Endgadget and Atari

[TrekMD]

Hey all! Endgadget has a magazine they make called Distro. Their current issue focuses on Atari! Here is a link to it so you can download it at their site:

http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/04/distro-issue-39-40-years-of-atari/

[onlysublime]

it's a really slick presentation so I recommend people check it out...

[Retro Rogue]

Except it has horrible fact checking and rediculous statements in it. Ted was completely cut out of the early picture as usual. Likewise mistakes like Nolan working at Lagoon in the early 70's, a time when Syzygy and Atari were already in play, or statements like "Asteroids was the first Atari microprocessor game", or Nolan's claim of Atari inventing dial-up networking, packet switching/TCP-IP, and the Internet are just plain silly to have in there, no excuse for that.

 

The Arpanet and packet switching were around long before said claim, even the later TCP/IP specification was already completed by early '74. Combined with the earlier statements about microprocessors, I was like "seriously?" The Intel 4004 came out in 1971, which hardly places Atari "pre-microprocessor", and then stating they weren't powerful enough until '77 when you have the 6800 and 8080 in 1974 and the 6502 in 1975, and Atari's own usage of the 6502 and 6800 starting in '75?

 

It's like that throughout, and I have to ask where the fact checking and vetting was in the entire piece.

[onlysublime]

any press is good press. And the article puts Atari in a very favorable light on multiple fronts from the arcade to the 2600 to Atari ST and so on... Finally, some quality pics as well. Searching for good Atari pics on the net is quite an adventure.

[Retro Rogue]

I'm sorry, but that's just not the case. The brand gets plenty of press without the incorrect information that we've been fighting with these books. People look at these articles and use them as sources of information - you're using it as sources for photos for example. They're getting fed poorly researched info. Likewise it was a mishmash, the ST was a completely different Atari.

[onlysublime]

brand? the world either thinks Atari is a rock band or a line of T shirts...

 

The information is not so egregiously wrong that you can't glean some fun from it. I doubt anyone is using the details in a dissertation...

[Retro Rogue]

brand? the world either thinks Atari is a rock band or a line of T shirts...

 

Yes, brand. The original Atari, Atari Inc., ceased to exist in 1984. Atari Corporation, formed out of one division of that company, ceased to exist when it reverse merged with JTS in 1996. In 1998 the brand and IP were sold to Hasbro, then Infogrames SA. Infogrames renamed themselves Atari SA which is who is in charge of the brand today. There is no one continuous company, all that exists today is a brand and IP that's been passed on.