JDTAY

I have a PS4, but don't use it as much as I should. Not sure why, it is fun when I do play it. Somehow I guess I just expected more from it though. At this point, I still own more Vita retail titles than PS4 retail titles. >_>

Well, the community for one thing. Pandora had a legion of programmers and content creators get behind it that made sure it had all the software you could ever want. Pyra looks like it's retaining most of those guys, with over 1000 preorders already on the books and discussion at the forums being pretty lively.

Whoops, yeah, guess I used the wrong word there.

I originally found out about Ataribox and these forums from links over at the Dragonbox Pyra forums, which I've been casually following since 2015. I've noticed Pyra has been mentioned a few times at this site, but there's no thread for it yet. It's a clamshell design gaming handheld with 720p resistive touchscreen on the top half and gaming controls plus keyboard on the bottom half. It runs Debian Linux on an OMAP5 system and is completely open to the user. It's being delivered to market slowly yet surely by the guy who rescued the OpenPandora project after its original backers abandoned it. More info here: https://pyra-handheld.com/ I'm hellbent on getting one, but that European craftsmanship doesn't come cheap. Not to mention the people who supervise my finances say I need new living room furniture first. At this rate, the thing might actually be released by the time I can afford it. >_>

Well, as long as you say I'm not being a bother... More speculation! So it goes in a home entertainment center, does in fact play games, but is not meant to take on the big three. He said a success on the level of Nvidia Shield is probably what they're hoping for. Said the hardware would be a good relative value. Noting use of the word relative, I'm guessing it's cheap. Said value adds and services would be an x factor. Said those could have changed since he saw it though. Just what did he see? Maybe it really is just a cheap console. That services part still gets me though. He said it isn't necessarily an innovative device, just a good relative hardware value, presumably in relation to the service it provides. So what services are already on the market that rely on hardware that could be cheaper? I'd hate to say cable replacement box like Roku, because those are already really cheap, and some even play games too, just like Ataribox presumably will. But then again, what if Atari managed to snag exclusive content? That sounds too expensive for them though. Hmmmm...

Shoot, I really do need to find something else to do besides talk about Ataribox. I think I've pushed Bill to the edge. Gotta remember that people besides me actually have lives. >_> Like I said before, I have a condition that makes me obsess over certain things at times. It can be rough on those around me. I apologize if I've become annoying.

I had another thought noone's mentioned yet, I believe. Does the value add in question have to with productivity? I think I heard about Atari maybe getting into quality of life products somewhere. Maybe this thing gamifies productivity like some apps do, only in a more advanced way that only a console with controllers is capable of? I was thinking maybe edutainment too, but I think Bill shot that down somewhere.

Well, maybe if Atari makes a profit off of whatever this thing is, it could lead to larger things down the road. ...Bill's right, I'm emotionally invested. :-(

Just noticed an interesting line in this article. https://www.extremetech.com/gaming/251142-atari-manufacturing-first-console-decades-heck In 2014, the company announced that it would expand into growing markets that focused on the LGBT community, “social casinos, real-money gambling, and YouTube.” Seeing as they've already done two and three, I'm now thinking the value add Bill mentioned for this console could either be a cheap streaming to internet setup for YouTube and the like, because he did say the only streaming he ruled out was game streaming to the user, or possibly a gay matchmaking service. Not sure how I'd feel about the latter. I guess I'd try anything once. >_>

"carefully announce" If this is what passes for careful, I wonder what happens when they start to get reckless.

The more, the merrier, I say. To sum up what we know from talking to Bill: It is a new platform, not some type of Flashback. However, it is a niche device, not meant to compete with the big three directly. It's not necessarily an innovative device. Its hardware value will probably be its biggest market differentiator. It does, however, have value adds and services that are meant to be a selling point. And finally, it's not necessarily targeted at us old codger Atari fans. Just enough info that we still know nothing at all...

I first learned of Ataribox on the 10th and got my cookie cutter developer response email from the Ataribox guys on June 12th. It is now the 20th. Been quite the few days. I know Bill said that it being PC-based was all we need to know for now, but I still wanna know if development will be open and also exactly what type of games this thing plays, so I can distract myself from the forums by thinking about what I might program for this.

Hmmm, I've been seeing a couple articles recently about Atari partnering with Tapjoy to provide them with advertisements​ for F2P players to watch in order to get in-game rewards. Gives me another guess... This won't be an entirely F2P console, will it? That's what Ouya's initial pitch was, but they ended up being unable to attract many F2P developers. That might be what Bill meant when he said it's not targeted at us...

Oh man, I have more speculation. Someone really should stage an intervention for me. But anyway, in another thread, someone very early on mentioned a possible partnership between Atari and FlashZero, a company that develops artificial intelligence. Someone later guessed in this thread that the Ataribox might use artificial intelligence and joked that Ataribox would play with itself. That was a couple pages before Bill said some guesses have been pretty close. I wonder, does Ataribox have a service that provides learning AI opponents for multiplayer games?

Well, I've had about ten possibilities shot down so far. Only about eight thousand to go before I solve the Ataribox mystery by process of elimination. Only problem is, I don't see Bill putting up with me for that long. Darnit, Atari, just spill the beans already and end both the suffering of me and those around me.

Would buy.

Value adds... Services... My mind is still swirling. If this thing goes in a home entertainment center, but the services don't involve streaming, just what the heck are they? Bill said that this isn't necessarily an innovative device and that the hardware value they were offering was probably gonna be its biggest market differentiator. I have a dumb question... Does this thing include 3D printing? Sigfox's talk of a new dimension of gaming had me thinking about that. Is this a service for downloading physical games, like card and board?

In the year twenty-twenty, if Man's population is still plenty, we'll be doing something rather good, playing a console made with faux wood.

Not sure whether you're humoring me or I just got a minor clue as to what this is, but either way, yaaay.

SOS

Hey, if it's not targeted at us, does that mean it's not targeted at me? I mean, I already know the answer, I'm just spending a few minutes in denial here for my own sanity. >_>

Ouch, that Tanooki post just did all sorts of not good things to my hype. I think I'll at least wait to see what the thing is before letting my hype die completely though. I mean, this is probably my condition talking, but I want to see Atari succeed, even if it's not the real Atari or whatever. I want a device to make me happy.

One step forward, two steps back. Looks like the only way for me to get to the bottom of this mystery is to just be patient like everyone else. Man, that is not my strong suit. :-(

Gamers just aren't traditionally modest people. We like to brag about our hardware, whatever it is. That said, I really don't mind an Ouya 2.0 if it has the right games behind it and a controller that actually works.