INTRODUCING THE ATARIBOX

Atari’s brand new console cannot realistically compete with the current generation. To think that it can or should, however, is to miss the point.

One of the innovators of the video game con- sole is poised to make a comeback on the market. This summer, the company that unleashed Pong on the world has revealed that it is developing the Ataribox, a unit that will contain modern in- puts such as HDMI and USB ports and have mul- tiple designs (including the classic wood-paneled version that hearkens back to the classic Atari 2600). The Ataribox also promises to deliver both classic and current gaming content. And… that’s pretty much it for now.

Though short on juicy information, the com- pany has been very open about how they want to roll out their new product. “We know you are hungry for more details; on specs, games, fea- tures, pricing, timing etc.,” says the company in a recently released newsletter. :We’re not teas- ing 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.”

Although Atari was once the class of the video game industry, the company has seen their share of hardships. For one, it doesn’t technically exist in its original form; the fabled Video Game Crash of 1983 sunk the original rm before a radical re- structuring that included the sell-off of some of its major departments. Even as late as 2013, Atari was ling for bankruptcy to help them separate from the French parent company propping them up before being taken over by a new CEO. Here we are, then, staring a comeback effort by one of the video game industry’s legends in the face.

Okay, so we haven’t been blessed with a wealth of information regarding the Ataribox. Is it too early to start speculating on how it might compare with the Playstations, the XBOXes, and the Nintendo Switches of the world? That question is irrelevant because some have already started. Any potential answer to that question is also irrelevant because here’s the thing: it doesn’t need to.

Why? A new market for video game consoles is slowly emerging. In the past couple of years, the gaming market has seen a rollout of repackaged classic consoles. Nintendo released the NES Clas- sic Edition in the fall of 2016, which was a replica of the original Nintendo Entertainment System with games pre-loaded into the hardware. The console sold like hotcakes, with 2.3 million units exchan- ging hands. Stocks were in short supply, but Nin- tendo did not expand production before discontinu- ing the console the following spring. The company followed up this move by announcing the Super NES Classic Edition, similarly designed to emulate the Super NES, for release this coming September. All of these developments point to the opening ofa new niche that Atari is primed to slot right into.

This is why Atari does not have to make a run at today’s console giants if it doesn’t have to. Though nice, video game entertainment does not begin and end with hyper-real graphics and su- perpowered image-rendering capabilities. To fo- cus only on these aspects is to ignore the nostal- gia appeal that older technologies have imbued video game culture with. The video game pastime is, in small part, an attempt to reconnect oneself to childhood joys and glories; the audience snap- ping up these Classic Editions are the adults who were children when these consoles were in their heyday. This is why the NES Classic sold through the roof, why the Super NES Classic is sure to fol- low suit, and why Atari has a shot at marketplace relevance once again in the 21st century.