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Don't forget that you can 'try before you buy' with emulators. That way you can make sure you like it, then show your support (and love of playing on a real VCS) by buying a cart. ps - are you a XTC fan?

Excellent list, though incomplete. I can think of 5 off the top of my head: Dodge'Em, game 3. Player 1 is the car, Player 2 is the "crash car" simultaneously (with the 2 roles reversing after each life) Oink!, game 3. Player 1 is the pig, Player 2 is the wolf simultaneously (with the 2 roles reversing after each life) Summer Games and Winter Games have events (swimming and speedskating are 2 of them) with some events that feature 2 player simultaneous gameplay. Demons to Diamonds has 2 player simultaneous paddle gameplay. Any other omissions?

It's cheaper to just buy a new Flashback 2

Congratulations!

Sounds like you should get that original heavy sixer out and set it up for your family. I assure you that the kids will really enjoy it, and then Atari = family time.

I'm different than most here because I really like 2 player simultaneous action, and one of the best ways to get that is through sports games. Yes, I admit it, I am an AtariAge member who likes sports games (I'm kidding - I know I'm one of many). However, to make a sports game successful, they should be packing in two controllers! Think of all the 2 player goodness that made Combat much better than it deserved to be on the VCS...

I never eat while playing Atari -- never did when I was a kid either. Playing Atari is reward enough - who needs the additional oral stimulation? More importantly, who needs the greasy joysticks?

Also don't forget that it drastically increases the games the system is able to play, which is very useful for marketing purposes and to keep sales strong until a greater number of native games are available. The same strategy worked wonders for the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, and PlayStation 2, and should help the Wii, Playstation 3, and the Xbox 360. Tangent: Microsoft would not be one of the most valuable companies in the world if it stopped offering operating system software which (basically) can still run everything that ran on the original 1981 IBM PC (the very machine, IMHO, which succeeded BECAUSE of the Atari making people familiar with computer-type electronics, and, because of its own success, helped cause the video game crash of 1983)

That's Madden '06, not '07. For '07, EA killed the Palm platform and moved to supporting Java cellphones. By the way, I own Madden '07 for the PSP and it most certainly does NOT blow. In fact it rocks. Anyone up for some online play?

Best isn't always funniest! That being said, you can't beat the old school 2 player simultaneous goodness of Sky Diver. And if you don't pull your chute in time, the splat noise and legs waving in the air is very funny (sounds morose, but it's true!)

I was just thinking that this machine can play one kick-a$$ game of Missle Command...

Homestar Runner RPG

Really. Click if you don't believe me. Snippet:

Wow, no mention of Food Fight yet. Great gameplay, and extra special because it hasn't been ported on any other Atari platform.

BTW, Component video can carry high definition just as well as HDMI, except for really long runs. Component cables are generally cheaper, but the prices of HDMI cables are coming down fast. Is the Wii at least capable of 480p, like the Gamecube with the special cables?

Congrats. I have a 1.5 too and it's quite nice to have. Now go load devhook and you can run 2.71 on your 1.5 PSP whenever you want to run a new game or use the browser.

Thanks for the updates, vb_master. Stream of consciousness post - follow if you want to! I personally would not have bought a PSP if I could *not* have played emulators and homebrew on it. Seriously, they would have lost my sale. I have already bought 2 UMD games (Sneak preview of an upcoming review: Madden 07 for PSP is awesome). And I own tons of ROMs through old system carts and classic gaming collections. Devhook is a really impressive multbootloader program. I will buy many more UMD games in the future, including classic gaming collections such as Activision's, so Sony's relationship with me will be quite profitable. And I own lots and lots of ROM's through various collections. I hope that as the cost of manufacturing PSP's comes down to the point that they are profitable for Sony, they will feel more comfortable with (1) opening up access for unsigned code to be run, or (2) making the ability to have code signed opened up for everyone.

If there is truly wi-fi multiplayer of Activision 2600 games, I'm there. I would love to play 2600 games with other AtariAge members on my PSP!

Great job on the GUI. My idea is that you can make an Adventure-type game, with the hero (the square cursor of course) wandering around the GUI looking for bugs. Literally, crawling insects. If you can capture 3 bugs and bring them back to the home screen and put them into the "trash" bin in the GUI, you win!

Tip: be on the lookout for old "value" packs (the ones with the 32mb memory stick, case, and headphones), especially if they start discounting them when the entertainment pack comes out. I just bought an old "value" pack this week and got one with 1.52 firmware...

Speaking of which, is there a setting (I haven't found it yet) to have Stella for the PSP not squash the graphics into 16:9?

that is also nice to know... thanks again With the latest devhook (0.44 and above) any UMD 2.71 and lower (which is ALL fully released non-demo games at the moment) can be played on 1.5 firmware.

I finally bit the bullet and bought a PSP yesterday (a big deal - my previous consoles were a VCS, 7800, GBA, GBA SP and GBA Micro - that's it). My strategy was to figure out how to buy one with an old firmware, and I did it. I figured that the value packs, since they are not much of a value (though the soft case is nice), would be sitting around on shelves longer. I figured that purchasing from a store not known for selling lots of PSP's, yet a store likely to have old inventory, would help. Yep, I bought a PSP Value Pack from Sears yesterday, and it was firmware 1.52 out of the box

What will the rules be regarding emulators (PC or handheld) for the NES High Score Club?

Let's get to the important stuff: Can you post to AtariAge from it?