>> ^Buck:

LOVED the 2600!!
Yep, me too. I had one and I became a video game addict.

I had these games I can remember:
Megamania
Pitfall
Dolphin
Combat
Ms. Pac-Man
Pac-Man (ugh)
E.T. (ugh)
He-Man
Frogger
etc.

Now, I have ALL with Stella emulator.

*geek *comedy *parody

A few reasons why I don't game any more and haven't had video game consoles since Atari 2600.

My next door neighbor had a C64. I used to go over to his house and play so many games on it. It was SO fun during our childhood days. It was awesome to use my old Atari 2600 on it for two players games!

>> ^messenger:

I haven't played a console since SNES. What I liked about them then was that they always worked and never ever crashed. PCs still crash. Do consoles crash now? If not, that would be a significant advantage they have over PCs.


I haven't had owned a video game console since Atari 2600. I did borrow a Turbo Graphx 16 for about a week at my grand(ma/mother)'s house. I am more of a computer gamer with Texas Instrument (TI) 99/4A, Apple //c, IBM PCs, etc. Yes, computers crash a lot except for Apple //c and TI 99/4A since they were mostly the same like video game consoles.

wow, i remember trying raytrace software on my atari st.. a ball and two light sources.. took an entire night to render one frame.

>> ^shuac:

Very true. And while all technology products are derivative of earlier products to some degree, I think Microsoft does more bandwagon-jumping than most. Let's look at the evidence.
Java, made by Sun. "Reimagined" by Microsoft.
Console gaming, made by Atari, Nintendo, Sega, Sony, et al. Microsoft gives us Xbox.
Online Music, pioneered by Napster, made legitimate by Apple. Microsoft gives us MSN Music.
MP3 player, pioneered by Rio, made super popular by Apple. Microsoft gives us Zune.
Internet search, pioneered by Archie in 1990, made insanely profitable by Google. Microsoft gives us MSN. And Live Search. And Bing.
Far as tablet computing goes, Microsoft actually has a much bigger history than Apple. I remember MS peddling tablets back in 2001 with XP. Trouble is, XP was never designed as a touch interface. Even as recent as 2008, Microsoft tried this strategy with the Origami.
The innovation Apple made is to take its smartphone OS (whose design is based on touch) and pull it up to the tablet rather than take a full-blown desktop OS and push it down. This is the idea Microsoft is copying with Surface and Windows 8.
Other than Kinect, which is an innovative product since it is more than merely a response to the Wii, I'm not sure Microsoft invented anything. Even its flagship Office suite is based on earlier software (WordStar, WordPerfect, dBase, Lotus 1-2-3). In fact, when Microsoft first licensed MS-DOS to IBM for a huge profit back in 1981, it was essentially QDOS, which they purchased outright from some guy for $50,000. Deal of the century.
You may say, "Well Apple didn't invent the MP3 player. Why aren't they guilty of copying too?"
They are. But Microsoft's history is rife with this sort of "me-too" thing in a way no other company's is. Let me distil my point into one sentence: How many companies are copying Microsoft's products?
To sum up: Microsoft is slim on innovation, fat on looking over the shoulders of the smart kids in class...>> ^Sarzy:
>> ^mtadd:
Microsoft never fails to innovate their name on someone else's product.

Yes, because the iPad was, of course, the first tablet ever.



Cool story bro.

No, seriously though, you do raise some interesting arguments. The only point I was trying to make is that it seems a bit reductionist to dismiss the Surface as merely an iPad clone, when it seems like Microsoft is legitimately trying to do some interesting things with it and Windows 8, rather than just jumping on the iPad bandwagon.

Very true. And while all technology products are derivative of earlier products to some degree, I think Microsoft does more bandwagon-jumping than most. Let's look at the evidence.

* Java, made by Sun. "Reimagined" by Microsoft.
* Console gaming, made by Atari, Nintendo, Sega, Sony, et al. Microsoft gives us Xbox.
* Online Music, pioneered by Napster, made legitimate by Apple. Microsoft gives us MSN Music.
* MP3 player, pioneered by Rio, made super popular by Apple. Microsoft gives us Zune.
* Internet search, pioneered by Archie in 1990, made insanely profitable by Google. Microsoft gives us MSN. And Live Search. And Bing.

Far as tablet computing goes, Microsoft actually has a much bigger history than Apple. I remember MS peddling tablets back in 2001 with XP. Trouble is, XP was never designed as a touch interface. Even as recent as 2008, Microsoft tried this strategy with the Origami.

The innovation Apple made is to take its smartphone OS (whose design is based on touch) and pull it up to the tablet rather than take a full-blown desktop OS and push it down. This is the idea Microsoft is copying with Surface and Windows 8.

Other than Kinect, which is an innovative product since it is more than merely a response to the Wii, I'm not sure Microsoft invented anything. Even its flagship Office suite is based on earlier software (WordStar, WordPerfect, dBase, Lotus 1-2-3). In fact, when Microsoft first licensed MS-DOS to IBM for a huge profit back in 1981, it was essentially QDOS, which they purchased outright from some guy for $50,000. Deal of the century.

You may say, "Well Apple didn't invent the MP3 player. Why aren't they guilty of copying too?"

They are. But Microsoft's history is rife with this sort of "me-too" thing in a way no other company's is. Let me distil my point into one sentence: How many companies are copying Microsoft's products?

To sum up: Microsoft is slim on innovation, fat on looking over the shoulders of the smart kids in class...>> ^Sarzy:

>> ^mtadd:
Microsoft never fails to innovate their name on someone else's product.

Yes, because the iPad was, of course, the first tablet ever.

The only problem with HAL, is that, well we all know he looks like he is actually a street lamp sticking out of a Atari 2600...

I had to say it. Not fear inducing exactly.

(But, that was the point...)

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

Sure, I'd still like one. But then I'd have to start a collection of *rare* consoles: Odyssey 2, Sears Telegames version of 2600, Atari Lynx, Coleco Adam etc. etc. Could get pricey.>> ^ant:

>> ^dag:
Vectrex was cool - I wanted one - back in the day.

How about now?

I've played every single one of those games up until about the 2 minute mark. I probably enjoyed the 8/16 bit era more than anything else. I started out with an atari 2600..I remember playing "fire fighter" and thinking how amazing the graphics were. hehe. Adventure is the best game of all time.

The followup to the Atari 2600 Pacman, Ms Pacman, shows what it could've been:

>> ^bareboards2:

dead


Fixed and thanks.

>> ^critical_d:

I am the youngest of 6 kids with a 7 year difference between me and the next in age. They were merciless in their teasing and it's amazing I didn't smash my Atari 5200 into their face too. (we didnt have ipads back then). Now that I am older and slightly more mature, I can put this all behind me. I let go of the anger and resentment because I realized that in order to move forward..you have to look forward. I have a huge family and I love every one of them, that does not mean I have to like them.
You should let it go. If not for the ones you teased, then for yourself.
>> ^Boise_Lib:
I'm an older brother.
I was a bully and like all bullies I was a coward.
The older brother will remember this for his whole life--and will always regret it.
And now thanks to Mom and Dad posting the nanny-cam footage online this video will haunt him for the rest of his life.



I thought I had let it go.

I am the youngest of 6 kids with a 7 year difference between me and the next in age. They were merciless in their teasing and it's amazing I didn't smash my Atari 5200 into their face too. (we didnt have ipads back then). Now that I am older and slightly more mature, I can put this all behind me. I let go of the anger and resentment because I realized that in order to move forward..you have to look forward. I have a huge family and I love every one of them, that does not mean I have to like them.

You should let it go. If not for the ones you teased, then for yourself.

>> ^Boise_Lib:

I'm an older brother.
I was a bully and like all bullies I was a coward.
The older brother will remember this for his whole life--and will always regret it.
And now thanks to Mom and Dad posting the nanny-cam footage online this video will haunt him for the rest of his life.