New Atari 2600 is coming in November
Open link in next tab
https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattgardner1/2023/08/22/the-atari-2600-is-back-backward-compatible-and-its-got-wood/?sh=10b4bcc15255
https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattgardner1/2023/08/22/the-atari-2600-is-back-backward-compatible-and-its-got-wood/?sh=10b4bcc15255
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.
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.
I think they're going for the Analogue market. Real hardware for real cartridges, built to modern standards (like HDMI).
Two problems:
Analogue consoles are all FPGA. This isn't. It's more like the Hyperkin consoles from that perspective.
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.
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.
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
Never actually blow on copper contacts, as the moisture from your breath will corrode them given enough time.
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.
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.
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
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.
Edit: It's really cool, though.
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.
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.