After 24 long years, Atari have revealed their often rumored new console, the Ataribox.
Atari wrote in its press statement:
Our objective is to create a new product that stays true to our heritage while appealing to both old and new fans of Atari. Inspired by classic Atari design elements (such as the iconic use of wood, ribbed lines, and raised back); we are creating a smooth design, with ribs that flow seamlessly all around the body of the product, a front panel that can be either wood or glass, a front facing logo, indicator lights that glow through the material, and an array of new ports (HDMI, 4xUSB, SD). We intend to release two editions: a wood edition, and a black/red edition...
But while the box might look impressive, what will it do? Well, Atari was pretty coy on that as well, saying "As you can guess, those ports suggest modern internal specs. It also means that while we will be delivering classic gaming content, we will also be delivering current gaming content." So, in short, this box seems like an upscaled version of the boxes you buy off a department store shelf around Christmas time that includes a number of games for a fixed price.
Not much else is known about the Ataribox at this time, sadly. However, Atari seem to have good reasoning for this, writing ""We know you are hungry for more details; on specs, games, features, pricing, timing etc. 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 Ataribox to life..." while they also renewed their commitment to listening to the Atari community feedback and taking those challenges to heart to make a better console experience.
So, what do you think? Does this excite you? Does it bore you? Or are you somewhere in the middle? Let us know in the comments. If anything, its great to see Atari back in the hardware market and great to see them stepping out of their 20+ year comfort zone to try something new. Perhaps everything old really is new again. Only time will tell.