Play it again, Sam! The XE-Game System (XEGS)
Here we go again. Do you remember 1982?
In 1982 Atari released the Atari 5200 SuperSystem, a stripped down Atari 400/800
home computer.
In 1987, Atari went this way again. Basically, they took an Atari 800XE
(Europe), or an Atari 65XE (NTSC) respectively, made some minor modifications to
the PCB and built a fancy 80's-style case around the rather outdated hardware.
The XEGS was Atari's first (and last) 8bit-home-computer with a detachable keyboard. Powering on the XEGS with the keyboard attached, Atari BASIC showed up,
making the XEGS programmable just like any other Atari home-computer.
Firing up the machine with no keyboard attached, automatically starts Atari's
home-computer version of "Missile Command".
The system was packaged with Console, one joystick, light gun and several software
packages.
Being fully compatible to the Atari 8bit line of home-computers, gamers could
rely on a huge library of software-titles.
As you can see, it's hard to define whether the "XEGS" is a computer
or a gaming system...