The Atari VCS Controversies Thread

[6502wrangler]

4 hours ago, Mockduck said:

Dunno who said it was a hit, definitely wasn't me. Some fool misinterpreted a comment deliberately, but not my problem. 

 

Well you said the Atari had the potential of being an actual hit, and then walked your definition of "hit" so far back that any product ever that last more than a couple years (such as the 7800, Philips CD-I, or the TurboGrafx-16) would be considered hits in your eyes. Most of the mockery was based on your ludicrous redefinition of what is generally understood as "hit", to be fair.

[leech]

3 hours ago, 6502wrangler said:

 

Well you said the Atari had the potential of being an actual hit, and then walked your definition of "hit" so far back that any product ever that last more than a couple years (such as the 7800, Philips CD-I, or the TurboGrafx-16) would be considered hits in your eyes. Most of the mockery was based on your ludicrous redefinition of what is generally understood as "hit", to be fair.

Actually you know what?  The 7800 and TurboGrafx-16 were hits.  You know how I know?  People are still talking about them decades later!  (Note, I don't see many talking about the CD-i or say the Apple Pippin.)

[Cebus Capucinis]

It'll be a hit as soon as all those Nintendo Switch customers walk into Walmart, see the stacks of VCS since it will soon be all over their store shelves, and immediately choose it over the Switch. They're direct competitors and share the same customer base, after all.

[Matt_B]

Let's get real. In the world of video games consoles you've not got a "hit" until you've sold ten million of them. The TG-16 just about managed that, although it was only truly popular in Japan, but the 7800 fell well short and the games largely stopped coming after a couple of years.

 

I doubt the (new) VCS will even get close to either of them. They'd be doing well to eventually match the approximately 200,000 sales of the Ouya. Going by the crowdfunding numbers and the dribble of pre-order sales so far, I'd be surprised if they're even a tenth of the way towards that yet.

[leech]

2 minutes ago, Matt_B said:

Let's get real. In the world of video games consoles you've not got a "hit" until you've sold ten million of them. The TG-16 just about managed that, although it was only truly popular in Japan, but the 7800 fell well short and the games largely stopped coming after a couple of years.

 

I doubt the (new) VCS will even get close to either of them. They'd be doing well to eventually match the approximately 200,000 sales of the Ouya. Going by the crowdfunding numbers and the dribble of pre-order sales so far, I'd be surprised if they're even a tenth of the way towards that yet.

Sadly, if they had actually had something back when they threw the idea out there and it had come out a year or two ago, they probably actually had done quite well.  So many were soured on all the delays, a bunch of other crap that went down, etc.  Doesn't help with all the bad press.  But the people who HAVE to have every console will get one, whether it is crappy or not, and it seems to me there are a LOT of people like that these days.  I may even suggest 200k... as no one else bought the Ouya, surely... haha

[MrBeefy]

On 4/30/2021 at 5:37 AM, Saldo said:

It is a shame that we tragically lost Curt Vendel.  Before he passed away I remember him stating in the Taco thread that he had some info but couldn’t talk about it at the time.  I would have loved to hear what he had to say about his dealings with them.

I think it was about the Hyperkin lawsuit right?

 

19 hours ago, Mockduck said:

Maybe the taco crowd will finally prove that that Atari VCS never came out. 

I think most people said it would come out. I thought it would. I'm glad I did back it like I was initially thinking of doing. Has anyone other than IGG backers got one? Like what about the Kelvar Edition from Walmart?

 

10 hours ago, leech said:

Actually you know what?  The 7800 and TurboGrafx-16 were hits.  You know how I know?  People are still talking about them decades later!  (Note, I don't see many talking about the CD-i or say the Apple Pippin.)

And people will still be eating tacos long after we are all dead and all of these consoles are basically forgotten.

 

Have there been any exclusive games to make it worth the price?

 

Or is it still just a souped up RPi DIY tinker project?

[leech]

1 hour ago, MrBeefy said:

I think it was about the Hyperkin lawsuit right?

 

I think most people said it would come out. I thought it would. I'm glad I did back it like I was initially thinking of doing. Has anyone other than IGG backers got one? Like what about the Kelvar Edition from Walmart?

 

And people will still be eating tacos long after we are all dead and all of these consoles are basically forgotten.

 

Have there been any exclusive games to make it worth the price?

 

Or is it still just a souped up RPi DIY tinker project?

I don't think it has any exclusives, the closest is probably you get exclusive access on Antstream from it (but not exclusive titles themselves, just access to Atari games other Antstream users do not have, and the coolest feature of Antstream is the high score ranking).

Honestly, I have been playing Valheim, Minecraft and my c64 more than I have the VCS.  By the way, Valheim runs terribly on it, I think Minecraft is fine, and I am sure it would play c64 games well.  I just have other things to use those on.  😛

[+x=usr(1536)]

23 hours ago, Mockduck said:

Maybe the taco crowd will finally prove that that Atari VCS never came out.

[leech]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VtkM2SPaSJ8

[Saldo]

14 hours ago, MrBeefy said:

I think it was about the Hyperkin lawsuit right?

I think you are right about that....

[Saldo]

14 hours ago, MrBeefy said:

Has anyone other than IGG backers got one? Like what about the Kelvar Edition from Walmart?

I don’t think that is going to happen. Someone stated a page or so ago that their Kevlar pre-order was canceled if I am not mistaken.  I’m along the lines of this was something that they were hoping would court someone to buy them out and when it didn’t do that they had to put something out.  The backers are going to be the only ones that get these and possibly any Walmart/GameStop pre-orders that didn’t get canceled.  I would be very surprised if they crank out any more to put on store shelves. 

[+x=usr(1536)]

19 hours ago, MrBeefy said:

Has anyone other than IGG backers got one? Like what about the Kelvar Edition from Walmart?

Searching walmart.com for 'Atari VCS' gives 32 results, none of which are for the Atacobox.  Doing the same search on gamestop.com gives 4 Atacobox-related results with a release date of 04/30/2021 (two days ago) - but if you drill down into the products themselves, the release date is listed as 'TBD'.

 

Best guess as to if/when it'll happen: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Matt_B]

Douglas Adams once said "I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by."

 

Atari are obviously of a similar opinion about them.

 

 

[Lord Mushroom]

On 5/1/2021 at 4:11 AM, Matt_B said:

Let's get real. In the world of video games consoles you've not got a "hit" until you've sold ten million of them.

A hit depends on your ambitions and investments. Sony and Microsoft won´t be happy with 20 million sold, but Atari would be ecstatic with 1 million sold. 

[+x=usr(1536)]

9 minutes ago, Lord Mushroom said:

A hit depends on your ambitions and investments. Sony and Microsoft won´t be happy with 20 million sold, but Atari would be ecstatic with 1 million sold. 

Right, but in order to sell even 100,000 they'd have to be far more competent than they are at present.  Even then, that would only be half of what the Ouya managed, and the 11,000 they did manage to crank out stretched their abilities to near breaking point.

 

Perhaps the new CEO can pull a rabbit out, but I'm not holding my breath on that one.

Edited May 2, 2021 by x=usr(1536)

[Lord Mushroom]

On 5/1/2021 at 4:16 AM, leech said:

Sadly, if they had actually had something back when they threw the idea out there and it had come out a year or two ago, they probably actually had done quite well.  So many were soured on all the delays, a bunch of other crap that went down, etc.  Doesn't help with all the bad press.  But the people who HAVE to have every console will get one, whether it is crappy or not, and it seems to me there are a LOT of people like that these days.

They had no idea it would be that big of an interest for it. I think they were originally asking for $100.000 and got over $3.000.000. What they should have done (given that they didn´t have a better idea) was to throw a box together in such a cheap way that they made a profit from the backers alone. And further sales would just be gravy.

 

Instead they have put so much money into it that they probably need to sell in the high tens of thousands just to break even. If all that invested money had made the console much better than it would have been on the cheap, it might have been worth it, but I don´t think that is the case.

[Lord Mushroom]

4 minutes ago, x=usr(1536) said:

Right, but in order to sell even 100,000 they'd have to be far more competent than they are at present.  Even then, that would only be half of what the Ouya managed.

 

Perhaps the new CEO can pull a rabbit out, but I'm not holding my breath on that one.

I think they should just cut their losses and stop spending money on the VCS. Just make it as available as possible and thank heaven for every sale they get. At this point they would just be polishing the turd.

[CPUWIZ]

1 hour ago, Lord Mushroom said:

I think they should just cut their losses and stop spending money on the VCS. Just make it as available as possible and thank heaven for every sale they get. At this point they would just be polishing the turd.

 

I am kind of under the same impression, I think the new CEO will say exactly that "This train has left the station.", lets focus on rendering more shit that investors may bite on.

[godslabrat]

1 hour ago, Lord Mushroom said:

I think they should just cut their losses and stop spending money on the VCS. Just make it as available as possible and thank heaven for every sale they get. At this point they would just be polishing the turd.

At THIS point?

 

Did we not hit that point a very long time ago?

[+GoldLeader]

(Just curious)

 

Has anyone bought one somewhere besides IndieGoGo?

[Shaggy the Atarian]

1 minute ago, GoldLeader said:

(Just curious)

 

Has anyone bought one somewhere besides IndieGoGo?

I bought mine from Kay Bee Toy Stores.

 

 

 

 

 

Oh wait a second... 

[+GoldLeader]

Just now, Shaggy the Atarian said:

I bought mine from Kay Bee Toy Stores.

 

 

 

 

 

Oh wait a second... 

Not Radio Shack then?

[Shaggy the Atarian]

1 minute ago, GoldLeader said:

Not Radio Shack then?

 

That was a close second! Then I rented games from Blockbuster.

 

Both of these eventual failures are still far more successful than the Tacobox can ever dream of being

 

 

[+GoldLeader]

Got mine at Sears!  It was labeled Telegames for some reason and had darker wood and a chromier top

[+x=usr(1536)]

17 minutes ago, GoldLeader said:

(Just curious)

 

Has anyone bought one somewhere besides IndieGoGo?

Or eBay at a ridiculously inflated 'collector's price'*.

 

 

 

 

* AKA 'idiot tax'.