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New Atari Console that Ataribox?


Goochman

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I bought an Onyx one with the joystick. I may go back and get the newer joystick too.

 

Since we're arguing semantics now...

 

You meant "I sent a crowdfunding site my money to help an inexperienced and deceptive holding company design, develop and build an Onyx one", since they have nothing to "buy" yet. There is no guarantee that you'll get what you paid for and a high probability that you will get absolutely nothing for your money. But you knew that going into it right?

 

The mindset of these backers is really strange to me. It's like the only backers they can be getting are either really easy marks, Koo-Koo for AtariPuffs and feel like they are supporting some historic effort :sleep: , of they're first time backers that don't know how these crowdfunding things work. If this thing ever exists in reality, they're guaranteed to offer it up for sale through their site as they end production. These things always do, cuz these guys don't want to leave money on the table. I haven't seen one of these get to production without offering it up for a special early purchase price that wasn't the same or so close to the original backer price that it pissed off backers who had money in from the beginning. So rather than just agree to order one once they know something about it, and it's likely to be shipped, these backers are lapping up the snake oil routine, believing the tired lies about exclusive early pricing, and choosing to provide high risk, no interest loans for a year to infinity. It just proves the adage about a fool and his money.

 

The only backer mindset that makes any kind of sense to me is someone who won't miss $200+. (I've never had the too-much-money-wtf-do-I-do-with-all-of-it problem myself, but some people have money to burn obviously!)

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The only backer mindset that makes any kind of sense to me is someone who won't miss $200+. (I've never had the too-much-money-wtf-do-I-do-with-all-of-it problem myself, but some people have money to burn obviously!)

 

 

I don't mind burning $200 - $300 bucks at retail with the right to return :)

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People with enough money to spend indiscriminately never do that with their money, or they wouldn't have it in the first place. The real tragedy of these things has always been the fact that they're preying on people who really don't have it to lose.

 

As these campaigns progress beyond the fundraising stage, it quickly becomes an effort to save face by the backers. You see that with all the campaigns that fail to communicate or perform in any competent way. The backers' first reactions are to defend the campaign more vigorously and try to convince everyone how everything is not as it seems. They'll often engage in rich fantasies creating layers of conjecture about everything that's going on in the background to explain the appearance of deceit or incompetence. Many times other backers build on these wild theories and start treating it as fact. Eventually, something will come to light to dash their fantasy and they'll usually respond with something to the effect of, "well, I was always prepared for that." It's all just wish fulfillment and ego soothing. Once they've committed their funds, they feel the need to justify that decision as an intelligent one to themselves and the world regardless what is actually happening with the campaign. You can see all that at play in the Gameband project comments on Kickstarter. It's like the 5 stages of pigeons.

Edited by JBerel
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I can go with defunct. That pretty much nails it IMO.

Shall we just agree on the term defunct rather than bankrupt? Bankruptcy is legal and financial nomenclature that doesn't really have bearing on a company's actual capabilities. Plenty of companies declare bankruptcy and continue operations. Others cease operations and never file for financial distress protections. In any case, Atari was defunct before Hasbro bought the brand and rights to IP.

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People with enough money to spend indiscriminately never do that with their money, or they wouldn't have it in the first place. The real tragedy of these things has always been the fact that they're preying on people who really don't have it to lose.

 

As these campaigns progress beyond the fundraising stage, it quickly becomes an effort to save face by the backers. You see that with all the campaigns that fail to communicate or perform in any competent way. The backers' first reactions are to defend the campaign more vigorously and try to convince everyone how everything is not as it seems. They'll often engage in rich fantasies creating layers of conjecture about everything that's going on in the background to explain the appearance of deceit or incompetence. Many times other backers build on these wild theories and start treating it as fact. Eventually, something will come to light to dash their fantasy and they'll usually respond with something to the effect of, "well, I was always prepared for that." It's all just wish fulfillment and ego soothing. Once they've committed their funds, they feel the need to justify that decision as an intelligent one to themselves and the world regardless what is actually happening with the campaign. You can see all that at play in the Gameband project comments on Kickstarter. It's like the 5 stages of pigeons.

It's shocking how spot on your analysis is here.

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Sounds to me that Atari SA doesn't have anything to show...like some box they've been tooting their horn with for the last year.

They also say, "the team is on its way back from E3 where we had a bunch of great partnership meetings for Atari VCS and there are a going to be a number of things coming that should satisfy your current curiosity. Thanks for the support and stay tuned!"

 

Can't attract developers without a crowd, can't attract a crowd without developers. Sucks to be them.

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Has anyone asked them whether Star Citizen will be coming to the VCS?

 

I know it's probably not coming to anything any time soon, but much hilarity could ensue if they give one of their hopeful but ambiguous responses rather than a flat out no.

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I noticed the campaign went back to showing "123 of 600 claimed" and got curious of how many consoles they actually sold since my last update.

The answer is +152 console sets. They also gained 103 backers. I no longer trust the following numbers due to the potential for cancellations--even ones where they re-order (e.g., cancel Secret Perk to get "Early Bird and Joystick").

If anyone disagrees and still finds them useful, let me know.

 

 

1891 Woody sets

398 Onyx earlybird (318+80) | +13 since 06/11

712 Onyx early set (637+75) | +16

414 Onyx all in set (91+323) | +123

3727 Woody all in set

1451 Secret Perk

 

8593 total console kits (10,940 total backers)

 

 

Previous numbers:

 

 

 

1891 Woody sets

385 Onyx earlybird (318+67)

696 Onyx early set (637+59)

291 Onyx all in set (91+200)

3727 Woody all in set

1451 Secret Perk

8441 total console kits (10,837 total backers)

Secret Perk is still active, though they may turn it off when business starts.

Here's the Backerkit link.

 

I can only see "number left" for the early birds, so I'm assuming they started with the rounded-up numbers found here. Then I added the last known numbers before they changed Early Bird to limited quantities to get a rough, if slightly low, total for each. Let me know if I missed anything.

 

1801 Woody sets

360* Onyx earlybird (318+42)

682* Onyx early set (637+45)

214* Onyx all in set (91+123)

3448 Woody all in set

1451 Secret Perk

7956 total console kits (10,314 total backers)

1690 Woody sets

318 Onyx earlybird

637 Onyx early set

1 Onyx full price [REMOVED?]

1 Onyx full price set [REMOVED?]

91 Onyx all in set

2993 Woody all in set

1409 Special Perk

7138 total console kits (9242 total backers)

 

Backerkit tracking link.

An official explanation on Backerkit's prediction and trending models.

 

Speaking of Tempest 4000, I thought this was interesting. Llamasoft has not developed a Linux port and has no insider knowledge of the AtariBox whatsoever. Considering how outspoken their main developer has been about other issues (sample -- you can probably imagine much Italian waving of hands), I don't think this is the NDA telling them to shut up. He's also stated that it could just be running in WINE, as it's not a graphically intense game.

 

The Steam screens we've seen could be the "Big Picture" from a streaming device, not running natively.

 

The Tempest 4000 demo we've seen could have had something other than AtariBox driving it.

 

I'm guessing the backers don't know, or don't care.

 

BTW latest tally of systems only (count the controllers yourself if you care -- click on "back it" to get the current tally)

 

1549 Woody sets

244 Onyx earlybird

566 Onyx early set

1 Onyx full price

1 Onyx full price set

149 Onyx all in set

2594 Woody all in set

5104 total

 

edit: and maybe another 1400 "hidden perks?" Should they be included or counted separately?

 

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I will say this, they get an A+ for originality on their excuse for the lack of updates. From their page back in March

 

The development of the Spartan console project has taken an unfortunate turn, don’t worry it hasn’t stopped. Development has temporarily slowed down.

Our office is based in Cape Town, South Africa. Currently, South Africa is in a peril state. Mass civil unrest, the uncertainty security and possibly the threat of civil war has lead us to make the decision to relocate our base of operations from South Africa.

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