The Atari VCS Controversies Thread

[AlecRob]

11 hours ago, rickcollette said:

I'm curious; why is the VCS such a source of contention for folks? 

My opinion:

 

Because they have nothing better to do than be upset at a console shaped PC with an atari logo on it made in china by some new company that owns said logo.  They long for the atari of the past.    It adds fuel to the fire when this new atari has created an embarrassing spectacle of themselves on the internet.      
 

there were atari X86 PC’s in the 80s.  The VCS could be the successor to atari’s obscure PC line. 

Edited November 30, 2020 by AlecRob

[+x=usr(1536)]

2 hours ago, AlecRob said:

My opinion:

 

Because they have nothing better to do than be upset at a console shaped PC with an atari logo on it made in china by some new company that owns said logo.  They long for the atari of the past.    It adds fuel to the fire when this new atari has created an embarrassing spectacle of themselves on the internet.     

 

Funnily enough, I almost agree with everything you've said here.  About the only point of contention is the use of the phrase, "Because they have nothing better to do."  You forget that there are always tacos.

 

2 hours ago, AlecRob said:

there were atari X86 PC’s in the 80s.  The VCS could be the successor to atari’s obscure PC line. 

 

Yes, Atari SA should bring back the rich and storied heritage of a total flop of a product line.  Which, in a way, is what they're doing anyhow.

[racerx]

3 hours ago, AlecRob said:

Because they have nothing better to do than be upset at a console shaped PC with an atari logo on it made in china by some new company that owns said logo.

 

Poking fun at bad ideas, poor execution, and incompetence is not the same as being upset.

 

Sure, there's a vague annoyance that these clowns are dragging a beloved brand through the mud, but mostly it's just natural to ridicule the ridiculous.

[MrBeefy]

4 hours ago, AlecRob said:

My opinion:

 

Because they have nothing better to do than be upset at a console shaped PC with an atari logo on it made in china by some new company that owns said logo.  They long for the atari of the past.    It adds fuel to the fire when this new atari has created an embarrassing spectacle of themselves on the internet.      
 

there were atari X86 PC’s in the 80s.  The VCS could be the successor to atari’s obscure PC line. 

I was excited about the announcement. I'm not one of those who say which is the 'real' Atari either.

 

Can't help it if I don't keep rose colored googles on when a logo of a brand I kind of liked when I was little did something dumb. I think it could be argued that those who ordered it only did because of the logo longing for the days when Atari ruled. 

 

If it didn't have the Atari logo there wouldn't have been as many who preordered. I know I wouldn't have been excited about the announcement if it didn't have the logo. 

 

The Ataribox is entertaining, just not in the way Atari intended. Some seem upset that others have more fun laughing than they do playing their unconsole.

 

...oh wait...

[rickcollette]

Thank you.  I now understand what the source of contention is.

 

Edited November 30, 2020 by rickcollette
left an important word out of the original post ;)

[godslabrat]

10 hours ago, AlecRob said:

My opinion:

 

Because they have nothing better to do than be upset at a console shaped PC with an atari logo on it made in china by some new company that owns said logo.  They long for the atari of the past.    It adds fuel to the fire when this new atari has created an embarrassing spectacle of themselves on the internet.      
 

there were atari X86 PC’s in the 80s.  The VCS could be the successor to atari’s obscure PC line. 

I have no longing for Atari of old.  Despite being on this forum, I am happy to leave it in the past.  
 

I just dislike people being sold literal garbage and being told it's something it's not.  It's not a good console, it's not a good computer, it's debatable if it's even Atari and I'd make my case that it isn't.  
 

It's crap, so that's what I call it.

[AlecRob]

VCS will ship soon and people will actually physically have them. I wonder how the narrative will change at that point.

[godslabrat]

4 minutes ago, AlecRob said:

VCS will ship soon and people will actually physically have them. I wonder how the narrative will change at that point.

L'Atari will move on to their next cash grab.  I don't think they'd even still be talking about the VCS if people weren't waiting for them and hounding them on social media.

[Chopsus]

6 hours ago, rickcollette said:

Thank you.  I now understand what the source of contention is.

 

Which, in your understanding, now is?

 

just curious as to what conclusions you might have drawn from the carnival of incompetence that the New Atari is?

[Chopsus]

1 hour ago, AlecRob said:

VCS will ship soon and people will actually physically have them. I wonder how the narrative will change at that point.

Admiral Motti: Your sad devotion to that ancient Atari religion has not helped you conjure up the missing joysticks, or given you clairvoyance enough to find the VCS actual shipping date.

 

P.S. The narrative will change from “when are you shipping” to “how to a lodge a warranty claim on this POS that you shipped”

Edited November 30, 2020 by Chopsus
Add P.S.

[MrBeefy]

2 hours ago, AlecRob said:

VCS will ship soon and people will actually physically have them. I wonder how the narrative will change at that point.

What do you expect it to change to?

 

[Matt_B]

Yeah, it's not like there hasn't been a lot of discussion along the lines of:

 

1. The lack of value compared to current and next generation consoles, low-end laptops, existing mini PCs, etc.

2. The GPU is too weak for most modern games. Sure, you can play games designed to run on potato PCs at the lowest settings, such as Fortnite (at least if you stick Windows on an external drive and increase the RAM,) but it's going to be single digits for the truly demanding ones.

3. There are no exclusive games, and very few confirmed games at all beyond Atari Vault and Antstream.

4. How well will it hold up to heavy use? Can it handle running at full power for long without overheating and throttling? How robust are the controllers? Is the (presumably cheap and generic) external PSU up to the job?

5. How straightforward is installing your own copy of Linux to the sandbox going to be? Will it work straight away with off the shelf distros? Will Atari support approved distros or are you on your own?

 

Shipping it isn't going to make those things go away. It's just going to bring them to the fore.

[OldSchoolRetroGamer]

3 hours ago, AlecRob said:

VCS will ship soon and people will actually physically have them. I wonder how the narrative will change at that point.

"VCS will ship soon" - Perhaps if you are willing to believe them, of course more excuses and delays could pop up, not exactly unheard of from Team Atari is it? ON THE OFF CHANCE backers actually start receiving them, I suspect the only change in narrative will be the CONFIRMATIONS that this was not worth the money. Seriously, besides changing from what was initially promised, adding "features" nobody asked for I guarantee if this thing didn't have the "ATARI" branding attached or the shell to attract Atari fans it would have been completely ignored and over looked like all the other "retro" crap consoles pouring out of china these last few years, but a certain niche of collectors bought into the hype because "ATARI". I HAVE ALWAYS wanted it to actually ship and reach backers hands and look forward to THEM making videos and doing reviews etc, if it satisfies and makes those people happy, though I suspect they will claim it does even if it doesn't because they need to justify their choice ? so be it. Until backer's actually receive it though I refuse to believe a damn thing that has been claimed or "demonstrated" as it's all been done under controlled environments or people that have a stake in selling it. 

[OldSchoolRetroGamer]

13 hours ago, AlecRob said:

My opinion:

 

Because they have nothing better to do than be upset at a console shaped PC with an atari logo on it made in china by some new company that owns said logo.  They long for the atari of the past.    It adds fuel to the fire when this new atari has created an embarrassing spectacle of themselves on the internet.      
 

there were atari X86 PC’s in the 80s.  The VCS could be the successor to atari’s obscure PC line. 

Wow, keep your head is in the sand and you hear what you want to hear. Literally pages of WHY we dismiss this product and THIS is your take away? OK I give up, you are clearly hopeless. ?? Keep being clueless, ignorance is bliss clearly. ?

 

 

 

[CPUWIZ]

3 hours ago, Chopsus said:

carnival of incompetence

 

Great band name. ?

[jamm]

5 hours ago, AlecRob said:

VCS will ship soon and people will actually physically have them. I wonder how the narrative will change at that point.

When they eventually ship it next year, we'll move on to making fun of the incredibly poor execution and the ridiculous price point for such a minimum-effort, low-power PC.  Now you know.

 

I don't long for the Atari of the past, but I do wish someone who actually cared about Atari's history and games in general would take ownership of the name.  The current owner is just further milking the name for what's left of its historic value and grinding it further into the ground. 

 

That's my "contention" with the current Atari in general and the VCS in particular.

 

Edited December 1, 2020 by jamm

[MrBeefy]

This makes more sense that how Atari has handled things.

Taco spaghetti. Baby Beef loved Mrs Beef's creation. Now if only she could find a way to stream Netflix. She really needs the VCS to hit store shelves.

[+x=usr(1536)]

2 hours ago, MrBeefy said:

What do you expect it to change to?

 

I'll pick three:

• What the overall quality is like, both in terms of physical construction and user experience
• Software library: streaming or installed, are there unique features / killer apps
• Does it represent value for money compared to other similar systems in its price range

The last one, I think, we already know the answer to.  But the other two will be interesting to see reactions to.

 

And for anyone who may be wondering: actually delivering this to customers does not absolve Fauxtari from any of the incompetence or sliminess they've shown over the past three years.  Doing so isn't special in and of itself; it's what they contracted with everyone who backed them to do, and should be an expected part of that process.  However, it's not an excuse (or reason) to sweep history under the rug.

[Shawn]

2 hours ago, MrBeefy said:

This makes more sense that how Atari has handled things.

 

 

I think this is a little more accurate:

 

[+GoldLeader]

8 hours ago, AlecRob said:

VCS will ship soon and people will actually physically have them. I wonder how the narrative will change at that point.

 

The Laughter will Increase in Volume;  Now with solid proof we were right all along.

[fultonbot]

15 hours ago, jamm said:

I don't long for the Atari of the past, but I do wish someone who actually cared about Atari's history and games in general would take ownership of the name.  The current owner is just further milking the name for what's left of its historic value and grinding it further into the ground. 

 

Yes, this, exactly.

[OCAT]

Perhaps Atari should look into creating a theme park for the Atari brand like Nintendo is doing.

But instead of bright colorful rides, this theme park has seedy and sketchy looking inhabitants ? ready and willing to pick pocket and shank you for a dollar.

And dont you DARE fall asleep in the hotels before checking under the bed first, or its right up the crack-pipe for you! ?

Just like the Atari in real life!

[orange808]

Atari has an IP problem.  They are still a household name, but the IP catalog is a mirage.  Tempest, Rollercoaster Tycoon, Haunted House, and Black Widow are the only IP I see that can easily be rebooted into quality modern game designs.  Atari's IP is too dated to be relevent.  They can't support a home console.

 

A large investment group just acquired a controlling share of SNK assets.  That's a treasure trove of game designs and IP that remains viable in the current market.  Examining both catalogs throws Atari's IP deficits into sharp relief.

[OCAT]

^ Problem is that there are so many simmilar games out there now, in some cases probably 10 free ones on mobile.

Rollercoaster Tycoon = Planet Coaster

Black Widow = Smash! T.V

Haunted House = Any "Escape" type game on mobile.. and I have played MANY!!! The best ones were fre on Android from HAIKU games... even the crappy no-name-studio ones were good to pass the time, these were free!

The way I see it, only the people that have a vested interest in Atari will pay for these games, most casual players will just play a clone and be satisfied.

Let us take a Rubik's cube as an example, My Dollar store sells these things for, yup $1, for most people just curious, that is plenty, only for those wanting to dive deep into the hobby/sport excercise they will pay the $10 for the original.

Funny, the $1 cubes are sold next to the Fidget cube knock offs that used to go for $20!

Edited December 2, 2020 by OCAT

[Shaggy the Atarian]

1 hour ago, orange808 said:

Atari has an IP problem.  They are still a household name, but the IP catalog is a mirage.  Tempest, Rollercoaster Tycoon, Haunted House, and Black Widow are the only IP I see that can easily be rebooted into quality modern game designs.  Atari's IP is too dated to be relevent.  They can't support a home console.

 

A large investment group just acquired a controlling share of SNK assets.  That's a treasure trove of game designs and IP that remains viable in the current market.  Examining both catalogs throws Atari's IP deficits into sharp relief.

Yep, this is a point that's important for those claiming that the VCS is some grand return to the glory days of the past, or that they're poised to retake the market from the unsuspecting Sony, Nintendo or Microsoft. It's nothing more than hope porn. 

 

Most companies that have been around since the 70s/80s have had trouble keeping their IP fresh and relevant. Most just reboot/remake their most popular titles until people stop buying them. Atari tried that for a while, now they're simply content with repackaging emulated versions of the originals and milking those for what they can.

 

The problem is that this doesn't attract new buyers and it eventually tires out your loyal customers. I don't own the Atari Vault even on Steam, because I already own those games a few different ways. I don't need to spend $300~ on a console that is apparently just made to play that package, and I know how to use emulators on the various computing devices I already own, and I can install Linux on the PC I'm using to write this message if I really wanted to.

 

The only way to draw new people to your brand is not with some silly hotel deal or a cryptocurrency scheme, because the brand wasn't built with those things in the first place. It was built off of "innovative leisure," primarily through unique and brand new arcade games (for the time). If you want to rebuild a video game brand, the best way to do it is through new, innovative and fun IP, while finding ways to refresh old stuff without it being ridiculous (like when Atari tried to reboot Asteroids as a first-person shooter). When's the last time anyone recalls buying a brand new Atari game that blew them away? It's been a long while.  

 

One company that understands this the best, love or hate them, is Nintendo. They've made billions of dollars this year because they know what they are doing, and they're good at their craft. The reasons to buy a Nintendo Switch far outweigh the VCS, Amico, Polycade 2600 or any other retro-focused console, and there's a ton of retro console & arcade goodness to be found on it.

 

They know their IP, because a lot of people in charge of these games created them 3 decades ago, and they've been refreshing those games from new angles the entire time. They've also created successful new ideas, like Splatoon, or spin-offs like Hyrule Warriors. When they put out a "remember this?" cash grab, it sells, because people respect them, and they haven't done it 9-10 times already with the Flashback. Current Atari has zero connection with the original creators, so when they did try and reboot Yars Revenge, Centipede, Star Raiders, or Haunted House, they threw them to lowest bidder companies who likewise had no connection to the original games, apart from probably having played it BITD.

 

Alec, if there's something I'm missing here on what makes the VCS worth the asking price beyond what my far more capable home gaming PC can already do, then by all means let's hear it. If the VCS was coming packaged with some hot new IP that was AAA quality, then this and the taco threads would look fairly different, or even if it had a AAA-remake of something like Adventure or Yars Revenge. They don't. The only sales feature Atari themselves have given the VCS is "remember Atari?," and while that might be good enough for most of the 11k backers, it's not good enough for the rest of us to throw our money at.