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Following the rather surprising announcement at E3 promising ‘a brand new Atari’ product, alongside a short teaser trailer, it’s been quite the wait to find out more information on the Ataribox, and finally we’ve got some — as well as the first images of the hardware. Somewhat surprisingly, Atari has announced that the Ataribox has ‘modern internal specs’ and will be delivering ‘current gaming content. Mind-blown.
In an email newsletter to fans who’d registered on the Ataribox website following the original teaser, Atari says that its ‘objective was to create a new product that stays true to our heritage while appealing to both old and new fans of Atari’.
At first glance, the Ataribox is clearly inspired by ‘classic Atari design elements’. It has those familiar ribbed lines, a raised rear and that unique wood panel effect. Featuring a front facing logo, and indicator lights that glow through the material on the panel, the Ataribox also has 4xUSB ports, an SD slot and HDMI, so it can connect to all our modern tellys. There’ll be two versions of the Ataribox; one is the traditional inspired wood edition, the other is a black/red edition. Both look pretty snazzy to be fair.
The newsletter confirms that modern ports also mean the internal specs will be modern, meaning that ‘while we will be delivering classic gaming content, we will also be delivering current gaming content’. So it’s not just about fulfilling the novelty/nostalgia factor, but it’s not clear exactly what this ‘current gaming content’ actually is either. Will the Ataribox be a digital storefront for Atari’s own published IPs? Or will it be something entirely different?
It’s important not to get too far ahead of ourselves here, as there are no more details on the console so far, and Atari wanted to make clear that things are at an early stage.
‘We want to get this right, so we’ve opted to share things step by step as we bring Ataribox to life, and to listen closely to Atari community feedback as we do so’, reads the closing of the newsletter. It does look rather intriguing, but going on previous Atari form I am not allowing myself to buy into the hype, just yet.
You can check out the teaser trailer to the Ataribox below.
