Atari VCS to support Antstream retro gaming service

The Atari VCS, the upcoming retro console from the decades-old game maker, will receive support for Antstream. That is a retro game streaming service with 2000 games, in addition to 50 exclusive Atari titles from the past.

What those exclusive VCS Antstream titles are is not fully mentioned, but at least Adventure, Night Driver, Pong, Tempest 2000, and Yars’ Revenge will be featured. It also concerns Atari games ‘known from arcades, consoles and handhelds’. The games will be playable in original and enhanced forms, with new features such as ‘multiplayer’; Atari is probably referring to online multiplayer. More exclusive games should also be added to the service regularly.

The Atari VCS comes with a 30-day trial subscription to Antstream, which also includes the 50 exclusive titles. If you want to continue with Antstream after that, you pay 10 dollars per month.

Currently, the release of the Atari VCS is scheduled for March 2020. The Indiegogo campaign for the console was held in the spring of 2018. Multiple versions are coming out. For example, customers get a version with 4GB of ram, the VCS 400, for $250. There is also the VCS 800 that has 8GB of ram. These versions come without the accompanying gamepad and joystick, which cost $60 and $50 respectively. Atari is also releasing a package containing the VCS 800, gamepad, and joystick for a total of $390. Whether the console will also be available in Europe from March 2020 and for what euro price is unknown.