Screw the 5200. I spent about three hours getting an emulator working on my PSP under CFW 5.00 something M33. It spat out Zaxxon at full speed to my C=1701 monitor, but that's the only game that worked so well. The emulator thinks its a computer, though. Good job, Atari, you have now confused the definition of "computer" with that of "video game console", and you didnt need Jack Tramiel for this travesty.

The controllers suck, the switchboxes are hard to find, and all the good Activision titles from the 2600 now suck. What a waste of shelf space. I could fit half a LaserActive into that space and have useful features like karaoke and movie playback, and (gasp!) working controllers! The best thing? If I don't want it to act like a computer, all I gotta do is remove the PC pack! Ah, no wait...the big boys like the LaserActive and the Halcyon have another feature, too...automatic wallet thinning. You don't get that with a 5200 until you've shelled out for new sticks a time or two, now do you? I suppose one could hollow out the shell and use it to store PSP games, couldn't they?

Seriously, the more I am exposed to this sorry excuse of a game system, the more I realize what it is: Junk. There's only one reason one would want anything to do with this system, and it's an expensive green cartridge. Even that's been mitigated a bit, though, with the release of part of that same game on newer systems.

whatever happened to simplicity? You should just be able to plug in a game and go. Hit a switch or two, pick up a joystick, and play. Forget having to load some overlays, tell the thing you want to insert a cartridge, then tell it what's in the cartridge, I dunno, I ain't opened it up to count the little chips in there so how am I supposed to know? then tell it that no, you don't use a computer keyboard with this game...screw it! If I wanna play a 2600 game on my PSP, it's as simple as throw it in the system, hit a couple controls, and dump it straight into the Stella folder on my memory stick.

Even the Pro System knows it's a game console and not a computer. And the controllers don't break! It ain't got the best library of games, but when you hit the power switch, at least it runs!

I know I probably hacked off a fanboi or two, but face it: your system sucks...hard. I shouldn't have to have a computer science degree and an electronics background just to play a game. Average Joe doesn't have all that, and he sure didn't have all that back in 1982. Got some nasty response? Cram it in your cart slot, 'cause this jury is done decidin' that any system that takes up that much space needs to do something useful instead of collecting dust.

Rant mode off.