In the name of research I've scored a cheap woodgrain 2600 from ebay and will conduct some serious playtesting of the games mentioned in Racing The Beam, starting off with Combat, Pac-Man and Space Invaders. Then it's onto Empire Strikes Back. Even E.T. will be tested. It's gonna be a tough job :)

Anyhows, there are still applications been made for the 2600, albeit in a homebrew capacity. For instance, Atari 2600 OS, a point and click GUI with Pong embedded is a marvel of minimalism. While the 2600 Full Midi interface allows direct control of the VCS audio for making music, if you're into the gritty low-bit sound!

Anomie
An experimental art piece showing the journey of an amnesiac from a healthy state of mind to a state of uncertainty. Through a route of non-linear interactivity, the user helps guide the character to the reason of his ill health and the incident that caused it.

M.A.M.M.Y.
M.A.M.M.Y. (mass audience multimedia-media yeah) is a social networking site for the creative students of DKIT, where they can communicate, collaborate and display their work. It uses bluetooth to beam recently uploaded content to students mobile phones.

R.E.A.C.H.
The R.E.A.C.H. (Routine Education for Autistic Children at Home) team produced an e-learning CD-ROM for autistic children to show them how to get ready for school in the morning. Their research found that autistic children are visual thinkers so it uses a cartoon based approach to effectively communicate it's message.

Delirium
Delerium generates a visual representation of the current mood of the user using music and colour. The users temperature is recorded and inputted into the computer, at which point images and a piece of music appears and floats around the walls of the room. Questions appear onscreen that the user answers, after which these answers are compared and contrasted with the temperature reading.

The Land Of Luna
An exploratory game aimed at 8 to 9 year old girls. The game is from a first person perspective. The user plays the character of Lana who is transported to the world inside her snow globe, where she must collect a series of objects in different levels to save her friend Noah. There is no time limit on the game, so as to encourage the user to explore the world and interact with the characters.

Reuben Chinaski
An interactive exploratory autobiography for the digital age. We see the main character, Reuben Chinaski, on his deathbed. He is too weak to write his own biography so instead he tells the user about the ups and downs of his life. The user is free to explore parts of Reuben's life in a non-linear fashion by selecting various objects in the room and letting Reuben explain what the object means to him through filmed narrated memories.

Seven Deadly Sins
Purge your soul of the seven deadly sins by engaging with this interactive experience. Memorize sound sequences inside the confession box while hit with some far out imagery.

Tactical Control Force
'Watch tomorrow's news today", in TCF you control a live newsfeed by taking place in a series of games. The outcome of these tests shapes the narrative. A real adrenaline rush as you try to avert a national emergency in real time. The installation for this piece is a sort of survival bunker / command post, which helps intensify the atmosphere further.

Zeppelin's Universe
This game's target audience is kids in a public waiting room who are feeling restless. The main character, Mikey, goes into a dream state where he meets Zeppelin the Wizard. He has four tasks to accomplish to allow him to return to reality, or else he will be trapped in Zeppelin's Universe forever.

The reporter created an avatar for himself and interviewed the owners of two businesses (a pub and a promotions agency) first in cyberspace (where they have built 3d representations of their premises) and then in the real world (meatspace).

It was interesting to see how they represented themselves online. The interviewer looked like fairly like himself, same haircut, suit and even had his microphone. The lady from the promotions agency wasn't wearing her glasses online, but the pub guy looked nothing like his avatar (no offence btw if you're reading this!).

There's a video link to the report here (about halfway down the page).