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Time to check in again on the Atari retro console… dear God, it’s actually got worse

Bullet Club

Banned
Tag: Dumpster Fire

Time to check in again on the Atari retro console… dear God, it’s actually got worse

Pro tip: When you’re removed as a Reddit moderator, you may want to review your life choices

Yesterday, September 23, was officially autumnal equinox in the northern hemisphere: a fact that prompted a very frustrated gamer to ask Atari what was going on with the product that he had forked over hundreds of dollars for more than a year earlier.

“On your blog and repeatedly online you promised substantial updates this summer, but it's the last day of summer and it seems pretty clear from your social media activity that there's no immediate update coming. What happened to the updates?,” he asked on the company’s official subreddit.

“Fear not,” the company’s social media folk responded, “we certainly have something in the works! We did not specify it would be on September 22-23 exactly. Sorry for the misunderstanding! We appreciate everyone's patience as we craft an exciting announcement to share with you all!”

The response did not go over well.

“LIAR, yes you did, and now you say again SOON, come on SHOW US SOMETHING HUGE Because I'm VERY ANGRY,” responded one. Another chimed in: “You said a few times this summer. Now we are in Fall. Tell us a REAL date, don't lie to us any more.”

Another: “I don't believe you anymore.” And another: “You very specifically said it would be by the end of summer. At this point, even your most staunch supporters are going to start calling you out… The best way to shut people up is to let your product do the talking. If you even have a product.”

Yes, folks, we are of course talking about the Atari VCS, a retro console that was first announced more than two years ago and which the company has taken millions of dollars in “pre-orders” for, but for which there is still no indication that the company even has a working prototype.

Deadlines are for losers

Atari zoomed past its first launch date of December 2017 - something that resulted in a bizarre exchange between El Reg and its COO Michael Arzt in March 2018, in which he first tried to persuade us that it was absolutely normal to showcase an empty plastic box at a games industry event, and then accused us of being “irresponsible trolls” when we wrote it up. Unfortunately for Arzt, he had forgotten we recorded the interview.

Atari then promised to launch in July 2019 - more than a year later. But come March, it then moved the date again to March 2020. Even then it noted that "all dates are good faith estimates and subject to change due to unforeseen circumstances."

But with huge numbers of people having already paid the company $329 for their chance to get an updated version of the classic Atari VCS console - and with the company continuing to push its pre-orders - the retro kit biz is under pressure to at least update people on progress.

Which led to a blog post in July - the same month as its second missed deadline - it which it said: “We look forward to showing off some of these modern gameplay examples and other great content publicly later this summer… We will bring back some new info and look forward to many more ‘mission accomplished’ moments ahead! Enjoy the summer!”

User rebellion

As the end of summer approached, one frustrated “customer” took to the Atari VCS subreddit to outline the updates that Atari has provided on all its social media channels since its July post. It didn’t make for happy reading and the author summarized his findings at the bottom:

“Scorecard Since Shutting Down Backer Updates on IndieGoGo
  • References to other people's work or achievements: 12
  • Direct Facebook appeals to pre-order or buy something: 11 (exclusive of other social media)
  • Pictures or renders of non-functional plastic boxes: at least 18
  • Concrete indicators product is being manufactured: 0
Atari responded by… deleting the post. On a Reddit forum that it didn’t run but had been invited to serve as a moderator. That also did not go over well. In fact, it’s safe to say that people went into somewhat of a rage.

So Atari responded by… deleting all the subsequent angry comments. At which point its representatives had their moderator rights removed. So Atari responded by… setting up its own subreddit where it has continued to delete posts and comments it doesn’t like.

And if you think it couldn’t get any worse, well then you don’t know Atari. Because earlier this month when one of the last remaining threads of its credibility came under question when the architect of its new console - the system architect for the original Xbox and designer of PlayStation 3's graphic systems, Rob Wyatt - was named as the co-founder and CTO of a new gameboard startup.

Amazingly, it can get worse

Atari observers immediately started asking the company if Wyatt was still working on the console that they have been waiting years for and the answer was predictably Atari.

“Is Rob Wyatt still with Atari?,” asked one on the new, official, carefully monitored Atari subreddit. “On the old subreddit I had heard that Rob Wyatt had left the Atari VCS project to start his own project. Is this true?”

And the response: “Hello! Unfortunately, this rumor is circulating on the web. Rob Wyatt and Tin Giant work on many different projects. Atari fans should be excited for the Gameboard, too!”

Which it doesn’t take a genius to realize is not exactly a straight answer. Is Wyatt still working on the VCS? We have emailed him and asked. No response yet.

So, in summary:
  • Atari has missed every single deadline it has ever set around the VCS console
  • It hasn’t provided any updates for months despite repeat promises to do so
  • There is still no evidence that there is even a working prototype
  • The only man on the team with actual experience with building a games console is now the co-founder of another startup
  • Atari was booted off its own subreddit for deleting posts and comments it didn’t like

We remain confident in our predictions over the Atari VCS’ future success.

Source: The Register
 

Mihos

Gold Member
Hmmm, I actually backed this and forgot about it. Everything I see still shows a December launch. Kind of a bummer that Ithought the wood grain was going to be backer only, but they are showing up on walmart and gamestop for preorder.

It will never be as bad as the Vega Plus fiasco.
 

iconmaster

Banned
0Iloc5A.jpg
 

Iorv3th

Member
I always called this as being vaporware.

Even if they somehow managed to make it and get all atari roms and stuff on it. There is not a market for it. Very very niche market and it's not one that is going to make any return.
 
This thing is a total cluster. The way they have handled this whole thing is insane - they obviously hadn’t done much work on the backend prior to launching their campaign other than getting the Atari license. For a split second, I actually considered backing it when it first launched (simply out of nostalgia), but after doing some mild digging into it, I didn’t come up with anything that made me comfortable that they might deliver.

Now after this recent backlash, they have announced that they will be streaming games using another company’s service (that was also crowdfunded), and there isn’t even a definitive list of games available on that service either.

It makes much more sense to just emulate everything on a Pi.

I have a feeling that if this thing does ever ship, the hardware will end up being terribly cheap quality anyway.

“AtariVCS” said:
Ready for some exciting new Atari VCS news? After a bit more radio-silence than we’d planned, we’re now ready to talk about something you’ve all been wanting to hear a lot more about: games!

And it’s not just a few games either. We’re talking about thousands of games, ready for you to play, at the launch of the Atari VCS. As you are reading this, we have dropped a press release announcing our exclusive partnership with Antstream Arcade to deliver the entire retro Atari games back catalog to the Atari VCS, along with thousands of other fully-licensed classic games available on the Antstream service. So, along with beloved Atari classics like Asteroids, Centipede, and Missile Command, there are thousands of additional arcade, desktop, and console titles available, such as Bad Dudes vs. DragonNinja, Double Dragon, Jumpman, Metal Slug and many others.

Edit: Actually, I did manage to find the games list on Antstream today: https://www.antstream.com/gameslist
 
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Vitacat

Member
The only way these nostalgic systems make sense (yeah, I know this "VCS" is not purely nostalgia but that is its raison d'etre) is if they deliver a really nice tribute to the original hardware and games. Nintendo has done a good job with its mini classics, and IMO Sega's Genesis Mini is the best one yet, and the TG16 Mini is also looking like it will be good. Too bad about Sony and SNK...

As for this "Atari" thing... it has no purpose IMO. It's not a particularly good nostalgic design IMO, and if all you want is a good retrogaming device there are many, many better ways to do that.
 

Gargus

Banned
I signed up for the email list and I got one a couple days ago talking about the hundreds of games they have for it. But when I clicked the link it didn't list or show any games, it just talked about some kind of subscription model for the system instead and i deleted the email.
 
D

Deleted member 738976

Unconfirmed Member
The only way these nostalgic systems make sense (yeah, I know this "VCS" is not purely nostalgia but that is its raison d'etre) is if they deliver a really nice tribute to the original hardware and games. Nintendo has done a good job with its mini classics, and IMO Sega's Genesis Mini is the best one yet, and the TG16 Mini is also looking like it will be good. Too bad about Sony and SNK...

As for this "Atari" thing... it has no purpose IMO. It's not a particularly good nostalgic design IMO, and if all you want is a good retrogaming device there are many, many better ways to do that.
Yeah we need a Jaguar Mini instead of this.
 

Well it wouldn't be Atari without... well money.
Here is the actual article from the Register:


Games industry veteran, one of the founding team members behind the Xbox, and Atari system architect, Rob Wyatt told The Register: “As of Friday, October 4th, I have officially resigned as the architect of the Atari VCS."

The techie claimed "Atari haven't paid invoices going back over six months" to his design consultancy, Tin Giant, which was working on the VCS, adding: "As a small company, we have been lucky to survive this long.”

It is unclear whether Atari will be able to complete its beleaguered project without Wyatt. It only received a prototype motherboard last month, and Wyatt and his team were in the middle of debugging it before deciding to draw stumps and quit.

s such, in the past two weeks, we have spoken to a number of console and games developers, some of whom have direct knowledge of the Atari VCS project. They asked to remain anonymous in order to speak candidly. The most striking comment, and one which may sum up the Atari VCS, came from someone who had worked directly on the gizmo. They called the whole process a “shit show.”

Our conversations reveal an Atari focused with watching every cent spent on the console: an approach that has led to a long series of bad decisions that have undermined its final design.

We understand that the final console will not have its own Atari-flavored operating system nor will it have an Atari Store where you can buy and download games onto your console, as is standard on games consoles.

Atari’s executives have no understanding of how games consoles, nor the Linux-powered operating system at the heart of the VCS, work, even at the most basic level, we are told. In order to cut costs, Atari execs refused to approve a customized Linux distro that would allow the console to run its own distinct operating system.

As a result, the final machine will end up functioning like a regular generic Linux PC on which you can boot and run your own games. Given the specs, including the proposed AMD Ryzen chipset, the final package may end up a good deal... if you want a $250-ish media box rather than a games console. It is, effectively, a Steam Machine.
 

Rodolink

Member
Sorry for the bump. This Q & A made me remember this thread.

I still cant understand how bold of Atari to try to enter the console business, its going to be like a AA console and naother device where one can use streaming apps how come they think thay can make it a success.
 
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SegaShack

Member
Sorry to those that are complaining but backing an indiegogo is not a preorder with a guarantee, it is a donation with a backer reward. I think it’s important for people that back these projects to understand the difference between ordering a product and backing a project.
 
This thing is DOA, and it's basically killed whatever mindshare and goodwill Atari's name brand got with its logo in those movies about a year or so ago (I know Blade Runner 2049 was one...was Ready Player One the other?). I have zero idea how the company as it is today ever thought it could successfully launch and manage a modern console in the first place.

OTOH, that Intellivision Amico seems to be doing just about everything right. It's not gonna set the world on fire, but they can probably carve out a respectable little niche and be the first of these type of consoles that's actually somewhat successful. Even the Polymega's looking alright, especially compared to this joke of a "console" making a mockery of the VCS's name.

...and no, I don't feel sorry for a single one of the backers who are getting scammed. A fool and his money are easily parted, it's a saying for a reason...
 
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