| Nolan Bushnell created Pong, along with Al Alcorn, the | | | | significant. Atari, however, thought that magnetic |
| founder of Atari. Rumor has it that when the | | | | media was too "fragile" for the consumer to |
| prototype was tested at a California bar, the | | | | adequately handle. Atari's "concern" for the customer |
| machine broke down after two days, because it was | | | | backfired on them. In the previous years, there had |
| so popular. The next logical step was to create a | | | | been a very fine line separating arcade game quality |
| home version. So, one year later, Atari released | | | | from home game quality. With arcades utilizing |
| Pong, complete with built in paddles, and a speaker. | | | | storage capacities ten to forty-five times larger than |
| Of course, Pong was a huge success and | | | | home systems that fine line became a chasm. Arcade |
| represented a new stage in the evolution of gaming. | | | | games seemed to be evolving exponentially, while |
| Over sixty Pong knock-offs would be produced, but | | | | home systems seemed "stuck in a time warp." |
| Atari dominated the market. | | | | The public quickly became uninterested in video game |
| Next was the implementation of the microprocessor, | | | | specific consoles, and sales plummeted. |
| which the entire industry adopted. As a result of this, | | | | This would mark the end of Atari's reign of the video |
| more complicated systems could be developed. | | | | game market. |
| These systems produced groundbreaking and | | | | The Rise of the New |
| innovative graphical and auditory effects that had | | | | In 1984, everything changed. The reason? Two |
| never been seen before. Consumers were eating it | | | | innovations: The reduction in cost of Dynamic RAM |
| up. The industry was on fire. In 1981 alone, five billion | | | | (DRAM) chips which allowed more memory, and the |
| dollars were spent on video arcade machines and | | | | production of higher power 8-bit processors, which |
| another billion dollars was spent on home video game | | | | lowered the prices of the previous chips. Sega, a |
| systems. Atari's VCS/2600 system remained the | | | | new player in home gaming systems, entered the |
| dominant player through 1982, when the gaming | | | | console market with their Master System 2. The |
| market experienced a crash. | | | | Sega Master system would sell very well, but its |
| What were some of the great games? How about | | | | success would be limited. |
| Pac Man? Pac Man, the yellow blob that ate up dots | | | | The other key player was Nintendo of Japan. The |
| and avoided squid-like ghosts, was a worldwide | | | | genius of Nintendo was their marketing prowess, as |
| sensation and probably the biggest game of all time. | | | | they poured millions into advertisements. These |
| Space Invaders was another incredibly popular game. | | | | advertisements hit consumers at the perfect time, as |
| In fact, it really marked a turning point for arcade | | | | evidenced in their sales. In fact, Nintendo couldn't |
| games, bringing them out of bars and into family | | | | manufacture enough systems to keep up with |
| friendly places like shops and restaurants. The | | | | demand. After all was said and done, the Nintendo |
| premise of Space Invaders was to stop an alien | | | | Entertainment System (NES) would become the |
| invasion. This simple formula went on to become the | | | | highest selling system in history. They would also |
| most successful arcade game of all time. | | | | become the most notorious, as they were involved in |
| Then there was Super Mario, which was huge as well. | | | | the intimidation of retailers, competing companies, and |
| It involved an Italian anti-hero who was deliberately | | | | other suppliers and partners. |
| designed as a character that everyone could relate | | | | Over the next five years Sega and Nintendo would |
| to. Soon thereafter came Zelda, Metroid, and other | | | | battle for dominance, going back and forth. The |
| classics. | | | | consumer definitely benefited from this rivalry. |
| Rise and Fall of Atari | | | | Today, it's between PlayStation 2, the Xbox and the |
| Atari was the hottest thing in the gaming world in | | | | GameCube. Xbox has taken the step to merge the |
| the early '80's. Today, they are a relic of past glory. | | | | past and present, where Xbox "Live Arcade" is a |
| So what happened? Atari made some bad decisions, | | | | console system that has a "download-like" |
| and although it's a little complicated, it's helpful to | | | | characteristic where you can buy games via the |
| understand the situation. At that time in the | | | | console itself. One thing in the video game industry |
| computing world, magnetic mediums were | | | | will always remain: the classic games of yesterday |
| implemented in the data storage used in Arcade | | | | were great games, helped define an era, and will |
| machines. These mediums allowed for a higher | | | | always be fun. |
| memory capacity than ROM cartridges. | | | | Want to find out about antelopes, black buck |
| In 1982, Atari had the option to include a disk drive in | | | | antelope, African antelopes, cat health, cat wheezing |
| their systems. The price difference would have been | | | | , cat nutrition and other information? Get tips from |
| nominal, and the memory capacity would have been | | | | the Interesting Animals website. |