Atari Inc. - Business Is Fun Now Available!

[Mirage]

There's just no excuse for that. Someone needs to make that right post haste.

[Vectrexer]

Congratulations Marty and Curt. Just reading your book Forwards makes me remember the magic of Oct 1977 and the anticipation of every new cart release .. and the new arcade experiences .. I will buy your book. (As an aside I still wish for someone to make a true to the time 1976 Death Race for the Vectrex.)

 

Definitely agree about the Death Race clone. Maybe we can also revive the era controversy the game caused. Even the Tulsa press tried to get in on the action to ban the game. (unlikely in today's blood-and-guts FPSs)

[H.E.R.O.]

There's just no excuse for that. Someone needs to make that right post haste.

 

Totally agree. Maybe a free e-book version to tide them over.

 

Also, I wonder what the outlook is like for that second book. Hadn't one of the authors fallen ill after the book came out?

[H.E.R.O.]

Definitely agree about the Death Race clone. Maybe we can also revive the era controversy the game caused. Even the Tulsa press tried to get in on the action to ban the game. (unlikely in today's blood-and-guts FPSs)

 

I'm still waiting for Vectrex Regeneration to make their Vectrex emulator for Android. They say it's coming but my doubts are high.

[Curt Vendel]

Marc - your book is in transit to Europe from the US, takes a while. Acoustic - PM me, I don't know your real name, all $50 ones shipped a long long time ago, tell me your info and I can just look up the tracking info from Createspace and see where you shipment went to and what date it arrived to that address.

[atarian1]

Marc - your book is in transit to Europe from the US, takes a while. Acoustic - PM me, I don't know your real name, all $50 ones shipped a long long time ago, tell me your info and I can just look up the tracking info from Createspace and see where you shipment went to and what date it arrived to that address.

 

Have the $250 ones been shipped yet? I looked through it for the first time at the Atari Party in Davis, CA (thank you for the raffle donations by the way... ), and it was disappointing seeing my name in there because I still have not received my copy.

[AtariNerd]

Got my backers copy in the post today. It's a heavy sucker. Though, maybe I've grown accustomed to and spoiled by reading in digital format, with its scalable fonts and front-lit screen for aging and not-so-well-focused eyes, I think I'll finish reading my Kindle copy before giving the dead-tree copy a good look through. One thing it has over the e-book copy, is that Curt was kind enough to sign it for me. Not sure if that was part of the deal for the $250 level, but was a nice touch.

[Marc Oberhäuser]

Marc - your book is in transit to Europe from the US, takes a while.

 

Just to let you know, I've just received the book

[Retro Rogue]

Again, we apologize for any issues people have had. This was a learning process for us as well and will certainly be corrected for the Atari Corp. book. Thanks everyone for your continued support!

 

[accousticguitar]

Just to let you know, I've just received the book

Wow, great! Apparently shipping to Idaho takes longer than shipping to Germany. I still have not received my autographed copy.

[KLund1]

Any anticipated date for Part II "Business is War"? Website?

My fingernails are getting quite short while waiting....

[high voltage]

Ordered mine from Amazon.de, took less than a week to arrive.

 

Reading it at work as we speak, I'm at Chapter 5 so far.

[high voltage]

Here's a pic of my book and a work flyer (it's my bookmark)

Yes, we are currently having a Helmut Newton exhibition at my museum, I would love to show you the whole flyer, but good old America discriminates against female nipples....http://ludwigmuseum.org/

 

 

Best read in a long time, only shame that some of the pictures are way too dark. Already can't wait for part 2

Edited July 31, 2013 by high voltage

[Retro Rogue]

Here's a pic of my book and a work flyer (it's my bookmark)

Yes, we are currently having a Helmut Newton exhibition at my museum, I would love to show you the whole flyer, but good old America discriminates against female nipples....http://ludwigmuseum.org/

 

 

Best read in a long time, only shame that some of the pictures are way too dark. Already can't wait for part 2

 

Unfortunately, that's a complaint we've been hearing from a lot of the people in Europe that have ordered. Which means there's an issue with the quality of Amazon's print on demand (POD) plant there. Please, (and I can't stress this enough) contact them and let them know. We've been asking this of everyone that's reported that. Complain, get a replacement copy, etc. It's another reason why we're currently looking into the possibility of working with a regular publisher instead of staying with the POD format.

[high voltage]

Nah it's alright, I can live with that, and POD is fine, this means I get the books quick and from within my country

[Curt Vendel]

Yes I did, I had my last surgery at the end of this January, so far all has been good with my health and I've gotten back into working on projects and other things that I had to sideline because of my health...

 

The 2nd book is already been in the works, and the 3rd book will follow.

 

Totally agree. Maybe a free e-book version to tide them over.

 

Also, I wonder what the outlook is like for that second book. Hadn't one of the authors fallen ill after the book came out?

[high voltage]

Finished...most excellent read.

Found the formatting a bit odd, found a few spelling mistakes, but besides that I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Anyway, well done guys.

Many things I didn't even knew about Atari yet.

 

Part 2 is out.....soon?

Edited August 22, 2013 by high voltage

[H.E.R.O.]

The 2nd book is already been in the works, and the 3rd book will follow.

 

3rd book? What's there to cover after Tramiel took the company over? Atari just wasn't Atari anymore after Hasbro and later Infogrames owned it. I just want that juicy Tramiel dirt. The book on Commodore called "Over the Edge" was great on Tramiel dirt. Still waiting on that second book as well!

 

Have you considered any other books outside of the Atari ones? I'd love a book on the history of Activision from when the original designers got together through when they were doing Commodore 64 games and changed the name to Mediagenic through when that >fill in your favorite expletive here< Bobby Kotick took things over.

[Retro Rogue]

 

 

3rd book? What's there to cover after Tramiel took the company over? Atari just wasn't Atari anymore after Hasbro and later Infogrames owned it. I just want that juicy Tramiel dirt. The book on Commodore called "Over the Edge" was great on Tramiel dirt. Still waiting on that second book as well!

 

The third book is on Atari Games, the other half of the split up Atari Inc. and what many of the ex-Atari employees considered the "original Atari," since Atari was originally a coin company. Most of the coin people we interviewed for the first book continued on business as usual with Atari Games (original PONG tester Jeff Bell was actually the last person out in 2003), and interestingly they have the viewpoint of the Consumer Division being nothing but a side project that got way out of control and nearly brought the company down, since to them Atari was a coin company first. Atari Games lasted from 1984 to 2003, so there's a lot of material to cover besides the Tengen material it encompasses.

 

Have you considered any other books outside of the Atari ones? I'd love a book on the history of Activision from when the original designers got together through when they were doing Commodore 64 games and changed the name to Mediagenic through when that >fill in your favorite expletive here< Bobby Kotick took things over.

 

 

My next book project is on Mattel Electronics.

[+Nathan Strum]

Oooo... the Atari Games book is the one I want to read. Can't wait!

[+wood_jl]

3rd book? What's there to cover after Tramiel took the company over? Atari just wasn't Atari anymore after Hasbro and later Infogrames owned it.

 

I agree. "Atari" wasn't crap after the Tramiel era. But it's still something of a curiosity, since it *is* a continuation of the brand and the I.P. that goes along with it. Unfortunately, nobody is interested in covering this era, and they're probably too afraid of being sued by the rabid nut-jobs that own the "Atari" name to tell the truth. So we'll probably have to get the info on that particular era from forum postings. It's probably not interesting enough to turn into a book anyway, but I submit that - as a continuation of a brand that we all *used* to love - it's of a least *some* interest. It would make a nice "bonus" chapter to a book that we really gave a shit about.

[Retro Rogue]

 

 

I agree. "Atari" wasn't crap after the Tramiel era. But it's still something of a curiosity, since it *is* a continuation of the brand and the I.P. that goes along with it. Unfortunately, nobody is interested in covering this era, and they're probably too afraid of being sued by the rabid nut-jobs that own the "Atari" name to tell the truth. So we'll probably have to get the info on that particular era from forum postings. It's probably not interesting enough to turn into a book anyway, but I submit that - as a continuation of a brand that we all *used* to love - it's of a least *some* interest. It would make a nice "bonus" chapter to a book that we really gave a shit about.

 

Well in the consumer arena, after Atari Corp. closed down there was no more physical trail. No company, buildings, people, etc. to tie Hasbro or Infogrames to anything legitimate. Just a purchase of a brand name and some paper assets. That's why people aren't interested, because it represents people with no actual connection or creative investment coming along and superficially using them like they would anyone else's IP. No different then when Infogrames but out games under a number of different defunct brands, which were nothing more than logos slapped on a box. Curt and I could certainly tell a ton of personal stories and background info about the Infogrames years. But a) The company isn't gone yet. b) we're just not interested, because to us it doesn't have anything to do with what we consider to be real/genuine Atari history. I.E. anything to do with the actual Atari companies. That's why we're sticking to just those. The transfer of IP to Hasbro and Infogrames will be covered very briefly at the end of this second book. But that's about it.

[Shannon]

In other words Atari lost it's "soul" after the Tramiel years... Kinda makes sense...

 

I Still need to get the first book...

[H.E.R.O.]

The third book is on Atari Games, the other half of the split up Atari Inc. and what many of the ex-Atari employees considered the "original Atari," since Atari was originally a coin company. Most of the coin people we interviewed for the first book continued on business as usual with Atari Games (original PONG tester Jeff Bell was actually the last person out in 2003), and interestingly they have the viewpoint of the Consumer Division being nothing but a side project that got way out of control and nearly brought the company down, since to them Atari was a coin company first. Atari Games lasted from 1984 to 2003, so there's a lot of material to cover besides the Tengen material it encompasses.

 

My next book project is on Mattel Electronics.

 

The Atari Games book sounds great. I was never the biggest Mattel Intellivision or Mattel handheld fan but such a book would be interesting as well. Guess I'm hoping for a history of Coleco book after that one.

[Retro Rogue]

 

The Atari Games book sounds great. I was never the biggest Mattel Intellivision or Mattel handheld fan but such a book would be interesting as well. Guess I'm hoping for a history of Coleco book after that one.

Someone else in the forums already mentioned they were involved in a Coleco one, so I'm staying away from doing one.