Atari Announces an Official Portable 2600 System

Bill Kendrick writes: "Infogrames (the folks who now own Atari) have just struck a deal with another company to produce a 10-in-1 video game system based on the Atari 2600. It'll be joystick-shaped, plug into a TV set, cost only $20, and include games like Combat, Asteroids, Missile Command, and my favorite, Adventure! It won't replace my Atari 2600 Jr and 60 cartridges, but it's a step in the right direction!"

Comments

Original?

[supercytro]

It's amazing how Atari are constantly heard to resurrect itself only to push out the same games again and again, only to surprise itself when it doesn't pay off profitably... even in this instance, cheap many-in-one tv classic games systems have been sold so it's not even first with this strategy...

Re:The point being?

[phunhippy]

I'm sorry, would someone please enlighten me a bit on this matter?
Who on earth wants to play atari 2600 games?

Think of it this way..
Playing atari games is kinda like bringing back good memories really cheaply.. hell if it comes with pit-fall i'd pay 20 bux to be able to plug into an rca jack anywhere and play.. it's fun..
Think if it this way..
Its the same thing as wanting or going back to an old gf(or bf i suppose.. dunno not, gay) ya know what your getting, when your getting, know where and how to hit all the right buttons and since you've played it alot before you can just shut it off when your done :)

Replayability?

[Perianwyr Stormcrow]

"Name one single atari 2600 game that actually has a decent plot, good replayability, long shelflife and non-repetitive gameplay."

Plot: Do you complain when your game of checkers doesn't have any love interests in it?

Replayability: the name of the game with these old Atari games. You never really beat them- you're mostly competing against yourself.

Shelflife: Witness the plethora of 2600 emulators out there. Geez.

Non-repetitive gameplay: See "plot", above. What are you looking for, final fantasy?

Old Atari games may not have beautiful, amazing graphics, but many of them are unbeatable in the arena of actual gameplay.

Portable?

[saqmaster]

It'd be cool if someone brought out a colour, handheld Atari system. It wouldn't cost much, I mean, compared to something like the NeoGeo handheld or gameboy.

Just imagine it, sitting on the train, and people start hearing the classic Asteroids noises coming from your handheld.

Within minutes everyone will want a go. Nostalgia at it's best!

Re:Portable?

[Sabalon]

That's what I thought right after I read the article. A small screen would suffice - we're not talking about losing quailty on the graphics :)

You could probably put a few megs of ROM in it and preload it with just about every Atari game out there.

The only problems I see are:
- getting permissions to package the ROM's
- you'd not want to do it the above way because once you sold one, there is no reason for someone to come back and buy more games from you. So that means some sort of media to swap games in and out, which means more cost.

Thinkgeek

[Ratface]

This is something that would *so* fit ThinkGeek's product line. I hope someone from there keeps an eye on the status of this product and gets them in stock when they are finally availabe.