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Personally, I'd recommend this very section of this very forum! Seriously. Lots of links to articles and discussions. Read it and learn. As for US magazine. the current issue, where: sounds like it's a pretty good summary of the "modern scene" (to use your words)

You haven't been reading the forums much, scratch a little and you'll find at least two... (hint, search for Kepone, then search for Xot)

That's true, but I also wanted to be able to vote "Yes, I got my 2600 back in the day", because I did, and it will always and forever be my favorite game system - I view my old Odyssey Magnavox 300 as an interesting historical footnote from before "back in the day" applied to the VCS.

I had a Magnavox Odyssey 300 before I had an Atari 2600 -- I'm not sure how I should vote.

That a current gen system so yeah you have 1 current system. 883732[/snapback] Yeah, but the poll said "console", and usually people don't count handhelds as consoles (even though I think handhelds are consoles, personally).

I still don't own any current gen consoles (or any other console than my 2600 and 7800), unless you count my GBA. Once in a while I have a desire to get a GameCube with a Game Boy Player - a lower price or pack-in would help. It also helps drive down the price of the used ones with the digital out, which I would prefer over the new ones without digital out. Of course, if I wait to get one until Revolution comes out, I'd get an even better deal - but then it wouldn't be a current gen console.

Targeted and tasteful ads (there seems to be enough traffic here for Google targeted ads to pay off well) are OK with me, as is a Paypal donation button. It would also be OK with me to restrict access to the off topic and P&R forums (the ones you have to be registered to see) and restrict the ability to create blogs only to people who have made a $25 purchase at the AtariAge store or have made a $10 Paypal donation. There could also be a "financial aid" mechanism where someone could PM Albert if they are going through financial hard times and can be granted access for free (without anyone else knowing) if they can't afford to do so. All the other forums that are directly Atari/gaming related should always be free though, IMHO.

**sobbing at the thought of someone taking my Cuttle Cart 2 away from me for a year or two** If you are treating this lovingly crafted piece of hardware as an investment, and you have no High Score Club scores to save, you probably should. Since it's trickle draining to preserve the RAM's contents, though, I otherwise wouldn't worry about it, just like you don't worry about the battery on your PC/Mac motherboard that keeps the time for the PC's clock going. (someone correct me if I'm wrong)

The game designers KNEW you would be using a television set, and a joystick designed for the system, and designed accordingly -- the concept of emulation was not even a glimmer in their minds. Yeah, it does feel better in most cases to be playing on the original hardware, and it's not just in your head.

Great story. It would be nice of you to save some of the good 5200 joysticks, and stop by there every few months to replace one if it goes bad -- we all know how notoriously flaky those 5200 joysticks are. It would be a shame if they stopped playing because the joysticks went bad!

H.E.R.O.

Does Missle Command count? Every game ends with the complete destruction of the peaceful (truly void of crime or violence) planet Zardon...

Here is my slogan for 8bitclassics: Pixel Perfect Entertainment

I am hoping the Flashback 2's joysticks are good enough to use as replacements for my broken down old CX-40's...

Almost exactly the same for me. Except I wasn't lucky enough to have a 5200 . And the 2600 never got put into storage under my bed.

What's wrong with the occasional, non-abused bump? We think vintage video games are great -- well, some of these vintage threads are great when they are revisited, too. And sometimes it's kind of fun seeing people react to them as if they are new. Yeah, sometimes it's annoying when a newbie comes in and bumps up 12 old threads at once, but that usually passes pretty quickly.

Well, they can always bring the "Prepare to Qualify" lady from Pole Position out of retirement! For a male voice, they can hire Paul Slocum to bring the Berzerk VE voice to life in Halo 3. Intruder Alert, Intruder Alert!

Don't you hate when good questions need a bump? Maybe the problem can be attacked from a hardware angle as a quick and easy kludge - somehow wire things so that the 1 player/2 player buttons also function as page up/page down, which would let you quickly scroll through the list, then use the joystick to pick the precise game. An even easier, though much less elegant, solution would be to buy a RF controlled wireless keyboard (or combo keyboard/mouse), and tuck it away somewhere. Pull it out for quick and easy game selection, or hide it for when you don't need it. You could even cut a keyboard storage slot into the cabinet, or put a hook for it on the back of the cabinet. I agree that your idea for a predictive text entry option (a la Quicken or Microsoft Money) would be a really cool solution for a joystick only input. And it would be cool to create a high score database in MAME, and use that same predictive text method for entering your name into it!

Maxis killed a-train before EA could get to it IIRC. I was one of the few who actually bought it for the IBM PC.

So Ping-Pong isn't a sport

Is there a game you just finished? Feeling proud of yourself? Post it in this thread... I'll start it out: I just finished The Sims: Bustin' Out for the GBA. Highly recommended and great fun. It's really a role-playing game dressed up as The Sims.

To me, the big news here is that there will continue to be GBA games coming out that push the limitations of this now-"obsolete" system. I find it highly satisfying to play, and appreciate the programming of "limitation pushing" games, and you can be sure they'll be reasonably priced, since they'll have to sell for less than comparable DS games. With this latest "micro" model, the GBA, which has been more successful in terms of units sold than even the PlayStation 2 (according to Nintendo), becomes the first true heir to the Atari 2600 in my opinion. GBA carts have been sold in the USA since June, 2001, which makes it 4 years and counting. The GBA Micro being available AFTER the DS is just like the Atari 2600 Junior being available AFTER the 5200/7800. It means that there are people out there who prefer better gameplay and low price to cutting edge stuff, and it means that new GBA games will be coming out that can really push the system to its limitations. Think about it - developers will still be coming out with GBA games early next year, which means there will be programmers out there with 5 years' experience. I'm hoping for the GBA equivalent of Atari red label games over the next year or two. I hope the GBA Micro makes the SP price come down - I think the SP is beautifully designed (especially in black), and the SP would be an incredible value at $50 or less. Even though CPUWIZ said the Micro is too small, I'm still interested in trying it out to see whether a smaller backlit screen is preferable to a larger frontlit screen.

Here's an interesting Seattle Times story on how the XBOX 360 was designed That's actually the least interesting part of the article - click the link above to read the whole thing.

Good point -- an SP with an updated backlit screen (similar to what they put into the DS), somewhere around $70 with a good pack-in game, would probably sell well and would be a tempting upgrade for me... 806799[/snapback] Yes! Looks like the Game Boy Micro is almost exactly what I predicted! If the price is right I will buy one -- small size is a huge deal for me in a handheld.

Great news, IMHO. I think the Game Boy is the Atari 2600 of today. Great to see that new games will continue to be made in Game Boy cartridge form! link