Atari Postpones VCS Retro Console Release For Indiegogo Backers
Atari has delayed the release of its retro console VCS for the Indiegogo backers. They were supposed to get the console in December, but that’s not happening. They must get the game console before it goes on sale to the general public in March 2020.
Atari does not say when Indiegogo backers will get their hands on the console, but is adamant that it is about “weeks of delay and not months”. It should become clear at a later date when backers will receive the console and an additional reward for the backers is also being considered.
Initially, in 2017, the ‘Ataribox’ was planned to be released in mid-2018. However, the crowdfunding campaign was initially postponed and after that the planned release of the console was also postponed several times. That is because of changes to the AMD hardware, according to Atari. The architect behind the VCS resigned in October, saying he hadn’t been paid by Atari in six months, which along with the repeated delays may cast doubt on Atari’s ability to deliver the console.
The crowdfunding campaign was a success: at the end of it, €2.7 million had been collected. The console has a starting price of $ 249.99, for which you get the console with 4GB of ram and without controller. A package with the console and two controllers costs $389.99. A euro price is not known.
The console contains the AMD Ryzen Embedded R1000 soc, with which a Vega 3 GPU and a Zen CPU architecture do the calculations. This makes it possible, according to Atari, to play content in 4k resolutions combined with 60 images per second and HDR. Atari is one of the first parties to implement this soc with their VCS console. Furthermore, the amount of storage space can be expanded and Bluetooth 5.0, USB 3.0, WiFi and an Ethernet connection are available.
In fact, the Atari VCS is a Linux PC that contains over a hundred retro Atari games, such as Missile Command and Pong, although new games will be released for the console as well. The VCS also supports a sandbox mode, so any OS can be put on the device.