New Atari Console that Ataribox?

[RainbowCemetery]

for some reason i assumed 'at e3' meant 'e3 adjacent'

[PlaysWithWolves]

Are there any seedy hotels nearby?

 

 

Atari can afford to exhibit at E3? That's surprising. I expect the Atari Box shell will be displayed under glass, no software will be shown or announced, and the whole thing will be a hustle much like the Phantom Console I saw many years ago.

 

[Flojomojo]

For what it's worth, they're not on the scrolling ticker of "participating companies" at E3 2018. Here's a screen grab as it moves through their place in the alphabet.

 

 

Take it with a 5 pound bag of salt, considering they claim to have been at GDC, too. "e3 adjacent" certainly more accurate.

 

The point we made with coming to GDC was - we felt this was an important event for the industry, this is an event where we're going to be talking about games and things, we're going to be talking to development partners and people we want to help us put great products and great games on the box. It's a good time to re-enter the conversation with people and put it out there for people to see, give them the official name, and let them see - look, they are engineering models [here], but there are real ones working.

 

"coming to GDC" = as a visitor, not as a presenter

 

Wondering what the Parrothead thinks of this.

[Dr Manhattan]

Are there any seedy hotels nearby?

 

 

Skid row is only a few blocks away.

 

For what it's worth, they're not on the scrolling ticker of "participating companies" at E3 2018. Here's a screen grab as it moves through their place in the alphabet.

 

They're not listed in the A-Z exhibitor listing either. Perhaps they'll pull an Ouya, and display their products in a parking lot across the street from the convention center.

[+GoldLeader]

 

 

 

They're not listed in the A-Z exhibitor listing either. Perhaps they'll pull an Ouya, and display their products in a parking lot across the street from the convention center.

 

That would be like a best case scenario.

[JBerel]

[godslabrat]

You can still apply for exhibitor space at E3, but I'm betting all the space has been claimed by now. Even so, I wouldn't be telling the public you'll be there without receipts in hand.

 

Put me down for $20 on "Holiday Inn, across from the ice machine."

[OBLIVION23]

Atari will be vending tacos in the food court at E3

[Keatah]

This ataribox must be an atariage and taco thing or something. None of my neighbors heard or know of ataribox. And we even had tacos the other day. If they do, they hadn't said anything. And I for sure ain't telling them.

[pacman000]

They're imitating Jack Tramiel's marketing theory; announce a product & let the news media get the word out. Problem is, most folks don't pay attention to tech sites, & you actually have to have a product to avoid really bad publicity.

[+frankodragon]

[Osgeld]

[Pink]

[+frankodragon]

[+Stephen]

 

 

That's literally all this is... a box. Atari has a box. It started out as a 3D render, then they converted it to an STL file and printed that box... but it's still a box. A box is the only part of this project that Atari can honestly say exists. Now, what they're also saying, is that with enough crowdfunding, they can buy some off-the-shelf devboards and slap them INTO that box. And maybe, they can hire someone to compile some old games onto open source software and maybe load it onto those boards, but.... and I can't say it clearly enough....

 

...The only thing Atari brings to the table is the fucking BOX.

 

That's why it's a shame that they changed the name, because calling it the "AtariBox" was completely on the nose. Now they want to talk colors and releases, without ever worrying about what goes IN the box.

 

Just make the box a Jag shell and be done with it.

I prefer this BOX:

[+Stephen]

Atari can afford to exhibit at E3? That's surprising. I expect the Atari Box shell will be displayed under glass, no software will be shown or announced, and the whole thing will be a hustle much like the Phantom Console I saw many years ago.

I believe if translated from Atari speak, into the truth, "being at E3" means they will have a hotel room across the street like.

[+frankodragon]

I prefer this BOX:

Ceci est une boîte. Ceci est une boîte avec rien à l'intérieur, sauf peut-être les stocks de papier déchiqueté pour le rendre plus lourd.

This sticker really should be on the "box" IMO:

[MrMaddog]

Here's my favorite part of the press release from https://screenrant.com/atari-vcs-console-details/...

 

 

...the VCS will double as home assistant, home speaker, and computer all in one single device.

 

"Hey Atari, play some awesome 80's music on my rad speakerhat!"

[BiffsGamingVideos]

I could keep asking questions about the VCS, but I don't know how much you can openly answer right now. Like for example, third parties...

Michael Arzt: Yeah! We're talking with third-party publishers, and giving them the opportunity to... if some of them already have things that already run on Linux. Great - port them over, we'll give you a really favourable deal if you put them in our store. We're having those conversations. We're also saying, are you interested in taking a stab at one of our classic IPs?

Normally, and for the mega big classics like an Asteroids or a Centipede, those kind of [games] we'll typically do a licensing deal where there's an upfront payment - but for the vast majority of our titles? Someone could come to us and say 'I have an idea for Air Sea Battle', which is a seminal game, but Air Sea Battle can be anything - it doesn't have to be a literal remake of the game with modern graphics.

 

==================================================

ROTFL. OMG. Seriously? With my limited communications with Atari, they just don't want any outside games or developers. They will not pay for any ports. There will be no money from Atari for anything. I even offered to do updated versions of some of their IP games. I never got a response back. What I gather is that they just have a case and will have a store to download Atari 2600 games. Because it will be open Linux, they will not make any money because people will just copy Linux games over. Heck, you can just download ROMs from Atariage instead of getting from the Atari UI store. Below is one e-mail I got from them about the VCSII (which took 9 months to get any type response by the way). If what this other COO says is true, then Atari would be begging people me to develop for them. but NOTHING. This article is just a load of crap.

==================================================

I hope I can help manage expectations regarding indie games on the Atari VCS:

• The VCS will be a Linux machine

• We are not planning to pay developers advances nor costs to port game(s) onto the ecosystem
• We will help indie developers distribute their content under a standard rev share structure, much like Steam
• It is too early in the process to distribute any development guidelines, nor to start compatibility and performance testing

there will be more to follow, and we actually do have many developers who are excited to bring content on board – GDC was a perfect forum to meet with devs – had some great conversations.

================

​If you want to see what devlopers are saying abou the VCSII, just look at these forems links to Unity's website. They're not good. I mean they are really bad. Other than myself, no one has said anything good about Atari there. and a majority of games are made by Unity developers.

https://forum.unity.com/threads/atari-box.477231/

https://forum.unity.com/threads/and-now-for-even-less-news-atari-vcs.522832/

[Pink]

 

I even offered to do updated versions of some of their IP games. I never got a response back. What I gather is that they just have a case and will have a store to download Atari 2600 games. Because it will be open Linux, they will not make any money because people will just copy Linux games over. Heck, you can just download ROMs from Atariage instead of getting from the Atari UI store. Below is one e-mail I got from them about the VCSII (which took 9 months to get any type response by the way). If what this other COO says is true, then Atari would be begging people me to develop for them. but NOTHING. This article is just a load of crap.

 

I don't think you need to worry, because there's very little chance this fiasco becomes anything more then vaporware. And if it does, it'll flop 500 times harder then the Ouya.

 

And thank you very much for the links to the Unity forums where people are discussing this as well!

Edited April 20, 2018 by Pink

[carlsson]

It is almost like Atari is Sisyphus, and the VCS is the big boulder they're trying to push up the mountain.

[PlaysWithWolves]

NARRATOR: The Eurogamer article introduced no new details.

 

 

[+frankodragon]

It is almost like Atari is Sisyphus, and the VCS is the big boulder they're trying to push up the mountain.

That or Atari SA plays the Cliffhangers game from The Price is Right and the mountain climber falls off the mountaintop everytime.

[pacman000]

It is almost like Atari is Sisyphus, and the VCS is the big boulder they're trying to push up the mountain.

Who's punishing them? Ralph Baer?

[Flojomojo]

Here's my favorite part of the press release from https://screenrant.com/atari-vcs-console-details/...

"Hey Atari, play some awesome 80's music on my rad speakerhat!"

 

Maybe "Atari" is trying to get its head around the #metoo movement since the Nolan Bushnell situation, but something was lost in translation from English to French.

 

The top 4 publicly traded companies in the world already have a "home assistant product" (Apple's HomePod, Alphabet's Google Home, Microsoft's Cortana, and Amazon's Echo). Of these, Amazon is way ahead, and the others are mostly just a footnote. Who the heck does "Atari" think they are to even pretend they're a player in that space without a stronger partner? They'd do better to listen to all the AtariAgers who want an Atari 800 Flashback. There's no market for that either, but at least they would have a few friends in the room.

 

 

It is almost like Atari is Sisyphus, and the VCS is the big boulder they're trying to push up the mountain.

 

The main difference being that Sisyphus reaches the top of the mountain every night before the big boulder rolls back down again. Not only does "Atari" never get started, it's pretty clear that they don't know which way is up.

 

Michael Arzt, from the Eurogamer confessional:

And hopefully, we're able to put some playable stuff out there. But there's a lot of work to do! It's just how it is. None of what I'm talking about is promises, it's hopefully this, hopefully that - but best intentions are there. As I said, we care about how fans perceive us, and look, it's the internet right - people are going to hate, people are going to spew nonsense, and it's fine. I'm glad there's debate. I'd rather have people talk about us, good or bad, because it shows they care! That's a good sign for us.

 

Seems to me it would probably be better sign for "Atari" if people like us weren't talking about them at all.