LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Atari: Games
built 263 days ago
Atari.Org is a non-commercial service dedicated to the Atari home- and personal-computer users as well as the Classic Video Game enthusiasts all over the world. By offering the most up-to-date news, forums to exchange opinions, hints and support, a comprehensive search engine, web-hosting for Atari computer or video-game related pages as well as subdomains and email-forwarding, we are doing our best to give the Atari enthusiasts from all over the world a home on the web.
Source:
T[H]e popularity of the Atari 2600 VCS is what really began the video game movement. Developed by Atari and led by Nolan Bushnell, the Atari 2600 was released in 1977 after Atari merged with Warner Communications.
Source:
During this period, Atari Inc. continued to grow until it had one of the largest R&D divisions in Silicon Valley. However, it spent much of its R&D budget on projects that seemed rather out of place at a video game (or even home computer) company; many of these projects never saw the light of day. Meanwhile, several attempts to bring out newer consoles failed for one reason or another, although Atari Inc.'s home computer systems, the Atari 8-bit family, sold reasonably, if not spectacularly. Warner was more than happy anyway, as it seemed to have no end to the sales of the 2600, and Atari Inc. was responsible for over half of the company's income.
Source:
Atari released an improved version of the 2600 released in 1986, features a built in version of Asteroids. Backwardly compatible with the VCS and featured new joystick designs in the uk. Loads of arcade conversions such as Commando Ikari Warriors and Raiden. It's surprising it didn't do better as the games were much better than the 2600 versions. With backwards compatability built in - making a huge library of games readily available.
Source:
Interestingly enough, the Atari 2600 was sold in retail outlets until around 1991. Which makes it the only video game system marketed in three decades (70's, 80's, and 90's.) No other system can lay claim to that feat.
Source:
The programmers of many of Atari Inc.'s biggest hits grew disgruntled with the company for not crediting game developers and many left the company and formed their own independent software companies. The most prominent and longest-lasting of these third-party developers was Activision, founded in 1980, whose titles quickly became more popular than those of Atari Inc. itself. Atari Inc. attempted to block third-party development for the 2600 in court but failed,
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Games