Granny Goes Berzerk
I was sitting at my computer tonight, crunching sugar-free Lifesavers (I recommend cherry - tastes like old cough drops), wondering what I would write about when Yahoo recommended a video to me: the top 10 worst video game commericals of all time.
Okay. I remember our family's game systems: Odyssey (you put a plastic screen up on the tv to be the game board), Ataris 2600 and 5200, our first PC clone (the Franklin: a gigantic 64K RAM's worth of processing might). I even met Nolan Bushnell, the founder of Atari (que the choir) at a Young Entrepreneur's conference while I was in grade school. I also spent tons of quarters at several arcades attempting to master Asteroids, Sinistar, Star Wars, Q*bert, and many others.
So do you accept my Geek Credentials?
Anyway, I don't remember actually seeing Atari 2600 commercials. I'm sure some were on the tv, but game systems were always an early-adopter, copy-the-neighbor kind of thing. Either you were the cool kid that got it first or you visited your friends and bugged your parents until they bought one for you, too. So much has changed 
Well, the pictures in the video clip are grainy, but worth watching. It's amazing to see Activision morph pixelated tv into live action to push Just How Fun That Skiing Game Will Be (sucked, by the way). My favorite is the grandson that challenges his Grandma to a game of Berzerk. She rushes down the steps to her house, ready to race her grandson to the arcade. The grandson reveals the catch, pulling out a wrapped Atari 2600 Berzerk cartridge. You don't have to go to the arcade anymore. You can duel Granny in the comfort of your own home.
The funny thing is that Gabriel and Hannah's "granny" (Bubbie - my mom) and I did duke it out. We kept a pad near the gaming tv to keep track of who had the highest Video Pinball score (me). One night, I wracked up so many free plays and points that I refused to go to bed. I was staying up and posting an unbeatable high score (unbeatable because no one would have the focus and, well, free time to beat my score). Legend, that night, at the Bach house.
Definitely recommended viewing. Makes me want to hit the game cabinet Janette built me two Chanukah's ago. A friendly game of Joust, anyone?
-- Dad
P.S. I know: two video game posts in less than 2 weeks. The nostalgia is killing me.
