I have a feeling that you may be right.
But if the specs look good enough, it could still make a nice all-in-one set-top box for a living room like setting. It is just a Linux Box under the Atari ascetic. If the price is right, I may actually consider buying one as an retroarch/ steam indie machine. I know Raspberry Pi’s could serve that function too. But this would be x86. You could probably even install Windows on the machine.
So basically, they will be including a custom Atari 2600 emulator as well as a custom MAME emulator? Just the Atari 2600 and Arcade stuff? The user interface sounds a lot like what Sega has on Steam with the “Sega Genesis HUB” (or whatever it is called), where it uses a 3D interface created in Unity engine that connects to a emulator.
Would be cool if they could move beyond the 2600, though. Get the Atari 8-bit computer family in there as well as ST 16-bit computer emulation. Maybe even throw in some emulators for the Jaguar, Atari LYNX handheld, 5200 and 7800 consoles? But I guess there are Linux emulators that can do just that.
Atari posted these images on their facebook page…
Yes, this is what the Joystick is going to look like for the upcoming AtariBox.
For those that don’t know, this is a throwback to the original Atari’s 2600 Joystick.
No word on if this new retro stick will add any additional features, like a touch pad or anything like that.
Gaming On Linux story here: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/articles/the-linux-powered-ataribox-joystick-has-been-revealed-looks-delightfully-retro-and-rather-stylish.10786/
Also the developers of the console have a hardware related survey up: https://rfsurvey.typeform.com/to/ObmiyP
So you can right up a few opinions there.
looks like a cool throwback as long as its not stiff or anything lol
The lounge will NOT be happy about this.
A Ryzen 7 1700 and RX 580 8GB in a Node 202 would outperform Jaguar cores by a longshot. It might not beat the Xbox One X graphically, but that combo would be a preferred HTPC combo as opposed to those weak Jaguar cores with the same amount of GPU power as the 1st gen PS4…
Looks like The AtariBox is not dead. Atari just showed this off at GDC…
Yeah, current Atari has re-branded their planned AtariBox to the Atari VCS, which is a throwback to the original Atari 2600 console that was released in 1977 that was also refereed to as the Atari VCS. Atari is trying to pull hard on the nostalgia and retro factor here.
The machines planned to be sold at 250-$300 USD at launch and will contain an Intel chipset. Which could end up being disappointing, unless they use a Kaby Lake-G solution… doubtful at that price point.
I’m still skeptical about this machine, but we will see how it develops.
If the brand is basically all you have… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I really like the logo but I share the skeptical feelings about this.
Intel chipset could be anything but most likely means low end atom class crap with igpu.
Also the retro hype around nintendo classic and so on is getting old by now.
Would not be surprised if this thing never really happens.
[EDIT] Huh, you can download the logo in high res PNG from their press kit.
They have a version with the ATARI part in white. Looks dope on black background. 
… and it’s hosted on google drive. xD
Still no specs!
An I5 NUC with 8gig memory and 120gig m.2 is $450. Hope they can do better.
I didn’t know that Intel still produced Atom based CPU’s. But yeah, I am not sure what their plan it at $300 dollars. I feel like they could have gotten away with a price point like that if they went with a Ryzen 2200G solution, but what does intel have to offer for that price point?
Current Atari announced this machine as a Linux box with a custom UI and pre-installed emulators. They say you will be able to install Steam Linux and other Linux applications on the device. It would seem pretty limited if they went with an iGPU based system, even with the current Mesa drivers the iGPU is still pretty weak.
At best, I could see an I3-8100 or 8350 with intel UHD integrated graphics.
They’ve already noted collaboration with AMD in some fashion.
hard time caring about this, even with the nostalgia
Highly unlikely given the Atari’s target price point.
Flashbacks of Sen-pi intensify
Now if it is going to run Intel hd graphics it’s not even a shield competitor
Everyone is pretty much thinking the same thing
8 core jaguar with frequency between xbone and ps4
8 gb of ram (possibly less…)
crappy 5400rpm hd, 500gb to 1tb
and gpu wise something around xbone one s level
If I am wrong I will do the dance of shame and record it for youtube…
Intel based
Better break out your headdress
Even then I don’t think they’ll make enough of these things to ship that level of hardware at there proposed price point.
This may actually be correct all along…
This video showed up in my recommended youtube videos :
PCWorldVideos does a hands-on video with the Atari VCS at GDC. They claim that the hardware will use an AMD Bristol Ridge A10 APU and not an intel APU.
In my previous post I was going with “Intel based” because of the information provided in Venture Beat’s article. I assumed Venture Beat was listing off specs that they read from an Atari press release, or something. Turns out it was faulty information on their part.
The Bristol Ridge a10 is a four core, four threads APU with an integrated Radeon HD 7660D.
I can only assume that they secured a bunch of these APU’s at a discount bulk price.
well amd also has that custom semicon thing, like for xbox/ps4
could be a custom chip with jaguar/puma+ whatever low power ultra low performance cores, to zen(prolly not since they were showing design stuff for along time and zen wasnt officially in that part of the business yet)
but realistically could be a tablet(2-4 core jaguar at 1ghz) with like 80 shaders for the gpu, or it could be a xbox(prolly not since economy of scale would wreck atari with probably way lower units, and also no software to make the actual money from)
could be one of them weird chips like in the super cheap 15.6in ‘notebooks’ which is basically just large netbook, least if they wanna make a profit selling the box itself