New Atari Console that Ataribox?

[digdugnate]

ha! GameStop and Wal-Mart are paragons of consumer virtue.  it HAS to be real, guys!

 

[JBerel]

These Werner twins are either the worlds biggest idiots, or on the payroll of these scammers. Is it lost on that moron that the very nature of a preorder is selling something that is not yet available, and e-commerce sites do not sign an NDA? Clueless jackleg. 

 

Va·por·ware

/ˈvāpərˌwer/

noun

INFORMAL•COMPUTING

1. software or hardware that has been advertised but is not yet available to buy, either because it is only a concept or because it is still being written or designed.

Edited September 27, 2019 by JBerel

[Flojomojo]

Some of the early orders were duplicates, but I highly doubt "Atari" bid up its own crowdfunder, considering IGG keeps a significant chunk of the take. Though that would be entertaining, and one explanation for their slow walk. 
 

Some of the backers are just living in retroland, a magical nostalgic place where all your childhood favorites come back and life is simple again. 
 

 

As for Walmart and GameStop, that was done to appear more legitimate. It doesn't actually make them more legit. The stores don't care if the thing ships or not, and the idea that Walmart would somehow punish non-delivery is  just bizarre. 
 

That Supporters group is completely unhinged and their "leader" and moderator has some scary issues. 
 

The biggest troll of all is "Atari."

[roots.genoa]

If you can read Frédéric Chesnais's language, want to learn it or are Frédéric Chesnais, I published this article today:
http://mag.mo5.com/actu/170844/est-ce-la-fin-de-lete-pour-atari/
(the metaphorical title means "Is this the end of Summer for Atari?")

[Lodmot]

I was thinking about shooting Atari an email.... How does this sound? I was going for a sort of "Agent Smith" tone to it. LOL

 

 

=============================

 

Dear Atari,

 

First I'd like to introduce myself-- my name is Tom O'Neil, founder and developer at Megatoxic Studios. I've developed and published a number of my own independent video game titles on various platforms. My latest release is Ballzerk, an arcade game with tilt controls available on Android and iOS smart phones.

 

Next, I'm going to be as forthcoming as I can be with you. The reason why I'm writing to you is because I'm no longer developing software for Atari VCS or its ecosystem. Back in 2017 when Atari first announced the VCS, I was initially very excited as both a developer and consumer of the console. Believe it or not, I am still at least somewhat intrigued by the hardware and I am eager to get more hands-on with it as a television supplement for my home. However I don’t have the same feelings when it comes to bringing my own content to your platform.

 

In the past, through various communication channels, I’ve made repeated attempts to contact you about working on the Atari VCS hardware and software. I was interested in hardware specs, the availability of a software development kit, and I provided feedback to you over e-mail communication, the comments section on the Atari VCS Indiegogo page and a number of surveys that your team/Indiegogo sent out to me. I’ve also supported you by donating over $400 to your campaign, plus an extra $30 for your t-shirt (which I am delighted to admit I actually received—and I wear it at least once a week).

 

However-- try as I might, and remain as friendly, professional, and patient as I could—no response comes, my feedback is consistently ignored, and the release date of your platform draws closer and closer. At this point, it is physically impossible for me to deliver any kind of content to your platform even if I was still motivated to do so (which I am not). To be perfectly honest, I’m very saddened by this. I was preparing to go as far as creating an exclusive mascot for the VCS to help it stand out from other platforms. My team was lined up and we were developing a prototype engine with art and music assets. I had another person interested in doing character art for the game. I really wanted to deliver a beautiful, high-quality title that would only be available on the VCS. Due to the bad press the Atari VCS has been continuously receiving, we’re pulling all support from your platform. Please note that the project itself has not been cancelled, but I will release it on other competitor platforms such as Steam, Intellivision Amico, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch and Xbox One. Also note that we have not set in stone which of these platforms we’re choosing to go with, as we simply haven’t reached that point in the project’s development yet.

 

I fully understand you probably have NDA’s in place with various third parties assisting you in the VCS development cycle, however it is very well known that you have in-house development taking place as well, with Rob Wyatt as part of your team. If the problem is your partnerships with Flex, PowerA or AMD, the best course of action is to simply tell people. If you’re straightforward with everyone, we will understand. If you not straightforward, you will get the public reaction you’ve been getting, you will lose more third party support, and your fans will turn into skeptics. It may even be too late at this point, I honestly don’t know.

 

For the record, I also want to say that during the writing of this email I was contemplating whether I should attach pictures and/or video footage of my aforementioned game project. I decided not to, because I feel after supporting you this whole time and spending hundreds of dollars on your product, it is now more appropriate to force you into a “gambler’s position” (so to speak), and leave it to you to speculate whether this email is honest or not. I suppose you can view it as, like the old saying goes-- “getting a taste of your own medicine”.

 

In the meantime, if you’re looking for some suggestions on what you can do to improve your situation with the Atari VCS, I would start with the following:

 

• Tell the truth about your product, whether it’s in production or not. If you indeed have a working prototype of the Atari VCS, reveal it to the general population.
• If it is no longer feasible to produce the Atari VCS, you need to come out with an official announcement.
• When people ask you for specific information about the Atari VCS, stop giving us the run-around. Answer the question completely and just be straightforward.

 

I would like to conclude that I do not wish harm on the Atari VCS team, or the platform itself. I am merely a concerned fan and independent developer who has lost confidence in your product due to the negative publicity surrounding it, as well as your refusal to be more transparent with development operations.

Good luck with the Atari VCS.

 

Sincerely,

 

Tom O’Neil

 

 

Edited September 27, 2019 by Lodmot

[+x=usr(1536)]

26 minutes ago, Lodmot said:

I was thinking about shooting Atari an email.... How does this sound? I was going for a sort of "Agent Smith" tone to it. LOL

 

Why send it?  Now that the entire Internet has the ability to read it, Atari SA might get around to it one day, too!

 

Being completely straightforward here for a moment: this isn't a good way to handle communication from your business to another.  It appears passive-aggressive and, as a result, highly unprofessional.

[Lodmot]

Just now, x=usr(1536) said:

 

Why send it?  Now that the entire Internet has the ability to read it, Atari SA might get around to it one day, too!

 

Being completely straightforward here for a moment: this isn't a good way to handle communication from your business to another.  It appears passive-aggressive and, as a result, highly unprofessional.

 

Lol, you're saying that like Atari wasn't those things. o u o

I get what you mean though, i'll probably just leave it here for our enjoyment. xD

[Flojomojo]

@Lodmot is there an action item here? 

[+x=usr(1536)]

5 minutes ago, Flojomojo said:

@Lodmot is there an action item here? 

The icon needs to be done in Cornflower Blue.

Edited September 27, 2019 by x=usr(1536)

[carlsson]

Things already posted tend to be reusable in this thread. I posted the Les Miserables video on March 18 and it turns out that the schoolboys here are the "trolls" at Reddit while Atari are the gendarmerie shooting down protesters and misbehavers.

 

Sorry for the bad quoting, the new forum software doesn't play very nice with quotes and formatting since it is entirely WYSIWYG nowadays.

 

21 hours ago, digdugnate said:

as expected, the seas are red(dit) with Atari VCS Official blood.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGeBYmBYaos

 

In particular I like Javert's verse:

 

One day more to revolution

We will nip it in the bud

We'll be ready for these schoolboys

They will wet themselves with blood

[Oscar Manuel Rojas Maillo]

2 hours ago, JBerel said:

These Werner twins are either the worlds biggest idiots, or on the payroll of these scammers. Is it lost on that moron that the very nature of a preorder is selling something that is not yet available, and e-commerce sites do not sign an NDA? Clueless jackleg. 

 

Va·por·ware

/ˈvāpərˌwer/

noun

INFORMAL•COMPUTING

1. software or hardware that has been advertised but is not yet available to buy, either because it is only a concept or because it is still being written or designed.

I think the second choice. Stefan Werner said it was HIS JOB(with caps, like that), to moderate de Cult page

[Lodmot]

50 minutes ago, Flojomojo said:

@Lodmot is there an action item here? 

Action item? o 3 o;;

(ish le confused)

[Flojomojo]

9 minutes ago, Lodmot said:

Action item? o 3 o;;

(ish le confused)

As in, what do you expect them to do when they receive this rant?
 

Cry?

Sue?

Cut a check? 
 

Those are the main tools they have. 

[Agillig]

20 minutes ago, Oscar Manuel Rojas Maillo said:

I think the second choice. Stefan Werner said it was HIS JOB(with caps, like that), to moderate de Cult page

If he's a paid shill, he's terrible at his job.  He should be buttering people up and sweet talking them into buying a VCS, not getting nasty with people asking simple questions.  When he bans people, he prances around, boasting like he won an Academy Award.   Who does that?

 

I still maintain my contention that nearly everyone supporting this thing has some kind of mental health challenge.   In the case of the Werner Brothers, I'm guessing they don't have anything in real life where they feel respected or valued,  so now they can use an internet forum to force people to play by their rules, for fear of getting banned.  Kinda sad, really.   

 

In terms of *NAMES REMOVED*, maybe some development issues in their brain.  I admire their child like blind faith, but they're going to be very disappointed at some point.  I feel bad for those two.  The Werner Brothers, along with Lucas and Andy, frankly deserve to learn the lesson Atari is going to teach them.

 

 

Edited September 27, 2019 by Agillig

[Lodmot]

3 minutes ago, Flojomojo said:

As in, what do you expect them to do when they receive this rant? Cry? Sue? Cut a check?

Well, in my mind I was thinking it probably would help let them know "Okay, we're losing developers here... Might be a good idea to take serious measures."

If there's actual people and not mis-programmed AI-driven robots, they would actually do something I would think...? 

 

Also, it felt good to write. xD

 

I'm probably just being awkward though... so I'll be quiet. o u o

[racerx]

23 minutes ago, Lodmot said:

Well, in my mind I was thinking it probably would help let them know "Okay, we're losing developers here... Might be a good idea to take serious measures."

 

Dude.

 

They. Don't. Care.

[Lodmot]

26 minutes ago, racerx said:

 

Dude.

 

They. Don't. Care.

 

Yeah, apparently not.. o 3 o

 

It's so illogical though... Fred makes a small company, then buys this recognizable brand that's essentially dead …… And he decide to publicize and make money off of pre-orders for a new console...…… but then he's doing everything in his power to NOT get people excited, or listen to backers, and they DON'T put out a product or reveal details about it... They literally make every wrong decision imaginable. Why would someone actually want to do that? LOL. All it's achieving is they lose money. They make $3 million, sure-- but then it's going to backfire on them and then they'll essentially lose half of that (or all of it) on advertisements and negotiations with Flex/PowerA, people wanting to cancel/get refunds, etc...

 

I understand I'm not stating any news here, but I just can't help but wonder-- was there any actual thought process behind this whole thing? Lol...

 

I guess what I'm trying to get at is, even IF your motive is strictly to make a shit ton of money, this is still a terrible, terrible execution of an idea to do so.

Edited September 27, 2019 by Lodmot

[+x=usr(1536)]

51 minutes ago, Lodmot said:

Well, in my mind I was thinking it probably would help let them know "Okay, we're losing developers here... Might be a good idea to take serious measures."

 

In order for Atari SA to lose a developer, the developer has to be signed on as one with them in the first place.  To the best of my knowledge, no formal agreement was in place between your company and Atari SA to develop software for their platform.  Net loss to Atari SA if you walk: zero, because you weren't producing anything for them.  In other words, your leverage with them on that front is nonexistent - and you can't speak on behalf of developers (note the plural) in general because your company's views are not necessarily shared with others.

 

Signalling your intent to not develop for their platform doesn't hurt them one bit.  Sure, you'll feel better after venting and catharsis certainly can be valuable.  But if you were to take this approach with an actual, we-really-do-publish-and-produce company, they'd basically read what you've said and likely add you to the list of people they don't want to work with.  I know that's exactly what I'd do if one of my clients (potential or actual) took the same tack you have here.

 

Which leads us on to:

 

27 minutes ago, racerx said:

 

Dude.

 

They. Don't. Care.

 

This is absolutely 100% correct.  Don't waste your time tilting at windmills; move on to things that will actually further your career goals.

Edited September 27, 2019 by x=usr(1536)

[JBerel]

Did you miss their most recent update on their developer program and push to release product to backers on schedule?

 

Spoiler

 

[Lodmot]

9 minutes ago, x=usr(1536) said:

 

In order for Atari SA to lose a developer, the developer has to be signed on as one with them in the first place.  To the best of my knowledge, no formal agreement was in place between your company and Atari SA to develop software for their platform.  Net loss to Atari SA: zero, because you weren't producing anything for them.  In other words, your leverage with them on that front is nonexistent - and you can't speak on behalf of developers (note the plural) in general because your company's views are not necessarily shared with others.

 

Signalling your intent to not develop for their platform doesn't hurt them one bit.  Sure, you'll feel better after venting and catharsis certainly can be valuable.  But if you were to take this approach with an actual, we-really-do-publish-and-produce company, they'd basically read what you've said and likely add you to the list of people they don't want to work with.  I know that's exactly what I'd do if one of my clients took the same tack you have here.

 

Which leads us on to:

 

 

This is absolutely 100% correct.  Don't waste your time tilting at windmills; move on to things that will actually further your career goals.

 

That all makes sense.

 

Makes me question though-- was there in fact any way to sign as a developer officially? Looking at their website I didn't see much of anything. There is no sign-up process, and I've actually emailed Atari directly, inquiring about how I could do so. All they've told me was that "details would be shared soon" (and mind you, this was during the campaign, and they had a bunch of third party developer logos on the page). It doesn't make sense to me.

 

It's possible I didn't go through the proper channels though... I don't know.

Edited September 27, 2019 by Lodmot

[PlaysWithWolves]

26 minutes ago, racerx said:

 

Dude.

 

They. Don't. Care.

 

Yeah.  Honestly, Indie devs are a dime-a-dozen so they don't need to care.  There's a guy on Reddit who complained so much about Atari not responding to his emails about publishing a game, I figured it must be ole Biffster.   

 

Sorry for the blow to the ego, @Lodmot, but if they treat Llamasoft like crap they're not going to bend over backwards for some small-time developer.  Your game would need to be really awesome. But if it was, why would you limit your sales to just one platform?

[Flojomojo]

There's a blurb on atarivcs.com with an address dev@atari.com

 

Quote

DEVELOPER BASICS

Develop what you want, how you want!

There are no prerequisites to be a developer. Every system box is capable of being a developer kit.

We don't have a complex development system, a developer can use any 64bit linux code.

You can use standard APIs and any third party software that supports Linux.

Use any development environment you want (including Windows or Linux), any compiler you want, any debugger you want.

We will provide dedicated AMD tools in order to profile and debug the GPU.

Graphics support includes support for OpenGL, Vulkan and hardware command buffer rendering.

 

[+x=usr(1536)]

@Flojomojo That 'Developer Basics' statement of theirs has always struck me as reeking of, "unlike the music industry, we love unsolicited submissions because we have sod-all to publish beyond our back catalogue you've already played to death for decades!"

 

Here's one of the problems with the 'use whatever toolchain works for you' approach: how (and by whom) is submitted code going to be validated as suitable for public consumption from their store?

 

In a way, I hope that Atari SA ships millions of these things into homes: it'd be fantastic to see how they respond to a glut of trojan cryptominers, DDoS clients, VPN exit nodes, and other unpleasant software infesting their price-without-the-power hardware and causing general havoc for everyone else.  That's a company-killing PR disaster waiting to happen right there.

Edited September 27, 2019 by x=usr(1536)

[Flojomojo]

That's what the "sandbox" is for!

 

FREEDOM

 

[Lodmot]

21 minutes ago, Flojomojo said:

There's a blurb on atarivcs.com with an address dev@atari.com

 

 

 

Exactly. Already sent a message there. Lol.