Atari, yes you heard right. Making a new console.

[Gingerbread Demon]

http://mashable.com/2017/06/16/atari-confirms-atari-box-new-console/#LweW.AthROqa

But they could improve on the name. It's now currently going to be called the "Atari Box."

Well that's a name designed for failure I think.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

2600.2 ? Unless it's a 5200.2.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

2600.2 ? Unless it's a 5200.2.

Who knows?

They seem like a decade or more too late to get back into consoles....

 

[MANT!]

it all depends on the price point, and the availability of good titles..

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

it all depends on the price point, and the availability of good titles..

That is a fair point, and if they find it worth the bother for licensing game titles from publishers. The console market is fairly tight

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Impossible to say anything meaningful about this without knowing what kind of console it is. They said PC hardware, so that implies something roughly current-gen--not some low-spec Android/RPi machine. But is it just gonna be a Steambox with Atari branding?

If they are making a legit brand-new console with new dev tools, APIs, and the works, that's... a gigantic gamble that I'd question the wisdom of.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Yeah, it's very vague, but something in the terminology they're using makes me feel like it's very likely a Steambox. Especially since this iteration of the company had been previously focusing on android games and such. Making their own console would be a much bigger leap than a Steambox . Here at least, they'd be able to use an existing framework and architecture. If this is their approach, then what it can play is then a moot question.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I mean, your average customer isn't going to know a reskinned Steambox from a "real" console, and it's kind of an untapped market at this point. I just question how big that market really is. Then again, I'm not Atari. I'm sure somebody did the math.

 

[Timby]

If they are making a legit brand-new console with new dev tools, APIs, and the works, that's... a gigantic gamble that I'd question the wisdom of.

Atari went bankrupt three years ago (which is why so many of its assets like Star Control went up for auction), and the guy who bought the actual company gutted the operations (I think they're down to like a dozen full-time staff) -- the company now basically exists to license the Atari name and the few IPs it still owns. Heck, it doesn't even actually develop those social and mobile games it sells; an outside contract company builds them, and then the Atari logo gets slapped on them. Even if they were that insane, they wouldn't have the internal resources to develop something like that unless they somehow managed to execute the most massive secret mass hiring ramp-up in human history.

I'd bet anything that this is going to be a white-labeled Steambox, preloaded with a whole bunch of 2600 games and some old PC games that they still own (one of the Rollercoaster Tycoons, maybe) with some retro detailing like the wood grain paneling.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Atari went bankrupt three years ago (which is why so many of its assets like Star Control went up for auction), and the guy who bought the actual company gutted the operations (I think they're down to like a dozen full-time staff) -- the company now basically exists to license the Atari name and the few IPs it still owns. Heck, it doesn't even actually develop those social and mobile games it sells; an outside contract company builds them, and then the Atari logo gets slapped on them. Even if they were that insane, they wouldn't have the internal resources to develop something like that unless they somehow managed to execute the most massive secret mass hiring ramp-up in human history.

I'd bet anything that this is going to be a white-labeled Steambox, preloaded with a whole bunch of 2600 games and some old PC games that they still own (one of the Rollercoaster Tycoons, maybe) with some retro detailing like the wood grain paneling.

That makes sense. I know "Atari" has just been a name since the mid '90s or so. It's changed hands so many times it bears no resemblance to the '80s incarnation everyone remembers.

Your bet sounds like it'd be on the money. They are already selling retro Atari consoles in stores--one of them is a 2600-shaped system that comes preloaded with a bunch of classic Atari games. There's also a portable version with a screen. So this is probably the next step up from that, making use of the rest of the library they own.

 

[Owain Taggart]

it's kind of an untapped market at this point. I just question how big that market really is.

Yeah, I've wondered that myself. I mean, I haven't heard anything about the Steambox in general being a success. I don't know anyone personally who's gotten one either. And nobody seems to want to run out and buy one.

But yeah, Timby's assessment is a good one. If they can brand it and give it more value to make it stand from the rest of the Steamboxes, maybe they'll be on to something.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Yeah, I've wondered that myself. I mean, I haven't heard anything about the Steambox in general being a success. I don't know anyone personally who's gotten one either. And nobody seems to want to run out and buy one.

But yeah, Timby's assessment is a good one. If they can brand it and give it more value to make it stand from the rest of the Steamboxes, maybe they'll be on to something.

Nobody really advertises Steamboxes, either. Kinda hard for people to buy something they don't even know exists. Enthusiasts know they exist... but enthusiasts are just gonna build their own machines anyway, or buy something beefier like an Alienware system.

Steamboxes are for non-technical people who don't want to fuss with things, and yet they haven't been marketed to that segment at all.

So if that's the direction Atari is headed, they better make sure they advertise the damn thing.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

The odd thing is even Valve themselves dropped out of selling steamboxes.

To me that speaks volumes about their longevity

 

[Robert Maxwell]

What Valve does isn't indicative of much. They are very fickle about being a hardware company at all.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Nobody really advertises Steamboxes, either. Kinda hard for people to buy something they don't even know exists. Enthusiasts know they exist... but enthusiasts are just gonna build their own machines anyway, or buy something beefier like an Alienware system.

Huh, I hadn't even noticed they hadn't. Yeah, you pretty much have to be a tech geek to have heard of them, but tech geeks wouldn't be in the market for them which is kind of a weird position to be in for a product. I'm not sure if those who are only into consoles would get one either.

I hadn't heard that Valve stopped selling them either. Kind of a stealth move. Guess they didn't want to bring attention to themselves for that failure seeing as the Rift was coming up.

Speaking of which, if Valve had been smart, they could have made available some VR-ready Steamboxes and sell both as a package deal. That would at least sweeten the deal and give the boxes a bit more of a purpose and made a vehicle for the Rift for those without a good enough PC. That's a missed opportunity. Now Valve has to rely on other manufacturers to make VR-ready PCs. Foresight, much?

Now I'd be curious to see if this Atari box has support for VR.

 

[TheSublimeGoose]

So, are they going for a glorified Raspberry Pi, something that can play a multitude of retro games?

Or are they positioning themselves to actually try to compete in a market that has the PS4 Pro, Switch, and shortly, the Xbox One X?

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Huh, I hadn't even noticed they hadn't. Yeah, you pretty much have to be a tech geek to have heard of them, but tech geeks wouldn't be in the market for them which is kind of a weird position to be in for a product. I'm not sure if those who are only into consoles would get one either.

I hadn't heard that Valve stopped selling them either. Kind of a stealth move. Guess they didn't want to bring attention to themselves for that failure seeing as the Rift was coming up.

Speaking of which, if Valve had been smart, they could have made available some VR-ready Steamboxes and sell both as a package deal. That would at least sweeten the deal and give the boxes a bit more of a purpose and made a vehicle for the Rift for those without a good enough PC. That's a missed opportunity. Now Valve has to rely on other manufacturers to make VR-ready PCs. Foresight, much?

Now I'd be curious to see if this Atari box has support for VR.

I don't think Valve ever sold Steamboxes to begin with. They planned to, then they scrapped it and just let third party vendors do it. None of those sold well and I imagine the market for those is pretty dead for the near term. Not that there's no market for what is essentially a set-top PC for playing games on the couch--I think that could do OK with the right specs, prices, and marketing--but competing against Sony and Microsoft is a sucker's bet. You're looking at a niche product, which is fine if you budget yourself as a niche product.

I think it's pretty obvious Valve doesn't really know what they are trying to do in terms of hardware. They have the controller, the Link, the VR system. I think the controller has sold the best out of all of those. They don't have any investors to please, though, so they can afford to gamble.

 

[Owain Taggart]

I remember when they were advertising them on Steam, but that's about it. You'd practically had to already be using Steam to know about them. They were very expensive too, so no doubt that didn't help.

Is the controller successful any? I hadn't heard all that much buzz about it either. In fact, I've heard more about how weird it is to use it. I guess it's more out of curiosity. I've heard people like using it for RTSs, but then I don't play them, so...

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I remember when they were advertising them on Steam, but that's about it. You'd practically had to already be using Steam to know about them. They were very expensive too, so no doubt that didn't help.

Is the controller successful any? I hadn't heard all that much buzz about it either. In fact, I've heard more about how weird it is to use it. I guess it's more out of curiosity. I've heard people like using it for RTSs, but then I don't play them, so...

Well, I love the controller. It's the first gamepad I've ever used that makes playing games designed for a mouse feel natural. It's also fine for games that would've used a gamepad in the first place. That it doubles as a pointer device is what really sells it, in my opinion, but of course your average computer user is not going to buy a controller based on that.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Yeah, I guess I don't play the types of games enough that would make using one a benefit. But how is it with FPSes where precise aiming is key? And how would it compare to a regular gamepad in that regard?