Exactly 38 years ago, the company that launched the game that is touted to be the biggest game of all time was officially launched. Atari, the humble arcade juggernaut, made its entrance into the business revolutionized gaming.

Pong — the gaming giant that spelled millions of quarters and hookies and failed report cards and crying mothers, filled arcades with lads and lasses waiting for their turn to get their hands on that game that provides that monotonic beeping sound. This singular success of Atari in this video game will warrant the company a place in the history books already.

Atari, which was based on the Japanese word which directly translates to target; would have had a different name if not for a Canadian company. Syzygy would have been the name of the Pong developer. Syzygy is a term in astronomy that refers to alignment, and Bushnell and company from the franchise’s head management, were liking Syzygy, unfortunately, the name is already a registered trademark of another company.

It’s safe to say that Atari was the grand daddy of arcade gaming; it ventured into console gaming a few years down the line. The company could not compete with today’s titans like Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo. It just just can’t compete at this level anymore. But the humble Atari has accomplished much already. It was a key player in defining video game history.
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Tags: Atari, Pong, Syzygy