Update: According to Eurogamer, a French note to investors indicates that the Ataribox will be crowdfunded, a rather important detail that was not included in the announcement. "To limit risk taking, this product will initially be launched within the framework of a crowdfunding campaign,” it said.
Basing the existence of the console on a crowdfunding campaign changes the situation dramatically because it doesn't "limit" the risk, it simply places it on the shoulders of consumers who will be asked to put forth not-insignificant amounts of money purely on faith. As we saw earlier this year with the also-crowdfunded Spectrum Vega+, that's a very risky proposition indeed.
Original story:
Last month, Frederic Chesnais declared Atari "back in the hardware business" with the announcement of the Ataribox—an incoming retro-fashioned console said to be powered by PC technology. A 20-second trailer teased a wood-finished 2600 lookalike, however it appears the incoming machine will echo the likes of Nintendo's NES and SNES Mini/Classic systems with its library of classic games.
As reported by The Verge, Atari told prospective players that "[its] objective is to create something new, that stays true to [its] heritage, while appealing to both old and new fans of Atari" in an email.
As can been seen in the images below, the Ataribox houses two HDMI ports, four USB ports and has SD card support. A wood-finished variation will ship alongside a red and black version with indicator lights.
As yet Atari has failed to reveal what's under the new console's hood, telling would be players to expect "current content" alongside classic games.
"We know you are hungry for more details; on specs, games, pricing, timing," says Atari. "We’re not teasing you intentionally; we want to get this right, so we’ve opted to share things step by step as we bring this to life, and to listen closely to the Atari community feedback as we do so."
Despite the hype surrounding Nintendo's Classics foray, a PC iteration does not yet exist. Here are the games we reckon a PC Classic feature.
