Somewhere in a parallel universe where Atari is still king, this is what their flash drives look like. In our world USB flash drives are small and come in all sorts of shapes that are smaller than an Atari cartridge. Except this one.

The Atari USB flash drive comes with a USB cable to plug into your computer since the thing is too big to just hang off the USB port. It does evoke some nostalgia from those of us old enough to remember the Atari 2600.

Etsy seller Nilesz recycles Atari cartridges into wallets. So you can pay for that cartridge all over again in the now. Yep, that’s a real cartridge. It now holds money as well as 80s memories. Nilesz says that “the only piece of the original game not used in the wallet design is the screw.”

It’s a fat wallet, but that just means it holds more stuff. He even made a promo video for them below. They sell for $40 – $80 depending on the rarity/popularity of a game.

We love video games around here. Whether we’re playing the Xbox 360, the PS3 or even an old Atari 2600. We thought we would take a look at the history of gaming consoles from 1972 to the present. You grew up with the vintage consoles, you play the new ones, so take a walk down memory lane and revisit all your favorites from the massive list below.

The Atari Joystick design lends itself to all kinds of mods and uses, other then the joystick it started out as. The Atari Joystick lamp comes to mind. This ceramic candle holder is yet another incarnation of the classic controller.

It’s perfect for the geek who wants to fly his geek flag and at the same time set the mood. Just dim the lights. Play your favorite Atari game sounds soundtrack and light your joystick candle. What could be more romantic? Dinner is almost done and your date will arrive soon my nerd friend. The only question is, will she be game for playing some Space Invaders for dessert? Or will she run like all the others?

It sounds wrong, but I’ll just say it. I’ve never seen a joystick so huge in my life. Now that I have I want one. This has to be the most awesome lamp ever for a bachelor geek. You can make one just like it with a little hard work and some nerd enthusiasm.

You’ll need the enthusiasm as this DIY project is a bit more time consuming then some others. The creator was able to get it done with just a small supply of basic tools. If you have a band saw or a scroll saw, you should be able to knock one out faster. Check out the shade too. It’s brimming with retro Atari cartridge art.

A few weeks ago, we took a look at some pretty awesome geek cakes. Although we don’t necessarily promote tooth decay or stomachaches, here’s 25 more. All great confectionery nerd works of art, each and every one. Click through for a visual sugar rush.

Here at the ‘Brick we love retro game consoles almost as much as we love shiny gadgets. Combine vintage game consoles with papercraft and it’s geek overload. If we could, we would make sweet love to these awesome looking paper consoles, but alas, even with protection, it’s sure to lead to sensitive paper cuts that we dare not speak of. So we’ll settle for just admiring these babies from afar. Until we have time to make some that is.

Load these things in your color printer and fold up a vintage Atari 2600 to sit on your desk. Goes well with your HAL 9000. These patterns by Marshall Alexander feature 3D pop-outs and nice details that will get you feeling all geeky and nostalgic for crap graphics.

Do you miss such classics as Q-Bert and Pitfall? Chances are you’ve figured out by now that your vintage Atari Joystick won’t plug into your computer, no matter how you try to shave the connector into a rough USB shape. Lucky for you, Legacy Entertainment’s classic controller looks exactly like an Atari joystick, but it’s Windows / OS X / Linux compatible, and connects via USB. Supposedly, it will run with “nearly any emulator,” so get the 80’s tunes ready and get ready to play some old classics on your PC. Only $14.99.

I really liked Ghostbusters when I was a kid and Atari has some really good news. As Ray Parker would say, “Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!” the Ghostbusters game has found a publisher. Whether or not the game would make it was debatable after it was dropped from the lineup of the original game publisher.

Atari has announced that it will be bringing Ghostbusters: The Video Game to market in 2009 for six game systems. The game should be cool for those who grew up watching the movies. The original cast is back for the game lending likenesses and voices to the project.

There’s always room for dessert and nothing beats a fresh and cleverly made geek cake. In recent years “Geek cakes” have become an art form, hopefully not your pet name used by your significant other. One thing is certain, if geeks love a thing, chances are it will become a cake. So, we wanted to take a look at some of our favorite geek desserts and celebrate the clever bakers and icing artists that make geek birthdays and weddings just a bit more fun. Click through for cake and prepare to get hungry.

This is not my first console mod, but I think it’s the neatest. As far as I know it hasn’t been done before. I wanted to be able play Atari 2600 games like you play Guitar Hero… With a guitar. With this mod, you just pop in your favorite 2600 cartridge, and play the game on your guitar. The screen is right in front facing you as you hold it. Instead of strumming, just use the small joystick on the upper right, or for games like Breakout use the paddle controller below the screen. The fire button is the top button on the neck of the guitar, so yes, you really hold it in guitar fashion as you play.

I had originally intended to make an NES-Hero, taking advantage of all the guitar buttons, but didn’t have a spare laying around. Which was just fine with me because this Atari-Hero turned out just awesome. It took me about 2 months more or less, simply because it was hard to find the time with my duties here at the ‘Brick, but it’s finally finished. I incorporated actual pieces of the Atari console itself, like the faux woodgrain front panel with logo and the grill from the top of the console, even the cartridge slot itself. The circuit boards all had to be fabricated and custom shaped, then put in place. The Atari console combined with the circuit boards makes for a stunning look in person. (Sorry about the crappy pics. It’s so shiny it’s hard to get a good shot) More pics below.

Coffee tables just sit there and do nothing. They just wait for the stray drink and the occasional pair of feet and that’s about it. If you want a more adventurous coffee table, you could get yourself SparkFun’s LED coffee table, which took two years to build. It kicks the legs out from beneath other cofee tables with it’s ability to play a four-way game of cooperative Pong.

It uses 64 RGB serial matrices, 4 Atari controllers, and an LPC2106 dev board to create said game of Pong. Since it’s a one of a kind piece, you can’t just pick one up at the store. But if you’ve got about 2 years and some electronics experience, you can make one too. Or just admire this one.

Pong is hip again. Or should I say wrist? The Homemade Pong Watch was created by John, a lover of Pong who managed to compress all of the electronics for the watch into a trim 10mm-thick case. The 96×64 OLED display runs continuously and as John points out, there is no need to press a button to see the time. Battery life is 25 hours, so recharging is done every night. It looks absolutely worthy of my wrist in action. I would watch it play all day and get nothing done. Check out the video below. Excellent work.

Wood classes up almost any gadget. Even simple USB drives. But when you give the Wii a woodgrain makeover, the result is simply awesome. It’s as if the the old Atari woodgrain consoles merged with the Wii. Much better then boring Wii white. For now it’s just a concept design by Joe D, which is a shame. Nintendo would sell a ton of product.

Joe’s concept apparently has a layer of woodgrain veneer on the Wii-Mote, Nunchuk, even the Classic Controller and Nyko Perfect Shot. That’s sweet enough, but he also gave the controllers get some bright white backlit buttons and black paint to bring out the wood. Once you see design like this it’s hard to come back to reality and pick up your white wiimote.

Clean up on isle six, I just kicked your ass at Missile Command. How cool is this? This Milwaukee, Wisconsin grocery store has an atari section, where you can hang out and play, complete with period TV, wallpaper and furniture. It’s a great way to get the guys to do the shopping, I’ll say that.

The display includes a fully-functional Atari 2600(Newer black version), and a nice assortment of about 50 classic games just waiting to be stolen. Looks like the only detail from my childhood that they missed is having my mom stand there nagging me while I’m trying to play Space Invaders. Otherwise, it’s like being there. Note to the employees: That plant fails to hide the cords.