I stumbled across this YouTube video from 1981 when the Atari 2600 was in it's hay day, and Activision was churning out stellar title after stellar title.

Before there was Call of Duty, before there was Tony Hawk or Guitar Hero, there was Barnstorming, Stampede, and Ice Hockey (unless my eyes deceive me, the customer in the commercial is Phil Hartman).

Back in the early 80s games were designed and sometimes coded by a single person (apparently with a mustache).  Compare that to today's game industry where it takes a huge team and a large amount of money to create blockbuster titles for the next-generation consoles.

Activision had a community program where if you sent in photographic proof of a high score, they would send you a patch to put on your jean jacket (c'mon, that's where we all put our patches).  I remember taking a photo of my television because I got a high score in Chopper Command.  I don't have my patch or my jean jacket anymore.

God I feel old...