The group undertaking the Linux-powered Atari VCS gaming console are ultimately speaking about games. Just after a lot of silence, they’ve announced a partnership with Antstream Arcade to bring tons of classics to it.
What is Antstream Arcade? It really is a game streaming service that hosts very a lot of licensed retro games from a variety of platforms like the Amiga, Spectrum, Commodore 64, Atari 2600, Atari ST, Sega Mega Drive and so on. It has a committed application you stream the games via but it comes at a price with a subscription. They mentioned Antstream Arcade will be accessible for the VCS at launch (anytime that is…).
From the press emails they sent out:
“Antstream Arcade is a great companion for Atari and its fans,” mentioned Atari CEO Frédéric Chesnais. “Anstream’s supplying lets players quickly access a vast library of games, such as quite a few Atari titles that have not been accessible for streaming prior to now. This partnership additional cements the Atari VCS as a very versatile entertainment platform and multimedia streaming device, constructed to embrace the ideal of classic and modern day gaming.”
“Antstream is thrilled to companion with Atari to provide the magic of the Antstream Arcade service to Atari VCS customers,” mentioned Antstream CEO Steve Cottam. “Our exclusive Atari VCS edition of the Antstream Arcade app puts us 1 step closer to fulfilling our mission of creating each and every classic game all the way back to Pong accessible for retro gaming fans with a modern day twist.”
I also reached out to Antstream Arcade, to see what they had to say about supporting the classic Linux desktop considering that they presently do not. When I final spoke to them, it wasn’t in their plans but it will be curious to see what they say now considering that the Atari VCS is a Linux box. Here’s what they mentioned: “With regards to Antstream assistance for Linux, it is on our road map, and is some thing that the Antstream group is functioning on, and if there is enhanced demand for Linux assistance we will contemplate accelerating improvement.”.
As for the Atari VCS hardware which they nonetheless have not completed, they showed off a image of an “actual” Atari VCS pre-production board:
I hope the Atari VCS lives up the the hype they are attempting to create with it. Despite the fact that, they’ve not been undertaking a fantastic job at it lately. They’ve missed essentially each and every deadline on something they’ve talked about so far. This is the initially correct update they’ve provided on it considering that July and though fascinating, they nonetheless clearly have a extended way to go for the unit itself if they’ve only just been capable to show us a pre-production board. In their July post, they mentioned we had been supposed to get a appear at additional “modern day gameplay examples” this Summer time. Nicely, Summer time naturally came and went without having a mention of it once again and right here we are with a retro game announcement and a image of an unfinished board…
Moreover it really is not even clear if Rob Wyatt (a technique architect for the original Xbox), who Atari created a huge splash about joining them as a companion is even nonetheless involved. When asked on Reddit, they gave a suitably unclear answer that did not really say yes or no: “Hello! Sadly, this rumor is circulating on the internet. Rob Wyatt and Tin Giant function on quite a few diverse projects. Atari fans must be excited for the Gameboard, as well!”—how incredibly clear, suitable?
It gets a small worse, their group had been even removed as moderators from the AtariVCS Reddit for going about deleting posts they did not agree with so they went and created their personal. What a fantastic way to construct trust.
The Atari VCS is due to ship in “early 2020”, even though I would not precisely be shocked if that date gets pushed back.
Report taken from GamingOnLinux.com.