Liliputing

  • Reviews
  • Deals
  • How To…
  • Mini PCs
  • Shop
  • About
    • About Liliputing
    • Contact us
    • Advertise on Liliputing
    • Support Liliputing
    • Privacy Policy

Atari VCS game console (and PC) goes up for order in April

03/19/2018 at 3:24 PM by Brad Linder 7 Comments

After delaying the launch of a crowdfunding campaign a few months ago, Atari says it’s just about ready to launch its new game console. It’s also giving the product a new name.

Goodbye Ataribox. Hello Atari VCS.

Atari hasn’t announced detailed specs or pricing information yet, but the company had previously indicated that its upcoming game console would basically be a Linux-powered PC with an x86 processor that could play both retro games (including classic Atari titles) and newer games.

It also has iconic Atari-style design including an optional wood panel model and a classic Atari joystick, although a more traditional Xbox-like game controller is also shown in the latest press materials.

Basically it’s a mid-range PC that looks like an Atari device and which is meant to fit into your living room decor. It should be able to handle basic gaming, and I suspect it’ll have a customized version of Linux designed to highlight the device’s gaming capabilities, although it can also be used for social media, streaming video, and other tasks.

Last we’d heard, the computer was expected to have a starting price in the $250 to $300 range, although there may be multiple configurations, so a top-of-the-line model might cost more than that.

The company is showing off Atari VCS prototypes at the Game Developers Conference later this week.



Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Reddit
  • Email

Daily Deals (2-15-2019)

A few days ago I noted that the 2.2 pound Asus E203MA laptop with an 11.6 inch display, an Intel Celeron N4000 Gemini Lake processor, 4GB of RAM and … [Read More...]



Support Liliputing

Liliputing’s primary sources of revenue are advertising and affiliate links (if you click the “Shop” button at the top of the page and buy something on Amazon, for example, we’ll get a small commission).

But there are several ways you can support the site directly even if you’re using an ad blocker and hate online shopping.

Contribute via PayPal

  • donate monthly
  • donate once only
Select a Donation Option (USD)

Enter Donation Amount (USD)

Subscribe via Patreon

Become a Patron!

7
Leave a Reply

Login with
Facebook Google Twitter WordPress Yahoo! Disqus Reddit Stackoverflow GitHub
avatar
This comment form collects your name, email address, and content to allow us to keep track of comments placed on this website. Please read our privacy policy for more details.
Save my name, email, and website in this browser cookies for the next time I comment.
3 Comment threads
4 Thread replies
0 Followers
 
Most reacted comment
Hottest comment thread
6 Comment authors
Grant Russellpenguinx64zdaneeCaitlin BestlerDanny Recent comment authors
avatar
This comment form collects your name, email address, and content to allow us to keep track of comments placed on this website. Please read our privacy policy for more details.
Save my name, email, and website in this browser cookies for the next time I comment.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  Subscribe  
newest oldest most voted
Notify of
Druids
Guest
Druids
You can flag a comment by clicking its flag icon. Website admin will know that you reported it. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.

Ataribox scammers back again.

Vote Up2Vote Down  Reply
10 months ago
Danny
Guest
Danny
You can flag a comment by clicking its flag icon. Website admin will know that you reported it. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.

Doesn’t seem like a scam.

But whether it will be any good and worth actually buying is the real question.

At minimum it needs support for Steam and a handful of games optimized to run on it in the hopes that it is the Steam console that should have been.

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
10 months ago
Caitlin Bestler
Guest
Caitlin Bestler
You can flag a comment by clicking its flag icon. Website admin will know that you reported it. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.

Can a $300 or so gaming console be as good of a general purpose Linux machine as a $200 ChromeBox? If so the gaming optimizations might be worth the extra $100.

But if the performance is more like a Raspberry Pi then there is no way it will make sense.

B

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
10 months ago
Grant Russell
Member
Grant Russell
You can flag a comment by clicking its flag icon. Website admin will know that you reported it. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.

I don’t know what question to ask first, because I don’t even know what this is trying to do.

Vote Up1Vote Down  Reply
10 months ago
zdanee
Member
zdanee
You can flag a comment by clicking its flag icon. Website admin will know that you reported it. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.

Well, Atari is still a widely recognized brand, and retro-gaming is on the rise these days, so they want to sell consoles. Since they don’t want to sell it at a loss, the machine inside is probably worth less, than $2-300. They don’t publish full-priced exclusive games for this, so we can be sure it’s not like Nintendo or MS, who sells machines at a loss and make it back on the games. It’s an x86, and linux to boot, so piracy would be a big concern if they were trying to do exclusives.
My guess is an AppoloLake CPU and a modded retro-pie image, that would cover emulation from the 2600 to the PS2 / Wii.

Vote Up1Vote Down  Reply
10 months ago
Grant Russell
Member
Grant Russell
You can flag a comment by clicking its flag icon. Website admin will know that you reported it. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.

It is to be assumed that they are trying to make a retro gaming machine, but my question is, “What is their angle”?

They made very vague claims of playing old retro titles, as well as “newer games”.

Are they going to try to attract major developers? Indie developers?

With system specs like an Apollo Lake, I don’t see this thing attracting any big dev companies. Maybe we’ll see a Stardew Valley port, and a few other similar indie games.

Atari, tell me what you’re trying to achieve with this! If it is just going to play Retro Atari titles, you could do that with about $30 of hardware.

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
10 months ago
penguinx64
Guest
penguinx64
You can flag a comment by clicking its flag icon. Website admin will know that you reported it. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.

At $300 it would be priced the same as a Nintendo Switch or PS4, but without all the popular game titles. No thanks.

Vote Up1Vote Down  Reply
10 months ago

Follow Liliputing:

Facebook Twitter YouTube tumblr RSS Patreon

Latest News

Lilbits 349: The 5G smartphones are coming

Mobile World Congress is a little more than a week away, and we'll likely see … [Read More...]

Windows Subsystem for Linux update will let you access Linux file from Windows

One of the most surprising things about Windows 10 is that you have the option … [Read More...]

SPUDwrite is a DIY E Ink typewriter… with a printer… and an LCD display

Modern computers can do an awful lot of things. You can write a novel, or read … [Read More...]

Featured articles

GPD MicroPC handheld computer preview

It's been a good couple of years for handheld computer enthusiasts. Companies … [Read More...]

Taihe Gemini portable 1080p touchscreen monitor preview

The Taihe Gemini portable monitor has made quite a splash since going up for … [Read More...]

Zotac Pico PI470 is a pocket-sized PC with Intel Amber Lake

Zotac's latest pocket-sized computer is the company's most powerful to date. … [Read More...]

Disclosure: Some links on this page are monetized by Skimlinks and Amazon's and eBay's affiliate programs.

Login

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries RSS
  • Comments RSS
  • WordPress.org

Copyright © 2019 Liliputing · About Liliputing · Contact Us · Privacy Policy · Go to top of page

wpDiscuz
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.