New hardware project is going to be related to the VCS.

[RadiATIon]

Quote

How Atari is leveraging 50 years of nostalgia | Wade Rosen interview VentureBeat

 

Wade Rosen wants Atari to come back as one of the most valuable gaming brands. After all, there aren't many 50-year-old gaming companies.

 

 

Quote

Wade Rosen : The other thing would be some new hardware projects we’ll be announcing later in the year. One of those is going to be related to the VCS. As we looked at the VCS to provide more utility, one of the ways that we think that can be done effectively is to expand the hardware capabilities of the VCS. It’s a pretty cool hardware initiative that I think is unique for the industry

This confirms that Atari has hardware projects in addition to continuing to support the VCS on the software side. 

 

Wait and see. 

[THX-1138]

It was a good interview but that last bit was especially interesting.  I've no idea what it will mean though.

[bugcatcher88]

Throwing some guesses out there, it could be:

1. Trak-ball peripheral (for existing games & future games such as Missile Command Recharged, Akka Arrh, relevant games in VCS Vault, Atari 50, etc.)

2. Multi cartridge add-on (play carts from previous Atari hardware, 2600 to Jaguar)

3. Modern "pro" controller (matches features seen in PS5 & Xbox Series controllers)

4. VCS-branded keyboard, mouse, and headset accessories

 

He did say this new hardware will be "unique for the industry" so that probably rules out everything except #2. I really don't know what else. They already released that USB drive late last year.

[doug0909]

I heard it's going to be a very heavy piece of wood emblazoned with modern but retro-nostalgic designs. You place it on your lap, and the classic controller fits in it snugly so you can break it with one hand while playing recharged series games. 

[Mockduck]

My guess is it is a graphics card style update, some kind of USB breakout box with an external graphics card, and maybe (maybe?) a 2600 cart port.

[zzip]

On 3/5/2023 at 4:41 AM, RadiATIon said:

Wade Rosen wants Atari to come back as one of the most valuable gaming brands. After all, there aren't many 50-year-old gaming companies.

Actually more than you'd think..   Nintendo, Sega,  many of the arcade manfacturers were producing pinball, slot machines and other amusements before they got into video games.  Most console hardware makers are older than Atari:  Sony, Mattel, Magnavox and Coleco.   Microsoft is almost 50 years old.    Of course not all of those companies did gaming for 50 years even if they are older.

 

20 hours ago, bugcatcher88 said:

1. Trak-ball peripheral (for existing games & future games such as Missile Command Recharged, Akka Arrh, relevant games in VCS Vault, Atari 50, etc.)

2. Multi cartridge add-on (play carts from previous Atari hardware, 2600 to Jaguar)

3. Modern "pro" controller (matches features seen in PS5 & Xbox Series controllers)

4. VCS-branded keyboard, mouse, and headset accessories

I think we're more likely to see something where they can take an existing thing and rebrand it with Atari branding,  so keyboard/mouse/trackball.

 

Cart reader would be nice, but there's quite a bit of development work to do it right.   Like you plug a cartridge in and the game launches,  pull it out and the game stops.   That requires USB hot-plug fuctionality in the cart adaptor,  maybe modification to the emulator code,  and the Atari OS needs to detect the cart change and shut down or suspend any running app and launch the game.   

[RadiATIon]

1 hour ago, zzip said:

Actually more than you'd think..   Nintendo, Sega,  many of the arcade manfacturers were producing pinball, slot machines and other amusements before they got into video games.  Most console hardware makers are older than Atari:  Sony, Mattel, Magnavox and Coleco.   Microsoft is almost 50 years old.    Of course not all of those companies did gaming for 50 years even if they are older.

"Wade Rosen wants Atari to come back as one of the most valuable gaming brands. After all, there aren't many 50-year-old gaming companies."

 

I specify that this is not my sentence, but a quote taken from Venturebeat.

[RollOut]

1 hour ago, zzip said:

Actually more than you'd think..   Nintendo, Sega,  many of the arcade manfacturers were producing pinball, slot machines and other amusements before they got into video games.  Most console hardware makers are older than Atari:  Sony, Mattel, Magnavox and Coleco.   Microsoft is almost 50 years old.    Of course not all of those companies did gaming for 50 years even if they are older.

 

That is kind of making his point though. Atari has been in video games that whole time. Nintendo making playing cards back in 1889 is not particularly relevant to their video game operations. By that logic, Nintendo was nearly 100 years old be the time the Famicom came out.

[Flyindrew]

One hardware add on for the VCS I would love to see would be "the classic keyboard collection". These would be keyboards modeled after Atari 8 bit computers (400,800,XL,XE). These keyboards would also allow the VCS better accessibility with regard to PC mode providing similar function as the USB stick but with additional capabilities. Maybe even include some storage.

[zzip]

1 hour ago, RadiATIon said:

"Wade Rosen wants Atari to come back as one of the most valuable gaming brands. After all, there aren't many 50-year-old gaming companies."

 

I specify that this is not my sentence, but a quote taken from Venturebeat.

yeah sorry I should have removed your name from the quote since I was quoting that line from the article.

 

 

[AndyVGR]

On 3/5/2023 at 3:06 PM, doug0909 said:

I heard it's going to be a very heavy piece of wood emblazoned with modern but retro-nostalgic designs. You place it on your lap, and the classic controller fits in it snugly so you can break it with one hand while playing recharged series games. 

I literally laughed so hard I was crying reading this while sitting in my office, I must look like a nut to my co-workers! Thanks for the great laugh, I'm still chuckling over it.

[+swlovinist]

On 3/5/2023 at 11:52 AM, bugcatcher88 said:

Throwing some guesses out there, it could be:

1. Trak-ball peripheral (for existing games & future games such as Missile Command Recharged, Akka Arrh, relevant games in VCS Vault, Atari 50, etc.)

2. Multi cartridge add-on (play carts from previous Atari hardware, 2600 to Jaguar)

3. Modern "pro" controller (matches features seen in PS5 & Xbox Series controllers)

4. VCS-branded keyboard, mouse, and headset accessories

 

He did say this new hardware will be "unique for the industry" so that probably rules out everything except #2. I really don't know what else. They already released that USB drive late last year.

I would LOVE to see #2 happen.   That really would be a nice update to the Atari VCS.   This would definitely expand the usage for the VCS to a wider audience for me an absolute dream.   Just nice to see that the VCS is getting some support still despite all the news at the end of this last year.   I do hope that they address the console updates though...as right now its pretty tough if you buy a new VCS and have through all the hoops to play it.  

[Atari_JaguarVCS]

On my last VCS I purchased at Xmas in the sale I actually found the update process to be very very simple and much quicker than letting the machine sit and download update after update. I was actually dreading the update process when I got it as it sounded complex but honestly burning the image to the USB pen was straight forward and then once plugged in to the VCS USB port and a keyboard plugged in it was over In minutes. I think Atari should probably bundle a USB stick with the relevant image burned on to it and ready to go for the customer that would solve the issue as I guess if you don’t have a spare USB pen available that’s an issue as you need to purchase one to proceed which could be annoying but for me I had one laying around. I honestly hope Atari find a new manufacturer and get this thing released outside the US one day. It makes sense to stop production for now though there sitting on warehouses full of Atari VCS consoles and it will take a while to deplete them. 

[+swlovinist]

52 minutes ago, Atari_JaguarVCS said:

On my last VCS I purchased at Xmas in the sale I actually found the update process to be very very simple and much quicker than letting the machine sit and download update after update. I was actually dreading the update process when I got it as it sounded complex but honestly burning the image to the USB pen was straight forward and then once plugged in to the VCS USB port and a keyboard plugged in it was over In minutes. I think Atari should probably bundle a USB stick with the relevant image burned on to it and ready to go for the customer that would solve the issue as I guess if you don’t have a spare USB pen available that’s an issue as you need to purchase one to proceed which could be annoying but for me I had one laying around. I honestly hope Atari find a new manufacturer and get this thing released outside the US one day. It makes sense to stop production for now though there sitting on warehouses full of Atari VCS consoles and it will take a while to deplete them. 

For the standard consumer this process needs to be amended significantly though.  I could see some people buying this console, trying to updating the usual way, and being frustrated with it not working.   Not having any messages or additional paperwork with the console that this will happen is also an issue.   I bought one late last year and had to use customer service to get it working.   I know Atari is aware of this issue, but three months later, there still is not an easier fix.   

[RollOut]

11 minutes ago, swlovinist said:

For the standard consumer this process needs to be amended significantly though.  I could see some people buying this console, trying to updating the usual way, and being frustrated with it not working.   Not having any messages or additional paperwork with the console that this will happen is also an issue.   I bought one late last year and had to use customer service to get it working.   I know Atari is aware of this issue, but three months later, there still is not an easier fix.   

As a big VCS fan, I totally agree. The difficulty in getting the system to work out of the box has made me hesitant to recommend it to people, especially more casual gamers. That said, I think the system is awesome, and would more strongly recommend it if it just worked, or was easily updated out of the box. 

[Atari_JaguarVCS]

There’s no doubt they need to resolve the issue asap which definitely can be done easily by including a cheap USB pen with the image burned to it with maybe some instructions that say plug said USB pen into VCS USB port and connect USB keyboard to VCS port and press enter and the menu and job done. If they did this with every VCS that is purchased in the future that would be great, but I'm honestly not in the slightest technically minded when it comes to these kind of software things, I can barely navigate myself around a modern OS like Windows 11 for example at times, but I found this process of updating the VCS so much quicker than waiting on it updating in the typical fashion I could hardly believe it, over all very very easy and I now have a USB pen ready to go for the next VCS. I’m pretty sure Atari are working to figure out why the traditional way of updating isn’t working properly. hopefully they can sort it out as even though it’s horribly long to update the VCS this way it might be more convenient for some. 

[zzip]

2 hours ago, swlovinist said:

For the standard consumer this process needs to be amended significantly though.  I could see some people buying this console, trying to updating the usual way, and being frustrated with it not working.   Not having any messages or additional paperwork with the console that this will happen is also an issue.   I bought one late last year and had to use customer service to get it working.   I know Atari is aware of this issue, but three months later, there still is not an easier fix.   

Yeah at minimum a slip of paper with instructions

 

Like when I got my Atari XL, there was a sheet of paper that explained there might be some software incompatibility issues that required use of a "translator" disk, and how to get one.   Something like that so people don't assume the product is defective.

[Gunther]

Maybe, modern version's of ATARI's classic controllers that work on both the VCS, and ATARI's legacy consoles.

Wade Rosen mentions that retro gaming is underserved.

This would bridge the VCS/ATARI legacy systems.

I really can't see ATARI releasing an attachable cart-slot.

 

[Gunther]

The VCS is overpriced as it is.

An additional cart slot would push the price up to ridiculous amounts.

 

 

[Prince Colwyn]

Would a virtual reality add-on be way beyond Atari SA's resources?  Could they partner with another company who had the tech?

 

In the Jeff Minter and Ivan "Giles" Zorzin interview for Timeextension.com, Giles dances around the subject of doing a VR game for Atari. 

 

I assume if this does happen, it'd be for PSVR or Oculus.  However, it seems that the VR industry is still in it's "wild west" phase and if Atari is seriously committed to making the VCS a "playa", then VR would give them their best shot at that.

 

But maybe I'm reading too much into that interview...

[PowerDubs]

On 3/14/2023 at 2:11 PM, Prince Colwyn said:

Would a virtual reality add-on be way beyond Atari SA's resources?  Could they partner with another company who had the tech?

 

In the Jeff Minter and Ivan "Giles" Zorzin interview for Timeextension.com, Giles dances around the subject of doing a VR game for Atari. 

 

I assume if this does happen, it'd be for PSVR or Oculus.  However, it seems that the VR industry is still in it's "wild west" phase and if Atari is seriously committed to making the VCS a "playa", then VR would give them their best shot at that.

 

But maybe I'm reading too much into that interview...

 

....and yet, here we are... 

 

[E. King]

On 3/13/2023 at 8:03 PM, Gunther said:

The VCS is overpriced as it is.

An additional cart slot would push the price up to ridiculous amounts.

 

 

You nailed it. The planned 2600/7800 cartridge addon is going to cost $230 and could take years to even be available.