In the late 1970s and early ’80s, the toy most coveted by kids was the Atari 2600 Video Computer System. While the graphics seem rudimentary by today’s near photo-realistic 3D gaming standards, when the VCS was released for Christmas of 1977, it was revolutionary to be able to interact with your TV set in such a way.

In fact, Atari set the whole video-game craze in motion with its 1972 coin-operated arcade game Pong. Even though Nutting Associates technically produced the first arcade computer game, 1971’s Computer Space, no one paid attention to this new form of entertainment until the game’s creator, Nolan Bushnell, formed a new company of his own called Atari and released Pong. During the arcade years that followed, Atari made several coin-operated hits: Breakout, Atari Football, Asteroids, Battlezone, Missile Command, Centipede, Dig Dug, Pole Position, Marble Madness, Gauntlet, and even Star Wars.

Atari also did not introduce the first home video-gaming console, but it did make the most successful one of the era. Kids would cram around TVs in rec rooms, fighting over the b...

At the height of its success in 1982, Atari introduced the new 5200 system. Even though the company was advertising its games during prime Saturday morning cartoon time, Atari now faced tough competition from the Commodore 64 and ColecoVision. Atari faded out of fashion by 1985, when the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was introduced.

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Recent News: Atari Video Games

Source: Google News

Why Superman Fails As a Video Game Character
PopMatters, June 19th

Like the infamous E.T. cartridge for the Atari 2600, Superman 64 is often held up as one of the worst games of all time. Admittedly, the game just featured bad gameplay and bad controls, but its handling of the problem of Superman's vulnerability was...Read more

Sony Won E3 (But That Doesn't Matter)
Wired, June 19th

If we take Sony's announcements at face value, gamers can treat PlayStation 4 exactly as if it were an Atari 2600. Buy games, pop them in, sell them when you're done. You can opt in to the online services or downloadable games, but these are extra ...Read more

On World Refugee Day, building a home for those forced to leave theirs behind
Reuters AlertNet, June 18th

The scale of the Syrian refugee crisis is now so vast that our staff at World Vision are in a race against the clock to lay 7 miles of piping and dig in 2,600 septic tanks, each the size of a small car. These pipes will deliver more than two Olympic...Read more

Atari basically wins E3
Boston.com, June 13th

Amid all the high-tech, visually-stimulating display booths at the E3 computer and video game expo in Los Angeles is one very different booth. It kind of looks like a living room from 1982... complete with what appears to be an old Atari 2600. And in...Read more

Canadian company searches for Atari 2600 ET video game in New Mexico landfill
10News, June 6th

ALAMOGORDO, N.M. - A New Mexico city commission agreed to allow a Canadian studio to search a landfill where old, terrible Atari games are rumored to be buried. Alamogordo commissioners decided last week that they will allow Fuel Industries to search ...Read more

Atari Landfill: ET GAMES RESURFACE – Angry Video Game Nerd, Atari 2600 ...
ringsidereport.com (blog), June 5th

Hello, is it me you're looking for? Remember when that FOOL Lionel Ritchie sang that terrible song? Well, I'm not looking for that assclown…I'm looking for the underrated Atari game “E.T.” There is now a company in Canada that are going to search the ...Read more

Film company to investigate the Atari 2600 ET landfill urban legend
T3, June 3rd

A Canadian film company has secured the rights to excavate a site in the Nevada desert rumoured to be the final resting place of more than 3.5 million copies of ET for the Atari 2600. According to krqe.com, a deal has been struck that will see Canadian...Read more

Alamogordo approves Atari excavation
KRQE, May 30th

The Atari 2600 version of the hit movie E.T. was so unplayable, millions of copies went unsold with millions more returned. Legend has it Atari needed to dump the extra merchandise and extra consoles as the industry crashed in 1983. So they made a deal...Read more