Update 11/22: Atari is now discounting its Speakerhats to $99.99 shipped. That’s good for a savings of up to $40 and the first price drop we’ve seen on Atari’s head-mounted speakers.
For many years we have been clamoring for some kind of new gaming-related venture from the fabled Atari brand. Cemented in to the interactive entertainment space since the 1970’s, the company has never really made much effort as far as fans are concerned towards new gaming products, until recently that is. The brand, which has felt largely underutilized over the years considering its pop-culture status, has been teasing a new console as of late.
While a teaser video hit last month followed by new images of the PC-based Ataribox console, there are still a number of important details up in the air. Mainly, the games and how content will be offered to consumers. Nonetheless, it is a product gamers have been asking for, unlike Atari’s new Speakerhat. A product no one has ever asked for, and especially not from Atari…
As part of the company’s re-branding efforts with the new console looming in the near future, Atari has teamed up with Audiowear for a new line of direct hat-to-face wearable music speakers. The new Atari branded hats are essentially your basic ball cap, with a set of speakers built-in to the brim allowing you to pump music directly into your face, sans-headphones.
It’s basically a smart hat with an Atari logo on it that connects to your smartphone. You can force everyone around you to listen to your horrible playlists while you take calls over Bluetooth. VentureBeat, who had a chance to go hands-on with the Speakerhat at E3 this year, says you won’t disturb innocent bystanders if the volume is low, but even that is hard to believe.
Atari says the hat is geared towards tech enthusiasts, skaters, gamers and fitness enthusiasts. It will include something called “multi-player mode” that will allow multiple Speakerhats to connect with one another, all playing the same song because well, of course it does. Clearly anyone without a Speakerhat this fall will really be missing out.
But you may want to hold off for the Blade Runner 2049 edition which will be dropping as part of a product placement deal with the new film.
All things considered, it looks like a nice hat and the speakers are, for the most part, not entirely offensive looking. But please don’t wear/use one of these near me on the train, at the gym or anywhere for that matter. Please.
At this point, there does not appear to be any details on release dates or price. But you can sign up to be beta tester.
Speaking of Atari, you can get all the latest information on the Ataribox right here, along with the some new images. But you might want to check out the $80 ATGames Atari emulation consoles that were recently unveiled as well.
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