When the Atari VCS crowdfunding campaign launched last month, backers had two options: a $199 Onyx edition with an all-black design, or a $299 Atari VCS Day One Edition with a wood-panel design on the front, giving the system a classic Atari-style look.
Despite the higher price tag, the 6,000 limited edition Day One units sold out quickly, but now Atari has announced that there’s another option for folks that want a wood-paneled device.
The new Atari VCS Tribute Edition has a similar design, but it’s not an individually numbered “collectors edition” device.
The Tribute Edition will come from a second production run, but it’s basically the same as the first run… as long as you don’t care about the collectible factor.
At this point that leaves backers with the choice of spending $219 or more for an Onyx Edition Atari VCS or $299 for the new Tribute Edition. Both are expected to ship in July, 2019 and both prices are for the console alone: you’ll need to pay extra if you want a game controller and/or joystick.
The Atari VCS is basically a small computer with a low-power AMD Bristol Ridge processor with Radeon R7 graphics, and an Ubuntu Linux-based operating system. It’ll come with more than 100 classic Atari games pre-installed, but there’s also support for running modern PC games (assuming they run on Linux and support the device’s hardware).
The computer is expected to feature 4GB of RAM, 32GB of eMMC storage, USB ports and an SD card reader for removable storage. It measures about 14.5″ x 5.3″ x 1.6″.
The design of the cabinet is nice.
Shipping in July of NEXT year…
Right, updated to make that more clear
Take note of El Reg’s takedown of the Atari throwing shade on them… https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/06/21/atari_interview_in_full/
They suggest the person that they interviewed should have known more answers and been more open about things that aren’t settled…. Like the processor that is going to be used.