Ataribox Design First Look

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
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The new Ataribox can put the wood to you, or give you some very nice red accents. I know I dream about still playing Pitfall, but I doubt I really want to do it again. That all said, that is some pretty nice looking hardware.

As quick look at the exposed ports close-up show 4 USB, 1 HDMI, 1 power, 1 USB-C possibly, and 1 SD card slot.

If you are not up with the Ataribox, it is in much the same vein as the NEWS Classic. Thanks Lifelite!

As you can guess, those ports suggest modern internal specs. It also means that while we will be delivering classic gaming content, we will also be delivering current gaming content.

Check out the pics.
 
Why? I have no long-term love-affair with the 2600. It was a system we played because we had no other choice at the time. The games that we all "loved" are actually very simple, mostly just arcade ports.

The ST was a clumsy gaming system (Think Genesis without the VDP), and there's not much else to highlight there.

There's the 800, but I'm not sure how many people even remember that system.

Jaguar? Huh? Were there any games worth playing?

The only people who will find this enticing are people who jumped on the Atari bandwagon, and then ditched after the crash because it wasn't cool anymore.

Everyone else has either already bought their Atari Vault, or just went straight to MAME many years back.
 
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If they're manufacturing 2 boxes they've already failed.
They should have 1 product with a wooden decal magnet/clip on the front.
 
Why? I have no long-term love-affair with the 2600. It was a system we played because we had no other choice at the time. The games that we all "loved" are actually very simple, mostly just arcade ports.

The ST was a clumsy gaming system, and there's not much else to highlight there.

There's the 800, but I'm not sure how many people even remember that system.

Jaguar? Huh? Were there any games worth playing?

The only people who will find this enticing are people who jumped on the Atari bandwagon, and then ditched after the crash because it wasn't cool anymore.

Everyone else has either already bought their Atari Vault, or just went straight to MAME many years back.

Hell.. I had the Atari 2600, and then moved on to my first "computer"... The Atari 400 with the membrane keyboard!.. Those were some good ol days..
 
My favorite of the Atari 2600 games was Adventure. I assume anyone in there mid 30's and older knows what the worst was.
Something Something big hole in new mexico.

I didn't know that Atari (or Infogrames to be accurate) was fiscally able to release a console. I feel like this will be a bit underpowered compared to current consoles (ps4 pro or "xbox one x one X one xbox"), but could be wrong. It's definitely beautifully designed.
 
Could be cool with updates to Atari-era favorites if cheap and done well. Then throw an emulator to play the arcade and 2600/5200/7800 version in with it. So, you buy Asteroids 2018, you get 2600 Asteroids, as well as arcade Asteroids. If they came up with a cheap add-on for the trackball, they could be a niche in the retro market.
 
Unfortunately, the only info on the ataribox.com is the video, which I can't view at work. I certainly hope it's more than a retro gaming system, as what would be required for Atari 2600 games is so low, and the 7800 and Jaguar were so limited in sales, there isn't enough nostalgia to sell. Now, Atari owns a huge IP collection of games going into the modern age, and if it is designed to play those as well, could be a neat box.
 
If they're manufacturing 2 boxes they've already failed.
They should have 1 product with a wooden decal magnet/clip on the front.

If you actually look at the pics or video, you can easily see that the front of the box is woodgrain or black and the back, where the ports are, is red.

Edit: If you look at the pics, you can also easily see that these are just 3d renderings and not even pre-productions units.

I highly doubt that there will be two different boxes. At the most they will include a woodgrain sticker to attach to the black face if you want it to be woodgrain.

Or maybe they would provide a changeable face and also allow you to switch between red and white for the ATARI logo light.
 
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This is no Phantom 2.0. It is too easy to make a Nvidia Shield or AMD based console atm with a quick call to AMD or Nvidia and some money. Or even a mobile chipset based device from Qualcom. Now long term support? Could this be the next Ouya? Now that could happen.
But the shenanigans of Phantom? There is just no way.
 
looking at the size i don't think this will compete with true home console like Xbox or PS4. when Atari mention the hardware will be based on "PC-tech" some people expect full blown home console like Xbox or PS4. but this might turn out to be another Ouya....i will be rolling on the floor if this is android base XD
 
If it's JUST, say, 2600 games or something that's kinda stupid. I still love Yar's Revenge, and there were a couple of other good ones on it, but yeah... Plenty of other ways to play those games, and most aren't all that good.

However, if it includes all of Atari's Arcade games, that might be pretty cool. Escape from the Planet of the Robot Monsters, Marble Madness, Paperboy, etc. There are plenty of ways to play these too of course, but with them we're getting into semi-useful/desirable territory. There are others that would be cool too. Maybe they can get some Williams, Midway, etc. on there too. Maybe get some of their ST Computer lineup, though those were mostly inferior Amiga ports... They had a few good ones though.

I see potential, but Atari isn't exactly known for their execution.
 
My favorite of the Atari 2600 games was Adventure. I assume anyone in there mid 30's and older knows what the worst was.

Pac-Man? Shitty port.

If you're going by ET, it wasn't the worst game. It was the worst when it came to logistics. They had made more carts than there were Atari's out there. They expected it to sell hardware, which it didn't. 6 weeks to make a game like that with 1 person? It wasn't a bad game. It was a decent game. They just tried to ride the hype of the movie and thought they'd be able to sell a ton of them, which they couldn't.

I'd be for this. Many rumors floating around. Some say it'll be like the NES classic, some say it'll be more like Ouya. I think if priced right, and not nickeled and dimed to death, it'd be a nice little box. Put some 2600, 5200, 7800/Jaguar/Arcade stuff in there, and I'd be all for it.

My personal thoughts, though - the retro gaming thing is getting huge. I think it's more of a money grab than anything. People from kids to adults that lived through these things and played the original hardware are wanting to go back and play those old games. NES Classic was huge. SNES Classic will be, too. Atari just wants some of the nostalgia money. Which is fine. They are getting in before the bubble bursts. As long as they do this right, I think we'll be good. Play some more old games and some new stuff. I'll be happy. Unless it's $100 and pay $20 per game or some BS.
 
the problem with atari... is they were fun when i was 4-8 years old before NES really made us all go crazy and everyone in the neighborhood slowly got one form age 5 to 8.... there have been a dozen atari systems on sale for a few years now and most people care to forget them. Atari was great but there isnt enough $ to be made here.
 
This is what Nintendo should of done.

It said it'll play classic games, as well as new ones...

So I think Atari will release their entire library, and hopefully have 3rd party support for indie devs to release all their pixelated games.

But I could be wrong. We'll see!
 
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I grew up on the Atari 7800 + 5.25" floppy drive.. big giant box of pirated games from my dads friend :D tons of fun.. spent so many hours on Return of Herakles!
 
I keep my old 2600 and a few games for looks nostalgia. I haven't powered it up in years though and have no real desire to do so. Just being Frank, very few old Atari games hold replay nostalgia even though I had 400, 800 and 1040ST.
 
My personal thoughts, though - the retro gaming thing is getting huge. I think it's more of a money grab than anything. People from kids to adults that lived through these things and played the original hardware are wanting to go back and play those old games. NES Classic was huge. SNES Classic will be, too. Atari just wants some of the nostalgia money. Which is fine. They are getting in before the bubble bursts. As long as they do this right, I think we'll be good. Play some more old games and some new stuff. I'll be happy. Unless it's $100 and pay $20 per game or some BS.

Of course it is, but this is a money grab which is answering the long-time demand of retro-gamers. Us retro-gamers have relied on emulators for around 20 years. But what used to take a whole console can now be shrunk into a few small chips plus a single flash chip could hold every NES and SNES game ever made. It is financially feasible now. plus, they could provide an online library which you can buy individual games for 99 cents. The CPU, flash memory and a transmitter all integrated into a classic NES or SNES controller. On the receiving end, plug a receiver into an HDMI port.
 
Let's assume for a sec that it's Android based. This would actually be a nice base to root, and load up with a metric ton of emulators. Sure, there are more than plenty of other options, (I have a Shield TV for example) but this one would be pretty cool I think in this particular case.
 
Of course it is, but this is a money grab which is answering the long-time demand of retro-gamers. Us retro-gamers have relied on emulators for around 20 years. But what used to take a whole console can now be shrunk into a few small chips plus a single flash chip could hold every NES and SNES game ever made. It is financially feasible now. plus, they could provide an online library which you can buy individual games for 99 cents. The CPU, flash memory and a transmitter all integrated into a classic NES or SNES controller. On the receiving end, plug a receiver into an HDMI port.

If it's just for the money, I feel it'll be like an Atgames Genesis clone. Subpar, crap quality. If done right, it'll be great. It sounds like they are doing good, but I also bet on the Jaguar... Which I still enjoy, but it didn't do too well commercially.

It's being hyped quite a bit by Atari. Letting info out little by little to keep the hype up.
 
This is no Phantom 2.0. It is too easy to make a Nvidia Shield or AMD based console atm with a quick call to AMD or Nvidia and some money. Or even a mobile chipset based device from Qualcom. Now long term support? Could this be the next Ouya? Now that could happen.
But the shenanigans of Phantom? There is just no way.

Agreed. Phantom shenanigans are up there, I'm surprised there's not an American Greed episode on it. It was a hoodwink smoke and mirrors dance like that of John Spano (granted, Spano's was much larger and more impressive).
 
can't you run atari 2600 games in mame?

Unless there was some form of 2600-based arcade cabinet, I don't think so. However, Stella will run them just fine. Unless you're thinking of MESS. It's like MAME, but for consoles.
 
Atari already made Atari Flashback 7 (and presumably 1,2,3,4,5 and 6): https://www.target.com/p/atari-flashback-7-classic-game-console/-/A-51236334#lnk=sametab

It's already the same idea as NEC Classic. Atari actually did it first. but since their games do not have nearly the same nostalgic value as the NES games do, like Legend of Zelda and Super Mario Bros., it wasn't a big smash.

This is just trying to capitalize on the NES Classics' hype.. which was more deserved imho.

Now if this game has more stuff in it like the entire line of atari Arcade games, plus the good ones from the later consoles, it might be pretty good actually. But I don't really care about 2600 games...
 
It's already the same idea as NEC Classic.

Now you're talking!!! (yes I know it was a typo, but...) TG16 that reads HuCards, has an SD slot for CD ISOs. Once again, TONS of ways to play these games already, but a TG/PCEngine specific box that could play the entire library including SuperGrafx... Nice...
 
Unless there was some form of 2600-based arcade cabinet, I don't think so. However, Stella will run them just fine. Unless you're thinking of MESS. It's like MAME, but for consoles.
I checked and there's no more mess, it has merged with MAME so now it includes consoles and computers
 
I checked and there's no more mess, it has merged with MAME so now it includes consoles and computers

Aha! Makes sense. Might as well do that since MAME includes just about any chipset ever used for gaming.
 
Agreed. Far worse than ET.

And yet, its sound effects are used in countless movies... :D

I don't mean the waka of the arcade version (though that's used in Tron) but the baow-baow of the 2600 version. I've heard it in tons of movies, cartoons, etc.
 
But what used to take a whole console can now be shrunk into a few small chips plus a single flash chip could hold every NES and SNES game ever made. It is financially feasible now.

Now? What? It has been financially feasible for 10+ years. Jeri Ellsworth's C64 joystick (2004) and the Atari Flashback 2 (2005) are prime examples. Both used SoC technology to recreate the original hardware and run original unmodified code.

Atari already made Atari Flashback 7 (and presumably 1,2,3,4,5 and 6): https://www.target.com/p/atari-flashback-7-classic-game-console/-/A-51236334#lnk=sametab It's already the same idea as NEC Classic. Atari actually did it first. but since their games do not have nearly the same nostalgic value as the NES games do, like Legend of Zelda and Super Mario Bros., it wasn't a big smash. This is just trying to capitalize on the NES Classics' hype.. which was more deserved imho.

No, Atari did NOT do it first. Aside from the C64 example listed above, these home devices go back even further. Look at the stuff from Jakks Pacific or Radica for examples. If anything, Nintendo jumped on the hype/cash grab bandwagon of what other people have been doing for years. It is nothing new, but if you want to buy into nonsense Nintendo revisionist history, be my guest. As for nostalgia value, it is going to depend on your age and gaming experience. To blindly write it off Atari nostalgia is just wrong. Also, Atari did not "make" anything after Flashback 2. Flashback and Flashback 2 were official Atari products. AtGames produced Flashback 3 and higher under license from Atari. Atari did not sell those units under their name.

So I think Atari will release their entire library.....

This is just not going to happen. Atari's back catalog across their various devices includes a ton of home ports of arcade titles. Some of their most popular titles were home versions of Berzerk, Space Invaders, Frogger, etc. Atari does not hold publishing rights on those games and have not for many years. When they negotiated these licenses back in the day, they only had a limited amount of years to publish those titles. They can't go back and use those games again without renegotiating the licenses again and that will drive the price on the console through the roof.....unless the rightsholders and Atari agree to market those games as a separate purchase via DLC or some other method.

Full disclosure from me... I am one of the three guys that developed the Atari Flashback 2 hardware. Curt Vendel was the real genius of that device and he deserves the overwhelming majority of the credit for what was achieved. We put together a system-on-a-chip device that replicated the original hardware and ran UNMODIFIED Atari game code. In fact, it included solder points on the circuit board so hackers/tinkerers could put in their own cartridge port and run 2600 cartridges. As noted above, yes, the AtGames Flashback units are hot garbage. It is my understanding that they just license the Atari name/assets and make their own devices with an ARM processor and emulator using Atari's branding.
 
[QUOTE="J3RK, post: 1043114228, member: 83233".....if it includes all of Atari's Arcade games, that might be pretty cool. Escape from the Planet of the Robot Monsters, Marble Madness, Paperboy, etc....[/QUOTE]

None of those are Atari properties. Those are Atari Games properties (post-Tramiel Atari split) that are now under the control of Warner Brothers. Can't use those games without re-licensing them & I doubt that will happen.
 
Full disclosure from me... I am one of the three guys that developed the Atari Flashback 2 hardware. Curt Vendel was the real genius of that device and he deserves the overwhelming majority of the credit for what was achieved. We put together a system-on-a-chip device that replicated the original hardware and ran UNMODIFIED Atari game code. In fact, it included solder points on the circuit board so hackers/tinkerers could put in their own cartridge port and run 2600 cartridges. As noted above, yes, the AtGames Flashback units are hot garbage. It is my understanding that they just license the Atari name/assets and make their own devices with an ARM processor and emulator using Atari's branding.

I've got a very basic understanding of the 2600. With the Flashback 2 hardware, did it utilize a similar display timing (had to have precise timing to display the pixel as there was no video memory)? Or was that limitation overcome with it?

That's pretty cool stuff. :)

If anyone wanted to profit off the nostalgia bug, I wouldn't mind if Sega released their own throwback console. :D Their "Sega Forever" thing was ok, but on mobile so I'm not too interested. It'd just be a fun little device. Atgames sucks for the remakes.
 
I've got a very basic understanding of the 2600. With the Flashback 2 hardware, did it utilize a similar display timing (had to have precise timing to display the pixel as there was no video memory)? Or was that limitation overcome with it?

That's pretty cool stuff. :)

If anyone wanted to profit off the nostalgia bug, I wouldn't mind if Sega released their own throwback console. :D Their "Sega Forever" thing was ok, but on mobile so I'm not too interested. It'd just be a fun little device. Atgames sucks for the remakes.

Everything had to be replicated as it was back in the day. Someone on AtariAge actually took the time to do compatibility tests on the FB2 hardware with EVERY 2600 cartridge produced. I think it was over 90%. It has been a while and I don't remember the specific number. In any event, the only real issues were with the late-gen bankswitching titles (mainly from Activision, Like H.E.R.O & Decathalon) and some later games with speech like Berzerk. We only tested for the games that were built-in, so to get that degree of compatibility was something we were all proud of.
 
I think I mentioned this before, but this will only hold my interest if it does good renditions of arcade games. None of the 2600 garbage. I already wasted money on the Atari Vault and it was 90% 2600 junk. I had a 2600 when I was a kid and that thing hit a garage sale the day after I got a C64.

I'm talking Marble Madness, Paperboy, Major Havoc, I Robot, tempest, etc
 
You know, if this thing played classic games, had some form of streaming ala Shield TV (in home) as it has an Ethernet port, and then was powerful enough to run some of the more major indie games, (beyond the stuff normally found in the Android shop... I'm talking more like Steam / Nintendo / etc.) I might consider buying one. I have more gaming devices than my whole neighborhood could probably use at once, but one more never hurt. I've been thinking about putting a TV and gaming setup out on the deck for a while. :D
 
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If you actually look at the pics or video, you can easily see that the front of the box is woodgrain or black and the back, where the ports are, is red.
I wonder what you'd want 4 USB ports on a console for, and in the back no less where anything plugged in to them would have to angle around 180° and drape over the top/sides of the console just to make use of.
 
I wonder what you'd want 4 USB ports on a console for, and in the back no less where anything plugged in to them would have to angle around 180° and drape over the top/sides of the console just to make use of.

External storage would be one thing that I'd prefer was hidden. Possibly wireless controller dongle would be another assuming it supported something other than its own or Bluetooth.
 
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