What are your biggest hopes and fears for the Ataribox?

[JamesD]

I think they want to make the next OUYA, and they don't want to risk their own money.

They are even relying on Atari fans to do their advertising.

[MrMaddog]

I think they want to make the next OUYA, and they don't want to risk their own money.

They are even relying on Atari fans to do their advertising.

 

Then why not just license another company to make an Atari branded micro console like they did with AtGames? It makes a helluva lot more sense than crowdsourcing which makes them look like an amature business.

[Keatah]

I think they want to make the next OUYA, and they don't want to risk their own money.

They are even relying on Atari fans to do their advertising.

 

That may be so. But is it going to do any good? All the hype in the world isn't going to sell a product that doesn't exist, or can't exist. I would have linked to several vids right here that discuss that idea, but, they spent more than 20% of their running-time begging for subscribers. That's too much.

 

If they have to go to these length, something isn't right.

 

And in light of this. I'd rather go dark and not make any suggestions at all. Not be their flunky you know? Or maybe we should start muddying the waters and confuse them? Ha!

[AtariLeaf]

If they are indeed crowd sourcing, when is this train wreck, er I mean kickstarter supposed to begin?

[godslabrat]

 

That may be so. But is it going to do any good? All the hype in the world isn't going to sell a product that doesn't exist, or can't exist. I would have linked to several vids right here that discuss that idea, but, they spent more than 20% of their running-time begging for subscribers. That's too much.

 

If they have to go to these length, something isn't right.

 

And in light of this. I'd rather go dark and not make any suggestions at all. Not be their flunky you know? Or maybe we should start muddying the waters and confuse them? Ha!

I heard the VectrexBox is going to be a way better system. It has the full version of No Man's Sky as a launch title and Knight Rider 2600 as an exclusive. Also, it'll be half the price.

[Dr Manhattan]

I think they want to make the next OUYA, and they don't want to risk their own money.

They are even relying on Atari fans to do their advertising.

 

As an owner of two Ouya consoles and a backer of the original project I can say without hesitation that Ouya was a viable concept that if done right would have been a great success. The whole media box game console is a worthy concept. Companies like Razer, Mad Catz, Sony, and a ton of Asian companies have all tried their hand in this market. Even the popularity of Raspberry Pi media boxes apes this idea. Go to places like Tomtop and Aliexpress and you'll see plenty of these game / media box products. It's a legit concept that has the potential to create its own market, instead of trying to compete with Xbox and Nintendo.

 

Ouya was hindered from the start by controller and hardware problems. However it had a solid front end and a fairly decent library of games and emulators. The company improved upon their hardware with the Black 1.1 version of the console, but by then it was just too little, too late.

 

So my HOPE in this situation is that Atari will look at all these companies and see what they did wrong. Because many of them had the same deal breaking problems. Avoid those problems or correct them and they'll already be off to a good start.

[Pixelboy]

My only real fear is that there will be no actual market for this, regardless of the machine's specs. What type of gaming can the Ataribox offer that Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft don't already cover (and probably do better)? IMHO, the only way they can make this work is by following in the footsteps of the Ouya, while avoid the quicksands and pitfalls that the Ouya fell into. They can do that by putting more care into their physical product (better controllers and a more organic user interface would be a good start). For the rest, they can rely on third-party developers like the Ouya did, in addition to producing Atari-branded first-party games, and in the end, that's my hope.

 

Ouya was hindered from the start by controller and hardware problems. However it had a solid front end and a fairly decent library of games and emulators. The company improved upon their hardware with the Black 1.1 version of the console, but by then it was just too little, too late.

Very true. Back in the beginning, the Ouya was doing alright, as a niche gaming box product.

[PlaysWithWolves]

Hope:

 

 

Fear:

 

[Stormbringer]

I donno, Homer looks pretty happy.

[BassGuitari]

Hope: it actually comes to fruition.

Fear: it won't.

Fear: in the absence of really good exclusive games or content, there's no reason to buy one, or for it to exist.

Fear: the games are going to be rehashes of golden oldies and smartphone games, or ports of games from other platforms; nothing new that's worthwhile, and nothing worthwhile that's new.

[JamesD]

 

Then why not just license another company to make an Atari branded micro console like they did with AtGames? It makes a helluva lot more sense than crowdsourcing which makes them look like an amature business.

That's a good question. A certain "Coleco" branded (briefly) product comes to mine as why not to do that.

To this point, at least none of the "Atari" stuff released in recent history has done anything to destroy the brand.

[Osgeld]

I hope there is not another topic on it until something is actually there to talk about other than 3d renders and smoke blowing out their asses

 

My fear is, there will be at minimum 98 new threads about a console based on a 3d render and smoke blowing by the end of the week given the current rate

[Dr Manhattan]

Hope: it actually comes to fruition.

 

Fear: it won't.

 

Fear: in the absence of really good exclusive games or content, there's no reason to buy one, or for it to exist.

 

Fear: the games are going to be rehashes of golden oldies and smartphone games, or ports of games from other platforms; nothing new that's worthwhile, and nothing worthwhile that's new.

 

This one bothers me too. The current crop of android media boxes are flooded with bad cell phone ports.

[Keatah]

Heh fuk'n'shit bad ports of cellphone remakes of the Original Classics. How many temporal middlemen do we need to make a console, even something as simple as a vaporware console. How far are they gonna remove us from the genuine classics and still market it as the "fun we used to have back in the day"..?

 

This thing, if it ever makes it out the door, is gunna be the laughingstock of gaming.

[toiletunes]

Hope: It's released this year, for a reasonable price, and is easy to find (GameSlop, Dollar General, or similar).

Fear: Mr. Lee, Kennedy, Coleecho is involved, and/or this thing fails to such a spectacular extent that the 'Modern Retro' market (AtGames, NES mini classic, plug&play) collapses, never to return.

[HoshiChiri]

Hope: A competent product. I don't necessarily care how- flashback, ouya, emulator, actual modern gaming machine... whatever the hell it is, I want it to be good at it. Maybe make the Atari name relevant again. I dunno.

 

Fear: A scam. A Coleco Chameleon, people actually having their money taken for nothing full scale scam. Something that means you can't use the Atari name for anything other than a handful of nostalgic cash grabs as it fades away completely.

 

Expectation: A junky plug n' play that doesn't do anything we can't do better with a retro pi or flashback machine, that accomplishes little more than to remind people Atari was a game company once.

[Keatah]

The atari name will never become relevant again. Especially to the general public. Not like it was in the 1970's when everyone knew what game cartridges were.

[tschak909]

You guys are casting hopes at a trademark troll. That's what the current incarnation of Atari is, ask anyone who has worked with them, More than a few of us know a couple.

 

There are far more productive efforts to cast towards.

 

-Thom

[Dr Manhattan]

Here's some interesting new information on the possible hardware powering the Ataribox.

 

https://hothardware.com/news/amd-semi-custom-silicon-may-power-atari-ataribox

 

Looks like this thing is taking another step closer to reality.

[Reaperman]

I just want an interesting ride:

 

[PlaysWithWolves]

Here's some interesting new information on the possible hardware powering the Ataribox.

 

https://hothardware.com/news/amd-semi-custom-silicon-may-power-atari-ataribox

 

Looks like this thing is taking another step closer to reality.

 

 

That feel when you know something's clickbait but you click anyway:

 

[JamesD]

To be honest, I'd be happy with a box for a Raspberry Pi 3 that has wood grain and an Atari logo.
I just want to use it for emulation and it would be cool if it had Atari on it just for the retro feel.
I really don't care about using it for modern games.

[Good_Times]

The atari name will never become relevant again. Especially to the general public. Not like it was in the 1970's when everyone knew what game cartridges were.

 

I believe you are spot on, unfortunately. Lightning in a bottle, a truly magical time. I'm just happy to be able to say that I was there and a part of it all, a time when Atari was everything - the very definition of video games - long before the 'Atari' moniker was exploited and abused by fly-by-night conglomerates in order to sell chintzy crap to clueless Millennials riding that "RETRO, brah!!" train.

 

As a kid, it was never "Hey, let's go over to Jake's house and play video games!", it was "Hey, let's go over to Jake's house and play Atari!"

[Keatah]

I believe many people used "Atari" as a generic term for videogames. Like Kleenex for facial tissues.. We certainly did.

[Flojomojo]

And now it's shorthand for OLD video games.