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Atari VCS goes up for pre-order for $249 and up

Bullet Club

Bullet Club

Member
83n9IWj.gif


Atari VCS goes up for pre-order for $249 and up

he Atari VCS is a brand new video game console with a retro-style design and support for both new and classic video games. It’s expected to ship in December to backers of last year’s Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign, but if you weren’t a backer you’ll be able to pre-order one starting today.

The system goes up for pre-order for $249 and up at Walmart, GameStop and the Atari VCS website starting today, and new customers should get their systems starting in March, 2020.

uyNNvm3.jpg


The hood, the Atari VCS is basically a compact computer with an AMD Ryzen Embedded R1000 processor and support for 4K60 video output. It runs a custom Linux-based operating system called Atari OS and ships with more than 100 classic games pre-installed, but it’ll also support new titles.

Users will also be able to run other apps — there’s an “Atari Sandbox Mode” that “unlocks an open and expandable multimedia PC enabling complete freedom and versatility,” whatever that means.

There are three prices/configurations available:
  • Atari VCS 400 with 4GB of RAM for $249
  • Atari VCS 800 with 8GB of RAM for $279
  • Atari VCS 800 + joystick and gamepad for $379
The Atari VCS also comes in a few different color/design options. If you buy from the Atari VCS website you’ll get a black walnut design, while GameStop will have an all-black “Onyx” model, and Walmart will have a “Kevlar Gold” version.

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Source: Lilputing
 
CobraAB

CobraAB

Member
Being an old school Atari guy, I think this is pretty cool.

Price is just to much IMO though.

Wish them all the best.
 
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R

Ryllix_

Member
This is really cool, but that price is gonna make it dead on arrival. Even as an old-school Atari fan it's impossible to justify this.
 
#Phonepunk#

#Phonepunk#

Banned
We had an Atari 7800 when I grew up. Pretty sure we didn’t spend that much on the console and all the games even given inflation.

Man people just have too much disposable income these days
 
D

Deleted member 738976

Unconfirmed Member
Well to be fair I'll give them credit for including a normal optional controller unlike that Intellivison garbage.
 
G

Gandara

Member
Those prices are crazy. I'm sorry, but I would rather buy a modern day console if I'm going to be paying that much. I'm glad I've never been nostalgic for the Atari VCS.
 
Petrae

Petrae

Member
I’d love to see nothing more than this thing failing miserably, as it comes from a bunch of opportunistic shysters who bought the Atari name purely for the cash potential and to capitalize on nostalgia.

That said, video game consumers tend to be quick to drop tons of cash sight unseen on pretty much anything— so enough of these things will probably sell to make it worthwhile.
 
Romulus

Romulus

Member
I just don't understand the pricing model and who this is targeting. Pretty much any Atari game is easily emulated.
 
Soapbox Killer

Soapbox Killer

Grand Nagus
The specs put this on the level of a Xbox One and maybe a bit higher. It is an interesting device but only games decide its future.
 
nkarafo

nkarafo

Member
The 4GB and 8GB RAM models suggest this is a proper computer and not an "emulation box". Not sure about the CPU.

Emulators don't need more than a couple of GB RAM unless you are emulating more recent stuff than 6th gen consoles. Let alone the Atari 2600.

But selling it as an "Atari VCS" system gives the wrong impression it's a weak system that isn't much better than a cheap Raspberry Pi.
 
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thicc_girls_are_teh_best

thicc_girls_are_teh_best

Member
nkarafo said:
The 4GB and 8GB RAM models suggest this is a proper computer and not an "emulation box". Not sure about the CPU.

Emulators don't need more than a couple of GB RAM unless you are emulating more recent stuff than 6th gen consoles. Let alone the Atari 2600.

But selling it as an "Atari VCS" system gives the wrong impression it's a weak system that isn't much better than a cheap Raspberry Pi.
Click to expand...

Honestly that's the least of its problems ATM; there's very little "console-like" with where it stands now given all the QoL features it lacks which consoles these days tend to feature. Stuff like needing to reconfigure the controller per game and lacking a console-style frontend, plus whatever else that Register article mentioned.

Who are they going to get to replace the ex-Xbox guy who left? Do they have any other modern games coming to it besides Tempest 4000? These are the questions.
 
Mihos

Mihos

Gold Member
Hmm, I have the indigogo woodgrain version preordered and forgot about this. Wonder how much RAM it will come with.
 
Mihos

Mihos

Gold Member
nkarafo said:
The 4GB and 8GB RAM models suggest this is a proper computer and not an "emulation box". Not sure about the CPU.

Emulators don't need more than a couple of GB RAM unless you are emulating more recent stuff than 6th gen consoles. Let alone the Atari 2600.

But selling it as an "Atari VCS" system gives the wrong impression it's a weak system that isn't much better than a cheap Raspberry Pi.
Click to expand...

It's a Ryzen R1000 and the VCS can run full version of windows/linux/steamos/chromeos out of the box. No idea how it will perform, but it it plays at least as many steam games as my GPD win, that's not bad.
 
wipeout364

wipeout364

Member
Do we have a list of games that are going to be on this, hardware and controllers look great but I don’t think I’ve heard anything about software.
This is one case where I would want the regular looking edition with the wood grain not the special EB or Walmart edition.
It would be pretty cool if they had access to all the Atari ip and made new versions of the games.
 
Solarstrike

Solarstrike

Gold Member
From the Atari VCS website: "...play games at up to 4K resolution and 60fps."


Who would have thought society would be so desensitized and numb to be suckered into paying over $300 + a subscription fee to play old Atari games which will have no discernible visual difference in 4k resolution compared to native. Atari just seems like it wants to cash in on that disposable millennial income. edit: If Google (a mega-billion dollar company) can't even get Stadia to stream recent games in 4k @60fps, how does Atari think it can?
 
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Solarstrike

Solarstrike

Gold Member
Not off to a good start. I'm trying to Pre-Order this. When i click the orange "Pre-Order" Now button, a sub-menu opens up but it's not aligned properly. It's cut off preventing the placement of order information. Anyone else having this problem? I tried changing resolution of my display and opening link in different browsers. No luck getting the menu to display correctly.


Edit: Fixed it by right-click on page then going into the browser options "Zoom" function. Putting it at %150 seemed to fix it.
 
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Solarstrike

Solarstrike

Gold Member
Yeah ,smh. Something is telling me to hold off buying this. Had it in my cart, then just couldn't pull the trigger. $400+ is just too much money for this at the moment. If Atari threw in some extra goodies for Pre-Order i might reconsider.
 
thicc_girls_are_teh_best

thicc_girls_are_teh_best

Member
Solarstrike said:
Yeah ,smh. Something is telling me to hold off buying this. Had it in my cart, then just couldn't pull the trigger. $400+ is just too much money for this at the moment. If Atari threw in some extra goodies for Pre-Order i might reconsider.
Click to expand...

Please don't buy this. It's not worth your money, even for curiosity. It's basically a Linux PC and you'll have to set up your controller for each game you play.

I usually don't like dissuading people from purchases I personally wouldn't do but this VCS is just a flat out broken promise and not what they sold it to the public on. It's amazing to see how opposite this and the Intellivision Amico have turned out; at least the Amico seems to want to be an actual game console and has handled its PR much better.

....and has some actual 1st party content that aren't just re-releases of 2600 games.
 
stranno

stranno

Member
Solarstrike said:
From the Atari VCS website: "...play games at up to 4K resolution and 60fps."


Who would have thought society would be so desensitized and numb to be suckered into paying over $300 + a subscription fee to play old Atari games which will have no discernible visual difference in 4k resolution compared to native. Atari just seems like it wants to cash in on that disposable millennial income. edit: If Google (a mega-billion dollar company) can't even get Stadia to stream recent games in 4k @60fps, how does Atari think it can?
Click to expand...
And most of those games were designed around the CRT limitations: ghosting, color blending, noise, texture pattern.

Those graphics barely make any sense in an emulator/modern screen.

It could be packed with the top-notch Stella CRT filter, but, still, not the same thing.
 
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D

Deleted member 774430

Unconfirmed Member
They should have just released the gamepad for PC as a cool retro gadget.
 
iconmaster

iconmaster

Banned
Piw4.gif


Lotta red flags on this one.

Edit: Huh, the controllers were designed with help from PowerA. Those might be alright.
 
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kurisu_1974

kurisu_1974

is on perm warning for being a low level troll
Was it even ever actually out? I thought they pivoted to some weird keyboard hardware or something.
 
ultrazilla

ultrazilla

Gold Member
Solarstrike said:
From the Atari VCS website: "...play games at up to 4K resolution and 60fps."


Who would have thought society would be so desensitized and numb to be suckered into paying over $300 + a subscription fee to play old Atari games which will have no discernible visual difference in 4k resolution compared to native. Atari just seems like it wants to cash in on that disposable millennial income. edit: If Google (a mega-billion dollar company) can't even get Stadia to stream recent games in 4k @60fps, how does Atari think it can?
Click to expand...

Bro they can *probably* get Yars Revenge and Combat up to 4k/60fps. They might have to cut down on some graphics settings but I think they can hit that mark. :messenger_tears_of_joy:
 
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