DurradonXylles

Ah, okay. I was under the impression that Atari and their genius PR team was in complete control over the subreddit. Thanks for setting me straight on that. Still, it's quite telling of Atari right now that any legitimate criticism or questions over their "unconsole" thrown their way get deleted, claiming that they are being attacked. I remember when DogeCoin started as a joke before becoming "legit" and then ripping off every single person who invested in it because they wanted to jump on the crypto bandwagon. The fact that these blurbs remind me of that scam already gives me bad vibes from this entire prospect (as if I needed more red flags from a "major project" by Atari SA). While I'm at it: Atari is not only late to the cryptocurrency party, they don't understand what the party's about nor how to make an entrance to it. This reads out like an Onion or Hard Times article over digital currencies, not a legitimate introduction or proposition asking people to invest in their hot new currency. My mind is blown.

That doesn't surprise me at all. I remember running across Sinden a year ago when RetroManCave did a video showing it off and talking to the creator, and being rather impressed with the solution they came up with. Long story short, the Sinden Lightgun works by emulating a mouse input, and where you point and shoot on the screen acts like you did a mouse click on the screen. It's simple and elegant in theory, and not the messiest in practice from what their demos shown. The only real caveat is that this only works in a PC environment, so this is only a solution that works for emulation or PC ports of lightgun games with mouse/custom input options. The campaign was originally supposed to deliver back in September of 2019, but the guy running it has been keeping backers updated so it appears that he underestimated how much work was needed to finish, test and deliver the lightgun to those who backed it. Considering the guy who made this tech is still testing, ironing out the bugs and working on delivering to backers eventually, I have to wonder how the lightgun tech is going to work with the Polymega and what testing is going to be done with them if any.

I honestly find this one of the more interesting developments of the IGG campaign. I imagine that multiple people have filed complaints to IGG's staff against the VCS crowdfunding page, and while they were initially written off because most of them were asking for refunds, once they start receiving complaints of every kind (and the project has been delayed countless times with no solid signs of delivery) it gives reason for concern. The censorship of backers is probably one thing that gives the site pause because it's what starts bringing the validity of the project into question if the project runners are acting as if they have something to hide. I don't know how much of an impact IndieGoGo's investigation will have, but if they find fault with it for any reason it'll truly be make or break for the TacoBox. I could easily see this turn into a ZX Vega+ situation all over again, and if that occurs we could see a lot more information of what's been happening behind the scenes at Atari go public and fast.

Couldn't get online for a few days thanks to inclement weather, and I haven't watched MVG's video all the way through yet, but it seems like this "beta test" is nothing more than early review units being sent out to influencers as some of you have said. He is downplaying the issues this console had behind-the-scenes, and the emulation issues are just sorta glossed over; I'm not expecting MVG to unnecessarily rake this device over the coals, but he has been far more critical of other retro gaming products he's looked at in the past and this is an emulation box that will cost $400 once it's available for purchase from retailers. I was hoping for more honesty and less hype from him, but once he take another look at the device once he might do an actual full review. With that said, I honestly don't get what it is with many retro gaming enthusiasts, YouTubers especially, and just jumping on the bandwagon every time there's a new device on the market that touts being able to play games, and only taking a critical look or taking a stand once the hype dies down and they realize they've been taken for a ride or said device falls far below expectations. I'm not advocating paranoia over anyone who wants to cater to retro gamers, nor am I saying anyone who takes interest in these devices are wrong simply for showing interest, but we seem quick to believe claims about devices without proof simply out of desire see it true or liking the design of the chassis. We seem to think that after Mike Kennedy and the RVGS/Chameleon debacle that no one else incompetent or of malicious intent will try to promise us the moon like they're James Stewart in It's A Wonderful Life, unless they're as grossly incompetent at hiding it like Atari with the TacoBox. I know I'm not the only one thinking this, but I just needed to put my thoughts out there over this community and how people don't want to look before they leap (or rather, not try to find the bottom of a well before tossing hundreds of dollars into it).

I just checked Twitter, and literally half an hour ago: Just as I guessed, MVG and other major names (AKA influencers) are among the first to get units. Funny that we're almost at the ETA for when the second group of beta test units were supposed to ship, but hey I'll give them the benefit of the doubt with this current time since most shipping channels are currently heavily delayed and/or slowed to a crawl. With less than a week before the general public should be able to purchase these things, what changes or fixes are they hoping to implement during this time? EDIT: just worth noting, despite the fact that Wal-Mart is the exclusive NA online retailer for the Polymega right now, there's not even a page for it on Wal-Mart's website. The Atari VCS, a continually delayed console that's almost certainly vaporware, has a page, but a console that is releasing in six days doesn't.

So it's been a month since beta testers have been picked for the Polymega, three weeks since our last "major update" (boxes and retail availability, little more), and two weeks since we've had any meaningful discussion around this thing. As of 8 hours ago, ModernVintageGamer has confirmed that he still hasn't received a unit, and just about everyone else who got accepted have seemingly said the same if they get asked. What gets me is that the day after the aforementioned big announcement, Polymega's Twitter was straight up asked what the new features they made a passing mention of are? Their response: I wish I had more to say, but what exactly is preventing Playmaji from revealing new features of the device if there are supposed to be test drivers of the device getting their units in the near future, and within the next two weeks see both brick and mortar and online retail release of the console? But, hey, what do I know; so long as they say just enough to keep the Ponzi scheme going for a little longer, people will keep buying in.

Pretty sure that was Feargal. The thing about social media and PR pages is that it's difficult to use that as means to convey that the entity in question encouraged it unless said entity actually directly did so. It would more likely prove Atari's negligence in how they handled this project more than anything. The only way he could reasonably prove that would be the IGG page, but only because of their choice censorship of comments if they didn't delete comments shittalking him. The industry hearsay does seem the most likely reason. Atari SA seems to love carrying a canister of gas with each contractor they hire just for the sake of making it easier to burn that bridge when they have a falling out. I don't understand why they would want to do so when they know that they'll get served a lawsuit for not paying what they owe these people in the first place, but Atari has shown in recent years that they are a grossly incompetent company regardless of intent.

Oh. Oh my. This couldn't have come at a more opportune time. The schadenfreude wells within me. I do have to ask though: while there does appear to be a strong case against Atari for breach of contract (you know, not paying him for months), what exactly has Atari said publicly these last six months that could constitute defamation? Everything I've seen said of Wyatt that could be seen as badmouthing came from IGG backers and AtariAge users alike, none of which AFAIK are currently employed by Atari or has stock in the company. Is there anything in the Medium articles or social media pages that could be seen as libel that I missed or didn't give a second thought to?

Kinda rich saying that we're "DELUSIONALLY INSANE" when someone is yelling at a website for criticizing a company living off of Nostalgia(TM) fumes and brand recognition, and threw several hundred dollars to said company on the promise that they'll get a Linux box, purported to have technical specifications that are weaker than the Wii U's in a when the Switch had already been around for over a year when the "preorder" campaign started and the PS4 and Xbox One were out for three times as long, that will apparently usher in the company's return to consoles. Then again... He may have a point...

I can sum it up even further, maybe piss off everyone involved in the Tacobox and those still blindly hoping to get one: ATARI FUCKING SUCKS, AND THEY THINK YOU DO TO. GOOD LUCK GETTING YOUR MONEY'S WORTH OR A REFUND OF ANY KIND, CHUCKLEFUCKS. If Atari wants to remove all pretext that they ever had any actual roadmap for the console's manufacture and release, no longer care to try to quell the angry masses they took several million dollars from, and continue to think that silencing those they took money from is a better strategy than simply staying quiet and leaving the angry comments alone, thus make it look like they got something to hide to onlookers, then I'll leave this comment here. Oh, and I'm a mentally unstable troll hired by Intellivision, who does a side hustle for the Register, to piss in backers' cornflakes as part of a smear campaign against Atari SA, and only made an AtariAge account to scream from on high how Atari was never cool despite the fact that my primary employer bought several licenses from Atari's catalog for the upcoming Amico.

Yep. I own a few homebrew 16-bit games through Steam and GOG, including Dorke and Ymp and the Kickstarter game I backed, Tanglewood. If Playmaji sets up a decent licensing scheme for the Polymega, I could see it being enticing as another avenue of profit for homebrew developers. The concern I have is whether or not Playmaji is even financially capable in setting up such licensing contracts if they are having to deliver these things in waves via Ponzi scheming as Kevtris pointed out.

Good question when you consider the fact that the homebrew wouldn't be running natively on the Polymega, they would be homebrew made for any of the consoles that it can emulate.

That's another handful of my many questions over this device; in fact we've heard little to nothing outside of it being a thing, and Bernal himself being hopeful that this will be a hit. It's clear that they want to push this storefront to be a prevalent usage of the device, but what exactly is their strategy with it? Which publishers and rights holders have they actually contacted and signed game licensing contracts for? How exactly will this work with CD-based games, since they only have HLE solutions for the PlayStation and Saturn? Will they be able to license the BIOS from SNK, Sega, Konami and others so that you can get them for free with the purchase of one of the games from their respective platforms? What games are planned for the Polymega store, if any at all? What will the cost be for each game? Will the store be available during the beta, at launch, or sometime afterwards? Remember, they confirmed on Twitter that users can load official BIOS for consoles if they want, but they cannot provide them for the obvious legal reasons. I get not being to license out the PS1's BIOS, since Sony would not be up for that period, but Sega, SNK, Konami and Atari? Seems kinda iffy that several companies that are notorious for living off of past glory and openly whore out their IPs to licencors for relatively cheap wouldn't be open to negotiating the prices for BIOS of long dead consoles that they haven't actually used in over two decades. Not to mention, as I said over a year ago, requiring the users to grab BIOS for consoles like the Mega CD and Neo Geo CD seems incredibly redundant if you got you want to stay legal and already got your hands on any of these consoles, and thus heavily detracts from the value of buying a several hundred dollar emulation machine (even if those consoles have to be repaired). More like a video game Ponzi scheme, but yeah I agree. As I said I still have many other questions over this device, but at this point we've likely already seen fools parted with their money. I'm waiting to see what MVG and other YouTubers who likely got into the first beta run will say. I am all but certain once this thing reaches retailers it's going to flop, as previous experiences with other expensive, super niche products that are confused over what audience they are catering to have shown, but again we'll see.

Here's the big update: https://www.polymega.com/2020/03/13/polymega-beta-update-retail-more/ Each part of the page with a TL;DR if you just want to skim: So two waves of beta units: an initial, smaller wave that ships out the last week in March (expected to arrive in April), and a second, larger wave that ships out toward the end of April (expected to arrive in May). Once again states that there's no NDA so info will be freely shared if and when units arrive and start being tested. Here's what the retail boxes will look like. Online retail sales for the Polymega will start April 15th. Wal-Mart is the exclusive online retailer in NA for now. Brick-n-mortars interested in carrying the console should contact the distributors mentioned above. More regions for international distribution TBA. Retail launch MSRP will be $400 for the base console with $80 per module; preorders for a cheaper price will remain open for a short time longer. @derFunkenstein mentioned that Playmaji should've mentioned the coronavirus by now. Well here it is: several facilities producing units were halted for 30-60 days to contain the virus, but are back up and working now. Regular live streams will be happening soon, and tutorials and other videos are currently in the works. CD compatibility is still in the works, with testing still being done for the various disc-based consoles they support (they have a lot of games still to test). The FAQ will be regularly updated as further updates are made with modules and hardware compatibility. I'm glad to see that they are actually buckling down and getting stuff done, at this point there shouldn't be any more delays if they are truly ready to ship out units. So assuming that they don't make an eleventh hour delay (doing one now would be disastrous for them), we'll be seeing beta units being tested by the general public quite soon. I expect MVG will make a video if and when he gets his (I suspect he'll be in the first beta run). I'm incredibly skeptical of the fact that they're going to be making retail units available right in the middle of preorder beta testing, but it seems that the video game industry right now is quite comfortable with the idea that preorders, day one purchases and early adopters are the beta testers of their games, so whatever. However, considering people are paying at least $300 for an emulation box, and consoles live and die by the first 2-4 weeks of sales and critical reception, Playmaji either has Duke Nukem styled Balls of Steel(tm), is incredibly confident in their market, or have some timed obligations to the investors who gave them money to develop the console. I'm still curious over a handful of details with the console, especially since all of the talk about HLE BIOS was only ever directed toward PS1 and Saturn emulation (all of the other footage of CD emulation captured up to now still uses official BIOS, eg the NGCD using CDZ BIOS). But we'll see.

This, except it's called a Ponzi scheme. Beat me to it. To further explain, since I take interested in multi-level marketing or social marketing companies and their dubiously legal practices, just an oversimplified explanation between Pyramids and Ponzis: Pyramid schemes are about getting five people to work under you, requiring them to collect from five people under them, who will need to collect from five people under them, and so on. Think Amway, especially before the early 2000's when they were forced to change their sales model. Ponzi Schemes is all about convincing marks to invest in your scheme with promises of a larger payout (usually a solid multiple of the requested money like five or ten times said amount), and needing to promise the same thing to more people over time, showing the first mark that you can indeed pay out that amount but can keep going if you want them to (to keep the scam going and not being forced to give the money back). Think Enron. I imagine that if the item gets cancelled, pushed back enough, or you simply request for money back at any time before they get it in stock, you can just get a refund. Otherwise, yeah, they'll be happy to take money for preorders on items featured on their site, even if they don't exist yet. If you aren't transparently a scammer, retailers like GameStop/EB Games, Wal-Mart and others won't pay much mind if you fill out the paperwork and simply promise the item will be out at sometime before the end times (likely within a more reasonable time frame than that, but they seem to openly allow for delays if recent events have shown). But with that said... Google with Stadia has done nothing to rock Nintendo, Sony or Microsoft or lend them doubt to their market share. This is after Google had allocated server farm space, pour in multiple millions of half-hearted R&D, and licensing a couple dozen AAA games. Yes, they unarguably ate dookie after launch, but their reveal and previews didn't phase the big three. Atari literally doesn't have the clout or resources to reach that, even if they were willing to pay their hardware designers. Disregarding the baseless core argument that Atari has shaken even one of the big three, Nintendo doesn't have any financial, creditable or reputable reason to respect Atari. Atari's failure in the market, dragging down of the entire market, and the reasons that lead to that ultimate failure, was turned into a teaching lesson for Nintendo and Sega. Nintendo even zagged where Atari zigged, having the NES's launch, presentation and licensing scheme be completely antithetical to Atari's practices or lack thereof. Nintendo has also existed for almost 130 years, and learned to adapt several times over during that period. Atari is only their "father", or as I assume he meant "predecessor", in the sense of being in the video game market first. That's it. Atari hasn't given them any reason to care about their questionable attempt to break back into the hardware market outside of a passing glance; honestly, Atari doesn't even seem to be taking that too seriously themselves, but that's another conversation altogether.