With Gran Turismo 4 about to hit the retail shelves, and complex games with stunning graphics such as Halo and Half Life 2 ruling the roost, here’s something so (with apologies to Tricky) brand new it’s retro it will knock your socks off… the Atari Classics 10 in 1!�

With Gran Turismo 4 about to hit the retail shelves, and complex games with stunning graphics such as Halo and Half Life 2 ruling the roost, here’s something so (with apologies to Tricky) brand new it’s retro it will knock your socks off… the Atari Classics 10 in 1!

Okay, so it’s definitely not cutting edge, but for anybody carrying nostalgia for the 80s it’s oh so cool/funny/gotta have. Self contained inside a joystick and body measuring about 10cm square and 4cm thick are ten old school Atari games. All of the classics are present; Asteroids, Missile Command and yes, Pong.

So what’s so cool about it? Umm, well, it’s a bit hard to say. Anybody raised on a gaming diet of Playstation or Xbox will probably wonder what the big deal is, and, truthfully, those who grew up with Atari 2600s will probably realise that some things are best left in the past. That said, it’s great fun to pull out now and then and play with your mates, particularly at parties when the beer is flowing.

Hooking up this little gamebox is dead easy, it uses composite A/V leads to plug into the TV and runs off four AA batteries - no power leads. And that’s part of the beauty of it, the Atari gamebox is compact enough that when you’re finished playing around it fits into a drawer.

Now the tricky bit, so far as we know it isn’t available from any Aussie retailers. The Lab-Gear gamebox came from the UK, direct from the only retailers we know of selling it (www.firebox.com). At a price of 25 UK Pounds it’s not too expensive either, and delivery was quick, inside of a week door to door. Go on, buy one, if nothing else it’ll look great sitting on top of the tv. Oh, and if you’re more a Commodore 64 kind of person, they sell C64 versions with 30 games included, no crappy tapes to deal with! It’s time to break out some of that 80s synth pop and take yourself back…

The games included are:

Asteroids
Adventure
Missile Command
Centidpede
Gravitar
Yar’s Revenge
Breakout
Pong
Circus Atari
Real Sports Volleyball�