atari 2600

Culture

Extremely Rare Atari Cartridge Sells For $US5000

2:00PM Owen Good | A sealed-in-the-box copy of “The Music Machine” — rated “Unbelievably Rare” by Atari Age — just went for $US5250 on eBay. The game, sold only in religious book stores, is prized by collectors. More »
News

Toys R Us Launches Game Trade-Ins Nationwide

12:20AM Mike Fahey | The trade-in program Toys R Us was testing back in March seems to have tested well, as the retailer launches said program nationwide today, accepting used games from the Atari 2600 on up. More »
Culture

Old Atari Cart Remade Into Wallet

4:30AM Owen Good | It is $US55, however, the maker of this fine conversation piece says all of an Atari 2600 cartridge’s parts, except for one screw, are repurposed to help make it into a wallet. More »
Culture

Kids Make Old Games Look Good On New TVs

9:30PM Luke Plunkett | Earlier this week, we saw the ugly side of modern emulation. So, in the interests of fairness, today let’s look at some people hoping to set things right. More »
Culture

Kotaku’s Old-School Easter Egg Hunt

2:30AM Owen Good | It’s become something of a tradition ’round the Tower to observe Easter with, what else, lists of Easter eggs. So here is my dirty half-dozen, from well before the 8-bit days.
Culture

With This Atari, I Thee Wed

9:30PM Luke Plunkett | I’m getting married later this year. Need a wedding ring. Funny, then, that at this precise time in history, I come upon this gold ring, made out of the heart of an Atari. More »
Culture

How a Lightweight Console Lay the Foundations of Game Design

2:00AM Owen Good | A book by two professors of media studies examines the challenges of designing games on the Atari 2600, and posits that the infamous port of Pac-Man wasn’t a half-assed effort after all. More »
Culture

Fake Atari Games 2.0

4:00AM Owen Good | Fake ports of modern games? Yeah, it’s been done before. Same with cart labels. But someone stuck them on actual carts, which will be hilarious once the next yard sale rolls around.

Madden’s First Video Game — It Wasn’t Football

9:00AM Owen Good | Tucked in a gallery of vintage video game ads is that at left — John Madden lending his cred as “sportscaster for CBS Video Games” to Atari 2600 versions of GORF and Wizard of Wor. More »