MrBeefy Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 37 minutes ago, Max Ivi said: Let me help you with what is going on Max... At industry conferences, Suitcasing and Outboarding are parasitic business practices in which non-sponsoring businesses use various tactics to reach conference attendees and/or exhibitors without securing the organizers’ permission, and without supporting the event from which they are benefiting. They are effectively stealing a sponsorship they aren’t willing to buy. Suitcasing specifically refers to those non-sponsoring companies or persons who attend a conference (at an affordable ticket price that is subsidized by paying sponsors) and then aggressively “work the aisles” and hand out promotional materials and/or products. Outboarding refers to non-sponsoring companies who set up events in hotel suites, area restaurants, or other nearby venues and draw conference attendees away from the regular programming and paying sponsor engagements. Enjoy the sleezey Atari practices, and those are probably the same boxes we saw in the China picture. Meaning you are still no closer to getting yours. Funny how they don't show a case unwrapped. Or did I miss that. Betcha its a cheap glossy look that everyone LOVED! Wonder if these have the face plates on them? 7 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCAT Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 I guess they decided to stop drinking cool-aid and realized that they have no chance with the VCS, so they took the remainder of the backer money to the Vegas Casino to see if they can make some money the only way they know how. Big Cheese just cannot wait to get his 15 minutes of fame, before he opens his mouth and self-anoits himself with oil to get this dumster fire burning. I generally do not hope for failure upon a company that provides jobs so people can earn a wage, but in this case the only real employees are the scammers themselves, there is no head office, no customer service, and Cheesehead does not pay his top employees anyway according to Rob, so basically this entire venture can burn to the ground for all I care. China does not Dink around, I am sure Atari had to pony up the money BEFORE they even made the first batch run of these turds (allegedly) 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+frankodragon Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 Is "Atari" now selling drugs for extra cash? It looks like some of those packages are ready for the streets. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBeefy Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 So went back to look through pictures. The November update only showed 6 cases which coincides with their set up pictures. They also showed 6 controllers and joysticks in the December update. Also was 'Mike' wearing the same shirt in the November update as in the December update? ? 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBeefy Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 Haha look some assembly required. They don't even have the face plates on the darn things! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cybercylon Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 (edited) 50 minutes ago, MrBeefy said: Let me help you with what is going on Max... At industry conferences, Suitcasing and Outboarding are parasitic business practices in which non-sponsoring businesses use various tactics to reach conference attendees and/or exhibitors without securing the organizers’ permission, and without supporting the event from which they are benefiting. They are effectively stealing a sponsorship they aren’t willing to buy. Suitcasing specifically refers to those non-sponsoring companies or persons who attend a conference (at an affordable ticket price that is subsidized by paying sponsors) and then aggressively “work the aisles” and hand out promotional materials and/or products. Outboarding refers to non-sponsoring companies who set up events in hotel suites, area restaurants, or other nearby venues and draw conference attendees away from the regular programming and paying sponsor engagements. Enjoy the sleezey Atari practices, and those are probably the same boxes we saw in the China picture. Meaning you are still no closer to getting yours. Funny how they don't show a case unwrapped. Or did I miss that. Betcha its a cheap glossy look that everyone LOVED! Wonder if these have the face plates on them? So in other words, they are staying here again... Edited January 7, 2020 by cybercylon 1 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 Yayy, more bubble wrap. 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Slocum Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 I'm totally fascinated to see what they reveal. At this point I honestly could see it being anything from Raspberry Pis taped under the table to them surprising us with something that sorta does what it's supposed to (albeit with a notable lack of games). Is it really the Coleco Chameleon again or do they just have the worst public relations team known to man? Tune in tomorrow... 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+TwentySixHundred Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 Almost looks like some sort of a drug smuggling bust... 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nathan Strum Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 8 hours ago, Paul Slocum said: Cheap hookers and penny slots? All of the hotels in Branson were booked? Moak is starting a new career as an Elvis impersonator? Arzt is starting a new career as an Elvis impersonator? Chesnais is starting a new career as an Elvis impersonator? It's only a 12 hour drive to Alamogordo, so you can dispose of the evidence? It's only a 24 hour drive to the Mexican border, just in case your backers catch on to you? What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, but if nothing happens in Vegas, you're hoping that stays in Vegas, too? 4 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roots.genoa Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 6 hours ago, Flojomojo said: I'd love to apply some torque to that retro style controller to test its durability. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaysWithWolves Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 (edited) Take the Read-Without-Laughing challenge! New medium.com update. My key takeaways: -"Appearance models" and I infer there will be no working units in the the hotel room (o/s on laptop or black box?) : -Invitation-only to the hotel (sorry Kieren). -Custom built, probably working, VCS I'm transparent case which will appear in some mystery booth. -Big reworking of the board's electronics: With them still reworking board design, the Chinese New Year hiatus and cargo shipping, I'm thinking it's months, not weeks. Could @kevtris or someone else with experience in this weigh in? Can they even make their March 31st Walmart and GameStop release date? Edited January 7, 2020 by PlaysWithWolves Added screenshots. 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+frankodragon Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 When I first looked at this pic, I thought Atari was selling Rice Krispie treats for some fund raiser. 3 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Oberhäuser Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 4 hours ago, TwentySixHundred said: Almost looks like some sort of a drug smuggling bust... That was the first think I thought about when seeing that picture. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBerel Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 They will not make any forecast deadline to date. Count on it. A competent company that wasn't even lying about their current state would be lucky to ship this calendar year based on where they say they are at. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevtris Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 4 minutes ago, PlaysWithWolves said: Read-without-laughing challenge. New medium.com update. My key takeaways: -"Appearance models" and sounds like no working units in the the hotel room (o/s on laptop or black box, probably). -Invitation-only to the hotel (sorry Kieren). -Custom built, probably working, VCS I'm transparent case which will appear in some mystery booth. -Big reworking of the board's electronics: "Our engineers have now delivered streamlined and simplified electronics via a more refined PCB (Printed Circuit Board) that improves almost every aspect of both the device and its manufacturing process. Other improvements included a beneficial reduction of physical parts, such as redundant resistors and capacitors on the boards, accompanied by optimized routing of circuit pathways." With them still reworking board design, the Chinese New Year hiatus and cargo shipping, I'm thinking it's months, not weeks. Could @kevtris or someone else with experience in this weigh in? Can they even make their March 31st Walmart and GameStop release date? That sounds like the classic "if you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit". Who would put "redundant" capacitors and resistors on the board? If they didn't pay their hardware engineer for 6 months and he left at the start of board bringup, they're screwed. What does "optimized routing of circuit pathways" mean? The routing of a modern CPU is extremely constrained and optimized. It has to be, or it simply will not work. Modern high speed logic design and layout isn't your dad's Z80 dev board from 1980. With Chinese new year approaching fast (end of jan) there's no way they are going to have anything for sale on march 31st if it isn't already "in the can". Why don't they just admit defeat and give up at this point and do the "hardest letter I have had to write"? The backers are well past the point of being able to get refunds from their credit card companies at this point, and the stock price is in the toilet. There's no place they can go but down. From what I gather, they still haven't really shown any software off, other than ancient stuff that you can get a dozen ways for peanuts already. Where's that Tempest they promised? Is antstream all they got? Nothing like paying for this overpriced box and then having to pay nearly $100 a year to play games on an emulator in a server farm somewhere, wasting gigabytes of internet bandwidth to play a 30K byte game. I haven't really been keeping up after they showed off their PCB which to their credit did look legit, as in containing all the parts and things it needed, and it seemed to have routing. But it sounds like it is just a paperweight without their dev. Maybe he quit because the board had some major showstopper that prevented it from ever working? There's literally hundreds of possible showstoppers on a board design like that. It's not just a PCB- it's hundreds to thousands of impedance and length matched traces and transmission lines. There's so much design wrapped up in a PCB like this that isn't shown on a schematic and is absolutely critical for operation. A few millimeters can be the difference between your SSD working, being flaky, or not working at all. 3 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaysWithWolves Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 15 minutes ago, kevtris said: That sounds like the classic "if you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit". Thanks. I know you don't have personal interest in the same way as Mike Kennedy trying to hire you, but your input is appreciated. I'd feel that way even if you said, "Yep, March is totally feasible." 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBerel Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 Yeah, reading through the bullshit, it certainly sounds like they have no functional board at all to put in that stupid case so they are no further along than they were 18-24 months ago. Their drug den photos would seem to confirm the presumption that their prior "factory floor" pics were faked to look like boxes and boxes of units being produced when it was the same 6 empty shells staged to look like a lot more. How typical of these crooks. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaysWithWolves Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 Gaems has a CES booth. Between the suitcase picture and this post on IGG pushing the Gaems case, I'd suggest the super-secret "hidden in plain sight" "Easter egg" is that the transparent AVCS will be there: 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 1 hour ago, kevtris said: Why don't they just admit defeat and give up at this point and do the "hardest letter I have had to write"? Because nobody is holding them accountable. The people approving travel expenses to Vegas and China are probably delighted that their little t-shirt licensing (and lawsuit) company is playing at big business. Their CEO is enjoying the charade that they're working on hardware. He goes on fluff TV business shows, console mockup in hand, to pretend that the company is relevant and interesting. Look at me next to Steve Wozniak! Look at me on Stuart Varney! They're playing Fortnite on the screen behind me! Big business, see? Atari SA's fiscal year ends on March 31, 2020 so some kind of reckoning might happen then. It does not seem as if their board of directors is super engaged with the company, so maybe they'll continue to play make-believe console-manufacturer some more. Maybe this shoestring "development" effort buys them just enough credibility to stay in the game for one more round. Until such time that someone makes a decision (or actually finishes and launches the product, which will require some degree of support), we can expect more gimmicks, clumsy showmanship, stalling tactics, and make-believe updates. There's no reason for them to be anywhere near CES; anything they've done that's worth sharing could be conveyed to backers and the public via video or a more honest update. This is all for show. We've seen this many times before, but I see no reason to move the needle. I don't think it's coming in 2020. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBerel Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 You can count on somebody else's board inside their "clear plastic case" if there's anything other than a video capture card in it, or wires mysteriously run under a black curtain. As has been pointed out already, there are numerous small form factor AMD boards already on the market at the same or better spec than what they fantasize about releasing one day. Wouldn't be much to slap one of them in there with some sticky tape. It's not like they care if it has anything in common with the theoretical and unseen Atari board. It's telling that they "built a true hot rod Atari VCS by installing 32 GB of RAM and a 256 GB internal SSD" like you might find in a laptop or competent manufacturer's mini PC. It's almost like somebody else build one for them....huh. I especially love the bit about displaying "some keyboard and mouse setups to showcase the flexibility and many peripherals options that the Atari VCS provides." So again, let me get this straight....it's like a computer that you can connect to a video display device and you can even use a mouse and keyboard???" 1 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 Yeah, it's as if the person writing that text somehow slept through the decades of USB peripherals. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBerel Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 I betcha their next sleazy tactic will be to morph the entire project into some kind of licensing deal where "Atari is proud to announce a partnership with" somebody else selling some rig with an Atari logo slapped on it just the way they sidestepped having any games with the bullshit AntStream association. They'll call it a big win for backers and a huge success for the Atari brand. I'm willing to bet that the best backers can hope for at this point is a coupon toward somebody else's product. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 Low effort? Check Face saving? Check Someone else's money? Check "Atari" still gets paid? Check Sounds legit to me 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racerx Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 11 hours ago, JBerel said: Is a trip to Atari's hotel room by invitation only, or do you have to be clubbed in the head from behind and dragged there in a duffel bag? I guess at this point there are probably ruffies involved to get legitimate media in their room. I imagine it's like one of those timeshare rackets where they suck a few hours of your life in exchange for tickets to a show or some casino credit. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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