At the risk of dating myself, I must confess I grew up playing Atari 2600 — Asteroids, Centipede, Space Invaders, Breakout — I had them all. Sadly, when Nintendo debuted I packed up my trusty Atari console, along with all of its games, and marched them down the street where they were greeted by a younger boy in the neighborhood.

I sorely wish I had saved both the console and the cartridges, but what is past can not be undone. Time and game consoles continue to move forward… well, sort of.

You see, those old gaming classics never really died. They just sort of went into hiding for a few decades, only to re-emerge in all of their 1980′s glory, ready for a new generation of gamers to tackle the process of getting Pitfall Harry past his obstacles.

Over the years a number of ways to play the old classics have emerged, but Atari themselves has recognized the value in nostalgia and done something to capitalize on that feeling. (more…)