TSA writes: "A little while ago Atari confirmed it was working on a new console, with the machine being called the Ataribox. Today Atari has revealed the first images for the console, and it does look very sleek."
It may seem that way more options but the problem will be, Multiplats and 3rd party devs will take a lot longer since they need to code for another console. its quite long enough as it is developing for PC, PS4 and XboxOne. now a 4th entry?? And remember, the 80's videogame crash was not only due to bad games but also there are many consoles at the time colecovision, intellevision etc. More Consoles doesnt always mean a good thing. People need games not vatiety of machines. PC for people who wants it for graphics, console for people who want exclusives to it unless ataribox has its own exclusive, not counting the classics
It actually depends entirely on which hardware vendor, type of processing architecture and how straightforward the operating system and API(s) are to work with.
If the base specs of this system use AMD technology, with performance around XB1 and PS4 or somewhere between PS4 and Pro/1X, while using Vulkan with a semi-custom FreeBSD OS devs would be porting their games in Days to Weeks.
With Atari Box if the specs and system software are good then it'll depend more on if they can move 3rd Party games, which will depend on their messaging, the kinds of exclusives the system has (it'll mainly need titles targeted at the gamer that buys western 3rd Party games, because that's the biggest audience in the dedicated gaming device market), online network existing and being of a good quality.
TBH if Atari have partnered with the right External Publishers to help them get this Platform started and they show the goods they could be in a position to get a place alongside Sony as the Platform Holder who brings both the Exclusives and Multiplats.
Atari needs to have been building a stable of talented Studios who will have a guaranteed stream of interesting games that will appeal to a decent sized audience.
TBH, right now Sony and Nintendo are the only 2 companies bringing the exclusive games in the console market, Microsoft are relying more heavily on 3rd Party, with just a few Exclusives sprinkled in their lineup each year, which can now be bought on PC for the most part.
If Atari launches a machine that gets a bunch of unique games that you can't buy elsewhere, as well as classic titles, exclusive indies and the major Multiplats they would be one of 2 Platforms this gen doing so.
Quite frankly it's actually a good time to strike, because Sony are the only company who are really doing it and Nintendo are focused on a more portable/hybrid segment of the market.
It may seem flooded, but 3 platforms isn't the market limit, if a new company can bring the competition that could cause market growth, plus we're not at the sealing for potential sales, which is probably in the region of about 210 Million consoles based on 7th gen systems sold to the real console audience, this gen PS4 is around 60 to 62 Million units sold, XB1's at between 25 to 30, Wii U is at 13 to 14 and Switch about 4 to 5, so all in there's no more than 110 million dedicated gaming devices in the console space, Atari could eat a portion of the remaining 100+ Million left over and also attract more people if they have their own identity.
We can't really say it's doomed or guaranteed to succeed because other companies are established and doing something similar, we need more specific information and the thing needs to actually release, with Atari actually delivering the goods to know for sure.
I don't think it is wise to yet release yet another custom OS. Android could qualify as a real good baseline. Custom launcher and market and a 199 price with a strong third party line up and a mobile processor which can deliver a great experience should suffice. Android has a good sdk and tools, and yes Vulkan only would just work in that environment and make games portable
Love for more competition but oversaturation will cause a repeat of the first crash and sadly with the things going on now don't see a savior being around this time to save the industry.
So for industry sake hope it never comes to that ever .
Id say by "current" they are meaning non-4k games. That is what i suffice as current games, so i would expect performance to be around base xbox one/ps4
Yeah but Atari's console history since the 2600 has been unbelievably rough (though admittedly that was largely a different company). This is totally out of left field for me...I had no idea they were releasing a console.
Unless it can magically transform into a tablet, then I find it hard what it will be competing with. I reckon it will try to compete on the lower spectrum of current consoles like the standard PS4 and Xbox One.
I doubt Atari will risk selling it at a higher price than current available systems.
Same. Wonder if x86 or ARM. And if one gives it 8GB at least. Open top end mobile ARM based CPU with plenty of memory would be cool. I want to see what such a "beast" could delivered if it doesn't need to run in mobile mode.
Valve could be company Atari have partnered with, that would solve a lot of big things they need to get right with this system to succeed.
Great only and a solid OS, plus a potential huge catalog of many generations worth of games, throw in their own custom exclusives, a reasonable price point and good specs for the money.
We'll see though.
To me this looks like it has to be more of a retro game machine. As well as maybe offering streaming games from like PSNow. With it's small size, it doesn't look like it could be packing a high performance gaming system in it.
Well we know it's using PC hardware. We just don't know how recent or powerful the hardware is. I don't see Atari targeting the high-end, as they'd likely want to keep the price cheap enough for people to give them a chance.
Agree, it looks like it will be a small console based on the picture where you can see the connection ports in the back of it. Also I noticed the power supply connector looks like one of those used for notebooks, so I'm guessing it won't be power hungry. The email message says it will play classic games as well as current, I'm guessing that by "current" they mean "indie". This will most probably be aimed at casual gamers, or maybe to old gamers who want to scratch that nostalgia itch. Can't wait to know more about it, I'm super curious about the controller though.
Aww come on Sega wake the eff up. Old days it was all about 1st party, now it's just throwing out w.e 3rd party game there is at the moment. The fact they have a pretty solid 1st party library that aren't to "kiddy" which seems to be the gripe against Nintendo will help them. Having Sega back would be a nIce balance, I've always said the last gens worked and gaming survived because "Sega did want Ninten'dont" which was pretty refreshing to have that option. There are more gamers than ever and a launch of Sonic, Power stone, Hydro thunder, Shenmue, and finally Soul caliber. A launch like that would easily sell because there no denying Dreamcast had one the best launch line up ever, this could be he same something for everyone.
I don't see a disc drive or a cart slot, so it's either gonna be a plug and play with Atari games (though what a "current" Atari game is I don't really know) or it'll be a digital only Steam Box clone. Neither are very appealing to me.
Do people actually manage to play these game for more than 10 minutes? Genuinely curious because I love the nostalgia, but I can't see myself being interested very long. I assume people do or these things wouldn't be so popular.
Would be awesome if they updated a game like Combat. I could imagine even a straight port would be fun online. But if they could update a few of the games to the quality of Rocket League......daym.
It would definitely be cool as hell to see a reimagining of Combat! for this system. It could actually be a system seller if done right and perhaps packaged in with the system with the online possibility that you mentioned.
It does. Good to see more competitors to join in. Because we need more options for consumers to choose.
Beautiful
I really like how both versions look. Hard for me to decide which I like better nostalgia wood or the cool red
I'm curious as to what the specs will be in this. If it's anything recent I wonder if alot of 3rd parties will jump on atari.
Wow. Looks awesome and a nice homage to the 2600.