8.6 Geschichte

Die Geschichte

Hasbro actually got the rights in 1998, but they didn't have any plans to re-release the Jaguar. They originally just wanted to license a couple of Atari games from JTS (the company Atari merged with in 1996) so that they could produce updated versions, much like they had done with Frogger. As talks progressed, they ultimately agreed to buy the rights to Atari and all of its game properties from JTS. That way, they could produce all of the Atari-themed games they wanted, without having to negotiate the rights every time they wanted to do another game.

In May 1999, they declared the Jaguar an "open system," meaning that anyone who wanted to create a game for it could do so, without fear of legal repercussion from Hasbro. In other words, he did not need to be an Atari licensee, and he didn't have to submit his game to Atari for approval. This led to great games being released such as Protector, Soccer Kid, HyperForce, and Skyhammer from Songbird Productions, and BattleSphere from Scatologic.

About two weeks ago, Infogrames struck a deal to purchase the Hasbro Interactive division of Hasbro. Included in the deal was the rights to Atari and all that it stands for. I don't believe Infogrames is interested in reviving the Jaguar, either, but you could still see some Atari titles released for today's popular gaming platforms (and hopefully tomorrow's platforms, too).

So, while the Jaguar hardware isn't making a comeback, it's still a cool system to own, and the new games are great. I haven't tried Soccer Kid or HyperForce myself, but I think Protector, Skyhammer, and BattleSphere are among the best games for the system. You might see some more Jaguar stuff in the future, too-Carl Forhan of Songbird Productions has already hinted at a new Jaguar development.