Slashdot Mirror
Atari Is Back In the Hardware Business, Unveils Ataribox (hothardware.com)
Reader MojoKid writes: Atari CEO Fred Chesnais confirmed the company was working on a brand new console back in June this year at E3, but today the company has officially unveiled the product. The new Ataribox console draws on some of the classic styling of the original Atari 2600 console but with a modernized flare, though still sporting that tasty wood grain front panel. Atari is also looking to make the Ataribox a bit more user-friendly and expandable than its Nintendo rivals through the addition of an SD card slot and four USB ports (in addition the requisite HDMI port). The new console will be based on PC component technologies but will be available with a number of classic games to let you bask in the early days of console gaming. However, Atari will also be bringing what is being billed as "current content" to the console as well. So, we can expect to see brand new licensed games for the Ataribox, although it's hard to say, given just its size to go on, what sort of horsepower is lurking under the Ataribox's hood. "We know you are hungry for more details; on specs, games, pricing, timing," said Atari in a statement sent via email. "We're not teasing you intentionally; we want to get this right, so we've opted to share things step by step as we bring this to life, and to listen closely to the Atari community feedback as we do so."
Will it run full emulators? or the crap pay ones?
Let you load your own roms?
I don't see a cartridge slot or nine-pin connectors for joysticks.
What would be truly awesome is if this would work with any old Atari cartridge you might have sitting around. They could do this with an optional USB cartridge reader.
Since obviously they're using an emulator internally, they would have to have a really good one for this to work, but it would be incredibly awesome.
The company calling itself Atari today has no real connection to the real Atari of old, except in name. For all intents and purposes, the real Atari went out of business in 1984. The name has changed hands many times since.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
I'd be surprised if this thing ever comes out. All they have right now are renders.
And they're not going to have anywhere near the number of interested buyers as the NES Classic or SNES Classic.
They're either going so slowly because they're working on a licensing and payment model (i.e., their own digital store to buy Atari games for a couple of bucks a piece), or they're drop feeding info to gauge interest.
"current content" and "hdmi port"?!> what more can you want in a console i will buy 7 pls
Most likely not. ROMs are legal grey areas. It could be considered copyright infringement if the copyright holder decided to pursue legal action. And this Atari company isn't exactly the same company as the one from the 1980s; I doubt they own any of the copyrights of the old games.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Make it a Steam Box. Otherwise what's the point of x86? I guess the could run Windows but the cost would probably be to high.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
sweet render, dude!
also, Polybius 2600 or you're just playin with yourself...
Prepare to be underwhelmed.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
What would be cool is a fairly simple system with fully documented hardware. Something that openly encouraged experimentation. It could even come with a simple assembler and BASIC applications in ROM.
I figure it will run a modified version of Android (most likely) or Ubuntu. I would say Android because then they get access to Android library. Ubuntu would be great because you get more bare metal performance and better integration with some of the developer libraries. I'm hopeful. But unless they either make it really cheap (like those AtGames machines) or the same price point as the Switch with more power I see it bombing fast. You can get emulators on your phone to play all the classic games. Heck Atari has re-released all of its hits 3-4 times already on Steam, Android, and iOS. Atari, nostalgia has it's limits. You need to bring new content, new IP's, and/or make you platform really developer friendly.
You say things that offend me and I can deal with it. Can you?
Does it run Linux?
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
I'm just hoping it will let me play Kaboom...hooked to a modern HDTV....and not have to try to kludge running though an old VCR or the like to try to get it to sync with my LCD/Plasma/OLED tvs.....never have been able to get that old original 2600 to work right with video on modern tv.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
why can't really just buy the roms and use your own emulators??
The only thing they have shown to the public is a bunch of renders, not even a prototype or a mockup. It wouldn't a good bet to say this is vaporware.
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
As long as it comes with my favorite game :)
Ya know the one with the interplanetary traveling super flies
Watch out, a swirl!
I have fond feelings of nostalgia for Atari. However, this doesn't strike me as a way for a company to emerge from decades of obscurity and irrelevance. They are hoping to springboard into a fiercely competitive market merely by showing some 3D rendered mockups of the least important part of the product - the plastic case? Not a compelling strategy.
They are essentially saying : "We haven't decided on anything important - capabilities/specs, price, dates or availability - and have not done the hard work necessary to build an actual product but we have some mockup pictures." In other words, this is handwaving and vaporware that wouldn't be tolerated on kickstarter.
For a market sector that lives and dies based on engineering finesse, this is a troubling first step.
It would be fun if it could handle BASIC programming like the 2600 did. Even in it's limited form it was fun to play with as a kid. Might give it that truly nostalgic feel.
Sent from my TARDIS
Some yutz that is using the name Atari, and they have not brought us anything but veuge marketing lingo for "we dont have anything" and a few 3d renders
Or more accurately no 3.5mm jack. You can add a USB DAC perhaps but if this is a small, low end low power console we won't necessarily connect it to a proper TV or gasp, an oversized overpriced AV receiver.
It could go to a monitor, or a video projector, or be used as a music player so easy cheap audio out is welcome if you can put it in, thanks.
.....never have been able to get that old original 2600 to work right with video on modern tv.
For real? My 2600 is hooked up to a 1080p 24" LED TV and seems to work just fine.
I'm using something similar to this instead of the old switchbox:
http://www.mouser.com/ProductD...
If you post as Anonymous Coward, don't expect a reply.
I would love to see PC designed in Atari ST or Amiga style, meaning as a slightly enlarged keyboard, with good performance for both gaming AND tinkering (i7, 1080 Ti, 32 GB RAM, SSD 500 GB), good price (1000$). I really loved being able to carry my computer around, attach it to TV, and play with my friends anywhere, not being attached to some stupid desk with stupid tower under the desk and all the stupid cables, speakers and whatnot.
839*929
as even Atoms run really, really hot. Even if that entire thing inside is a giant heat sink and the processor is severely under clocked...it would just get too hot with no fan. So even though part of the description eluded to PC hardware I hope they go with an ARM SoC.
Also, I'd like to point out hardware has come to such a point economically as to be completely irrelevant. Even if the graphics and capabilities can't go much passed ~2002 era, that's still Morrowind era. That's enough to run the source engine or an old version of the Unreal engine. In other words it would be "good enough" for a budget "console" (I'm just assuming for the pictures they're not trying to compete with existing consoles).
The thing that would really cost time and therefore money would be software to run the thing. Will they go with a lowest bid slap-it-together with duct tape and bailing wire? Or will it be relatively bug free and usable? If it were me I would pick the easiest to mass produce cheap hardware of sufficient quality...and spend 90% of the time polishing the software and how it works. But I have no reason to think this "Atari" would do that. Technically I don't have much reason to think they wouldn't either.
Come to think of it the closest similarity to this thing would be the PlayStationTV. That had an existing library games, and an online store, a household brand name associated with it, and a major multi-national corporation backing it. And it was on clearance for $20 at one point. And yet it never really caught on. Ya, I think the odds are working against them.
"UNIX is very simple, it just needs a genius to understand its simplicity." -Dennis Ritchie
A ribbed console... for her pleasure? WTF ATARI
The new Ataribox console draws on some of the classic styling of the original Atari 2600 console but with a modernized flare
I guess it runs very hot.
Here is one of them: Atari 2600 AV + pause drop in pcb mod for 6 + 4 switchers composite stereo s-vid
Be sure to read through the comments, the poster lists his web store in the last thread. If he doesn't have them, a look through the related videos may give you some leads
---PCJ
legally sure.
Now find a company that owns the rights that will play ball, since ultimately the copyright holders have to do that.
Also, in part a customer usage issue. Even if they were willing to play ball, it is much easier to support selling the rom embedded in an emulator than it is to explain how to use a rom file with emulators. If a user can't figure it out, they will blame the company and the company will get badly rated.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
I spent many drunken hours playing River Raid and even played their Olympics and Tank games with drunken friends. So many wasted hours. I may actually get one of these.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
I feel quite nostalgic about the 2600 - it was our first and only gaming console, followed later by a Dragon 32, then by an Atari ST and then PCs. Now having kids of my own that get to be about old enough to start gaming, I might get them this console... provided the price is right, and provided it's got some sort of chance of enduring against the big players (Sony, Nintendo, ...). Still, I prefer them playing outside or with some sensible hands-on games rather than sitting in front of a screen. Oh well...
To what extent would you need Atari's permission to build and sell something like this? The problems would be putting the Logo on it (so don't do that) and including ROMs. Could you sell it with an emulator and no ROMs?
I would think that any patents involved would be long expired, so copyright would be the only issue. The big problem there is any built-in operating system. You couldn't include that without the licensing. That's probably the showstopper.
What does it taste like? :-)
I think I speak for all the fans of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial when I convey intense anticipation for a sequel to the epic E.T. saga.
If it will not run run full emulators and let people load ROMs, it will be a failure...especially if the price is over $100.00. For less than $100, I can get a RetroPI kit with everything I need that will run many emulators and I can load the ROM images that I made from my legally purchased Atari, Nintendo, N64, and other retro console game cartridges, and play them all (except the games like Duck Hunt that won't work with LCD TVs because of latency issues). Any "new" games will most likely be like the games for the various Xboxs and Playstations, and WII, garbage rehashes of older games that will suck and cost far far too much!
What all (or most) of the companies who own the copyrights to the old console games need to do is get together and release a reasonably priced DVD that contains their entire catalogs of ROM images for use with emulators running on whatever platform the purchaser chooses (PC, RetroPI, etc...). I would say that a reasonable price would be $35.00 (since people can download the ROMS for free if they choose, whether it is completely legal or not). That way, the copyright holders make some money from the ROM images that they will otherwise not make any money on.
now they can make it so that that rom files are easy to get to copy them to your own emulator but lot's of them can just scan an DIR and load files.
It's been too long.
My main one is a Samsung Plasma 59", last of the plasmas....and I have tried everything to get the old games to play on them.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
why can't really just buy the roms and use your own emulators??
Buy the ROMs? I'm not sure what you are asking. There are cartridges of the old games. Getting the cartridges out of the old games and making them ROMs might, maybe constitute space shifting at best which is allowed under Fair Use. However, it only falls under Fair Use if the person that does it doesn't re-distribute the ROMs. Distribution or re-distribution can only be done legally by the copyright holder.
This is the same for any content. I can rip any of my movies off of DVDs or Blurays and put them on my computers. I can even network my computers so I can play the movies in any room in the house. It's copyright infringement if I BitTorrent or upload them to the world.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Yeah it would be nice if the companies do this; however, tracking down the actual owners might be a large task in itself. Companies have been bought and sold as well as the rights to the games themselves. In some cases it might be owned by major studios who want large amounts of money for any rights even if they never want to make a game from the franchise again.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Yeah because every consumer is an autistic mouth-breather like you, so clearly it will be a failure.
Shut the fuck up.
Buy the ROMs? I'm not sure what you are asking. There are cartridges of the old games. Getting the cartridges out of the old games and making them ROMs might, maybe
You seem to be unaware that ROM is what's in the cartridges.
A file, which you seem to talk about, is a rip of the ROM, not the ROM itself.
I am well aware of what a ROM is. How does the act of making a ROM in any way remove the copyrights of the game? It doesn't remove any copyrights. At best it's space or format shifting which could fall under Fair Use if and only if the ROM is never distributed.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
They cannot possibly think anyone is interested in playing 2600 games in 2017, can they? At least make it play Jaguar and Lynx games, for Pete's sake...
With the correct controllers, I will be all over this! Hell I'll probably buy it regardless, but I really miss the paddle controllers and the feel of the original joysticks. Games needed, let's see what I can recall, are:
Yars' Revenge (OK, I cheated by looking up where the apostrophe goes) ... something about those games, ah man, I love 'em!
The Empire Strikes Back (the one with the snow walkers)
Stargate, etc. (love them sounds)
Robotron
Combat (oh so much fun vs. my brother)
Pac-Man (it looked terrible compared to the arcade but it was good enough!)
Chopper Command
Berzerk!
Pitfall, oh it was so good
Missle Command
Centipede
Space Invaders
Moon Patrol
so many more
I knew as a kid I was getting a video game console for christmas, I thought for sure it would be an Atari... what I got was a fucking pong game.... GRRRRrrrrr :(
[($)]
This is from the summary, not the linked article.
Get an editor.
The only way that I could see this working is if it was as easily programmable as Gary Kitchen's Gamemaker.
Give us the classic, yet simplistic games --- and then let us hack them and upload our own creations.
READY.
PRINT ""+-0
Indeed, Kaboom! was cool but you only really play it with paddle controllers. Same goes for other breakout clones. Missile Command with a trackball (or an inverse trackball called a mouse). If you're really, really interested, research getting a Flashback 2+ and implementing the cartridge connector and see if that will work.
When the copyright term is "forever minus a day", live every day like it's the last.
I am well aware of what a ROM is. How does the act of making a ROM in any way remove the copyrights of the game? It doesn't remove any copyrights.
Obviously, you don't know. If you get out of your misconception that a ROM is a copy, and re-read the GP, you'll find that what was talked about was using the ROM in legal cartridges. No copy involved.
ROMs are not "grey areas". I develop completely new Atari 2600 games and offer some for free in digital form.
Stealing is downloading pirated copies of retail software in any form.
Seems clear cut to me.
Obviously, you don't know. If you get out of your misconception that a ROM is a copy, and re-read the GP, you'll find that what was talked about was using the ROM in legal cartridges. No copy involved.
How is it not a copy? The cartridge was the one and only original? It was a copy too. Creating a ROM from it is creating a copy. It's called format shifting. It's no different than ripping a CD, Bluray, or DVD. I can do that to content I own. The problem is that just because I own a copy doesn't mean I have rights to upload the content to the Internet.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
why can't really just buy the [cartridges] and use your own emulators??
Because sometimes the console makers decide to sue manufacturers and sellers of game cartridge readers for contributory copyright infringement because the devices let users make infringing copies of first-party games and of third-party games containing a statically linked copy of the console maker's standard library. Remember Lik Sang?
Or because the Retrode doesn't have a plug-in for Atari 2600/7800, 5200, XEGS, Lynx, or Jaguar cartridges.
That's one mistake Nintendo made with the NES Classic; people have bigger TVs and control them from further away than when the original console was new.
Consoles with short controller cables and long video cables are intended to sit on your coffee table. This was true of the original Family Computer, and it remains true of the NES Classic. In Japan they have a habit of putting a small space heater under the coffee table, with a comforter to direct the heat to the seating.
I don't know what all other consoles got E.T. games, but the infamous one was for Atari 2600.
Source: the author of the mod to make it not suck
ROMs are not "grey areas". I develop completely new Atari 2600 games and offer some for free in digital form.
We are not talking about you making new games. We are talking about people making ROMs from classic Atari titles on cartridges. They are legal grey areas because they exist no case law about you creating a ROM from a cartridge. You could argue that format shifting falls under Fair Use but it's never been decided in a court either way. Thus it is a legal grey area. Certainly distributing a ROM of these old games on the Internet without permission would constitute copyright infringement.
In making a new Atari box, people will want to play the old games. Who owns the classic Atari games? It might not be this Atari company as it may have purchased the rights to the name and the hardware but not necessarily the titles like Galaga, Centipede, etc. Some titles might be owned by companies that have gone bankrupt and don't exist any more. Some might have been bought by other companies that don't know/remember they own the title.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
It could even come with a simple assembler and BASIC applications in ROM.
Something like the Atari 800?
Please, please include a CRT television screen filter (scanlines and all!), and the ability to add on top of that a filter that emulates Composite Video artefacting -- preferably including the "Composite dot crawl" effect -- for maximum nostalgia authenticity.
Sincerely,
-An old-school gaming emulation pedant
Are they all samsung? Samsungs have great pictures, but shitbag interfaces, they need, strong perfect signals or they crumble like little girls. I can't blame anyone for getting one, but they are temperamental.
<teaspoon>
You use an ORIGINAL BOUGHT AND PAID FOR cartridge. (ROM)
No one is copying anything.
</teaspoon>
You use an ORIGINAL BOUGHT AND PAID FOR cartridge. (ROM) No one is copying anything.
So you implanted the chip in the cartridge directly in your computer by soldering it directly onto your Motherboard? Is your soldering and electrical engineering skill level that high? No, you extracted the software from the ROM (read-only memory) chip and put it memory on your computer. Creating a ROM image file is creating a copy. How is that not copying? Ripping a movie or music file off a DVD or CD is creating a copy. Fair Use allows you to create that copy in certain cases like backups and format shifting. But it's still a copy. Legally you can be justified in creating a copy; however, you are not justified in distributing the ROM if you are not the copyright holder or have permission of the copyright holder.
With some old games, the copyright holder doesn't care, doesn't exist, doesn't know, whatever. . . and are not likely going to pursue legal claims. But they could.
The GP never said anything about using the old cartridges with the system. He clearly said "buy your ROMs". He never said "buy old cartridges." Someone somewhere had to extract the game from the cartridge to make a ROM file from old games. Certainly people can create new original games but that is not even close to what I or the GP was talking about.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
The GP never said anything about using the old cartridges with the system. He clearly said "buy your ROMs". He never said "buy old cartridges." Someone somewhere had to extract the game from the cartridge to make a ROM file from old games.
Again, you confuse ROMs with ROM files. The two are not the same. When someone says ROM and not "copy of ROM", you can safely assume that they mean the actual physical ROM.
Once you've bought the ROM, nothing prevents you from making a private copy for use in an emulator. If your electronic skills aren't up to par, people make and sell interfaces for legally reading game cartridges, including Retrode (for N64/Gameboy) and A26 (for Atari 2600).
ROMs are not legal grey areas.
I make new Atari 2600 games and sometimes offer them for free in digital form.
Stealing software like clearly retail copies of Pac Man and Super Mario Brothers is clearly stealing.
No grey area.
Again, you confuse ROMs with ROM files. The two are not the same. When someone says ROM and not "copy of ROM", you can safely assume that they mean the actual physical ROM.
You didn't answer the question: Did you solder the chip into your motherboard or not? No. At best you used an adapter which Atari has not mentioned they will make. Again neither the GP said anything about using a cartridge through an adapter which would be perfectly legal and require absolutely no questions. He's clearly talking about getting ROM files from somewhere to use including buying them. All of which you are ignoring.
Once you've bought the ROM, nothing prevents you from making a private copy for use in an emulator. If your electronic skills aren't up to par, people make and sell interfaces for legally reading game cartridges, including Retrode (for N64/Gameboy) and A26 (for Atari 2600).
Did you even read any of my comments at all? I clearly said making a ROM from your own system is fine like I said ripping a your own Bluray or DVD is also fine. I said it multiple times. Distributing any content to others (through the Internet) is the problem if you don't own the copyrights.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.