Overview
The year was 1977, and most people had an old "Pong" game hooked up to their TV. Some had an Intellivision, but in Britain if you liked video games the Atari VCS (later renamed to the 2600) was your machine. The most exciting thing about the 2600, was that unlike other primitive games consoles, it allowed you to add extra games, using cartridges. It was first conceived in 1976, and the last console design was released in 1986. Because of the wide time span of the console, almost everyone has experienced the joys of a 2600.

Models
The Atari 2600 wasn't a futuristic games machine - it was more a piece of the furniture. They were incredibly heavy, due to the RF shielding, and the early models even had a wood panel at the front. You don't see that kind of style with an Xbox ;). There were a total of 26 different types of console, made by Atari and other officially licensed companies such as Sears.

Technical Specifications
CPU: 8-bit Motorola 6507 running at 1.19Mhz
RAM: 128 Bytes, in VLSI
ROM: 4K max (although crafty developers managed to circumvent this using a technique called "ROM bank switching")
Sound: Three sound channels for mono output
Two controller connectors

Accessories
The 2600 had a couple of interesting accessories, as well as the standard joystick, you could use controllers based around a dial instead of a D-Pad, Atari also released what it called Atari Space Age Joystick, which was based around a pistol grip. A company called Exus even released a device called the Foot Craz, which looked and worked like a dance pad. The 2600 also has the dubious honor of being the only console to have a controller that is controlled by the user 'leaning' in the direction they want the character to move, interesting, but not really very effective.