Although the grpahics might not be the best and its a little old, that doesn't mean you shouldn't play with it. I love this game console and everything about it such as the wood grain, the terrible graphics the hard to use joysticks, thats what the experience is. Graphics Quality You can't hate on the graphics too much its 30 years old. And they don't take away from the game play once you get used to have very distinct pixels. Game Variety With games like pong, super breakout, the red baron, space defender, the games make it amazing. This is why the system is so good, so if you're going to buy this system definitely invest in lots of games. Controller Comfort Definitly a product of the time this thing hurts your hands with extended play, this is because the joystick is hard to move around. But that doesn't degrade the console much for me. Ease of Use Didnt know how to use it at first, its pretty self explanatory, I experimented with it for few minutes and instantly got how it works, very easy to use. Durability Any console that lasts thirty years has to be made somewhat durable, I mean it still works great even with it sitting in a box for 20 years. But it is old, so be careful when you're buying one.

Gillanator

USA

Well the atati system is an old video game console which my grandma use to play....not really but you get the idea!! It's out of fashion & it doesnt really have good or many games.  Although it is like treasure to others... ;)

erboz

Los Angeles, CA

Atari 2600 Video game system, before Nintendo NES you could bring Arcade games home. In 1970's early 80's Video game system you could play at home smaller than going to big box arcades, games are tamer than todays games, it looks like a cartoon compaired to todays games. But it played pretty good for it's time, very simple games like pong hit a ball using a Line as a paddle back and forth.  Pacman brought some excitement, gobble up as many small lines, dots, as you can getting fruits as bonus points durring play, meantime trying to avoid getting caught by ghost chaseing you through the maze. Mostly, it began a video game revolution, as time marched on games got better, in game play game concept, eventually, it couldn't keep up to higher quality of it's competors mostly Nintendo NES, Sega master system, turbo graphic 16 games got better, faster more complicated. But even if it did fade into the distance, it's still got a popular reputation, it's retro gaming, also former kids currently adults are still interested in games also they pass on their interest to their kids possible creating a revival of vintage game play.

mark22g

New York, NY

So first of all, I do have an XBOX 360 which I do love. Some games however are killer using all8 buttons PLUS 2 thumb joysticks with pushing them and the direction pad. That's a lot of buttons. I do still have my tried and true. I have my old Atari 2600. This has 1 button and 1 joystick on the same paddle. Now, the games aren't going to have the graphics that the next gen consoles have, but many of the games are far superior. If they weren't, then why would the next gen consoles be offering these games on THEIR systems as well. The games are both easy to learn, and hard to master. A lot of new games are either hard from the start or way to easy to beat. These games, mostly, don't even have and end. I know I've played Asteroird until I turned to score over. Also on some of these old games, there is no pause so you HAVE to be commited to the game. You will probably have to find these used but after you get it, you'll never go back!

jacobhuffesq

Allentown, PA

Ah, the good old 1970's! Although I was just a baby back then, I still heard tons of cool stories of plenty of drugs, free love, and the birth of one of the infamous video game machines of all time the **Atari 2600**. Going way back to September 1977 a creative business man named Nolan Bushnell was still president of the growing video game company Atari. After the success of their Pong unit they made their first home console with interchangeable cartridges simply called the Atari Video Computer System (a.k.a. the Atari 2600). See why this system and its team of mostly pot smoking programmers will go down in history. Sure, the Atari 2600 VCS was a huge hit but it definitely had a rocky start. When this system came out in 1977 with its fancy wood grain art it also came released with 9 other games like the totally boring **Star Ship** and very limited **Indy 500**. The machine was considered a flop and Bushnell was forced out of the company he originally started. A much stricter businessman Ray Kassar became the new head of Atari and he helped the 2600 become one of the hottest selling items in the 1980's thanks to the success of home versions of popular arcade titles like **Space Invaders, Missile Command**, and **Asteroids**. Atari sold well over 10 million 2600's and it was just cool to have one back then. Kassar was far from perfect though and he upset a lot of the company's top programmers by not giving them any credit for their hard work.Another problem with the system was that it was getting too old by the 1980's. The system is actually an 8-bit machine and not a 4-bit system like some people would assume, but the system's power is still very limited in comparison to other machines like the rival *Colecovision* and *Intellivision* thanks to the weak cartridge Ram space, and poor sprite detail. Add to the fact Atari had to two huge colossal bombs with the abysmal **E.T.** and poor translation of the legendary **Pac Man**. By 1984 Atari completely imploded and crashed the entire industry.Yeah, the Atari 2600 is great for reliving the past and you can't overlook all those classic arcade games either, but with all the recent updates by Namco and Midway and their legendary classics being re-released for other gaming systems like the Playstation and such, there is no reason set this up again. Also remember that the **Atari 7800** will play almost every 2600 cartridge out there too so you don't even need this dust magnet anymore. Sure reliving the open sex, smoky rooms and simple games from the 70's sounds cool but sometimes it's best not to look back (OK, keep the open sex part).**Atari 2600 overall rating: 42/100**-StarSoldier 2008(Ryan Genno)

StarSoldier1

Lake In The Hills, IL