“Atari, in the hope of emulating the success of Nintendo’s Mini NES and Mini SNES, has unveiled the Ataribox — a modern console inspired by the legendary Atari 2600, which was first released in 1977,” Mark Walton reports for Ars Technia UK. “While technical details on the Ataribox are slim, Atari—or at least, the company that now goes by the Atari name after the original Atari went bankrupt in 2013—has revealed that the console will come in both red/black and wood editions, the latter paying homage to the 1977 original.”
“Atari, in a newsletter to fans, promised that the Ataribox will feature SD card support, an HDMI port, and four USB ports (the teaser image also shows an Ethernet port),” Walton reports. “In a deviation from the emulation-based retro games of the Mini NES and SNES, it added that the Ataribox will play ‘classic’ and ‘current’ games.”
“Information on pricing, release dates, game content, or even full specs aren’t on the cards right now,” Walton reports. “Creating a console that plays both retro games and more modern titles, even if they only turn out to be Android-based, is certainly a ballsy move given the failure of most microconsoles. The Mini NES succeeded, in part, due to its simplicity and cheap price, both of which would be difficult in a more capable console.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Just ship ’em with real Atari CX40 joysticks (updated to USB from 9-pin connectors) and we’re sold!
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Atari releases Greatest Hits app; over 100 classic games for Apple iPhone, iPod touch and iPad – April 6, 2011
$30 ‘Atari Flashback 2’ offers a fun and affordable glimpse into the gaming’s past – September 22, 2005
Atari Flashback Classic Game Console debuts – September 8, 2004
I like the retro games, but like them better with modern graphics.
Like this for Mac OS X/ mac OS
Instead of this shit
Good old Atari.
Just don’t “emulate” Nintendo’s complete underestimation of the demand and frustrate buyers who still can’t even buy one today for it’s MSRP price.
And then Nintendo cancels production in mid-demand. WTF? Guess they don’t want to make money nor make customers feel good about their brand.
Just bought a Mini NES…was hard to find new…even harder to shell out the $129…but some things are worth it in certain scenarios (present for son..said no birthday party, so it ended up less expensive for me in the end for sure 😉 )
I’m really excited about this development 😎
If I had a nickel for every time I mashed that red button…
Well that took a couple of hours out of my life.