Zerker on 2/6/2018 at 11:51
Well, it's basically a Steam Box with Steam replaced with the Atari store they're launching. It's... not a terrible approach; even if the store crashes and burns, you could still just treat it as a Linux machine and install Steam or your GOG/Humble/itch.io Linux games.
By the same token, if you already have a PC connected to your TV, I'm not really sure what this brings to the table beyond the user interface.
Storage looks like a concern, but 32 GB + 200 GB microSD will go a long way before you need to start attaching USB hard drives. Unless, you know, you actually want to put your full music and video collection on there.
Pyrian on 2/6/2018 at 15:20
Why are they advertising a classics collection with the phrase "Like Never Before"? Lol.
Renzatic on 2/6/2018 at 17:58
Quote Posted by Zerker
Well, it's basically a Steam Box with Steam replaced with the Atari store they're launching. It's... not a terrible approach; even if the store crashes and burns, you could still just treat it as a Linux machine and install Steam or your GOG/Humble/itch.io Linux games.
Which I think'll be its key to ultimate success. By itself, it's...alright. Looks nice, well built, good software design, all that good stuff, but I dunno if it's $200 good.
But as a mini computer running some random Linux distro, opening it up to tons more games? If it's got a decent set of hardware behind it, it could end up becoming a great customizable emulation station and/or media streaming box.
WingedKagouti on 2/6/2018 at 20:25
Quote Posted by Renzatic
If it's got a decent set of hardware behind it, it could end up becoming a great customizable emulation station and/or media streaming box.
I wouldn't be surprised to find that it has Raspberry Pi level of hardware (if not actually using a Pi) to keep production costs down.
Renzatic on 2/6/2018 at 21:14
Quote Posted by WingedKagouti
I wouldn't be surprised to find that it has Raspberry Pi level of hardware (if not actually using a Pi) to keep production costs down.
Considering the price, I'd bet its a custom ARM chip setup.
Zerker on 2/6/2018 at 21:44
They've already announced the specs. It's a laptop-class AMD processor, so it will run standard x86/64 Linux games as-is. And its already confirmed to be an Ubuntu-derivative, so you shouldn't even need to load a new distro to install non-store games. Scroll waaaay down on the Indiegogo page for the details.
256 colors on 2/6/2018 at 22:38
I wouldn't give the steam off my urine for one of those
emulation of any kind is always a poor 2nd class
Renzatic on 2/6/2018 at 22:51
Here comes the purists.
demagogue on 2/6/2018 at 22:56
I don't really get it either. There are dozens of Atari emulators out there already.
It's a nice design anyway. Hope it has at least 128 kb of memory!
I do like that there's a scene of people still making Atari 2600 homebrew games though, including demakes of contemporary games. I was thinking about making one myself. On the one hand, it requires wrapping your head around pretty low level code that doesn't hold your hand, but on the other we're talking about games that are only 4kb, so it's not like you have to do all that much work to kick one out.
