The Atari VCS Controversies Thread

[Swami]

56 minutes ago, The Historian said:

While it has been deleted from Twitter and reddit, it does look like Atari is reaching out to some Devs to secure or at least allow them to place their games on the Atari VCS.

 

https://snew.notabug.io/r/AtariVCS/comments/iy8bc0/from_atari_to_atari_how_the_company_changed_my/

 

 

The game looks good and I hope that they are successful, whether or not it arrives on the VCS.

Is that second post meant to be a Mad Lib? What is your favorite cooking utensil? "There is a boxing game controlled with an Atari inspired Waffle Iron."

[DemonAttack82]

So "Atari" is suckering random indie devs to make it look like something is happening? 

[dark-aleph]

1 hour ago, Swami said:

Is that second post meant to be a Mad Lib? What is your favorite cooking utensil? "There is a boxing game controlled with an Atari inspired Waffle Iron."

Well, why not? There's a coffeepot controller already.

 

The inspiration could be the paddle controllers. As a kid, I didn't realise they were supposed to be pictures of tennis racquets on the paddles. I grew up in a bakery, and so I wondered why the paddles had flour sieves on them (another cooking utensil). I felt like an idiot when I figured it out as an adult, I mean there's even a ball ffs!

 

I can see them being mistaken for waffle irons too. They look a lot like old campfire waffle irons.

[Shawn]

2 hours ago, The Historian said:

While it has been deleted from Twitter and reddit, it does look like Atari is reaching out to some Devs to secure or at least allow them to place their games on the Atari VCS.

 

https://snew.notabug.io/r/AtariVCS/comments/iy8bc0/from_atari_to_atari_how_the_company_changed_my/

 

 

The game looks good and I hope that they are successful, whether or not it arrives on the VCS.

 

 

Did you read up on the story that person was spinning on Reddit about ol' grandpa the scientist going to Japan and bringing her back a 2600 to the Soviet Union in 1990?  Someone called them on the BS story thankfully.

[AtariLeaf]

Looks like an interesting game. I'm glad fauxtari shined a light on it so I can buy it on Steam

 

[+x=usr(1536)]

12 hours ago, Nathan Strum said:

Math Gran Prix.

 

Atari blew its big chance to make it the edutainfomational™ equivalent of the Gran Turismo franchise. Online multiplayer tournaments. eSports gambling. Cryptocurrency in-app purchases. Classic licensed cars like the Yugo, Pinto, Edsel and The Dale. Track layouts like abandoned strip mall parking lots, abandoned Atari-themed hotel parking lots, abandoned Atari headquarter parking lots, the Alamogordo landfill, and drive-thru Taco stands.

 

I'm totally sure they could've pulled it off, too.

 

They already had the driving controllers.

 

To my mind, it would make more sense for Nutari to put it in the Grand Theft Auto universe - solve a multiplication problem, beat up a hooker; get that subtraction question right, steal heroin from a local dealer in a bloodbath of a gunfight.  It seems to fit in better with their overall level of skeeziness.

 

(BTW: good choice of reference with the Dale.  Almost nobody ever goes for that one.)

[TACODON]

I wouldn't be shocked if Atari looks up to The Dale as a lofty goal to achieve. They got some good mileage out of that deal.

 

All puns intended. 

[Bill Loguidice]

With all due respect to the Kapia devs (husband and wife team) as it looks like a lovely game, the Kickstarter is at $6000 of a $12000 goal and it's not expected to be released on Steam/GOG until at least Q2 2021. How does this not make the VCS "stealth" game acquisition strategy seem silly in comparison? Are they basically targeting simple conversions of promising looking games from basically unknown one or two person shops to fill out their indie game line-up at this point?

[TACODON]

https://medium.com/ultra-io/atari-partners-with-ultra-to-add-games-communities-and-services-to-its-atari-vcs-home-f48d3c970cca

 

Big news here

[jamm]

5 minutes ago, TACODON said:

https://medium.com/ultra-io/atari-partners-with-ultra-to-add-games-communities-and-services-to-its-atari-vcs-home-f48d3c970cca

 

Big news here

Damn it.  I sprained my eyeballs when they rolled so hard at seeing that story. 
?

 

[Bill Loguidice]

24 minutes ago, TACODON said:

https://medium.com/ultra-io/atari-partners-with-ultra-to-add-games-communities-and-services-to-its-atari-vcs-home-f48d3c970cca

 

Big news here

The boilerplate at the bottom of the press release is even bigger:

 

The all-new Atari VCS home gaming and video computer system is a unique PC/console hybrid inspired by classic Atari consoles and computers. Like the legendary Atari 2600 did in 1977, the VCS is poised to transform the TV-centric gaming and home entertainment experience. Users will enjoy an ever-expanding Atari world of all-new games, classic and remastered favorites, streaming media, and personal apps. The Atari VCS is powered by an AMD Ryzen™ 1606G high-performance Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) with Zen-core and Radeon Vega Graphics, enabling gaming and video streaming up to 4K HDR at 60fps. The Atari VCS combines the best of consoles and PC into one compact and ultra-versatile device.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Something as low spec as the 1606G had to be expected.

 

 

Edited September 24, 2020 by Thomas Jentzsch

[+x=usr(1536)]

28 minutes ago, Bill Loguidice said:

The Atari VCS is powered by an AMD Ryzen™ 1606G high-performance Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) with Zen-core and Radeon Vega Graphics, enabling gaming and video streaming up to 4K HDR at 60fps.

Oh, sweet!  They're using the fastest of AMD's really slow CPUs!  Bomb-diggity!

 

 

Edited September 24, 2020 by x=usr(1536)

[Bill Loguidice]

3 minutes ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

Something as low spec as the 1606G had to be expected.

Not my bolding - that's an unaltered copy and paste. It was more the text itself, including and especially, "Like the legendary Atari 2600 did in 1977, the VCS is poised to transform the TV-centric gaming and home entertainment experience."

[Thomas Jentzsch]

1 minute ago, Bill Loguidice said:

Not my bolding - that's an unaltered copy and paste.

So Atari really thinks this is worth to be bold? That is bold.  

 

1 minute ago, Bill Loguidice said:

It was more the text itself, including and especially, "Like the legendary Atari 2600 did in 1977, the VCS is poised to transform the TV-centric gaming and home entertainment experience."

I always skip marketing bla bla. Unless I am up for a laugh.  

[Bill Loguidice]

10 minutes ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

So Atari really thinks this is worth to be bold? That is bold.  

 

I wonder if it's a stipulation from AMD that it has to be bold? There are obviously very specific requirements for r, TM, etc., especially when using partner products.

[TACODON]

Is Bomb-diggity supposed to be in bold or not?

 

Bomb-diggity?

[Thomas Jentzsch]

8 minutes ago, Bill Loguidice said:

I wonder if it's a stipulation from AMD that it has to be bold? 

Nope, lots of other manufacturer websites without bold AMD processor names.

[RedWolfJC]

29 minutes ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

Nope, lots of other manufacturer websites without bold AMD processor names.

The bold text is just a link that takes you to the AMD spec page for the processor.

https://www.amd.com/en/products/embedded-ryzen-r1000-series

 

Loved that video you posted, guy at the end says "Keep in mind this board was designed for digital signage..."

So basically the VCS is using the same processor as a system that tells you that Whoppers are 2 for $5.

 

To be fair though, the board he is using is $378 for a single purchase.
https://www.dfi-itox.com/estore/catalogsearch/result/?q=ghf51&ad=ghf51-influencer_us

 

Edited September 24, 2020 by RedWolfJC

[zzip]

20 hours ago, racerx said:

That's what most people would've wanted, I'd imagine, because that would've given it a reason to actually exist. "Reimagined classics" was a big part of the original pitch, and I don't think stuff like the free-to-play-on-mobile Missile Command Recharged or the nearly 3-year-old-on-everything-else T4K is what people had in mind.

That's probably what we would get though, and it would be disappointing

 

20 hours ago, racerx said:

What significant games other than Battlezone have they sold?  The bigger issue is that lots of games people want are actually third party games, and Chesnais would've had to track down rights and pay licensing fees.

They inherited the Microprose stuff through the Hasbro acquisition,  they had Unreal, they had the rights to D&D games.   In the early-to-mid 2000's there was were some fairly big name games on the Atari label:  Civilization, Rollercoaster Tycoon, Neverwinter Nights, Sid Meier's Pirates, Chris Sawyer's Locomotion, the Test Drive series.    They lost or sold off most of these,  but still have only Rollercoaster Tycoon apparently,  and the old classics minus Battlezone.

[zzip]

1 hour ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

Something as low spec as the 1606G had to be expected.

 

 

But he gives it a favorable review at the end, noting that it can't handle 3D intensive games like Elite very well,  but it handled most of the things he tested well.    This board is more powerful than the PC my daughter uses to play games on,  and that thing runs many popular games just fine despite the low specs.   Not every gamer plays games that melt 3D gaming cards.

 

Obviously the gamer looking for power isn't looking for this, that doesn't mean it's useless.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

35 minutes ago, zzip said:

Obviously the gamer looking for power isn't looking for this, that doesn't mean it's useless.

A Vega 3 is the lowest level of current AMD Ryzen GPUs and is only about as fast as a UHD 630 which is part of many newer Intel CPUs. And these are really slow. IMO that doesn't fit too well to a gaming console.

[OCAT]

This might be good for Camgirls... streaming, tokens, trade...

Anyhoo, Atari reaaaaly likes to shovel that "1977" history everytime they speak or release some crap update.
They need to understand that no one cares about crappy games from the past. Amico is guitly of this too.
They have no history so they mooch legacy from some time gone by.
Companies that live in the past, stay in the past, and die very quickly I might add.
As long as it provides a few days of entertainment, I am all for Atari making all these BS partnerships so when it comes crashing down there is more fallout to watch while eating (insert snack of your choice).

I just got a door-to-door advisary telling me I am now in high risk zone again, next step is lockdown. So come winter I need entertainment, and Atari seams poised to deliver... by not delivering console or content. I'd like to know how long Atari can last without any form of revenue. This is why they are offloading all content and services into "partnerships" the problem is that Atari will have 0 power and 0 say in what goes on with the console.

What is stopping somone else from making a console for $99 and having the same content on it? since nothing is coming from Atari.

[zzip]

3 minutes ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

A Vega 3 is the lowest level of current AMD Ryzen GPUs and is only about as fast as a UHD 630 which is part of many newer Intel CPUs. And these are really slow. IMO that doesn't fit too well to a gaming console.

If you are interested in the latest 3D games, then no.

 

My daughter can run Minecraft and all her favorite games on a PC much slower than this.  Frankly I'm surprised at what it is capable of because the attitude is such a system is "too weak for gaming". 

 

When they first announced Ataribox, that's who they said they were targeting,  kids struggling to run minecraft on old laptops.   The hottest game among kids right now seems to be "Among us", and that could certainly run on this.

 

Something like this won't please hardcore gamers, but they were never the audience.

[racerx]

21 minutes ago, zzip said:

When they first announced Ataribox, that's who they said they were targeting,  kids struggling to run minecraft on old laptops.  

 

Game, Stream, And Connect Like Your Daughter's Old Laptop