This is nothing new at all for Atari, the company nearly folded in 1974 because Nolan appointed his brother-in-law, a psychologist to run Atari and went over like a lead brick... of course, then the huge profit losses in Dec 82' that nearly dragged Warner Comm down, and then its sale and split in July 1984... So this is yet another chapter in the long sorted drama of Atari...
If you really want to know all there is to know about Atari, told directly by the employees themselves, you really need to head over to Amazon and pick up this incredible new book on Atari - Atari Inc. Business is Fun
Check it out:
http://www.amazon.com/Atari-Inc-Mr-Curt-Vendel/dp/0985597402
Wow, I'm really surprised this was lost, there was nothing else like the banding and other highly intuitive GUI features introduced by the iPhone...
I just got a new book off of Amazon last week called Atari Inc Business is Fun and it has this whole section called Breakout of Myths and it totally tells the full details of Steve Jobs working at Atari and it even has input from Wozniak on building the Breakout arcade. There was actually far more detail in this book than the Jobs book so I'm glad I picked it up.
If Apple's IP and Jobs legacy is dismantled you have to wonder if Apple will continue to keep putting out great product that everyone plays catch-up trying to clone:-(
What is funny is Atari did this back in 1984 with their "Mindlink" headband controller:
http://www.atarimuseum.com/videogames/consoles/2600/mindlink.html
It was quite good, too bad the company switched gears to primarily computers at the time and didn't go forward with the controllers.
Its amazing how people forget about stuff that was invented decaded ago and announce them today as if they just discovered the wheel for the first time.
Then you have the exact opposite - you have older technologies that have been reborn with a whole new purpose - take the old Atari joysticks from the 70's and 80's - just simple 5bit hardwired controllers, nothing really special in today's world, but they were the controllers by which all others were guaged in the 70's and 80's...
Now there is a company who has brough those very same controllers back, but now they pack USB circuitry in them and can be used on PC's and Mac's - cool stuff indeed!
http://www.legacyengineer.com/storefront
Next thing you know, someone will bring Pong back and claim its this innovative immersive head to head combat game!;-)
Curt
Slashdot Mirror
If you really want to get some clarity on who and what Atari was, at least up until 1984... then you really need to check this out: http://www.amazon.com/Atari-Inc-Mr-Curt-Vendel/dp/0985597402
This is nothing new at all for Atari, the company nearly folded in 1974 because Nolan appointed his brother-in-law, a psychologist to run Atari and went over like a lead brick... of course, then the huge profit losses in Dec 82' that nearly dragged Warner Comm down, and then its sale and split in July 1984... So this is yet another chapter in the long sorted drama of Atari... If you really want to know all there is to know about Atari, told directly by the employees themselves, you really need to head over to Amazon and pick up this incredible new book on Atari - Atari Inc. Business is Fun Check it out: http://www.amazon.com/Atari-Inc-Mr-Curt-Vendel/dp/0985597402
Wow, I'm really surprised this was lost, there was nothing else like the banding and other highly intuitive GUI features introduced by the iPhone... I just got a new book off of Amazon last week called Atari Inc Business is Fun and it has this whole section called Breakout of Myths and it totally tells the full details of Steve Jobs working at Atari and it even has input from Wozniak on building the Breakout arcade. There was actually far more detail in this book than the Jobs book so I'm glad I picked it up. If Apple's IP and Jobs legacy is dismantled you have to wonder if Apple will continue to keep putting out great product that everyone plays catch-up trying to clone :-(
What is funny is Atari did this back in 1984 with their "Mindlink" headband controller: http://www.atarimuseum.com/videogames/consoles/2600/mindlink.html It was quite good, too bad the company switched gears to primarily computers at the time and didn't go forward with the controllers. Its amazing how people forget about stuff that was invented decaded ago and announce them today as if they just discovered the wheel for the first time. Then you have the exact opposite - you have older technologies that have been reborn with a whole new purpose - take the old Atari joysticks from the 70's and 80's - just simple 5bit hardwired controllers, nothing really special in today's world, but they were the controllers by which all others were guaged in the 70's and 80's... Now there is a company who has brough those very same controllers back, but now they pack USB circuitry in them and can be used on PC's and Mac's - cool stuff indeed! http://www.legacyengineer.com/storefront Next thing you know, someone will bring Pong back and claim its this innovative immersive head to head combat game! ;-)
Curt