Paul Slocum

Your forgot Asteroids Outpost

I like how they deleted this guy's questions twice before finally just answering him.

It could potentially happen if there's a mismatch of frame rates between the emulator and video subsystem. Maybe the monitor at the demo event is syncing at a different refresh rate than the monitor in the lab. Although obviously the final version of the AtariVCS software should automatically adjust to any refresh rate.

Yikes, Antstream running on Windows, no joystick controller, and it sounds like the Atari Vault games are running too fast:

My guess would be (A) there are issues with the Linux audio/video drivers for Atari's computer board, and/or (B) that Atari approached Antstream late in the game and didn't pay them anything up front, and therefore Antstream is not willing to bust ass to meet Atari's deadlines on top of their own.

The ROI seems a little questionable, but Antstream does have an Ubuntu version on their website, and they only have to port the thin client since all emulation is done server-side.

But do they really fully reboot the computer to Windows when you choose Antstream from the menu? It almost seems more likely that their menu software is able to force the hiding of the Windows system tray, but after they launch Antstream it no longer forces the system tray to be hidden and it sometimes pops up.

Or the entire demo is running under Windows? EDIT: I noticed that image isn't actually from Atari. It's from someone else's Twitter and Atari's account retweeted it.

It's copied from Atari's Facebook post: BTW: I noticed Atari deleted this Facebook comment thread after responding for some reason:

It looks like it's free. Anybody in NY willing to go and try the tacos?

They responded on Reddit. Kinda sounds like they're about to procrastinate further by announcing that they'll be showing it at video game conventions. This is the article they linked: https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-02-21-covid-19-looms-over-planning-for-next-gen-launches

That was me, and also "E.T.". They actually finally refunded my $2 today.

Considering that they still haven't even officially started the production phase of the project, I'd guess June at the earliest. Although, if they know they'll deliver in the next quarter then it's kind of baffling as to why they don't just go ahead and switch the Indiegogo project to "production" status now to make people feel better. They claim to be working on production-related tasks, so it's odd that they're still listing it in prototype status. They've posted update after update without ever changing the project status even though they keep claiming to be about ready to finish production and deliver.

If Atari had actually been on schedule, then manufacturing for backers should have been finished before the virus-related delays. The units were supposed to be delivered right now ("weeks not months") so they should have been on a transport boat before the delays became an issue. Spectrum ZX Next is delivering to backers literally right now in spite of the virus and previous delays.

Looks like Atari finally noticed that I just contributed the minimum $2 to be able to post on IGG comments as a "backer": I felt conflicted about it, but I figured the paperwork to receive the extra $1.60 or whatever would cost Atari more than it's worth. For the $2 you also get email updates on this ongoing disaster, which is nice. Still seems pretty lame to just delete all my comments, I did pay 2 bucks. EDIT: Update, just got the email:

For some reason Atari deleted this comment of mine on IGG:

"still this spring" Looks like another delay announcement is imminent:

I have a bad feeling about all of this.

They've now effectively missed deadlines 3 times since they're obviously not going to deliver in "weeks not months". Original delivery date was July 2019, then Dec 2019, then mid February 2020 ("weeks not months") and now they're saying March but it's looking like they won't make that either, which will be FOUR delays.

I can't see it either, although I doubt there's much real information other than that ridiculous rendering.

FYI: https://fortune.com/2020/01/26/atari-hotel-vcs-new-console/

For me the ideal modernized emulation system would be one that has perfect CRT simulation capable of running at 4K, which could look really nice if done well. CRTs are getting harder to acquire and maintain.

Ouya's Kickstarter campaign sold 6X as many consoles as the Atari VCS, and their most prominently featured game sold 2000 copies at $15. And Ouya wasn't an open platform where you could just install Windows or Retropie to play whatever you want. Probably many people won't even use the AtariVCS store, which I'm sure will quickly be shut down when game sales demonstrate that it's not worth keeping online. It's not worth my time, and I don't want to associate myself with that terrible company. I've sold way more Atari 2600 Synthcarts on Atariage for $25 than I ever would on the AtariVCS platform for $1. And neither of my releases would be playable on the AtariVCS anyway with their controllers.

Then again, maybe "Atari" fans are stupid enough that this could actually work!

I've watched pretty much every AtariVCS related video because this project is like watching a train wreck, but that's the one video I skipped because just the first 30 seconds were too cringey for me.