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Atari

family trainer

Atari's Family Trainer Is Wii Fit Meets NES Power Pad Meets DDR

Atari isn't going to let Nintendo hog all the video game fitness money, as evidenced by the announcement of Family Trainer for the Wii. It's pretty similar to Wii Fit in that people stand on it and do activities, but it doesn't weigh you and actually has pads for you to jump or step on. No price yet, but is there enough room in your house for both this and the Wii Fit? How many more photoshoots of Japanese people jumping around their living rooms are we going to get in this console generation? [Reg Hardware]

gaming

Super Genintari 4-in-1 Console Jams Nintendo, SEGA, and Atari

Super Genintari is the latest mega-console mod by Richard DaLuz, a perfect cocktail of Atari 2600, Nintendo Entertainment System, Genesis and Super NES enclosed in a retro-'80s bronze acrylic case, "formed and shaped on a homemade stript heater." It connects to a TV using a single cable, running four games simultaneously, and probably cooks bread with the generated heat—like the video shows after the jump. We talked with Richard about his superconsole mod: More »

gaming

1981 Atari Handheld Breakout Game Prototype Up on eBay

Sure, you may have heard of Atari's less-than-stellar handheld offerings such as the Lynx and the Touch Me, but my guess is that you've never seen this, a prototype for a handheld breakout game that was never released. In fact, only two of these prototypes exist in the world. More »

supersized

Giant Atari Joystick is Just Enough Kill

Sometimes the only way to make something old new again is to increase its proportions to a gigantic scale. The mantra has worked for the fast food, automobile and twine industries for some time. So its introduction into the vintage console modding market was inevitable. Take this gigantic, functional Atari Joystick. In video, this oversized controller has both Oscar performance and Nobel Prize written all over it. Award cat fight! [boingboing]

pcs

Vintage Computer Festival 10.0 Features Old Computers, Older Nerds

The 10th Vintage Computer Festival took place this past weekend at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA, featuring, among other things, "the largest collection of Radio Shack Pocket Computers I've ever seen," says CNet's Peter Glaskowsky. Highlights in the gallery above include the 1-bit flat-panel Apple IIc—one of just 10,000 ever made—Mac-maker Jef Raskin's Canon Cat, the ConBrio 200R synthesizer built by Cal Tech students in 1980 and a sh'load of Atari PCs. Hungry for more? Check out CNet's nerdishly in-depth coverage. [CNet Speeds and Feeds; CNet's photo gallery]

mods

Ben Heck's Definitive Atari Mod Mega Timeline

Console modding extraordinaire Ben Heckendorn is up to it again; reminding us that, yes, he is still selling his sexy revision 5.1 Atari handhelds for $350 and a sacrificial 2600. The Atari Rev 5.1 really is his most complete system yet, including built-in paddle controller, difficulty switches and player 2 port for multiplayer games. And it's a mere one inches thick—no small feat when you realize there's an entire vintage console in your hands. All in all, the 5.1 really may be Ben Heckendorn's definitive Atari 2600 project.

So we thought it was about time we looked back on over 18 of Ben Heckendorn's fantastic Atari projects that got him to this point, so we've put together this awesome, spectacular, fantabulous timeline fit for any console modder's wet dream.

More »

gaming

Ben Heck Stuffs an NES and an Atari Into a Handheld

Ben Heck, everyone's favorite video-game modder, has gone and done it again. This time, he's gone and stuffed an Atari AND an NES into a handheld portable, and dubbed it the NEStari. As usual, he goes through plenty of detail showing how he did it, and as usual, it's way too complicated for 99% of us to attempt on our own. [Ben Heck]

dial 9 for space invaders

Atari "Punk" Console Stuffed in a Rotary Phone

Is no gadget sacred anymore? Here we have an old school Ericsson rotary telephone stripped of its innards which were subsequently replaced with a home-built Atari 'punk' console. Did we need a new way to present the Pong box? Hit the jump for the DIY schematic on the console itself. More »

we need quarters

Bally Pong Makes Gambling Even More Addictive

Atari's Pong is stealing our quarters once again, recently approved for use in a slot machine made by Bally: "Bally Pong." A cabinet decorated with chrome fixtures and retro fonts will be a pretty standard 5-line slot, though featuring two knobs for the 1-in-70 occurrence of a 45-second Pong minigame. And while earnings at this point are "skill based," will expert Pongers see a real payout advantage? More »

gaming

Atari Memorabilia to Go Under the Hammer in NYC Today

Sotheby's is holding a sale of Americana at its auction house in New York today. One of the lots on offer is described as "an extensive archive of original marketing materials from the 'Golden Age' of Atari." More »

throwback

DIY Atari Joystick TV Remote Mod

Alan over at HackedGadgets put together this nifty little mod that is a great addition to any retro gamer's home entertainment center. Unfortunately, this mod uses one of those all-in-one controller game console things rather than an original Atari controller, but I'm not too picky. Hit the link to see how Alan did it, step-by-step. Remember the Atari paddles? I think I would rather put a TV remote in one of those. More »

throwback

Atari Joystick Candle Holder

This one goes out to all of my old school, Pitfall-playing, Space Invader-destroying homies out there. This Atari candle holder is the work of artist Mixko and is not currently for sale, but if you own an Atari joystick you could probably create your own mold Mythbusters-style and begin manufacturing them yourself. More »

gadgets

Technology Review Nominates its Objects of Desire: Gizmodo says 'Phwoar!'

Technology Review has rounded up a bunch of objects that it feels are design classics from the past 30 or so years and got a bunch of industrial designers to talk about them. And you've gotta admit they're right—on some of the candidates, at least. First up is the Polaroid SX-70, which dates back to 1972. More »

portable media

Ben Heck's VCSp Rev 5.1 Portable Atari System

Benjamin Heckerdorn has been making consoles portable for a while, but who knew that he has been getting his paws dirty with console parts for seven years now. In honor of the sevenyeariversary of console modding he created a new revision to his Atari-playing VCSp portable, but it is a bit different this time around because you can actually buy it! Ben will be creating between 20 and 30 of these devices and selling them for around $300 each. More »

gadgets

HANG & PLAY: Time to Buy More Coats

The Hang & Play coat hangers are just a Felipe Morales concept, but surely these are not at a "could never be reproduced except by a mystical robot from the future that could absolutely never exist because it would destroy, by laser, the great grandmother of its creator when it traveled back in time therefore creating a time paradox which would end the universe" technology. (Like any cool car made in the last ten years seems to be). More »

home entertainment

Atari Father Takes a Poo on PS3

The godfather of the video game industry, Atari-creator Nolan Bushnell, has taken sides with Microsoft and Nintendo in the next gen gaming console wars. In an interview with Red Herring, Bushnell went on record saying "Sony shot themselves in the foot" with regards to the PS3. Adding insult to injury, he also talked smack about the PS2 saying, "it wasn't anything brilliant that they did. With the PS and PS2 it was timing." The PS3 does face an uphill battle price-wise, but after seeing it in action, we certainly wouldn't call it a failure. What do you think folks, agree or disagree with Mr. Atari? More »