New Atari Console that Ataribox?

[+KaeruYojimbo]

So Atari is suing Hyperkin for cashing in on work a previous company did decades ago. Or, as I like to call it, following the Atari SA business model.

[Matt_B]

Atari. Lawsuits like never before.

[MrBeefy]

57 minutes ago, Flojomojo said:

I want to look closer at that Atari v Hyperkin suit, it's super douchey. "Atari" is claiming that Hyperkin is benefitting from Atari's old reputation and trade dress (wood grain, rubbery joystick). They are demanding that Hyperkin render unto Atari damages in the amount of three times all Retron77's profits plus legal fees, and to destroy all the offending product. 
 

Huge brass balls on that lame retro brand custodian. I do not like them, not one bit. 

So...Atari is mad that someone else was able to make and produce a plastic ribbed box with woodgrain looking stuff on it while they still can't. 

 

Can Atari sue Atari for damaging their own reputation? AtGames probably has more rights to Atari IPs and such than does Atari lol.

[+frankodragon]

I'm guessing Atari SA vs Target is going to be like the Nestle lawsuit.  Target will settle with an undisclosed amount of money to keep the Atari lawyer trolls away.  

[MrBeefy]

11 minutes ago, frankodragon said:

I'm guessing Atari SA vs Target is going to be like the Nestle lawsuit.  Target will settle with an undisclosed amount of money to keep the Atari lawyer trolls away.  

I'm sure Target has more money than them. They have no rights to foot pong. 

[+frankodragon]

"Atari" is pretty much a pest and they know it.  Of course ask a shill and they'll deny it.

 

[JBerel]

I don't believe those French idiots have any more right to any of the design elements than hyperkin or others. The design and utility patents were filed in 1977. Utility patents last 20 years, design patents 14 years. Those lapsed long before they picked of the name from the trash heap.

 

Best they can claim is rights to presentation of trademarked names and copyrighted software. That just like the d-bags claiming ownership of all things Colecovision when all they did was squat on a lapsed trademark registration.

 

https://www.jmargolin.com/patents/ataripats/patd251143.pdf

 

https://www.jmargolin.com/patents/ataripats/patd254544.pdf

 

 

 

[PlaysWithWolves]

5 hours ago, MrBeefy said:

Wonder if PowerA used the Dreamgear designs? I don't know maybe PowerA has an ax to grind?

 

Or maybe it's something else???

This is all speculation, but it really was the closest thing to a working prototype they had going into the IGG.  

 

Ataribox controller (bowl lights not shown, but worked in a video at the time

 

AtariVCS controller v1 (others still on IGG😞

 

 

AtariVCS controller v2 with second fire button and rotating paddle action:

 

It'll be interesting in the coming days to see what, if anything, plays out.

[JBerel]

FWIW, your second and third image are renders, but they had 3D printed mockups of all of it at one point. If any of this has legs, I'm putting my money on one or more suppliers refusing to let them continue without paying them as agreed to. That's totally these guy's speed.

[lingyi]

Maybe it's something to do with not paying Wyatt. He may hold the rights to something, Atari OS?

[Paul Slocum]

4 minutes ago, lingyi said:

Maybe it's something to do with not paying Wyatt. He may hold the rights to something, Atari OS?

AtariOS is nothing more than Linux with a custom boot logo

[+adamchevy]

I’m a sucker for a new 2600 controller. I really hope I can atleast buy one of those. I don’t think I’ll ever buy the console if their ever is such a thing.

 

[MrBeefy]

3 minutes ago, lingyi said:

Maybe it's something to do with not paying Wyatt. He may hold the rights to something, Atari OS?

Hell Tin Giant might own the board design for that matter.

 

Maybe money is owed for the extra time put into the paddle part of the controller?

[MrBeefy]

5 minutes ago, adamchevy said:

I’m a sucker for a new 2600 controller. I really hope I can atleast buy one of those. I don’t think I’ll ever buy the console if their ever is such a thing.

 

Only thing that bothers me is it will literally only be for 2600 games and a low amount of arcade games.

 

Might work for 7800 games. Some games will depend on if that second buttons registers as the same or different than the main one.

[Agillig]

8 minutes ago, MrBeefy said:

Hell Tin Giant might own the board design for that matter.

 

Maybe money is owed for the extra time put into the paddle part of the controller?

Well, the possibilities are endless with the Atari VCS, so who knows?

[PlaysWithWolves]

18 minutes ago, JBerel said:

FWIW, your second and third image are renders, but they had 3D printed mockups of all of it at one point. If any of this has legs, I'm putting my money on one or more suppliers refusing to let them continue without paying them as agreed to. That's totally these guy's speed.

 

Yeah.  I think the first is a render too.  I'm sure someone else can come up with actual screenshots, if it matters.

 

I wouldn't put money on this being the lawsuit.  In fact, I wouldn't bet money on anyone or company with this fiasco.  Throw the names in a hat and we'll draw for the jackpot.  😄

[PlaysWithWolves]

16 minutes ago, adamchevy said:

I’m a sucker for a new 2600 controller. I really hope I can atleast buy one of those. I don’t think I’ll ever buy the console if their ever is such a thing.

 

Had Atari only come out with the joystick,  and actually released it, I'm fairly certain I'd have one or two in hand.

 

Though for the price they better be solid and not break in a month.  

[MrBeefy]

4 minutes ago, PlaysWithWolves said:

 

Yeah.  I think the first is a render too.  I'm sure someone else can come up with actual screenshots, if it matters.

 

I wouldn't put money on this being the lawsuit.  In fact, I wouldn't bet money on anyone or company with this fiasco.  Throw the names in a hat and we'll draw for the jackpot.  😄

-Rob Wyatt

-Tin Giant

-Dreamgear

-PowerA

-Uberstartegist or whatever their crappy PR was called

-company supposed to finish the OS

-IGG

-Hyperkin

-Target

-AtGames or stores that had problems with AtGames

 

Others that I may have missed?

[Flojomojo]

21 minutes ago, MrBeefy said:

-Rob Wyatt

-Tin Giant

-Dreamgear

-PowerA

-Uberstartegist or whatever their crappy PR was called

-company supposed to finish the OS

-IGG

-Hyperkin

-Target

-AtGames or stores that had problems with AtGames

 

Others that I may have missed?

Well, we don't know what we don't know. They haven't exactly been up front about their progress. I can think of a few other known knowns:
 

- AMD

- Gamestop

- Walmart

- DuPont, makers of Kevlar

- Feargal Mac Conuladh

- SurfaceInk (rumored design partner)

- The EU, US, and Swedish stock exchanges if there really are financial irregularities 

- The rights holders to Roller Coaster Tycoon, who make most of their money, but might prefer a more competent partner

- their mobile game devs, who could go elsewhere 

- the crypto partners

- the casino licensees
- Elon Musk and Tesla (!)

- 1Up tastemakers

- Jeff Minter's Llamasoft

 

I would think they'd not bite the hands that feed them, so licensees like AtGames and 1Up should be safe. 
 

They obviously view Hyperkin the same way they saw Redbubble and t-shirt companies, but the difference with Hyperkin is the existence of real, working hardware and software, not just name branding. Hyperkin went out of their way to avoid a straight mimicry of the 2600. It isn't so different from a Channel F or Intellivision II in terms of design.
 

The joystick looks familiar but just says "old" to me, not necessarily first-party Atari. Nintendo and Sega don't run after unauthorized third parties.

Meanwhile the copyright trolls think their do-nothing box can just run Steam games? What makes them think they can/should behave like this?
 

@adamchevy what do you want most out of an Atari controller remake? They're all over AliExpress if you truly pine for non-ergonomic boxy crap from the 1970s. 

[MrBeefy]

10 minutes ago, Flojomojo said:

Well, we don't know what we don't know. They haven't exactly been up front about their progress. I can think of a few other potential players:
 

- AMD

- Feargal Mac Conuladh

- SurfaceInk (rumored design partner)

- The EU, US, and Swedish stock exchanges if there really are financial irregularities 

- The rights holders to Roller Coaster Tycoon, who make most of their money, but might prefer a more competent partner

- their mobile game devs, who could go elsewhere 

- the crypto partners

- the casino licensees
- Elon Musk and Tesla (!)

- 1Up tastemakers

- Jeff Minter's Llamasoft

 

I would think they'd not bite the hands that feed them, so licensees like AtGames and 1Up should be safe. 
 

They obviously view Hyperkin the same way they saw Redbubble and t-shirt companies, but the difference with Hyperkin is the existence of real, working hardware and software, not just name branding. Hyperkin went out of their way to avoid a straight mimicry of the 2600. It isn't so different from a Channel F or Intellivision II in terms of design. The joystick looks familiar but just says "old" to me, not necessarily Atari. 
 

@adamchevy what do you want most out of an Atari controller remake? They're all over AliExpress if you truly pine for non-ergonomic boxy crap from the 1970s. 

With all the names we got we could do a battle royale draft lol.

[+frankodragon]

To this day we still don't know (and they won't tell us) what the gears in that one pic are for.  I thought it might be for rumble motors but it's all in one unit.

 

[Flojomojo]

1 hour ago, frankodragon said:

To this day we still don't know (and they won't tell us) what the gears in that one pic are for.  I thought it might be for rumble motors but it's all in one unit.

 

Oh we know what they are. There's a helpfully annotated version of that pic from a day or two after it was first posted. They are clearly marked with their function. 
 

bullshit gears, just for show

[+adamchevy]

 
[mention=36990]adamchevy[/mention] what do you want most out of an Atari controller remake? They're all over AliExpress if you truly pine for non-ergonomic boxy crap from the 1970s. 


I think it would be nice to have a new VCS controller if it gets good reviews. I did just purchase another Edladdin controller so I’m good for a while.

[Flojomojo]

4 hours ago, MrBeefy said:

With all the names we got we could do a battle royale draft lol.

Yup. Do we know the name of the manufacturing firm in China?

[jaybird3rd]

5 hours ago, frankodragon said:

To this day we still don't know (and they won't tell us) what the gears in that one pic are for.

I bet the gears fell out of the engineer's head.  Judging from the skinny white plastic nub shown in the picture, he evidently used a wimpy coffee stirrer as a "handle shaft," and he probably blew his top because he couldn't figure out why it kept breaking during testing.