Atari has filed for bankruptcy in the U.S

Sometimes even the classics fall this being one of those times.

Seminal video game company Atari has filed for bankruptcy in the US in an effort "to break free from their debt-laden French parent," according to the L.A. Times.

Atari's revenue has declined in recent decades. Since the early 2000s, the company has been under the rule of a French parent, known as Atari S.A.

Atari is, of course, most famous for creating arcade classics such as Pong and Asteroids. It is currently working on a new version of Pong with Zynga and a 'greatest hits' collection from its back catalogue.

Its a shame that one of the companies that revolutionized gaming has filed for administration :

So urce

Awww... that cast a little black storm cloud over my evening. I have a 2600 and 5200 though and they both should still work with a dozen games for the 52 and..well.. didn't everyone just have a box or two full of games for the 26? I'll have to hang on to those and remember what used to be.

* On a personal note, nice Avatar there Snoopie! That catches the eye real well!

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


I have a box of old games for the 26 but no console Lol

And yeah Dutcheagle made it for me, Its me and my girl Taylor Swift lol. He done a good job.

This is a shame. I met my wife whilst we were both working for Atari in the UK during the late 1980s.

reply to post by Snoopie


That brakes my heart , I loved to play missile command , space invaders, etc.. I wish I had those machines still in possession.

I thought they shut down about 20 years ago.
I had no idea that there was still an 'Atari' company.

Originally posted by Wrabbit2000

I have a 2600 and 5200 though and they both should still work with a dozen games for the 52 and..well.. didn't everyone just have a box or two full of games for the 26?

It must have been nice growing up in an extremely wealthy family.

My parents couldn't afford those fancy numbers.
All I ever had was just a plain old 'Atari'.

reply to post by BrokenCircles

LOL.... I wish I were from a home of wealth and privilege. I thought I was at times, I'll admit. The fact is...My Daddy was just a working stiff and an average street cop in a So. California department. It wasn't until well after I turned 18 myself and really, until I had a Son of my own I came to understand. I finally understood that to have those things? My Father went without anything beyond the barest basics required more than I want to think about. My mom and dad both 'paid' far more than money in seeing I had the illusion of being better off than we ever really were.

The 2600 is from my wife and an original too! (Serial number wise..she insists it'll be worth something someday) The 5200? Yeah..that is the actual one I played games on as a little kid with my father. It wouldn't sell today for a million in cash.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000
There's a strong possibility that I don't know what the heck I'm talking about. lol

As far as I can tell, the Atari2600 IS the one I had.
Apparently, it was released in 1977.


Check this out: Evolution Of Video Game Consoles
It has 1 pic of each console from 1967-2010






reply to post by 0bserver1

Originally posted by 0bserver1

.... I loved to play missile command , space invaders, etc.. I wish I had those machines still in possession.

Obviously, it's not the same thing, but it might be worth checking out.

A quick search for 'Free Online Atari Games', gave me many different sites, but I only clicked one of them: Atari Arcade
...and the first one I read just happened to be 'Missile Command'.





[color=999999]IF anyone clicks that link, here's a quick FYI: That site loaded up automatically. It only took a few seconds, but I just felt that it should be mentioned.

reply to post by BrokenCircles

Thanks for that link. For a few minutes, that took me back a few decades. Damn was that a nice place to be while it lasted. Coleco... Intellivision I and II... Oh now there were memories. I recall Intellivision as the first game I'd ever played with coherent speech as part of a game (Some bomb diffusing game..I can't recall the title). WOW! Now that was worth hours of play time! Then Colecovision and my first introduction to Donkey Kong! If only I'd known then..I'd have packed it away and never touched it again...I became a born-again gamer! I think I still suffer the condition.

Anyway.. That was a surprise and a really nice one to go flip through. The only console I grew up with and didn't see may have literally pre-dated that list. It was an original 'Pong' console my grandparents had. No idea how old it was by that time...but who knew you could play so many versions of Pong and for so many hours too? Oh..the simple days.

(Offers a bag of premium carrots from a grateful Bunny)

* Oh.. and for those young guys around? I didn't own all those.. Just the two Ataris I mentioned first. Those were the days where everyone got together to figure out what to ask parents ..so, if it went right someone from the neighborhood got one of each. Whose house everyone played at depended on what games we all were in the mood for. lol..... Such different times.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/files/img/hc50ff0e57.gif[/atsimg]

Then Colecovision and my first introduction to Donkey Kong! If only I'd known then..I'd have packed it away and never touched it again...I became a born-again gamer! I think I still suffer the condition.

Mine is in remission..... I can stay clean for years, but it would only take that 1 time, for me to once again become submerged within the clutches of gamer addiction. lol

The only console I grew up with and didn't see may have literally pre-dated that list. It was an original 'Pong' console my grandparents had. No idea how old it was by that time...but who knew you could play so many versions of Pong and [color=C9FFFA]for so many hours too?

It may not be the same version that you had, but Pong is on that list.
[color=C9FFFA]'Atari Sears Tele-Games Pong System (1975)'

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/files/img/kb50ff0e6a.gif[/atsimg]

If I remember correctly, I always had problems with the more advanced levels of Pong. (which was the same thing, except your lil bar/paddle was about half the size of the 'normal' one. lol)



lmao @ "...and for so many hours"
Most of them just repeated the same thing.lol
I can remember playing 'Pitfall' & 'Defender' for hours and hours.
Just the same thing over & over & over & over.........

Whose house everyone played at depended on what games we all were in the mood for. lol..... Such different times.

You also had keep track of everyone's games, so that everyone didn't end up having mostly the same games. Much better to be able to trade 'em off.



[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/files/img/cd50ff08ea.gif[/atsimg]
Maybe not, but I'm gonna guess that just from seeing this↑ single image, a couple specific thoughts will enter into your mind. I didn't even have to think about it, and I'm just assuming it will be the same for you. I don't wanna spoil it though, so I'll add them to the bottom of the post.

[color=FF8091]No no no no no no no no!!!!! faster faster faster....

[color=FF8091]Whew, that was close....

Obviously, many of those images are not Atari, but I'm enjoying myself.lol
more video game gifs @ www.arcadefever.net...


1. Contra
2. Up-Up-Down-Down-Left-Right-Left-Right-B-A-Select-Start

In order to forget that↑, I'd probably have to remove a small chunk of brain.

This is weird. The French company they are trying to escape from used to be called Infogrames. 10+ years ago, Inforgrames bought Atari and then, a few years ago, renamed their whole damn company Atari Inc, dispersing the Infogrames name entirely. So it looks like it may actually be Infogrames which is falling into bankruptcy and the tatters of Atari are attempting to crawl away from them. Infogrames went on a mad spending spree in the late 90s, early 2000s. They held the IP rights to the Civilization, various Tycoon, and Unreal franchises as well as the Unreal Engine. They also held publishing rights over most of ID and GTI. How in the everloving blue Hell does a company holding the rights to (among other things)
Doom, Duke, Hexen, Blood, Unreal, Civilization, Transformers, and AD&D
and, most seriously, the flipping Unreal Engine go bankrupt!?!?!? My God, over half of the biggest selling games of the last 10 years used the Unreal 2 engine and the Unreal 3 engine has a list of TBD releases almost as long already.