If you’re an old-school gaming nerd, then you might remember a little game released by Atari called Breakout. The idea was simple, just hit a ball around and break things. Don’t let the ball get past you, or you lose. → Read More
Atari — the iconic company and that helped spearhead the videogames industry 40 years ago with titles like Pong, Asteroids and Centipede, as well as consoles to evolve the consumer electronics field — has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to “separate from the structural financial encumbrances” of its French parent, Atari S.A., and to seek “independent capital for future growth” in… → Read More
Zynga and Atari have launched their first game together, under the Zynga Mobile Partner Program — announced this summer. The program allows third party companies to tap into Zynga’s network, while helping Zynga beef up its mobile gaming ecosystem as it looks to grow its non-Facebook business. Back in June Zynga reported having 22 million daily active users on mobile. → Read More
Atari is turning 40 this year and with the help of Microsoft and the HTML5 specialists at gskinner.com, it is now bringing eight of its most popular classic games to the browser. The games are optimized for Internet Explorer 10 and touch controls, but also work well on any other modern browser. To do so, as Microsoft’s general manager for Internet Explorer Ryan Gavin told me yesterday, Atari’s new… → Read More
It was 40 years ago yesterday that Atari’s Nolan Bushnell taught the world to play. Bushnell, an engineer and game programmer, built and sold Atari in the late 1970s, ushering in the era of the video game and changing the way kids spent nice summer days. Atari is 40 years old this month and there have been a number of interviews and encomiums with Bushnell.
Bushnell installed his first game… → Read More
Founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, Atari played a central role in the early history of video games, going on to create what are still some of the most recognizable arcade games on the planet, like Centipede, Breakout and Pong, to name a few. Not to mention the fact that its joystick-controlled Atari 2600 console was pretty much synonymous with “video games” in the 1980s.
Although… → Read More
ThinkGeek’s iCade certainly has a sense of visual flair going for it, but discerning iPad gamers who could do without the retro throwback may soon have another choice. The existence of the Atari Arcade Duo-Powered Joystick was recently confirmed in the Atari Greatest Hits app’s changelog, hopefully meaning it will make its official debut soon. → Read More
One thing most 30-something people in tech have in common is video gaming nostalgia. Generation X (and Generation i) can go on for hours discussing the merits of our favorite Nintendo games, our programming experience in school, and of course our beloved Ataris. Sure there were C64s and Amigas and such, but Atari’s 2600 and its successors were truly groundbreaking in the gaming world.
You can… → Read More
Nolan Bushnell, the founder of Atari and Chuck E Cheese, wants to bring the video arcade into the classroom. His latest startup is called Speed To Learn, and very little is known about it. But he was just on a panel I moderated at the Venture Capital in Education Summit in New York City, where he revealed a little more of his game plan. I caught him on video after the panel (watch… → Read More
This is the twee-est disk drive I’ve ever seen! Those of you who are old enough will remember the Atari 400 and 800 systems, with their separate disk drive, the 810. This Rossum character has put together a working replica of the 810 that takes MicroSD cards – at about a hundredth the size. → Read More
Ah, the 80s, an era of unparalleled aesthetics and design savvy. Take this Atari 400 keyboard, for example. What kid wouldn’t want a keyboard in orange, brown, and tan complete with oddly shaped chiclet keys and no concern for ergonomics. This homage costs $149 and is made by Japanese company Niyari. → Read More
In a longish post over at Dadhacker, Landon Dyer tells us the story, in florid language, of the moment that the Atari ST very nearly ran Unix. Not Linux, mind you, but real, AT&T Unix. The license at that time cost $10 per seat, which would have allowed Atari to sell a version of Unix to the general public and, if you extrapolate out a bit, would have made it a dominant end-user platform long… → Read More
In February last year, we blogged about Atari’s plans to sell the movie rights to retro action classic Missile Command, and today Variety is reporting it actually happened. And not only that: Missile Command now also has an executive producer, a person called Jim Wilson (who became Atari’s CEO just last week). → Read More
While I wouldn’t say that the Atari controller is particularly ergonomic, it’s a classic of the form and brings back all sorts of happy, fuzzy memories. This $25 controller connects to a Mac or PC via USB and supports all major game emulators including Stella and MAME. You can even pop it open and hack in two new buttons, just in case. → Read More
Now this is some fun stuff. A guy named Ed wanted to program for the Atari 2600 so he taught himself Atari assembly and created what amounts to Halo for the Atari. While the sprites are primitive and the gameplay is a little rough, it’s an amazing effort, especially for a dead platform. Best of all is his description of building the game from scratch. → Read More
Dear pre-teens: Want to piss off your parents? Buy and build this thing. It’s a mini Atari-esque noise generator that fits inside an Altoids tin (not included.) While it makes noises like the Atari 2600 used to, it does not make “sounds” per se, in that said sounds could be pleasing to the ear. These are definitely not.
It’s only $25 and it’s totally DIY. It also sounds like you’re squeezing a… → Read More
While I think the passion for building stand-up arcade games has waned recently, it’s nice to see that someone out there is still thinking of the children. PuppyArcade by Scott Jarvis is a CD-based arcade system that boots in any PC and allows you to access MAME ROMs on almost any disk. The game plays Amiga, Atari, Commodor, and even Doom ROMs and WADs and, as you’ll notice, even runs… → Read More
Remember Star Trek Online? Yeah, it came out waaaaay back on February 2nd of 2010. Well, it’s Cryptic’s game, but it’s published by Atari, and since there maybe hasn’t been the level of interest everyone was looking for, they are running a sale. It’s a pretty good deal too, since you get the game for $10 off (which isn’t so bad) and you an additional 60 days of free gameplay (which is the… → Read More
Flash games on the Web are getting to be so quick and responsive . . . that they can recreate 30-year-old arcade games no problem. And that’s just fine with me because those are about the only video games where I can hold my own. Online video arcade OMGPOP’s latest game is a remake of Atari’s Missile Command on its 30th anniversary.
The OMGPOP version is true to the original except it adds a… → Read More
In case you needed another indicator Hollywood has run out of ideas, here is a new one for you: Atari is about to sell the movie rights to Missile Command, a shooting game that hit arcades back in 1980, to 20th Century Fox and another movie production company.
Getting the license doesn’t necessarily mean we ever get to see a Missile Command movie on the big screen, but a first step has been made. → Read More
At first glance, $30 may seem like a lot for a one-button old school Atari joystick with a USB connection. But this one comes with the Stella Atari 2600 and 80 games built right in and you can remove the USB controller board for use with that MAME cabinet you’ve always wanted to build. There’s even labeled solder points on the board for adding additional buttons. → Read More
If the action couldn’t happen on screen then it surely could happen off screen. This odd, made-in-Denmark controller was called the Terminator and was shaped like a very realistic grenade – complete with pin.
I remember the old style “stick” controllers with the triangular head so I guess this is similar. You’d hold this in your hand and move the top with your thumb. Sadly you’d also probably… → Read More
Yahtzee may not have liked it, but here’s your chance to find out! The demo from Atari is now available for the Xbox 360. Game Demo via Larry → Read More
In a somewhat belated move calculated to “give potential developers insight into the Atari’s gaming platform so they may possibly build upon the 7800 series,” Atari has released the source code to several awesome but rarely-played Atari 7800 games, including Dig Dug, Centipede, Joust, and Pac-Man. I’m not sure the 7800 is really competing these days, Atari, but we appreciate your contribution… → Read More
Combine your longing for the good old days of early video gaming with your obsessive need to be on time, and you’ve got yourself a series of clocks made from old Atari cartridges selling for $20 apiece. → Read More
Just as children love hunting for Easter eggs, we love finding virtual Easter eggs in software and Web apps—those intentional hidden messages, features or jokes built into the software that users in the know may stumble upon at some point during their experience with the application. We’ve compiled a list of some of our favorite software Easter eggs of all-time (in no given order) in light of… → Read More
Technologizer just unboxed their Atari CX77 touch tablet, one of the earliest consumer grade touchpads ever released. → Read More
Atari has just announced that Ghostbusters: The Video Game will be available for purchase on June 16th to coincide with the Blu-ray release of the original movie. Holy crap, the original was released 25 years ago. Crazy. → Read More
Most folks in the gaming world have been a bit apprehensive about Atari’s Ghostbusters title and after the no-show at PAX this year, many wondered if it was even going to see the light of day. As a youth growing up in the 80s the Ghostbusters movies were a staple in my rotation of weekend movie watching. The other being the original Star Wars trilogy with a sprinkling of Saturday morning… → Read More
The BBC is reporting that a UK campaign aimed to crack down on gaming piracy is targetting completely innocent people.
Citing a story in Which? Computing magazine, the BBC reports that Atari had accused an elderly couple from Scotland, Gill and Ken Murdoch, who disputed the claim saying they had never played a video game in their lives. The accusations were apparently based on an analysis of IP… → Read More
Seattle, WA
San Diego, CA
Menlo Park, CA
San Francisco, CA
Berlin, Germany
Boston, MA
