Atari kick-started the home video game console movement back in the 1970s and 80’s and paved the way for today’s gaming industry when it launched the trailblazing Atari 2600, along with several blockbuster games. It was a pop culture icon and a galvanizing force within the industry. So how did it find itself bankrupt and in a New Mexico dumpsite (literally) by 1983? Find out on episode 11 on The Great Fail.
Episode Sources
Atari retrospective: The rise and fall of a gaming giant
A history of gaming’s biggest scandals
Total Failure: The World’s Worst Video Game
The true story of the worst video game in history
The Atari Company and its Downfall (video)
A golden shining moment’: the true story behind Atari’s ET, the worst video game ever
The Untold Story of Atari Founder Nolan Bushnell’s Visionary 1980s Tech Incubator
The Story Behind Atari’s Infamous E.T. Video Game
The man who made ‘the worst video game in history’
Special Guest
Howard Scott Warshaw
Howard is an American psychotherapist and former game designer who is best known for his work at Atari in the early 1980s. There, he designed and programmed the Atari 2600 games Yars’ Revenge, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. He has also written two books as well as produced and directed three documentaries.
Today he is an artist, technologist, creator and healer. He received his Master of Arts degree from JFK University and his Master of Engineering degree from Tulane University. He’s spent decades as a software designer/programmer, award-winning film maker, celebrated video game developer, author, teacher, columnist and engineering manager.