Do you call it "Atari 2600" or "Atari VCS"

[Flojomojo]

AT-AT = Walker

AT-ST = Chicken walker

 

That's what we called them for years. It wasn't until the 90's that I started hearing "AT-AT" (pronounced either way, but at-at was way more common than a-tee-a-tee) or "AT-ST" regularly.

 

They call them walkers in the movies, and the novelizations (funny those have dried up since we have home video now) spell out but not pronounce AT-ATs, if I remember correctly.

 

I suppose our parents called Atari "that damn idiot box" and "your silly little games" and other endearments.

[+KaeruYojimbo]

 

They call them walkers in the movies, and the novelizations (funny those have dried up since we have home video now) spell out but not pronounce AT-ATs, if I remember correctly.

 

Yeah, seems like most of the Star Wars stuff didn't get named in the movies, only when the toys came out. And then we just kept calling things whatever names we'd come up with for them.

Edited June 13, 2018 by KaeruYojimbo

[BassGuitari]

 

"YouSa" sounds stupid

 

It sure does...

 

[spacecadet]

The PlayStation started as being the PSX the PS One was the mini version of the PSX. It is still PSX....guess I can understand why now people hate the new VCS

 

No, the PSX is the PSX: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PSX_(digital_video_recorder)

 

Sony sent out a press release and actually required all publications covering their systems to cease using the term PSX to refer to the PS1 at that point. And surprisingly, most average people seemed to follow suit. (Probably because it was just confusing at a certain point if you kept referring to the PS1 as PSX.)

[Osgeld]

 

No, the PSX is the PSX: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PSX_(digital_video_recorder)

 

Sony sent out a press release and actually required all publications covering their systems to cease using the term PSX to refer to the PS1 at that point. And surprisingly, most average people seemed to follow suit. (Probably because it was just confusing at a certain point if you kept referring to the PS1 as PSX.)

 

I dunno how I got started on the PSX thing, maybe cause saying PS made you sound rude maybe cause saying playstation was daft, but someone somewhere got PSX stuck in my brain and I referred to it that way until the ps2 came out cause I never understood where the X in PSX really came from

 

anyway atari CX2600(x) Video Computer System, was atari until much later in my life. If someone said Atari I assumed they meant the 2600 cause otherwise they would have specified 5200 7800 XEGS etc (kind of like how down here coke means any pop until you specify "what kind of coke")

Edited June 13, 2018 by Osgeld

[TheHoboInYourRoom]

I say VCS. I like the way it sounds, and for me, it's a bit easier to say than "twenty-six hundred".

[MrBeefy]

 

I dunno how I got started on the PSX thing, maybe cause saying PS made you sound rude maybe cause saying playstation was daft, but someone somewhere got PSX stuck in my brain and I referred to it that way until the ps2 came out cause I never understood where the X in PSX really came from

 

anyway atari CX2600(x) Video Computer System, was atari until much later in my life. If someone said Atari I assumed they meant the 2600 cause otherwise they would have specified 5200 7800 XEGS etc (kind of like how down here coke means any pop until you specify "what kind of coke")

I'm sure the X made it seem more eXtreme or whatever. I know from the beginning it was PSX. I was surprised to hear about something else they released to find it was Japan only.

 

While I was late on the Atari train I was right there for PSX era.

[MrBeefy]

 

It sure does...

 

When I was typing it that is how I was hearing it in my head.

[accousticguitar]

I call the 2600 console "Atari." I call the 7800 console "7800."

[+Spriggy]

Got the 'Vader' new when it was released down here in OZ. Always known it as 'The 2600'.

[Schizophretard]

What do you call it? I prefer the retro-sounding, lo-fi "VCS" name, but the shambling corpse wearing the skin of Atari has seen fit to make a crowdfunded mini-computer by the same name, so I might have to change to "2600."

 

What's your take, and why?

 

I call it based on which revision I'm referring to. The solution to the Atacobox and referring to all revisions can be found on the Atari 7800 ProSystem Video Computer System box:

 

 

It says Atari 2600 VCS on the box. That is a clear name that should cause less confusion.

[Flojomojo]

Ahh, the 7800 is a "video computer system" too!

[Video]

I always just called it atari. Numbers or vcs didn't enter the mix until the 5200 came out. Then when I didn't call it atari, I called it 2600.

[PlaysWithWolves]

2600, though we owned an original VCS. I agree with StormSurge: It was always just "Atari" when referring to the console.

Nutari could have come up with a better name for their new system, though.

[+Karl G]

Atari 2600. I'm surprised by the poll results, though, since I thought all the cool kids here called it the VCS.

[Vinnie D.]

It's just "The Atari" unless I need to be more specific, such as if talking about multiple Atari consoles, then it's the 2600.

[Bucket Brigadier]

When I was young, we just called ours an "Atari." We had a four-switch woodgrain model, so the whole "2600" thing wasn't printed anywhere on the console or the box (barring the sticker on the bottom with part number CX-2600A, but I didn't ever take notice of that at that age). Today I most commonly refer to the system in general as the "Atari VCS," unless I'm talking about specific revisions of the system like the 2600 jr or "Vader" 2600.

[R.Cade]

There is the "Atari" and the "Nintendo" which refers to the consoles. I've never (in conversation) heard them called the VCS, 2600 or the NES (either "ness" or Enn-Eee-Ess).

Edited June 15, 2018 by R.Cade

[+Black_Tiger]

It was always just "Atari" to me until the 2600 rebranding.

[reklen]

Its a snow waker, not an AT AT

Its a scout walker, not a chicken walker

its an Atari, not a Vader (When did that start?)

It's Captain Marvel, not Shazam (Shazam is the Wizard)

Its the wretch, not Frankenstein (Frankenstein is the Doctor)

and my favorite

 

It is just Star Wars, not a new hope, and certainly not chapter 4!

 

All these are forced retcons, or re-naming's have got to stop!

[reklen]

Sorry, Snow Walker, not Snow Waker,

 

Now I'm doing it!

[Shawn]

Its a snow waker, not an AT AT

Its a scout walker, not a chicken walker

its an Atari, not a Vader (When did that start?)

It's Captain Marvel, not Shazam (Shazam is the Wizard)

Its the wretch, not Frankenstein (Frankenstein is the Doctor)

and my favorite

 

It is just Star Wars, not a new hope, and certainly not chapter 4!

 

All these are forced retcons, or re-naming's have got to stop!

 

Called it an AT-AT since I was a kid. Never called it a snow walker.

Called it a Scout and Chicken Walker interchangeably. (EDIT: or AT-ST after I got the toy)

Called it Atari no matter the flavor, got more specific with 4 switch, 6 switch, vader or jr but never called it a VCS once in my whole life.

Called Captain Marvel by the name Shazam and he was a dude when I was a kid. Captain Marvel is the female version of that character in my world.

Called Frankenstein's Monster by the name Frankenstein when I was a kid cause I didn't know any better till I was a little older.

Called the first Star Wars movie Star Wars but it did have the added New Hope title by the time I saw it.

[Tangentg]

As someone born after its time, my first experiences with the Atari 2600 were first through a website called 2600online and a bit later, Classic Game Room and Angry Video Game Nerd. All 3 have almost if not entirely exclusively referred to it as the Atari 2600, so that's the name I refer to it as most naturally.

[coleco82]

The Atari 2600 junior was my first game system when I was a little kid.

 

My dad and mom called it the Atari.

 

I called it the Atari or sometimes the Atari 2600.

 

I was born in 82, so I never got to see the heavy sixer or the vader models.

 

On a side tangent I call my Nintendo, Nintendo, my super Nintendo I call super Nintendo because that is what is printed on the system.

 

I guess I am lazy because I will call the Nintendo 64 the 64, but I wont ever call it the ninty 64 geez....

[spacecadet]

I'm sure the X made it seem more eXtreme or whatever. I know from the beginning it was PSX. I was surprised to hear about something else they released to find it was Japan only.

 

It wasn't intended to be Japan-only, which is why Sony told all the media outlets in the US to stop calling the PS1 the PSX. And there was extensive coverage of the PSX here at the time, both because it was expected that it would eventually release here and also because it was a machine called the PSX and people thought that was interesting/funny considering that was what everybody had called the PS1 to that point. Here's just a little bit of the US coverage in the gaming press:

 

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/psx-makes-a-stir-in-japan/1100-6076490/

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/sony-revamping-psx-with-psp-connectivity/1100-6120537/

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/sony-pulling-the-plug-on-the-psx/1100-6119142/(note that even as they discontinued it, they were saying they were "still debating" a US release)

http://www.ign.com/articles/2003/11/06/sony-psx-on-display

http://www.ign.com/articles/2003/05/28/sony-europe-on-psx

http://www.ign.com/articles/2004/01/27/psx-sales-not-what-sony-hoped-for

 

So it was pretty well known to gamers at the time. And if you said something like "I was playing my PSX yesterday..." in a forum at that point, people were going to think you actually had imported a PSX. So given that the press started using "PS1" as well, so did most gamers.

 

Nowadays Sony also has a show called "PSX", but I'm pretty sure that's because they just like the way the letters go together. The "X" stands for "eXperience". I think that's what it was supposed to be on the original PSX as well.