The company currently wearing the Atari brand has been forced to put its Ataribox console launch on hold, cancelling plans to open a crowdfunding campaign amid an apparent developmental delay.
Unveiled back in July by the current holders of the Atari brand - which, these days, is totally divorced from the company founded by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney bar having access to that sadly defunct operation's back catalogue - the Ataribox was promised to be based on 'PC technology', which the company clarified in September to mean an AMD processor with Radeon graphics and a Linux-based operating system. As well as playing selected titles from Atari's history, naturally, the machine was also promised to function as a personal computer - right down, in theory at least, to being able to install third-party games up to and including Valve's Steam digital distribution platform.
Atari's plan was to launch a crowdfunding campaign via the Indiegogo platform, and while the company had initially scheduled a Spring 2018 launch it moved up its schedule with a view to opening early-bird pledges this week - a plan on which it has now embarrassingly backtracked following an apparent hitch in the console's developmental process.
'The countdown to the Ataribox launch on Indiegogo has been officially paused,' the company told fans via an email to its mailing list. 'Because of one key element on our checklist, it is taking more time to create the platform and ecosystem the Atari community deserves. Building Ataribox is incredibly important to us and we will do whatever it takes to be sure it is worth the wait.'
Atari has not detailed exactly what issue it has encountered nor when it hopes to have the problem resolved and the campaign live on Indiegogo.
MSI MPG Velox 100R Chassis Review
October 14 2021 | 15:04
Want to comment? Please log in.