By now, those in the retrogaming community are aware that Atari will be releasing a new console which would allow the user to play Atari 2600 games, hence the "VCS" designation. As you may recall, the Atari 2600 was orginally branded as the Atari VCS (Video Computer System) when it was first released in the late 1970s.
We do not know much about the console except that it will use a customized AMD central processor and Radeon hardware for video. It has modern ports like HDMI, USB, Ethernet and a SD card slot. Whoever designed the look of the box should get an award for making something that harks back to the 2600 days and yet looks modern. Interestingly, the console will come with both an old school 2600 controller and a modern controller which looks like a clone of the Xbox controller. This suggests you'll be playing retro and modern games on this.
I have to ask, is there room for another modern video game console? Xbox & PlayStation are dominating that space. Nintendo created a niche space for themselves with their portable console the Switch. The Switch can play games with the look & feel of last generation's consoles, but with the ability to play on the go, people don't mind if it doesn't look quite as good as the latest games from the two titans. So how does Atari make a space for itself? The video game community is not a big one as it is and itself can be broken down into smaller groups. Will the retrogaming folks be a large number that it can turn a profit for Atari with the new VCS? The talks of a $200 to $300 price point makes this a tough sell for me. Unless this thing does something really special besides playing retro video games and/or modern games, this is going to go nowhere fast. Is it possible that this console will get modern games you can't find on either Sony or Microsoft's consoles? Only time will tell.
What do you think this console needs to make it sell?
