Monday, July 6th 2020
Atari VCS Console Finally Set To Release in Fall 2020 for $389.99 USD
The Atari VCS was first announced over two years ago in 2018 but has since suffered numerous delays. It looks like there may be light at the end of the tunnel for the Atari VCS 800 with the console now available for pre-order from Atari, GameStop, or Walmart. The console is only available as part of a bundle including the console itself, Wireless Classic Joystick, a Modern Controller, and free copy of Atari Vault of 100 classic arcade and console games. The bundle is priced at 389.99 USD and is expected to ship by the 2020 holiday season.
The console features a custom AMD Raven Ridge APU with Vega 3 graphics, paired with 8 GB DDR4 ram, and 32 GB eMMC internal flash storage. The device runs a custom Linux OS but also supports Linux, Windows, Steam OS, or Chrome OS if booting from an external drive. Connectivity consists of 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 4.0 while I/O includes a single HDMI 2.0 port, gigabit Ethernet port, and quad USB 3.1 connectors. A lower-powered Atari VCS 400 system is also planned with half the ram at 4 GB and is expected to sell for 249.99 USD.
Source:
Atari
The console features a custom AMD Raven Ridge APU with Vega 3 graphics, paired with 8 GB DDR4 ram, and 32 GB eMMC internal flash storage. The device runs a custom Linux OS but also supports Linux, Windows, Steam OS, or Chrome OS if booting from an external drive. Connectivity consists of 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 4.0 while I/O includes a single HDMI 2.0 port, gigabit Ethernet port, and quad USB 3.1 connectors. A lower-powered Atari VCS 400 system is also planned with half the ram at 4 GB and is expected to sell for 249.99 USD.
38 Comments on Atari VCS Console Finally Set To Release in Fall 2020 for $389.99 USD
Also I'm sure people will eventually figure out how to install 3rd party OSes on the internal storage.
And that's why I think it will be difficult for the VCS. When the Atari STe came out to fight the Amiga 500, the verdict in the press back then was "Too little, too late". I think the VCS console is "too little, too late" in the game. They lost too much time. It targets a very specific audience that will pay anything for that case and that logo, but it lost the much bigger audience that also needs a powerful mini PC/HTPC, because things progressed from the day Raven Ridge was something to be considered desirable.
And that comes from someone who loves the Atari logo. I had passed from an Atari STe to a Mega STe before having no other choice than going to a PC. If the Falcon was a success, I might have stayed in the Atari platform for a couple more years.
So far it actually makes more sense to buy a perfectly real Udoo bolt w/ time-proven XB360 or XBO controller.It's 32GB eMMC for all variants, and an empty M.2 slot (probably meant to be user-upgradeable). eMMC will run whatever they put on it OOB, while windows and linux can be installed on NVME drive or run off external storage.And you've missed an elephant in the room. Right on their front page in bold letters they proudly announce that consoles will be shipped by Dec 24th... guaranteed :roll:
For this fall their plan is to ship that first batch of 500 units for devs and reviewers, part of which they proudly presented on that dirty pallet. The rest is still on the way, and AFAIK - shipping from China is suffering MAJOR delays now. Just glanced over their update on this shipment, and it definitely looks like they are putting Indiegogo backers at the end of the waiting line again.
At least it's Zen - albeit only 2 cores and 4 threads. It uses the Raven Ridge 2 small die, it should be dirt cheap.
I feel I would have bought a $50 "Atari Mini" console with the 100 2600/7800 games on it for a reasonable price, but this is just overpriced and the PC games are going to be appalling unless they're 10 years old.
If only they had used the V1807 - that's 1.8 TFLOPS of GPU and 4C, although higher TDP.
They're just renamed Infogrames these days, and there are barely any people left working there.