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Nov 1, 2021 · 2. Atari introduced third party developers. Little mentioned, but of vast importance in the annals of Atari history is the company’s pioneering efforts in third-party game development.
- Scott Bernberg
Dec 22, 2021 · Atari managed to hang on for a number of years, but it finally died in its original form (according to IGN) when its 1993 Jaguar console failed. Atari still exists today, but after multiple bankruptcies and splits, it involved itself, according to the Gamer, with forays into online gambling and hotels. It is now seeking to re-establish itself ...
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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.
Nov 25, 2024 · The ‘video game crash of 1983’, also known as the ‘Atari shock’, marked the rapid decline of the US video game industry, including a $500 million loss for Atari. The success of Atari in the late 70s led to dozens of copycat companies, flooding the market with consoles of varying quality.
Nov 21, 2017 · Yet, for whatever reasons, it is rarely revered as such, possibly because Atari flamed out so quickly or maybe because video games are still slighted in status.
Jun 1, 2021 · Game developers flocked to the pioneering platform, churning out new titles. But most games developed for Atari were not Pac-Man-level quality, and that ultimately led to the platform’s demise. New research from Maryland Smith pinpoints the best strategies for today’s platforms to curate lots of high-quality content and avoid Atari’s fate.
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Jan 27, 2013 · Atari 2600. The infamous video games crash of 1983 dealt Atari a heavy blow, and the rise of Nintendo in the console market was the beginning of the end for its hardware ambitions, but it endured ...
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