What's next for Ben and Plaion after the Atari2600+ - You would make a brilliant Colecovision... :)

[Spanner]

Ben and Plaion would make a brilliant Colecovison, if you could get the copyright to its name, do CBS still own it, I do not see its case being copyrighted, most of them are not, you could make it exactly the same as the Atari2600+, I mean how it reads its cartridges so show a CBS Colecovision logo and then Loading Game..., once you made one console it can be used on other consoles too...

The Colecovison is one of the consoles I have always wanted to be a DTV(Direct to TV) by HDMI..

Just seen a video of a ATGames Colecovison, I didn't even know they made one, I think it was made in 2016, it has Composite not HDMI and can only play games from a menu and it looks like its missing something....
 

 

Edited January 7 by Spanner

[Sean_1970]

That would be tempting, but they’d need to do some kind of joystick controller as the original pads were pretty crap with buttons on the sides. They have superb-quality arcade ports and a load of exclusives.

[akator]

There are many options for new CV controllers.  Here's an example:

 

[+jeremiahjt]

I think the 5200 SuperSystem is next on the list, as it should be.

[jhd]

 

While (obviously) no specific numbers have been released, it has been strongly suggested that sales were underwhelming. This very probably precludes a follow-up console. 

 

 

[+littaum]

1 minute ago, jhd said:

 

While (obviously) no specific numbers have been released, it has been strongly suggested that sales were underwhelming. This very probably precludes a follow-up console. 

 

 

 

Who is doing the suggesting?

[+jeremiahjt]

7 minutes ago, jhd said:

 

While (obviously) no specific numbers have been released, it has been strongly suggested that sales were underwhelming. This very probably precludes a follow-up console. 

 

 

By who? I have not heard that suggested anywhere.

[Cris1997XX]

I would like a Colecovision+, 5200+, XEGS+, whatever 8-bit console you can think of. But Atari really needs to step up their game a little, underpowered consoles running old emulators are kinda underwhelming to be honest

Edited January 8 by Cris1997XX

[+bent_pin]

23 hours ago, Spanner said:

Ben and Plaion would make a brilliant Colecovison, if you could get the copyright to its name, do CBS still own it, I do not see its case being copyrighted, most of them are not, you could make it exactly the same as the Atari2600+, I mean how it reads its cartridges so show a CBS Colecovision logo and then Loading Game..., once you made one console it can be used on other consoles too...

The Colecovison is one of the consoles I have always wanted to be a DTV(Direct to TV) by HDMI..

Just seen a video of a ATGames Colecovison, I didn't even know they made one, I think it was made in 2016, it has Composite not HDMI and can only play games from a menu and it looks like its missing something....
 

 

Don't distract them, they have to finish the updates and optional hardware for the 2600+

[Bill Loguidice]

1 hour ago, jhd said:

 

While (obviously) no specific numbers have been released, it has been strongly suggested that sales were underwhelming. This very probably precludes a follow-up console. 

 

 

I'd be surprised if they thought they'd have blockbuster sales of the thing. They've seemed pretty good with their sales estimates for other products, so I would assume with the low R&D costs for something like this, relatively high margins, and realistic sales goals (again, based on previous products in this category), I can't see them being "underwhelmed." Perhaps more people are taking a wait-and-see approach with this than anticipated until the emulation/compatibility improves?

[Bill Loguidice]

52 minutes ago, Cris1997XX said:

I would like a Colecovision+, 5200+, XEGS+, whatever 8-bit console you can think of. But Atari really needs to step up their game a little, underpowered consoles running old emulators are kinda underwhelming to be honest

It's a balancing act between what the market will bear in terms of costs and what can actually be produced on a reasonable basis. We have already had a close-to-ideal "ColecoVision+" with the Pheonix being FPGA-based, and then there's the pending release of the "Adam+", which seems to be highly compatible and enhanced emulation-based system, but it's a much bigger ask for a relatively mainstream company like an Atari and their relatively limited resources to continue to make their own low-priced systems, emulation or otherwise, particularly as you get further away from the relative popularity of something like the original Atari 2600. Their audience still needs reasonable access to games to play on cartridge-based systems. That's not an easy ask for a relatively casual audience.

[+swlovinist]

The demand for these more niche retro consoles outside of mainstream ones could be challenging for a large company like Atari to profit from.  On a hobbyist level, it can be a huge undertaking and might stress out a small team with small production.       

[Glorkbot]

The trouble with colecovision is it has so few original games.

 

Atari 2600 has a ton of arcade ports too, but they become interesting by being such basic stripped down versions. But it also has a TON of original games and the Colecovision just doesn’t. 
 

KC Munchin and the sequel make it all worth it though.

[Sean_1970]

8 minutes ago, Glorkbot said:

The trouble with colecovision is it has so few original games.

 

Atari 2600 has a ton of arcade ports too, but they become interesting by being such basic stripped down versions. But it also has a TON of original games and the Colecovision just doesn’t. 
 

KC Munchin and the sequel make it all worth it though.

For me it would be the DK, Exidy and Sega ports, but frankly I don’t see how that would be profitable 🤷‍♂️

[PowerDubs]

6 hours ago, jeremiahjt said:

By who? I have not heard that suggested anywhere.

 

In this very forum we know that at least 60,000 have been sold-

 

 

 

 

.....and we are just getting started.

 

[ChrisKewl]

11 minutes ago, PowerDubs said:

In this very forum we know that at least 60,000 have been sold-

Curious to know if the serial numbers are based on location. Like US/Canada are one serial number list and another for the European and other countries? Maybe @Ben from Plaion knows?

[PowerDubs]

Yes- in that thread Ben mentions the countries and their shipment order...

[tradyblix]

Well we have our Answer folks. It's the Adorable Atari 400 mini

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/shopping/the-latest-mini-console-is-this-adorable-atari-400/ar-AA1mOwc1

 

I for one will be in line. At least when I can order it from Amazon, lol  

[Ben from Plaion]

3 minutes ago, tradyblix said:

Well we have our Answer folks. It's the Adorable Atari 400 mini

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/shopping/the-latest-mini-console-is-this-adorable-atari-400/ar-AA1mOwc1

 

I for one will be in line. At least when I can order it from Amazon, lol  

Yeah its going through Plaion UK, but the 400 mini is a Retro Games Limited product. Plaion is manufacturing and distributing the machine. My colleague in the UK office manages it with RGL.

 

I am solely concentrating on 2600+ for the meantime.

[Glorkbot]

Does the keyboard work on that Atari 400 mini or is it just for show? Do you have to (or can you) plug in an external keyboard for keyboard functions in games?

[Bill Loguidice]

Just now, Glorkbot said:

Does the keyboard work on that Atari 400 mini or is it just for show? Do you have to (or can you) plug in an external keyboard for keyboard functions in games?

It's just for show like every other Mini they've made. It supports USB keyboards.

[Microjak]

53 minutes ago, Ben from Plaion said:

Yeah its going through Plaion UK, but the 400 mini is a Retro Games Limited product. Plaion is manufacturing and distributing the machine. My colleague in the UK office manages it with RGL.

 

I am solely concentrating on 2600+ for the meantime.

Looks great,is the USB joystick based on the 2600+ one as I wouldn’t mind it for Stella on my Mac?

[Glorkbot]

36 minutes ago, Bill Loguidice said:

It's just for show like every other Mini they've made. It supports USB keyboards.

Okay, thanks. Their C64 and Vic-20 replicas feature working keyboards. (But they're not "mini" consoles, they're full size.)

[Bill Loguidice]

2 minutes ago, Glorkbot said:

Okay, thanks. Their C64 and Vic-20 replicas feature working keyboards. (But they're not "mini" consoles, they're full size.)

Exactly. This is a Mini, not a Maxi. My assumption is if this does really well they may do an 800 Maxi with working keyboard. The hope is that an Amiga Maxi will follow soon as well.

[chad5200]

1 hour ago, Ben from Plaion said:

Yeah its going through Plaion UK, but the 400 mini is a Retro Games Limited product. Plaion is manufacturing and distributing the machine. My colleague in the UK office manages it with RGL.

 

I am solely concentrating on 2600+ for the meantime.

I hope that whoever has Ben's role on The 400 Mini is as caring and passionate as Ben!  Ben's participation and interaction on this forum has been amazing!

 

Hoping that person engages in the AtariAge Atari 8-Bit forum (or its coming sub-forum?) as much as Ben has here.