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Matt_B

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Posts posted by Matt_B

  1. Posted

    Just now, orange808 said:

    Off topic, but do you stream 4k? 

     

    Seems expensive to me.  Maybe I'm just old, but I throttle back to 720p (similar to bluray).  There's too many people using too many devices in my house to waste bandwidth on 4k.  Even if the kids try to get slick, they get throttled at the router.

     

    The finicky 5GHz bands don't have great range and even the Xmas lights degrade the signal.  Anything mobile or away from the router is 2.4hz; there's a lot of strain on the 2.4 GHz bands, not to mention:  no ISP in my area offers truly unlimited bandwidth.

    Yes, I stream in 4K. Technically it's 'up to 4K' as you get what Netflix, etc. give you - and that's rarely going to be better than Bluray - but I've got the bandwidth and unlimited data, so why not?

     

    The TV and router are mounted on opposite sides of the same wall, so I could slip a cable through if need be, but the WiFi is good enough at 5GHz so I've yet to bother.

    • Like 2

  2. Posted

    1 hour ago, Shaggy the Atarian said:

    Oh lighten up. You're acting like this isn't an open forum and you and anyone else are incapable of contributing whatever it is you think is "worthwhile" on Atari's efforts. If we're wrong, then it should be pretty easy to prove it so. If you can't, then don't blame us for pointing out Atari's incompetence, blame Atari. Mockduck has frequently posted positive news about it, and I posted a very helpful bullet list of reasons to buy it a couple of pages ago (yes with some tongue-in-cheek reasons, but that's because I like to have fun, being serious all the time is boring). 

     

    If your definition of "informative" is slobbering all over Atari's knob, then it's not hard to find that out there. I mean, I think this is stupid clickbait, but maybe you feel otherwise, or there's the VCS Fan Facebook group. Just tread carefully, as any wrongthink over there or questions against the mighty, holy and perfect Atari will get you banned.  

     

    So let's get serious and informative, since you defenders/true believers never can seem to do the job (you're at full liberty to tell us why we're wrong, but every time I issue the challenge, the white knights chicken out, so I'll do it myself): 

     

    Real reasons to buy an Atari VCS:

     

    1) It's an Atari hardware product that isn't the Flashback, their first real console since the Jaguar and first PC since the Falcon. This seems to be good enough for a few thousand people, so ok. 

    2) It has a CX-40 joystick available for it (extra charge, I think most hope that this is sturdy and will be cool)

    3) It has an Xbox One like controller for it

    4) It allows you to install your own OS (extra charge for required external storage and Windows license)

    5) It comes with the Atari Mega Vault of 100 games

    6) It mines cryptocurrency while you play

    7) It must be online at all times

    8 ) It will feature some online game streaming services such as Antstream, AirConsole, Game Jolt & Ultra (additional monthly charges apply for each service)

    9) You can install emulators on it like any other PC/Pi device

    10) It does not have any physical media port, is a fully digital console

    11) You can upgrade the on-board storage and RAM (extra cost)

    12) Games announced for this: Missile Command Recharged, Neko Ghost Jump!, Guntech, Unsung Warriors, the ghost platformer game, Sigi, Sir Lovelot, Plutonium Pirates, Bobby Bombtastic (Not aware of any of these being exclusive to the console; the last four games are all variations of the same basic game)

    13) You can install Linux games on it (with only 32GB of storage though, you'll need external storage pretty fast)

    14) Comes in different model options for different budgets, but for proper control, you're starting at around $300 since you don't get a controller for the base price.   

    15) Atari claimed that there would be Jaguar games on it at one point, but they have not shown any Jaguar emulator nor made any announcements on Jag games for it at this point

    16) Plays 4K video, but no demonstration of this capability has been shown of this (that I know of); No native Netflix or Amazon Prime app has been announced or shown for it

     

    I thought that ghost Shinobi-like game posted about it looks interesting, but I also don't drop my pants for something just because it has with an Atari logo on it. If you do, then that's your prerogative, I just don't get it. An Atari logo on something isn't a good enough reason to me and a lot of the "haters" for spending $400+ on an entertainment product (which is what you'd need to do to get the full experience out of it all), when there are many, many options out there for gaming these days at around the same price or better and I can already get all of these games on Steam on my far-more-powerful gaming PC if I like them. As it is, none of the list above convinces me to purchase a VCS. 

     

    If I'm wrong and just a hater, then by all means, tell me why I'm wrong.

    Hate? Naah, it's just tough love. 😀

     

    Here are my takes:

     

    1 - It's not really any more an Atari product than the Flashback. Nobody at Atari knows how to create hardware and software, so it's all farmed out to external consultants. The basic idea came from a guy who had to sue them to get paid and the funding came from backers who've been left waiting for 18 months past the delivery date. All Atari brought was their brand, plus a heck of a lot of delays and confusion.

    2 - CX-40 Joysticks can be used with most modern systems for appropriate games with an adapter.

    3 - Ditto for Xbox 1 controllers.

    4 - Or you could buy a PC that lets you do this for considerably less. I hear HP laptops start at $169 these days.

    5 - $3 in the recent Steam sale. Just saying.

    6 - As if that dual core CPU isn't already going to get overly taxed attempting to play modern games.

    7 - Par for the course these days. Even Switch games on cartridge tend to get a day one patch without which they're barely playable.

    8 - Basically, nothing your phone couldn't do.

    9 - Only after you've installed your own OS.

    10 - There are USB ports you could use to access external media, once you install your own OS of course.

    11 - Yeah, but you can't put your own OS on the internal storage, at least not until someone hacks it.

    12 - There is one exclusive VCS game. I.e. getting Atari to finally ship the thing.

    13 - Don't think you get root access, so you'd probably need to install your own OS to play anything not from Atari's Store. Well, at least until it's hacked.

    14 - They're going to be gathering dust anyway after three months, so I guess the $200 paperweight edition make some kind of sense that way.

    15 - I think they only claimed you could install an emulator if you put your own OS on it. Might as well just cut out the middleman, put stock Ubuntu on it and unlock the bootloader...

    16 - Even potato PCs can do 4K Netflix these days. This would have to be real bad if it couldn't.

     

    • Like 3

  3. Posted

    5 hours ago, Bill Loguidice said:

    I'm not as much of a fan of the design as others are (it's a flat, lined, wide box), but I agree that it would likely make for some additional sales in the Pi market. Atari already licensed out its IP for some Pi-based products, so this is the next logical step to extract a little more revenue after the VCS is no longer a thing. Depending upon how well it actually works, they might have decent sales of the joystick too, which was clearly the recipient of the most positive buzz thus far.

    The original design of the case was nicer. They just had the problem that you couldn't fit anything inside it.

     

    Basically, they made a paperweight and tried to sell it as a console. 😀

    • Like 2
    • Haha 3

  6. Posted

    1 hour ago, 6502wrangler said:

     

    I was a rabid defender of the Lynx back in the day. But the thing is, these folks are rabid defenders of a platform that doesn't exist. It's kind of strange. I'm not sure I fully understand the thought process. I mean, who are these folks who actually think Atari Token is a good idea? How can yet another distracting cash grab be anything but a negative for the quality of the VCS? And yet these guys seem so cult-like in their devotion to Atari SA, and actually think the Hotels are going to happen.

    The Lynx was a cutting edge platform for its time though. No handheld even came close to what it could do until the, much bulkier, Sega Nomad came out several years later. The GameBoy was generally a better machine to have on account of its vast games library, small size and really good battery life, but the Lynx certainly held a niche.

     

    The Jaguar too was at least a vaguely competitive platform for a year or so until the PlayStation came out. You can look back at games like Tempest 2000 and Rayman as classics for their time even if the machine was always doomed to be a commercial failure.

     

    The VCS just looks over a generation behind machines that it's selling at more or less the same price as. $389 for it versus $299 for a Series S or $399 for a PS5 Digital - not that any of them are in stock at the moment - is just no contest.

    • Like 9

  8. Posted

    16 hours ago, AlecRob said:

    Fingers crossed.  It will be nice to finally see how the VCS performs in the real world.  

    Is there really much doubt? It's got the specs of a $200 laptop and we already know how well they perform.

     

    About the only way it could surprise us is if it's somehow even worse than that. Perhaps there's some bottleneck in the architecture somewhere that'll make it even slower than expected? Maybe they've stuffed up the cooling and it throttles? Maybe the power supplies are too fragile and you can't leave it on for any length of time without them overheating? When they've had an eighteen month overrun just to get the thing made, there's probably not been too much of that time dedicated to making sure that the engineering is rock solid, so I'd guess that anything is possible.

     

     

    • Like 5

  10. Posted

    Just now, 6502wrangler said:

    No. You will need an external drive to install Windows. Crazy but that's the brakes. 

    Well, at least you will until someone hacks it.

     

    If even the likes of Nintendo and Sony can't keep their consoles secure, it'd be something of a turn up if Atari could.

    • Like 1

  11. Posted

    7 hours ago, Agillig said:

    Well, I was trying to be nice.  The online store is quite the paradox.  If the VCS is just a PC like its supporters claim, why would anyone waste time making a VCS specific version of a game when a potential buyer could just get it from the Steam store?

     

    I'm really trying to be nice, since I know people are getting excited about this thing, and there's really not much to be excited about lately.   But good grief, it's like Atari didn't think through a lot of their design decisions, and the final product is just a Frankenstein monster with bits and pieces of ideas that don't really fit together. All IMO, of course. 

    It's basically a bait and switch exercise.

     

    Whenever anyone calls it a console and how awful it is in comparison to other consoles, it's not a console.

     

    However, there's zero revenue to be extracted after you've sold a PC, so it's got to have its own locked-down OS with an online store and a bunch of subscription-based services. It's not really a PC either, at least it isn't until you add an external drive and install your own OS.


    They've then got the chutzpah to call it the "best of consoles and PC" when it's really more like the worst.

    • Like 6

  13. Posted

    Just now, AlecRob said:

    Does the VCS not have any potential as a platform for mainly third party games, kind of like the PS1?  Development and publishing costs on VCS are extremely low.   Isnt that a positive aspect of the VCS?

    The problem is, at base level, it's just a rather low-spec Linux PC with a user base of maybe 10,000 or so.

     

    Sure, the barrier to publishing on the VCS is low, but it's not like the barrier to getting a game on Steam is particularly high and that gets you a potential market of 90 million. Then there are all the other online stores: Microsoft, GoG, Origin, Epic, Uplay, Humble, Green Man. They've all got considerably bigger markets than the VCS is likely to have, and some of them will pay good money for exclusive deals too.

     

    Unless you're an obscure indie dev with no track record - who'd just get crowded out on Steam or any of the more established platforms - there's little incentive in putting your games on the VCS, and even less for making them exclusive.

     

     

    • Like 6

  15. Posted

    Yeah, it's not like there hasn't been a lot of discussion along the lines of:

     

    1. The lack of value compared to current and next generation consoles, low-end laptops, existing mini PCs, etc.

    2. The GPU is too weak for most modern games. Sure, you can play games designed to run on potato PCs at the lowest settings, such as Fortnite (at least if you stick Windows on an external drive and increase the RAM,) but it's going to be single digits for the truly demanding ones.

    3. There are no exclusive games, and very few confirmed games at all beyond Atari Vault and Antstream.

    4. How well will it hold up to heavy use? Can it handle running at full power for long without overheating and throttling? How robust are the controllers? Is the (presumably cheap and generic) external PSU up to the job?

    5. How straightforward is installing your own copy of Linux to the sandbox going to be? Will it work straight away with off the shelf distros? Will Atari support approved distros or are you on your own?

     

    Shipping it isn't going to make those things go away. It's just going to bring them to the fore.

    • Like 9
    • Thanks 1

  16. Posted

    On the other hand, the more of a failure that it is, the more the units will be worth in the long run. The absolute worst thing that could happen for speculators is for Atari to run off a few hundred thousand of them that end up having to be sold off at a huge discount because nobody's biting at $400.

  19. Posted

    3 hours ago, Shaggy the Atarian said:

    Well, sounds like the saga of the Mega Atari Vault game machine being on the market will begin soon. Execs at Sony and Microsoft are surely sweating bullets.

     

    Has Jeff Minter said that he's completed Tempest 4000 for it yet, or is the check still "in the mail" on that one? Any other devs other than that one guy say that they got a unit?

    Speaking of Tempest 4000, it's 75% off in the Steam sale.

     

    Vault, Rollercoaster Tycoon Classic and Missile Command are also discounted.

     

    That wraps up my summary of worthwhile Atari products for the year. 😀

    • Like 5

  20. Posted

    10 minutes ago, Mockduck said:

    Atari has launched their VCS Companion App available at least for Google Play, which will let you control the VCS from your phone. Could be pretty cool maybe. I don't have an iOS device nor did a quick search for "VCS Companion App iOS" return a result, so...dunno. Lemme know if you see it. The Google Play store lists a publication date of November 13th, 2020, although today is the first I've heard of it.

    Do the remote controls include an option to get it out of the warehouse and into a post office?

    • Like 1
    • Haha 17

  21. Posted

    Yeah, the Switch never sold itself on raw power. It's barely OK as a TV console, even; the selling point is that you can pick it up, take it with you and keep playing your game. Also, with an install base of 60 million it's an attractive platform to make games for.

     

    The machines you probably should be comparing the VCS against, i.e. the next generation consoles in the same price bracket that just came out, would both absolutely beat it to a bloody pulp. Benchmarks might not be out yet, but when they're packing around twenty times more compute power it's a foregone conclusion. Except in a few contrived scenarios, e.g. games that bottleneck on a single CPU thread, the VCS probably couldn't even come close to the Xbox One and PS4.

    • Like 2
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