Atari's New Console

Looks like Steambox has a competitor!

Ataribox is a new gaming console by Atari and is built with Linux and Steam compatibility.
http://mailchi.mp/ataribox/first-look-ataribox-design-36241?e=316bc4d53e



If Steambox isn't successful why would Atari attempt the same business model?

 

There have been rumors of this for some time. The business model doesn't really make a lot of sense to me, but meh. If it comes loaded with some Atari games I actually like, I may buy one just for that.

I'll bet it's running some version of MaME under the hood, since it's running Linux as the OS. However, I don't know of any way to legally obtain the Atari ROMs so that they can be dumped any more, so this might be the only LEGAL way of getting some Atari games.

 

Its strange to me as well because almost all of the atari/MS DOS/arcade games are available online for free at archive.org
So why would I want a console with a bunch of games I can play already?
I guess if Steam and native Linux games can run on it, that would be nice as well, but SteamBox already does that.

Maybe there is some secret porting going on to reveal new games? who knows...