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You can also probably get a similar PC for cheaper, not to mention all the people who'd just get a phone or tablet =P
Anyway, reading more (that article and somewhere else) and yeah, pretty much confirmed it can run any Linux game that can cope with the hardware, regardless of where it comes from (so it's literally just a PC). Also it's coming with some games built in, though I guess we shouldn't expect much from that. At least you won't be stuck with a complete turd like with the Ouya if you decide to get one (worst case it should be easy to repurpose).
Second source:
https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/...s_revealed.php
It seems they're going for people who want a PC connected to the TV (possibly for their kids, seeing what they brought up in the first article) but are absolutely clueless as to how get a stock PC connected to one.
"Nintendo scalp machines" are bricks with a permanent set of games. This seems to allow new games to be added. Nintendo plug 'n plays are gouging above $30 for what little they actually provide.Quote:
Originally Posted by stu
Yeah I think the ability to re-purpose the machine is it's only positive point. Hopefully we can infect it .. er I mean install it :p with a flavor of Windows and you'll have a novelty PC with the Atari logo and 2600 style case design. Other than that I really can't see a market for it. At the $250-$300 price it getting in to the same price point as the Xbone and PS4. I'm pretty certain any kid that ends up with this under their Christmas tree when they are probably expecting an Xbone or PS4 is gonna have a sucky Christmas ..lolQuote:
Originally Posted by Sik
Yeah I agree those Nintendo POSboxes are way over priced, but so is this Ataribox system. Atari are trying to profit off of the retro hype that Nintendo is generating, but is like nearly 3 times as expensive. This is pushing it in to the mainstream console type price. There's still a lot of unanswered questions as well. How much are the games? Who is developing games for the AtariBox? Are they going with the online store type system (eg steam) or something different?Quote:
Originally Posted by Black_Tiger
I just want the box.
https://i.imgur.com/KDQVGGC.jpg
It's so pretty. I'd buy one to use as a door stopper for sure.
Buy an nvidia shield tv for 200. Put atari emus on them and go find roms. Done.
Pretty sure any of us would just grab a cheap PC and a HDMI cable. Maybe we aren't the intended audience =P
At least gotta give them credit because honestly the idea does seem more sound than some of the other stuff that has been tried (obvious complaints about price, although if you want specifically a PC). There's nothing screaming Atari about it though, they probably used the name only to bring in media attention.
I recall they mentioned that was coming in later. But seeing as you actually can run games from just about anywhere (downloaded directly, through Steam, itch.io, etc. - anything is fair game), that's definitely much less of a problem than usual. Not to mention things that aren't games, like text or image editors (not to mention the tools needed to make mods), so that could help as well.Quote:
Originally Posted by stu
Insert joke about Linux not having games here =P though Linux users have been vocal enough to actually bring a large bunch of games lately... just not the AAA ones since nobody will port those to a market that tends to hover at around 1% of all PCs (too expensive for such a small gain).
Maybe ataribox will bring Linux gaming into mainstream
If Valve couldn't do it, then surely these guys can't. The problem is that "Linux gaming" isn't a thing. The AAA titles and known developers whose games people want to play just aren't on Linux. No one's going to buy this for Broken Age or whatnot when a PC can do all that and more.Quote:
Originally Posted by AlecRob
I remember reading that Valve was working on a kernel which could translate Windows software to Linux. I'm not sure how feasible that is, and I'm sure it's difficult, but that's what will make Linux as a game platform a reality. Until then, people will demand Windows and Direct-X support because "everything" requires it.
Er, Wine already exists ( ﾟ-ﾟ) (and some Linux "ports" are just the Windows version wrapped with Wine) What Valve had made was a Direct3D implementation that translated it to calls to OpenGL (to make ports easier), which if I recall correctly, works like wonders.
The big problem is that Valve didn't even try. They just gave up immediately on the Steamboxes. They were only interested on a back-up plan in case Microsoft did indeed go full blown walled garden (which they had threatened to do back with Windows 8), if Microsoft gets serious about it again (i.e. some day they decide that Windows 10 S should become the norm for personal-use computers), then I can see Valve pushing for it again.
Has Wine improved in the last couple of years or so to be worth using for current games? When I tried it, it ran my Windows games much too slow to be playable if at all.
Well the ataribox joystick was revealed... what do you guys think? I won’t bother posting pics because I’m lazy... but it’s basically a wireless 2600 joystick
After all these years Atari still hates left handed people.
Ataribox will mainly be a mouse & keyboard system anyway for modern stuff so I don’t particularly care...
How does it affect lefthanders? I use my left hand for d-pads on 8-bit style controllers and use my right hand for 2600 joysticks, Intv discs and Coleco nubs.Quote:
Originally Posted by AlecRob
The Atari brand is without value anymore. Buy an Atari Harmony cart, and you're set like Chet for original and homebrew stuff for the 2600. A SIDE2 cart for 8 bit atari computers well get you covered there, too.
You don’t find it at all amusing that the current owners of atari are trying to make it into a hardware brand again? Personally I’m interested to see where it goes.Quote:
Originally Posted by Raijin Z
It's going to go into the dumpster. It's too late to do anything with the Atari name, without GOOD programming teams to hitch up to. Imagine if Atari took all of the people EA and Craptivision betrayed, and started making good games aga- yeah that will never happen. "Atari" is a skinwalker, parading around in the daylight in the flesh of what was once Atari.
Why the heck they had never considered putting the button on top of the stick (now or back then) is beyond me.Quote:
Originally Posted by AlecRob
Because playing a game that way is really uncomfortable... to me at least...Quote:
Originally Posted by Sik
https://hothardware.com/ContentImage...joystick-3.jpg
I was about 90% out the door when I heard about this system. With this fucking Joystick, I'm done.
WTF?!
Concentrated hipster idiocy. There's a reason why people use Genesis controllers to play Atari games. Iconography is not ergonomy.
You know they already said you could use a keyboard and mouse on ataribox right? And an Xbox pad?Quote:
Originally Posted by BonusKun
I think most modern games on this thing will be played with the keyboard and the Atari joystick is just... for decoration lol
Quote:
Originally Posted by AlecRob
I find it very amusing. Just like I find it amusing that some people actually believe Sega will become a hardware brand again. I find the whole Spartan/OperationRazor totally LOLworthy. :D
I'm left handed. The Atari Joystick design never bothered me. I saw the setup as an advantage, because I could press the fire button faster with my left hand thumb, than I could with my right hand. The only problem was that you could only fire about 3 consecutive shots with most games.Quote:
Originally Posted by AlecRob
A lot of arcade games put the joystick in your left hand. I'd thought that it was rather odd, for a world that is dominated by right handed people.
It's MrSega again, isn't it?Quote:
Originally Posted by stu
I take atari more seriously in the hardware market than sega at this point. At least they’ve gone as far as to announce something. Sega hasn’t done shit.Quote:
Originally Posted by stu
Current atari owners have more balls than brains lmao
Why should Sega announce anything? They've been far more successful these last few years as a Software company. What has Atari really done?Quote:
Originally Posted by AlecRob
Atari hasn’t done jack shit which makes the whole situation even more interesting. Perhaps it’s so bad that it’ll turn out good.Quote:
Originally Posted by TrekkiesUnite118
It's nothing but a desperate attempt to stay relevant due to realizing they can only sell Atari Flashbacks for a few more years before their audience that still remembers them and has nostalgia for them will literally start to die off.Quote:
Originally Posted by AlecRob
Sega at least still has popular franchises and decent software that sells. They also have a much broader backlog of classics spawning multiple generations that has more appeal to younger gamers who weren't even alive back when they came out. Case in point, my younger cousins and even younger cub scouts and boy scouts I've organized gaming events for have had a blast playing my Dreamcast, Saturn, and Genesis and some even still knew what they were. Good luck pulling that off with an Atari 2600, 5200, 7800, or Jaguar.
Sega's systems, arcade heritage, and software backlog just has more appeal and are more beloved to keep them relevant. How many gaming sites do you still see celebrating the Dreamcast's launch day every September? You don't see that with Atari's systems.
What would be ironic is if sega games started to show up on ataribox. Then It becomes the de facto Dreamcast 2 lmao
Directions are usually for actions where you have to hold down the stick/D-pad, while buttons are for actions where you usually tap them (possibly constantly). The latter requires quicker reflexes than the former (granted, when it gets twitchy you're going to need to be quick at both things anyway).Quote:
Originally Posted by gamevet
Mind you, handedness is something that can be easily overriden by muscle memory anyway. I mean, how many left handed people just use the mouse in the right handed configuration?
...do they really want that audience anyway? They pretty much witnessed how Atari's trash ended up practically killing the console market in the US. Not the kind of memories they'd want their customers to have!Quote:
Originally Posted by TrekkiesUnite118
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sik
This has been going on since the 80's, when a lot of games only had 1 button, like Donkey Kong for example. Asteroids used buttons for controls and you had to use your left hand to turn left and right using two buttons.
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Jackal
LOL yeah the Razor one apparently is. The Spartan idea is apparently linked to members of the Project Dream/Dreamcast Reloaded Facebook group. I doubt either will get anywhere with Sega.
Sega will never ever make a new console until somebody new buys the company.... Kind of like how atari would never ever think of making a system until some French millionaire bought the company.
Sega just needs somebody stupid enough at the helm... lmao
We get it, you don't understand or appreciate Atari games. No need to start that fight again.Quote:
Originally Posted by TrekkiesUnite118
Atari fans are going to start dying of old age? Go over to AtariAge and warn them to get their affairs in order. Geez, I'm only 26....
If your only contribution to this thread is how awful and worthless Atari games are, then maybe just ignore this thread. Now go and enjoy some inferior to arcade MD and SNES ports.
Huh, I thought it used a stick o.o But point stands, left/right are buttons you normally hold down longer than the rest, and hence can afford slower reactions.Quote:
Originally Posted by gamevet
Granted, who knows where the convention even started, for all we know it was arbitrary and it stuck because it became a defacto standard.
Space Invaders did it too. But then you had trackball games like Missile Command and Centipede that had you shooting with your left hand. Pressing a button is much easier than doing movement with your left hand. It worked well for me though, because I'm left handed.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sik
I'm thinking the control setup was standardized to make it easier to install conversion kits.
I understand them and appreciate them for what they are just fine. I just have no desire to play any of them.Quote:
Originally Posted by zetastrike
Did I say AtariAge forum members? No. I said their audience that still remembers when they were relevant. These would be people at the youngest in their late 30's early 40s. People who were older than the age of 10 back then who enjoyed these games, they're going to be in their 50s, maybe even their 60s. Give it another 10 years and you might be surprised how many have started to die off quite literally. It's sad and a bit morbid, but it is the reality of an audience for a system that launched 40 years ago.Quote:
Originally Posted by zetastrike
People were discussing the pointlessness of this console so I chimed in. It seems however I struck a nerve with you. Sorry if Atari being less Relevant than Sega or even Hudson/NEC offends you.Quote:
Originally Posted by zetastrike
Why would I play those when I can play perfect arcade ports on my Saturn and Dreamcast? If you look at my Genesis and SNES collection, little of it is made up of Arcade ports save for the ones that are only available on those systems.Quote:
Originally Posted by zetastrike
Atari fans didn't end with the Atari 2600. Europe alone had a lot of Atari ST and 8-bit computer fans.
The nearby Walmart had a whole endcap full of Atari Flashbacks and AT Games Genesis units. I went by there today, and there was one portable Genesis and 2 flashback units left. There's still a market for those games.