Why The Atari VCS Is Likely Dead On Arrival

Atari recently sent out another round of pre-order information for the Atari VCS system and in a new Opinion Piece Skewed and Reviewed looks at why the system is likely dead on arrival especially with the release of two higher profile systems pending.

[East76lands]

I have literally no idea who this system is aimed at? Atari loyalists maybe?

[Garethvk]

I think so. One on Twitter wrote me that the base unit is $249.99 and gave me this rundown on how it can run Unix and so on. I said ok what will I be playing though as they have not done much in the way of promotion or hype. He told me not to be a hater and said if nothing else it looks good. I do not pay $250.00 for something to sit on a shelf gathering dust. I would rather apply that money to a new system.

[XtraTrstrL]

LOL, I played all the diff Ataris as a kid, and my interest isn't even peaked. I'm just curious who it is at Atari that feels they should randomly put a new system out every 25 years now.

LOL, $390 for 100 Atari games I can already play on emulator. Hmm, lemme see, $400 for a shiny new next gen console or same price for a flashback to the early 80s to the primordial soup of gaming.

[MWH]

these are people in their 40s and above! frankly I have no idea what kind of plans they have in mind, I think no one does. let's see.

[Vits]

The good thing about the VCS is that even if it fails.The people that have one will not lose much. As they can just use it as a computer.
That said, I would still not recommend getting one.

[Garethvk]

They just have not done much in the way of telling people what type of content it will have or anything to get excited over. As I said; going up against the big 3 is hard enough and when two of them have new systems it is an uphill battle.

[Vits]

They sort of did. On the original pitch they made it pretty clear that it would play old and new PC games. Would feature their Atari Vault for classic games and should be compatible with any PC application.

The issue is that somehow as time went, the narrative got distorted to the VCS being a console. I have no idea if that was Atari themselves or just the internet/media. But this is not really console, it's a mini-pc. And it would be a pretty cool mini-pc if the price tag wasn't so high.

[Garethvk]

good points.

[Cmv38]

Didn't know this existed until just now.... and I follow gaming news daily. . This is a problem.

[Garethvk]

Exactly my point. We heard about it years ago and then heard about delays and such. So now it is set to rollout against two new systems and with the Switch going well. We do not know any real games other than the new Missile Command which has been out for other platforms for a while and truly is not that amazing. So there is no real hype and we are supposed to shell out for the console for nostalgia?

[Tross]

Yeah, actually. I wouldn't have known Stadia existed either if it weren't for gaming news, but it got that in spades. It certainly didn't help the system sell, but it did have gaming news coverage. I've never seen a Stadia on sale anywhere in my region, or so much as advertised anywhere IRL. If this Atari VCS doesn't even have much in the way of gaming news behind it, I can't imagine it will do well at all. I'm sure as heck not counting on seeing one in stores.

[Knightofelemia]

Just ask Stadia I am sure Stadia will tell the Atari VCS what it's like to be in a market where people hardly buy you and where you have a magazine rack of games compared to a library of games the PS5 and Series X will get. Atari should just skip the VCS and just concentrate on making games I have a feeling the VCS is what will ruin Atari. And I doubt Atari has the cash to keep the VCS a float when compared to Google who has the cash to keep Stadia a float. and for the price of the VCS and what's included $390 for controllers, 100 free games, the unit, and an app store. I'd be better off putting the cash towards a PS5. I own a 2600, 5200 and a 7800 I think for sure I will pass on the VCS and just go PS5 there is more info towards the PS5 then there is info on the VCS. Consumers like to know what they are getting in the long run then little tid bits here and there hell people don't even know if the VCS will play modern games or if it is just a hub to play old Atari games.

[Garethvk]

You pretty much hit all the points and then some.

[Locutus_of_borg]

I think most of this system has been funded by crowdfunding anyway... Atari being clever not to loose too much of their own money

[franwex]

I still don’t know what this does.
I thought it was like an NES mini. Like a retro collection, but newer games can be made for it-but in a retro style and internet connectivity for updates or multiplayer.

But it’s also a streaming service that plays new games too?

[Garethvk]

This is what the guy sent me on Twitter.
S starts $249 open hybrid mini-pc / console, runs linux, load windows, upgrade RAM & SSD, AMD chip, wi-fi, bluetooth, the #AtariToken will be integrated to create/trade/earn wealth.

It was never meant to. They do things it can't- but it does things they can't. Looks really nice, cost only $249, AAA isn't everything. No need to hate for no reason. If it does well, maybe they will have a next generation more up to your expectations.

He is now fighting people who claim he is an employee. He said I need to stop spreading false rumors. So I said well since this came from their p.r. firm to us and all I did was add commentary which part is a rumor.

[Tacoboto]

It's halfway through 2020 and there are still websites that don't conform to HTTPS? That's impressively incompetent.

It's almost as incompetent as Atari, who think they can somehow operate hotels despite not being able to pay the people who are making their severely-unwanted console.

[Garethvk]

I mentioned that on FB when they announced the hotel plan. I said release the console then worry about the hotels.

[Traecy]

LOL!! Knew this already when they first announced it.

[Garethvk]

it is funny.

[sprinterboy]

Don't anybody think otherwise?

[Tross]

Isn't there a collection that contains 150 Atari games that is already available on most systems and certainly costs much less than buying additional hardware?

[Garethvk]

Yes. Most of the classic games are available already for systems.

[RaidenBlack]

I read it can do spew out 8K frames @ around 120 a second.
JK, anyways. I don't want it to fail on its very first year.

[gerbintosh]

I don't understand why this opinion post is even at the top of this site. The writer makes their opinion known without providing all the facts that are available about the system. The VCS is supposed to be a hybrid Atari machine and whatever OS, besides Apple, you want on it. It is supposed to play PC games but the specs aren't there to play a majority of them. The only thing I could think of is that this could be used to play a bunch of emulators and maybe android games. So it would be like the NVidia shield with a better processor and more configurability after market (swap out RAM, HDD, etc.). The site below has more information about the system.

https://www.tweaktown.com/n...

[Retroman]

Atari system would have been much better with controller than joystick.