New Atari Console that Ataribox?

[tschak909]

Who is this delusional knobhead?

 

-Thom

[Pink]

You know you goofed up bad when I find these Wells Fargo apology "Founded in 1858, Re-established in 2018" ads less annoying then the Atari VCS ads I keep getting on Youtube videos.

[godslabrat]

I'm sure Albert will be happy to post some front-page news about the Ataribox.

 

Just as soon as it actually exists.

 

Right now, it would just be a photo of nothing with the headline, "Nope."

It sounds to me like Ataribox SE is asking us to link to this thread from the home page.

[+Nathan Strum]

It sounds to me like Ataribox SE is asking us to link to this thread from the home page.

With a big picture of a taco.

[toiletunes]

Not much of a taco, but still more real than that atarivcsbox

Edited June 13, 2018 by toiletunes

[Shinto]

To be perfectly honest, I had been tentatively considering support of the Atari VCS on Indiegogo, for a few reasons:

1. I own literally dozens of Linux-compatible indie games, from Humble Bundle and Steam and GOG purchases over the years, and would like to play those from the couch on our big TV
2. $200 for a system with those specs isn't bad. The A10-9630P would do a better job at PC gaming than any other computer I currently own (well, that's also small enough to put in the family room).
3. The black case looks kinda neat
4. Atari fuji logos everywhere!

 

But some harsh realities have steadied my Get-This-Perk-clicking finger:

1. Thus far, the only thing Atari SA has demonstrated they can make is a neat-looking case. Well, big promises, too, if that counts.
2. Speaking of the case, how will they sufficiently cool a 35W TDP APU inside it? Officially, they say "thermal design is currently in process" but I would hope they had figured this out already. It's pretty important, and could result in significant design changes before release, but after the fundraising (and refund) deadline.
3. A year from now when the VCS is scheduled for release, $200 will likely buy better hardware
4. If I wanted to spend $200 to play PC games on my TV, I could get an NVidia Shield TV today and use GameStream from my desktop. The Shield has other benefits over the VCS, too, like a better Amazon/Hulu/Vudu streaming experience, and the ability to play Android games natively. Humble Bundles have given me no shortage of Android games on the cheap. Also, that $200 price includes controllers. And shipping.
5. For far less than $200, I can stream games from my desktop PC using a Raspberry Pi running Moonlight. I got the basics working already, but it would definitely need some more tinkering.
6. There are so many other red flags with the Atari VCS campaign, no number of fuji logos can hide them all

 

Atari is awesome and passionate about bringing back the brand, guys: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/276504-jaguar-t-shirts-on-redbubble/?p=4047565

 

Atari SA's RedBubble Rampage linked above, though, has firmly tipped the scales against my backing the VCS. It's hard to build goodwill and brand loyalty when you throw lawyers at some of your biggest fans. Maybe I was in the wrong with my artwork, but either way, the whole episode left a sour taste in my mouth, and I'm disinclined to give these people any money.

 

The more I think about the VCS, though, the riskier it sounds, so maybe I should thank them for shutting down my RedBubble store.

[tschak909]

I _love_ Jack in the Crack tacos...

 

-Thom

[CommanderGrimm]

Just heard from the Atgames 2018 thread that it looks like product announcements are delayed till August. I wonder if that has to do with the "VCS"? Another interesting thing is that it sounds like the least expensive item in the lineup will be around $20 dollars. Makes me wonder how well the Atgames stuff will compete against Atari SA's VCS.

[haightc]

I personally backed the all-in bundle. I am skeptical but hope for the best, I would love to see the brand come back. Honestly though, I will be likely happy if it comes out at all.

[CPUWIZ]

I can't believe that someone from "Atari" would use the word "Vader", to describe the black 2600.

[racerx]

I can't believe that someone from "Atari" would use the word "Vader", to describe the black 2600.

If there was any justice in the world Lucasfilm would hit 'em with a C&D.

[Inky]

Atari is awesome and passionate about bringing back the brand, guys: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/276504-jaguar-t-shirts-on-redbubble/?p=4047565

 

 

 

 

Atari SA's RedBubble Rampage linked above, though, has firmly tipped the scales against my backing the VCS. It's hard to build goodwill and brand loyalty when you throw lawyers at some of your biggest fans. Maybe I was in the wrong with my artwork, but either way, the whole episode left a sour taste in my mouth, and I'm disinclined to give these people any money.

 

The more I think about the VCS, though, the riskier it sounds, so maybe I should thank them for shutting down my RedBubble store.

 

Paraphrasing something I am wont to say on my podcast from time to time...

 

 

 

Screw them in the ass with a chainsaw!

Edited June 13, 2018 by Inky

[AtariLeaf]

I personally backed the all-in bundle. I am skeptical but hope for the best, I would love to see the brand come back. Honestly though, I will be likely happy if it comes out at all.

 

Sounds like Atari is setting the bar really low when this is the best possible outcome the backers can hope for.

[jaybird3rd]

Here's Pat and Ian's latest on the "Atari VCS":

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFNI_9IQo5o

 

I think that Ian has succeeded here in cracking the mystery of the "Atari VCS." He describes it a "slightly functional piece of art" for nostalgia fetishists, one which will spend most of its life looking pretty while sitting on a shelf. It really belongs in a totally different category of merchandise than a serious attempt at a modern game console.

 

Reframing the "Atari VCS" that way actually explains a lot. We've been trying to convince people of all the reasons why it is a bad console, and so far those arguments have fallen on deaf ears, but now it's perfectly obvious why: the backers don't really want another console, and they don't even perceive it primarily as a console. I think one could extend Ian's premise and say that the whole idea of a modern reincarnation of "Atari," participating in today's console market and competing with the "big boys," is itself more of a piece of performance art than a serious business proposal.

 

Maybe that whole experience is what the backers are really buying into. It's like a carefully-crafted, nostalgia-driven movie, playing in the theater of their minds ... and the "Atari VCS" is their ticket. Maybe that's why they're willing to pony up so much money for their limited-edition preorders, even though they haven't actually seen anything yet but the case and the controllers and the (demonstrably fake) demo videos. For them, the primary source of enjoyment is their perception of what the "Atari VCS" is and of who is behind it, much more than anything this system will actually do. So, if you want to visualize how the Indiegogo backers will be enjoying their investment, just imagine them sitting on their living room sofa, looking at their idle "Atari VCS" while smiling quietly to themselves, lost in their inner theater.

[pacman000]

So, you are saying that Atari "left the market" (which equals out of the gaming business) and "they completely ran out of money" (i.e. bankrupt). Sorry, but you proved my point instead of countering it.

No, I'm saying they left the market before running out of money; you left out the key word.

 

Leaving the market is not same as going bankrupt. Atari Corp did not file for chapter 11 or chapter 7, nor were they forced to by their creditors. They were in trouble, but they found a way out. I'm sure their investors were disappointed when they merged with JTS; I'm sure their employees were saddened to loose a job they'd given their life to, but merging gave their investors some return & their employees got a final check. In bankruptcy those wouldn'tve been guaranteed.

 

I respect the way Atari Corp left the market. I hate that it happened, but it was better than bankruptcy.

 

I don't want to invest in the new Atari, but I cannot sit by & let a false claim besmirch the old company; they did not go bankrupt.

 

(Hopefully this isn't too strongly worded. I know the emphasis was on an investor's view; what they'd think of the company. I just find bankruptcy a really bad end for a company; worse than simply shutting down. It irritates me for someone to say Atari went bankrupt when they didn't until the Infogrames took on the name. Peace to you. )

[+frankodragon]

I think the AtariVCS ads would be intentionally be produced by those same nitwits that made those awful Farmers Only dot com commercials. (*puke*)

[jaybird3rd]

Atari Corp did not file for chapter 11 or chapter 7, nor were they forced to by their creditors. They were in trouble, but they found a way out. I'm sure their investors were disappointed when they merged with JTS; I'm sure their employees were saddened to loose a job they'd given their life to, but merging gave their investors some return & their employees got a final check. In bankruptcy those wouldn'tve been guaranteed.

 

I respect the way Atari Corp left the market. I hate that it happened, but it was better than bankruptcy.

This reminds me of one of the saddest passages from Don Thomas's ICWhen.com:

 

On Tuesday, July 30, 1996, Atari Corporation hosts a special meeting of stockholders in the offices of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, P.C. in Palo Alto, California. The meeting, said to have taken about four to six minutes formally, was to vote on the merger between Atari Corporation and JTS Corporation. With an outcome of approximately 42 million votes in favor and about 11,000 against, the stockholders ratify the decision. Trading of ATC shares are halted at the end of the day. Upon the conclusion of the meeting, Mr. Sam Tramiel arranges to pick up the severance checks for himself and his siblings. Mr. Jack Tramiel, former chief executive officer (CEO) of Atari Corporation, remains to assist with a smooth transition with the handful of Atari personnel that survive. On Wednesday, July 31, JTS Corporation is a public company trading shares with the symbol of JTS. What was Atari Corporation on the previous day is now a division of a few people employed by JTS.

I found his entire 1996 "chapter" to be bittersweet reading: he chronicles the rise of the Internet that summer, with exciting new companies and technologies and products sprouting up all over ... and then there's poor Atari, slowly dying on the vine, downsizing and laying off and eventually "reverse-merging" with JTS. Those of us who were Atari fans at the time knew that it was the end of an era. Sad times indeed. It only makes the current company masquerading as "Atari" all the more offensive.

[pacman000]

I've read the letter/essay he wrote upon Atari Corp's closure. Really, really sad stuff.

[Osgeld]

Here's Pat and Ian's latest on the "Atari VCS":

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFNI_9IQo5o

 

I think that Ian has succeeded here in cracking the mystery of the "Atari VCS." He describes it a "slightly functional piece of art" for nostalgia fetishists, one which will spend most of its life looking pretty while sitting on a shelf. It really belongs in a totally different category of merchandise than a serious attempt at a modern game console.

 

Reframing the "Atari VCS" that way actually explains a lot. We've been trying to convince people of all the reasons why it is a bad console, and so far those arguments have fallen on deaf ears, but now it's perfectly obvious why: the backers don't really want another console, and they don't even perceive it primarily as a console. I think one could extend Ian's premise and say that the whole idea of a modern reincarnation of "Atari," participating in today's console market and competing with the "big boys," is itself more of a piece of performance art than a serious business proposal.

 

Maybe that whole experience is what the backers are really buying into. It's like a carefully-crafted nostalgic movie, playing in the theater of their minds, and the "Atari VCS" is their ticket. Maybe that's why they're willing to pony up so much money for their limited-edition preorders, even though they haven't actually seen anything yet but the case and the controllers and the (demonstrably fake) demo videos. For them, the primary source of enjoyment is their perception of what the "Atari VCS" is and of who is behind it, much more than anything this system will actually do. So, if you want to visualize how the Indiegogo backers will be enjoying their investment, just imagine them sitting on their living room sofa, looking at their idle "Atari VCS" while smiling quietly to themselves, lost in their inner theater.

 

 

thank you, you saved me 20 min of listening to these two chuckle heads talk and not really saying anything

[Skippy B. Coyote]

Nutari being jerks once again:

 

https://youtu.be/xsHZ5NwY39E

[Atari PAC-MAN Fan]

I think the Atari "VCS" controller's D-pad just might be the the worst D-pad ever made. Looks like its gonna be worse than the 360's D-pad.

 

Would you agree?

[pacman000]

What about the Hartung Game Master?

[Atari PAC-MAN Fan]

What about the Hartung Game Master?

 

I just googled a picture. It looks like just another Game.com

 

Except even worse!

[pacman000]

Screen's about the same resolution as a TI89 calculator.

[+D Train]

On the magazine topic. I LOVE MAGAZINES, I have a mint collection of Starlog right next to me, but c'mon .. that's a dead format.

 

I used to love starlog in the late 70s early 80s! FTW!