The Atari VCS Probably Isn't What You Think

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rgMekanic

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The Atari VCS, previously known as the Atari Box, probably isn't what you think it is. IGN got a hands on with the new device at the Game Developers Conference, and it isn't an Atari version of the NES Mini, or a new console to compete with the PS4 or Xbox One. Instead, to put it simply, it's a Linux based living room PC, similar to a Steam Machine.

Atari Connect COO Michael Artz compared it to “a good laptop without a keyboard,” and said “it’s a much more casual device.” The VCS don't have a dedicated GPU, and will come bundled with some classic Atari arcade games, at a price point between $250 and $300. IGN asked if the VCS was closer to a Steam machine, Arts said “yeah, but I don’t think it’s as ambitious as a Steam [Machine].”

I dunno on this. Everyone old enough has a lot of nostalgia for Atari, but with the brief description we get of the VCS, at even the low end of $250 it seems like it's asking a little too much for the nostalgia. Thanks to cageymaru for the story.

Atari wants this to be a system that anyone can easily plug in, understand, and start using right away. He gave an example explaining that they want moms to be able to turn on the VCS and easily find Netflix, but they also want to attract a younger audience that might only know of Atari’s veteran reputation.
 
Ni gpu and 250 to 300 dollars!!!

Failure

Can buy a console for that

Lol onnyounger people who know atari… they dont or they know atari as some failure of a company in later yesrs or as blocky 2600 games.
 
And stupid, I guess that landfill is going to expand, try again next time Atari.
 
Atari wants this to be a system that anyone can easily plug in, understand, and start using right away. He gave an example explaining that they want moms to be able to turn on the VCS and easily find Netflix, but they also want to attract a younger audience that might only know of Atari’s veteran reputation.

Mom's television already has Netflix.
He probably means "they also want to attract a younger audience that probably does not know how epically Atari has failed in the past."
 
Aireoth said:
And stupid, I guess that landfill is going to expand, try again next time Atari.
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Doubt they going to produce many. Still better then I though. I was expecting a ouyo type device. They trying to play of nostalgia like nintenfo didn't with the classics. Atari is a shell of what it once was. They sold and resold so many times I am sure none of the he original people are there.
 
vegeta535 said:
Doubt they going to produce many. Still better then I though. I was expecting a ouyo type device. They trying to play of nostalgia like nintenfo didn't with the classics. Atari is a shell of what it once was. They sold and resold so many times I am sure none of the he original people are there.
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tumblr_n1rtr10jc41sd5on2o1_r1_500.gif
 
You can just buy the Atari Vault for your existing computer for 10 bucks, buy a USB 2600-style controller, and then get the exact same "VCS" experience for 1/10 the price :D

At least with the NES Classic, the price-point and the "Console" effort makes it worth the investment. But this is just another Steam Machine.

You only need a processor a little more powerful than an Atom to emulate old Atari arcade games.
 
defaultluser said:
You can just buy the Atari Vault for your existing computer for 10 bucks, buy a USB 2600-style controller, and then get the exact same "VCS" experience for 1/10 the price :D

At least with the NES Classic, the price-point and the "Console" effort makes it worth the investment. But this is just another Steam Machine.

You only need a processor a little more powerful than an Atom to emulate old Atari arcade games.
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Pff. A 486 could proabably emulate Atari games.
 
This sounds like Ouya territory. :/

At that price, it should come bundled with 4 power efficient wireless paddles. 4 player party games are what made the 2600 really fun, and that is timeless.

Given it's at least a Linux machine, I would hope they work with Valve to produce a white-label Steam client with a (circumventable) filter to display hardware-suited games.

... I don't know, I'm reaching.
 
rgMekanic said:
IGN asked if the VCS was closer to a Steam machine, Arts said “yeah, but I don’t think it’s as ambitious as a Steam [Machine].”
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have these people heard about PR? what kind of fucking answer is that. its your new god damn product...
 
This looks really, really terrible. Atari of old is long since dead. Ray kassar killed whatever was left of Atari by that time.
 
How did this product get this far? I finally got my hands on a mini SNES for ~$80. It has two controllers and 20 decent games. I feel this is a good price and I'll get my money out of it.
The Atari product? Hmm. I just don't see a market for it. For Atari games, maybe I'd pay $30-40 for a few games? There aren't that many I'd even care to replay.
 
This is very confusing. To my knowledge they still haven't given any details on specs, so I don't know where this guy is getting this Bristol Ridge APU info. The last thing anyone heard, it was going to a Vega based GPU/APU (Raven Ridge??). I'm still excited to see what this thing will actually do. Maybe I'll move my Shield TV to the bedroom if the VCS supports all the major streaming apps at 4K HDR.
 
you lied, i thought it was a piece of shit being sold and you just confirmed that. :)

still have my 2600 with controllers (paddle and joystick), no need to buy anything from a company that just owns the name and is selling something has has nothing to do with thr original system.
 
All that potential, reduced to a piss poor money grab.

Billy Mays couldn't sell you on this pile of shit.
 
Look, I'm just as nostalgic as the next guy but only in thought and the sweet sweet memory of days long past. As soon as I played River Raid and Pitfall on my emulator I was like ... "this sucks!" haha

So yeah ......
 
Atari (formerly Infogrames) trying to take advantage of nostalgia with an overpriced inferior product? Whoddathunkit
 
No GPU?
So it's a $250 Raspberry Pi running Lakka or Retropie.

Got it.


Nope not going to think about it.
 
Yeah, the Atari 2600 really lacks the long-term fan following later consoles garnered. Because after a string of hot launch tiles, after Space invaders the remaining games sucked. And the few games with any depth early-on (Adventure) were too held back by the system.

Later games (Pitiful ports like Pac Man, and originals like Swordquest) were even bigger jokes. All this caused by Atari management bleeding out their engineers, and having no solid direction for a successor to the VCS.

People only played their 2600s forever because they had nothing else. Once the NES touched-down, I tossed my old 2600 in the garbage.

The 5200 should have been released in 1980. Then Atari would ave had something to compete against the Colecovision and And Intellivision. The 2600 could have gone out with a bang on Adventure and Space Invaders, and the 5200 could have been helped by much better arcade ports starting in 1981, and Swordquest on a proper system.
 
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What they needed to do, was what Valve did not. Open source a specific Linux distro for gaming. Call themselves "Atari Open" or something. Use the Atari logo for an A with an O around it. There now we have branding. Anyone can run the distro. Put a solid standardized laptop video card in... like a 1050. Enough power to game at 40fps. Now... give away the entire old Atari library of 2600 games as an incentive to buy their device. Sell some controllers. Hell, make a deal with Steam to sell theirs.

From here they just need to use their brand name to get as many games ported to their Linux platform as possible. And since ANYONE can downlaod and run the distro on their own PCs as well... it'll have some bite for install base real fast. If they get worldwide traction, they'll have 100 million devices running their Linux distro for gaming under the Atari branding, and maybe 20 million of those will be their own "console" device. Win-Win-Win. They sell hardware, they set the distro specs, they sell games, everyone gets an alternative to Windows for running games.

And the Atari brand makes the comeback of all time.

(Hey, I can dream.)
 
My grandfather owned an Atari 2600, and it was the first video game system I ever played so thoroughly enjoyed it (Q-Bert, Missile Command, some tank game - were standouts). But it was the Sega Master System that really made me love video games.

As for the Atari VCS, I really like the form factor and design of the base unit. Really slick looking. But without knowing the full specs of it, I can't get overly excited for it. I'm interested in a media streaming unit that could stream my PC games (ala Steam Link or Shield TV), so, depending on the VCS' feature set it may interest me later.

If they could make this system powerful enough to play popular PC titles (ie: League of Legends, Fortnite, PUBG) maybe then I could see it having potential as a standalone unit.
 
If you are nostalgic for the games, just run an emulator on your PC or laptop and save yourself some money. This seems to be overpriced for what it is considering you can buy a cheap laptop for less money.
 
I believe the Industry has a major problem here, people want retro gaming goodness.

The problem is the Industry is doing everything it possibly can to screw customers.
Nintendo EShop overpriced crap.
Nintendo Classics overpriced and hampered by abysmal stock.
as examples.
No legal ways to acquire games.

What do we really need?

A steam like platform, simple to install that is ARM based like a Raspberry Pi3 with a little more power to it.
or...a new standard of hardware from the PC industry dedicated to this type of emulation.
A Steam like Store with Rights holders actually selling the games for a reasonable price.
Companies like Nintendo /Sega/Capcom....ect ect to make Authentic controllers that work well with the games and system. AS well as custom Arcade cabinet inputs.

The overall arcing idea here is to give rights holders a path of revenue, while still getting the games to gamers for a reasonable price.

The major question becomes why does no larger company have the balls to pull all this together.
 
The real Atari is long dead obviously. Someone coming along and buying the right to use the name, then slapping a raspberry pi in an overpriced case is fairly meaningless.

With Nintendo having been successful in selling mini NES and SNES, this knockoff-Atari vapor pi box seems aimed at trying to make a quick buck off of nostalgia popularity and
people that don't know better.
 
odditory said:
The real Atari is long dead obviously. Someone coming along and buying the right to use the name, then slapping a raspberry pi in an overpriced case is fairly meaningless.

With Nintendo having been successful in selling mini NES and SNES, this knockoff-Atari vapor pi box seems aimed at trying to make a quick buck off of nostalgia popularity and
people that don't know better.
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I thought Infogrammes (formerly Microprose, and a few other companies merged in) best known for the Master of Orion series also had the rights to Atari, and changed their name to Atari (they had the rights at one time?)... especially after they fucked over Master of Orion 3 and ruined their name brand of Infogrammes.
 
griff30 said:
No GPU?
So it's a $250 Raspberry Pi running Lakka or Retropie.

Got it.


Nope not going to think about it.
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Drop it <$100 and I'd definitely think about it. I'm hoping that I'll find one on clearance somewhere for $75 or less eventually. Basically, one of those "Throwback" style machines.

The Atari that is making this is nothing like the original Atari. This is a corporation and the suits in some boardroom are coming up with ideas. The Atari of old was a bunch of guys (and a couple girls) smoking weed and making cool video games. That's the big thing I feel has changed with video games - the suits have taken over. Every game starts well, with gamers designing it. When it gets closer to release, there are more and more monetization things added to it, or season passes for DLC, or whatever. It ruins the experience. It went from a gaming is fun, lets do that. To gaming is profitable, let's invest and move the industry forward. Of course, that's probably not the case. I thought the same way with music in the late 80's... Sell outs. :)

I was excited for this at first. The more details that come out about it, the less excited I am. It's just a turd.
 
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