Atari VCS review! What is this new console worth?

Here is the Atari VCS Test! Here is my return on this new Atari console… As with the game E.T, will this console have to be buried in the desert???

By doing my John Hammond in “I spent lavishly” mode, I had almost forgotten that I had financed it a long time agothis AtariBox renamed Atari VCS!!! Fortunately the advantage of this crowdfunding is that at the time I paid $200 for the bare console (without pad and joystick) and that it is now available in the USA for a price of $400 if I'm not saying something stupid.

First bad surprise for me unfortunately, UPS asked me for €66 in customs taxes because the console came from the USA… That will teach me how to finance these big projects abroad.

Second bad surprise, I ended up with an American plug! It’s not as if I had indicated that I was in France, eh Atari! In short, fortunately a C5 laptop socket, connected to the Atari VCS power supply, solved the problem.

Unboxing the console!

That was a nice surprise. The console box is nice, the packaging is neat, but above all I find this Atari VCS very beautiful. The look of the console is very nice, but above all it seems robust.

Under the hood of the Atari VCS, we find a recent AMD Ryzen Zen CPU with Vega 3 Radeon GPU graphics, 8 gigabytes of DDR4 RAM and 32 gigabytes of EMMC type internal storage. It’s pretty decent except for the ridiculous storage of 32 gigabytes… Otherwise the Atari VCS has 4 USB 3 ports, an Ethernet socket, wifi and 4K HDMI support. It should be noted that it is possible to upgrade your Atari VCS by increasing the RAM memory up to 32 GB! and by adding M2 SSD type storage. On paper it's really cool but in reality you have to dismantle a lot of parts of the console to access the RAM and storage, it doesn't seem as simple as on a PC…

Starting the Atari VCS!

When starting up we begin to blow the cooler fully then this Atari VCS is rather silent. Obviously, as with each console, you have to make the different updates (bios and OS) so that the operating system is stable.

Then you have to create your Atari VCS account by choosing a nickname and avatar and once our account is confirmed, we are finally a member of the Atari community.

Concerning the operating system of the Atari VCS, it resembles the menu of the Nintendo Wii. THERE are boxes as if they were chains. Different tabs are available above these boxes, such as Store, System, Home, Games and Applications. It’s not complicated, everything is accessible, that’s a good point.

At the time I didn't want to buy the Atari VCS joystick, and the modern Atari VCS pad, because at $50 each, frankly, I preferred to settle for the Xbox 360 pad because it was advertised as being compatible. Well I use an Xbox One pad, it also works even if sometimes in the menu or when opening the keyboard the cursor often goes live...

What does the Atari VCS offer?

Certain elements are pre-installed on the console such as the Atari VCS Vault which includes dozens of cult Atari games represented by good old arcade terminals :) . I tested some games like Pong, Centipede Asteroids, it works well.

There is also a subscription called “AntStream Arcade» which allows you to play around a hundred cult arcade games on our Atari VCS. First month free after that you have to count around €10 per month to continue. This service claims to be a Netflix of retrogaming (also available on PC and browsers).

In terms of applications, it is possible to install Discord, Chrome, Amazon Prime, OCS, Disney Plus, Plex, Netflix, in short everything that can already be found on any good media center in the living room.

Obviously a store is available to buy games.  It gives pride of place to independent games and there is plenty of choice as well as all the prices.

There is finally a “PC mode” clearly you can install Windows 10, Linux, Steam OS. Obviously it will be better to boost the console's storage as well as the RAM memory so as not to end up with a machine that is lagging to death. You can run old or not too demanding games like Fortnite Minecraft. On the other hand, don't expect to play Cyberpunk (except through the Google Stadia streaming service). The graphics chipset of the Atari VCS Radeon Vega 3 will not work miracles :-/

I'll be frank, don't expect to find AAA PS4/PS5 Xbox Series or PC games. This is not the objective of the Atari VCS and it clearly does not have the capabilities to run this style of video games. Once again it is possible to use a streaming video game service like Google Stadia (via Google Chrome) but that requires an additional subscription to pay.

My verdict on the Atari VCS

Well, I financed this console for $200. Aside from the ridiculous storage of the console (fortunately expandable) the rest of the technical configuration of this Atari VCS is correct and it is worth my initial investment. Visually the console is beautiful and seems robust. Its assembly is of good quality.

On the other hand, its operating system seems very young, but above all empty for the moment. Clearly we are quickly taking a look at this Atari VCS console. We play Atari games on the Atari VCS Vault, yes, it’s nice. You can subscribe to the AntStream Arcade subscription. This is not exclusive to the console, this Netflix retrogaming already exists on PC and on several other systems and browsers. Concerning VOD applications like OCS, Disney+, AMazon Prime it's good, it works in 4K, but it exists everywhere now.

Concerning PC Mode, this feature can be (very) interesting provided you upgrade the RAM and storage, however do not plan to play demanding games, except through services like Google Stadia or Geforce Now.

Let's talk about games. You will have classic Atari games and Independent games, but don't expect to play the next AAA or AAAA with the Atari VCS hardware :/

I think this Atari VCS console saw the light of day not without pain. Its development has been chaotic and delayed on multiple occasions. It’s truly a miracle that this console exists today! This is the recurring problem with participatory projects on Kickstarter and Indiegogo. This reminds me of the Ouya console.

Available today for $400 in the USA, I'll be honest I don't recommend this Atari VCS. This console is too limited in its capabilities and its games, it is not worth this price. I hope that the engineers behind this console will come up with innovative and new things for this machine. I think (and I hope) that tinkerers will come up with new things for this Atari VCS. I could see this Atari VCS emulating other consoles for example…

See you in a few months for a (big) update of my test of the Atari VCS. I intend to tackle PC Mode, and see what this Atari VCS has in its belly. We'll see if I have to bury this console in a desert :)

 

 

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