New Atari Console that Ataribox?

[+Atari_Warlord]

for a corporation it comes off as just shifting the financial risk onto the consumer base. it's only natural to share their lack of confidence

 

I have no problems with crowdfunding as I've backed around 15 projects. None of them are corporations for the exact reason Rainbow Cemetery points out. If a company is trying to avoid risk by not issuing stock or taking out loans/vendor financing or getting venture capital funding, they don't have much faith in their product. If they tried and those avenues aren't willing to participate, I should probably run too.

[Keatah]

What a company does with the product after it hits the market isn't germane to my point. My contention is that crowdfunding is a legitimate way to raise capital, be it a film, game, or service. Even though the Ouya eventually failed, it was produced and ended up in peoples homes.

 

Maybe I'm misinterpreting the hate for crowdfunding in all of the posts. Is it the way the money is raised, how the money is applied, that many of these projects fail at a later time, or some other reason that slipped by me?

 

The reason why most people dislike crowdfunding is because money is often asked for based on a few slick renderings. Money is asked for to DEVELOP a product - something that needs to be done BEFORE coming to kickstarter.

 

The purpose of crowdfunding is to scale up a real working product's manufacturing and enhancement. Not to enable a developer to sit on their ass while the crowd supports the daydreaming and inventing process.

[Keatah]

From my extensive list of Kickstarters I've backed, here are some retro game related things that have failed to launch:

Intellivision Gen 2

Crystal Quest Classic

Colecovision

Vector Tanks 3

David Crane's Jungle Adventure

Way of the Rodent

 

I've watched some of those too, but since I don't do kickstarters I didn't get involved.

 

The intellivision Gen 2 was amusingly interesting. But I don't go much for modern remakes of old games. I just prefer the original game And asking $100,000 to remake 3 dinky 1980's games? That's a little high don't you think?

 

And it gets worse with David Crane's Jungle Adventure, a million fucking dollars to colorize and restyle Pitfall? Talk about resting on past laurels!?!!? And it's a dumb-ass unity game too. So there's not a lot of work involved in such a remake.

 

Just because "industry veterans" are involved doesn't automatically mean goodness. They can go senile and lose perspective just like anyone else.

 

That Colecovision console thing? Bagghh. The text description is full of the warning words like, IT'S GOING TO BE, WE'RE THINKING, WE'RE IMAGINING, well good! Keep imagining and keep thinking. Let us know when you have a real product to sell.

 

And what's that Way Of The Rodent garbage? High art? Name dropping Richard Branson? Looks like someone spilled their brains at random. Don't know what it means. Wouldn't feel any smarter if I did. So, yeh.

 

And of course, the modern-day atari smacked down Vector Tanks. No need to elaborate.

 

CrystalQuestClassic? Look like another 1 out of 5,000 app-store games.. Next!

[Dr Manhattan]

I'd love to see a headcount for everyone who will back this thing on Kickstarter.

 

*raises hand*

 

I'm in. All in.

[Andromeda Stardust]

He mentioned absolutely nothing that hasn't been discussed in detail here.

 

Wake me when someone has something good to report.

[+Nathan Strum]

I'd love to see a headcount for everyone who will back this thing on Kickstarter.

 

Not me. "Atari" has to prove themselves before I'll give them a dime.

[RainbowCemetery]

if they show up on kickstarter with a finished product and a reasonable pitch i'd consider it

[djour]

OK, so I think I get it. Crowdfunding seems like give me money for an idea so I can take it further and Kickstarter is give me money so I can take a finished product into production. Let me know if I'm right.

 

If that's correct I now understand a bit of the negativity.

[leech]

Crowdfunding is kind of weird. So for something like Super Troopers 2, I was totally in. Broken Lizard are genuinely funny guys and we all know Hollywood is only interested in giant block busters, or pointless reboots these days.

Again, Wasteland 2 and Bard's Tale IV, I jumped on those as well, since those are epic games that needed to be made, and Brian Fargo knows how to present things!

 

Both of those are basically because publishers wouldn't fund them because they don't match the easy street of automatic money, like a Marvel movie, or another Call of Duty.

 

Atari IS a publisher, and one that hasn't had a good track record in it's latest iteration of being terribly friendly to the Homebrew community, so do they deserve our support? Strong Maybe....

 

If their idea is to create an Android based system.. I'm out. Android is a terrible platform (not that iOS is any better). That leaves using Windows/Linux. I'd be okay with Linux, if it's a Windows gaming system... I have one of those already. On the other hand, they could potentially have been working for the past few years on a BSD based system, like the PS4 is. I'd be good with that as well.

[leech]

OK, so I think I get it. Crowdfunding seems like give me money for an idea so I can take it further and Kickstarter is give me money so I can take a finished product into production. Let me know if I'm right.

 

If that's correct I now understand a bit of the negativity.

Kickstarter IS crowdfunding. It all depends on state of the product... so it could be a 100% completed product, but they need the funds to get it mass produced. Otherwise it'll be like some of the community products, where they make 20, sell out, need to do another run, and then make 20 more, only to sell 2.... or something like that.

[djour]

Thanks for clearing that up. IF the finished product gives me something I don't have or does it better than what I have. I'm in. If not, I won't open my wallet.

 

I have a dedicated cabinet for MAME, a pedestal for arcade/pinball/systems emulation, 2 hacked original XBox, hacked Wii, hacked PS3, and a TEST PS2 for playing old games and watching movies. I don't need another. But if you give me just a little something new, my nostalgia weak spot for Atari will over ride my common sense, and I will give in.

[toiletunes]

IF it was a finished product, they could just get funding with preorders, right?

It's the kickstarter thing, combined with no information, that has me spooked. Chameleon me once, shame on Mr. Lee. Chameleon me again? No thanks.

[Flojomojo]

djour, check out the Kickstarter FAQ. It's not a store, and if you contribute, it's for a project, not a product. I don't believe in Atari 2017 sufficiently to support a project, especially when a product is far from a sure thing.

[0078265317]

https://arstechnica.co.uk/gaming/2017/07/ataribox-mini-console/

[leech]

 

 

IF it was a finished product, they could just get funding with preorders, right?

It's the kickstarter thing, combined with no information, that has me spooked. Chameleon me once, shame on Mr. Lee. Chameleon me again? No thanks.

All the crowdfunding projects I have backed at least had a very detailed list of what it was, without that they look way too much like fluff. From the sound of things Atari themselves are readiing the community forums and coming up with ideas through it... but they had to of had an idea for this to begin with.

 

Face it, a bunch of us will probably end up buying it, hoarding it with all of our other Atari stuff, and then whining that it failed 20 years from now because we didn't do anything else with it... so the Atari cycle continues...

 

By the way, it apparently hit TV news here in Utah. That is pretty crazy!

[Keatah]

If it doesn't play VCS games it will fail.

[ZylonBane]

This looks like a Cylon (reboot) version of a 2600.

[vcoleiro1]

Crowdfunding could mean a lot of avenues they can go down. Like taking cash via their own site or a number of other venues like Kickstarter or Indiegogo

 

Kicstarter requires a working prototype for tech projects while Indiegogo is the wild west where you can launch a campaign with just an idea. ie There is a huge difference between Indiegogo and Kickstarter

 

That said, a working prototype can be a loosely applied thing, I have seen project "prototypes" that had built their own case but had stuffed it with existing HW .

 

Of course getting something when it's available for sale is much better than taking a chance on crowd funding. But if the choice is crowdfunding or nothing , then it's always good to at least have that crowdsourced chance of it materialising.

 

By the way , Kickstarter and Indiegogo campaigns are legally obliged (it's all noted in the KS and Indiegogo terms) to provide the products they offer as perks, or provide a full or partial refund (with an explanation of where the cash went). Of course this means nothing if they blow all the cash - that is to say you could sue them, but if they have no cash, that would be pointless

Edited July 19, 2017 by vcoleiro1

[AtariLeaf]

He mentioned absolutely nothing that hasn't been discussed in detail here.

 

Wake me when someone has something good to report.

 

This is the reason I don't go out of my way to make these "breaking news" style retro gaming videos. Just look in the sidebar and you'll see every gaming channel on youtube just repeating the official press release.

[Inky]

The media seems to be covering this at a fever pitch. This is really getting insane. Seems that whoever is making this device took a page out of the chameleon playbook, but set the amps to 11.

[Good_Times]

This just in: Nintendobox!

 

 

Sold out within minutes!

[zzip]

The reason why most people dislike crowdfunding is because money is often asked for based on a few slick renderings. Money is asked for to DEVELOP a product - something that needs to be done BEFORE coming to kickstarter.

 

The purpose of crowdfunding is to scale up a real working product's manufacturing and enhancement. Not to enable a developer to sit on their ass while the crowd supports the daydreaming and inventing process.

That's an issue with individual crowdfunded projects though. Easy solution: Don't invest in iffy or ill-definded concepts. If others do.. well it's their money, they will learn the hard way.

[zzip]

I'd love to see a headcount for everyone who will back this thing on Kickstarter.

 

*raises hand*

 

I'm in. All in.

Not without more information

[MrBeefy]

I think kickstarter makes sense. They aren't competing with the big three and this is not that type of system. This will be a better way to gauge demand so they don't make too many of them.

 

Not sure why there is so much hate for something you don't know what it is. I get that it's not enough information to know if it's worth backing.

 

I will back or not back once I find out the details. Right now the mock ups are intriguing. I understand the comparison to chameleon but at least Atari,while not the powerhouse it once was, has at least been in videogames. Coleco hasn't done anything.

 

I've had great results with kickstarter and in fact a guy I know just successfully got his online comic book funded to be printed in a hardcover.

 

I just know I've had friends Interested in this who don't care anything about the 2600 or 7800. So this i think has the potential to have broader appeal than a 2600 in a box would.

[leech]

Not without more information

Exactly this. If this is an Android based system, I'll pass. If it's a Windows based system, I'll pass. If it's a Linux based system, I'm in, or if it's a custom OS, I'm in. Then gain, if it's x86_64 based with a way to install something else if it comes with Windows/Android, I'll be in too.

 

At that point it can replace my Raspberry Pi 3 in a mini NES-like case.