158 thoughts on “Shall We Play A Game?”

  2. Omigod, I just read the link from Antifreeze. What an asshole. You did the right thing. It’s all about the principle baby.
    Tiana

  4. I like to come to this site as much as the next guy, but does anyone else think that there is just a little too much Wil-worship? He shows a picture of an old Atari controller and writes a quote from an old movie, and many (not all) twist it into some attempt at Wil-love instead of a reminiscing of old-world video gaming. I don’t mean to be rude to anyone, I think it just gets to be a little too much sometimes.

  6. I have 2 of those connected to my atari 2600 over there by my tv that connects to the SNES, NES, PS1, Xbox. the PS2 gets it’s own tv 😀
    but uh yeah. . . . my point? oh yes. why the joystick and not the paddles? or the driving wheels?
    of course i have all of those and a newer set of joysticks 😀

  10. “Is that a joystick in your hand, or are you just happy to see me?”
    Kudos on leaving G4, Wil. I work in entertainment also and the type you described is far to common in the industry.
    Ethics and professionalism don’t seem to be required traits.

  11. Oh. My. GOD. HOURS of wasted time in college. HOURS, I’m telling you. I had one of those things in my dorm room at Penn State. Turned the place into Grand Central Station.
    Oh, Breakout progressive. I swear to you, there’s no better game … *nostalgic smile*

  12. This is a good way to solve some major problems in the world.
    To solve the Iraqi situation Saddam Hussein and George Bush can play Space Invaders.
    North and South Korea can play Missle Command.
    For a better Economy, breakout!

  13. I used to have an Atari 800XL, which was pretty cool because it was a computer AS WELL as able to play the cartridge games like Frogger and Pitfall. When I told people that I had an Atari computer I was always careful to clarify for people that it was a “real” computer and not just a game playing machine. For some reason to my twelve year old brain, that made a lot of difference. 🙂

  22. Oh my gosh. When I saw the pic of the joy stick, it was such a flashback. I remember playing the atari at my friend’s house all the time.
    Well, I never owned the Atari. But I always had access to one.

  23. An amigo just sent me this, I thought it nicely matched today’s theme, enjoy 🙂
    When I was a kid adults used to bore me to
    tears with their tedious
    diatribes about how hard things were when
    they were growing up;
    What with walking twenty-five miles to school
    every morning uphill both
    ways through year ’round blizzards carrying
    their younger siblings on
    their backs to their one-room schoolhouse
    where they maintained a
    straight-A average;
    Despite their full-time after-school job at the
    local textile mill where
    they worked for 35 cents an hour just to help
    keep their family from starving to death!
    And I remember promising myself that when I
    grew up there was no
    way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap
    like that on kids about how
    hard I had it and how easy they’ve got it!
    But….Now that I’ve reached the ripe old age
    of thirty, I can’t help
    but look around and notice the youth of
    today. You’ve got it so damn easy!
    I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a
    damned Utopia! And I hate to say it but you kids
    today you don’t know how good you’ve got it!
    I mean, when I was a kid we didn’t have The
    Internet-we wanted to know something, we had
    to go to the library and look it up ourselves!
    And there was no email! We had to actually
    write somebody a letter with a pen!– and then
    you had to walk all the way across the street
    and put it in the freaking mailbox and it would
    take like a week to get there!
    And there were no MP3s or Napsters! You wanted
    to steal music, you had to go to the record store
    and shoplift it yourself!
    Or we had to wait around all day to tape it off
    The radio and the DJ’d usually talk over the
    Beginning and screw it all up!
    You want to hear about hardship? You couldn’t just
    download *orn! You had to bribe some homeless dude to
    buy you a copy of “Hustler” at the 7-11!
    It was either that or jack off to the lingerie
    section of the J Penney catalog!
    Those were your options! We didn’t have fancy
    ship like Call Waiting! If you
    were on the phone and somebody else called they
    got a busy signal!
    And we didn’t have fancy Caller ID Boxes
    either! When the phone rang,
    you had no idea who it was it could be your
    boss, your mom, a collections agent, your drug
    dealer, you didn’t know!!! You just had to pick it
    Up and take your chances, mister!
    And we didn’t have any fancy Sony Play station
    Video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like “Space Invaders”
    and “Asteroids” and the graphics sucked butt! Your guy was a little square! You had to use your imagination!
    And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just
    One screen forever! And you could never win, the game
    just kept getting harder and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!
    When you went to the movie theater there no
    such thing as stadium seating! All the seats were the same height! A tall guy sat in front of you, you were screwed! And sure, we had cable television, but
    back then that was only like 20 channels and there was
    no on screen menu! You had to use a little book called
    a TV Guide to find out what was on!
    And there was no Cartoon Network! You could only get
    cartoons on Saturday morning… …D’ya hear what the hell I’m saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK, you spoiled little
    bastards! That’s exactly what I’m talking about! You
    Kids today have got it too easy You’re spoiled, I swear to
    God! You guys wouldn’t last five minutes back in 1987!

  24. Hmmm… well my first reaction is “yes”. However, I can’t say as I’ve seen War Games and so have missed the reference.
    So since I have nothing else to say… yes.

  27. You got a left-handed one of those?
    What about some super-glue as a temporary fix for the broken plastic thing on the inside? I can’t seem to go left so well.

  28. If you can believe this – my friend from Toronto just bought me an entire Atari 2600 system that she picked up at a garage sale for $10. Mine broke in the mid-1980s. I’m hoping this one will work! 🙂
    I miss playing “Breakout” with the paddles instead of the computer and mouse.

  31. Wow.
    I feel like this in the Natural History museum. A sense of wonder at how we used to live. This picture reminds me of the opening scene for 2001 with the apes.
    *is in awe*

  34. aaaah War Games **sigh**… gotta love the massive floppy disk drive…. the modem where you kinda plug the phone handset into it… going to “Defcon 4″…

  35. Cool, Wil. This is really good timing as I *just* finished downloading some old arcade ROMs for use with MAME. I was just playing Tutankham and realizing that I suck when I broke for supper and sat down to check your page. And then I see the Atari joystick! I’m going to go out and find a ROM of Dig Dug next.
    Does anyone remember that Atari game (Fantasy?) where you were a knight and you had to rescue the chalice from the dragons in the castle? It had really chunky graphics but I loved that game. I even remember finding the secret spot that made you invincible…
    Thanks for the memories, Wil!

  36. Ok… Ok…
    Was it just me… or did the Atari joystick seem much more responsive if you ripped that black vinyl cover off? Ok.. I admit. It looked really really stupid, with this white plastic thing sticking out instead of the sleak looking black vinyl, but I swear the thing worked better that way. Always seemed sluggish with the black cover on.
    And good old Space Invaders. If you toggled the on/off switch just the right way you could get your ship to fire twice with every press of the button.
    Oh God.. I can’t believe I remember that!

  38. Wil
    Yes my very first video game boy does this bring back memories. Does anyone remember any of these games. Haunted House, Air Sea Battle, Combat, Bezerk, River Raid, Circus Atari, Vanguard, Star Wars (You know the one where you had to blow up the At At’s) Chopper Command, Fast Eddie, Donkey Kong, Space Invaders, Defender, Missle Command, Laser Blast, Star Master, Indy 500, and of course Pac Man. Anyone else have any of these games.

  41. Oh.
    My.
    God.
    The day I write about old school, he goes old school. *L* I may be 22 but I DO have the Atari 2600 given me by my now 32 yr. old cousin back in 1986. I spent hours playing his old collection of games like Frogger, Keystone Cops, and the like. I just find it so odd that on the same day I post on my weblog about old school music, Wil goes old school gamer.
    What a madd, mind-reading pimp. *L*

  42. I still have an Atari 2600… and my old Vetrex… I just wish I could get my hands on the PONG module where you could play 8 different games, but they all looked the same!
    (bloop…. bloop…. bloop)

  45. Geez. Takes me back to the good ole days on Commodore 64s using Atari joysticks. Friends and I spent many hours wearing them out on games, then I would tear them down, rebuild, and we’d going back to wearing them out yet again. Got to be pretty handy with soldering iron, plastic molding compound (when the pivot would finally crack) and silicone lube. The knowledge came in pretty handy with the Nintendo Advantage later…. 🙂

  47. Wil,
    I wait 3 damn days for a post and all I get is a picture of a joystick, no update on how Anne is doing……..Oh well I guess I will just keep playing a game till you decide to write to us again….lol.
    best to you and yours Wil,
    Matt……
    P.S.
    Yes I want to play a Game!!

  49. Pitfall! Haunted House! Space Invaders! Breakout!
    Oh, man… I wasted so much time palying those games. Anyone ever play Kaboom!, with the paddles? I got unhealthily good at that one.
    Lara

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