Atari 2600 (AKA The Atari Video Computer System)
In October 1977, the Atari 2600 Video Computer
System hit the shelves of U.S. retailers, and our concept of
videogames would be changed forever.
The Atari CX2600 was a cartridge-based system that could be
connected to any regular television set. Unlike the Magnavox
Odyssey, Atari Video Pong and other stand-alone consoles, users of
the Atari 2600 weren't locked in to a pre-set selection of games
married to the machine. They could play the newest games on the on
the market without purchasing a whole new system.
With its headquarters based in Sunnyvale, California, Atari
designers Steve Meyer, Joe Decuir and Harold Lee began a project
named Stella in 1976. Owner Nolan Bushnell realized that he did not
have enough funds to finish Stella, so in October 1976, he sold the
company to Warner Communications for $28 million.
At the core of the Stella system was a 1.19 Mhz, 8-bit
microprocessor, and the machine was given a mere 128 bytes of RAM in
order to keep costs down. Included with the original Atari 2600 were
two CX40 joysticks, one set of CX30 paddle controllers, an AC
adapter, a TV/game switch and a Combat game cartridge. The other
eight games available at the time of the system's release were
Air-Sea Battle, Basic Math, Blackjack, Indy 500, Star Ship, Street
Racer, Surround and Video Olympics.
Over the years, Atari released a variety of Atari 2600 peripherals
to extend the system's capabilities - keyboard controllers for a few
games such as A Game of Concentration and Basic Programming, a touch
pad for Star Raiders, driving controllers for Indy 500, a trackball
for games like Centipede and Crystal Castles, and a kid's controller
for its Sesame Street series of games. A computer module add-on was
announced but never released.
The initial price tag of the Atari 2600 was $199.95, quite expensive
for its time, and Warner did not make much of a profit on the
system. But they knew that the real money was in the selling of new
game cartridges.
In 1979, the arcades were set on fire by a phenomenal new game
called Space Invaders. Atari quickly acquired the licensing rights
from the Taito Corporation, and in January 1980, the Atari 2600
version of Space Invaders debuted in the U.S. Atari's system became
an overnight sensation.Atari's gross revenue for 1979 was $200
million, and in 1980, after Space Invaders, they grossed $415
million, accounting for a third of Warner's total annual revenue.
This success was followed with more translations of arcade games
including Asteroids, Missile Command, Berzerk and a tremendously
popular but much-maligned version of Pac-Man. Atari also hoped to
cash in on the popularity of hit movies by releasing Raiders of the
Lost Ark and E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, both of which did not meet
sales expectations.
Competition inevitably entered the scene, vying for a piece of the
highly lucrative video game market opened up by Atari. Disgruntled
by the rigid working conditions imposed by Warner, programmers David
Crane, Larry Kaplan, Alan Miller and Bob Whitehead left Atari and
formed a new company called Activision. Beginning in 1981, they
unveiled a number of superb games, such as Pitfall!, Freeway and
Kaboom!. Activision's success as the first third-party manufacturer
of home video games set off an avalanche of new software titles
rolling in from other developers like Imagic, Parker Brothers,
Coleco and M Network.
By 1983, the large number of sub-par games being released, as well
as competition from the ColecoVision and Intellivison began to take
its toll on the Atari 2600. Soon, the entire industry collapsed, and
the Atari 2600 made way for the success of Nintendo's NES in 1985.
In the late '80s, Atari made an unsuccessful attempt to relaunch the
Atari 2600. Along with new games like Solaris and Midnight Magic,
the decade-old system was repackaged into a sleeker, more compact
shell and marketed with the tag-line "The Fun is Back." Although it
was priced at a mere $49, the Atari 2600 was no match for the
enormous popularity of the NES or even the Sega Master System, and
once again Atari's workhorse faded into video game history.
— Dave Beuscher
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