Atari's Atari Box (2017) Atari VCS (2018)

[Nz17]

https://www.ataribox.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WNsmCpdhhY

https://venturebeat.com/2017/06/16/a...-game-console/

Atari CEO confirms the company is working on a new game console
Dean Takahashi

Atari CEO Fred Chesnais told GamesBeat in an exclusive interview that his fabled video game company is working on a new game console.

In doing so, the New York company might be cashing in on the popularity of retro games and Nintendo’s NES Classic Edition, which turned out to be surprisingly popular for providing a method to easily play old games like Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda in HD on a TV.

Last week, Atari began teasing a new product called the Ataribox.The video released on a non-Atari web site showed a picture of some kind of hardware product, but many people wondered if the teaser was fake. Others had no idea what the video was showing about a “brand new Atari product years in the making.”

After all, nobody makes a game console with wood-grain siding. But at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), Chesnais told me that the rumors are true.

“We’re back in the hardware business,” he said.

Chesnais declined to describe a lot of details about the console. But he said it is based on PC technology. He said Atari is still working on the design and will reveal it at a later date.

Chesnais said that Atari’s revival is well under way. Atari filed for bankruptcy protection in 2013, but Chesnais bought it and pledged to make it great again. The company is now profitable, and it is engaged in making mobile games. It is licensing its brands more widely, such as licensing its Atari name for the upcoming Blade Runner 2049 movie.

[SparTonberry]

I thought I read Atari's "bankruptcy" was some kind of move to divorce itself of its French parent (the former Infogrammes).

[Nebagram]

So how will this be different to the many Flashback consoles?

[Greg2600]

I thought I read Atari's "bankruptcy" was some kind of move to divorce itself of its French parent (the former Infogrammes).

No, it was filed for the usual reason, couldn't pay it's bills. The Infogrammes name is gone, their French-based and NYC-based holdings are all labeled Atari now. The US-effort is helmed by ​Fred Chesnais.

[WelcomeToTheNextLevel]

This got me thinking about how LONG it's been since Atari was a successful company, although it's more recent than most people realize. (The modern "Atari" has been a third party publisher, and traces its roots to GT Interactive)

The original Atari hit its peak in late 1982; on December 7, 1982, Atari's earnings report came in weaker than expected, thus beginning Atari's slow decline. Atari's home computer lines helped it weather the video game crash, although the company was significantly weakened and ended up sold by Warner Communications to Jack Tramiel. One could say the "Golden Age" of Atari was about 1980-1982.

Atari staged a modest recovery in the mid-late 1980s, they were able to milk a few more sales out of the 2600, the 7800 was profitable, and they still raked in significant sales of computers including the ST and 8-bit line. Per Wikipedia, Tramiel-era (post-1984) Atari's profits peaked at $452 million in 1988. One could say the "Silver Age" of Atari was about 1986-1989. If I had to put an end date on Atari's success, it would be about 1990. The Wintel platform buried Atari's computer line. Both the 2600 and 7800 were discontinued after 1991. The Lynx pioneered color in portable consoles but couldn't compete with the Sega Game Gear which came out in 1991, let alone the Game Boy. After 1993 all Atari had was the Jaguar which sold 0 units (rounded to the nearest half-million).

With the Atari Box, the new Atari will become a hardware manufacturer like the old Atari was. Since we haven't had any successful Atari hardware in my lifetime, I really hope this thing becomes successful. Perhaps we could have a four-way console race with Sony, Microsoft, Atari, and Nintendo?

All four have done pioneering work in the video game industry; Atari made the first successful console (PONG) and first successful console with interchangeable cartridges (Atari 2600), Nintendo brought back the video game market with the NES; Sony greatly expanded its target audience with the PlayStation; and Microsoft made online gaming successful with the Xbox. Now all we need is Sega.

[SparTonberry]

Atari's last huge thing probably when they sued Nintendo in 1991 to break up their third-party monopoly. As much as I love my Nintendo consoles and Nintendo's games, I won't deny it was healthier for video gaming to not let them have practically free reign of the industry (as we saw with Kombat-gate only a couple years later).

[Nz17]

New data:

First look at the Ataribox design.

Thanks again for signing up to learn more about the Ataribox project!

We’ve been blown away by the feedback since the teaser release, and today, we’re excited to share an exclusive first look at the Ataribox design with you.

Our objective is to create a new product that stays true to our heritage while appealing to both old and new fans of Atari.

Inspired by classic Atari design elements (such as the iconic use of wood, ribbed lines, and raised back); we are creating a smooth design, with ribs that flow seamlessly all around the body of the product, a front panel that can be either wood or glass, a front facing logo, indicator lights that glow through the material, and an array of new ports (HDMI, 4xUSB, SD). We intend to release two editions: a wood edition, and a black/red edition.

As you can guess, those ports suggest modern internal specs. It also means that while we will be delivering classic gaming content, we will also be delivering current gaming content.

We know you are hungry for more details; on specs, games, features, pricing, timing etc. 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 Ataribox to life, and to listen closely to Atari community feedback as we do so. There are a lot of milestones, challenges and decision points in front of us in the months ahead. We’ll be giving you lots more information and status updates as we progress, and we are thrilled to have you along for the ride!

Hope you like where we are taking this, we’ll be in touch soon.

The Ataribox Project team.

PS: Please let us know what you think via our social channels; and also please like, follow, subscribe, and share as much as possible!

Source and mockup images:
http://us16.campaign-archive1.com/?u...&id=ea638c05a4