New VCS - Very disappointed!!!

[Atarick]

2 hours ago, flickertail said:

My wife and my mother went halfsies on VCS for my Christmas present. On the 26th, I could barely get it to work, and on the 27th, I couldn't get the Atari store to load... but ever since the 28th, I haven't had a problem.

Good to hear and hope you enjoy it. I honestly think that if they can really flood the store with games to increase the content, drop the price a bit, and avoid the server issues, they could have a big winner on their hands. It seems like the easy solution would be to move some of the mobile and legacy games over, along with any new releases. 

 

The one thing that also needs to jump is the marketing, but baby steps. 

[Tinman]

7 hours ago, AlecRob said:

Did you finally get your VCS running?

Nope.  I must have tried a hundred times by now, but no luck.  I’m about ready to return the thing and get a Nintendo Switch or something.

[Atarick]

1 hour ago, Tinman said:

Nope.  I must have tried a hundred times by now, but no luck.  I’m about ready to return the thing and get a Nintendo Switch or something.

Remind me, was this a Microcenter buy, eBay, or Atari site? If the latter they should replace, at a minimum.

[Tinman]

10 minutes ago, Atarick said:

Remind me, was this a Microcenter buy, eBay, or Atari site? If the latter they should replace, at a minimum.

I bought from the Atari site.

[Djmicklovin]

3 hours ago, Tinman said:

I bought from the Atari site.

It should be working by now, contact customer support and tell them to fix or replace. Or get a bootable SSD or thumb drive and play in PC mode until it's fixed.

Edited January 3, 2022 by Djmicklovin

[flickertail]

7 hours ago, Atarick said:

Good to hear and hope you enjoy it. I honestly think that if they can really flood the store with games to increase the content, drop the price a bit, and avoid the server issues, they could have a big winner on their hands. It seems like the easy solution would be to move some of the mobile and legacy games over, along with any new releases. 

 

The one thing that also needs to jump is the marketing, but baby steps. 

I have a cousin who is an indie game developer. He's never been big into Atari gaming, but he is considerably younger than me.

 

To my surprise, he is actually very interested in developing for the VCS platform, but didn't know it had been released. When he asked me how much I had gotten it for, I told him that my family was able to get the VCS at the $279 price at GameStop during the holidays. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to get one at that price, so he's holding off on buying one. Indie game development hasn't made him rich.

 

If the price was below $300 for the system with a Modern and Classic controller included then he'd probably make the investment.

 

Does anyone know if Atari has developer discounts?

Edited January 3, 2022 by flickertail

[Aidovive]

On 12/25/2021 at 5:42 PM, nopaybob said:

Same as OP, updated failed, can't create account, can't buy games, can't get on chrome, all I get is "something went wrong , please try again later" BS!

Just received my Atari. Haring the exact dame issue. Managed to update the Firmware to 2021 (there is also a 2022 update nut I couldnt find it) using an USB stick.

But it’s still giving me these errors 

[GraffitiTavern]

45 minutes ago, Aidovive said:

Just received my Atari. Haring the exact dame issue. Managed to update the Firmware to 2021 (there is also a 2022 update nut I couldnt find it) using an USB stick.

But it’s still giving me these errors 

I've been curious about the VCS for almost a year now, and since BPM Boy came out I've been close to pulling the trigger, but I have heard about these update errors way too much to risk my money. Probably the biggest reason I've held off. Sucks because I generally like these neo-arcade style games, but I just got enough money for a console and don't want to blow it on something that might end up a brick or I have to fight to make work.

[Atari_JaguarVCS]

I can honestly say both my VCS’s have gave me absolutely no trouble at all, every update has went smoothly. I think out of all my consoles the VCS has been absolutely flawless most of the time apart from the odd server issue when Atari run a sale on the VCS store. 

[joeatari1]

2 hours ago, Aidovive said:

Just received my Atari. Haring the exact dame issue. Managed to update the Firmware to 2021 (there is also a 2022 update nut I couldnt find it) using an USB stick.

But it’s still giving me these errors 

There have been some reports of this and usually plugging in an ethernet cable will solve the issue.  If you have not done so I would give it a try.

[joeatari1]

1 hour ago, GraffitiTavern said:

I've been curious about the VCS for almost a year now, and since BPM Boy came out I've been close to pulling the trigger, but I have heard about these update errors way too much to risk my money. Probably the biggest reason I've held off. Sucks because I generally like these neo-arcade style games, but I just got enough money for a console and don't want to blow it on something that might end up a brick or I have to fight to make work.

I wouldn't hesitate, I have two and both work just fine.  I have an original backer unit and a black walnut from Micro Center.

[Leonard Smith]

1 hour ago, GraffitiTavern said:

I've been curious about the VCS for almost a year now, and since BPM Boy came out I've been close to pulling the trigger, but I have heard about these update errors way too much to risk my money. Probably the biggest reason I've held off. Sucks because I generally like these neo-arcade style games, but I just got enough money for a console and don't want to blow it on something that might end up a brick or I have to fight to make work.

I debated it just like you during the winter.  And having read through numerous posts reporting all manner of issues, I decided not to.  
And I don't regret it.  Many will jump to its defense and indicate that they've had no problems, but read on and you'll see that others have not been so lucky.  Your mileage will vary of course.

You're paying Switch / Xbox / PS price levels (unless you bought at the clearance prices) for something that truthfully doesn't really offer much different apart from the Atari name and different controllers.  You're dealing with a company that has significantly less resources at its disposable and you see this with the constant server issues and update problems. 

 

And the majority of those neo-style games are out on competing systems, including the much ballyhooed Recharged series (though buyer beware because I've had issues with Black Widow not even giving you the option to start, lol!!) 

Sure sure, it's a PC too.  But most of us already own several PC's and tablets that work perfectly, so what's the point?  

[Atari_JaguarVCS]

If you want to experience the best versions of these Neo Style games you’ll be looking to pick them up on the Atari VCS! The Classic joystick with rotary and extra content takes them to the next level. 

[Flyindrew]

Im a 43 year collector who purchased the Atari VCS in November 2021. Thoughts on the VCS:

 

1.)Playing retro Atari games on it-While I appreciate Atari providing "vault 1 and 2" for the VCS, compared to playing the same games on your original 2600, the VCS versions seem "kinda off" in a manner of speaking. The game play at times can feel a bit choppy on the VCS, the timing/speed of the games can feel a little out of whack.

 

2.)Modern Games-I purchased Asteroids and Breakout Recharged on both the VCS as well as for my Xbox Series S. As with the oldies, I found these (great) games so much more fun to play on the X Box as opposed to the VCS. I found the game play was much more fluid. You can also find alot of other modern titles on Google Play. When Atari 50 comes out later this year I am buying it for my XBoxx and skipping the VCS version.

 

3.)Design-This is the only plus of the system. The actual unit and controllers are beutiful. That they did an excellent job with.

 

Im not putting anyone down who enjoys the VCS. Me, personally, Id rather stick with playing my Atari oldies on my 2600 or 8 bit computer, and play all the new fantastic Atari titles on my X Box.

[Atari_JaguarVCS]

I think everyone will have there own platform they like to play the Atari games on which is absolutely fine. I personally buy the recharged games on all the platforms to support Atari so Switch,Ps4/5,Xbox Series X,PC but I do always prefer the VCS release more for the spinner function and the extra content we get on the VCS releases and the fact it’s an Atari console and then I mainly favour the Switch version for portability but that’s just me. I’ve never noticed the Xbox Series X version of a recharged game to be more fluid than on the VCS with my own set up to be honest. I find the games pretty much the same across the board. I’ve got one of my Atari VCS consoles set up right next to my Series X in my game room using the same monitor and have never noticed a difference in frame rate when jumping between both out of curiosity to check. The loading times are snappier on Xbox once the games loaded in with quick resume but that’s about it. I suppose the frame rates could better depending on the monitor or tv you use, I’m sure the Series X can do 144hz. I bet with a firmware update the VCS could output a higher refresh rate in the Atari OS to better the frame rate. I know it can do 120hz PC mode.