Atari: Game Over Page #9

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No.

The behavior pattern that

created the conditions

for the E.T. failure

is what destroyed

the video game industry.

The cause of the fall was

Atari trying to sell yet

another 10 million Atari

2600s into a market that

was saturated.

E.T. didn't destroy Atari.

It wasn't good, but it

didn't destroy Atari.

That's one of those

things people say.

And the reality of life is,

if enough people say it,

it becomes the truth for people.

A simple answer that

is clear and precise

will always have

more power in the world

than a complex one

that is true.

Here's another E.T. six-pack.

What I would like

to see happen,

is I would like to see

whatever remains are recovered

will then find their

way into a museum,

in the service of game history.

Well, you know,

the city of Alamogordo

owns the games

and what have you

that came through there,

by virtue of the fact

they are in our landfill.

We might be able to

sell them on eBay.

So, if another

terrible video game needed

to be buried, will

you be prepared to

let it be buried

in Alamogordo?

Absolutely.

Come on down, we'll

bury your game.

Atari was the first

great consumer company

to come out of Silicon Valley.

It was exciting.

It was different.

It was the first engagement

that a generation

had with computers.

So a generation grew up being

introduced to the computer age

by Atari games.

We brought a whole massive

new entertainment medium

into public consciousness.

So for a whole generation,

we are the definition

of the video game era.

And it's cosmic.

These guys really never

got their due for really

starting the whole industry.

Three lives was

invented by a person.

Flying a ship around was

invented by a person, who had

to figure out what that was.

And it was so good that

it was copied everywhere.

And because it was

copied everywhere,

and because it's

so ubiquitous,

it's impossible to remember

why it was so special.

I think Atari's

legacy is that we

started the Silicon Valley ethic

of engineers as rock stars.

It didn't exist before.

I think the casual

culture, the meritocracy,

didn't exist before.

I believe these were

underpinnings of the things

that made, and continue to

make, Silicon Valley

a special place in the world.

And I think that Atari

will continue to endure

as an icon of innovation.

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