Over the last 12 months I have accumulated a monstrous collection of consoles and games, many of which I have barely played since I bought them. I recently decided to rectify that issue by spending a week with each of my gaming systems in chronological order of release, and of course I am going to tell you about my experiences! 
So starting at the beginning, I spent a week playing games on the great granddaddy of video game consoles, the venerable Atari VCS 2600...
My 2600 is one of the iconic original ‘woody’ versions, and a six-switch variation at that, making it around 30 years old. For its age it is in fine shape, with all the switches fully functional and a reasonable RF picture output. It really is quite remarkable how well these old systems stand the test of time – can you imagine an XBOX 360 still working 30 years from now!? 
I don’t have a massive collection of games for the 2600, but I have tried to pick up the titles considered to be the classics, games like Combat, The Empire Strikes Back and Pitfall! Most of my games are cartridge only as it is virtually impossible to get boxed Atari games in good condition for a reasonable price - the majority of my games cost no more than a few quid each.
So 25-30 years down the line, what are these games like? Well, I have to say that a lot of the early Atari releases and some of the third-party offerings are pretty poor. The blocky graphics are a definite turn-off and a single game of titles like Demon Attack and Junior Pac-Man was enough for me to know I’d never play them again -they’re now up on Ebay! On the other hand the multiplayer action on offer in Combat, Video Olympics and Warlords means that while they look basic they will always have an appeal as easy-to-learn pick up and play party games.
One thing that’s very clear is that as the system aged, the game developers really got to grips with the limited hardware and continually pushed it to new heights. This is particularly apparent with the third-party releases from the early 80’s. While the early games were simplistic, single-screen affairs with blocky graphics and limited bleeps of sound, later games like Imagic’s Dragonfire and Tigervision’s Polaris offered more complex gameplay and aesthetics to match.
There is one name however that is synonymous with the very best games for the Atari 2600, and that name is Activision. The original third-party videogame publisher, formed by ex-Atari programmers, Activision was responsible for all of my favourite games for the 2600. Nearly every release offers technically impressive graphics and sound, and compelling gameplay that is as good now as it was 25 years ago. From the changing weather and transition from day to night in Enduro to the smooth vertical scrolling of River Raid, the programmers achieved miracles with the system, culminating with the marvel that is Pitfall II: The Lost Caverns with it’s continuous background music, water effects and inspirational platforming gameplay.
I played through the majority of my collection and without doubt my pick of the Activision bunch was Chopper Command, a great shoot em up that is a kind of combination between Defender and Missile Command as you protect a convoy of trucks from raiding planes and helicopters on a horizontally-scrolling landscape. My crowning achievement of the week was scoring over 10,000 on the game, which back in the 80’s would have allowed me to send off for one of the much-desired Activision patches. I even tried to buy myself one from Ebay but somebody else wanted it more than me... 
So to summarise, my week with Woody was both educational and enjoyable. If you can pick an Atari 2600 up at the right price, I highly recommend getting yourself a piece of gaming history – just make sure you pick up a stack of Activision titles to go with it! 
If you want to find out more about the Atari systems and games, why not visit the excellent AtariAge site?