Home > Atari 2600
The Atari 2600, released in 1977, was the first successful video game console to use plug-in cartridges instead of having one or more games built in. It was originally known as the Atari VCS, for Video Computer System, and the name "Atari 2600" was first used in 1982, after the release of the more advanced Atari 5200. The 2600 was typically bundled with two joystick controllers and a cartridge game.
1 History
1.1 Development and market considerations
Atari had spun off an engineering think-tank in 1975 called Cyan Engineering to research next-generation video game systems, and had been working on a prototype known as "Stella" (named after one of the engineer's bicycles) for some time. Unlike prior generations of machines which used custom logic to play a small number of games, Stella was essentially a combination of a complete CPU, the famous 6502 in a cut-down version, combined with a display and sound chip of their own design known as the TIA, for Television Interface Adaptor. At first the design was not going to be cartridge based, but after seeing a "fake" cartridge system on another machine they realized they could place the games on cartridges essentially for the price of the connector and packaging.
In August 1976 Fairchild Semiconductor released their own cartridge based system basically "out of the blue", the Channel F. Stella was still not ready for production, but it was clear that it needed to be before there were a number of "me too" products filling up the market – which had happened after they invented PONG. Atari simply didn't have the cash flow to complete the system quickly, given that sales of their own PONG systems were cooling. Nolan Bushnell eventually turned to Warner CommunicationsTime Warner Inc. is the world's largest media company with major Internet, publishing, film, telecommunications and television divisions. The company is headquartered in New York City, New York, United States. History Time Warner was created through the m, and sold the company to them in 19761976 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). Events January January 12 UN Security Council votes 11-1 to admit the Palestinian Liberation Organization January 15 Would-be Gerald Ford presidential assassin Sara Jane Moore is s for $28 million on the promise that Stella would be produced as soon as possible.
Key to the eventual success of the machine was the hiring of Jay MinerJay Miner ( May 31, 1932 June 20, 1994) was a famous chip designer, known primarily for his work in multimedia chips. He received a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from UC Berkeley in 1958. He started with a number of designs in the medical wo, a chip designer who managed to squeeze an entire breadboard of equipment making up the TIA into a single chip. Once that was completed and debugged the system was ready for shipping.
By the time it was released in 1977, the development had cost about US$100 million.
1.2 Launch and runaway success
thumb Space InvadersSpace Invaders was an arcade video game designed and programmed by Toshihiro Nishikado and originally manufactured by Taito; it was licensed for production in the US by the Midway Manufacturing division of Bally. Released in 1978, it ranks as one of the m on the Atari 2600
The initial price was $199 with a library of 6 titles. In a play to compete directly with the Channel F, Atari named the machine VCS, as the Channel F was at that point known as the VES, for Video Entertainment System. When Fairchild learned of Atari's naming they quicky changed their unit to become the Channel F. However both units were now in the midst of the video game crash of 1977The video game crash of 1977 was different from the video game crash of 1983 in that the crash was not so much caused by games as it was caused by a single game/unit. Atari's Pong had become so popular that it was cloned until the market could no longer h; PONG clones faced with the extinction of their market due to these newer and more powerful machines simply dumped their boxes for ever-lower prices. Soon many of the companies were out of business, and both Fairchild and Atari were selling to a public that were completely burnt out on PONG. In 1977 Atari sold only 250,000 VCS's, 550,000 in 1978 but from a production run of 800,000 which led to massive debt, requiring further support from Warner. This led directly to the disagreements that caused Atari founder Nolan Bushnell to leave the company in 1978Events January January 1 The Copyright Act of 1976 takes effect, making sweeping changes to United States copyright law. January 1 Air India's Boeing 747 explodes near Bombay 213 dead. January 4 Referendum in Chile supports policies of Augusto Pinochet..
Once the public realized it was possible to play video games other than PONG, and programmers learned how to push its hardware's capabilities, the 2600 gained popularity. Fairchild had by this point given up, thinking they were a passed fad, thereby handing the entire quickly growing market to Atari. By 1979Events January-February January 1 Sino-American relations: United States and the People's Republic of China establish diplomatic relations January 4 State of Ohio agrees to pay $675,000 to families of dead and injured in Kent State University shootings., the 2600 was the best selling Christmas present (and console), mainly because of its exclusive content, and a million were sold that year.
Atari then licensed the smash arcade hit Space Invaders by Taito, which greatly increased the unit's popularity when it was released in May 1980, doubling sales again to over 2 million units. The 2600 and its cartridges were the main factor behind Atari grossing more than $2 billion in profits in 1980. Sales then doubled again for the next two years, with almost 8 million units selling in 1982.
