Retro Games Consoles come to Swindon (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Retro Games Consoles come to Swindon

10:27am Wednesday 14th February 2007 in Swindon By Raeanne Nightingale

A new exhibition is now in place at the Museum of Computing celebrating 35 years of working computer games consoles.

The show charts the machines, the companies and the games characters that are now part of gaming history, with many blasts from the past on display including the Atari 2600 and the Magnavox Oddessey.

'Pong to Playstation' showcases the earliest and most unusual machines that ever graced a living room, from the world's first TV tennis game through the rise of gaming companies such as Atari, Nintendo, Sega and Sony. In total, more than 40 of the best-loved consoles and accessories will be on display.

Throughout the exhibition there will be a number of hands-on machines allowing adults to relive their youth and children to play classic games that people still rave about today.

The original Super Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog and Space Invaders are just some of the games available on original 1980s machines.

And no games exhibition would be complete without the much loved Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and its Japanese equivalent, the Famicom. games fans are also able to rave over one of the most groundbreaking controllers for the NES, the Nintendo Powerglove. Featured in the 1980s film 'The Wizard' the Powerglove was the ultimate NES accessory and is highly sought after by collectors today.

Curator of the museum, Simon Webb, said: "People have a great emotional attachment to their first games console, hopefully we can recreate that sense of fun and wonder that we felt back then."

Curator Simon Webb

Curator of the museum, Simon Webb, said: "People have a great emotional attachment to their first games console, hopefully we can recreate that sense of fun and wonder that we felt back then."

As well as playing the vintage consoles, visitors will be able to explore the design of game characters and build their own or existing characters from Lego.

The exhibition is open daily, is free of charge and runs until early August 2007.