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New Atari Console that Ataribox?


Goochman

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I wish people would STFU about raspberry pi sometimes. Its a piece of shit.

I love mine. Right now I have it as a handheld Switchlike setup.

 

This set up costs under a hundred bucks (at least at the time). In terms of Stella it runs quite nicely and I have no problems running Draconian. I have it loaded with games all the way up to PS1 and those run flawlessly. I also have some old PC games and Apple II games on it. I would hardly say it is a piece of shit.

 

Target has started to carry them in store. It plays Atari better than a Retron 77 :D

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post-13851-0-07854200-1532632820_thumb.jpg

Edited by MrBeefy
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I love mine. Right now I have it as a handheld Switchlike setup.

 

This set up costs under a hundred bucks (at least at the time). In terms of Stella it runs quite nicely and I have no problems running Draconian. I have it loaded with games all the way up to PS1 and those run flawlessly. I also have some old PC games and Apple II games on it. I would hardly say it is a piece of shit.

 

Target has started to carry them in store. It plays Atari better than a Retron 77 :D

 

That's badass!

 

And another point to add, how can another option to play these games be shit??? :)

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That's badass!

 

And another point to add, how can another option to play these games be shit??? :)

It wasn't that bad to get set up. I am thinking of buying another one. However it is easy to make this go from a handheld and back to regular TV use. N64 is too high but I have yet to try INTV or CV.

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All the B.S. about the stick working as a paddle or not has always been the single biggest confirmation for me that the stupid thing has never even been a functioning mockup yet. It's just plastic & lights like the rest. They should make their first prototype from legos.

Like Google! ;)

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ExtremeTech on the miniC64, with a mention of you-know-what as a side comment: https://www.extremetech.com/gaming/274124-the-c64-mini-arrives-in-stores-this-fall-might-be-best-to-leave-it-there

It's not fair to compare it to Nintendo. I already said, Nintendo has the luxury in that they own the rights to all their flagship, tentpole classic games like Mario, Zelda, Metroid, etc. and still retain great relationships with third parties like Capcom and Konami. It's a piece of cake for Nintendo to work a deal out with Capcom to release Megaman on their mini console or work a deal out with Konami to release Castlevania. The little unknown, irrelevant company making The C64 Mini, it's not so easy.

 

And in the C64's case, it's 35-40 years old. Trying to track down the people that have the rights to the games are sometimes borderline impossible that many years later. Not only that, a lot of those companies have long since gone out of business, have gone bankrupt or bought out/merged with other companies since then, sometimes multiple times over (Such as Nutari) Not only that some of these games (Like the Lucasarts games, in which Lucasarts is now owned by Disney) Would be downright expensive (assuming Disney would be willing to license the Lucasarts games in the first place) And would cause the cost of the console to skyrocket.

They need to maintain the fine line of having a decent enough selection of games that people will want to buy and keep it affordable enough that people will be willing to pay the asking price.

 

Straight from their website

post-42460-0-30664300-1532652464_thumb.png

 

And as far as Raspberry Pi's go, they're fantastic. But all it comes down to, whenever a product like the C64 mini is coming out and saying "Just get a Raspberry Pi, it's cheaper and easier" all you're saying is that it's cheaper to just pirate/illegally download the stuff. We get it, it's cheaper to pirate stuff then it is to go to the store and purchase the same thing off the shelf. We all get it.

 

As far as the C64 Mini goes, looks pretty good as far as these Mini consoles go. You can put games on a USB stick and play it off there which is a great way to deal with all the games it's lacking.

 

As I said before, what will make or break it (And that will also determine if I buy one or not) Is if they actually ever release the firmware update allowing you to have more then one game on a USB stick. If they get that firmware update, it'll be worth it (IMO) for $70-80, it has enough novelty value for me to justify it.

 

Just like the homebrews on the Atariage store, IMO they're worth the $30 or so (even though I could get 'em cheaper and easier on a Pi or a rom for much less) to have a fanmade game put on an actual 2600 cartridge to have in my collection with a professional, authentic looking label on the cartridge. The "Just buy a Raspberry Pi/Just download a rom" crowd probably think i'm insane and/or psychotic for paying $30 for an old Atari game in 2018, but there is clearly a market for this kind of stuff, as the AtariAge store seems like it's been successful enough over the years.

How would you like it if every time a new homebrew comes out in the store and in the thread on the forum, a bunch of people just keep saying "Why would you pay that much when you could just download a rom for free!?"

Edited by Pink
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And as far as Raspberry Pi's go, they're fantastic. But all it comes down to, whenever a product like the C64 mini is coming out and saying "Just get a Raspberry Pi, it's cheaper and easier" all you're saying is that it's cheaper to just pirate/illegally download the stuff. We get it, it's cheaper to pirate stuff then it is to go to the store and purchase the same thing off the shelf. We all get it.

 

 

Where do you think the ROMs that the c64 Mini can load will come from?

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It's not fair to compare it to Nintendo. I already said, Nintendo has the luxury in that they own the rights to all their flagship, tentpole classic games like Mario, Zelda, Metroid, etc. and still retain great relationships with third parties like Capcom and Konami. It's a piece of cake for Nintendo to work a deal out with Capcom to release Megaman on their mini console or work a deal out with Konami to release Castlevania. The little unknown, irrelevant company making The C64 Mini, it's not so easy.

 

And in the C64's case, it's 35-40 years old. Trying to track down the people that have the rights to the games are sometimes borderline impossible that many years later. Not only that, a lot of those companies have long since gone out of business, have gone bankrupt or bought out/merged with other companies since then, sometimes multiple times over (Such as Nutari) Not only that some of these games (Like the Lucasarts games, in which Lucasarts is now owned by Disney) Would be downright expensive (assuming Disney would be willing to license the Lucasarts games in the first place) And would cause the cost of the console to skyrocket.

They need to maintain the fine line of having a decent enough selection of games that people will want to buy and keep it affordable enough that people will be willing to pay the asking price.

 

Straight from their website

c64 mini.png

 

And as far as Raspberry Pi's go, they're fantastic. But all it comes down to, whenever a product like the C64 mini is coming out and saying "Just get a Raspberry Pi, it's cheaper and easier" all you're saying is that it's cheaper to just pirate/illegally download the stuff. We get it, it's cheaper to pirate stuff then it is to go to the store and purchase the same thing off the shelf. We all get it.

 

As far as the C64 Mini goes, looks pretty good as far as these Mini consoles go. You can put games on a USB stick and play it off there which is a great way to deal with all the games it's lacking.

 

As I said before, what will make or break it (And that will also determine if I buy one or not) Is if they actually ever release the firmware update allowing you to have more then one game on a USB stick. If they get that firmware update, it'll be worth it (IMO) for $70-80, it has enough novelty value for me to justify it.

 

Just like the homebrews on the Atariage store, IMO they're worth the $30 or so (even though I could get 'em cheaper and easier on a Pi or a rom for much less) to have a fanmade game put on an actual 2600 cartridge to have in my collection with a professional, authentic looking label on the cartridge. The "Just buy a Raspberry Pi/Just download a rom" crowd probably think i'm insane and/or psychotic for paying $30 for an old Atari game in 2018, but there is clearly a market for this kind of stuff, as the AtariAge store seems like it's been successful enough over the years.

How would you like it if every time a new homebrew comes out in the store and in the thread on the forum, a bunch of people just keep saying "Why would you pay that much when you could just download a rom for free!?"

So one can't have both a Raspberry Pi and buy homebrews in the AA store? Didn't realize I was doing something wrong.

 

I would more say why buy a Retron 77 since it is emulation that tricks you into thinking carts mean anything, and has crappy compatibility. Oh and costs more. If Retron 77 was more compatible or if the FB9 runs the newest Stella then I could see it being higher priced.

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Where do you think the ROMs that the c64 Mini can load will come from?

You are absolutely correct

 

So one can't have both a Raspberry Pi and buy homebrews in the AA store? Didn't realize I was doing something wrong.

 

I would more say why buy a Retron 77 since it is emulation that tricks you into thinking carts mean anything, and has crappy compatibility. Oh and costs more. If Retron 77 was more compatible or if the FB9 runs the newest Stella then I could see it being higher priced.

It's not that you can't have both, just that it's annoying to have people say you're better off buying a RPi anytime some sort of new product comes out. At this point everyone already knows what a Pi is and that it's much cheaper then any of these Nostalgia based cash grabs that keep popping up what feels like every day. I bought that Target Exclusive Oregon Trail handheld for $25 when I already have an app for it on my phone, and I can just type it in google and find a website in mere seconds to play it at for free in my browser. In fact I went to multiple Targets just to find one when it was released (Not too bad since I live where Target originally started and is headquartered. There are more Targets here then every other store combined it feels like at times) Just a slight exaggeration haha

 

https://www.target.com/p/handheld-oregon-trail-game/-/A-52719211?ref=tgt_adv_XS000000&AFID=google_pla_df&CPNG=PLA_Toys+Shopping_Brand&adgroup=SC_Toys&LID=700000001170770pgs&network=g&device=c&location=9052513&gclid=CjwKCAjw4uXaBRAcEiwAuAUz8L0p1MDzLUI1SYznsJeHw5R-6-ngUfXmmZuSy4GDj5TvebP5CYxc9hoC7M4QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Edited by Pink
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Unfortunately, it is fair to compare it to Nintendo's mini consoles because, regardless of the commercial disparities between the manufacturers, the products are likely going to be sat next to each other on the shelves of your local games store and asking for similar amounts of money from the customers.

 

I don't think the games selection with the C64 Mini is that bad though. It's just that it's rather on the Eurocentric side, and most of the games that were big hits there never had much of an impact on the US market, so a lot of people will incorrectly conclude that it's just a bunch of Epyx games and some filler.

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I think the big question, what kind of name recognition and prestige does the Commodore 64 name have compared with Nintendo or Sega? And more then likely the Commodore fans, especially the diehards that are still active fans to this day, are more then likely on average a lot more tech savvy and what not. They'd probably be just more likely to get a Pi, or they may still own an original Commodore 64 and won't care about the new Mini cash grab. In the mid 80s, based on what people have told me (I was only born in '92), the people that owned computers back then were the ones that knew how to use them, they didn't have all this user friendly interfaces and setups and what not that we have now, they had to type out code on a black and green screen to do anything. I could ask every one of my facebook friends I still have from High school if they know what a Commodore 64 is or have heard of them before, and assuming that they would actually respond, more then likely each and every one of them would be a resounding no.

 

Another thing is, theres over 2000 Commodore 64 games. The popularity is spread a lot more thin then say Nintendo, where Nintendo has it's big heavy hitter flagship games like Mario and Zelda and the PS1 has the likes of Metal Gear Solid, Gran Turismo, Final Fantasy, etc. The Commodore doesn't really have it's own "Mario" or "Sonic" like Nintendo and Sega do. While the SNES has a lot more, much more, then just the classic flagship titles, they're by far the most popular, the most recognizable, and they're ones that just about every person who owned the system played & enjoyed, and they alone can sell the system and make people want it. The C64 doesn't really have games with that kind of widespread popularity & appeal.

Edited by Pink
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I wish people would STFU about raspberry pi sometimes. Its a piece of shit.

 

What the RasPi is great at is showing that the average computing power of ten to twelve years ago is still extremely useful in certain circumstances, and especially when it's only sucking down a couple of watts worth of power.

 

Running a 2008-era PC to do the same things I do with my RasPi 3s? Hell no; the cost of the power involved to do that will, over the course of a year, outweigh the cost of a RasPi that can run off of PoE. Sure, I'll need to factor in the cost of an 802.3af adapter cable, but in the long run it's worth it.

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I love mine. Right now I have it as a handheld Switchlike setup.

 

This set up costs under a hundred bucks (at least at the time). In terms of Stella it runs quite nicely and I have no problems running Draconian. I have it loaded with games all the way up to PS1 and those run flawlessly. I also have some old PC games and Apple II games on it. I would hardly say it is a piece of shit.

 

Target has started to carry them in store. It plays Atari better than a Retron 77 icon_mrgreen.gif

 

Okay, I'm kinda digging that setup. What is it? I've got a couple of RasPis sitting around here that are looking for a use again, and that seems like a good one.

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I think the big question, what kind of name recognition and prestige does the Commodore 64 name have compared with Nintendo or Sega? And more then likely the Commodore fans, especially the diehards that are still active fans to this day, are more then likely on average a lot more tech savvy and what not. They'd probably be just more likely to get a Pi, or they may still own an original Commodore 64 and won't care about the new Mini cash grab. In the mid 80s, based on what people have told me (I was only born in '92), the people that owned computers back then were the ones that knew how to use them, they didn't have all this user friendly interfaces and setups and what not that we have now, they had to type out code on a black and green screen to do anything. I could ask every one of my facebook friends I still have from High school if they know what a Commodore 64 is or have heard of them before, and assuming that they would actually respond, more then likely each and every one of them would be a resounding no.

 

Another thing is, theres over 2000 Commodore 64 games. The popularity is spread a lot more thin then say Nintendo, where Nintendo has it's big heavy hitter flagship games like Mario and Zelda and the PS1 has the likes of Metal Gear Solid, Gran Turismo, Final Fantasy, etc. The Commodore doesn't really have it's own "Mario" or "Sonic" like Nintendo and Sega do. While the SNES has a lot more, much more, then just the classic flagship titles, they're by far the most popular, the most recognizable, and they're ones that just about every person who owned the system played & enjoyed, and they alone can sell the system and make people want it. The C64 doesn't really have games with that kind of widespread popularity & appeal.

 

It's more like 20,000 C64 games although that includes a lot of self-published ones, magazine listings and such. There are certainly a heck of a lot more than there are NES games though, so it'd have been a thankless task trying to distill that library down into just 64 representative titles and that's without the complications of needing to find the licence holders and do deals with them.

 

Also, although there were certainly a lot of tech savvy C64 users back in the day, most of the people I knew with it bought it solely as a games machine where the only keys that ever got used were the ones you needed to load a tape. Consoles pretty much died a death in Europe in the early 80s and it wasn't really until the arrival of the 16-bit machines from Sega and Nintendo that they made a serious comeback, so there was nearly a decade when home micros were pretty much the go-to games machines. Realistically, it's those people that they're mainly marketing this to.

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Okay, I'm kinda digging that setup. What is it? I've got a couple of RasPis sitting around here that are looking for a use again, and that seems like a good one.

This 3.5 screen. The Ipega red spider bluetooth phone controller, and a portable phone charger that I velcroed to the back of the case. It is enough to power both the computer and mini screen. No soldering. If you solder you could make a better setup I'm sure.

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In Japan, the Famicom though seems to have had a much larger library than what even the US released NES ever got. Mainly because the Famicom doesn't have a lockout chip which meant they were in a similar situation to Atari just a few years earlier with lots of publishers and no quality control. However the Famicom grew and started a new generation of video gaming instead of crashing once more.

 

When it comes to licensing C64 games, Bill L has elsewhere posted a few times that AtGames have been looking into making a C64 Flashback for years, but the lack of being able to obtain licensing for the top 100 games have stalled them, and now Retro Games Ltd have grabbed the chance to work with the owners of the Commodore trademark, plus that the people in charge already had some relations with software houses, although not the absolute biggest ones. The selection of 64 games to a big part resembles what was on the C64DTV many years earlier, which goes to tell which companies are available and willing to license old software. Indeed AtGames have managed to get Activision to license a special edition of their 2600 Flashback, which suggests there might be a small chance Activision would be willing to license their C64 library as well. Our friends at Atari SA, nee Infogrames, also seems to hold onto a fair number of titles through mergers across the years, and since they already license the Atari 2600 library to AtGames, it might be possible for them to license any 3rd party C64 titles they have acquired the rights for. It might not bring in another 3 million dollars in royalties, but if the back catalogue doesn't make any money otherwise, at least it would buy them a baguette or two for the Friday afternoon coffee break.

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The C64 Mini itself is not that bad, I guess, if you're into the whole Mini thing. You can connect the keyboard and sideload (though only d64, no tapes? :/) so that's some pluses at least. Not for me though, I'm happy with Vice on the Pi atm, in the future maybe will get the FPGA one.

 

On the other hand, releasing this instead of the desktop/handheld C64 which the original fundraising was for is quite ridiculous. Spiced up by the fact it's by some of the people who left (but are sort of tangled in) the obnoxious Vega+ campaign.

Most of the backers seem happy though...I guess, I will never understand the mindset of a crowdfunder :ponder:

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The C64 Mini itself is not that bad, I guess, if you're into the whole Mini thing. You can connect the keyboard and sideload (though only d64, no tapes? :/) so that's some pluses at least. Not for me though, I'm happy with Vice on the Pi atm, in the future maybe will get the FPGA one.

 

On the other hand, releasing this instead of the desktop/handheld C64 which the original fundraising was for is quite ridiculous. Spiced up by the fact it's by some of the people who left (but are sort of tangled in) the obnoxious Vega+ campaign.

Most of the backers seem happy though...I guess, I will never understand the mindset of a crowdfunder :ponder:

 

I didn't back TheC64 myself, but I can see why those who did remain confident that they'll eventually get what they ordered.

 

What's different between it and the Vega+ - and I suppose the Atari VCS too - is that they've been providing regular updates about what they've been doing and the reasons behind their choices, all of which have subsequently checked out. There have been prototypes demonstrated, game licensing deals announced, ratings and certifications applied for, and at least some products delivered. Meanwhile, there's been a notable lack of deception about the progress they've made, mocked up footage of games they haven't got, frivolous lawsuits, angry rants about journalists, etc.

 

The reason for the switch to the C64 Mini was that there weren't enough orders for the original designs - the crowdfunding falling well short - and that they needed to bring in a commercial partner. The one they eventually found, Koch Media, wanted to jump on the NES Classic bandwagon, so the others had to go on the back burner. However, they offered everyone a Mini for the time being as a sweetener. They're still maintaining that they'll eventually deliver the original versions promised once the Mini has been rolled out globally. Maybe the wheels will come off at some point and they'll fail to do that, but they've at least been true to their word so far and everyone got a Mini even if it ends there.

 

In contrast, I don't think anyone is going to get anything out of the Vega+, and it's pretty clear that the people behind TheC64 had left that project before they got the money and had nothing to do with how it was subsequently squandered.

 

The jury is still out for me on the Atari VCS; well, at least in terms of whether it'll be delivered or not and good luck to those who put their money down without so much as seeing a working prototype as even the Vega+ had one of those. I'm pretty sure that it's going to be technically underhwelming and a commercial disaster even if it does though.

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