Atari Inc.: Business is Fun

Such a great wealth of Atari information and setting the record straight on many of the rumors I've heard over the years. Curt has such a great connection with many of the early gang of Atarians, Ted Dabney and Nolan Bushnell himself. I'm giving this book a 5 star reviews purely on the enjoyment I have in reading it, which is the most important to me. The book does need some grammar and spell checking, however.I grew up in the 70's loving that period of time when riding my bike to the closest bowling alley just to play a few games of Asteroids was a dream come true. I remember that exciting period of time of getting the Atari 2600 for Christmas 1981 with my very own Asteroids cartridge. Today I have a unique collection of game consoles, coin-op games, and handhelds that bring all those memories back. Reading through this book allows me to understand how all these wonderful toys came to be.

Atari: Business is Fun is a book that's difficult to rate in some ways. Do you care only about the high level of detail and tremendous research compiled by the authors? Or do you take note of the haphazard construction, the unbelievably terrible spelling and grammar mistakes and areas given short shrift?Well, at the end of the day, I'm going to split the difference.The general material in this book is first-rate. There's a ton of detail here on Atari, the 2600 (in particular), and various other products, including numerous unreleased prototypes or products that have long been forgotten. This material is backed by tons of interviews with the key players in the Atari story as well as a treasure trove of photos, internal documents, advertisements, and so on.However, one would be remiss to not make serious mention of the writing itself. The book reads as if it were never proofread at all. The constant misuse of the word "it's" is highly irritating. It's literally misused at least 500 times throughout the book. Seriously. In addition that, the book switches from past tense to present tense seemingly at random. It would be tough to overstate just how sloppy the writing is for a book of this size and magnitude. It really is THAT stunningly bad.In addition, the structure of the book leaves much to be desired. What starts out as a solid chronological retelling of the Atari story devolves into a disjointed mess that leaps around the timeline from product to product with little cohesion. The end result seriously detracts from the book.Finally, while there's some 200-300 pages of photos and documents in the book, the quality of those photos is very, very poor. They are, without fail, really grainy and black and white. It's tough to imagine that the authors, who have possession of the vast majority of the originals reproduced in the book, couldn't have come up with SOMETHING better for reproducing these items. A $50 scanner would have done better a better job.One more thing: to be clear, this book does not cover the entire history of Atari. It covers the formation up to the sale to Jack Tramiel. Wanna know about the performance of the 7800 in the market? The release of the 520ST? The death and rebirth in later years? None of that is covered. This book is the first in what was planned to be a trilogy. Unfortunately, the authors have stopped work on the remaining books and it looks like this one is all we'll ever get from them.Bottom line:Very detailed, highly flawed look at the early years of Atari.

I was totally blown away by the scope and depth of this book. A must have for any classic video game fan, this is a complete history of Atari from it's inception up until it was sold by Warner communications. Every product (both the big hits and the turkeys) is covered with descriptions of its development as well as plenty of photographs and even engineering notes in some cases. The authors did an amazing job of compiling interviews with former Atari employees and producing a compelling narative that takes you through the company's tumultous past.More than just a timeline of events and game releases, the book also paints a vivid picture of the key people at Atari and the business dealings (and double-dealings) that shaped the beginnings of the home computer revolution. Everthing is told here, and Atari's story is full of twists and turns. The company's spectacular rise and fall is well known, but this book tells the tale in a way that fills in the missing pieces and gives the facts straight from the people who were there.Those who read and enjoyed the Steve Jobs biography would do well to give this a read - Atari may not resonate with consumers of today the way that Apple does, but both have similar roots. It isn't much of a stretch to say that had things gone a bit differently, we'd be using Atari iphones today.

Loved reading about the history of Atari!It has fun, informative stories, some of which were very funny. There is a lot of facts the are fully brought into the light for the first time. The pictures are a nice added feature. Wish there was a map of the area this history took place, but that's a small thing, for a huge book, 800+ pages. It is well worth the asking price.The best story in the book is about Steve Jobs just after Apple started to grow that is NOT in that biography book last year. It really shows how he was then, and better how Atari was able best him at his own game!I highly recommend this book to anyone who owned a 2600 VCS, 400/800/1200XL system or lived in an Arcade shoving quarters into video games!!!

There is a lot of information in this book and has probably the longest set of forwards I have ever seen in a book. I think there might even be a forward in there from a random Barista at Starbucks. In all seriousness, the first thing I gleaned from this book is that there is a *clear* tone of dislike for Nolan Bushnell. Secondly, the book seems to jump around a lot and is VERY verbose. The saving grace here is that this book (regardless of tone) has a ton of interesting Atari related history which will be of interest to anyone who was an Arcade nut as a kid in the 70's (or just generally interested in Atari.)

A compendium of inside stories and info from Atari's glory years of the 70s and early 80s.

Si existió una compañía de videojuegos con historias de éxito, decepción, asombro y misterio, esa fue Atari. La empresa californiana tiene miles de relatos que contar, y en este libro se detallan datos nunca antes vistos, ya que acude a la fuente, como debe ser. Aunque sea en blanco y negro y los párrafos estén separados entre sí por líneas en blanco, es un imprescindible para todo amante de la historia del videojuego.

Se si conoscono nostalgici cresciuti a pane e anni '80 o che vogliono studiare fino all'ultimo dettaglio cosa c'è dietro l'avventura di un'azienda che ha segnato la storia del videogioco fin dalle sue origini questo libro è uno dei regali più da fare...o da farsi!Quasi ottocento pagine ricche di dettagli e frutto di un lungo e paziente lavoro di ricerca degli autori, corredato da foto e interviste ai tantissimi che hanno segnato la storia e l'ascesa dell'Atari.Unico difetto? Tutte le foto in bianco e nero. Ma davvero per meno di venti euro ci si vuole lamentare di questo?

Having watched Easy to Learn, Hard to Master I was fascinated to learn more about Atari. This literally has everything I wanted to know in it. Incredible detail to the point that I don't know how they got it all. Fantastic. Really enjoying reading it. Thank you

C'est sans aucun doute le livre le plus complet que vous pourrez trouvez sur Atari (la société avant le rachat de Tramiel, c'est à dire jusqu'en 1984). Et je salue l'énorme travail de recherche et de documentation qu'on fait les deux auteurs.Cependant il n'est pas exempt de tout défauts. Loin de là. La première chose qui me gène c'est le style, il rend la lecture vraiment difficile et presque pénible. Mon autre grand reproche est le parti prit des auteurs : ils ont choisis de raconter une histoire d'Atari en diminuant constamment les actions et décisions de Nolan Bushnell (le co-fondateur de la société). À tel point qu'on a l'impression qu'ils ont quelque chose contre lui ! Peut-être on t-ils succombés à cette mode de vouloir démystifier certains personnages de l'industrie des nouvelles technologies comme c'est le cas dans le film de Dany Boyle sur Steve Jobs (2015) ou celui de David Fincher sur Mark Zuckerberg (The Social Network, 2010).Choisir un angle aussi critique et à totalement charge envers Nolan Bushnell est dommage. Parce c'est manquer d'objectivité. Alors bien sur, il fut une époque ou Nolan Bushnell a été mit sur un piédestal. Les médias lui ont attribués des choses qu'il n'avaient pas faite. Cependant il est malgré tout le personnage central de l'histoire d'Atari ainsi que le principal responsable de son succès lors de ses premières années. Avec tous ses défauts et qualités, Bushnell est un personnage haut en couleur. Un livre sur Atari devrait essayer de tirer parti de ça.Alors est-ce que je vous recommanderais ce livre ?Seulement pour les purs passionnés et les historiens du jeu vidéo qui recherchent des infos très précises sur Atari. Ils devront bien faire attention de faire le tri parmi certaines affirmations des auteurs. Ils devront aussi prendre du recul par rapport au portrait de Nolan Bushnell.Pour les autres... passez votre chemin, il faut vraiment être un inconditionnel d'Atari pour se lancer dans ce livre. Le style, les disgressions, le manque de clarté, de nombreux détails parfois inutiles, rendent sa lecture vraiment rebutante.