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  • What are you reading?

    What are you reading these days?
    I'm reading Atari Inc. - Business is fun, an interesting book on the history of Atari. Good read.


    Atari Inc. – Business Is Fun

    The true story behind the company and brand that was synonymous with ‘video games’ in the 1970s and 80s, told by the people who were there making history. Dominating both the arcade and home – and fueled by the public’s ‘obsession’ with technology, Atari pioneered high tech fun for a new generation. The ripple effect of Atari’s influence in technology and pop culture has resonated throughout the decades, and into the 21st Century.

    In an age where Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft now dominate the consumer industry, Gen-Xers and those lucky enough to have grown up during the “Age of Atari” still cling fondly to the memories of this period.

    With roots dating back to 1969, when Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney formed a small engineering partnership, these two California entrepreneurs took a chance and introduced an exciting new technology to the world at a time when pinball was king. Forming Atari Inc. on June 27th, 1972, together they launched a company that would come to dominate and innovate what people did with their leisure time.

    Purchased by Warner Communications in 1976, the sale of the company to this entertainment industry titan would ensure Atari invaded all areas of American culture, enabling the company to stake its claim as a worldwide phenomenon. Rapidly expanding into other forms of entertainment, computers and advanced high-tech research, Atari’s innovation and influence was comparable to Apple’s preeminence today.

    … that is, was until Atari imploded spectacularly in 1984, taking most of the US video game industry with it. As a result, its cadre of talented people and advanced technology were unleashed across Silicon Valley. Many of these individuals are still working in the industries they helped pioneer.
    Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.-Isaiah 41:10
    I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made - Psalms 139.14a
    Also active on WePlayCiv.

  • #2
    When I was a kid, maybe 14, and that would make it 1972 if correct, I went to a local high school where they let me join in a game of 'War in the East' which was one of the "monster games" popular at the time. A board wargame as they called them, this one played on a huge table assembled for the purpose. I was put in charge of the German front before Leningrad. Anyway that school had a computer the size of a room and on that computer one could play Star Trek, but you had to be a mathematician to play. What it took to go from there to consoles such as the Atari is beyond me. Can you give any quick details Nik? Maybe in a spoiler cover...

    Anyway I just loaned Zkrib a detective book by Steve Hamilton, "A Cold Day In Paradise". A number of books in the series, all good. The lead character is so alive I can feel for the guys as he moves, or actually more like stumbles through the books. Funny thing is, detective books are not usually my thing.

    Long time member @ Apolyton
    Civilization player since the dawn of time

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    • #3
      Well, details on how they made it? It was using some technological gibblegabble that made them able to light up spots on a tv screen. The first games did not use computers as we know them today. You had to be an engineer and the games were wired into the diodes or something. I don't really understand it. Only a few years later, they began to program the games.

      As for the cover:
      Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.-Isaiah 41:10
      I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made - Psalms 139.14a
      Also active on WePlayCiv.

      Comment


      • #4
        I remember as NBC announced that computer experts had made it so they could move a dot on a screen using remote control. Basically what a mouse does. The guy..it was Brinkley, couldn't imagine what use could be made of it, and I was in full agreement. Silly buggers!
        Long time member @ Apolyton
        Civilization player since the dawn of time

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        • #5
          Archaeologists recently uncovered the ET The Extraterrestrial Atari game.
          No, I did not steal that from somebody on Something Awful.

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          • #6
            I read about that, buried in a landfill?
            Long time member @ Apolyton
            Civilization player since the dawn of time

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            • #7
              Yep!
              No, I did not steal that from somebody on Something Awful.

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              • #8
                Currently reading Core Java, Vol. 1: Fundamentals. Real page-turner.
                Click here if you're having trouble sleeping.
                "We confess our little faults to persuade people that we have no large ones." - François de La Rochefoucauld

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by The Mad Monk View Post
                  Archaeologists recently uncovered the ET The Extraterrestrial Atari game.
                  Yep, and for some reason it's being treated as news. It's been known and confirmed for years that it happened, and not only to ET, but also very successful games that Atari produced too many cartridges for.
                  Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.-Isaiah 41:10
                  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made - Psalms 139.14a
                  Also active on WePlayCiv.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    It's making news because it's everyone's childhood console and Indiana Jones.
                    No, I did not steal that from somebody on Something Awful.

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                    • #11
                      Prince of Thorns (Broken Empire book 1) by Mark Lawrence.



                      Decent so far, nobody is particularly like-able.

                      ACK!
                      Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust!

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by The Mad Monk View Post
                        I remember that game and all my friends and I agreed it sucked though several of us were given it by our parents because it was on sale dirt cheap just to get rid of them. Atari was the stuff back in the day and I loved my 2600. Later on I got a C64 and that was light years better but you could at least plug the Atari joysticks into the C64 so that was a real nice feature since Commodore wanted so much for their joysticks and everyone already had old Atari ones.
                        Try http://wordforge.net/index.php for discussion and debate.

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Tuberski View Post
                          Prince of Thorns (Broken Empire book 1) by Mark Lawrence.



                          Decent so far, nobody is particularly like-able.

                          ACK!
                          Looks pretty grim by the cover, fantasy?
                          Long time member @ Apolyton
                          Civilization player since the dawn of time

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                          • #14
                            Yep, and it is grim.

                            ACK!
                            Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust!

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                            • #15
                              It's also a future earth book, maybe 10-20,000 years in the future after something happened.

                              ACK!
                              Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust!

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