The GTIA Report

Keepin’ it real fake, part XLVIII: Slim PS2 plays NES games? Sign us up! - Engadget:

Forget that Virtual Console hullabaloo over in Wii land, here’s a slim PS2 that comes prepped with a nice little collection of NES games right out of the box — zero Wii Points required! That’s right, the New Slim 2 does it up 14-in-1 style, with classics like Super Mario, Galaxian and Duck Hunt.

It appears that it’s just another NOAC in the shape of a PS2… Yawn.

MAKE: Blog: Teeny Tiny Commodore 64:

Here are a few pics of my own DTV Hummer project. I had an old PSOne LCD screen lying around and I thought I’d make a C64 laptop. Actually, it’s more like a C64 PDA! It measures 6.5 x 6 x 1.5 inches (15.5 x 16.5 x 4 cm) when closed.

Here’s hoping that the next Atari Flashback will be based on the Atari 8-bit computers so we can have easy access to a small Atari 8-bit computer. That way us mortals (as compared to Ben Heckendorn) have a chance at our own Atari 8-bit laptop.

From Joystiq

Just as school children must read Dickens, Hemingway and Salinger as part of a proper education, so too should a proper diet of game classics be required playing. During summer breaks and by force, if necessary.

Too many gamers today believe that video games started the PS2 and have no appreciation for the classics. And that’s really too bad, there are some very good games that came out in the past. One of the best 2d platformers I’ve ever played was Aladdin for the Sega Genesis. And older than that, one of the best “twitcher” games has got to be Kaboom!

TMNT Arcade confirmed for release on Xbox Live Arcade - UncleGamer News:

Ubisoft has now offered their official confirmation that the four player arcade title Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is coming to Xbox Live Arcade this month.

Yes, it may be old news, but it’s still important news!

PC World - A Brief History of Game Consoles, as Seen in Old TV Ads:

The first piece of tech gear that I could call my own wasn’t a computer; it was a game console–an original Sega Master System. I remember it, and the often-cheesy marketing that so appealed to my eight-year-old-self, as fondly as I do my first kiss (sorry Kathryn from fourth grade). So, inspired by our recent look at old computer ads and the launch of the Nintendo Wii and Sony PlayStation 3, I’ve compiled a list of classic console commercials spanning three decades.

I don’t think younger generation really appreciates what it was like to play video games for the first time. I remember the hours spent playing one of the pong knock offs. It was the strangest feeling to be able to control some dots on the TV screen.

The 1450XLD fake thread

Jeff Kinder’s Basement Arcade is a great example of what you can get when you have the determination to have the coolest room or basement every. I love the color and the lighting! It is really amazing.

Courtesy of the Vintage Computing and Gamine website comes The Most Disturbing Halloween Costume Ever: Atari’s Asteroids.

I hereby declare: let this monstrosity be spread about the world as the scariest, strangest, and most disturbing Halloween costume ever conceived by mankind.

I knew video games were big, but would a person actually wear that?

I can’t believe I didn’t hear about this sooner, the Arcade Ambience Project.

The arcade ambience project is an attempt of mine to simulate the audio ambience of a crowded arcade room during the golden age of arcades in the 1980s. This is a sound I think that has been lost over the years and does not exist in today’s pitiful arcades in my opinion. My main motivation for this project was to create some ambience in my basement arcade, having a somewhat authentic arcade background hum while I or my guests play on my MAME arcade cabinet. I thought that maybe others who have cabinets (or just miss real arcade nostalgia) could also benefit from my work.

I downloaded the three CDs, and they are pretty cool. I prefer to listen and try to name the games. Unfortunately, for the younger generation (readers that started on the SNES, I’m looking at you) will probably be totally lost on while these CDs are so cool.

This will be played the next time I have people over.

Atari, my favorite computer company of all time wasn’t the most well managed company. In fact, I’m shocked that they lasted as long as they did. From releasing a horrible version of Pacman (to save money, it had to fit on a smaller ROM cartridge) to manufacturing more ET cartridges then there were 2600 consoles, Atari blunders are legendary. After the video game crash, Nintendo came along and ate Atari’s lunch. Atari countered by releasing the XE Game System in 1988, which was basically 1977 technology in a new case.

They should’ve spent some engineering money and combined the 7800 Maria graphics chip with the AMY chip into the XE Game System. Then they would’ve had something that could compete.