The Atari VCS Controversies Thread

[TACODON]

Hopefully they start offering more.

[TACODON]

I just wanted to say hi to the IGG creeps who can't seem to figure out that I did in fact back this project. 

 

1st day all in wood edition right here.

 

Sorry for the double post.

[Matt_B]

Does anyone think they're actually going to make the November release date?

 

Let's face it. They'd need to have made at least 10,000 of them, gone through QA, boxed them up, and packed the boxes into containers that are now on board ships, without any of it having been photographed or videoed and shared with us.

 

There's also the mystery about the '96' units that have been made, in that not even one of them has been seen plugged in and turned on yet. As such, the expectation is that they don't work. It might just be that they're missing a finished OS or have some easily ironed out glitches that they're rather not share, but it's hard to shake off the suspicion that there are more deep-seated issues still waiting to be resolved with them.

 

That's my main issue with the Plex announcement. If the project was clearly on track it'd just be an extra feather in their cap - that people could either take or leave depending upon interest - but against a backdrop of continuing delays, lawsuits and an unusual level of secrecy for a crowdfunded venture, it just serves to highlight the things that they aren't telling us about.

 

So, my recommendations to go with a Raspberry Pi or Windows PC over the VCS are more about pointing people in the direction of things that they can buy now, without waiting for a pack of unreliable shysters to get their act together. I'd love nothing better than to be proven wrong, and for them to hit that deadline. However, there are still more red flags than a communist party shindig about it.

[Chopsus]

14 hours ago, Mockduck said:

 

The folks who blast the VCS because it's like this other thing they like or own isn't that compelling an argument to me. I mean, great that you've already been using a similar device, hope it's working out awesome for you. But the whole, "why buy X when Y already exists" argument doesn't really matter that much. Maybe someone doesn't already own Y, and would rather own X instead?

 

Keep in mind that what was promised to backers WAS something unique and bespoke to ATARI, that promise never came to fruition with the end result being a Linux based, low spec PC in a custom case.

 

I am sure many backers would not have put their hard earned ca$h down if they had know what the VCS was to become.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

I am not disappointed. I was only hoping for a lunchbox in Atari 2600 style.  

[OCAT]

Does anyone think they're actually going to make the November release date?

Let's face it. They'd need to have made at least 10,000 of them, gone through QA, boxed them up, and packed the boxes into containers that are now on board ships,

They can claim that ?‍☠️?Pirates attacked the vessel and made off with the entire shipment, also all the Tacos in the galley ?
If you want your VCS you will have to track down those swashbuckling buccaneers... Edited August 27, 2020 by OCAT

[Mockduck]

On 8/26/2020 at 12:28 AM, TACODON said:

 

OMG.... the VCS will let us use chat rooms again! I'm glad I kept my AOL! Instant messenger here I come!

You joke, but I hear Discord is a thing. Sort of the 2020 version of AOL IM. And yeah, Discord should run fine through this in alt os mode. 

13 hours ago, Matt_B said:

Does anyone think they're actually going to make the November release date?

 

Let's face it. They'd need to have made at least 10,000 of them, gone through QA, boxed them up, and packed the boxes into containers that are now on board ships, without any of it having been photographed or videoed and shared with us.

 

There's also the mystery about the '96' units that have been made, in that not even one of them has been seen plugged in and turned on yet. As such, the expectation is that they don't work. It might just be that they're missing a finished OS or have some easily ironed out glitches that they're rather not share, but it's hard to shake off the suspicion that there are more deep-seated issues still waiting to be resolved with them.

 

That's my main issue with the Plex announcement. If the project was clearly on track it'd just be an extra feather in their cap - that people could either take or leave depending upon interest - but against a backdrop of continuing delays, lawsuits and an unusual level of secrecy for a crowdfunded venture, it just serves to highlight the things that they aren't telling us about.

 

So, my recommendations to go with a Raspberry Pi or Windows PC over the VCS are more about pointing people in the direction of things that they can buy now, without waiting for a pack of unreliable shysters to get their act together. I'd love nothing better than to be proven wrong, and for them to hit that deadline. However, there are still more red flags than a communist party shindig about it.

I expect that they will at least have an announcement on October 31st that they have begun the process of shipping consoles to backers.  Personally, I believe they might actually get this to me before Thanksgiving, but we'll see I guess. 

 

Here's my thought on the 96, been thinking about it: individual team members, venture capital backers, contracted QA workers, perhaps some IP license holders, probably some for their app partners devs like Antstream. That's probably at least half of the 96. Probably a couple to use for marketing shots, in-person press/pr events, and a couple to just keep around the office. Probably another 4-10 set aside for in-house QA and other dev work. Maybe (and gawd I'd love it if they did) give one to Jeff Minter.  But I bet that 96 got filled pretty quickly. I bet they did send one or two to maybe a YouTuber or something, under a strict NDA, but I have not actually heard anything. 

 

 

 

[TACODON]

You have a point in Discord.

[Chopsus]

No way ATARI would support Discord - they can’t delete viewpoints they disagree with ?

[TACODON]

You aren't wrong...

[OCAT]

I expect that they will at least have an announcement on October 31st

Medium.com/AtariVCS announcement on October 31st (sneak preview)

"Trick Or Treat Suckaaz! ???‍♂️??‍♀️??‍♂️??‍♀️??‍♂️?????‍♂️?‍♀️?‍♂️???

Atari late last minute pre-order Happy Halloween Discount %10 off on limited edition Ghost Edition Atari VCS.

[joeatari1]

Care to share the link?

[Chopsus]

So ... “weeks not months”

 

we have been here before.

[OCAT]

Has there been any reports of one of the allegedly made 96 units operating in the wild?, even logging on to the servers at Antstream or whatever.. Netflixchillmom

[Chopsus]

12 minutes ago, OCAT said:

Has there been any reports of one of the allegedly made 96 units operating in the wild?, even logging on to the servers at Antstream or whatever.. Netflixchillmom

Not that I have seen and the conspicuous absence of any factory output, photos, videos, production numbers does not fill me with confidence in the promises ATARI have made for the 4th time in 2 years.

Edited September 2, 2020 by Chopsus
Grammar

[zzip]

On 8/27/2020 at 4:46 AM, Chopsus said:

Keep in mind that what was promised to backers WAS something unique and bespoke to ATARI, that promise never came to fruition with the end result being a Linux based, low spec PC in a custom case.

It was always said to be an AMD-based system running some Linux variant.  In fact it turned out to be a much more powerful PC than many of us speculated it would be in the early threads on the topic.

[Matt_B]

6 hours ago, zzip said:

It was always said to be an AMD-based system running some Linux variant.  In fact it turned out to be a much more powerful PC than many of us speculated it would be in the early threads on the topic.

I'd hardly say it's much more powerful than first mooted.

 

Both the A10-9630P and the Ryzen 1606G are off-the-shelf chips, so have been widely benchmarked.

 

On the plus side, there's about a 50% improvement in CPU performance:

 

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/AMD-A10-9630P-vs-AMD-Ryzen-Embedded-R1606G/2857vs3659

 

However, the GPU is actually slightly weaker than the one on the A10:

 

https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/compare/Radeon-Vega-3-vs-Radeon-R5-A10-9630P-4C+6G/3926vs3785

 

On the whole, I get the impression that the Ryzen 1606G would be more at home in a smart fridge than a games PC.

[zzip]

13 hours ago, Matt_B said:

However, the GPU is actually slightly weaker than the one on the A10:

 

https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/compare/Radeon-Vega-3-vs-Radeon-R5-A10-9630P-4C+6G/3926vs3785

 

On the whole, I get the impression that the Ryzen 1606G would be more at home in a smart fridge than a games PC.

That GPU is rather weak, however my wife's PC has a GT 710, which is even worse,  and my daughter plays a bunch of games on it, and it holds up better than you'd expect.   Remember that was the original inspiration for the VCS, watching kids try to play things like Minecraft on a laptop.

 

For myself, I have a beefy gaming PC,  if I was to buy a VCS, it would be to use as a Raspberry Pi alternative in a retro-gaming box that I could just plug into a TV.  Pi's are very weak.   But this would be sufficient to play retro-games well into the early 2000s.

 

But I'm waiting to see how it turns out to before making that decision.

[joeatari1]

1 hour ago, zzip said:

But I'm waiting to see how it turns out to before making that decision.

I'll be letting everyone know how it is when I get mine.

[Matt_B]

8 hours ago, zzip said:

That GPU is rather weak, however my wife's PC has a GT 710, which is even worse,  and my daughter plays a bunch of games on it, and it holds up better than you'd expect.   Remember that was the original inspiration for the VCS, watching kids try to play things like Minecraft on a laptop.

 

For myself, I have a beefy gaming PC,  if I was to buy a VCS, it would be to use as a Raspberry Pi alternative in a retro-gaming box that I could just plug into a TV.  Pi's are very weak.   But this would be sufficient to play retro-games well into the early 2000s.

 

But I'm waiting to see how it turns out to before making that decision.

Any PC can play some games though. The point is to be getting something that's worth what you're paying for it.

 

The GT 710 is a low-budget card. It's all right paying a sub-$40 price for that level of performance when you can use it to give a new lease of life to an old potato PC.

 

Similarly, the Raspberry Pi is an entire computer for around $40. I've bought four of them over the years because I like tinkering.

 

Atari are asking $390 for the VCS with a couple of controllers. For that money you ought to be getting something capable of playing modern games at decent settings. You can, after all, buy a PS4 for less.

[AtariLeaf]

Still no pictures, videos, mass marketing, news, nothing. This comes out when? Couple months?

[OCAT]

^ “weeks not months” Blasphemer!!!

Hey a fellow Canuck! lucky that we have a plague or I would drive down from QC & preach the word of Atari in your town!
I tell you what, If I win the 60M jackpot tonight I will buy you an Atari VCS & have the case covered in gold,
I'll also buy you a Taco Bell location! all the tacos you can eat! ?????‍???‍?? and a coke ?, no refills.

Edited September 4, 2020 by OCAT

[zzip]

18 hours ago, Matt_B said:

Any PC can play some games though. The point is to be getting something that's worth what you're paying for it.

 

The GT 710 is a low-budget card. It's all right paying a sub-$40 price for that level of performance when you can use it to give a new lease of life to an old potato PC.

 

Similarly, the Raspberry Pi is an entire computer for around $40. I've bought four of them over the years because I like tinkering.

 

Atari are asking $390 for the VCS with a couple of controllers. For that money you ought to be getting something capable of playing modern games at decent settings. You can, after all, buy a PS4 for less.

Let me put it this way.   I have a nice PC,  I have a PS4.    I have a couple of Pi's,  I would like a retrogame box hooked up to a TV for casual play.   I find the Pi's to be too weak for what I want, I hate that they don't have proper power control.   I also have a bunch of money from last christmas I never got a chance to spend because of the pandemic.

 

Why not a VCS?  Sure I'm sure I could build a Mini-ITX PC on my own, but how much better can I do for the price?   You can easily spend $300 on a "mainstream" GPU, so it's not like you are going to build a killer gaming system for this price.   And there's something cool about having Atari branded hardware.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

26 minutes ago, zzip said:

You can easily spend $300 on a "mainstream" GPU, so it's not like you are going to build a killer gaming system for this price.  

True, but Vega 3 is really slow even compared to a GT 1030 which is the slowest current NVidia GPU. And still about 3x as fast as a Vega 3.

Edited September 4, 2020 by Thomas Jentzsch

[H.Hannig]

2 hours ago, zzip said:

Sure I'm sure I could build a Mini-ITX PC on my own, but how much better can I do for the price?

an old Ryzen 3200G APU for ~90€ is about 2 times as powerful as the R1606G and an AsRock A300 Deskmini Barebone costs 140-150€.   

Edited September 4, 2020 by H.Hannig