In Germany, where the Atari ST was very popular (much more than the Mac, because Macs in Germany were very expensive, with no special offers to students), there was a huge market for hardware add-ons and software for the ST. For instance, you could buy various 68020 or 68030 CPU boards to install in the ST models (http://www.wrsonline.de/pak3.html). So, no need to buy an expensive TT to get more performance. And then, of course, eventually there was MagiC!Mac, a program for Macs that came with a custom TOS-rewrite, letting you run "clean" Atari ST programs on a Mac, at much higher speeds on the ever-improving 68k and PPC Macs :)
You've mentioned the 2600 & 7800 but what were your thoughts on the XE Game System?
Atari claimed toy stores didn't want home computers anymore so they redesigned the 65XE to be a video game console that "can" become a full fledge computer. I rememebered it only benefited existing 8-bit owners looking for new software, but as a game system it couldn't compete against the NES (or the 7800).
In Germany, where the Atari ST was very popular (much more than the Mac, because Macs in Germany were very expensive, with no special offers to students), there was a huge market for hardware add-ons and software for the ST. For instance, you could buy various 68020 or 68030 CPU boards to install in the ST models (http://www.wrsonline.de/pak3.html). So, no need to buy an expensive TT to get more performance. And then, of course, eventually there was MagiC!Mac, a program for Macs that came with a custom TOS-rewrite, letting you run "clean" Atari ST programs on a Mac, at much higher speeds on the ever-improving 68k and PPC Macs :)
You've mentioned the 2600 & 7800 but what were your thoughts on the XE Game System?
Atari claimed toy stores didn't want home computers anymore so they redesigned the 65XE to be a video game console that "can" become a full fledge computer. I rememebered it only benefited existing 8-bit owners looking for new software, but as a game system it couldn't compete against the NES (or the 7800).