Daniel McLeod of Black Mountain Audio gutted an old Atari 2600 (made back in November 1980,) and replaced its innards with a couple of computer speakers, and added a dock where the cartridge usually goes. It also comes with an external subwoofer, which he wasn’t able to cram inside the console itself.

He swapped out the power connector with a 3.5mm jack, suitable for plugging in any media player. While I love the idea of this, I wish that it could actually accommodate a 30-pin dock connector for charging an iOS device. Maybe you could cram one of these in the cartridge slot instead. There also should be some way that you could still play games on it – especially since you can still connect controllers to it. It’s just too tempting.

Still, it’s a pretty cool conversation piece if you’re into retro gaming, and want a unique dock for your media player. It’s currently for sale over on Etsy for $100 (USD).

Of course there’s always a chance that kids will learn to love at least one of the 60 games built-in, like the unwinnable Missile Command or the exploitable Asteroids. I wouldn’t be surprised if all of the games in the Flashback 3 already have mobile versions though. At least you get to play them using the iconic Atari-style joysticks.

You can order the Atari Flashback 3 from Amazon for $60 (USD). UK customers may want to head to Blaze instead, where it’s being sold for £50. Pause function included. No really.

[via Chip Chick]

After watching this video I can only say that my jaw is still on the floor and that I would love, LOVE it if she and I could play video games together. She certainly knows how to work a joystick. And a Nintendo Power Glove. And old Atari paddles. And…

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You aren’t even reading this anymore are you? You are watching the video which shows off classics like Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt and many others. There’s even a Gamecube controller rumbling along her backside. Can’t say I blame it.

[via Hypebeast]

Turns out that there is a new iPad-compatible joystick in the works, which you can use to play all those classic arcade and Atari 2600 games in the aforementioned collection. Now you already know that there’s been an arcade joystick out for a while now called the iCade, which has awesome retro arcade looks, but is also quite pricey (at $100).

The Duo stick does away with iCade’s fancy arcade cabinet design, instead going for a minimal look that’s likely to keep the price much lower. Due to its open-air design, it’s also likely to do a better job at supporting both landscape and portrait modes than the iCade can.

While I love my iCade, I have to say that I’m totally bummed out that there aren’t yet more games that take advantage of it – and I really want a trackball and spinner controller for many of the games anyhow. But if you’re looking for a way to play those joystick-based classics, and don’t want to break the bank, you might want to keep an eye out for the Atari Arcade Duo Joystick over at Discovery Bay Games. No word yet on a release date or pricing, but there’s no way it could be as expensive as the iCade.

The SDCard HxC Floppy Emulator can replace just about any old 34-pin floppy drive, allowing older computers and electronic gear to read data from a modern SD card. Designed by Jean-François DEL NERO, the HxC Floppy Emulator has been tested to work with PC, Atari ST, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Thomson, MSX, ZX Spectrum series computers among others, and they continue to add support for more devices like synthesizers and samplers. It just plugs in where the device’s old floppy drive once sat, allowing you to read up to 2GB from and SD or 32GB from an SDHC card. The drive can even emulate two drives at once too.

It even emulates the head stepper motor sound of a 3.5″ floppy drive, as you can hear in the video below:

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The HxC SD Floppy Emulator sells for $109.99 (USD) over on eBay.

According to the image, the 2011 Atari ST2 is supposed to come with a powerful Intel Core2 Quad CPU, 8GB RAM, Geforce 460 GPU, 1 TB hard drive, 7.1 surround sound, and a cool backlit blue keyboard. It even comes with a (misspelled) Blueray player, and bluetooth. This thing has the blues.

Unfortunately, so do I now that I realize the whole thing is just a concept design by 3D illustrator ~svenart, designed and rendered in Lightwave10 (wireframe here). But an awesome concept design it is. And given the fact that somebody has started selling Commodore 64′s again with modern PC innards, I don’t see why someone can’t run with this idea too.

For now, retro geeks will just have to sit there and drool until someone at least gets out an old Atari ST and mods it to match ~svenart’s design.

I like the tribute to the Atari 810, and from the schematics and what Rossum posted, it doesn’t look too complicated to make your own. The best part is that the 3D printing was done off-site thanks to Shapeways, meaning that you don’t need a 3D printer in your home to do this.

Not only does the drive look just like the original, he’s actually hacked it to work with an actual Atari computer as a data source, loading it up with Atari disk images and applications.

[via Boing Boing via Make:]

The app is free to download and comes with one game – Pong. Pong isn’t exactly the retro game most of us want to play, so you have to buy the other 99 cool games in-app. Games include everything from Tempest to Battlezone to Missile Command, as well as Atari 2600 calssics like Yar’s Revenge. Some of the games let you play with other retro geeks via Bluetooth if they have the game too. From looking at it, most of the games use virtual joysticks and I hate that control method, but what can you do? After all, it’s a touchscreen.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Individual games sell for 99 cents, but if you want the whole enchilada, the 100 games will set you back $15. That $15 price tag is not bad at all, if you are really into classic arcade games – assuming you can deal with the wonky controls. You can grab Atari’s Greatest Hits over at the iTunes store.

[via Touch Arcade via Kotaku]

Instructables contributor Anna Howard Shaw created this one for herself, but the Instructable gives a step-by-step process on how you can make one too. You’re basically going to be working with pieces of wood and shaping them into the right form to get your box. The whole box is made out of wood, including walnut and cherry veneer for some of the decorations. Lastly, the box is finished with a stain or shellac to give it that rich color.

Admittedly, you could use this box to store any number of little knick-knacks if you don’t wear jewelry. Or, you could pick up some appropriate jewelry here, like some Pitfall Harry earrings.

[Instructables via Make:]

The animation is perfect, and it’s nice to see other games like Worms and Lemmings share the spotlight with the heavyweights:

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If you touch Pac-Man’s mouth, you deserve whatever happens next. You can download the soundtrack at Rams Le Prince’s website. It’s the one called Russian Stealth Fighter Test Flight.

[via Gamefreaks]

These stickers are actually officially licensed by Atari, and they are movable as well as reusable because they are made out Blik’s Re-Stik material. They’d look great in your game room, home theater room, or dorm room.

Each set of the stickers contains 65 movable decals, enough for many spaceships, asteroids, saucers, and scores. There’s even one for the 1979 Atari copyright message. Cool. Blik Asteroids Wall Stickers are available for $45 from Amazon.

[via GeekAlerts]

Here’s more of Brockert’s work. You’ll notice that they’re mostly either Atari games or Star Wars toys. If I had the skills, my series would be filled with paintings of the Famicom, Double Dribble, Contra and Leader-1, although I’ll also have old-fashioned toys like marbles and swords made of fallen branches.

Brockert’s American Icon paintings sell for $200-$500 (USD). You can check them all on his website; when you’ve picked out a piece, just send him an email to buy it (click on the purchase tab on his website for his email). Unfortunately for Atari fans, someone already bought the joystick painting, but there are still a couple of paintings of Atari cartridges available.

[via GamOvr via Sprite Stitch]

Frankly, I was never a big fan of the Nintendo 64′s mutant controller, but the classic Atari joystick stumps that ControlBot stands on and the PS3 dualshock head are some of my faves. And what better thing to stick at the end of his arm, but a NES light gun?

Grab the ControlBot4000 t-shirt over at RedBubble for about $27 (USD). While you’re at it, check out creator Zomboy’s ViewMaster3000.

[via Shirtoid!]

The guys over at Colorcubic dug around the bowels of the Atari Museum to find this veritable treasure trove of Atari system concept sketches which truly read like an early 80′s capsule. While some of the sketches eventually served as the basis for the Atari 1200, most of the designs never saw the light of day. These particular drawings were created by industrial designer Regan Cheng, and they all look like they would have fit in nicely alongside the later 8-bit systems which eventually did ship from Atari.

What do you guys think of the designs? Do they stand the test of time, or are you glad computer design has marched on?

[via ISO50, Retroist and Kotaku]

I mean a junky old game system and game cartridges would never be worth anything right? Wrong! I wonder now how much the complete system and the hoard of games I had would have been worth. A guy from Austin Texas has sold a rare Atari game called Air Raid for $31,600.

The game is only the 13th copy known to exist and the only one to have its original box as well. Interestingly, the man said the game sucked as a kid, which is the only reason he still had it. No one would trade for it.

[via Mentalfloss]

The guys at Evil Mad Scientist Labs have managed to faithfully reproduce almost every component of the arcade original in yummy cookie form, including tiny spaceships, asteroids of all sizes, a flying saucer, and even little bullets from your ship. About the only thing missing is an edible high score.

The recipe for these vector graphic cookies uses a chocolate graham cracker base and delicately piped on royal icing. But there’s nothing to stop you from making gingerbread or chocolate chip asteroids too. Although I’d personally like to figure out how to make truly black asteroids.

EMSL was kind enough to share the DIY recipe for making your own Asteroids cookies, so what are you waiting for?

[via Giagantor]

The set of 6 shot glasses includes graphics from six retro Atari arcade games: Asteroids, Centipede, Pong, Breakout, Missile Command and the aforementioned Battle Zone. The flip side of each glass features a color-coordinated Atari logo. Each class holds a perfect shot of your favorite liquor, or is perfect for catching quarters during your drinking games (and save ‘em for later for some arcade play.)

You can grab the full set over at Amazon for $16.99 (USD). Whiskey not included.

[Have more than 5 drinking buddies? Then grab a set of these Pac-Man shots to go with.]

I love the Snakes on a Plane game cartridge. The whole movie is boiled down to playing the classic Snake game.

It’s kind of cool. Prison Break is Breakout. It’s true that they’ve been breaking out from different prisons for four seasons now. Avatar and Cloverfield are also classics. Although Penney’s version of Avatar isn’t in 3D.

[via this isn't happiness]

So far, the Atari Arcade includes web-playable Flash versions of four arcade classics: Asteroids, Battlezone, Crystal Castles, and Lunar Lander. Hopefully, they’ll add more games in the not-too-distant future. I want my Dig-Dug and Paperboy! They’ve also thrown in versions of a couple of classic 2600 games, Yar’s Revenge and Adventure. Each of the games is a faithful recreation of the original, with the addition of a global high score leaderboard.

So what are you waiting for? Head on over to the new Atari Arcade, and play without fear of ever running out of quarters again.

Really, how can you not love a game with instructions that read: “The primary objective of the game is to break a path through the shield, and destroy the Qotile with a blast from the Zorlon Cannon”?

[via Kotaku]

While there aren’t many details about the heritage of this mod, what we can see from the picture is that the little droid is loaded up with a Dreamcast, an Xbox, an N64, an Atari 2600, a SEGA Saturn, an NES, an SNES and a PlayStation. It’s also got a projector and sound system built-in for good measure.

Though R2-D2 may have been designed as a utility droid, I think he’s finally found his real purpose – gaming droid.

[via Hack N Mod]