The new Ataribox console priced and dated

The Ataribox console will cost between $249-$299 (probably £999 thanks Brexit) and begin shipping late spring 2018.

Inside the petite PC - for it runs Linux with a custom interface - will be an AMD processor and Radeon graphics card, Atari said in a newsletter.

The Ataribox will be capable of doing more or less everything a Linux PC can do, including playing other games than the retro, pre-installed Atari lot. What those Atari games will be we don't know but apparently there will be "tons" of them, and we will hear more soon.

Atari took the opportunity to share more pictures of the, I must say, rather fetching thin curvy slab of a machine. What you see are pictures of the first prototypes, and the wood, incidentally, is wood, which is pleasing, woodn't you say?

As we've previously heard, the Ataribox will be available via an Indiegogo campaign this autumn, so "pretty soon", Atari said. Crowdfunding campaigns for hardware can be a good way to judge production amounts.

Or, in Atari's words: "We want you to have early access, grab special editions (and pricing) and to have you as active partners in the rollout of Ataribox. We want you to be part of the story."

Let's just hope the story has a happier ending than that of crowdfunded Android micro-console Ouya, which launched, flopped, ran into debt and then sold piecemeal to Razer.