My daughters are about to turn 5 and 4. They aren't ready for Xbox-type games. Heck, they aren't even really ready for cable TV (which is why we don't subscribe to it right now--there are MadMen [Madison ave Men] who work 24/7 to find a way into my kids' heads and I'm going to do all I can to get there first).
But if my wife and I were going to turn them on to the wonders of "modern" gaming technology, I'd want them to start with this blast from the past Atari console. Why? It's simple, there is not a lot of violence to screen via ratings. Also, they might even come to appreciate the essence of "the game" as such and without all the emotional additives that come from a well-marketed, hi-tech production that is computer gaming as we know it today.
Link: Atari Invites Parents to Travel Back to the '70s.
Long past its prime, Pong -- that simple '70s video game with two paddles and a bouncing ball -- is back.
Thirty years after it was first introduced to American homes, Pong is part of a retro plug-and-play gaming console that Atari Inc. is selling to parents nostalgic for the homely, simple video games of their youth.
The company has shipped nearly 500,000 of the Atari Flashback 2, in a bet that kids raised on the Xbox and the Sony Playstation will take to rudimentary video games that, for most of them, are prehistoric. Whether today's kids will roll their eyes at the Atari Flashback 2 or join their parents on a trip down memory lane is still unknown.