ah, i was just about to post that one
also: xevious was a big thing for me. there are many many many others. countless hours spent. productively
we had to BEG as children, like, for months, to get an Atari 2600. $250.00 in monies. that was a LOT back then. i still have that system, with maybe 40-50 games. a few years ago, i trash picked a second system with some games, but i think i had them all. activision was the BOMB for game companies.
i have now, for almost all current systems/consoles, emulators for almost all that old atari stuff. rock. have some of the other older consoles, but a lot of those just don't run QUITE right.
we never did get the commodores, or intellivisions. i remember playing the original production pong in Sears once. later the intellivision came out, but i couldn't figure that one out and never liked it.
many other systems came and went, esp portables. could never afford those until i was an adult. the atari was KING in our house. was esp good at tank
mmm.
after college, i got a PS1. amazing system. still have it, and all the games. need to get a PS-SLIM at some point and archive it to make sure i can play the extensive library of PS1 discs i have.
PS2. got one. sweet. got LOTS of games for that. probably more than the PS2. good lord. loved that system even more, plus i could play allllll my PS1 games seamlessly. i REALLY stinks that sony took the ability away to play those games on the PS3. some of those games were AMAZING.
PS3. well, fall down time. not able to play older games (okay, it can manage a bunch of PS1 games oddly, badly, but most people don't know that, or have them anymore)... cannot do PS2 at all. lame. the set of games that are GOOD for the PS3 that you can't play elsewhere is VERY small. but it's a good blu-ray player and ideal for Netflix

cough.
PSP - got the original, and it's great. optical media. the later version with downloads? suck. have TONS of games. need to pull that out. good system, great games. the newest system i hear about doesn't have external media, more downloads? might be awesome, but might skip. decades has shown me that if i don't have carts or discs, it won't last.
nintendos... managed to completely ignore these until the Gamecube. even gameboys. never managed to get around to it. perhaps i thought they were too lame? later of course, i have a few gameboys, and even a DS. not interested in the latest ones though.
the WII is exceptional, and i hardly tough it... except in groups and parties. BLOCK smash or something, is really good, but it's also easily forgettable for some reason.
dreamcast! sweet! for $50-75 during their downfall, it was a good, if shortlived system. a few notable games.
sega! oh yeah. SAIGA! the original, up. never got into the later models.
XBOX. managed to skip that one.
XBOX 360. the king. so many good games.
advertainment:
http://www.watchmojo.com/index.php?id=9694 - video games as entertainment, advertising, and more... remember the spot video games? sweet. i have all the burger king xbox games. oh my. some of the best games game in cereal boxes
i esp like twitchy games, like geometry wars, and certain, games with control systems like that, from robotron to super smash tv, and beyond. lurve them.
quirky games. sony had some of the best ever games in terms of innovative and quirky and good, but nintendo made really PLAYABLE games.
smart phones and pads have really taking gaming to some cool places. i LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE tower defense games, and ipad has a lot. board games and touch screens? win. the ancient game of Go? cool! major popularity upgrade there. lots of resources.
and that's all i have time for. i could babble for days on this topic. i'm sure i've left too much out. now i'll have to ponder my old systems...
some friends gave me a pile of their old systems. someday, if i have the space (i doubt it these days), i'd like to have a room with monitors for my old systems. like a museum

or something.