The Ataribox has been rebranded to the Atari VCS, set for pre-sale next month

Atari’s push back into the console market was delayed at the end of last year, when the company suspended its crowdfunding with minimal warning. The project has now been revised, With the Ataribox becoming the Atari VCS, set to debut later this year.

Pre-orders for the Atari VCS will go live next month with its price ranging between $250-300. Considering Atari has adopted to go the crowdfunding route, it’s likely that an Early Bird discount will appear as an option while stocks last, but it is uncertain how much of a discount this will offer, if at all.

“With the Atari VCS name, we know how important it is to get everything completely right, and that's why we briefly paused an imminent launch late last year,” said Atari Connected Devices chief operating officer Michael Arzt, according to VentureBeat. “It was a difficult decision with the countdown underway, but we weren't willing to go forward with even one thing out of alignment. We hope that despite the delay, Atari's fans appreciate our extreme attention to detail and are as excited about the Atari VCS as we are.”

If you cannot see the gallery above, please consider turning off AdBlock. This conflicts with our imaging code.

Along with the rebranding, Atari shared new images of its modern control, as well as its classic joystick. Both share a black and orange theme with the joystick in particular echoing the slatted design of the console. These are currently still prototypes, but with the design likely to be finalised before next month's campaign, it's unlikely that the peripherals will undergo a great deal of change.

The Atari VCS follows in the footsteps of the proposed Ataribox, in that the hybrid console will play both Atari 2600 and PC games. Very few details are known about what the Ataribox was before its rebranding, aside from its support of Linux as an operating system and use of AMD for its processor.

Hopefully, the crowdfunding campaign will shed more light on whether or not the Atari VCS will come with pre-installed games or give players the ability to buy more games, unlike Nintendo’s Classic Mini line-ups where games are baked into the system.

KitGuru Says: Atari does seem to be pushing more fields lately, with the revival of its Rollercoaster Tycoon series to creating its own cryptocurrency, but will it really survive today’s console market even as a hybrid? What do you hope to see from the Ataribox Atari VCS?  Sorry, but wasn't the original name so much better?

Become a Patron!