Technologies

I Grew Up on Atari. Now I’m Reliving My Childhood on the Gamestation Go

Commentary: Wander down Gen X gamer memory lane with 200 games, including Pac-Man, Asteroids, Berserk and Centipede.

On Christmas Day, 1982, I unwrapped my very first video game console, an Atari 2600. Although it was released in 1977, it was new to me, and I’m pretty sure the reason my parents got it for me was because of a 2600 game released around that time: E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial. My parents knew I was obsessed with the movie, a transformative film that I almost missed because I was so scared to watch it.

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Seven-year-old me was ecstatic. With my gigantic brown glasses atop my nose, wearing a red E.T. shirt, I had one of the best Christmases ever. Despite my love for the movie, I didn’t get far in the game, which left me frustrated and confused. I had no idea it wasn’t because I was unskilled, but because it was bad. Even today, people find the game overly complex and impenetrable to play.

(How bad? Copies of the game were literally buried for decades because it sold so poorly.)

The Atari 2600 came bundled with Combat and two controllers. I played it for years, starting down the road of becoming a dedicated gamer like millions of other kids of the era. If you had asked me a few months ago how many games I remembered from the 2600 or its subsequent successors, the Atari 5200 and 7800, I would have had a hard time answering. I could have named maybe a dozen titles at most.

So, when Atari lent me a Gamestation Go handheld gaming console to try out, I was shocked that dozens of titles came rushing back to me. The moment I saw their cover art, animated screenshots, or just their titles, memories flooded back quickly. I played so many of these.

And the ones I didn’t get to own or try, I pined over, pointing at them at the store or poring over whatever game magazines I could get my hands on.

Asteroids and Berserk and Centipede and Night Driver and Yar’s Revenge — so, so many games.

Old games, new console

The Gamestation Go, which sells for $179, collects about 200 of those Atari home console games. But it also includes versions of arcade games, including Crystal Castles, Food Fight and Tempest, plus seven Balls of Steel pinball tables, Classic and 2600 versions of Pac-Man, and games from Jaleco and Piko Interactive such as Bases Loaded and Bad Street Brawler. Many of the games can be enjoyed in multiplayer mode by connecting a game controller.

It’s a wide-ranging set of games, and Atari packages it in a nice hardware setup with a larger screen than the original Nintendo Switch.

There are no detachable controllers like on the Switch, but the crazy array of controller options makes up for it: the usual D-pad and shoulder buttons, but also a dial you can rotate (good for games like Breakout), a trackball wheel (for games like Centipede and Crystal Castles) and even a physical number pad, handy for some Atari 5200 games and if Mattel’s Intellivision titles ever get added.

It features an HDMI port, three USB-C ports, a headphone jack, and a micro-SD slot for side-loading additional games. A solid, but flimsy-looking kickstand can prop up the system. An extra set of small buttons gets you Settings, Credit, Select and Start. Instructions for using the game system, such as navigating in and out of titles, are clear and available from the main menu.

You can perform system updates via built-in Wi-Fi, but there’s no app store to buy or download additional games.

Retro vs. modern

The biggest challenge I faced during my time with the Gamestation Go was devoting time to games from eras past, and ignoring the siren call of modern games on modern consoles and computers.

Did I really want to blast an endless downward cascade of Centipedes or play very slow-paced stick-figure Tennis when I could be finishing Act II of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 or hopping onto a Marvel Rivals match with my friends?

Some of the gameplay of the old Atari games, and a few of their Recharged revamps, still hold up incredibly well. Missile Command still raises your pulse no matter which version you try, and it’s fun to control with the included trackball, even if its marble size makes it a challenge to use with as much precision as the larger one you might remember from the arcade.

The Balls of Steel pinball tables look and play great, even if viewing them on a horizontal screen presents a challenge to gameplay. Tempest with the dial or trackball controls is still a twisted joy. I found myself particularly drawn to arcade games I either missed entirely, such as Cisco Heat All American, or that I remember dropping many, many quarters into, like Asteroids.

Missing in action? E.T., the game that started it all for me. But there’s Steeplechase, with its sorta-horse animations, and Ninja Golf, which is as weird as it sounds.

Getting bogged down with E.T.

I’m not a big emulation player, though I’ve been curious about the possibilities of home arcade cabinets that allow you to add many more games than those that come standard.

The Gamestation Go makes it easy to access retro games, provided you have access to ROM files and a microSD card to store them on. The process involves creating a set of folders to store the files in and then booting from the microSD card when the Gamestation starts up.

In my testing, the Gamestation handled Sega Genesis and Atari 2600 titles like a champ. However, online reports vary about how well it reproduces games from more advanced consoles, such as the original Sony PlayStation or the Sega Dreamcast.

There’s some controversy over ROMs, digital copies of game software. Most ROMs are copies of games that are still under copyright, meaning the original creators, such as Nintendo or Sega, legally own them. Downloading or distributing ROMs without permission is illegal in many countries, even if you own the original game. That said, some ROMS have been available on the Internet Archive, and there’s no shortage of sites that collect files and descriptions for games across many game consoles.

Atari offers this capability to play ROMs in the hopes that you will find legal means to purchase ROMs or only use ROMs from games where you already own a cartridge of a digitally purchased version.

For the sole purpose of seeing whether E.T. was what I remembered as a young boy, I found a copy of the game after trying unsuccessfully to find a way to purchase it as a digital file or even a physical copy with a ROM included.

E.T.’s visage shows up on the title screen as a chiptune version of the John Williams theme plays. When I started it up, I got goosebumps.

But that tingly feeling was gone almost instantly when the game started. I instantly fell into a bog. I tried to chase down tiny dots meant to represent Reese’s Pieces candies, but got repeatedly accosted by FBI agents and scientists. Down the bog I went. Again and again. Soon, I was dead, my alien body turned white to indicate loss of life. The frustration I felt back then was now combined with an adult’s annoyance at how poorly the game was designed. How dare they rush this game out to entice parents of kids like 1980s me? Who thought this might be fun?

After a few more annoyed minutes, I shut the game off. There’s probably an online walkthrough on how to easily beat E.T., but I didn’t even bother. I was done for another few decades, at least.

E.T. for Atari 2600, like so many other things, belongs in the past.

Should you buy a Gamestation Go?

As E.T. proves, not all the early games were good. Many of them were and continue to be garbage. (Sorry, Swordquest.)

But there are lots of gems bundled into the Gamestation Go that draw you in, even if it’s only for short bursts of time before you get tired of the repetition and want to play something from this century.

But what a warm wave of feelings the Gamestation Go will give you the first time you boot up and look at that long list of titles, games you once may have wished and wished for and spent weeks trying to master!

Is it worth buying? It really depends on how much nostalgia is worth to you these days, or whether kids in your family are curious about retro gaming and emulation.

My inner 7-year-old, the one who would have been in 8-bit heaven with so many games to play, says you’d be a fool not to. But grown-up me has some reservations.

Technologies

The New Year Will Kick Off With a Supermoon. Here’s When to See It

January’s Wolf Moon will be the final of four consecutive supermoons.

Supermoons tend to come in packs, and Earth has just experienced three of them in a row, dating back to October. The final supermoon of this sequence is happening on Jan. 3, and it also happens to be the first supermoon of 2026. Skygazers will want to catch this one, since the next one won’t occur until next November.

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The moon tends to spend three to four months at a time in perigee, a fancy term that means it’s as close to Earth as its elliptical orbit will allow. During this time, humans refer to full moons as a supermoon. Since the moon is physically closer to Earth than it normally is, a full moon appears brighter and larger in the sky.

The difference can be a moon that is up to 14% bigger and 30% brighter than a micromoon, which occurs when the moon is at apogee, or the furthest point away from Earth. That brightness is the real differentiator, as a supermoon is bright enough to light up your backyard, especially if there is snow on the ground.

The odds of this are pretty good, as it is expected to snow in a few parts of the US between Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve.

To see the moon at its brightest, you’ll want to stay up late on Jan. 2 or wake up very early on Jan. 3. According to The Farmer’s Almanac, January’s supermoon will rise from the eastern horizon and streak across the sky to settle in the west around sunrise. The moon will reach peak illumination at 5:03 a.m. ET. It should still be dark outside for the entire US during this time, so everyone will have a chance to see it.

If you can’t due to weather or other engagements, the Wolf Moon will be over 90% full from Dec. 31 through Jan. 5, which gives you almost a week at near-maximum illumination.

Since the moon is the largest and brightest object in the night sky, you also won’t need any special magnification devices to see it. However, a good pair of binoculars or a telescope makes the moon’s surface details easier to see, and helps photographers take some impressive moon shots.

The full moon in January is commonly called the Wolf Moon, and it’s due to increased activity from wolves during this time. Not only does January mark the beginning of the wolf’s winter mating season, but wolves are also typically more active during the dusk and dawn hours, and dusk happens pretty early in the day, right after the winter solstice. In the old days, this meant that people were much more likely to see a wolf or hear wolves howling during January.

Technologies

The FCC’s Foreign Drone Ban Is Bad News for Anyone Who Wants a DJI Device

The US government is making good on an anticipated ban on the import of foreign-made drones, including those from the world’s top seller.

If a DJI drone was on your list to buy going into 2026, you might want to act quickly. The Federal Communications Commission has made good on an anticipated ban on the import of foreign-made drones, including those made by DJI, the world’s top seller of the flying devices.

The FCC on Monday added uncrewed aircraft systems and their components that are produced in a foreign country to its Covered List, a record of gear and services deemed to «pose an unacceptable risk to the national security of the US.»

According to the FCC’s public notice, that includes but isn’t limited to data transmission devices, flight controllers, sensors and cameras, batteries, motors and other drone components.

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In late October, the agency voted 3-0 to «close loopholes» that allow tech deemed a «national security risk» to be sold in the US. In plain English, the US government cleared the path to give DJI the same treatment it gave Chinese phone-maker Huawei, effectively banning its products from the American market.

In a statement, DJI said it was disappointed by the decision. «While DJI was not singled out, no information has been released regarding what information was used by the Executive Branch in reaching its determination,» a spokesperson said. «Concerns about DJI’s data security have not been grounded in evidence and instead reflect protectionism, contrary to the principles of an open market.»

DJI said it remains committed to the US market and that it’s possible future products could be cleared for launch here at the discretion of the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security.

Drones already in the hands of US consumers aren’t impacted: «This action does not affect any previously-purchased drone. Consumers can continue to use any drone they have already lawfully purchased or acquired,» the FCC said in a fact sheet about the change.

In its announcement, the government cited upcoming high-profile events including 2026’s FIFA World Cup and the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics as mass-gathering events that could be put at risk by drones.

«The federal government is taking additional actions to safeguard Americans and restore American airspace sovereignty,» the FCC said.

The FCC has also been considering a separate ban on TP-Link routers, but that was not included in this December update to its Covered List.

DJI asked for a security audit before any ban

In October, DJI told CNET that the FCC appeared to be making its decision «without any evidence of wrongdoing or the right to appeal.»

Adam Welsh, head of global policy at DJI, said the company has repeatedly said it would be open to audit, but that «more than 10 months have now passed with no sign that the process has begun.»

«The US government has every right to strengthen national security measures, but this must go hand in hand with due process, fairness, and transparency,» Welsh said at the time.

Will DJI drone owners need to give them up?

Because the ban applies to new sales, not drones that have already been sold, a DJI drone you already own is still be legal to use — at least under current rules.

Government agencies, however, were already prohibited from purchasing or using drones from Chinese companies, including DJI.

DJI’s drones consistently rank high in their product category. In January, they dominated CNET’s list of best drones for 2025. But some of the company’s newest products, such as the DJI Mavic 4 Pro, haven’t been available for sale in the United States.

Even before the policy change, some DJI products were hard to find. The website UAV Coach has posted a guide to the bans and reports that, due to inventory issues, most DJI drone models were sold out at retailers.

Technologies

AT&T Just Revealed Which Holiday Has the Most Calls. And No, It’s Not Christmas.

You might be able to guess the biggest texting day of the year, but the Holiday with the most phone calls gave me chills.

The holidays are a time for connecting with friends and family, either by gathering in person or checking in remotely. So, naturally, you might think phone calls would be at their highest during the festive stretch at the end of the year. But according to new figures shared with CNET by AT&T, another holiday got the highest number of calls in 2025. Which one?

The answer might give you chills: AT&T’s subscribers conjured up around 651 million phone calls on… Halloween. The company shared no other data besides the massive number, leading me to wonder why the spooky season inspired so many calls. Lost trick-or-treaters calling their parents for rides? People in costumes at parties accidentally butt-dialing their friends? Poltergeists pilfering people’s phones? Only the spirits truly know.

Despite that one-day call volume, texting is vastly more popular than phone calls over the course of the year. Through Dec. 9, 2025, the network registered almost three times more texts than calls: 525 billion texts sent vs. 181 billion calls made during the year.

And the top texting day? Dec. 1, 2025, with around 2.3 billion (specifically 2,264,041,461) messages sent.

These figures represent traffic on AT&T’s mobile network, which does not include its home or business broadband services. And, of course, it’s a snapshot of just one provider. AT&T has around 119 million subscribers, according to Wikipedia.

When you’re looking at phone plans, even unlimited phone plans, using tens of gigabytes of data during a month sounds like a lot. But at the network level, the scale is staggering, even in limited areas.

For example, AT&T also broke out its three largest data events in 2025: Mardi Gras (March 4) logged 57.5 terabytes; South-by-Southwest (SXSW) (March 7 to 15) went through 34.1 terabytes; and the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix (May 4) burned 24 terabytes. (One terabyte is roughly equal to 1,000 gigabytes.)

Overall, across all of AT&T’s networks — mobile, broadband and enterprise — the company reported average data traffic of 1 exabyte per day. That’s 1 million terabytes.

With massive communications infrastructure built over the last few decades by AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and others, we’re likely long past the days of phone networks getting clogged by the surge of calls on Christmas Day.

So make a point of calling your family this holiday, or at least send a text. The network should be able to handle it.