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New Atari Console that Ataribox?


Goochman

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17 minutes ago, carlsson said:

3 months of hobbyist programming on evenings and weekends, or 3 months of full time, paid game development? Given that some of the most talented people here on AtariAge can come up with decent, playable retro games (though not fully embellished or tested) within 2-3 evenings of work, as well as those 24 hour indie coding competitions that take place all the time, I think a reasonably talented person working full time could put out at least 2 basic games per month, depending on how much previous material they have to start from. Yep, those would be more like the free download or $1 games on the Internet, not AAA titles which perhaps is not what Atari would want to brag about in their list of exclusive games.

Yeah...but who would want to play those games?  I'll play any crap on my cell phone to kill time, but when I'm at home, the games I play on my tv are what I want to play. 

 

I think it was Review Tech USA who asked what the market was supposed to be for this system.   Taking it a step further, what does mission accomplished look like for the backers?  A system that can play vintage Atari games, as well as modern games?  My PC or Xbox One can do that, and Borderlands 2 will play much smoother on either.  

 

Do people just want something with the Atari name and logo slapped on it?  Ok, I guess.   How did that work out for Nintendo fans who bought the Virtual Boy?  

 

Is "Sandbox mode" the big draw here?  Because I can use whatever OS I want on my laptop.  If I plug my laptop into my tv using an HDMI cable, is there a reason for the Atari VCS to coexist with it?

 

I guess the honest question I have for whatever people who are excited about this system is this:  If the system wasn't released by a company called Atari, would you even care about it?  

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I agree, but I imagined a choice is between a system that is released with no exclusive content at all, or a system released with up to a dozen budget games - almost writing shovelware here - besides the 35+ year old content they rehash and that everyone already played to death. Of course maybe we've all been fooled and Atari SA since long ago contracted a bunch of devs working on new games, top secret so they haven't revealed a word about it until it eventually gets launched. Yes, and tomorrow two suns will set on the sky at noon.

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As far as what constitutes mission accomplished, that would depend on the individual lunatic backer. It's obvious some of them would be ecstatic to receive this.

gallery_60562_2139_37821.jpg

Based on their pathetic branding and communications, it's pretty apparent their vision of success equated to the

 

"TVPC-2020"

(Name subject to change based on year of release. All dates are good faith estimates and subject to change due to unforeseen circumstances.)

 

As far as content, you know they won't include anything they have to pay third parties for. Even at that, they could make an effort to pull every legacy title they're entitled to into the box. Based on them not even having screen shots of the content they're theoretically entitled to call theirs, I don't find that likely. This is still an attention grabbing exercise in hopes of finding a buyer. It's just generated the wrong kind of attention. The best the can hope for now is the likely fart in the wind so they can distance themselves from the thing. 

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That's what's funny about their "sandbox" talk. It's so stupid. You can access the hardware on most devices with little effort despite the makers trying to block you out. Just because some manufacturers will blacklist your device if you do it, doesn't make it a "feature" for Atari. It's a PC that won't do much in the first place, so they give you the "freedom" to be able to do your own thing on it. (If you simply add your own storage and operating system. LMFAO) A lot of products are designed to actually do something well in the first place, so you do your own thing at your own risk. This is classic marketing BS. "It's not a bug, it's a feature!"  

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i made https://rainbowcemetery.itch.io/these-remains in a month https://rainbowcemetery.itch.io/vulpecula in a week and https://rainbowcemetery.itch.io/one-frisbee over a weekend. i consider myself to be on the low end of moderately competent. cobbling together a bullshot or a quarter second clip that looks like it could be something would require very little effort. and yet :o

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9 hours ago, roots.genoa said:

I'm puzzled. To me a remake is not necessarily better than the original. Or did I miss the joke?

The "joke" (to me) is that Atari has the Asteroids IP, but has not revealed anything in regards to the IP with the VCS, while the Amico is creating a brand new concept based on Asteroids, even though it's not their game. 

 

There are two shots of the remake in the Amico Gamescom trailer - one with new age graphics, another with old style vector graphics. The gameplay looks amped up too, like Blasteroids on steroids. Which also shows how incompetent Atari SA has been with their IP - they really have no clue what to do with it...the last time they tried something, it was Asteroids Outpost, which never was released, but still has a webpage pumping it up.

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33 minutes ago, Shaggy the Atarian said:

I don't know if the write of this article browses/comments on this thread or not, but it sums up the current state of Atari SA and the VCS pretty well. He also uses the dreaded (for the cultists) V-word

 

http://8-bitcentral.com/blog/2019/newAtariVCS.html

That was fantastic.

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I agree, that says it all. The author even offers some helpful advice. 

Quote

If Atari was a smart company, they'd make a killing creating a lifestyle brand. Go the "Gene Simmons" route and put the Atari logo on everything from hats and shirts to lunch boxes and magnets. The brand is iconic and beloved. A new console would be cool, but they lack the capability and it shows.

They're trying to be a lifestyle brand, they sic lawyers on anyone who prints a T-shirt with a Fuji logo, and they have their laughable Speaker Hat ("while supplies last!"). They've toned down their "Atari, so much more than video games" language lately, and have made some desperate-seeming stabs at casino and blockchain sidelines. 

 

Outside of them giving up and releasing ye olde Asteroids and Centipede into the public domain where they belong, I wish AT&T (who owns Warner now, and has a market cap zillions times the size of "Atari") would buy them, reunite all the Atari-named arcade games under one roof, and silence their stupid get-rich-schemes for good. 

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21 hours ago, Flojomojo said:

For Atari? 20 full time employees. Don't know how many contractors and consultants, but their CEO has made a virtue of low overhead and only hiring who they need and outsourcing the rest. 

 

As a publicly traded company, they have to disclose this stuff. I assume most of the employees work on licensing out the name, and that Mike Arzt is the only full time employee working on the ataribox project. 

 

https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/ATA.PA/profile?p=ATA.PA

Hmmm. So it s a really small company with a big potential reach among a niche market. This information kinda changes my perception a bit. It s hard for me not to pull for a small business. I reckon that I ll wait until December (if that s what memory serves is right?) to see what comes.

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2 minutes ago, The Strangest said:

Cheesus Crust, imagine being this delusional.

70BA4AB5-40BF-4D53-AC5E-41813B6E0FF0.jpeg

Oh I sure it isn't vaporware and there's a prototype out there somewhere. Problem is how good is it? How buggy is their front end? They are the Beta testers. Sad truth is if it comes out super buggy and doesn't work well they are not obligated to fix it and support it. Once delivered in December they can just say we delivered, and cancel any preorders.

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BTW shout out to @The Historian for being a good sport through all of this. I heard he was given some shit from the supporters. I do appreciate what you tried to do in the early days of this whole thing. 

 

Don't cave to them. You do your thing. I think you've shown yourself to be fair in regards to all of this.

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On 9/11/2019 at 6:58 AM, MrMaddog said:

If you're gonna bring back the Console War ads...

 

 

nothingcompares.jpg.5571cfb3af6859e9fb4c679edb68591c.jpg

 

2 hours ago, The Strangest said:

Cheesus Crust, imagine being this delusional.

70BA4AB5-40BF-4D53-AC5E-41813B6E0FF0.jpeg

 

Wow.  I heard rumors that Atari SA were starting a lobotomy service.  It appears it wasn't a rumor. ?

 

lobotomy.gif.564c806a2e88e9126e4927bc39579398.gif

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3 hours ago, Oscar Manuel Rojas Maillo said:

Yes Don. I got the Van Hammer!! XD

 

hammer.jpg?515

 

For some I'm a pigeon, for some others, I'm a troll. Enter the PigeonTroll! XD

So you are hopeful but have concerns. They are fairly triggered over there. Your posts from the caps did not seem unreasonable.

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