The company has announced that pre-orders for the Atari VCS (née Ataribox) game console will start May 30, 2018, with prices starting at $199. The upcoming game console will also support 4K HDR.
A custom AMD Radeon chip
The Atari VCS has been delayed and the company now says that the initial shipments are planned for spring 2019. The pre-sale, which is exclusive to Indiegogo, will start later this month on May 30.
Atari has also confirmed that the game console will support 4K resolution, HDR and 60fps content. It will be powered by a custom-designed Radeon processor manufactured by AMD but the company is not saying how much power is under the hood. Xbox One X is the current console champion with its 6 teraflops of graphics power but it is still forced to cut corners to hit 4K resolution at times.
- “The company has partnered with AMD who provides the Atari VCS custom processor with Radeon Graphics Technology. The Atari VCS platform will offer support for 4K resolution, HDR and 60FPS content, onboard and expandable storage options, dual-band WiFi and Bluetooth 5.0, as well as USB 3.0 support,” Atari announced.
The upcoming game console will offer access to “a full range of popular modern titles as well as “media and streaming content options”. It will also feature the Atari Vault with more than 100 classic games, including Asteroids, Centipede, Breakout, Missile Command, Gravitar and Yars' Revenge.
- "We are building outstanding teams and forging alliances that will make this product great and truly worthy of the Atari VCS name. Expert hardware partners are helping make this project possible and we couldn't be more pleased with their contributions," said Michael Arzt, Atari COO of Connected Devices
The press release confirms that “early-bird Atari VCS packages will be offered, including the Onyx starting at $199 USD for a limited period of time” on Indiegogo. The Onyx version is black whereas the Collector’s Edition will have a retro-inspired wood-front.
