Bill Loguidice Posted October 26, 2017 Share Posted October 26, 2017 That's because they do not understand their fanbase. Let alone what built that fanbase. They probably do. In my opinion, unless you're a homebrew creator, you don't target the fanbase directly since they're very difficult to please and are not a large enough group to make the effort worthwhile. Instead, you create something you think will have broader appeal that just might interest the core fanbase enough for them to get over their aversion to "imperfect" products. Of course, there are certain noggin-centric products that I don't think work for either of those groups, so those you chalk up as one of the likely very few experiments you can afford to write-off. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted October 26, 2017 Share Posted October 26, 2017 Didnt say I needed Atari for that. Why would I need Atari to remake a dead system with a cartridge slot? I am more interested in if it would be a great steam machine. I see no point in buying a shit computer to play steam to have it shit out and not be able to process it in a few years. So cheapest new processor desktop at like BB is 600 and that doesnt include monitor or anything. If I buy a computer its going to function for more than emulation. Thats why i have my raspberry pi 3. BB isn't the only game in town. If you can run a Pi you can snap together some PC parts. This has the added benefit of being more customizable, meaning you can add or upgrade as you go, keeping the cost low by reusing parts. You'll save a bunch of money this way. https://pcpartpicker.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzip Posted October 26, 2017 Share Posted October 26, 2017 That's all that's happening. Marketing, discussion, more marketing. Managed social media posts. Fake renders. Ideas. The brand "atari"? To what end? I liked old Atari best. And this is why.. When I was out riding BMX or shooting off Estes Model Rockets, their engineers, conceptualists, and artists were hard at work making games for me to play in the winter time. And they didn't have to suck me into a rabbit hole or generate buzz in my face. They showed me a commercial, and later on some print ads. And I had total faith that what I was seeing was real. And I had confidence I could go to the store and actually (for real) buy this stuff! The Atari team was that good! They knew what they were doing. Marketing was different then, if they tried it the 1977 way in 2017, it would fail, hard. Also there wasn't complete confidence back then. I remember considerable skepticism in the press that thought the ST would be vaporware (bc no way could anyone deliver a cheap, color mac clone to market in 6 month, least of all Atari with their financial turmoil. They dubbed it the "Jackintosh" in ridicule) 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted October 26, 2017 Share Posted October 26, 2017 it's a proven fact that some enthusiasts are pains in the asses with just about any new thing that's announced. That's because they do not understand their fanbase. Let alone what built that fanbase. I dunno ... the Atari "fanbase" is not necessarily the group of people most likely to throw money at the crusty old brand. They need paying customers, not fans. I consider myself an enthusiastic pain in the ass. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted October 26, 2017 Share Posted October 26, 2017 That's all that's happening. Marketing, discussion, more marketing. Managed social media posts. Fake renders. Ideas. The brand "atari"? To what end? I liked old Atari best. And this is why.. When I was out riding BMX or shooting off Estes Model Rockets, their engineers, conceptualists, and artists were hard at work making games for me to play in the winter time. And they didn't have to suck me into a rabbit hole or generate buzz in my face. They showed me a commercial, and later on some print ads. And I had total faith that what I was seeing was real. And I had confidence I could go to the store and actually (for real) buy this stuff! The Atari team was that good! They knew what they were doing. That's just what you saw, because you were a child. It's not like they were just busy little elves making games for your amusement, which would simply burst fully formed out of the ear of Sears. Public relations have always been important when you're selling something. I respect marketers and communicators, which is why I have such a hate-on for Atari's performance with this project. Back when you were shooting off model rockets: behind the scenes, the marketing teams were busting ass to demonstrate their stuff at trade shows, spending big bucks on advertising on television and in print, and getting retail buyers to stock their wares. This stuff takes strategy and effort; it doesn't just happen. The stores were gatekeepers back then. Despite all the crap that would go on shelves before the big game market crash, the shops wouldn't stock just anything. Here are some great interviews with Al Nilsen, the game buyer at JC Penney before he went to work Sega to market Sonic the Hedgehog. A modern digital campaign like Atari is running can be done much cheaper, without any travel costs, or retail distribution. Their reach is arguably greater than the print and video campaigns of the Real (vintage) Atari. By dealing directly with the customer, Atari can avoid some of the traditional costs of manufacturing and distribution. That also means the impact of a lemon isn't carried by the retail store, but rather by the sucker crowdfunding backer. I feel that direct crowdfunding has more in common with pyramid-schemes or multi-level marketing such as Amway or HerbaLife. The risk is spread around to the network, but all the benefits go to the top. If your Atari VCS didn't work right, you could take it back to Montgomery Ward or get it fixed. AtariBox isn't going to be like that. No returns, iffy support. The house always wins with crowdfunding. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacman000 Posted October 26, 2017 Share Posted October 26, 2017 Those are great pictures, Flojomojo. I love the huge stack of VCS games, and the "Turn your TV into a new ballgame" line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanthWader Posted October 26, 2017 Share Posted October 26, 2017 Is this thing really going to be out by spring 2018? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toiletunes Posted October 26, 2017 Share Posted October 26, 2017 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBeefy Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 BB isn't the only game in town. If you can run a Pi you can snap together some PC parts. This has the added benefit of being more customizable, meaning you can add or upgrade as you go, keeping the cost low by reusing parts. You'll save a bunch of money this way. https://pcpartpicker.com Im sure I could put one together. I just dont have the time anymore . The Pi is simple enough to whip together. At my work ive shown some people it and have since set up a retro system for two other staff members :-P 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+x=usr(1536) Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 (edited) Is this thing really going to be out by spring 2018? Yes. Amelia Earhart and D.B. Cooper have signed on for celebrity endorsements. Edited October 27, 2017 by x=usr(1536) 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBeefy Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 That's part of it. --- There's a lot of purists here that won't play on anything but a cartridge in a console connected to a tube tv. And that is ok.That is slowly changing as new hobbyists are getting into it. New hobbyists tend to want to play the games without hassle or clutter. I've done it both the "authentic" back-in-the-day-way and the newfangled digital modern recreation/emulation way. And I'm liking digital/emulation more and more as time goes on. Convenience, reliability, and neatness trump all. For me. Having said that, I have a some retro-PC rigs and some Apple II material. And it does require periodic maintenance. Disk Drive head cleaning. Connector and contact cleaning. And the CRTs are overdue for cap kits. Newcomers don't want to fart around with that. They want a display that works and is distortion-free. And they don't want to deal with dirty cartridge connectors or oxide-clogged drive heads. --- They want innovative, different, and yet cheap/practical hardware. They want the newness of the art, like we had in the 1970's. The VCS was really cool then - not to say it isn't today either, but it is cool today for different reasons. Back then it was a whole new art form. Playing with shapes on a TV set! Wow! And they want Atari to invent new and different games for that hardware. They want to see the creativity and originality that propelled the early industry of the 1970's. Instead what we have is 73 pages of discussion, speculation, and marketing bullshit. Nothing is getting done.Those early industry pioneers could no way in hell waste time and resources like present-day atari does. I like popping carts in myself. Honestly i am wary of newer systems that run off OS'. My Ataris NES sNES etc. Will probably last much longer than my 360 or Xbox 1. I hope no one misunderstands my not wanting to be negative as an "IM ON BOARD!" I do really want something good and great. I want someone to come in eventually who isnt microsoft or sony. It would be cool if Atari could get some dough and make a comeback. Wont happen due to you need innovators and such. I just know that my friends, who are not quite to their 30s were excited about this. They dont own an Atari 2600 and a chunk of them probably never played an Atari game. Im sure im not but i sometimes feel like the youngest person on this forum. Kind of related to this im really interested in if Opcode can get that Prometheus made. Ive never owned a Colecovison and would like an excuse to scrounge around for old carts. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SignGuy81 Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 (edited) I like popping carts in myself. Honestly i am wary of newer systems that run off OS'. My Ataris NES sNES etc. Will probably last much longer than my 360 or Xbox 1. I hope no one misunderstands my not wanting to be negative as an "IM ON BOARD!" I do really want something good and great. I want someone to come in eventually who isnt microsoft or sony. It would be cool if Atari could get some dough and make a comeback. Wont happen due to you need innovators and such. I just know that my friends, who are not quite to their 30s were excited about this. They dont own an Atari 2600 and a chunk of them probably never played an Atari game. Im sure im not but i sometimes feel like the youngest person on this forum. Kind of related to this im really interested in if Opcode can get that Prometheus made. Ive never owned a Colecovison and would like an excuse to scrounge around for old carts. Nothing wrong at all with being positive at all. Problem is with people telling us that we all have to be positive. I've said both positive and negative things about the system and as far as the negative I hope they prove me wrong. I would like to see someone besides Sony and Microsoft as well, and would prefer Nintendo just make a real console(sorry to any Wii or Switch fans). If I had to choose a company to come back in the market besides those three though my choice would be Sega but everyone has their preferences. Edited October 27, 2017 by SignGuy81 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lifemadesimple Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 (edited) The switch is a real console in my opinion. Just a real handheld, that happens to dock. Sort of like if Sony had tried to market the psp on its TV connectivity as hard as it pushed gaming on the go. Just my opinion, though, I'm sure some people love playing switch docked. I doubt it will happen this soon, but I really am hoping the indiegogo launches this weekend, next at the latest. I think once we have more concrete details things can calm down and we can get down to the business of figuring out what's going on in the box. Fingers crossed. Edited October 27, 2017 by lifemadesimple 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 we can get down to the business of figuring out what's going on in the box. Fingers crossed. Power goes in, video comes out. Simple as that. 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SignGuy81 Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 (edited) My problem with Nintendo is the underpowered consoles and lack of third party titles that MS and Sony get. I don't like Mario and Zelda enough i guess to warrant a purchase. The Wii U did it for me. EDIT: Also when I play games I like a good controller that feels comfortable, but instead of shipping a decent controller with the Wii U you have to buy one separate. But I can understand why some people like them. Edited October 27, 2017 by SignGuy81 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SignGuy81 Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 (edited) Just stumbled across a couple pages by mistake and it appears Atari is outsourcing the marketing and web development on this project. Probably everything about the console as well. Brings me back to the posts about how Atari has so little people and how can the possibly do this, it is because they can't and I guess like mentioned before as well probably just selling the rights to the logo. https://ataribox.com/yet-another-post-page-sample-2/ same as https://www.rainfactory.com/blog/win-crowdfunding-customer-support/ https://ataribox.com/blog-post-page-schema/ If Atari doesn't have the capabilities to do web development and marketing themselves how are they going to do a console. I guess they are going to be outsourcing everything probably as already mentioned. EDIT: Or selling rights to another company that will be outsourcing everything. Boy they got that fixed quick, now both links redirect to ataribox home. Guess they didn't want anyone knowing they were using a marketing and web development company Rain Factory, Inc. to do things. Edited October 27, 2017 by SignGuy81 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBeefy Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 My problem with Nintendo is the underpowered consoles and lack of third party titles that MS and Sony get. I like how Nintendo gives you a complete game. Hiw many ps4 and xbox games really cost you $120? $60 game plus $60 dlc. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leech Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 I like how Nintendo gives you a complete game. Hiw many ps4 and xbox games really cost you $120? $60 game plus $60 dlc. The worse offenders of this are fighting games. Dead or Alive was given away for "free" on PSPlus one month but only let you play stripped down (pun intended) characters. I think I added it up, if you paid full price without any bundles for the full game, it would cost close to 300 USD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dj_convoy Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 I like how Nintendo gives you a complete game. Hiw many ps4 and xbox games really cost you $120? $60 game plus $60 dlc. BotW had $20 DLC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzip Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 I like how Nintendo gives you a complete game. Hiw many ps4 and xbox games really cost you $120? $60 game plus $60 dlc. On the other hand, at least for my Wii, the Nintendo games never seemed to drop in price. On PS4, if you don't have to buy it day one and wait a few months, games can often be had for half price or less. The last Battlefront game was notorious for its $50 season pass on top of a $60 game. But I waited a few months and got the game for $20 and then later got the season pass for another $20 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godslabrat Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 On the other hand, at least for my Wii, the Nintendo games never seemed to drop in price. On PS4, if you don't have to buy it day one and wait a few months, games can often be had for half price or less. The last Battlefront game was notorious for its $50 season pass on top of a $60 game. But I waited a few months and got the game for $20 and then later got the season pass for another $20 It's by design. Nintendo has always had a philosophy of producing games that can sell at full price over the whole length of a system, this goes back to the NES. Toward the end of the 90s, they realized this meant they could re-sell their older games on newer consoles... a concept Nintendo originally rejected but have since jumped on like a hobo on a cigarette. On one hand, it's commendable that they realize their games need to be top-notch each time, because if they're going to pull this off, the quality has to be solid. On the other hand... as a consumer, just forget about saving money. It's just not going to happen. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBeefy Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 BotW had $20 DLC. Yeah and so did smash and mario cart on the wiiu but it was nowhere near as outrageously high as the other two. Im trying to think of oneXbox game that doesnt have dlc that isnt a remake of an old game. Even some of the arcade collections have dlc. :/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBeefy Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 It's by design. Nintendo has always had a philosophy of producing games that can sell at full price over the whole length of a system, this goes back to the NES. Toward the end of the 90s, they realized this meant they could re-sell their older games on newer consoles... a concept Nintendo originally rejected but have since jumped on like a hobo on a cigarette. On one hand, it's commendable that they realize their games need to be top-notch each time, because if they're going to pull this off, the quality has to be solid. On the other hand... as a consumer, just forget about saving money. It's just not going to happen. Quality one time buys are saving you money. Hell even after system life Nintendo games hold their price. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raticon Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 I dunno ... the Atari "fanbase" is not necessarily the group of people most likely to throw money at the crusty old brand. They need paying customers, not fans. This is why i believe they are chasing after a new fanbase. I'm just speculating here but i guess the "old" Atari fanbase isn't the typical Terraria/Minecraft-gamer by heart. Well, at least Minecraft and 2600 has the "everything is square blocks!" in common. :grin: And as for prices on PS4, i recently got Star Wars Battlefront with all DLCs and extras for 91 SEK (about 10 bucks) on autumn sale on the PSN store. I realize it's because the sequel is imminent and they want to sucker in new players for that one, but it is a dramatic price reduction from the almost 100$ it cost at release if you got the big bad edition with season pass and all the bells and whistles. Big N would never pull such a move, not even on Virtual Console. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBeefy Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 This is why i believe they are chasing after a new fanbase. I'm just speculating here but i guess the "old" Atari fanbase isn't the typical Terraria/Minecraft-gamer by heart. Well, at least Minecraft and 2600 has the "everything is square blocks!" in common. :grin: And as for prices on PS4, i recently got Star Wars Battlefront with all DLCs and extras for 91 SEK (about 10 bucks) on autumn sale on the PSN store. I realize it's because the sequel is imminent and they want to sucker in new players for that one, but it is a dramatic price reduction from the almost 100$ it cost at release if you got the big bad edition with season pass and all the bells and whistles. Big N would never pull such a move, not even on Virtual Console. Battlefront and Battlefront 2 are the only games ive purchased with season pass. Otherwise most of my games i play free or download cheap. Ive been buy F13 dlc sruff but that game was cheap in comparison to others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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