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Nov 1, 2021 · 1. Atari made console design matter. Take a moment and soak in the sadness that is the design of other 2600-era video game consoles. Efforts from major companies like Magnavox, Mattel and Bally ...
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Atari's products and design principles span 50 years of gaming, consumer electronics, and digital art. Some of the most influential engineers and creatives in the world credit their time with Atari games for sparking their imaginations. Discover a story of heroes and teamwork in this timeline of company history.
Jun 26, 2024 · What is Atari and how did it change the world? Atari, founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, was a pioneer in arcade games, home video game consoles, and home computers. With products like Pong and the Atari 2600, Atari played a significant role in shaping the electronic entertainment industry from the 1970s to the mid-1980s.
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Long before the Nintendo Switch or the PlayStation 5, video games took a much simpler form. Atari was a pioneer in American gaming that shaped childhood memories and future gaming consoles alike.
While it may not necessarily have been the “golden age” of gaming, the Atari days helped make what the gaming world is today, experts and former Atari diehards say.
"I don’t know if I’d say it was the golden age, and I might reserve that for when the Nintendo Entertainment System came out and took gaming to the next level, but I‘d definitely say that the Atari days kicked it off," said Chris Spear, the host of the podcast, Chefs Without Restaurants, in an email interview with Lifewire.
The original Atari was founded in 1972 and was known for arcade coin-op games and home video game consoles like the Atari 2600: a console where you could swap out different games to play (an entirely new concept at the time).
Asteroids, Combat (which technically had 27 games in one), Crystal Castles, and Space Invaders all were Atari staples in its hey-day. The people behind these games were always trying to experiment with new ideas and new concepts.
Michael Albaugh worked in the coin-op division at Atari from 1976-2000, where he was involved with games like Pool Shark, Ultra Tank, and Atari Football.
"It was interesting because there were a whole lot of things that we were trying there," he told Lifewire in a phone interview. "We would put games out on a field test to watch players react to gaming."
"I did a bit of work on a game I think should have been produced that was a game called Beat Head that I took over from Bonnie Smithson," he said. "Someone described [the game] as head-to-head Q*bert."
Beat Head was a multiplayer prototype game where players had to jump on all of their specific colored tiles before their opponent did. Ultimately, Atari’s field tests didn’t work out with the game.
For those who only know Atari from the games they played, the mention of “Atari” conjures up memories of playing video games with friends at a young age.
"I have fond memories of sitting on the floor in friends' basements playing Real Sports Baseball," John Frigo, the digital marketing lead at My Supplement Store, wrote to Lifewire in an email. "I enjoyed the simplicity of Atari being able to pick up a controller and instantly know how to play a game and pick it up right away."
Even today, the Atari ways of gaming are still very much alive for some.
I‘d definitely say that the Atari days kicked it off.
"To this day, Raiders of the Lost Ark for the [Atari] 2600 is probably the hardest game to beat," Spear said.
What players miss about Atari games was the old-school gaming style and memories of playing a game surrounded by friends.
May 9, 2024 · This revolutionary console, often dubbed the “granddaddy of home video game consoles,” offered a wider range of games on swappable cartridges. Titles like Space Invaders, Pac-Man, and the iconic Atari 2600 version of Super Mario Bros. cemented Atari’s dominance in the market. The early 1980s became known as the “golden age” of Atari ...
Aug 21, 2008 · "The title of an Atari VCS game I programmed called Hunt & Score was also later marketed by Atari under the title A Game of Concentration. In the early days of the VCS, Atari frequently changed the cart titles for games marketed under the Sears Tele-Games brand. Hunt & Score was called Memory Match for Sears." xxv - Alan Miller
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Mar 3, 2021 · Atari, a name synonymous with the dawn of video gaming, stands as a testament to innovation and perseverance in the ever-evolving world of interactive entertainment. From its humble beginnings in the early 1970s to its impact on modern gaming, Atari's journey is a fascinating tale of technological advancement, market shifts, and cultural influence.
