This morning Atari sent out an email giving old school gamers a better look at its newest console, the Ataribox. Atari, the company that’s been out of the console scene for some time now, is hoping to get back in the game with this retro-inspired system. This is the first mention we’ve received since the teaser release/video from last month. The Ataribox will reportedly come loaded with old and new content and could even rival Nintendo’s upcoming classic SNES. The hope here is that Atari creates something that stays true to the old school gaming genre while at the same time appealing to new fans of Atari.
As you can see, the Ataribox has been heavily inspired by classic design elements such as the “iconic use of wood, ribbed lines, and a raised back.” Atari is also implementing a smooth design, with the ribs flowing all around the body of the device. There’s even 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.
So far, we know there will be HDMI, four USB ports, an SD slot and Ethernet. This suggests that there will be room for new content to be added to the preinstalled system unlike the NES Classic where you were stuck with the original installed games. Atari plans to release two retro stylings: a wood edition and a black/red edition (below).
In case you were wondering, Atari plans to deliver classic games in the Ataribox alongside “current content.” At this point, we aren’t sure if that “current content” includes simply republishing its best hits, but it looks like that the Ataribox will be similar to the NES and SNES Classic in providing access to old titles in modern retro hardware. While Atari has licensed its brand recently, the company is very much involved in the creation of the Ataribox.
Of course, Atari isn’t providing any more information on pricing, release dates, game content, or even full specs right now. However, as you can guess with all those new ports, it suggests there will be modern internal specs. It also means that while we will be receiving classic gaming content, we will also be getting something new as well.
Atari ended the email with the following statement:
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, and to listen closely to Atari community feedback as we do so. There are a lot of milestones, challenges and decision points in front of us in the months ahead. We’ll be giving you lots more information and status updates as we progress, and we are thrilled to have you along for the ride!
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