I used to wear a BonePhone while skiing. It was pretty good, but not as good as a Walkman. They also weren’t as personal, others around you could hear the music. They were good for outside stuff, but not for wearing on buses and such.
The first time I heard a Walkman was while I was playing Star Raiders on an Atari 2600. I was deep in the game, and a friend stuck his new Walkman’s headphones on me as I played. He had Switched on Bach playing. I was transported to another—electronic—world. I didn’t come back until the tape came to an end. The Zylons never had a chance.
A couple of year ago I took my old Super Pong down to our local videogame center, where kids go to rent time on PS3s and XBox360s. The owner and I decided to see what a couple of his “regulars” would make of the ancient game. We hooked it up to a TV/Monitor and showed it to them.
I saw them throwing “this is soooo lame” glances back and forth, so I taunted them until one of them picked up a controller to play me. After a while the other teen was giving him a bad time, so I said, “Think you’re hot, Halo-breath? You’re pretty tough there with no paddle controller in your hand. Let’s see you put your money where your mouth is!” and I handed him the controller.
Within a few minutes the two of them were going at it just like we did so many years ago. They were smack talking each other and having a great time playing the games on the Super Pong. All the teens that came through had to give it a try.
Atari 2600 and Super Pong are great.