Want One: the Atari Arcade

By Shane Breslin

When you think Atari you think of hour upon childhood hour spent in front of the TV screen with your first gaming computer? It’s lovely nostalgia, right? Well, wrong, thanks to the Atari Arcade which opens up all those old games to the iPad generation.

Recently we had the iCade, which allowed iPad users to play plenty of old games on their latest piece of Apple kit.

But where the iCade looked a bit garish, the Atari Arcade, with the chic appearance and simple Atari symbol that so many of us just can’t help but associate with pure happiness, looks potentially great.

Arcade play, at your fingertips

Manufactured by Discovery Bay Games, who’ve specialised in apps and accessories for tablets, the Atari Arcade takes your Atari experiences on the iOS to a new high.

You’re able to play the old favourites through the Atari Greatest Hits app which has been downloaded three million times, but which do you think is the more rounded gamer experience?

Anyway, this piece of equipment is specifically designed for that Greatest Hits app, although you'll need to sanction the console by downloading a tiny patch - you're prompted to do so, anyway, so it's a straightforward procedure.

The Atari Arcade is priced at $59.99 from the manufacturer's website, although best of luck if you try to purchase from there - we got as far as the insurmountable, never-the-twain-shall-meet problem of having to choose an American state - even though you're given the option of selecting Ireland from the country dropdown menu.

So it's another one of those instances where people in this part of the world don't really matter - you might well be able to break down the door with requests to open up international shipping, but in the world of instant gratification, waiting all that time for return emails exponentially reduces the possibility of the guys at DBG making a sale.

Anyway, shipping-related rant over. Back to the kit itself, and one of the real benefits is that the base doesn't need a power- or battery supply of its own - you can just fix your iPad in place out of the box and be up and running in double-quick time.

There are also handy little staples to prevent toppling tablet syndrome, a definite advantage - given how many readies your iPad set you back in the first place, you don't want to be threatening it with any over-exuberant joystick manoeuvres.

To finish off, here's a YouTube ad for the device. It doesn't tell you a whole lot more, but it does tend to whet the appetite.