What's inside the Atari VCS: Faux wood paneling, AMD's Ryzen, and the soul of a Steam Machine
Surprise! The Atari VCS still exists. The last time we saw it was GDC 2018, at which time I asked “What the hell is this?” and Atari provided very few answers. As I now know, that’s because the entire project was in flux, a pivot point where one partner left the project and another came on.
Now, more than a year after Atari started raising money, the Atari VCS is a mostly functional product. But will anyone buy it? And really, what the hell is it? We met with Atari behind closed doors at E3 2019 to find out.
Full steam ahead
“Steam Machines are actually a pretty good comparison,” says Atari’s Rob Wyatt when I bring them up. “Everyone always compares us to retro boxes, which we’re not. Or they pick PlayStation, which we’re not.”