Tavi

Bethesda has produced some amazing games, but they are also usually only playable after the mod community gives them a complete top to bottom going-over to patch all the glitches and bugs they could not be bothered with. I was considerably unimpressed with Bethesda jumping on the microtranaction bandwagon. You would have thought their charging AAA title pricing plus DLC's would be profit enough, especially for titles they depend on the players to finish and polish up for them.

I believe this is correct. There was a court case here a few years ago where Hanes (the underwear people) decided to take a company called Hanes Hummus (unshockingly, they make hummus) to court claiming that the name would be confusing to consumers. However, as Hanes (the underwear people) was unable to present anyone who could claim 'I bought this jar of Hanes Hummus, smeared it all over myself and only then realized it was not actually underwear at all!' they lost the case. So it seems similar/identical names is allowed, as long as the products of each are unlikely to be confused with each other.

299$ is an attractive price, but only enough storage to hold just a few AAA titles (512GB, minus the formatting and operating system requirements) is not going to impress a lot of people I am thinking. Especially if additional storage costs close to what the console itself costs (North of 200$ seems to be floating around a lot). You could use a slower and cheaper drive for simple storage, but swapping around 80+gig game files constantly is certainly at minimum a continual inconvenience, and defeats the main purpose of having a faster system drive in my opinion. I expect more then a few buyers are going to feel the budget model is not such a great deal after a bit of actual use.

I would recommend to watch the Battlestar Galactica 2003 reboot mini-series. In my opinion, it was considerably better then anything they produced once they got picked up and started producing the show as a series.

It seems inevitable. According to the latest shipping data I could find for China to US sea freight; it is currently 30-40 days. Like someone earlier had said, to meet their delivery deadline the units would have to be manufactured, loaded and already on their way. https://www.freightos.com/shipping-routes/shipping-from-china-to-the-united-states/ If Atari had actually produced the 11,000 backer units I expect they would have been making a lot of noise about it to appease their backers (They certainly made quite the fuss over producing and shipping their 96 Dev test units to the US). As Atari has retreated back into their usual radio silence instead of announcing anything I think it is safe to say that the Atari Box units are still not yet in production, and that there is no possibility of them meeting their latest promised shipping date. The only question is how long Atari is going to drag out announcing their newest delay and giving another revised shipping date.

I bought one of these from this seller last year, and while the multi-cart casing was machined a little strange (front and back casings have about a eighth-inch misalignment) the multicart itself works great. Certainly for the price I have no objections. It is a great value for the cost of the multi-cart. The DIP switches are a bit unusual; but with the printout handy of the settings it only takes a moment (and a toothpick) to set it for the game you want.

I was actually looking for an Intellivision console or games on my local Kijiji, and for some reason this popped up on the 'You may be interested in...' items window. According to the description it works, and comes with Hyperspace and Scramble for games. The joystick does not center anymore however they do mention. Still, for 225$ CAD (175 USD?) I think it would be a great deal for someone in Canada interested in it (Or someone in the US willing to pay a bit for shipping). Looking on eBay and other sites they do seem to be listed for quite a bit more. Honestly, I am not really familiar with the system, but it seems like something someone on the forum may have interest in, so I thought I would share it. https://www.kijiji.ca/v-old-video-games/saskatoon/vectrex-arcade-system/1520522845

It is certainly not trolling to ask 'Where's the b̶e̶e̶f̶ games?!'. I would say it is a rather important question to be asking of a system that is supposed to be out in retail in around four months time and taking into account all we have seen for gaming on the Atari Box at this point is the Atari Vault, a free Antstream trial and the ability to run some Steam games (This conditionally; provided you also buy a Windows licence and additional storage for the system). Partnering with a streaming service is a nice little extra, but it is not going to be a system seller. My Blu ray player can stream, my TV can stream, my laptop and PC can stream, my cellphone can stream, my streaming box can stream. I imagine that for most people they will be in a similar situation, with no lack of existing hardware and devices to stream media on already owned. All Atari is announcing so far is the aperitifs and appetizers. Games are the meat and potatoes for a console (or un-console), and if I were a backer/potential customer I would find it worrisome there is almost nothing being said about this.

That would be a great addition to the Amico titles. Speaking personally, I do hope it is a lot more 'Fishing Derby' then 'Ultimate Fishing Simulator'. 40 years later, and I am still having just as much fun playing Fishing Derby! It is quick to learn and fun to play, all without the need for tons of customization options.

I was incredibly c̶h̶e̶a̶p̶ budget conscious, and just wanted the digital version. So no early access for me! It has been a long wait, but I am glad it is finally in Beta. I hope they find all the major issues and get the game rolled out without too much more delay.

I think that would be a good idea, if it is not too difficult for Intellivision to implement. I do recall a few hundred years ago, back in the dark ages of dial-up internet, one program I used for downloads had what was essentially an ASCII version of River Raid for you to play to keep you occupied while waiting. Time fillers do have their uses. A generic Tetris/Breakout or a digital version of those old Tomy Waterful games https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0YWTdHUpn0 would keep those waiting from being too bored if say someone has to break to run a quick errand, or like you said take a phone call (or answer the call of nature). Something simple, but that can still keep you entertained for a few minutes. I suppose it would boil down to how useful a feature it would be versus the additional costs and work involved to make it happen.

He might have aimed a little bit too high there. Pitfall is incredibly popular (I know I still love playing it), and according to Wikipedia there were 4 million cartridges sold. Certainly not too shabby for the 80's. But 'Space Venture' barely broke 500K in fundraising, and this is for the guys behind the insanely popular 'Space Quest' series; a decade spanning gaming franchise. From what I recall of the original campaign (2013? Have I really been waiting that long now?) it was pretty heavy on the concept art and 'We're putting the band back together!' excitement, but they really did not have much in finished content to show off either at the time. Still; despite many delays it is finally in the home stretch and does look pretty good!

They certainly seem to have a very optimistic outlook on Atari and the Atari Box. In my personal opinion, Atari made a new division just for the Atari Box so if (when?) things went pear shaped like the Atari Gameband did Atari Corp's money and assets are sheltered from people angrily demanding refunds. Keep in mind both these projects were masterminded by Feargal Mac Conuladh. As to the parent company being in a good financial situation, that depends on how you look at it. It certainly is just a shell of its former self. There is basically no staff, and they build and produce nothing. All income is derived from licensing and lawsuits. It is hard to lose money from that, but equally obvious there is no potential for huge profits either. This is the main reason it is, and will likely remain, a penny stock company. As for crowdfunding showing demand; after a guy on kickstarter had almost 7K backers and raised 55K to help him 'make some potato salad'; I think they only thing we can take away form backers counts and contributions is there are some mighty odd people out there with apparently entirely too much money. I certainly would not gauge product demand from either.

wow.. This one almost flew under my radar, which it would certainly have been a shame to miss out on playing this! The game looks amazing, and you have an excellent review of it.

The Telegames one is a great find! I am certainly no expert, but do believe the Telegames console is a Sears heavy sixer? Which certainly increases its desirability. Even if it is not, they do just look nice :D

I am feeling your pain on this, I was expecting a delay but was still hoping for a release around Christmas. With the PS5 reportedly having some major design problems, the Xbox Series X still being rather vague on when they are releasing, and of course Corona throwing a wrench into all manufacturing, it did look promising that Amico would have had the Christmas holiday release season to itself for new consoles. Ah well. It is much better to hear a honest evaluation of when it will be released then a best case hopeful projection, which might have them been again delayed *cough* *cough* Atari Box *cough* cough*. In the wise words of Mick Jagger, 'You can't always get what you want'. Like others have said, the delay does give developers a lot more time to work on their games for the system, which in turn I hope means more games being available at release. Which certainly will not be a bad thing! ... except for maybe to my wallet

This is an absolutely amazing hack! I love my 2600, but have to admit the original Venture was pretty unimpressive. No music, I swear the sound effects were lifted straight from Bezerk, and most annoyingly for some reason the rooms do not fill in once they are completed. The original 2600 version was still fun, but also seriously lacking in several areas. This hack recreates the game as faithfully to the arcade version as possible; doing even more then I would have imagined was possible for the 2600. It is certainly a hack people are going to want to play! It is like a whole new game.

It is a good article, but the writer seems to not know that for the Amico an Android phone running the Amico app can be used as an extra controller. So 'The Amico supports eight-player multiplayer, if you buy extra controllers.' is a bit misleading. You can buy extra controllers and they will probably be easier to use then a touchscreen app, but it is not actually mandatory. Having a group gathering and being able to add in additional players though their own phones is quite a nice feature I think, it is a shame it is was completely overlooked in the article.

Don't feel too bad, as a 2600 user myself I still automatically refer to Astrosmash as Astroblast, and still think Dark Cavern rather then Night Stalker. As to the family gaming angle, the Amico's Karma Engine is supposed to help even out any gaps in skill levels between players gaming together. Honestly, if it even half works I would still love it. When playing with my little nieces and nephews I do sometimes have to 'take a dive' and let them have the win as not to hurt any feelings. Something that automatically helps balance the game between players sounds like quite a great idea I think.

It is a good thing the game titles are very reasonably priced, as I have yet to see anything I would take a pass on buying and playing. Tommy et al are doing a great job vetting titles for the Amico so far! I am still looking very much forward to trying out the new Astrosmash. Both in single player, and some head to head gaming with my cousin. It keeps looking better and better every time they show it off. The interviews with all the studio staff was nice to see, and also somewhat unusual. You do not often hear from them, just see the final product. That so many developers like the Amico and the unique controller design is absolutely a good thing and gives me great expectations for a wide variety of titles being developed for the Amico to take advantage of this controller design. Amazing to see a bit of EWJ! That is the title that I expect is going to draw a lot of attention for the system when it is finished. My only complaint is I did not win the console :D

Quite honestly, this probably would be me. If I ever bought an Atari Box; it would likely be to replace my Atari Flashback and just used to play classic Atari games on. Like so many others have said, it brings absolutely nothing new to the table. Everything it offers, chances are you already own something that not already does the exact same thing; but likely also better. An online Atari Flashback has some appeal, but not even close to the point where I would consider dropping 400$ for it.

I like the Tempest one! Though they are all very nicely designed.

You did not miss much. But then when you are basically interviewing yourself you tend not to ask (or answer) the hard questions. I found two things of interest out of the entire thing. One; Arzt made mention of the pricing for Atari Box titles: ranging from 3$ to 25$. The second is at the end Arzt said ' Our long-term vision is to make a full assortment of affordably-priced classic emulators and game ROMs accessible from the Atari VCS store.' and made mention they are working with unspecified partners on this. Which to me sounds like they are looking at emulation and ROM packs for other classic gaming systems, provided this is not just another wishful thinking pipe dream (Atari and Arzt are pretty vague on details concerning what games will be available for the system).

I do see this was re-listed as just a regular auction now. I presume some collector will still pay well for it, but it will go for nowhere near the original asking price.

It might be worth a try to buy one of the 'RCA to HDMI converter' mini boxes off eBay. I bought a few of them, which I used to hook a Blu ray player to an older TV for family members; and they did work surprisingly well. Even the one that was running though two different adapters (RCA to HDMI; and also Coax to RCA) for around 12$ it might be something to try?