i'm the same age as the atari 2600

October 1, 2007 under Atari 2600, nostalgia

Thirty years ago, Atari unleashed the VCS (aka: Atari 2600) on the world.
Atari 2600

My parents bought me an Atari 2600 for my sixth birthday. I hung out in arcades a lot at that age and developed an affinity toward this new video game “fad”. The Atari 2600 promised to bring arcade action into the living room, and it did…sorta.

My cousin Andrew had an Atari 2600 when he was a teenager and since he was a smart kid (he now goes by “Dr. Bellini”), my parents figured it would be a good idea for my birthday present back in 1982. I can’t remember every game I had, but a few come to mind:

I wasn’t a geeky youngster – I played hockey and baseball and was quite active. My parents weren’t up on technology – I didn’t get a computer (let alone know how to use one until I was in grade twelve). So I must credit the Atari 2600 for getting me interested in science and technology. First it started with being the only one in the house capable of setting the time on a digital clock, then came dismantling the family VCR to figure out how it worked, next was recording all my NES and SNES games’ endings on VHS, then a Computer Science degree. And finally, gainfully employed as a software engineer. Thank you, Atari 🙂

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