Editor's take: If it were my money, I'd play the wait-and-see game. Let's see if Atari makes good on its promise to ship the console soon and check out some reviews before plopping down that much money on an unproven system in a year when two of the industry's biggest players are launching true next-gen machines.

Atari has announced plans to sell a gaming-focused cryptocurrency later this month.

The Atari Token will be available on Bitcoin.com Exchange starting October 29. Each token will be priced at 25 cents, with a hard cap of $1 million worth of coins initially being on offer.

"Our goal is to create a token for the videogame industry that is available to as many platforms and users as possible. We are continuously developing use cases, starting with networks of smart platforms, games, and casino games. We aim at gradually extending the reach of the Atari Token to other games and applications in the videogame industry."

Atari said late last month that the first production units of its new PC / console hybrid, the Atari VCS, will be shipped to early project backers "very soon." The company is also accepting pre-orders for the system on its website for $389.99.

That'd be a tough sell in any year, but even more so in 2020 with new consoles from Microsoft and Sony just around the corner (and in some cases, for less money). Sure, Atari is going after a different target audience with its system (retro versus modern gamers), but really, how much do we actually know about the VCS and what it'll be capable of, how developers will support it, etc.?

Masthead credit: RCL