Atari's 'Ataribox' Is a Bunch of Pretty Pictures Wrapped Around a Promise

There's nothing really to see at this point -- just some stylish snaps of a lovingly pedestrian-looking console. But they're being tendered as proof that Atari (yes, that Atari) is getting into the retro-console game with something dubbed an Ataribox. The company slipped the new pictures into a newsletter teasing an exclusive first look at the console's throwback design. Atari's toe in nostalgic gaming's money-printing waters, teased in a late spring video, is a pint-sized vamp on its Atari 2600, the 1977 video games console that more or less defined the term and set the table for the likes of Nintendo, Sega, Sony and beyond. It's got the same walnut veneer fronting black plastic ribbing, with its upward-sloping back evocative of the 2600's angled cartridge loader. Atari says the front panel can be wood or glass (customizable?), and that it has indicator lights which illuminate through the material.