Atari offers first look at the Ataribox.
 

From Polygon:



A month after revealing it during E3 2017, Atari has shown the first full look at its Ataribox console.

In a newsletter to those who signed up for more information, Atari said the unit's four USB ports and HDMI output "suggest modern internal specs.

"It also means that while we will be delivering classic gaming content, we will also be delivering current gaming content," Atari said.

While it's unlikely Atari is going to jump into a market with Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony, that remark suggests the Ataribox will be a little more open-ended than something like the NES Classic Edition or SNES Classic Edition.

The black, ribbed look evokes the deck of the original Atari VCS/2600. The front panel will be available either in glass or in a wood design that likewise recalls the original system.

"We know you are hungry for more details; on specs, games, features, pricing, timing etc.," the Ataribox makers said in the newsletter. "There are a lot of milestones, challenges and decision points in front of us in the months ahead." Atari promised regular updates on the console's development.

https://www.polygon.com/2017/7/17/15...esign-pictures

Re: Atari offers first look at the Ataribox.
 

Ehh... Ben from Polygon, and Kyle from Ars both put this into perspective:

http://i.imgur.com/bDt3ccm.png

Also, this twitter thread:

Re: Atari offers first look at the Ataribox.
 

I don't get the statement
They're making the thing, can't they do more than guess?

Re: Atari offers first look at the Ataribox.
 

Blame that on the poorly worded article.

Here's the linked Atari newsletter.

http://mailchi.mp/fe72ea5be6f5/first...n?e=a93e75dbcb

Re: Atari offers first look at the Ataribox.
 

I'm expecting another Android box like the Amazon Fire TV, but with Atari games built in and/or available to download. The SD port is probably to add storage, not for physical media.

4 USB ports is a surprise, although it may be a sign that they won't be doing wireless controllers.

Re: Atari offers first look at the Ataribox.
 

4 USB Ports? So it's a raspberry pi?

Re: Atari offers first look at the Ataribox.
 

Supposedly the French press release says that to minimize risk to Atari they're going to try to crowdfund this. Good luck, Ouya v.2.

Re: Atari offers first look at the Ataribox.
 

I grew up and love Atari as much as the next guy but I can't imagine 2600 games holding up all that well compared to something like NES era games.

Re: Atari offers first look at the Ataribox.
 

I think you're forgetting about the wealth of Jaguar games like... wait, I can think of a couple... maybe one... nope, drawing a blank, lemme look them up to jog my memory... hmm... well, I thought Todd's Adventure in Slime World for the Lynx was pretty fun.

Re: Atari offers first look at the Ataribox.
 

Yes. Nobody forget that this company stomped out the release of TxK on anything other than PSVita despite decades of precedent that genre-clones are not infringement.

Oh, and they did this so they could release absolutely NOTHING under the Tempest banner. I don't want to hear about what they might release on this new box until there is a real, tangible product that justifies the argument.

Company grudges aside, does anyone here think the mass market is going to be receptive to any retro boxes besides Nintendo's? Seems to me they and they alone have a unique type of mindshare that can actually draw a real audience to this niche. I don't even think the new Genesis unit is going to do much, whether or not AtGames produces something of quality for once.

Re: Atari offers first look at the Ataribox.
 

If you put out a quality Genesis one, I'd bite, but I'd have to hear nothing but glowing reviews after the crapfests they've put out in the past. Same for a Saturn and Dreamcast one, especially since those don't really show up on Virtual consoles anywhere.

Re: Atari offers first look at the Ataribox.
 

The Alien vs Predator game on the Jaguar was pretty good, Tempest 2000 rocked, a few decent others.

The Lynx was my favorite system ever; mainly for multiplayer Slime World, Warlords, and Checkered Flag.

Re: Atari offers first look at the Ataribox.
 

I don't know what your're smoking, I can't wait to "play" E.T. again!

Re: Atari offers first look at the Ataribox.
 

Man that gives me flashbacks to the 2600 Superman game. For the longest time as a kid I had no idea what you were supposed to be doing, but I still loved it.

Re: Atari offers first look at the Ataribox.
 

Yeah! I had...oh, let's see, California Games, Pac-Land, Rampage, Scrapyard Dog, Todd's Adventures in Slime World, and Xenophobe. It feels like I have to be forgetting something, but I'm not sure what. My best friend growing up had Blue Lightning, and that was pretty incredible. I was so convinced that ComLynx would dominate the world.

My grandparents bought a 2600 and a huge stack of games at a garage sale or something so we'd have something to play when we came to visit. A lot of 'em were pick-up-and-play (like Spider-Man), but E.T. -- I just had absolutely no idea what to do. I seem to just remember falling in a pit and levitating slightly (but not enough?).

Re: Atari offers first look at the Ataribox.
 

Pretty much my memory of it as well :lol: I think there was also running away from people time to time, only to fall into the pit and repeat.

Re: Atari offers first look at the Ataribox.
 

E.T. you say? Here's a speed run completed in less than three minutes.

Re: Atari offers first look at the Ataribox.
 

I still have a 2600 (the sexy "Vader" model). I find that a lot of the paddle-based games are still really fun - specifically Warlords, Circus Atari, Kaboom!, Super Breakout, and Night Driver. Indy 500 is also a lot of fun (with the Driving Controller). No other prominent system since then has really done the rotary-controller thing well, so it at least has that going for it.

Re: Atari offers first look at the Ataribox.
 

I used to play Empire Strikes Back on the Atari wondering just when I was going to "win" the game. I'm still playing 36 years later.

Re: Atari offers first look at the Ataribox.
 

I've already praised E.T. on here before, but it wasn't nearly as bad as everyone said. It's biggest problem was the awful pit levitation and that you really needed to read the instruction manual to know what you needed to do. It didn't have that "pick up and play" quality that most of the really simple games had.

Most of the Activision games have a lot of replay value, even now. Adventure is solid. My Atari still gets a fair amount of playtime

Re: Atari offers first look at the Ataribox.
 

E.T. had some serious bugs in it (due to the speed at which it was developed, surely) and some big gameplay issues.

There's a page with some hex edits to make the game suck less, plus some bug fixes.

http://www.neocomputer.org/projects/et/

I agree on the Atari replayability. I had a 2600 in the late 80s, being a poor kid, we were always a generation or two behind.

NES games are still very replayable, but Atari games...most of them, not so much. I agree on the paddle games - they are some of the better ones but hard to do via emulation. I personally like Kaboom! a lot, I can play on my Analogue NT or via emulator, but getting paddle controllers is harder.

Re: Atari offers first look at the Ataribox.
 

If you can get your hands on original paddle controllers on ebay or whatever, 25 more dollars will get you this to use them with an emulator (works out of the box with Stella):
http://www.2600-daptor.com/

That said, I find using a real 2600 is still best for those games.

Re: Atari offers first look at the Ataribox.
 

Yeah I remember playing E.T. a lot as a kid and beat it numerous times. The levitating out of the pit was annoying at first, but wasn't that bad once you got the hang of it.

I still have my 2600 in a box somewhere (the slim one, as the faux wood one we had broke) with all my games, but haven't played it in ages. I'm not even sure how to hook it up.

Re: Atari offers first look at the Ataribox.
 

Hrm

Been doing my 2600 gaming on my Analogue NT, too bad there's no 2600 -> NES adapter.

I might consider it, I'm not big on Atari era gaming, but it would be cool to play Kaboom! again.

Re: Atari offers first look at the Ataribox.
 

I loved my Lynx! Maybe you meant Warbirds, the WWI flying game? That one supported 8 player networking, I believe, although I never played more than 3.

I loved all of the Atari/Midway arcade ports to the Lynx, stuff like APB, Rampage, Klax, Rampart, Stun Runner, etc just blew away anything on the much inferior Gameboy. The hardware update they did pretty much perfected it with the sharper screen and much smaller size.

Re: Atari offers first look at the Ataribox.
 

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dk2fwXrhdRQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Re: Atari offers first look at the Ataribox.
 

Yep, definitely meant Warbirds, it was great.

I think I ended up with four Lynxes, although I haven't played them in several years now. I hope I remembered to take the batteries out......

Re: Atari offers first look at the Ataribox.
 

Ataribox runs Linux on AMD chip and will cost at least $250.

Atari released more details about its Ataribox game console today, disclosing for the first time that the machine will run Linux on an Advanced Micro Devices processor and cost $250 to $300.

In an exclusive interview last week with GamesBeat, Ataribox creator and general manager Feargal Mac (short for Mac Conuladh) said Atari will begin a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo this fall and launch the Ataribox in the spring of 2018.

The Ataribox will launch with a large back catalog of the publisher’s classic games. The idea is to create a box that makes people feel nostalgic about the past, but it’s also capable of running the independent games they want to play today, like Minecraft or Terraria.

The new box will have an AMD custom processor with Radeon graphics. It will run the Linux operating system, with a user interface it’s customizing for TVs. Mac said that the machine will run PC games, but it will also be capable of doing streaming, running apps, browsing the web, and playing music.

As far as games go, the machine will run the kind of games that a mid-range PC can do today, but it won’t run Triple-A games that require high-end PC performance.

Atari will factor in feedback from fans, particularly on things like content, colors, special editions, early access, and design options. But it has made some key decisions on the design, which pays homage to older consoles such as the Atari 2600, which debuted in 1977.

Mac joined Atari for this project, and it wouldn’t be happening without his involvement. As an aside, he’ll be a speaker at our upcoming GamesBeat Summit 2018 event on April 9-10 in Berkeley, California.

Mac thought of the idea for the box when he saw kids and their friends connecting laptops to TVs so they could play Minecraft and other software that they didn’t have readily available on consoles.

Mac has been involved in technology companies for years. His past companies include FMTwo Game, Now Computing, and MediaLab Barcelona. As Atari started talking about the project, Mac was astounded to see how much love people had for Atari.

“I was blown away when a 12-year-old knew every single game Atari had published. That’s brand magic. We’re coming in like a startup with a legacy,” Mac said. “We’ve attracted a lot of interest, and AMD showed a lot of interest in supporting us and working with us. With Indiegogo, we also have a strong partnership.”

Mac said Indiegogo will be able to offer stronger international support for crowdfunding as well as hardware support. As a Linux-based open system, the Ataribox will also promote freedom for users to run what they want.

Users will have free access to the underlying OS to customize as they wish.
“People are used to the flexibility of a PC, but most connected TV devices have closed systems and content stores,” he said.

“We wanted to create a killer TV product where people can game, stream and browse with as much freedom as possible, including accessing pre-owned games from other content providers.”

In an interview with GamesBeat in June, Atari CEO Fred Chesnais confirmed the company was working on a new console as part of both a retro revival and a new era for Atari.

The New York company is cashing in on the popularity of retro games and Nintendo’s NES Classic Edition, which turned out to be surprisingly popular for providing a method to easily play old games like Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda in HD on a TV. Atari’s classics include Asteroids, Centipede, Missile Command, and Pong.

“People are used to the flexibility of a PC, but most connected TV devices have closed systems and content stores,” Mac said. “Ataribox is an open system, and while our user interface will be easy to use, people will also be free to access and customize the underlying OS.

We’ve chosen to launch Ataribox with Indiegogo given their focus on delivering technology products, and their strong international presence in over 200 countries, allowing us to reach and involve as many Atari fans around the world as possible.”

“It’s a very flexible product, and you won’t need to spend more money if you don’t want to,” he said. “In some ways, you are buying some freedom.”
Atari will discuss details on the content and partnerships later. For more info, you can sign up at Ataribox.

“With Ataribox, we wanted to create an open system, a killer product where people can game, stream and browse with as much freedom as possible. Atari games and content will be available as well as games and content from other providers,” said Chesnais, in a statement.

“We also wanted to launch Ataribox with our community, and reward our fans with exclusive early access, special editions, and include them as active participants in the product rollout.”

https://venturebeat.com/2017/09/25/a...-at-least-249/

$250 to $300 hundred dollars? Someone has lost their minds.

Re: Atari offers first look at the Ataribox.
 

:lol: good luck selling it at that price. Even as someone who likes retro games no way would I come even close to paying that. Atari games are fun for a while but don't have nearly the appeal of something like classic Nintendo or Sega.

Re: Atari offers first look at the Ataribox.
 

It sounds like it's a Steambox

Re: Atari offers first look at the Ataribox.
 

Is it just me or is that press release/article really poorly written? Like they use the same quotes multiple times.

Re: Atari offers first look at the Ataribox.
 

Yeah, but I don't know why a person would buy one simply because it's Atari branded. Seems like they're throwing in unnecessary extras to try and justify a higher price point.

Re: Atari offers first look at the Ataribox.
 

Who is this made for? It sounds like someone's harebrained get rich quick scheme.

<img src="http://www.funnymotivationalposters.info/wp-content/uploads/gravity_forms/1/2011/12/ThatsGoldJerryGold.jpg" />

Re: Atari offers first look at the Ataribox.
 

Yeah, we already have an Alienware steambox for PC gaming. I would have rather this be their own unique take on a console, or maybe some kind of portable (with hundreds of the old style games already onboard).

Re: Atari offers first look at the Ataribox.
 

That price is insane. You can get an nBox for less, and it's a better machine.

Re: Atari offers first look at the Ataribox.
 

I meant Steam Machine, my bad. A standard Steam Machine still goes for around $600 or $700, but they're basically full PCs just with SteamOS, this would be cheaper but I still question the benefits.

Re: Atari offers first look at the Ataribox.
 

No idea what the hell these guys are thinking. There is no market for another console outside PS4/XO.. even XO is having trouble holding on to its space in there.

How do these obviously DoA console projects get funded, over and over again??

Re: Atari offers first look at the Ataribox.
 

Sounds like someone took a steamer in the box and think it is worth 250 bucks or more. This thing will end up on the shelves at Big Lots in 6 months.

Re: Atari offers first look at the Ataribox.
 

A guy knows a guy. There are a lot of clueless investors out there who invest based on a chain of personal introductions.

Re: Atari offers first look at the Ataribox.
 

I don't know what AMD chip is actually in here, but given the price it might provide decent performance. I wonder how hackable it will be given it runs Linux too. That said, not sure what value people would get out of it versus the base PS4 or Xbox One, or how the performance compares.