In this deep dive for SFGATE.com, Charles Russo tracks the beginnings of the modern video game industry, which has its roots in a “scrappy Silicon Valley startup” now known as Atari, launched by entrepreneurs Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. The business partners had previously created Computer Space, a futuristic yellow machine that was the world’s first coin-operated video game, and under Atari they went on to develop Pong, the classic arcade game, which was introduced to the American public in March 1973, exactly 50 years ago, and became an instant success. The piece has some fantastic photographs from the ’70s, including a snapshot of a massive retro Atari arcade game placed in the Powell Street BART station in downtown San Francisco, surrounded by people with bell-bottoms.
All told, Atari was in many ways the early embodiment of the modern Silicon Valley narrative: groundbreaking innovation, unconventional business strategy and — most notably — the profound impact of integrating technology into our lives (namely in the form of the culturally ubiquitous Atari 2600 home gaming system).
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