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Atari VCS Accuses Reporter of Falsifying Interview (Trolling) | Site Responds by Posting Audio

Dancrane212

Dancrane212

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,962
Original article that prompted the comment by the Atari VCS campaign:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/03/22/atari_lempty_box/

Launch date? Can't say. Interface? Can't tell you. Hardware manufacturer? Can't tell you. Games developer partners? We're talking to people. Target market? We can't say.

What makes this all the more amazing is that the Ataribox was supposed to launch in December before, literally on launch date, the company pulled it citing vague issues with components. It then went silent for three months.

Mike tries to tell us that big product launches are suspended all the time. We tell him they really aren't, and on the rare occasion that they are, the company goes out of its way to explain why and give a new launch timeline.
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Atari response.
We honestly can't explain that article either. Our executives sat with that reporter for half an hour and he wrote what he wanted instead of what was discussed with him. Sadly there are even irresponsible trolls in 'professional' positions i guess.

We clearly said that we were bringing engineering design models to GDC and lots of people clearly don't understand what that means. Hunks of plastic? Well, yeah, that's how you finalize the designs and confirm that you can get the look and feel you want for the finished products. Sad.
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The Register article comparing what was discussed in that article with the interview:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/06/21/atari_interview_in_full/

Also posted the full audio of the interview as well in the article.
 
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atomsk

atomsk

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,483
They also went after a YouTuber who called them out on trying to pretend they had working hardware and called him "fake news"

It's really starting to get that Coleco Chameleon feel
 
1-D_FE

1-D_FE

Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,252
Not surprised at all. Maybe this whole fiasco will bankrupt them and the Atari logo falls into the hands of another owner. Current logo is such an awful iteration of the company. Not going to ever forget or forgive the letter of lies they threatened Jeff Minter with.
 
CoolestSpot

CoolestSpot

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
17,325
SFJ said:
dims


DĂ©jĂ  vu.
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Right? Ho-ly shit
 
Jerm

Jerm

The Fallen
Oct 31, 2017
5,772
I really hope this gains the max traction it possibly can. The fake news sad! epidemic is trash and they deserve to be called out like this.
 
Gestault

Gestault

Member
Oct 26, 2017
13,356
Lying grifters. Assuming their internal operations are handled the same as their media and marketing, fraud charges when this is all said and done wouldn't seem out of place. Obviously if someone were really trying to create a product like this, things could go wrong. But I don't have the impression there's a good-faith effort to make/release the product, here.

When people with something obvious to gain are persistently lying and actively vilifying those putting work into accurately reporting, it's clear as what's going on.
 
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FormatCompatible

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,071
Lmao, what a fucking mess. To the people that actually gave money to those snake oil salesmen that call themselves Atari I just want to say I'm sorry.
 
andymcc

andymcc

Member
Oct 25, 2017
26,271
Columbus, OH
Outside of older retro gamers, does anyone actually care for the Atari brand anymore? I bet a lot of younger people's only interaction with them as a home console brand is seeing one in Stranger Things.
 
mute

mute

â–˛ Legend â–˛
Member
Oct 25, 2017
25,062
Maybe once all this is said and done we'll have a really cool Raspberry Pi case or something.
 
OP
OP
Dancrane212

Dancrane212

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,962
andymcc said:
Outside of older retro gamers, does anyone actually care for the Atari brand anymore? I bet a lot of younger people's only interaction with them as a home console brand is seeing one in Stranger Things.
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Well, enough folk care to put the crowdfunding campaign over the "success" line. IndieGoGo page had ~11000 of them last I checked.
 
Funny Valentine

Funny Valentine

Banned
Nov 1, 2017
2,904
andymcc said:
Outside of older retro gamers, does anyone actually care for the Atari brand anymore? I bet a lot of younger people's only interaction with them as a home console brand is seeing one in Stranger Things.
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The only iconic thing about Atari is the logo as seen in things like Blade Runner. No one important wants a fucking Atari console in 2018, lol.
 
Slayven

Slayven

Never read a comic in his life
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
93,025
sir_crocodile said:
you have to go onto the register and listen to some of those clips, it's hilarious
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Listening now, wow. It is one of those times that you are not mad the guy is trying to blow smoke up your ass, you are mad that they would think you would fall for that level of smoke.
 
AaronD

AaronD

Member
Dec 1, 2017
3,254
Yeah this could not have been a more obvious scam and they still got funded. Nostalgia makes you stupid.
 
MrNelson

MrNelson

Community Resettler
Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,356
Cyanity said:
They've raised HOW MUCH money? Holy shit, is this gonna be the next Uya?
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They broke over a million on the first day, but considering how many people had backed at that point it was suspicious as hell.

Like, right now, they're at $2.9 million. If you calculate the minimum amount that could be raised based on the amount of backers in each tier, it would be around $52400. So from the looks of it, they had a few people donate fuckloads of money at the start to make it look like people were really into it, because I find it really hard to believe that there was anywhere near that amount of hype for this happening naturally.
 
Slayven

Slayven

Never read a comic in his life
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
93,025
Protome said:
It makes you wonder why they even agreed to interviews in the first place. Like, did they think they could bullshit their way through it?


Unlikely.
The Ouya shipped.
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My uneducated guess is they thought dude was coming to do a filler puff piece, probably didn't expect dude to know his shit and ask real question. Telling the dude couldn't any questions beyond the PR they put out.
 
Euler007

Euler007

Member
Jan 10, 2018
5,039
andymcc said:
Outside of older retro gamers, does anyone actually care for the Atari brand anymore? I bet a lot of younger people's only interaction with them as a home console brand is seeing one in Stranger Things.
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As far as I'm concerned I love my Atari t-shirts, but have no use for a console with the logo on it.
 

Deleted member 11985

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,168
I can't tell which is more offensive. The slow revelation that this Ataribox is turning out to be a scam, or Atari unironically using the terms "fake news" and "sad."
 
Cyanity

Cyanity

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,345
MrNelson said:
They broke over a million on the first day, but considering how many people had backed at that point it was suspicious as hell.

Like, right now, they're at $2.9 million. If you calculate the minimum amount that could be raised based on the amount of backers in each tier, it would be around $52400. So from the looks of it, they had a few people donate fuckloads of money at the start to make it look like people were really into it, because I find it really hard to believe that there was anywhere near that amount of hype for this happening naturally.
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That's sleazy as all fuck. I hope this crashes and burns in their face.
 

G-X

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,342
KoopaSwitch said:
Let's be honest - it wasn't.

There is no way it actually got those sales. I truly believe they bought the bulk of them themselves to try and boost it up to grab unsuspecting idiots thinking it was a success.
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OrdinaryPrime said:
Is this against the terms of service for kickstarter, indiegogo, etc?
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I was thinking maybe it W's a money laundering scheme, in which case the Trump - ian rhetoric was even more fitting of a response coming from them.
 
Ketch

Ketch

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,285
quote from the recorded interview: "We also do wearables... things like the speaker hats".
 
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