting the Falcon's performance, but from Atari's perspective,
saving money at the same time. Back in reality, Atari might have been soldiering
on oblivious to the nightmare they were facing, but owners of STs were becoming rightly concerned
about the dwindling supply of games for their beloved systems. The lack of content aimed at their machine
on TV and the media and even the shrinking size of
their favourite magazines. Companies like Special Reserve were reporting
that ST game sales now only accounted for 13% of their orders, 20% down on the previous
year, and Amiga games were outselling ST iterations by 5:1 in shops like WH Smith. In fact, Commodore 64 game sales were actually
faring better, thanks in part to the Terminator 2 bundle! But reassurance was provided in the form of
this new, almighty machine just around the corner. Throughout '92, news on this new machine was
few and far between. The odd mention, tantalising glimpses of hope
and numerous mentions of the multimedia future, provided sustenance for existing ST owners. At the height of summer, the details were
more forthcoming. In late July the first images of the new machine
leaked through to us courtesy of ST User Magazine. The Sparrow proto-type had now taken on the
full Falcon persona - or at least adopted it's name as the Falcon030, and was about
to receive judgement. It wasn't yet in the new colours, frankensteined
with a white keyboard and Sparrow coloured case, with the production colouring still
undecided - in fact the internals were still different at this point, sporting only TOS
2.07 and an array of incomplete components, but had the cost saving measures of Atari
produced a machine good enough to satisfy the hungry desires of ST owners. Was this the machine we needed to carry the
Atari brand into the late 90s? With phrases like "better sound capability
than compact discs", "true colour 16 bit mode" and "multitasking TOS operating system" being
thrown about. The signs seemed promising... In other magazines there was talk of a HIGH
DENSITY floppy drive and Digital Signal Processor made the average Atari fan moist to the touch. Game developers even started to air their
views; Peter Molyneux (Bullfrog) - "I'll be very
interested in developing stuff for it... I've prayed for this kind of move for a long
time... The only qualm I have is the price of PCs
is falling all the time" Danielle Woodyat (US Gold) - "US Gold would
love to produce software for such a sophisticated machine. However, we're going to wait and see what
kind of price the machine is released at and which other houses support it" Richard Eddy (Codemasters) - "It really does
sound like a user's dream, but Atari have to be very clever to gain substantial support" Mark Pearson (Protar) - "The Falcon could
be a monster if marketed correctly. It must be pushed by Atari as a serious machine... Atari must not promote it as a games platform
- that would be the kiss of death for the machine" This mixed, but excited bag of feelings was
shared throughout Atari itself. A war had been raging between Atari UK and
Atari Germany over who would control development of the machine. Atari Germany wanted the Falcon to be viewed
as a serious computer - feelings shared by Jack and Sam Tramiel. However Atari UK wanted the Falcon to be poised
for gaming as well, following the ST in it's most successful domain, and providing an upgrade
path for gamers jumping ship to the Amiga. Initially, Commodore was concerned by this
new machine. David Pleasance, head of Commodore UK has
actually said that "When we first heard about the Falcon, we were really worried as it was
more powerful than [Amiga's up and coming machine] the A1200, but hearing they were
trying to go head to head with the PC, we knew we had already won". In the October issue of Atari ST User Sam
Tramiel even confirms that the Falcon030 has no interest in going up against the Amiga. An interesting choice, and one which seems
hard to understand with hindsight. In any case, Atari Germany had won the battle. Fears that the Falcon might detract from the
Jaguar had helped seal the deal, and so this was where we'd witness the initial launch;
at the sixth Dusseldorf Atari fair on the 21st August 1992. As well as a spinning Falcon display, there
was a lengthy presentation, demonstrating the graphics, new Multi-TOS operating system
and the various features. Enough to make Atari aficionados drool from
here to Kingdom come. The machine's exterior was itself, very modest,
looking mostly like a discoloured ST sporting a multi-coloured Falcon badge. It seems Atari were planning a completely
new case for the following year, but wanted to test the wind before committing. Some felt it wasn't enough to stand out as
a new machine, and this lack of commitment in itself, felt a bit half hearted and concerning. Frankly though, it didn't bother me; there
was something about the original ST case, bathed in these new alien colours which made
me lust after this machine... and that lust didn't diminish, so I was over the damn moon
to receive one myself earlier this year. *LOVE FOR FALCON* *AHEM* ANYWAY....The machine was launched
in France & the UK shortly after Germany at the September European Computer Trade Show,
with an entry price of £499 for the 1MB model, up to £999 for the fully kitted. Proving Atari Germany had won the battle and
the Falcon was poised and ready to be pitched as a serious computer, to rival the PC *sniggers*. Now, that's not to say it couldn't, for the
most part, it was well ahead of PC hardware at the time. But the PC market was so strong at this point,
it was nearly impossible to take it on in general terms. Coupled with the Falcon's hefty price tag,
there was a confusing mixture of raised eye-brows, sunken stomachs and extreme excitement, for
the Falcon030. In a situation strange for us Europeans at
the time, the USA launch actually followed ours; with an unveiling at the Southern California
Computer Faire on the 12th of September, and even a fully kitten Falcon given away to lucky
entrant Jason Spoor. The American roll out was a somewhat more
subdued affair, indicative of the less than favourable success previous models had attained
in their home country. Regardless with news and previews spilling
out left, right and centre, anticipation was rife. Even TV programs such as Bad Influence started
talking about Atari again, including a live demonstration of this miraculous machine. *ANDY CRANE DEMONSTRATION* Andy Crane may have given a rather brief demonstration,
but thankfully, we can go one better. Let's take a look.... Ahhhhh, look at this wondrous machine. So many options, so much potential. Let's have a look connectibility first. The back looks familiar, but offers a number
of new options over the ST. Over here is the DSP port, allowing direct
access to the DSP chip. 3.5mm stereo out there. 3.5mm microphone in. A SCSI 2 port for CD, Hard drives and the
like, Video port - allowing connection to both standard and VGA monitors. The RF TV output also remains. 25 Pin Parallel port. An RS232 9-pin serial connection. A Local Area Network port, Power socket and
of course, the reset switch. On the left side, we've got the usual MIDI
ports, cartridge port and enhanced joystick connections - the same you'll find on the
Atari Jaguar. Then on the right, we have a High Density
disk drive as standard. For all you sadists out there, don't worry,
the standard 9 pin mouse and joystick ports still remain tucked away underneath the case. You'll note the fan cut-away next to it. Something you won't see on an ST. My particular Falcon also has a Screeneye
card installed, allowing for video capture, but of course, this isn't standard equipment. SO...to start with, I'll be connecting up
to an LCD VGA Monitor for the best picture quality. We get the usual Atari boot screen, and as
this one has a pre-installed IDE hard drive, we then load some drivers and boot straight
into the new MULTITOS operating system. The GEM Desktop has really taken an upgrade
this time around, and you can choose to either boot in TOS or Multi TOS mode. Early machines didn't actually have MultiTOS
built into ROM, so they needed to load it from the hard drive, assuming you had a hard
drive model. You also really need a reasonable amount of
RAM for multi-tasking. Thankfully this machine has a whopping 14MB,
which is actually it's factory limit. Interestingly, the Multitasking features of
the new OS are actually derived from an ST operating system extension called MiNT, developed
by Eric R Smith. MiNT originally stood for Mint is NOT TOS,
but Atari simply licensed the software, told the world that it now stands for MINT is Now
TOS, and provided it as an alternative Kernal to work alongside the new desktop. Like that their new OS was Multi-tasking ready. Now, we could spend all day exploring, but
let's just cover some essentials. At the moment we're running in 80 column,
256 colour mode, which gives us a resolution of 640x480. But we can slip into a true colour 40 column
mode, or even use standard ST resolutions for compability. The Falcon can cleverly drive all of these
through the VGA monitor without issue. However, if we load up a program which dynamically
switches to a resolution outside of your monitor's range, then you might get an issue. However, if I plug in a standard TV through
RF, things may be a tad more fuzzy, but switching resolutions are no longer an issue. The TV isn't a great pairing with the Falcon,
and a decent Multi-Sync monitor would be far superior, but it suffices for this example
at least. You also can't run a monitor at the same time
as TV mode, as it runs slightly different resolutions to compensate. BUT it is worth noting that we now have Overscan,
meaning the entire picture can fit the screen, doing away with the huge borders of the ST. The Falcon also has a built in speaker, so
you can hear sound when hooked up to a VGA monitor, even without external speakers. Using the ST compatible resolutions or 320x200
with 16 colours, 640x200 with 4 colours and 640x400 with 2 colours, you can see most ST
software will work absolutely fine on this beast. We can use the original Music Maker, or even
an array of games found with the ST Power Pack. BUT, this feels like a massive waste of Falcon
POWER. So, instead let's try using some features
of the DSP. That Bad Influence episode we were just watching
featured this clip of Andy recording and distorting his voice using the Falcon. I remember it clear as day. So, I thought I'd try my own version, using
exactly the same software. It's even in German. Which is understandable, given this is a German
machine. So first I'll need to record the line. That seems fine. Then I'll apply some distortions. There we go, that's one lifelong dream fulfilled. Of course, the Falcon is capable of even more
amazing feats. Check out how fast it can run Frontier: Elite
II for example. Compared to it running on an ST, you can see,
THIS is how the game was always meant to be played. Some talented folk, have also make some highly
impressive demos for the hardware. ANYWAY, let's get back to the Falcon story. Impressively, despite reeling back on their
original design, both technically and aesthetically, Atari had created something of magnitude,
offering audio, video and digital processing capabilities which knocked most competition
for 6. The areas the Falcon excelled in were also
the kind of niches where we saw ears really prick up. With eager anticipation, units starting appearing
on shelves in late 1992, alongside the predicted price-tag, starting from £499, all the way
up to £1299 for a fully kitted out hard drive model. However due to what Atari called "insurmountable
quality control issues", it wouldn't be until early 1993 that Falcon's would ship in reasonable
numbers, and with reasonable reliability. In the US, models were on sale for under $1,000,
but dealers had to be signed up with a new agreement, meaning that availability was painfully
restricted. But even as these machines appeared, Atari
were yet again talking about the launch of our old friend... A Falcon040. The left over threads from the original Falcon
project still seemed to be crawling along, complete with a shiny new case. Called the Mictobox, it was very likely a
refinement of the case they had hoped the first machine would have. It looks incredibly like a Playstation 2,
and indeed is a source of Sony's inspiration, even being mentioned in Sony's patent application. There was still even talk of a CD-ROM kitted
version making an appearance. An idea which had been floating around for
some years. Atari had been trying to get in on the multimedia
CD-ROM experience since the late 80s, with the doomed Atari CDAR-504 system designed
to plug into the ST... Atari could have led the pack in this area,
but like many of their projects, they seemed to be best at just talking about them, whilst
pouring the money down a well. In essence, this was much like they were doing
by announcing a new Falcon, immediately after their current model went on sale! I'm sure they expected it to be encouraging
for Atari owners, but in reality, it just discouraged even the few people who could
afford the Falcon from shelling out in the first place. Instead choosing to hold off a few months
for an even better machine. By this point, the Amiga 1200 had also landed,
and was kicking up a much bigger fuss, especially with it's established Amiga gaming base, eager
for those shiny AGA graphics. Of course, if pushed, the Falcon was a more
capable machine than the 1200, even for gaming, despite the squabbles; "Errr, the 1200 can display 256,000 on screen
colours from a palette of 16.7 million" "Yeah, maybe, but that's in static HAM mode. The Falcon uses 8 bits to store data for each
pixel, giving 65,536 animated on screen colours" "Errr, yeah, so? The 1200 has REAL Multitasking..." "So does the Falcon, MultiTOS is a fully pre-emptive
operating system with adaptive prioritisation and inter process communication...." but all we need to do is look back at the
STE and see the issue. Demand. If there's no demand, no games will come,
and aside from Atari's miserable marketing tactics, failing to ignite the imaginations
of gamers and their core audience, another reason for the lack of demand, was that price. People didn't want to, and indeed couldn't
fork Neo Geo comparable dosh for such a high investment risk. The Amiga 1200 on the other hand, was £100
cheaper and already had a much wider game library. That's not to say games didn't come. I remember opening up ST Format and seeing
Robinson's Requiem for the first time and being staggered. Here was an open world simulation game, with
a first person view, running on an Atari.... it wasn't an Atari I could afford, but of
course, I could dream. Wind on 25 years, and that dream is reality. Here in fact, is a brand new copy of Robinson's
Requiem, that I'm going to open, right now and play. Oh, it's on CD. I've only got a disk drive, and there we have
yet another expense, which was just unobtainable for the typical gamer of the early 90s. But let's not forget, Atari, Germany especially,
weren't even pushing this machine for the gaming market. This was a serious computer, and although
it was already carving out a niche. It wasn't a very large one, and much of it
was still occupied by it's older sister, the ST. In the UK, both Atari and it's supporters
were doing their best. Atari UK's marketing manager Darryl Still
had managed to encourage GamesMaster to feature the Falcon, and there was a possibility of
it being the Games World phone in computer for the new Sky ONE series. In fact, Atari UK seemed keen on still trying
to push the Falcon for its gaming merits, with news popping up such as a new gaming
control pad especially for the machine, similar to the Lynx in layout, but with 16 additional
programmable buttons. Of course, we all know what came to be of
that, but it's interesting to note that accessories - for now at least - were being designed with
both the Falcon and upcoming Jaguar in mind. As 1993 pressed on, Falcon news started to
die off, and for most publications, it was business as usual. The ST models were still on sale at the time,
and by April the STFM had been slashed from £249 to £159, really as a last ditch attempt
to keep the format alive. The STE following shortly after, despite price
slashing denials. Atari had hoped ST models would sell some
150,000 units by the end of the year. When quizzed about it, Commodore's UK Manager,
Kelly Sumner didn't show concern and interpreted the move as "Liquidising stock with a view
to dropping the thing altogether". It wouldn't be long before Sumner was proved
right. The Falcon continued on, sadly no 040 model
came, no new case arrived. In fact, very little really happened, by the
end of 1993, magazines were still trying to sell us the virtues of this wondrous computer,
with more advertising actually coming from 3rd party producers than Atari itself. Replacement cases were popping up, along with
CD-Drives and other accessories trying to help the system limp on. It was clear that many of these companies
either depended on Atari's survival or were just die hard fans themselves. By the end of the year, Bob Gleadow, general
manager of Atari Europe claimed some 14,000 Falcon's had been sold with around 4,000 still
in stock. This slow rate of sale did nothing to change
prices however, and base Falcon models were still priced at £499, appearing somewhat
defiant alongside their price slashed elders. But that new kid was on the block and starting
to make some serious noise - Atari themselves were expecting the Jaguar to make some serious
waves, pouring all their time, effort and indeed money into the 64-bit wonder console. Optimism was so high that Sam Tramiel, who
had taken over the Atari reigns from his father Jack confirmed they were planning a "Jaguar
Computer".. proving yet again that just when Atari Corporation were looking focused, they
were still pouring ideas and cash out quicker than a shell suit on a slide. One promising aspect were that Atari had now
jumped on the marketing bandwagon. Having neglected this crucial element of business
for years, even during the Falcon's launch, the Jaguar was now witnessing big launch events
and an even bigger marketing campaign... but marketing costs money, and unless it came
flooding back quick, the business was in serious trouble. It's with this in mind that production of
all machines, other than the Jaguar was massively stepped down. This wasn't only worrying for Atari computer
owners, it was also a kick in the face for those who forked out for a Falcon. In early 1994 Sam's words were; "We couldn't spend enough money to give the
Falcon a significant market share compared to the PC. We're continuing to make computers and we
will provide the nice markets that we're in. It was a very important decision for us...
to downsize the company, lower our risk in the computer business and put ourselves behind
the Jaguar" By the middle of 1994, the news was in. Atari's net sales for 1993 were $28.8 million,
compared to $127.3 million for 1992, although due to lower spending, their net loss was
less at $48.9 million compared to $73.6 million in 1992. To help keep the company going, Time Warner
increased their interest in the firm from 25% to 27%. With Sam remarking; "As a result of increased spending for marketing
activities and until such times as shipments of Jaguar products are made in substantial
volume, we do not expect to achieve profitability." Support for the Falcon had now been officially
pulled, and EVERYTHING was on the Jaguar's success. Users of the Falcon were left teetering. A new version of TOS had been in development,
but hadn't made it to official release, however TOS 4.04 had fixed numerous bugs in the audio
system and improved running generally. The problem was, if you hadn't upgraded to
the new version already, Atari weren't going to help you, meaning 3rd parties were again,
picking up the pieces. As the Falcon light began to dim, Surplus
stock of systems would gradually fall in price, suggesting the end of the road was near. Then in early 1995 something happened... something promising... the music company C-LAB decided to buy up
the existing Falcon stock and start shipping models themselves. An optimistic move which I clearly remember
reading about at the time. These designs came in a number of variations,
starting with the Mk1; which was essentially a standard Falcon, followed by the MkII, offering
some improvements for audio professionals, such as accepting line-in audio without the
need of a pre-amp. Finally the system ended with the Falcon Mk
X, mounted in a U Rack case with plenty of space for mounting and expansion options. C Lab weren't the only German company getting
in on existing Atari technology either. GeSoft had snapped up the TT specifications
to create an upgraded desktop called "The Eagle", offering compatibility with existing
machines but providing workstation quality graphics and audio capabilities. However, these machines were never going to
be revive the brand and send them belting into houses across the country. Instead it offered a small glimmer of hope
for Atari owners, selling a few more thousand. Curiously at around the same time the Amiga
1200 was itself being revived by Amiga Technologies, following Commodore's own problems. One can only think that if Commodore and Atari
had knitted together at the end, they might still be here today. Games and applications would still filter
through to the Falcon, even tantalising glimpses of a future that could have been, with games
such as Substation - a Doom clone, finally arriving for STE and Falcon machines. But for most Atari fans the once heralded
computer, was now a stranded ship, becoming increasingly small, in a vast sea of other
- more generic - machines embracing the multimedia age. That odd island of dedicated audio and video
professionals carried on blissfully, more than content with what their Falcons offered,
and would do for some years. But really 1995 marked the end of the line. It also meant that Unique Developments never
published their Falcon enhanced version of the brilliant Obsession pinball game. Just one of the many loses, in this story. It's a sad fate for a machine which offered
so much, and had so much potential. But as with all these commercial failures,
there were groups of people who realised how good this machine was, and really began to
put it through it's paces. As usual, it would be up to the fans and hobbyists
to pick up the slack. And trust me, there's a video there in it's
own right. The Falcon may not share a big cat name, but
it at least has the same number of lives, if not more. Thank you for watching my video on the glorious
Atari Falcon, I hope you enjoyed it. I wish to say thanks to my Patrons who contributed
voice overs to this video. You guys were absolutely fantastic. I also wish to thank my other patrons, you
guys for watching, the internet for being such a fantastic resource, and of course,
these guys on the left, for helping out in other ways. That's all I've got to say really. Have a great evening. [PUMPING MUSIC FADES OUT]
Hate to say it, but I never knew anyone who had a Falcon. They seemed to be the swan song of a dying platform. I sold my ST and bought a PC clone about then. I can’t regret doing so, as I couldn’t afford both. Yet here I am, with an eBay 1040ST over thirty years later.
I always wanted the 030 but at last, it was never sold in Malaysia. I had the 520STfm back in 1989 and still do but it was damaged due to prolonged storage. I Guess the next best thing will the 1040STe.
i remember we all got a free trail magazine in school, it was not computer specific, but it had an article of the Atari Falcon in it, with a list of the specs. It was crazy; the DSP, the gfx capabilities, etc.
My friend was just about to buy an STE, i tried to convince him to buy a Falcon instead. He almost went for it, but the guy in the Atari store told him not to!! Maybe for the better at the time, but it was a big dissapointment none the less.
I knew about it, I was at the Glendale show mentioned in the video, the price was more than I wanted to spend at the time.