Jumpman1981 Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 Am I the only one here who's worried that this mess will damage the reputation of the original VCS? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serguei2 Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 Just now, Jumpman1981 said: Am I the only one here who's worried that this mess will damage the reputation of the original VCS? When you're mentioned it, yeah. It should name Atari Taco-Hotel Video Computer System. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jumpman1981 Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 (edited) 4 minutes ago, Serguei2 said: It should name Atari Taco-Hotel Video Computer System. Here-Here! Edited January 30, 2020 by Jumpman1981 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 28 minutes ago, Jumpman1981 said: Am I the only one here who's worried that this mess will damage the reputation of the original VCS? No, you're not alone. I'm already there. And no one wants to hear my hot takes about the other new retro remakes 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agillig Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 Sounds like Atari has a revolt on their hands. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osgeld Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 Heh it was a legit question that virus is shutting down factories left and right to help keep it spreading and in response they say "shut up someone held one a month ago" 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8Bitjunkie Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 For the files 2 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agillig Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 1 minute ago, 8Bitjunkie said: For the files If PC Mag and "many others" were at the showing, why didn't the "many others" write articles? Do those "many others" have names? 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 PCMag and "many others," yet nobody else saw fit to write about it. Must have been truly memorable. I'm surprised they're getting salty with their backers, who just want an update. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8Bitjunkie Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 it gets more and more ridiculous, from day to day... Atari SA missed the promised deadline .... TWICE ... in a few weeks it will happen for the third time... and now they even started to be "rude" to their backers! Great job, "Atari"! 1 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Slocum Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 9 minutes ago, 8Bitjunkie said: Atari SA missed the promised deadline .... TWICE 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. 8 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tavi Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 1 minute ago, Paul Slocum said: 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. This 'third times the charm' missed deadline is going to be the one that really hurts them. They already have the backers money, so they can ignore them and string them along as long as they like without any real consequence. It is missing the Walmart and Gamestop March 31st delivery date that is going to do some serious damage to their reputation and sales. I doubt either company is going to take well to having their delivery deadlines missed after already advertising them to their customers and taking pre-orders; and also less likely to be forgiving and give Atari another shot at their sizable markets. Atari has got themselves into one impressively sized hole, and I cannot how they are going to get themselves out. Snark and silence is not going to cut it for much longer either it seems. Eventually they are going to have to start answering questions about where their product actually is. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 16 minutes ago, Tavi said: I doubt either company is going to take well to having their delivery deadlines missed after already advertising them to their customers and taking pre-orders; and also less likely to be forgiving and give Atari another shot at their sizable markets. Neither Wal-Mart or Gamestop was giving them shelf space, just web space. Gamestop is a joke and Wal-Mart won't care cause it's just a blip to them. They remove it from the website, "simple as that!". 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tavi Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 12 minutes ago, Shawn said: Neither Wal-Mart or Gamestop was giving them shelf space, just web space. Gamestop is a joke and Wal-Mart won't care cause it's just a blip to them. They remove it from the website, "simple as that!". I am betting Walmart was going to give them a bit of shelf space, as retro is still in demand right now. At least my Local ones always seem to have Flashbacks, My Arcade's and those 'classic edition' retro consoles on display. I could see them having one on the shelf (or in the gaming cabinet) just to advertise they do carry it. Still, it seems something of a moot point as it seems a certainty that the Atari Box is not going to be in stores by March 31st. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nathan Strum Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 1 hour ago, Agillig said: Sounds like Atari has a revolt on their hands. Not a super-compelling "hands-on" review, if this is the best Atari can do: https://www.pcmag.com/news/hands-on-with-the-atari-vcs-a-strange-streaming-slice-of-nostalgia A few snippets: Quote So it's closer to a Nintendo Wii U than an Xbox One X in power, but it's still enough to run Unity games, and it's wildly more than enough to run classic Atari games. Which is good, because that's going to make up the bulk of the available software. What makes up the rest of the software? Oh right... Netflix. Quote At launch, the system will come with 100 Atari Vault games preinstalled, covering Atari's arcade, 2600, and 5200 releases. It also comes with a specialized, Atari-centric subscription to the Antstream retro game streaming service, adding another approximately 1,000 Atari games to the mix. Atari doesn't have 1,000 games. Do they mean third-party games that ran on Atari consoles? Because Atari sure isn't going to pay to license those. Quote If you buy the core Atari VCS systems, you'll have to bring your own wired or Bluetooth controller to the mix to play. If you're an Atari enthusiast, though, you'll probably want to spring for the $389.99 Atari VCS Onyx 800 All-In-One system, which adds both a modern dual analog wireless gamepad (the Atari Game Controller) and a much more classic-style joystick modeled after the Atari 2600 controller (the Atari Classic Joystick). Or, you could spend that $389.99 on literally any of the other current videogame consoles which actually have software available for them right now. Without having to buy and install a copy of Windows. Quote If these prices seem steep for a game console primarily designed to play Atari games, that's because they are. The Atari VCS is pretty hefty on cost considering how light on software it is. It's likely most major AAA game releases for the PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One will pass the Linux-based Atari VCS over due to its lack of power. The Nintendo Switch has similar processing power to the Atari VCS, so the potential is there for ports, but developers have generally been much more eager to develop and port to Nintendo's own platform than Linux in the past. No comment. Quote Since the Atari VCS is basically just an AMD Ryzen-based PC, it can be treated as such, and that includes ignoring the Linux partition of the system and installing Windows 10 instead. "Ignoring Atari" sounds like a great marketing strategy. If you ignore the entire console, you don't have to drop another $60 on Windows, either. Quote Microsoft's operating system runs just fine on the Atari VCS, which opens up the console for modest PC gaming, including both Fortnite and Borderlands 3. It isn't exactly a Threadripper-toting beast of a gaming PC, but for $250 to $390, you aren't going to get that kind of performance in a PC. Because if you're gaming on a PC, you don't want "modest" performance. Quote It looks to me that the Atari VCS is almost purely an enthusiast system. This is for classic Atari fans and PC tinkerers looking for a slick platform they can play with. I like the design and the flexibility, but it's hard to get past the price when Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo all offer much more mature game ecosystems and either more processing power or mobility for around the same price. More great marketing quotes there. Quote It feels like the Atari VCS is gearing up to take on the same oddball niche as the Nvidia Shield TV, the PlayStation TV, or the Wii U. It seems almost destined to be the game system your weird techhead friend eagerly preorderes and either swears by as a very specific platform for exactly the types of games they like, or modifies it into a home theater PC/Plex server/bitcoin miner purely because they can. "AtariVCS: For Your Weird TechHead Friend". T-shirt gold. Quote To Atari Interactive's credit, the Atari VCS looks like a functional console. "Looks like". Nowhere in the article does it mention actually playing any games on it. Quote The two controllers also show excellent build quality. The Atari Game Controller feels like a sturdy, if conventional, gamepad. The Atari Classic Joystick, on the other hand, feels almost like alternate history retro-tech. It looks like an Atari 2600 joystick, with a single big red button and a big black joystick. It's completely wireless, though, and a secondary shoulder button adds some more control options, along with joystick rotation on top of tilt. The base of the joystick even lights up with amber LEDs to indicate which way you're tilting it. It's like, well, a 2020 version of the 2600 joystick, as if computers and games moved forward over the last four decades in every way, except the number and type of physical inputs controllers use. They both feel great in the hand. Which is a way of saying they didn't actually get to use them to play games. Quote The Atari VCS is planned to be released later this spring, and is available for preorder at Atari's site, GameStop, and Walmart. "Planned". Quote I'm looking forward to really digging into the final version of the system, but right now it seems like it'll be a goofy enthusiast box designed for tinkering more than a particularly popular or widely embraced game console. New Atari Console, that "Goofy Enthusiast Box". Put that on a Speaker Hat™! 5 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 Well done Nathan. That's truly the faintest of faint praise. File it next to, "You don't sweat much, for a fat girl." 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agillig Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 1 hour ago, Flojomojo said: PCMag and "many others," yet nobody else saw fit to write about it. Must have been truly memorable. I'm surprised they're getting salty with their backers, who just want an update. As Beavis and Butthead so wisely stated: "Customers suck!" Seems about par for Atari. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cybercylon Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 (edited) 3 hours ago, Jumpman1981 said: Am I the only one here who's worried that this mess will damage the reputation of the original VCS? I guess I would have to ask in what way? While you get some new people interested in the actual VCS, I think many that still game on it now probably played it back in the day, so I don't know if Atari SA's shit show is going to affect opinion or gaming habits of those that play on original hardware. Home brew games will still probably be created and purchased for the foreseeable future. People who take the trouble to seek out the original system have probably done some research know the difference between the original VCS and the Ataribox, Atacobox or whatever you want to call it. There is the hazard that Atari SA's dumpster fire could obscure history, but will their dumpster fire outlive those of us who know better? I don't think so. (Surely, backers won't still be waiting until 2040, 2050.... oh wait...). Edited January 30, 2020 by cybercylon 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OverMuch Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 5 hours ago, Jumpman1981 said: Am I the only one here who's worried that this mess will damage the reputation of the original VCS? If the Jaguar couldn't do it, this...this....anomaly won't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoTonah Posted January 31, 2020 Share Posted January 31, 2020 11 hours ago, Nathan Strum said: Atari doesn't have 1,000 games. Do they mean third-party games that ran on Atari consoles? Because Atari sure isn't going to pay to license those. Sure they do! Combat for the VCS had 27 games. Space Invaders for the VCS had 112 games (aka variations). See where I'm going with this? ? 4 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roots.genoa Posted January 31, 2020 Share Posted January 31, 2020 14 hours ago, Nathan Strum said: Atari doesn't have 1,000 games. No but the Anstream service is supposed to offer 1000 (third party) games. "Atari-centric subscription" is confusing because it seems to mean that the Atari VCS version will only feature Atari games, but the idea is to offer extra Atari games exclusive to the Atari VCS. If the thing is ever released, of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted January 31, 2020 Share Posted January 31, 2020 Does the Antstream Arcade even have any games running on emulated Atari hardware? This list was updated 10 days ago. It currently contains 711 entries, ordered as follows: C64: 313 ZX Spectrum: 311 Amiga: 147 Arcade: 141 Mega Drive (Genesis): 38 Some games are listed for two or three platforms, thus the total exceeds 711. Basically, Atari will be offering part of the old 2600 library plus an extended version of THEC64 Mini + ZX Vega, Sega Mini, a bunch of Amiga and Arcade games. https://antstream.zendesk.com/hc/en-gb/articles/360004006837-Antstream-Arcade-Games-List 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Andrew Davie Posted January 31, 2020 Share Posted January 31, 2020 18 hours ago, Jumpman1981 said: Here-Here! *Hear-hear! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted January 31, 2020 Share Posted January 31, 2020 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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