“The games developer Howard Scott Warshaw has openly embraced the attention his game has received negative or not, he’s just happy it’s still talked about.”

The answer as proven by the documentary crew on the 26^th of April, yes Atari did buried the unsold E.T. cartridge among some other titles. Over 700,000 cartridges were exhumed form the landfill site in Alamogordo, New Mexico. The one thing that I can’t get my head around with all the news coverage on this issue is why this is such a big reveal. A company deposing unsold or faulty merchandise in a landfill is not all that unusual. Of course over time the story has been elaborated on and given an altered narrative. The story of a company so ashamed of their failure that in the dead of night they buried the games in the middle of the desert and sealed it off with concrete to forever entomb the worst video game ever made. The real story is far more mundane that sees a company bury merchandise in a standard landfill close to the company warehouse and seal it with concrete to stop local kids trying to dig it up. In fact if the documentary crew had done a bit of research they would have found a New York Times article archived from September of 1983 that reported on the dumping of the cartridges at the New Mexico landfill site. I have to wonder how Fuel Entertainment the documentary crew behind all this is going to produce a full length feature out of it. Microsoft believes in it so much so that they partnered up with the crew for the event and will be releasing the documentary as part of their new Xbox Originals programme series, set to start up next month.

“What couldn’t be sold in 1983 might find some interested buyers in 2014, with the unearthed cartridges planning to be sold off.”

It’s almost comic how excited the video game community was over the discovery of some rubbish Atari threw out over 30 years ago. What’s next the mystery of what happened to all those Nokia N-gage’s that were shipped but never sold or riffling through the dumpster at Valve to find any mention of Half Life 3. Not to say that the documentary crew’s efforts were wasted but why finding these cartridges was such a massive reveal, puzzles me when all that was exposed was a company following standard procedure in finding a cheap way to dispose of unwanted merchandise.

By Colm O’Sullivan

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“Computers prior to the 70’s cost hundreds of thousands and would only be accessible to computer scientists, whereas companies like Apple and Commodore looked to create a more user friendly and affordable option”

This growing market was not lost on the big console manufacturers such as Atari. In 1979 they launched their range of PC’s the Atari 400 and 800, built using the same hardware architecture used in their video game consoles. The PC’s that Atari produced would eventually result in the poor sales of their future consoles, effectively becoming their own competitor. The early 80’s saw a massive boost in the PC industry with a price drop for most computers making them more affordable to the general public. The most popular at the time was the Commodore 64 that would dominate the PC market following its launch in 1982, with over 2 million units sold year on year. The high number of units and overall market share made the PC and ideal device for game developers to produce games for.

Text based adventure games had being the dominate genre of video games that where developed for the PC during the 70’s, with Adventure and Zork among the more well-known titles. However with the increasing power of the hardware of the PC in the early 80’s, game developers could attempt to create more sophisticated games. The one advantage the PC had over it’s console competitors was the superior memory and graphical capabilities. This allowed for more impressive visuals and the ability for players to save their game playthroughs, something that was impossible on console or arcade machines where the player would generally start from the beginning every time they returned to a game. Large scale RPG (Role Playing Game) titles such as Ultima and The Bard’s Tale demonstrated the powerful capabilities of the PC.  Major publisher Sierra Entertainment grew out of the early 80’s boom in the PC based adventure and RPG style games. The King’s Quest franchise helping them rise to the top of the industry until their eventually decline in the new millennium.

“The ZX Spectrum unique graphical look is due to the limitations of the hardware unable to store the colour information for each individual pixel”

The video game crash of 83’ had being relativity confined to the North American market, with Europe to a large extent unaffected. This was in part due to the PC being a far more popular gaming device there, more than any of the major consoles available at the time. British companies enjoyed a great period of growth with Sinclair Research developing the very successful ZX Spectrum and Acorn Computers producing the BBC Micro. This lead many budding video game developers to look to the PC market as the ideal platform to develop for with a large consumer base and more powerful hardware then the console at the time. The British video game industry would see a number of new companies and developers get their start in the video game industry by developing for British made PC’s. Matt Smith and his game Manic Miner being one of the more popular.

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In 1982 they released Pitfall! on the Atari 2600, the game was a major success although Atari didn’t see any of the money that it generated. Atari had filled a lawsuit against Activision when the company was formed, arguing that the formation of Activision as a third party developer didn’t have a legal basis. In 1982 the court case went in favour of Activision and set a precedence for the establishment of third party developers. Following in the footsteps of Activision a host of new video game companies where established producing games for various consoles with the manufactures having no creative or financial control. Although Activision always produced high quality titles many others looked simple to cash in on the growing video game craze and some saw it as a cheap advertisement opportunity. Companies such as Quaker Oats who where a food manufacture hired developers to make games that often focused more on promoting the companies brand then actual gameplay. The most infamous in this wave of bad games was Chase Chucks Wagon which involved the player controlling a dog and eating dog food, the game was made by Purina a pet food company. At the time Atari had no licencing deals in place with these game developers and had no control on the creative process, any developer could make games for Atari console and not have to pay them any royalties.

“Chase Chucks Wagon started a long tradition of companies using poor and hastily produce video games to market their products”

Atari needed to combat this flood of poor titles with a best seller of their own. The Atari executives felt that a popular movie tie in would be able to recoup their companies loses. The film they looked to was Steven Spielberg’s E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. The licence for the film was obtained in July of 1982 with Atari later reported to have paid nearly $25 million for the rights. The developer Howard Scott Warshaw was then only given 5 weeks to build the game in order to release in time for the Christmas season. The game is often cited has one of the worst in the industry with poor gameplay, limited graphics and a non-existent narrative leading to the games failure. In the same manner as they had anticipated great success for their Pac-Man port again with E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial they overestimated how well the game would sell. The game did sell at 1.5 million units which was seen initially as a success but with over 3 million unsold cartridges once again Atari had gambled and lost. The unsold units rumoured to have been buried in a New Mexico landfill. It was the beginning of the end for Atari with the company continuing to struggle in an industry that was evolving at an ever increasing pace. Although Atari had the most high profile failures other video game manufactures failed to cope with the changing dynamics of the industry. Magnavox and Coleco both pulled out of the video game industry and others like Imagic went bankrupt and collapsed. The period of the early 80’s saw the industry grow out of control with companies forming and collapsing all in the hope of cashing in on the video game craze.

“Spielberg had originally asked Atari to make a Pac-Man like game, instead the developer felt that such a game would be to derivative”

The crash if often referred to as the North American video game crash as the European and Asian markets felt little effect during this period. The European market was less interested in console gaming, with the personal computer being a much popular gaming device. Companies like Commodore and Sinclair having great success with their respective devices the Commodor64 and ZX Spectrum. In Japan a well establish toy manufacture was having great success with its new gaming console the Nintendo Famicom. The company would soon take advantage of the failing American console market and change how third party developers and console manufactures would work together. Nintendo would rebrand the Famicom console as the Nintendo Entertainment System and lead the way in the console market for the rest of the decade.

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“It was a simply case of over saturation of the market that lead to both the 1977 and 1983 video game industry recessions”

The video game crash of 83’ was not the first that the industry had suffered with a similar drop in market revenues coming in 1977. The crash of 77’ was as a result of the over saturation of the market with Pong clones resulting in companies like RCA and Fairchild leaving the industry. Following the crash was a major period of growth for the industry with companies like Taito and Namco having great success with their titles Space Invaders and Pac-Man respectively. The period was known as the Golden Age of the Arcade with the money generate from arcade machine sales going from $50 million in 1978 to $900 million only three years later in 1981. Although the period was dominate by the arcade sector the console market was also on the raise at the time with the Atari 2600 holding a vast share of that market. It wasn’t long before other toy and electronics manufactures became envious of Atari’s success and looked get their own console onto the market. Companies like Mattel and Coleco who previously where toy manufactures released their own consoles, soon the market was flooded with host of different consoles all vying for share of the revenues. This lead too many cutting prices so low that they were selling the game cartridges at a loss in order to get consumers to buy into their system. Established companies like Atari found it hard to compete in such an aggressive marketplace and looked to continually rebrand and upgrade their device in order to retain their market share. A tactic that would keep the Atari 2600 console in the market but would ultimately bankrupt the company.

“Pac-Man was a massive success in the arcade due to its unique style and simply gameplay, the same couldn’t be said for its console port”

1982 was a pivotal year for the video game industry and one in which the impending crash would be set in motion. Three game releases that year would be directly responsible for the crash that came the following year. The first of these was the port of the popular arcade game Pac-Man for the Atari 2600. The games creators Namco had reaped a large financial windfall with the games release two years previous and Atari believed that a console port of the game would bring them the same success. However the Atari executives were a little too optimistic about the games potential to sell well. They ordered 12 million cartridges to be produced even though Atari only had a consumer base of 10 million, the executives assumed that every Atari 2600 owner would buy a copy and 2 million others would buy the console in order to play the game. However due to the limited power of the 2600 console as compared to the much more powerful arcade machines, the game featured poor bug ridden gameplay and low quality graphics. As a result it only sold 7 million units which as a record for the console industry but due to Atari’s overestimation, 5 million copies went unsold and caused a major drop in their finances. It was an extremely popular and successful title that would cause Atari more financial woes in September of the same year. The problem for Atari was that this successful game was not theirs but was played on their console.

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“Although they have ceased most in house development they still boost an impressive back catalogue of games”

Unlike at their previous employer the games creator was given full acknowledgment with their credits in the games manual. The company also decided to look to original content optimized to work with the Atari 2600 hardware instead of porting well known arcade titles that often lacked in graphical and processing power. Another key aspect of Activision’s early success was the colourful and eye-catching designs that they produced for the game cartridges, giving the company instant brand recognition. Their first two games where Fishing Derby and Skiing released for the 2600 in 1980. Atari attempted to put the company out of business by suing Activision over the legitimacy of third party developers, with Atari demanding damages paid for “unfair competition” caused by Activision developing games for the 2600. The court case lasted until 1982 with the decision finally coming in Activision’s favour and establishing a precedent for third party developers. A fact that would ultimately lead to the crash of 83’, with no creative control of the games being produced for a certain console.

“A 3D version of the game was made for the PlayStation back in 1998, by which time Activision where mainly focused on publishing instead of development”

Pitfall! began as an idea back in 1979 with its lead designer David Crane developing the technology to create a realistic running sprite character. When it came to flesh out the other game mechanics Crane very quickly sketch out the initial concept of a character running through a jungle maze in order to collect loot and treasure. The game was an early example of a side-scroller although it didn’t utilize parallax technology made famous by Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros released three years later. It did however set a standard for Activision and their goal of making high end games for the relatively low powered 2600. Non-flicking sprites, multi-coloured graphics and character animations on a system that had very restrictive technical specifications. Multiple sequels for Pitfall! were produced over the next number of years, with recent ports of the game to mobile devices proving the games legacy in the industry. Although now mainly a video game publisher, modern day video game developers owe a lot of credit to Activision for being the company that started the long running tradition of third party developers.

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“Frogger was a breakout title for Konami and saw them switch from toy maker to video game developer.”

One company that saw this change in the market was Williams Electronics, who prior to the 80’s primarily focused on pinball machines. The parent company Williams Manufacturing Company had formed their electronic gaming division in 1974 when they saw a shift in the market. Their first success in their new industry was the arcade game Defender, which had being created by a former pinball engineer Eugene Jarvis. It was the first attempt by Williams making an original concept video game as earlier titles had simply being Pong clones. The games development started with initial plans to make a more advanced version of Space Invaders. However it soon became clear that such a game would not be enjoyable or offer enough unique gameplay. The developers where inspired by the warping effect present in Atari’s Asteroids, this matched with a horizontal aspect style Space Invaders combat led to the formation of the basic games mechanics. The game was finally finished by September of 1980 and would go on to sell over 55,000 cabinets making it a huge success for Williams and justifying their decision to move into the video game market. The company would later follow up with another arcade hit Joust in 1982, although selling less than Defender it still went on to become a classic within its own time.

“Atari continued to dominate the industry at this time with major title like Q*bert, Centipede and Tempest all adding to this monopoly.”

The first arcade game commercial came in the same year with Sega looking to promote its new game Zaxxon. The game was also an early example of an isometric projection giving the effect of simulating three dimensions. It was also the feature of the independent film Hollywood Zap!, which signalled a changing attitude towards video games. No longer just a medium that was enjoyed by a minority following it was now appealing to a broader audience. The movie tie in title Tron also demonstrates the changing attitudes by the other mainstream mediums that video games where a viable industry to have financial success. However even though the industry was experience unprecedented levels of growth, video games where soon going to face their most difficult period with the crash of 1983. It was the rapid growth that lured many companies into the video game market causing a glut of titles to be produced in order to make some quick cash, a fact that would contribute to the economic downturn. The Golden Age of the arcade is a period that was bookended by two separate finical crashes that both in their own ways looked to bring the industry to an end barely in its infancy.

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“For a time Ireland was the centre of manufacturing for all of Atari’s European consoles”

Although now in decline the 2600 would see some further revisions over the next few years. The 2800 was an attempt to break into the Japanese market. It was released in October of 1983 just months after the launch of a relatively unknown company’s console, the Nintendo Famicom. Nintendo’s console provide to be tough opposition in the Japanese market with Atari struggling to gain a foothold. A low cost version of the Atari system branded the 2600 Jr. was the last iteration of the console and was launched in the US and Europe in 1985. Nintendo’s re-branded Famicom system released to the American and European markets in the same year. It was a runaway success and Atari had finally lost their place as the dominate video game company in the industry. Commodore continued to push Atari more towards the PC Market with the Atari ST home computer being a relative success for the company. The 2600 would continue to release game infrequently with KLAX being the last game licensed for the console in 1990, although third party games would continue to be developed. The console was officially retired by Atari in 1992 after 30 million units being sold and the end to a unmatched 14 year lifespan, with the PlayStation 2 coming close with a 12 year run before it was discontinued. Atari where the pioneers of the video game industry leading the way in innovation and development, however that success clouded their judgement when it came to facing the harsh realities of the video game market. The company would finally come to an end in 1996 nearly 25 years after it started out as the first video game company in the industry. The company saw a brief revival in the new millennium but in January of 2013 the company filled for bankruptcy finally bring an end to Atari, the name that started it all.

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Development for the console started back in 1973 with Atari acquiring Cyan Engineering to carry out the initial R&D on a the next generation of consoles. The team brought with them a project codenamed “Stella” which would become the basis of the new Atari console. However at the time Atari simply didn’t have the money to finance such a project, which lead to Nolan Bushnell selling the company to Warner Communications for $28 million in 1976. As part of that deal Warner agreed to fund development of the new console, this was a critical point in the history of the company and could be seen as the start of the bubble that would eventually burst and see the downfall of the Atari. At the same time Fairchild Semiconductor released their own console the VES (Video Entertainment System), which would cause Atari to have some stiff opposition even before they had their device on the market.

“The development codename “Stella” wasn’t named after a women but an Atari engineer’s bike.”

When Atari released their console in September of 1977 they initially branded it as the VCS (Video Computer System) to compete with Fairchild’s console, they themselves would later rename their console to the Channel F. None of which mattered as the two where in a fierce bout of price cutting in order to corner the market. When it was launched it was priced at $199 which is over seven hundred dollars in today’s money, which made it an expensive system and less attractive then the slightly cheaper Channel F. In its first year the VCS sold only 250,000 units, mainly due to the drought in the industry after the proliferation of Pong systems still on the market. The next year saw a major upset for Atari as its co-founder Nolan Bushnell left after dismal sales and disagreements with the owners, with nearly 300,000 unsold units leading Warner to covering Atari’s massive loses. However the following year saw a massive boost to the company, programmers began to truly harness the power of the console to produce better games and Fairchild believing there was no future in the industry pulled out of the market leaving Atari no real completion. 1979 saw the VCS sell over a million units, with the licensing and eventual port of the popular arcade game Space Invaders the next year, quickly doubling those sales figures. As the console would enter the next decade it would see its highest number of sales and also it biggest failures.

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“UK company Videomaster produced over 15 different system in the 70’s”

In the years between the release of the original Pong system in 1976 and the end of the decade nearly 500 different consoles where produced with a large proportion of them being clones of Atari’s console. In a similar five year period from the release of the Xbox360 which is seen as the start of the 7th generation of consoles no more than 20 different systems were released including handheld devices. With so many systems for sale around the world many major manufacturers couldn’t get a share of the market in countries where Pong clones where being produced at an unsustainable rate. It is easy to see why the market for video games couldn’t sustain such large number of consoles, which forced many manufactures to sell their systems at a loss just too clear stock. Both Fairchild and RCA abandoned their own plans for future video game consoles, with Fairchild moving towards the production of electronics for the military and RCA eventually become defunct a decade later. Atari where able suffer the financial loses and survive the crash with the release of their 2600 console which was met with great success. In no small part due the release of the game Space Invaders that helped the console to record sales. It was the game created by Japanese’s company Taito that heralded in a renaissance for the video game industry, with many major franchises being released over the coming years until the market would run into an even bigger financial trouble in the mid-80’s.

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Pong’s

“The Pong console spawned numerous clones which flooded the market in the late 70’s”

However all of Atari financial success was not lost on one particular company, Magnavox and their console Odyssey which pre-dates Pong. Sanders Associates who held the licence to the device and its creator Ralph Baer continually pressured other manufactures with copyright infringement. A formal lawsuit was filed in 1974 against several companies including Atari who were said to have infringed on the Odyssey console in particular the tennis game that featured on the device. Unwilling to undertake a lengthy court battle Bushnell decided to settle out of court with Magnavox, Atari agreed to pay a licencing fee of $0.7 million and give Magnavox the licencing rights to any Atari products released over the follow year. Although Atari purposely held back on any future releases over the next year in order to circumvent the deal with Magnavox.

“Imagery of Pong that is ingrained in the culture of the video game industry”

Court proceedings aside Atari continued with its plans of expansion, releasing follow ups to Pong over the next few years that all where based on the original with some added feature and new gameplay elements. One of their more popular sequels was a single player version of the game called Breakout, which involved using the ball and paddle to knockout bricks out from a wall. Just like Pong other companies soon had cloned version of their own again looking to ride on the coat tails of Atari innovation. The legacy that Pong has left is unquestionable, the game led to the creation of the video game industry. A host of companies’ first attempts at gaining a foothold in the industry where through Pong clones. The game has also become the culture touchstone of the entire medium, being referenced in TV and film numerous times. Although obviously not the first video game in the history of the industry, but definitely one of the most important for taking what was at the time a niche medium and bringing it to the wider world.

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