The Atari VCS Controversies Thread

[Mockduck]

16 minutes ago, Chopsus said:

As I said:

 

perhaps I have imagined it, but I am certain they had made statements of specific dates for launch in November - these seem to have now disappeared.

 

The only definitive statement I could find was an email on 12th July 2020. Atari VCS Team: “ Indiegogo backers will receive their Atari VCS orders in October. Stay tuned for more updates regarding a ship date.”

 

... and even that quote is attributed to someone else, even though reproduced by French ATARI ... 

 

I am interested to hear of those, date specific, communications that have had no adjustment to copy (as far as you can tell).

 

My point being that, either way, F-Atari seem (to me) to have either avoided or sanitized any commitment to a delivery date for Backers.

All of the comments you are looking for are linked in the FAQ, as I've included all official statements on release dates to date that I have been able to see. Ok, though, so if your source is a feeling based on what you thought you might have seen, that's fine. I was of the impression you were claiming this was being done. They have always been smudgy on release date, so all the October-related messaging remains intact without further specificity.

[Chopsus]

3 hours ago, Mockduck said:

All of the comments you are looking for are linked in the FAQ, as I've included all official statements on release dates to date that I have been able to see. Ok, though, so if your source is a feeling based on what you thought you might have seen, that's fine. I was of the impression you were claiming this was being done. They have always been smudgy on release date, so all the October-related messaging remains intact without further specificity.

Yep, exactly why I said I might have imagined it ... it’s entirely possible that the IGG comments on the matter are what fed this impression as, clearly, units are not going to arrive in backers hands in October, despite many, including me, thinking that is what ATARI said.

[+Stephen]

45 minutes ago, Chopsus said:

Yep, exactly why I said I might have imagined it ... it’s entirely possible that the IGG comments on the matter are what fed this impression as, clearly, units are not going to arrive in backers hands in October, despite many, including me, thinking that is what ATARI said.

It sure seemed an official statement that the backers would be receiving their units AND they would be making this deadline.

 

https://www.theregister.com/2020/09/30/atari_vcs_ship/

 

 

[Yarzzz]

Wow , now they are gaslighting us to believe that they never said that shipping began in october? This just keeps getting sadder everyday.

[+x=usr(1536)]

Going back and reading over pretty much everything that matters re: shipping dates, it looks as though Nutari caged it in terms of just 'shipping in October' without a specific date given - at least, that's what I'm digging up.

 

Technically, they could pull the Chinese shipping scam of sending everyone a cork just to be able to say that they shipped something in October.  Of course, the cork would have to have a note attached to it talking about how great 2021 would be when the consoles really, truly, 189% totally shipped after situation #436 that was entirely out of Nutari's control was taken care of...

[Chopsus]

12 minutes ago, Yarzzz said:

Wow , now they are gaslighting us to believe that they never said that shipping began in october? This just keeps getting sadder everyday.

Curiously it seems they never did ... they got others to conclude and say it, giving them, yet another, get out clause on fulfilling backers orders.

 

if they do arrive at the same time as Walmart, or heaven forbid GameStop, that’s pretty poor and reason to wipe FAtari from the trusted brands forever.

 

Needless to say I am looking forward to deleting my IGG account profile, especially if products can be bought on release at the same time as backers (or is that suckers?).

[+Stephen]

What about these?  Or did someone else make these up?

 

The Atari VCS PC/console hybrid will begin shipping to Indiegogo backers this October! Preorders will follow this holiday season.
AND! Missile Command: Recharged will be available as a launch title on the VCS, fully optimized for the wireless Classic Joystick!

pic.twitter.com/DWelglhTTj

— Atari VCS (@TheAtari_VCS) July 1, 2020

 

Atari VCS orders have not yet started shipping to backers yet, but very soon! We are still looking at end of October.

— Atari VCS (@TheAtari_VCS) October 13, 2020

[Thomas Jentzsch]

There are many ends of October still to come.

Edited October 15, 2020 by Thomas Jentzsch

[Tavi]

25 minutes ago, Stephen said:

What about these?  Or did someone else make these up?

 

The Atari VCS PC/console hybrid will begin shipping to Indiegogo backers this October! Preorders will follow this holiday season.
AND! Missile Command: Recharged will be available as a launch title on the VCS, fully optimized for the wireless Classic Joystick!

pic.twitter.com/DWelglhTTj

— Atari VCS (@TheAtari_VCS) July 1, 2020

 

Atari VCS orders have not yet started shipping to backers yet, but very soon! We are still looking at end of October.

— Atari VCS (@TheAtari_VCS) October 13, 2020

When they miss this shipping date as well, it will be far from the first time.

'Weeks, not months' was said about 7 months ago. This after the two previously missed delivery deadlines.

If the Atari Boxes were actually shipped from China on Sept.28th as per their Indiegogo update, then there is a possibility they will arrive in the US by the end of October but they certainly will not be in backers hands by the end of October. I would say best possible scenario at least another month delay provided Atari does not use 'Joysticks are still not ready; darn Corona!' as an excuse to push shipping even further back, as they seem to be setting this up in advance already.

[+Stephen]

The July update specifically says "this October".  Just pointing that out so nobody can say "Well, they said October, they didn't say what year".  @Chopsus - please go back and read the July update, and explain to me how (fake)Atari did not give a date, but merely had others speculating on it.

[OCAT]

Atari is going to ruin Oktoberfest for all the backers... ?

[TACODON]

I'm sure Atari has hired pirates to raid the ship and steal all the VCS backer units. Of course they won't pay the pirates and then they will have to sue them for nonpayment. Should be interesting to see how that all pans out.

[Mockduck]

The confusion on the October time frame (I think) was decently covered in my earlier post here: 

Atari has only used "in October" in its formal wording, but the accompanying "exclusive" article in GameInformer over the summer used the words "by October". All other references have been "in October", except for the "guaranteed delivery by December 24th" used for non-backer delivery date language for anyone who preordered by the end of July. On the GameInformer language, the blame can be fairly placed on the reporter, not Atari, but it seems likely Atari wasn't interested in correcting it. Honestly, it bugs me as a former reporter that GI would have let that "by" instead of "in" slip into their main news nugget, but hey. Ultimately the writer should have caught their mistake, and if it wasn't a mistake, they should have had it clarified. 

 

I would be willing to bet Atari considers its pledge of "starting to ship to backers in October" met in their minds by the late-September shipment of units from China to its California facility. I'd also guess "most" folks wouldn't consider that being a console being shipped to them. That said, there is still time, and if Atari starts getting actual tracking numbers out to backers by Halloween I'd say they'll have met their statements. 

 

 

[+Stephen]

11 minutes ago, Mockduck said:

The confusion on the October time frame (I think) was decently covered in my earlier post here: 

Atari has only used "in October" in its formal wording, but the accompanying "exclusive" article in GameInformer over the summer used the words "by October". All other references have been "in October", except for the "guaranteed delivery by December 24th" used for non-backer delivery date language for anyone who preordered by the end of July. On the GameInformer language, the blame can be fairly placed on the reporter, not Atari, but it seems likely Atari wasn't interested in correcting it. Honestly, it bugs me as a former reporter that GI would have let that "by" instead of "in" slip into their main news nugget, but hey. Ultimately the writer should have caught their mistake, and if it wasn't a mistake, they should have had it clarified. 

 

I would be willing to bet Atari considers its pledge of "starting to ship to backers in October" met in their minds by the late-September shipment of units from China to its California facility. I'd also guess "most" folks wouldn't consider that being a console being shipped to them. That said, there is still time, and if Atari starts getting actual tracking numbers out to backers by Halloween I'd say they'll have met their statements. 

 

 

There is no confusion here.  Quoted directly from Atari's official Twitter site:
"The Atari VCS PC/console hybrid will begin shipping to Indiegogo backers this October!"

 

There is no "by", no "in", no confusion.  Units will begin shipping to the backers, not shipping from a palette in China to some unknown location.  They have 2 weeks and 2 days to get units into the hands of backers else this is at least the 4th deadline missed.

 

How is that simple 14 word sentence so hard to understand?  It's not open to interpretation.

[Mockduck]

1 hour ago, Stephen said:

There is no confusion here.  Quoted directly from Atari's official Twitter site:
"The Atari VCS PC/console hybrid will begin shipping to Indiegogo backers this October!"

 

There is no "by", no "in", no confusion.  Units will begin shipping to the backers, not shipping from a palette in China to some unknown location.  They have 2 weeks and 2 days to get units into the hands of backers else this is at least the 4th deadline missed.

 

How is that simple 14 word sentence so hard to understand?  It's not open to interpretation.

Sure, correct. The issue is not the use of "in" or "this" but by the incorrect belief being espoused in this thread that Atari committed to sending out units to backers by October in its public wording. 

[+Stephen]

Please explain to me in clear English, how the phrase "will begin shipping to Indiegogo backers this October" does not mean that Atari committed to sending out units to backers by October.  I'm having trouble not connecting the dots here.

[RedWolfJC]

1 hour ago, Stephen said:

Please explain to me in clear English, how the phrase "will begin shipping to Indiegogo backers this October" does not mean that Atari committed to sending out units to backers by October.  I'm having trouble not connecting the dots here.

If 1 console... nah, we'll say 2 consoles (since they said backers) ship by 10/31 to 2 backers, they will have fulfilled to the letter what they promised.

And it's the exact type of BS that I fully expect to happen.

Edited October 15, 2020 by RedWolfJC

[+Stephen]

1 minute ago, RedWolfJC said:

If 1 console... nah, we'll say 2 consoles (since they said backers) ship by 10/31 to 2 backers, they will have fulfilled to the letter what they promised.

And it's the exact type of BS that I fully expect to happen.

When that happens, I hope the 2 people that get them will be allowed to post photos and maybe, god forbid, a video of it in action.  Unlike the "samples" that got sent out, then mysteriously had ZERO information posted about them.

[Matt_B]

There's plenty of waggle room in that phrase. They could claim, for instance, to have started shipping by sending out a single unit in October.

 

Similarly, I'm not sure what the guaranteed delivery by December 24 would entail if they miss it. It's not like you'd be getting a free pizza or anything.

Edited October 15, 2020 by Matt_B

[RedWolfJC]

Just now, Stephen said:

When that happens, I hope the 2 people that get them will be allowed to post photos and maybe, god forbid, a video of it in action.  Unlike the "samples" that got sent out, then mysteriously had ZERO information posted about them.

LOL the 2 backers will probably have to sign an NDA too.  "You have been picked to receive the first consoles that we send out to backers. However you must agree to the NDA or we will move to the next person on the list..."

[Chopsus]

23 minutes ago, Matt_B said:

There's plenty of waggle room in that phrase. They could claim, for instance, to have started shipping by sending out a single unit in October.

 

Similarly, I'm not sure what the guaranteed delivery by December 24 would entail if they miss it. It's not like you'd be getting a free pizza or anything.

At best your money refunded ... better than being a Backer I guess?

[OCAT]

7 hours ago, TACODON said:

I'm sure Atari has hired pirates to raid the ship and steal all the VCS backer units. Of course they won't pay the pirates and then they will have to sue them for nonpayment. Should be interesting to see how that all pans out.

Nice 1337 comment!

it will Pan out with a lawyer named "Peter" ?  ??‍♀️

[Mockduck]

2 hours ago, Stephen said:

Please explain to me in clear English, how the phrase "will begin shipping to Indiegogo backers this October" does not mean that Atari committed to sending out units to backers by October.  I'm having trouble not connecting the dots here.

"This" implies activity during a given month, "by" implies having that activity take place the month prior, being completed by the start of the month of October.

 

If I say I will do something by October, it should be done by the time October hits. If I say I will do something "this" October, I would be doing the thing in October.

Edited October 15, 2020 by Mockduck

[+Stephen]

25 minutes ago, Mockduck said:

"This" implies activity during a given month, "by" implies having that activity take place the month prior, being completed by the start of the month of October.

 

If I say I will do something by October, it should be done by the time October hits. If I say I will do something "this" October, I would be doing the thing in October.

Thanks - you proved my point.  I have said repeatedly.  Backers (meaning at least a whopping TWO) WILL receive a unit by October 31st, 11:59:59PM else this deadline has also been missed.

 

Thanks for not showing me, how official Atari line of communication did not say backers would get units this month.

 

Also - it's so wonderful that a person can be such a brand loyalist (willing to get fu**ed and give thanks for it) that he/she will argue such little petty semantics over a simple 14 word phrase.  I would love to find someone so loyal to me.  Imagine telling my wife "Hey - I said I'd be with you.  I didn't say I wouldn't be with 10 others".

[Chopsus]

28 minutes ago, Stephen said:

 

Also - it's so wonderful that a person can be such a brand loyalist (willing to get fu**ed and give thanks for it) that he/she will argue such little petty semantics over a simple 14 word phrase.  I would love to find someone so loyal to me.  Imagine telling my wife "Hey - I said I'd be with you.  I didn't say I wouldn't be with 10 others".

I don’t think anyone here is excusing FAtari at all, simply pointing out how they seem to prevaricate while appearing to tell backers what they want to hear.