tonight i learned that when atari 2600 came out it cost 199.00


that is about 680 bucks today!

http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl

haha... but 2600's never overheated and crashed like xbox's

I think I saw a chart once showing, for their time, the most xpensive systems. I think the Intellivision II was most ever for it's price.

I think I saw it in a Game Informer or some crap, because people were flipping out about PS3 prices and it showed that it's not THAT much compared to some older systems like this.

ouch!




the cost today would be a whopping 752 bucks for the first intellivision

oh my god, i was like 4 when my parents bought me a 2600. they were stupid to spend that kind of cash on me.

I never seen the first Intellevision, I only have the second. I grew up with it.

Did you know they could've hooked a modem up to it externally, they were working on it a little back than. Nuts that those types of things were already being worked on.

Thats pretty crazy, never really knew how much they cost back then...

on a side note, my friend just picked up a 2600 on ebay with 25 games for like $100, playing Donkey Kong and Missile Command on a 42" LCD while drunk is way to much fun....I still swear that it cheats though...

Ah, there she is! That's the one that caused so many yelling matches between me and my older sister! And damnit I know she was too cheating!

Man, I can't believe my folks spent the equivalent of $752 on us... hey, they always told us they were broke! Pffft... parents.

If you invert this you will be more surprised. How much money does it cost to by that much processor power and memory?

This is a great site with graphs console prices.

http://curmudgeongamer.com/2006/05/history-of-console-prices-or-500-aint.html

1) Console prices with original release prices.

2) Console prices with inflation taken into consideration.

Makes you realize you get more bang for your buck these days.
I remember playing Intellivision, Colecovision and Vectrex at mate's houses or at the shopping centre. Took a lot of saving up and convincing in our household to get a NES. It's was the most reasonably priced (bar the Sega) and still is.

I never had one but I remember that old atari...with the wood paneling and the flip switches. Classic design.

Yeah, what ever happened to wood paneling on appliances? I think that's a trend whose time come again. I demand more wood grain on my technology. And please put fins back on cars. Thank you.

my first computer
TI-99 4A



3 MHz processor
256 bytes of memory
16 Kb graphics memory (for all the hardcore gaming!)

it would cost around $1,175 today ($525 when it was released in 1981)

i didnt have the snazzy silver base or monitor - we used a shitty 10 inch or so color tv for the monitor

ooo here's a good one. the first video tape recorder intended for home use



released in 1965!
only a few hundred were ever sold

video tape reels cost 40 bucks at the time and had over 2300 feet of tape on them
they recorded up to 1 hour in black and white
took 7 minutes to rewind

cost today: $4,574 ($695 in '65)



in 1975 sony had the fist commercially successful VCR (betamax)
it could also record an hour



cost today: $5,010 ($1,300 in 1975)




and in 1976, JVC release the first VHS VCR
it could record 2 hours!



cost today: $3,224 ($885 in 1976)

Aaahh - top-loading VCR's - those were the days. Thanks for the memories - even though it makes me feel just a bit old.

Considering simple handheld calculators practically come in boxes of cereal now, it's hard to believe this old family heirloom cost $150 when it came out in '72. (Comes to $744.05 w/ inflation - you can get a laptop for less than that!)

Are you kidding man?!? Your dad clearly bought it for himself!

wow, $200 bones for the 2600?? I didn't realize they were that expensive. now I know why my parents didn't get one for me....!!

but now that i'm a parent, i'm gonna get my 3 year old a Playstation 3 and MGS4....

yeah, she's gonna love it.

haha that calculator is awesome!

Anyone interested in oldschool gaming should watch this documentary the King of Kong, I saw it last night and it was truly frightening.

I had a used 2600 and a box of games when I was a kid.. wish I still had that, my ma gave it away along with my box of he-man figs and sw playsets... wish I still had those too. I still really love my 120+ nes games though..

this thread rules...gotta say it's pretty amazing to be alive during this era with all the technological advancement. Cleaned the grime off my old 2600 and colecovision (and a few dozen cartridges) this afternoon then came home to read this coleco was the fucking bomb when it was released!

My old man bought one of the first "business" IBMs 30 or so years back. Green matrix screen, matrix printer. A 5-figure paperweight these days.

I got a 2600 jnr passed onto me from a friend about 5 years ago. Mint console, still with the plastic on the metal faces + about 100 games. All the result of dedicated op-shopping in the early 90’s. Man, you just can’t beat games like Dig Dug, Frogger, Tennis, Galaxian, Pac Man, River Raid, Commando…. I’m indebted to him. Would love to own a 2600 Woody though, they’re so funky looking!

I loved my Intellivision... games kicked ass!

King of Kong is great, even if you are not into old school gaming. It's more about the personalities (or lack thereof) than the game.

Billy & his minion were more pathetic than frightening.