Saturday, December 26, 2015

Retro Gaming Systems - Atari Flashback and Sega Genesis

If you grew up in the 1980s and 1990s, you probably spent plenty of time playing video games on the early video game console systems.  The games were simple, classic, and dare I say timeless.


The games were addictive and rewarding. Amazingly many of the games are still available today. They have been distilled down to console games that have most of the popular video games for a given game system.  These new consoles are much more convenient than finding and reviving the original consoles and finding working game cartridges.  The games I played in my younger days were primarily the Atari games and then Sega Genesis games.  Today, I can easily get these games from Amazon.

Atari Flashback.  The retro gaming revolution was kicked off by Atari Flashback consoles.  Several versions have been created over the years and I've enjoyed a couple of them.  The latest version is the Atari Flashback 6.  The deluxe edition shown below has two extra controllers and reviewers say that it is well worth the investment to get the extras.


Sega Genesis.  Somewhere in a closet, I have an original Sega Genesis from a thrift store.  But, I could just go get the Sega Genesis Deluxe console and have 85 built in games including Sonic the Hedgehog I & II and the Mortal Combat series.


Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Retro Gift Idea - A Royal Epoch Portable Typewriter

Did you know that you can still buy a brand new typewriter?  A classically retro manual typewriter from a name that many have heard of before -- Royal!


If you need to be away from the internet in order to write your novel, this might be a great choice.  It's also helpful for filling out forms and addressing envelopes without fussing with label software.


Sunday, December 6, 2015

Remember the Bentley Television

In today's era of cell phones, laptops, and tablets, video is literally eveywhere.  But, if you grew up in the 1970s and 80s, truly portable television that could go anywhere was a high tech novelty.  By today's standards, this old Bentley portable TV would be ridiculous.

Bentley Portable TV
Believe it or not, you can still buy a used Bentley Portable TV on Amazon.  But, now this, you'll need a converter box to take in today's HDTV television signals.  All of a sudden, this little TV with a 5-inch screen isn't nearly as portable!  But, the ad, well it's still worth checking out just to get an idea of the specs and see the original packaging.