Former Xbox leader Ed Fries quizzes Feargal Mac on Atari’s new console

Atari is charging forward with its plans to make a new video game console, the Ataribox, the first such hardware from the iconic American game company in a while. We first confirmed it in June, and the company hopes to launch the box in the spring.

Feargal Mac (Mac Conuladh) is the general manager overseeing the box, and he said the company plans to crowdfund the Ataribox on Indiegogo for the Linux-based machine with an Advanced Micro Devices processor. Mac told us in a recent exclusive interview that the Ataribox will sell for $250 to $300. While that is close to the price of rival consoles from Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo, Mac said the advantage of the Ataribox is that it will be open, allowing owners to run a wide variety of their own games on it. He sees the box as an indie machine, able to run classic Atari games as well as new indie titles such as Minecraft and Terraria.