I always wanted to start a blog and what better place to start one than on my favorite website. So here we go.....Well, as a few of you know, I am a big fan of the Atari 5200 Supersystem, or as it was originally known as, the Advanced Video Entertainment System. Don't believe me? Look at the 5200 boxes. I guess I'll start off with some history. My first experience with video games was when I went to someone's house that had a 2600. A couple of kids were playing a game called Asteroids. After being asked to play, I stumbled through a few games. But before I know it, I was hooked. That Christmas, 1982 I believe, I asked for a 2600 and of course Asteroids to start off my collection. All I had was a black and white TV but boy did I play for hours. I introduced my friend to my new 2600 and soon after he bought one too. After getting a bunch of games during the year, I came across an ad for AtariAge magazine. I filled out the form and sent it in. A few weeks later I received my first issue. Wow. Games galore! Plus news about upcoming games including arcade games that we were playing at our local arcades. Some of you locals might remember some of them, like the Fun Factory, Gompers, etc. The neatest thing was news about a new super video game system called the 5200. It sounded fantastic and we had to have it.We kept checking our local Child World toy store for the new system. Then finally, late fall of 1983, it arrived. It was beautiful. My friend got it first since I had to wait to play mine on Christmas morning. The games were amazing. Missile Command, Galaxian, Pac-man, Space Invaders. We bought them all. Soon more came like Centipede, Soccer, Football, Star Raiders and Defender. As soon as one came out, we bought it. We kept reading the latest issue of AtariAge to find out what new games were coming down the pike. Plus Activision, Sega, and Parker Bros. started producing games for the 5200 which we gladly snatched up from our local toy store. I can remember when the trackball came out. It made Centipede and Missile Command even better than before. Then the VCS adapter finally came out and I brought my system to my local Atari Service Center to be moded for the new adapter. I eventually got a Colecovision and then a NES a couple of years later. After that I just grew tired of video games for a while. When I began to get back into video games, it was my 5200 that I wanted to play. The other systems were fun but for some reason the 5200 attracted me the most. To this day I'm not sure really why. A good selection of great and unique games, a cool looking design, cool looking controllers which, in spite of there flaws, have always been on of the easiest controllers for me to use. Other reasons might be the colors of the packaging, the similarity to the 8-bit computers, etc. I think it's just a combination of things. Of course as a young teenager, one of my dreams was to write games for the 5200. I had a bunch of ideas but they never happened. Today things are a little easier when it comes to writing games for classic systems. So hopefully soon I can began to realize one of my old dreams. I am in general a very creative person so I tend to dream a lot about things I'd like to create or see created. The 5200 is no exception. The games that have been written for the 5200 in that last few years have been really great and I hope to see more appear soon. I especially would like to see more new authors finally realize their ideas and write the next Castle Crises.As far as my blog goes, I hope to occasionally write about my favorite system and where it's going in the future. I have many ideas floating around upstairs. I'm sure some will never come to fruition but I hope some will. Some of the ideas I'd like to write about are:1. New games2. New hardware such as new controllers, new memory-expanded cartridges, expansion port devices, etc.3. Reviews4. Writing manuals for prototypes and more.....Allan