Category Archives: Atari, Inc.

Combat, Atari 2600

Combat was designed by Atari, Inc. and first released for the Atari 2600 in 1977 and was the pack-in game for the system until 1982 (meaning: you got a Combat cartridge with the console, upon purchase).

It was one of the first home video games I ever played (probably the same for millions of others) and it enthralled me. Yes, Combat is very simple by today’s standards, but in 1977 it was a revelation and was much cloned by other developers.

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Tempest, Arcade

Tempest, by Dave Theurer, is one of the first ever ‘tube shooters’. It was released by Atari in 1981.

You control a spider-like yellow craft that walks along the edge of a 3D playfield, often taking the form of a cylindrical tube. You shoot bullets down the tube at enemies that are rising upwards to get you. Thus the name ‘tube shooter’.

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Neverwinter Nights 2, PC

The 2006 sequel to the hit RPG Neverwinter Nights was created by American developer Obsidian Entertainment and published by Atari, Inc.

In many ways Neverwinter Nights 2 improves on the original game, and uses a new game engine (actually a suped-up version of the previous engine), this one called the Electron Engine.

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Star Wars, Arcade

Atari‘s classic Star Wars arcade game took the gaming world by storm back in 1983.

It gave games-players a chance to pilot an X-Wing for the first time and wowed audiences with its superfast vector graphics and amazing digitised sound.

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