Ever wondered about the complete history of ATARI? The gaming giant has been around for decades now, and over that time has had a hand in many of the gaming trends and games themselves which have defined the industry for years to come.

Beginning in 1972 and working forward, see the history of ATARI in full! The folks at Gameplayer, the writers of the article, ask, Have YOU played ATARI today?

1972 - Atari Inc is founded in California by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, under the name Syzygy Engineering. They almost immediately change the name to Atari when they discover another incorporated company has beaten them to Syzygy. They hire Allan Alcorn as their design engineer and enlist him to create their own version of Tennis for the Magnavox Odyssey, which they retitle Pong. While pioneering for its time, focus groups these days would have deemed the characters (“Left Paddle” and “Right Panel”) as two dimensional – although, in their defence, that was also one of their definitive characteristics, given that they were rectangles. It makes its arcade debut that November.

Mishtram via gameplayer.com.au »