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The Atari VCS Controversies Thread


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1 hour ago, Bill Loguidice said:

I agree with this statement. There's very little here that would be appealing to non-adults. There are better game consoles, better computers, better targeted DIY computer-like devices, etc. This is arguably primarily for nostalgic middle aged people with very specific use cases in mind. Nothing wrong with that ultra-niche market, although there are of course still people out there who think this has broad appeal for some reason.

I agree there's just no broad appeal here.   If you're happy with a light up logo, some wood grain, a numbered certificate (Possibly printed on very nice paper), some Atari games (2600 and Arcade), sketchy companies, and the web address of Antstream,  More power to you.  This is for you and I'm not telling you how to spend your money...

 

 

That said,  If you like Modern games,  I can think of 3+ Better ways to spend your money.  And if you're into Retro games,  I'd say check out Amico for new takes on Retro themed games,  or get over to Analogue, Krikzz, or ATGames for new ways to play old games and new homebrews...

 

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5 hours ago, Bill Loguidice said:

I agree with this statement. There's very little here that would be appealing to non-adults. There are better game consoles, better computers, better targeted DIY computer-like devices, etc. This is arguably primarily for nostalgic middle aged people with very specific use cases in mind. Nothing wrong with that ultra-niche market, although there are of course still people out there who think this has broad appeal for some reason.

 

"Ultra niche" is right. Those of us that are middle aged but never stopped gaming don't have much use for this cynical exercise.

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I have bad ominous feeling that the software is not complete and they are just stalling for extra time.
Remember that blackberry playbook 7" tablet years back that went straight to the liquidation bins when Blackberry/RIM went poof?
Well, when you initially booted it up it needed to have WIFI or it would not start, reason is because it needed an update at the start.. and not just an update a MASSIVE update that basically was the entire OS. If you stopped the update it would brick itself. Even at $99 I returned it. Junk is Junk and a company that cannot finish a product before shipping it out needs to go bye bye! These are not videogames, these are physical products.

I bet when you start the Atari VCS up it will do the same, meaning there will be no OS installed other than a splash screen and an update partition that will erase itself after the evil deed is done. This way they can meet the "deadline" without having ship a complete product.

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What could possibly be the delay in software?  It's not like this is running on custom hardware.  But I guess it did take almost 2 years to see a static menu with Asteroid though.  Oh yeah - let's not forget the stolen screenshots they used.

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17 minutes ago, OCAT said:

I have bad ominous feeling that the software is not complete and they are just stalling for extra time.

Agree with this.  I'm pretty sure they plan to either flash the things when they arrive on their slowwwwwww-boat over the Pacific, or they plan for users to do a full OTA on start-up, or both.  I hope they still have some firmware devs on staff to fix bugs, and I hope they have a secure TLS/signed-firmware pipeline, or there might be some interesting MITM attacks when the whole thing goes live.

Edited by fultonbot
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No doubt the VCS will be a niche product, unless somehow it gets picked up as a fashion statement or gets super lucky in a way that most couldn't predict. But no one can really blame Atari for not saying that, other than the people who can't think rationally any more due to the way they've demonized the business. No company is going to launch a tech product saying, "Yes, this is for a specific small niche of people, maybe 10-20,000 if we are lucky, but we sure would love everyone else to buy it too!" That is clearly the end game here, though. You say it is for everyone at launch, then you drill down into advertising and support for whoever ends up actually buying it, and if no one buys it, well, throw it on the pile and move on and hopefully not lose money on the whole thing. The impression I get is that there are people at Atari who care, and who are working to make a good product, but I doubt anyone anywhere is of the illusion they are even aiming for a mass market. 

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I just keep wondering how Atari expects to support the Ataribox assuming it gets out the door. Does it have a warranty? Can it be returned or repaired? Who do people call for tech support when one of these things fails? Sure, most tech support is farmed out overseas anyway, but the companies still have to pay for it. That doesn't seem like something Atari would want to fork over money for, especially for just a few thousand units. Or I wonder if these will just be sold as-is, and good luck to the consumer? "It's broken? Well it worked when it left the factory. Have you tried turning it off and on again? It sounds like you may have broken it somehow when you plugged it in. Our warranty doesn't cover that. Have a nice day! (click)"

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Atari is hoping that no-so-rich kids will grab onto the name like "SUPREME" where they can slap the logo "SUPREME" on any piece of mass produced item and it will sell for 10x the price like that SUPREME pinball machine. I mean Atari sold hats with the logo... SUPREME sold bricks.. now that is brand recognition, when you can sell a ? for $50 and then have people flip it for $1,000 on Ebay. Atari has a loooong ways to go.

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24 minutes ago, Nathan Strum said:

I just keep wondering how Atari expects to support the Ataribox assuming it gets out the door. Does it have a warranty? Can it be returned or repaired? Who do people call for tech support when one of these things fails? Sure, most tech support is farmed out overseas anyway, but the companies still have to pay for it. That doesn't seem like something Atari would want to fork over money for, especially for just a few thousand units. Or I wonder if these will just be sold as-is, and good luck to the consumer? "It's broken? Well it worked when it left the factory. Have you tried turning it off and on again? It sounds like you may have broken it somehow when you plugged it in. Our warranty doesn't cover that. Have a nice day! (click)"

I suppose they'd just tell people to mail them back the console, and then Atari would ship them a replacement.

 

The delay is odd.  We did see a functioning unit at that show in New York.   The UI is a matter of taste, I guess.  If the thing works, ship it.  Send the retro controllers later.  The system is beyond a joke at this point, but missing another holiday season is going to be a really difficult pill to swallow. 

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I think by law they have to have a warranty, and if it is some countries the law is 2 years warranty to avoid E-waste (LOL that is the law I am not saying the VCS is e-waste) :)

But I mean they can make it as difficult as possible, Get an RMA number, then you pay for shipping to Atari and Back... just to jerk you around. No carry-ins

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8 minutes ago, CPUWIZ said:

I can't say too much, but the units are in the U.S. already, boxed and ready to go.

 

Glad you said it. It was killing me seeing all these posts about the shipment not arriving, etc. while knowing different but not able to say anything. Made some folks in here look really silly who otherwise (I assume) wouldn't post such things if they knew better.

 

Alas, Atari could fuck up the Lord's prayer so the units making it to end users from their current locations in the USA is still up in the air.

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22 minutes ago, Shawn said:

 

Glad you said it. It was killing me seeing all these posts about the shipment not arriving, etc. while knowing different but not able to say anything. Made some folks in here look really silly who otherwise (I assume) wouldn't post such things if they knew better.

 

Alas, Atari could fuck up the Lord's prayer so the units making it to end users from their current locations in the USA is still up in the air.

Lol who's sillier? The people who backed this thing 3 years ago? The company who refuses to communicate with such backers? Or the ones enjoying the show that this has turned to be?

 

 

Again. Seeing is believing ?

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29 minutes ago, Shawn said:

 

Glad you said it. It was killing me seeing all these posts about the shipment not arriving, etc. while knowing different but not able to say anything. Made some folks in here look really silly who otherwise (I assume) wouldn't post such things if they knew better.

 

Alas, Atari could fuck up the Lord's prayer so the units making it to end users from their current locations in the USA is still up in the air.

OS ready, or a OTA on first start-up?

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I know much more, but I can't talk about it, unfortunately.  I also don't want to get my friend in trouble.  Anything Shawn knows, he knows from me and I can trust him not to talk about it.

 

I know you guys always think, "Bah, NDA's, tell me already.", but it is quite serious for someone who works in the industry.  I am not risking anything for a bunch of fanboys and doubters.

 

EDIT: I also don't give a flying fuck about all of these wannabe retro consoles, including the Intellivision thing, I don't even own a Flashback.  It's all for young dorks, that want to be cool.

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12 minutes ago, CPUWIZ said:

I know you guys always think, "Bah, NDA's, tell me already.", but it is quite serious for someone who works in the industry.  I am not risking anything for a bunch of fanboys and doubters.

 

Quoted for truth. I've had to sign NDAs before, and it's taken very seriously. Why, this one time, I was working on...

 

Hey - who are you guys?! How did you get in... HEY!! MMMMMPPHH!!! MMPPHH!!!

 

(cacophony of noises, shuffling feet, ominous door slam, then... sllence...)

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I will believe it when someone gets it in hand delivered and then put on youtube. As long as they are NOT on Atari staff.

But thank YOU "CPUWIZ" for the no-news-is good-news update, I will procure many snacks tomorrow in preparation for this massive fail to be unveiled officially or by a 3rd party. I just need to have snacks on hand so I do not miss 1 moment of the debacle.
I suspect this will be a bigger dumpster fire than a dumpster full of SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 7s.. fully charged :)

I need 2 timers, 1 to see how long it takes until someone gets it, and another to see how long until complete and utter marketing failure is declared. No hate, this is purely a scientific and economics study... ????? Sorry, hard to keep a straight face. thinking about a joke someone told me

Edited by OCAT
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Yeah, no one wants to see anyone lose their job or taken to court over an NDA break, especially for this thing. I'm am just continually perplexed by Atari's own refusal to live up to simple communication and honesty. 

 

It will be nice to finally see it "out there," so our predictions for better or worse can be played out. I'm still confident in mine that are similar to recent posts saying that this thing has zero legs to move beyond the initial launch phase. My bet is that it'll end up just like their game Minimum - It'll launch, get a little traction among the intended audience, but as soon as they see that it's not the next NES Classic, it'll become another piece of hardware that time will be happy to forget.

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I cannot imagine what is going on in cheesehead's... head right now. Every night tossing and turning.
He has to give the final word on when they can start shipping this out to the public, basically singing a Swan Song and signing the second, possibly 3rd death of Atari. Like a captain going down with the ship. Sort of like being a red shirt on the boseman about to take on a Borg tactical vessel.

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2 minutes ago, OCAT said:

I cannot imagine what is going on in cheesehead's... head right now. Every night tossing and turning.
He has to give the final word on when they can start shipping this out to the public, basically singing a Swan Song and signing the second, possibly 3rd death of Atari. Like a captain going down with the ship. Sort of like being a red shirt on the boseman about to take on a Borg tactical vessel.

No sympathy at all.  All of this shit was for an attempted pump&dump of stock or getting someone to see "Atari" making a comeback and buying them out.  Things got out of control and they had to pull something out of their collective asses.  Unfortunately, the first thing that needed pulled out was their heads but that never happened.

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Why is Fake Atari being so secretive about something they have already announced publicly?

 

What has gone wrong to cause them to bunker down like this?

 

Why won’t they engage with the backers who funded the delayed mess to begin with?

 

NDAs are usually issued when commercially confidential information is shared? Not when things are going to the publicity promoted plan ... so what have FATARI screwed up this time?

Edited by Chopsus
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