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Atari Turns 40 Today

Posted by samzenpus on from the back-in-the-day dept.

harrymcc writes "On June 27, 1972, a startup called Atari filed its papers of incorporation. A few months later, it released its first game, Pong. The rest is video game history. I celebrated the anniversary over at TIME.com by chatting with the company's indomitable founder, Nolan Bushnell. From the article: 'Like everyone else who grew up in the 1970s and 1980s, I played them all: Pong, Breakout, Asteroids, Centipede, Millipede, Battlezone, Pole Position, Crystal Castles and my eternal favorite, Tempest. The first computer I bought with my own money was an Atari 400. So when I chatted with Bushnell this week to mark Atari’s 40th anniversary, I felt like I was talking with a man who helped invent my childhood.'" I spent my fair share of time playing Warlords with friends on my 2600.

4 of 162 comments (clear)

  1. Turns 40? by Georules · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Don't get me wrong, I love my 7800 ProSystem, but Atari turning 40 implies that it's still alive.

  2. To the people I see poo-poohing this.... by mark-t · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Would you mind terribly if I ask what your problem is?

    I mean, what difference does it make to you if somebody likes something that you don't?

    Do y'all really have nothing better to do than criticize somebody's passion just because it isn't all shiny and new?

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    File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
    1. Re:To the people I see poo-poohing this.... by SternisheFan · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Would you mind terribly if I ask what your problem is?

      I mean, what difference does it make to you if somebody likes something that you don't?

      Do y'all really have nothing better to do than criticize somebody's passion just because it isn't all shiny and new?

      Not to worry, we were 20, and immortal too, once. I know if I say how much great fun/memories then friends and I had playing Zaxxon, they won't relate. Not yet, anyway. Zaxxon took over a half hour to load into the Atari 800 (when it loaded correctly), state of the art video gaming in the 80's, good times. In 30 years from now, it'll be these young-uns time to tell of how memories of Call of Duty gets that faraway look in their eyes. And the beat goes on...

  3. Ahhhh ... Tempest by thomp · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Tempest is by far my favorite video game of all time. No video game since has come close to holding my attention like Tempest. The simplicity of the game, the rhythm of the game, the invisible levels, the chip glitch that enabled you to do weird things to the game depending on the last two digits of your score. I still dream about the game, and I haven't played it in 20 years.

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