50 Year Old Innovation That Launched An Industry: Atari

Atari is officially 50 years old, which means it is not only middle aged, but also a member of Generation X. No other company has completely defined an entire generation as well as Atari. In short: Atari introduced a generation to video games.

I am officially old enough to remember when going to a "penny arcade" meant being surrounded by a myriad of electromechanical devices. These amazing machines were such things as love testers, shooting galleries, and skill cranes. Many of these machines were mechanical marvels of their time.

However, one day, around 1972 all of that changed. In Silicon Valley there was a bar called, Andy Capp's Tavern. In this bar a little game called Pong debuted. And they say the rest is history. Suddenly, the entire world was engrossed in a world generated by silicon chips and rendered on a cathode ray tube.

It's hard to believe that a little black and white game that enabled a rudimentary tennis match between two players would be such a big deal. But from a small spark of innovation can come a paradigm shift.

Within a few years more elaborate video games such as Asteroids, Tempest, Major Havoc, and Missile Command came onto the scene. Suddenly, the little company that made Pong, Atari, was quite the big deal. Atari's founder, Nolan Bushnell, became the stuff of legend.

But it didn't end there. Within a few short years, the Atari 2600, aka VCS, Video Computer System was in homes. It was a little wood grained box that could play a variety of games that came on something called a cartridge. A cartridge held a ROM that stored the game's computer code.

And again, a small spark of innovation created yet another. Soon, the home video game market was booming. Everyone wanted into the video game industry and cash in. Traditional toy manufacturers such as Coleco and Mattel quickly built their own custom video game machines. But something else happened. Something amazing.

A company made up of former Atari engineers appeared. It was called Activision. Activision was the very first 3rd party software company. They were making games for the Atari 2600 that were not made by Atari. This was indeed a first. This little company would ultimately lead the way for independent video game companies in the future.

A whole generation of kids such as myself were enthralled with video games. Some of us even wanted more -- we wanted to design them. As we entered our teenage years, companies such as Commodore, Atari, Radio Shack, and Texas Instruments made computers that were designed to satiate that desire.

Soon, a whole generation of kids were suddenly making their own video games and selling them in magazines such as Compute's Gazette. Flash forward decades later, and video games are big business. In some cases, video games gross more the movies! 

And all of this... started from one single spark of innovation that is now celebrating 50 years. Happy Birthday Atari. You look good for your age!