Retro Week: Odin 3 Portal Preorders Open at $399, and Atari Will Close the VCS Store in February

Here’s our pick of the retro news from October 19 to 25, built on RetroSensei’s weekly roundup and checked against official sources where we could.

Atari will close the VCS store, not the console

This one’s easy to get wrong. Atari isn’t shutting down the VCS console itself. It’s closing the Atari VCS software store.

Atari’s own VCS page, in an update dated October 21, 2026, says it has stopped onboarding new games and will shut the store “early next year.” It adds: “After the store shuts down, owners will continue to be able to play the games they have purchased and downloaded to their VCS.”

The fuller notice from the Atari VCS Team, posted on Atari’s Discord and reported by VGC, sets the store closure for February 1, 2027, with purchases allowed through January 31. Atari’s web page says purchases are possible “through February 1, 2027,” so the two wordings differ by a day. To be safe, buy anything you want by January 31.

After the store closes, Atari plans an OS update that moves everything to your local machine and removes the need for Atari’s servers for sign-in and software. It also plans to release an Atari Home Brew app so people can keep adding games. Then it will end support for the platform. Both are plans for now, and Atari says migration instructions will come early in 2027.

AYN Odin 3 Portal: prices and preorders

RetroSensei reports that preorders opened on October 22 in the US for the Android-based Odin 3 Portal. It has a Qualcomm Dragonwing Q8 chip, a 7-inch 120Hz AMOLED screen and a 9,000mAh battery. Reported prices:

• 12GB/128GB for $399
• 12GB/256GB for $479
• 16GB/512GB for $549
• 16GB/1TB for $669

Shipping is estimated for early November. We haven’t checked these prices against AYN’s own store, so confirm there before you order.

Also this week, per RetroSensei

• Nintendo Switch Online adds Mole Mania, Avenging Spirit and Pinball: Revenge of the ’Gator for Game Boy on October 27.
• RPCS3 says about 80% of the PS3 games in its compatibility database are now rated Playable.
• Retroid published mainline Linux kernel work for the Pocket 6, Pocket Nova and Pocket Duo. It’s meant for developers, not a ready-made OS.
• Anbernic RG DS Linux V1.1 updates the DS emulator, adds a Vulkan option for PSP and lets you turn off the unused screen.
• The Video Game History Foundation released more than 300 photos of Japan’s gaming scene from around the turn of the millennium.

Sources: Atari VCS page, VGC (Atari Discord notice). Roundup: RetroSensei.