Here’s our first look at Atari’s new console

Back when the games console market was still in its infancy, Atari was a big name on the hardware side of things. However, for the last 30 years, Atari has strayed away from console hardware. This week however, Atari is making a return, announcing the Ataribox, which was originally teased last month.

The Ataribox was revealed to the world in an email blast this morning. The main objective with this release is to “create something new that stays true” to Atari's heritage and appeals “to both old and new fans” alike. There are two versions of the Ataribox, which you can see below. One is a more modern black/red box, while the other features wood panelling, which serves as a nice callback to the Atari 2600.

The Ataribox appears to feature SD card support, a HDMI port and four USB ports. Similarly to Nintendo's NES/SNES Mini consoles, this box will support classic games. However, Atari also wants to release “current content” too, which could mean any number of things. Perhaps Atari is going to republish some classics, or make a new game in retro style. There are still a lot of questions left to be answered.

Unfortunately, beyond the unveiling of the box, Atari didn't let much else slip. We still have no pricing, availability or release date information. We also don't know the actual specs of the hardware but hopefully more will be revealed soon.

KitGuru Says: There was a lot of buzz surrounding the Ataribox when it was first teased last month. Do you guys think this will be a successful console? It does seem that classic gaming is having a resurgence at the moment thanks to the popularity of the NES Mini.

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