Insert tired meme here
A few days ago, I wrote an article talking about my misgivings with the Ataribox. It was the second such article I’ve posted. This is not a similar article. Rather than list reasons why I’m leery of the console, I’m going to straight-up lambaste it.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is my opinion that the Ataribox is a scam. In the words of the meme staple Admiral Ackbar, IT’S A TRAP! To understand why I say this, I’m going to tell a story about Feargal Mac Conuladh.
Feargal Mac, as he likes to be called, is the creator of the Ataribox and the general manager of the project. He spoke to GamesBeat a few days ago to talk up the project and flesh out a few details about it. I read the article about the interview with GamesBeat and wrote my own article detailing what I felt were the bright spots of the project and concerns I had with it. It was a generally negative article because I didn’t see why anyone would pony up $250 for what amounts to an emulation machine.
After writing the article, I stumbled upon a YouTube video from StopDrop&Retro. He sometimes highlights crowdfunding campaigns that turn out to be scams. The video in question was a takedown of the Atari Gameband, a watch that caters to gamers. It showed off the Kickstarter campaign for the Gameband and compared it to another successful Kickstarter campaign, the StormFly. The latter turned out to be a scam, and the former looked to be on the same track.
The head and public face of both projects? Feargal Mac.
The fact that Mac had two dubious crowdfunding campaigns raises enough alarms to make my ears ring. The fact that he is planning yet another campaign on Indiegogo for the Ataribox turns those alarms into loud-ass church bells. If I could choose a word to describe the Ataribox now, it would be SCAM!
Oh yeah, Indiegogo. The Atari Gameband had a successful campaign on the crowdfunding site in March 2017, raising $338, 374. If you go back up and check what I wrote, you’ll notice that I said the Gameband was on Kickstarter. Turns out that Mac ran a successful campaign there, too. It raised another $325,996 there. So the project raised a total of $664, 370 with the two crowdfunding campaign.
For the record, the StormFly raised $120,929 on Kickstarter back in March 2013. That project turned out to be a huge scam, as StopDrop&Retro’s video details. The Gameband Kickstarter page has updates that are visible to backers only. On Indiegogo, the company states that it will update backers via email in order to prevent the public from seeing them. There is no way to verify anything about the Gameband unless you’ve given money to them via Kickstarter and Indiegogo. If past behavior with Stormfly is an indicator, it’s easy to see Gameband as a scam, too.
And now the public face of both the Stormfly and the Atari Gameband is set to launch yet another Indiegogo campaign for the Ataribox. It claims to be a project from Atari directly. But seeing that the creator of the Ataribox used the Atari name on another dubious crowdfunded project, I’m not so sure.
On my last article, I stated that I didn’t want to dissuade anyone interested in the Ataribox. I’m going to try to dissuade anyone interested now. The Ataribox is being heralded by an individual who has exhibited shady and fraudulent behavior before. Feargal Mac had duped gamers on at least one case, possibly two. I am convinced that he is willing to dupe gamers again.
It is my belief that the Ataribox is a project that licensed the Atari name, not an official project from Atari. It is my further belief that Feargal Mac is using nostalgia as a cudgel to beat gamers over the head with. The Ataribox, in my opinion, is an overpriced Linux box that Mac hopes to dupe gamers into backing. Right now, I see the admittedly pretty console as an Ouya on steroids, talked up by a charlatan. It will play Atari games, and they will be legitimately licensed. But it will do nothing a Raspberry Pi with RetroPie or a PC with Stella can’t do already. In my opinion, the Ataribox is nothing more than a way for Feargal Mac to separate retro game lovers from their money.
I hope I am wrong and the Ataribox is on the level. I’d love nothing more than to be proven wrong by Feargal Mac. Given Mac’s past antics, however, I’m not sure it will be on the level.
