Tag Archives: atari 2600
Pitfall! Atari Cartridge Throw Blanket Won’t Protect You from Crocodiles or Scorpions
Man, I loved Atari when I was a kid. I got all wrapped up in those games. And guess what? Now I can wrap myself up in Pitfall! for real and feel its cozy embrace. This Pitfall! Atari throw blanket is soft and comfy, but more importantly, looks just like the cartridge from the classic Activision game.
It looks like the game box too. So now you will know what that cartridge felt like while sitting on the store shelf. It felt warm and toasty. No swinging from vines and jumping on crocodile heads and leaping over quicksand for me. I prefer a good nap. Preferably an Atari themed one, where I can dream about all of those old games and star in my own adventure as Pitfall Harry – just like Jack Black. No scorpions inside, so no worries. No treasure either though, which sucks.
This blanket measures 60” tall x 48” wide, and while the game may have lasted only 20 minutes, you can use this blanket for as long as you want. It will help you avoid some of life’s pitfalls because it’s a jungle out there. Activision made some great games for the Atari 2600. Remember Kaboom and Stampede? How about Grand Prix? Yep, this brings back those old Atari memories.
Finished Atari VCS design pays homage to its 2600 roots
Now that the Atari VCS team has once again delayed its retro console to give it more powerful innards, it's ready to show what that redesign looks like. The developers have unveiled what they say is the "production-ready" system design, and it pays...
Atari 2600 Returns as Handheld Console and New Plug-and-play Joystick
If you want to relive some of that ’80s gaming glory you had on the Atari, there’s are a couple of new ways to enjoy that, courtesy of PQube. For starters, the Atari Retro Handheld system features a 2.4″ LCD screen, looks inspired by the classic console, and comes packed with 50 games inside.
When you want to play on a bigger screen it has a TV output as well. For those times you’d rather play with the traditional control, the Atari Retro Plug and Play Joystick looks and feels just like the old joystick from the console days. It has an integrated TV output as well.
The launch for both systems will be October 19 with Funstockretro.co.uk offering the handheld for £34.99 (~$45 USD) and the joystick for £24.99 (~$32 USD). Pre-orders get a limited-edition Atari Centipede collectible coin with their purchase.
Each system comes pre-loaded with the following classic (and not so classic) games from the Atari 2600:
- 3D Tic-Tac-Toe (31 in 1)
- Adventure
- Air-Sea Battle
- Asteroids
- Black Jack
- Bowling
- Breakout
- Canyon Bomber
- Casino
- Centipede
- Circus Atari
- Crystal Castles
- Demons to Diamonds
- Desert Falcon
- Dodge ’em
- Double Dunk
- Fun With Numbers
- Golf
- Gravitar
- Haunted House
- Home Run
- Human Cannonball
- Maze Craze
- Millipede
- Miniature Golf
- Missile Command
- Night Driver
- Off the Wall
- Pong – Video Olympics
- Quadrun
- Radar Lock
- Realsports Football
- Realsports Tennis
- Realsports Volleyball
- Sprintmaster
- Steeplechase
- Stellar Track
- Street Racer
- Submarine Commander
- Super Baseball
- Super Breakout
- Super Football
- Swordquest: Earthworld
- Swordquest: Fireworld
- Swordquest: Waterworld
- Tempest
- Video Checkers
- Video Chess
- Video Pinball
- Yar’s Revenge
Atari 2600 + Hoodie = Woodie
Some of us are old enough to remember playing the Atari 2600 when it first arrived on the scene, but even younger gamers have to appreciate the console’s sweet 1970’s wood paneling design. Now you can wear that design on a kickass hoodie.
The Atari 2600 hoodie is the latest in a line of console-based apparel from Merchoid. It joins the NES hoodie, SNES hoodie, and PlayStation hoodie. Call me a gaming nerd, but I just love how they captured the essence of the console on this hoodie. It’s just perfect. I guess this would make you the cartridge. I bet the Atari 5200 would make for a stunning looking hoodie as well.
I need this amazing hoodie in my life and so do you. The good news is that you can pre-order it from Merchoid for $59.99 with free shipping starting this May. Pre-order quantities are limited, so don’t miss your chance to actually wear an Atari 2600. This is great timing too because the highly anticipated Ataribox game console will make its debut at GDC and Atari Flashback Classics is coming to the Nintendo Switch. It looks like Atari is cool again and this makes me happy.
[via Comicbook]
Microsoft Maluuba AI Dominates Atari 2600 Ms. Pac-Man
I had an Atari 2600 back in the day, and one of the game I played a whole a lot of was Ms. Pac-Man. I sucked at it. I got devoured by ghosts constantly, and never racked up much of a high score. Microsoft’s Maluuba AI on the other hand is a dominating Ms. Pac-Man player.
Maluuba taught its AI how to play the Atari VCS version of the game using multiple reinforcement learning algorithms, and the system was able to get the highest score possible in the game of 999,990. I have no idea why that is the highest score possible in the game. You’d think you could keep going if you wanted to.
Ms. Pac-Man is much harder to play than original Pac-Man, and is apparently not as predictable as the original game, making paths to victory more complex. Watch the video for more details, this is one serious arcade gaming AI.
[via Hot Hardware]
Ben Heck’s Portable Atari 2600: Hand Soldered Handheld
Back in February, The Ben Heck Show had a special episode where Ben took out the Atari 2600’s CPU, RAM I/O and video driver and hand soldered them to a compact circuit board. Now he’s put together that miniaturized system to make a portable 2600.
Ben designed and printed a case for the portable. He also laser cut plates to hold the buttons and the d-pad. You can check out the finished product at 16:40 in the video below.
I love how he spent an hour rewiring the cartridge connector because he wanted the cartridge’s top label to face the player. What a pro.
Atari Flashback 2 Stuffed Inside Atari 2600 Cart: Pocket Atari
We’re big fans of Sharon aka lovablechevy’s portable console mods, so we were very happy when she pointed us to her latest creation. She crammed the Atari Flashback 2 – an Atari 2600 variant with 42 games built-in – inside a 2600 cartridge.
Sharon said she’s had this case mod in her sights for the past 8 or 9 years. One of her friends failed to do this same transplant and told her that it’s impossible. So I guess this is a special project for her as well.
It has a 2.5″ screen, buttons from a Wii controller that she placed on a SuperJoy III controller board and a 700mAh battery that should last around 4h per charge.
The coolest thing about the Pocket Atari is that it looks just like a normal cartridge from the front and the top, though obviously the stickers give it away.
Sharon also modded an Atari Paddle controller so she could hook it up to the Pocket Atari via mini-USB. Check out the tiny Atari in action:
Imagine, someday someone’s going to cram the 3DSXL into its cartridge. Or not. Head to Sharon’s BitFix thread, YouTube channel and Facebook page for more on how she made the Pocket Atari.
Make Your Desk Glow with a Mighty Marquee Desk Light
Lamps that shed white light onto your office aren’t good for expressing how much of a geek you really are. The Mighty Marquee Desk Light by Dumpsty, on the other hand, can give your workmates a pretty good idea about the things you like.
At 9″W x 3″H x 2″L, the Mighty Marquee Desk Light is big enough to provide you plenty of light exactly when you need it. After all, it relies on 15 LEDs to illuminate the area. Since LEDs can help you save a lot of energy, you won’t even have to worry about the bill. Furthermore, this particular light box doesn’t connect straight to a power outlet. Instead, it relies on a microUSB cable to supply power either from a power bank, laptop, desktop computer, or charger. Overall, it’s an extremely portable device that proves to be very convenient, as you can use it anytime, anywhere.
Probably the best part about this light box is that it comes with three graphic rectangles designed to remind you either of one of the most famous movie franchises in the world, or some of most popular console and arcade games from the ’80s. It should be noted that these rectangles are only applied to one side of the light box, so it’s probably best to place it with its back to a wall. The rectangles are attached using magnets, and can be replaced anytime you want. Since it’s LEDs we’re talking about, any heat emitted by the light box is negligible.
The first rectangle, pictured below, is a reference to the Atari 2600 Star Wars game from 1983, the very definition of a psychedelic trip. Some game, huh? With TIE fighters in one corner and an X-Wing in the other, you have something to represent each side of the Force.
Next, there’s a Donkey Kong graphic that has the mighty gorilla and Princess Peach on one side and Mario trying to evade barrels in the other side, with a noticeable Nintendo badge slapped in-between.
Not at last, there’s a Centipede rectangle that’s supposed to remind people of yet another Atari arcade game. However, this might be too obscure of a reference for all people to get, so it depends on how geeky your coworkers are.
Included in the package are the Marquee Light Box, a microUSB power cable, as well as the Donkey Kong, Star Wars and Centipede graphics. That’s everything you need to turn your desk into a shrine for geeks.
Within the next 8 hours you can gen the Mighty Marquee Desk Light from Walyou Deals for $49.99, a 43% discount from the original price of $89. After these 8 hours pass, you’ll only be able to buy it at the full retail price from somewhere else, so take advantage of this unique chance while you still can. Your desk certainly deserves a lamp to put it in a geeky light!
Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about the expert photography bundle that’s featured on Walyou Deals, or the NES30 Pro Bluetooth game controller.
Harmony: One Atari 2600 Cartridge to Rule Them All
I love the art on old Atari 2600 cartridges and their boxes. However, if you want to play and collect all of the vintage console’s games, but don’t want to have to devote an entire room in your house to their storage, there is a solution.
These days, it’s easy enough to collect a ton of vintage games thanks to emulators. You can have thousands of games on your hard drive instead of storing physical copies of cartridges or discs, which take up a lot of physical space. But what if you still want to use of the actual console while playing these old games?
That’s where the Harmony Cartridge comes into play. It is essentially an memory card adapter for the Atari 2600 that lets you play every game in your library using just one cartridge. So now you can use the console and play all of the games with no mess. Simply download all the old ROMs, load them onto a memory card and plug the cartridge into your old Atari 2600.
The Harmony Cartridge is available in both microSD and SD card versions at AtariAge, and sells for $60 to $80(USD). The Standard and Deluxe versions support 98% of games, but there are a couple of titles and newer homebrew games that require more memory. For 100% compatibility, the $85 Harmony Encore is the one you should buy.
[via Boing Boing via Neatorama]