back to article Atari accuses El Reg of professional trolling and making stuff up. Welp, here's the interview tape for you to decide...

Legendary games company Atari has accused a Register reporter of making stuff up and acting unprofessionally following an interview earlier this year in San Francisco at the launch of its new games console, the Atari VCS. In that article, we were critical of the fact that the machine did not work, and that its chief operating …

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  1. harmjschoonhoven
    Coat

    To be honest,

    it is not unusual if you point at a brandnew product on show at the IBC and ask whether you can buy it and what it will cost, panic will break out because it is only a (working) prototype. BTW the IBC and funerals are the only venues I visit with suit and (normal resp. black) tie. It helps to get answers.

    Mine is the one with the inflatable tank in the pocket.

  2. Lodmot347

    You're in the wrong, not Atari

    I'm know I'm going to be the minority here, but I actually don't see too much of a problem with the answers that Michael gave. I also find it very interesting how in the edited audio clips, you cleverly leave out certain important pieces that Michael said, possibly with the intent to make him look worse. Read on, and I'll go over exactly what I mean.

    At one point you ask him what the aspects were that needed improving, that caused the Indiegogo launch to be delayed. Michael actually tells you that they weren't happy with the design of the modern controller, and they weren't certain about various partners (which they were likely waiting to announce on the Indiegogo campaign page). Yet you left that detail out of the trimmed audio clip you provided.

    Another audio clip you have is one where Michael makes a euphemism saying "he'd have to kill you", and you trimmed the audio clip to make it sound out-of-context. Immediately after you trimmed the clip, he actually says, "You know, that old joke," which obviously implies he wasn't attempting to be as hostile as you make it seem.

    Next, Michael is probably in a position where he's signed various NDA's, so it's very possible he WASN'T ALLOWED to talk about various games and content because other developers DON'T WANT HIM TO.

    Thirdly, you keep mentioning that it's unusual for game companies to go through with console/product launches the way Atari is doing it. What you fail to realize is, Atari isn't exactly in the same *position* as other game companies and console makers. They're making strategic decisions on what they announce and when to announce it, because the team is trying to revive a brand that quite frankly is a laughing stock to a lot of gamers, and to others, it's seen as a relic of gaming history. They're trying to take their steps very carefully, and they want it to be major when they announce something new, and they want the final product to be great when it releases.

    Lastly, I just want to say that if Atari aren't ready to tell us something yet, they don't have to. When Nintendo was working on the Switch back when it was known as the NX, rumors and leaks spread around the internet about the console, but nobody was badgering Nintendo for details they didn't feel like sharing, as you are with Atari. I find that to be unfair. It's also none of your business to know precisely what was fixed or improved, or what Atari is working on internally that they're not ready to announce.... I'm surprised you didn't bug Mike to know about their other products and accessories when he mentioned them being in the works...

    1. Kevin Fairhurst

      Re: You're in the wrong, not Atari

      Different processors have different power and thermal - and therefore cooling - requirements. If you’re contemplating changing the CPU that lump of plastic you’re waving around goes in the bin and you *start again*.

      No amount of “he might be under an NDA” changes that one iota. It’s all vapourware.

      1. Lodmot347

        Re: You're in the wrong, not Atari

        Remember the Ouya? One of the big reasons people criticized that console was because the tech in it was extremely outdated. In the interview here, Michael mentions they're looking at a possible newer AMD CPU. Isn't it a *good* thing that Atari is trying not to repeat the mistake Ouya made? I would think so...

        Also, I'm not sure how being under an NDA somehow doesn't give someone the excuse to hold certain information from journalists. I mean, that's why it's called a non-disclosure agreement...

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: You're in the wrong, not Atari

      You're either a shill, or a credulous moron.

      The guy didn't answer the questions because he doesn't have the answers because they don't have a real product. Did you also pre-order a Phantom console? How many Star Citizen spaceships have you bought?

      It's amazing that even today people still fall for this crap.

      1. Lodmot347

        Re: You're in the wrong, not Atari

        So instead of showing me tangible proof that they don't have any internal builds of the system, you decide to call me names and expect that I'll just agree with you.

        1. Alistair
          Windows

          Re: You're in the wrong, not Atari

          I'll let you off on the *shill* tag, but from post history, you seem about 13 or 15 and decidedly trollish.

          I have, since I've looked over the evidence, seen nothing that proves that they *do* have internal builds of the system. So, you can live with the original shill tag.

          There is something to be said for NDA's. They make a *GREAT* excuse, "I'm sorry, that question falls inside an NDA, and I can't respond."

          Persons who are expected to be executive material typically are expected to be prepared to answer all sorts of wild off the map questions, not act like a 15 year old accused of drinking daddy's gin and watering it down.

        2. Belperite

          Re: You're in the wrong, not Atari

          And yet, here we are, well over a year later, and still nothing.

  3. Maelstorm Bronze badge
    FAIL

    Hey el Reg, you messed up some facts in your article...

    This here is wrong: "We made no mention of the fact that there is every reason to believe that Atari's entire enterprise is being funded by hype and that the only way the company can afford to create even its first console is by persuading people to hand over their cash before the company itself has a working prototype."

    This is by far not first console with the Atari name. Atari used to make consoles back in the 1980s. The one that most people remember was the Atari 2600. There were other consoles, and even some computers during that time. But then they got kicked out of the market and went to being a software only company. And before someone says something, there was a number of mergers and acquisitions as well.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari

    As for Atari, if they go through the trouble to get an el Reg reporter in there, then perhaps they should have shown more than some plastic. Instead, they just wasted everyone's time. el Reg called them out on it, and rightly so. If they want to get a product to market quickly, maybe they should get in bed with V-Tech. At least then it can be marketed to the Fisher-Price age group which seems to be about the same age/intelligence rating of the current executive staff.

    "Atari is so full of crap that it should be labeled as a hazardous waste zone." LOL LOL LOL British humor at it's finest.

  4. Will Godfrey Silver badge
    Pint

    So Good

    I just got back from a grueling morning of wor, wo, doing stuff and saw this. I feel bright and happy again now.

    Beers all round.

  5. ZootCadillac

    I feel I have to take umbrage with the opening phrase "Legendary games company Atari" as i feel what follows is a terrible disservice to the once great name. Because this really isn't Atari is it? It's a small French games company named Infogrames Interactive ( eventually, they had a few renames as assets came their way) who had early success in that boom and went on a splurge buying up other struggling games companies including, Ocean International, Gremlin Interactive, GT Interactive and Hasbro Interactive which the latter, fortunately for them came with the Microprose assets plus the Atari brand name and it's intellectual property. Subsequently the company was renamed Atari Inc. and that's where we are today.

    A look into their history shows some colossal losses in the hundreds of millions of dollars almost on a yearly basis and the holding company and subsidiaries spent a couple of years in chapter 11 bankruptcy.

    I had the misfortune to have some dealings with them some years back. They don't take criticism at all well and they certainly do not like any scrutiny about their dealings or being reminded of the facts.

  6. yossarianuk

    Screw Atari scum.

    Amiga rulez!

  7. Brian Allan 1

    Hey, retro costs money... If you're willing to gamble!

    1. jake Silver badge

      No, Brian, it doesn't.

      All I have to do is dig through my "attic", instant retro. Being a packrat has it's advantages ... unless you need to move.

      Gambling is for rubes and suckers. The house never gambles.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Offending article removed

    Well, Atari have cunningly trimmed the FB responses and removed all the posts referring to this article; thus making them once again look like the heroes they aren't!

  9. Booh
    FAIL

    So, about an hour before reading this article, our Atari Flashback 3 let forth the magic smoke. I suspect a power supply problem as the electrolytic caps went. I would have been up for a VCS, but this guy's arrogance has spoiled my appetite somewhat!

    I guess I own the ROM still, and I remember running MAME on a 486, so I imagine I can quite legally run the 60 titles on a five or ten dollar ARM board, right?

  10. defiler

    I know it's late in the day for this comment, but it just amused me greatly that I've just had a sidebar advert on this very website inviting me to the Indiegogo page for the Atari VCS.

    Did I click? Of course I did! Did I buy? Ummm - nope.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Atari VCS Indiegogo question

    Does anyone know if an Indiegogo campaign can block comments or a backer of a campaign?

  12. Alistair
    Windows

    Kieren:

    Is it possible that the gentleman is blind, perhaps, or simply unaware of the object sitting on the table in front of him was an audio recording device? Could he perhaps have a very large blind spot? Has he resigned and run off to Bora Bora, or some other small, remote, isolated pacific island?

    ______________

    There might be those that quibble about the editing of the clips as posted vs the full length interview, but, come *on*, you don't invite a well known journal with the subhead Biting the hand that feeds IT to an interview and gladhanding exercise without being prepared with appropriate bullshit answers. And I don't know sweet FA about this new toy they're launching, but even so, I'd have appropriate toilet blocker quotes for (what are in my view) bog standard techie questions in that situation. It is abundantly clear to me that the executive was utterly unprepared to answer anything remotely like a technical question, and if it were me in the CEO seat, that poor bastard would be on the street, rather than the shit that they've posted on their side....

  13. John PM Chappell

    I almost backed it ...

    ... so glad I didn't.

    I have a Kickstarter habit, much to my wife's chagrin, and on the whole it's paid off, though many projects have run late or been a little disappointing in the final execution. This one looked promising, though I never owend the original hardware, but it was just a little too light on details, and I questioned what exactly it was bringing to the table aside from a household name. I decided to pass but I remain on their mailing list. As the saga has dragged on, I am so glad I resisted the temptation. At this point, it is literally the definition of a scam, I am afraid; it even makes Star Citizen (another tempting proposition, but Roberts' track record made me hesitate, thankfuly) look above board.

    If anything ever comes of it, I'll be moderately surprised, but I still think it will tank. Retro is all well and good, but what else does it have? No licences, too high a price ... sorry, this is DoA, if it ever even arrives.

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