Onyx All In Bundle only $99.99 on GameStop

[zzip]

10 hours ago, UltimatePistachio said:

unlock the bios, relaunch that AtariOS stuff and upgrade... I'm not liking the cat-and-mouse thing going on with that bios password to be honest. They really should just tell you what it is and just have you acknowledge that if you break the thing it's not their fault for using it.

Yeah I don't think anybody likes this aspect.   

I suspect Atari had to enable secure boot for legal/liability/support reasons, and that requires a password to keep it secure.

But it is annoying for a device that advertises PC Mode as a feature.

7 hours ago, leech said:

Or just slap this on it.

 

https://github.com/bhaiest/holoiso

 

Hopefully full SteamOS downloads appear soon that will make it a little easier to put on the AtariVCS.  But considering Valve is already curating their library for Verified/Playable/Unsupported for their users... Hopefully this weekend I'll remember to put aside some time to install this on the VCS.

I won't hold my breath, SteamOS has never been install friendly.   Putting Steam client on a mainstream Linux OS was a better experience

 

 

[leech]

1 hour ago, zzip said:

Yeah I don't think anybody likes this aspect.   

I suspect Atari had to enable secure boot for legal/liability/support reasons, and that requires a password to keep it secure.

But it is annoying for a device that advertises PC Mode as a feature.

I won't hold my breath, SteamOS has never been install friendly.   Putting Steam client on a mainstream Linux OS was a better experience

 

 

Yeah, for what it is worth, you can set up the Deck UI on normal Steam now.  I may just do that as I still feel Debian is the better choice for a base over Manjaro.  ?

[Mockduck]

I have a theory that in 2022 times Gamestop maybe has some kind of system in place where they essentially auto-clear out old stock, and also a system that re-stocks based on # of sales over a certain period, so that would explain why Gamestop would suddenly dump all of their VCS stock at below rock bottom prices then restock and try to sell at full price...

 

Then again, someone somewhere said they bet Gamestop meant to sell the Onyx All-In at $199 since they'd sold the standalone at $150 and typo'd it to $99, then never corrected it, and that too sounds totally plausible to me...

[zzip]

2 hours ago, Mockduck said:

I have a theory that in 2022 times Gamestop maybe has some kind of system in place where they essentially auto-clear out old stock, and also a system that re-stocks based on # of sales over a certain period, so that would explain why Gamestop would suddenly dump all of their VCS stock at below rock bottom prices then restock and try to sell at full price...

 

Then again, someone somewhere said they bet Gamestop meant to sell the Onyx All-In at $199 since they'd sold the standalone at $150 and typo'd it to $99, then never corrected it, and that too sounds totally plausible to me...

Or the standalone was meant to be $99 and the all-in-one $150?

[leech]

21 minutes ago, zzip said:

Or the standalone was meant to be $99 and the all-in-one $150?

Either way.  I do think it would have been nice to have a back up system I could muck around with more.  It would fit with my tradition of owning two of each Atari 8 bit model, one to hack and mod, and one to keep stock.

[jhd]

20 hours ago, Mockduck said:

I have a theory that in 2022 times Gamestop maybe has some kind of system in place where they essentially auto-clear out old stock, and also a system that re-stocks based on # of sales over a certain period,

 

I cannot speak for Gamestop, but my local grocery store just did something similar:

 

A particular food product that I like has been out of stock for many months. The store recently received a new shipment, only to drastically reduce the price (50%) and post a "clearance" sign. I do not understand why the bothered to restock the product, only to sell it as such a significant discount. 

[E. King]

On 5/4/2022 at 1:49 PM, Bill Loguidice said:

Is the spinner really that important to the average consumer? I've heard mixed things about the joystick.

To the average consumer maybe not but because Atari has failed to promote the Classic Joystick and it's spinner function we may never know for sure.

 

I would say that it is a very innovative controller that takes the original Atari Joystick to new levels and shows that there is still a space in the gaming world for such a device.

 

Atari has not capitalized on this unique controller because they do not yet have enough games that support it's capabilities.

 

Not only the spinner but having the extra buttons on the classic joystick make it a very usable controller on many different games and it works quite well even for a platform game like Sigi.

 

Atari has also failed to provide Trackball support on some of their VCS games (Missile Command Recharged, Breakout Recharged) and even the Vault games on the VCS do not allow for Trackball controls when Steam Vault does.

Edited May 6, 2022 by E. King

[E. King]

On 5/4/2022 at 4:17 PM, Leonard Smith said:

How many games use the spinner anyway? 
I mean, apart from the obvious Tempest?  

Are rotary style games such as Ikari Warriors and Heavy Barrel on the VCS?  

Not enough games on the VCS utilize the spinner in my opinion and that is probably due to most of the games being developed also for other platforms that do not have a spinner function controller.

 

On the VCS the spinner can be used in Breakout Recharged, Asteroids Recharged, Black Widow Recharged, Thrustlander, Guntech and in many Vault games too.  It works great in my opinion on all of these games.

 

Hopefully the upcoming Gravitar Recharged uses the spinner to rotate the ship like in Thrustlander & Asteroids.

 

Having played Atari 2600 for over 40 years, I can't tell you how great it is for me to use the new Classic Joystick on new games and use the spinner feature which takes me back to the days of paddle games.

 

And yes I would really like to see a game like Ikari Warriors or Commando Recharged on the VCS using the spinner to rotate the character.

Edited May 6, 2022 by E. King

[E. King]

23 hours ago, Mockduck said:

I have a theory that in 2022 times Gamestop maybe has some kind of system in place where they essentially auto-clear out old stock, and also a system that re-stocks based on # of sales over a certain period, so that would explain why Gamestop would suddenly dump all of their VCS stock at below rock bottom prices then restock and try to sell at full price...

 

Then again, someone somewhere said they bet Gamestop meant to sell the Onyx All-In at $199 since they'd sold the standalone at $150 and typo'd it to $99, then never corrected it, and that too sounds totally plausible to me...

Yes it is very true that Gamestop will periodically clearance out items as I have bought things before from them at crazy low sale prices.

 

I do think that $99 was a ridiculously low price though and totally possible it was a mistake that was never corrected.

 

I also think there are quite a few people who are overreacting to this clearance by Gamestop since it is just like you said, a normal practice for them to do so.

 

 

[Mockduck]

26 minutes ago, E. King said:

Not enough games on the VCS utilize the spinner in my opinion and that is probably due to most of the games being developed also for other platforms that do not have a spinner function controller.

 

On the VCS the spinner can be used in Breakout Recharged, Asteroids Recharged, Black Widow Recharged, Thrustlander, Guntech and in many Vault games too.  It works great in my opinion on all of these games.

 

Hopefully the upcoming Gravitar Recharged uses the spinner to rotate the ship like in Thrustlander & Asteroids.

 

Having played Atari 2600 for over 40 years, I can't tell you how great it is for me to use the new Classic Joystick on new games and use the spinner feature which takes me back to the days of paddle games.

 

And yes I would really like to see a game like Ikari Warriors or Commando Recharged on the VCS using the spinner to rotate the character.

Also Tempest and Danger Scavenger are great with the Classic, just want them to get mentioned too. Overall there are quite a few games that utilize the spinner, but there could always be more, and a few could use some tweaks, in particular additional sensitivity control. It lives up to its promise and then some, though, in my opinion. The last step needed is wider driver support on the PC side.

[Wizzard]

I just got my VCS today and went through all upgrades to the latest version. So there is still not known BIOS password for that $99 GameStop version?

[zzip]

2 minutes ago, Wizzard said:

I just got my VCS today and went through all upgrades to the latest version. So there is still not known BIOS password for that $99 GameStop version?

You need to downgrade the BIOS and Atari OS first following recovery instructions posted in these forums.  That will cause the known password to be set, and then you can let the system upgrade to the latest version and you should be good to go.

[suspicious_milk]

Omg.... I've been fckng with this thing all weekend.   Most issues have been overcome though (mostly thanks to reading these boards at AA).  If you've the lastest BIOS though, look at this lovely option some have likely missed.

[joeatari1]

54 minutes ago, suspicious_milk said:

If you've the lastest BIOS though, look at this lovely option some have likely missed.

Yes, they introduced that option in the last BIOS update.  Atari said they were working on that option many months ago, but seeing as AMD writes the BIOS for their chip, Atari was at their mercy.  It's nice because that eliminates the need for GRUB and rEFInd when trying to load an alternate OS.

[davpa]

On 5/6/2022 at 12:01 PM, E. King said:

Hopefully the upcoming Gravitar Recharged uses the spinner to rotate the ship like in Thrustlander & Asteroids.

I’m a game tester on the VCS (a very recent thing Atari has setup) and I can confirm that Gravitar: Recharged does use the spinner on the Classic Joystick. It plays fabulously with the Joystick,so much so I almost can’t play it with the Modern Controller. G:R is in my opinion the best of the Recharged line.

[E. King]

2 hours ago, davpa said:

I’m a game tester on the VCS (a very recent thing Atari has setup) and I can confirm that Gravitar: Recharged does use the spinner on the Classic Joystick. It plays fabulously with the Joystick,so much so I almost can’t play it with the Modern Controller. G:R is in my opinion the best of the Recharged line.

Awesome! Thanks for solving this all important question.

[joeatari1]

The Atari VCS has been officially removed from the Game Stop website.  There are no more all in packages, base units or controllers.  Time to keep an eye on Best Buy!

 

[+SabertoothRetro]

I still see both Onyx models listed.  Although the All-In is "Not Available."  Are you on mobile or PC?

 

 

[joeatari1]

9 minutes ago, SabertoothRetro said:

I still see both Onyx models listed.  Although the All-In is "Not Available."  Are you on mobile or PC?

 

 

PC.  Hmm...  Just checked again and nothing is listed.

[Cebus Capucinis]

2 hours ago, joeatari1 said:

The Atari VCS has been officially removed from the Game Stop website.  There are no more all in packages, base units or controllers.  Time to keep an eye on Best Buy!

 

Same here. Searching various terms for VCS just brings up modern games (like RCT) but absolutely nothing related to the system.

 

I'm sure they're just cleaning out everything in preparation for the big 50th anniversary reveal, surely. Or they just love the VCS so much they want to keep it off the website. I mean, retailers clearance items at massive losses then immediately put them back up at full price all the time, right?

[+SabertoothRetro]

I see what happened. I pulled up the listing from my Google search bar. It's still there on the site.  But if you search in the GameStop search bar, it will not come up.