Bill Lange Posted March 24 Share Posted March 24 The review and content embargo ends at 8 am PT Thursday, March 28th! Looking forward to discussing ... 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
infinite.pies Posted March 24 Share Posted March 24 Is that definite? I read in another thread that the embargo is lifted on Tuesday 26th in advance of the official release on the 28th? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Lange Posted March 24 Author Share Posted March 24 18 minutes ago, infinite.pies said: Is that definite? I read in another thread that the embargo is lifted on Tuesday 26th in advance of the official release on the 28th? The instruction that came with my 400 Mini clearly state the March 28th date and time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted March 24 Share Posted March 24 11 hours ago, swlovinist said: My review of the unit will go up on Tuesday March 26th at 7:00AM PT when the embargo lifts. Possibly @swlovinist made a typo? [Edit] It's not a typo, because he gives the same date in his Press-Kit unboxing video. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Lange Posted March 25 Author Share Posted March 25 Just got an emailed update saying the embargo end date is the 26th! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Merritt Posted March 25 Share Posted March 25 Retro Recipes has a teardown. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Lange Posted March 26 Author Share Posted March 26 Here is The Atari 400 Mini next to an origianl 400. It looks great. Neither the keyboard nor the cartridge door work. There are five USB ports. Four on the front and one in the back. Out of the box, the only thing you need to provide is an AC adapter plug to use with the USB power cable. A nice touch is that the power cord and HDMI cable are styled in the Atari Sunset color scheme. It is easy to load games via a USB memory stick. Just plug in the stick, select the stick from the game menu, and then choose the game you want to load. I tried adding and playing a handful of games such as Caverns of Mars, Getaway, Shamus, Karatakea and many more. I was able to load BASIC and then CLOAD a BASIC "game" (Chris Crawford's SCRAM). The DRAFT Manual shows that the following file extensions can be loaded: The CXSTICK USB joystick is interesting. It has an extra seven buttons integrated in its design. Three on the front face, and four more integrated into what you might call the "boot retention ring" as shown: Its great having all those extra buttons, but I might have to relearn 40+ years of holding a joystick as I sometimes hit the new buttons unexpectedly. You can easily plug in a USB keyboard. You also have access to a virtual keyboard by pressing the HOME and MENU buttons on the front face of the joystick. When the manual becomes available, it should be here: https://retrogames.biz/links/the400-mini/support While I was able to run BASIC and the Assembler/Editor cart, I'll likely stick to Altirra and Fujinet for development though. The 400 Mini shines at being a small cool design and being easy to hook up to a modern TV. It is also very easy to add more software. The packed in joystick is great even if it takes a bit of getting used to. I'll likely get at least one more CXSTICK USB joystick to play two player games. Let me know what you think. 5 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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