It may compound your expectations, and place their whole spiel about their "heritage" in a different light.
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First look at Atari's new console, "Ataribox"
- Thread starter Immaculate
- Start date
Dreamwriter
Member
No its not, that company went out of business and everyone involved is gone. This is a brand new company built around the Atari brand and franchises.
Yep the big 3 should take note.
FunkyDealer
Banned
I'm loving the look of the wooden version, but I don't think I'd ever use it for anything but decoration and dust gathering.
Crooked16th
Banned
Oyah 2.0
I'm wondering what AMD can provide since the Zen+Vega APU would be too expensive.
Spyder_Monkey
Banned
Why do they think this is a good idea? Atari lost pretty much all their brand recognition 30 years ago unlike Nintendo and to a lesser extent Sega. How many people do they really expect to buy this thing?
Yeah, "Atari" isn't fooling me with their cash-in on the actual Atari's library of games. I might have been wiling to bend a bit on this given my support for the preservation of the medium, especially the historically significant 2600 console, but after what they did to Jeff Minter and Llamasoft, they can go bankrupt for all I care. Maybe then, their IPs will go to someone who can spell them properly.
Soapbox Killer
Grand Nagus
I wish they called it Atari 7801. I'll buy it since I buy everything but I hope this has some straight up arcade style action games. Shoot shit and run type games.
I'm still royally pissed at this company calling itself Atari for successfully blocking the PS4/PC releases of TxK.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-03-18-jeff-minter-beyond-disgusted-with-atari-over-txk-block
So even if this thing is desirable and affordable, they won't be seeing a dime from me.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-03-18-jeff-minter-beyond-disgusted-with-atari-over-txk-block
So even if this thing is desirable and affordable, they won't be seeing a dime from me.
Discomurf
Member
oh... that's a bumber for sure although I'm going to still reserve judgement until they officially roll out more info on this thing.
MatPiscatella
Member
Anyone see any details on dimensions? Looks like something that might not be much bigger than an NES Classic or PlayStation TV?
JigglesBunny
Banned
Definitely taking a wait and see approach here. I bought an Ouya at launch and it wound up in a dumpster a few short years after launch when I moved into my current place.
Fool me once and all that. Who knows though, maybe this will take off.
Fool me once and all that. Who knows though, maybe this will take off.
Azure Phoenix
Member
I don't even understand the point of this.
If it's an Atari ROM box we've already got a billion of them, and 2600 games are unplayable nowadays.
If it's some kind of classic game system we've got a ton of options for ROMs and that interesting Polymega incoming for original carts/discs.
If it's meant to be an Android TV device we've got a billion of them.
If it's meant to be to another Retro VGS, nobody cares.
If it's meant to be some kind of plug and play TV thing for ugly remastered Atari "classics", why all this noise?
If it's meant to be an actual new console, lol DOA.
If it's an Atari ROM box we've already got a billion of them, and 2600 games are unplayable nowadays.
If it's some kind of classic game system we've got a ton of options for ROMs and that interesting Polymega incoming for original carts/discs.
If it's meant to be an Android TV device we've got a billion of them.
If it's meant to be to another Retro VGS, nobody cares.
If it's meant to be some kind of plug and play TV thing for ugly remastered Atari "classics", why all this noise?
If it's meant to be an actual new console, lol DOA.
I'll look into it if that's the case.
sadaiyappan
Member
It looks like an HTPC, I wonder which video card they are using.
PerfectFlaw
Member
Atari Peon: "Sir, making a new games console is incredibly risky. The Atari brand does not hold much weight with today's gamers, but it would be hard with even a relevant company with way more capital. Also, not having any physical media will alienate a large portion of consumers. To even make the things we will have to crowdfund it. And on top of all that-"
Atari Executive: "Let's just do it and be legends."
Atari Executive: "Let's just do it and be legends."
ProgenitorCastle
Banned
That surprisingly hit the right balance between a sleek modern design and staying faithful to the original design of the 2600 I think...I also wonder what the controllers look like?
Geno Breaker
Banned
I hope it has voice chat and decent online options. That's the least you could ask for nowadays.
eyeball_kid
Member
I was not expecting it to look anywhere near as good as this (wood version) does. Of course these are renders, so let's wait for the real hardware to see the quality of materials they use.
Not something I would buy anyway really; the 2600 was my first console, but the games are mostly so primitive that putting another box in my living room for those plus some middling 3D games is not a great sell.
Now if they released paddles and had Warlords...
Not something I would buy anyway really; the 2600 was my first console, but the games are mostly so primitive that putting another box in my living room for those plus some middling 3D games is not a great sell.
Now if they released paddles and had Warlords...
Swimmer9800
Member
Atari is trying to break into a market where the barriers to entry are through the roof. They have 0 chance of thriving when in competition with the big three.
D
Deleted member 10571
Unconfirmed Member
I mean that's literally the same people said about Microsoft entering the scene. Never say never I guess but yeah it sure has to be something to make an impact.
SiegfriedFM
Member
Never owned an Atari system so hard to see a point. All of their classics have been re-released like crazy on everything. Nothing on Jaguar is worth preserving (no, Tempest 2000 was irrelevant the second T-X released).
Even if they do go the nostalgia route and actually make a little effort and remake some classics, will that actually turn heads? Or put another way: if Nintendo had been gone since the SNES, and returned with remakes of Mario Bros, Donkey Kong and Excitebike, would that sell to anyone except the die hard fans?
Also, Microsoft was (is?) one of the richest companies in the world. Unless this new owner is a billionarie philanthropist who happens to have a massive nostalgia boner, there is no comparison.
Even if they do go the nostalgia route and actually make a little effort and remake some classics, will that actually turn heads? Or put another way: if Nintendo had been gone since the SNES, and returned with remakes of Mario Bros, Donkey Kong and Excitebike, would that sell to anyone except the die hard fans?
Also, Microsoft was (is?) one of the richest companies in the world. Unless this new owner is a billionarie philanthropist who happens to have a massive nostalgia boner, there is no comparison.
Omega Kirby
Member
It's an atari nvidia shield people, come on use you heads
I could see myself buying this if it was similar to Game Room and maybe worked with more Arcade games that aren't Atari games. I have one of the 2 current gen comps and I'm fine with that. I want to play other stuff and more modern stuff that might not be represented elsewhere. I have no desire to play old 2600 games though, which I'm guessing will end up being the classic content, along with older Atari arcade stuff.
Incitemaybe
Member
Atari "box"?
I'm not a fan of that name personally.
If it has to be in that vein call it the Atari 10,000 or 10T or something other than box.
I'm not a fan of that name personally.
If it has to be in that vein call it the Atari 10,000 or 10T or something other than box.
Agent X
Member
I disagree. There are many Atari games that are 20, 30, even 40 years old that are still highly enjoyable.
I'd like to see them revive games from all of those platforms, too. Unfortunately, the recent incarnations of Atari (over the last 15 years) have ignored anything that wasn't an arcade or 2600 game.
That's how I feel, too. I don't know if the "new" Atari really understands what made made classic Atari games so appealing. If you look at their efforts to modernize old Atari games, many of them are just sad. They'll dig up an old title, and plaster it on some shovelware that has nothing in common with the original game, other than the plot or theme. At the same time, when the rare opportunity arises that a legendary game designer (e.g. Jeff Minter) eagerly offers to collaborate with them, they snub him.
With that in mind, you might understand why a longtime Atari fan like myself will remain skeptical. Despite that, I'll still hold out hope that maybe they'll "get it right" this time.
I'm sure this will turn out to be shit like everything else, but I'm interested to see what they do. It would be cool if this was a box with games from all the Atari systems of the past, and maybe release some new games that would (almost) run on those old systems too. But it will probably have awful controllers, no support, and a high price point.
Wood box does look great, though.
Wood box does look great, though.
freefornow
Gold Member
At a very rough estimation, based on the ports on the back and the spacing between these ports, it looks roughly like 165mm x 90mm x 20mm
(6 1/2 x 3 1/2 x 3/4 inches)
SealOfTheProphet
Neo Member
Microsoft thriving in the industry was the result of a few events out of their own control.
1) Nintendo going even more kid-friendly (GCN, Wii)
2) Sony killing the greatest console market share of all time with a terrible launch (PS3)
The only thing Microsoft did was having throw away money.
The OG Xbox was not a worthwhile competitor to Sony, doing short of 25 mil (a commercial failure in the industry), and had it been any other company, the Xbox platform would be dead after that.
However, they had the money to throw at an early launch for a next gen console (4 short years).
Which was slightly underpowered, at that. If Sony hadn't made the PS3 confusing to develop for, and didn't royally screw up the launch, 360 would have failed, and after that they'd keep making failing consoles.
I mean look at the market share:
Gen 5
Sony - 103mil sold - 68%
Nintendo - 33mil sold - 22%
Sega - 9mil sold - 7%
3DO, Atari, Others - 3%
Gen 6
Sony - 155mil sold - 73%
Microsoft - 24mil sold - 12%
Nintendo - 22mil sold - 11%
Sega - 9mil sold - 4%
Gen 7
Nintendo - 101mil sold - 38%
Sony - 85mil sold - 32%
Microsoft - 84mil sold - 31%
Microsoft's solely captured market share from Nintendo, while Sony took even more market share in the Sixth Generation.
But Gen 7 Microsoft solely grew on stolen Sony market share. If Sony had retained most of it's market share (factoring in the success of the Wii too).
Gen 7 - alt
Sony - 170mil - 63%
Nintendo - 81mil - 30%
Microsoft - 19mil - 7%
Microsoft's success had only to do with money, and Sony screwing up, something that an Atari console doesn't have (mid gen cycle means no Sony/MS launch fails, no capital means no money)
If it ain't gaudy, it ain't Atari.
Yeah, it needs to have Jaguar support to get any kind of traction, at least with the more hardcore of the retro gaming community. I'd buy the shit out of it for T2K, quicker if the controller comes with a paddle.
Not sure how AvP would work though, I guess licensing would have to come into it.
There isn't a single point of evidence that they have any intentions of going into "competition with the big three".
The only thing they could possibly do to redeem themselves with this box is to make T2K playable. And maybe get Minter to do something else with it (or something).
These seams to be part of a trend, I'm currently following the "zx spectrum next" project. This is actually a zx spectrum in hardware but with enhancements such as changing clock speed and providing hardware sprites and extra ram to encourage the development of new spectrum games.
The Atari box though seams like an emulated environment, question is, is it open to user development?
The Atari box though seams like an emulated environment, question is, is it open to user development?
ElMexiMerican
Member
You could even use the VMU to carry your saves with you to a friend's house.