this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2023
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[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago (6 children)

Very cool idea, but $129 is kind of pricey considering we're talking 1980s technology.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Yeah but when you can play any game for free none of them are as interesting.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah, that price tag is kind of bugging me, especially after the NES Classic, SNES Classic, and Playstation Classic were all $100 or less and had more built-in games. The ability to play 7800 and 2600 carts is cool, though.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

I think the ability to play carts is part of why this is over $100, that takes a lot more hardware than just an emulation box does.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

1970s technology actually

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I think they're going for the Analogue market. Real hardware for real cartridges, built to modern standards (like HDMI).

Two problems:

  1. Analogue consoles are all FPGA. This isn't. It's more like the Hyperkin consoles from that perspective.

  2. I'm not sure how much demand (read: nostalgia) there is for these older consoles these days. At retro game conventions I haven't seen much. It's mostly NES and later.

Atari probably could have won over some of that market if they used an FPGA, but they've gotten this wrong again and again by contracting with companies who put an emulator on a SOC in a box.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

It does hit as pricy at first, but I don't think it's unreasonable given what they're doing here and what (I'm sure) BOM costs are right now.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

It should be $20

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (4 children)

No Pitfall? What's the point, then?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

In fairness, if you still had a Pitfall cart, it looks like it will work, given you blow on the card edge hard enough first

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Never actually blow on copper contacts, as the moisture from your breath will corrode them given enough time.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

It's Microsoft® Pitfall™ now.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

It takes original carts. So, you can put a Pitfall cart in it.

That’s the point.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

I still have a bunch of my old Atari 2600 games (yes, including E.T.) The fact that this is compatible with my old carts might entice me to buy it.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

And the fate of video games, themselves, was sealed. For the beast had risen once again, and would stop at nothing to ensure the crash, this time, would be permanent.

[–] DuckGuy 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

And It’s Got Wood

Watch it being built exclusively out of plastic.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

I'm excited for folks who still have their original cartridges.

For me, this is pretty steep for a system that will (for me) only end up able to play 10 games.

An available 12 pack of resissued games on cartridge would go a long way towards giving this a place in my collection.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

$129 seems INCREDIBLY steep for this

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

This seems like it's best for people for still have a ton of Atari 2600 games or are willing to buy them. BecauseTV resolutions weren't standardized yet, playing original cartridges on unmodified original hardware on an HDTV can result in games flickering out due to needing to change the resolution to avoid lag or even games not displaying at all

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

At $130, I am not willing to take that gamble after their slew of other mediocre systems. Modern Atari has not, and most likely will not go the extra mile. They will just push it out the door, and move on to the next one.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I dont get it tho. The hardware is 40 years old. They could drop a raspberry pi in a banana peel and the processing power would be orders greater.