Twenty Six Years Ago Today

It was twenty six years ago today that I got my first videogame console, the Magnavox Odyssey 2. I had wanted an Atari, of course, but some slick salesman talked my parents into an Odyssey, no doubt because it seemed so much like a computer with that keyboard and all that.

I made the best of it and found a lot of really great games for it that even my Atari-owning friends seemed to enjoy. Years later, I still have that Odyssey 2 and enjoy new homebrew games for it, including this year's purchase of Mr. Roboto, one of the deepest games ever made for the machine.

Anyway, here's a then-and-now Christmas comparison of me, the Odyssey 2, and Alien Invaders - Plus:

Christmas 1981 :



Christmas 2007 :



Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and may all your youthful videogaming wishes come true this year.