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Forty years. That's a long time in the tech industry and Atari knows it. Today it celebrates four decades in the game, and quite the tale it is. Highs, lows and everything in between, Atari has been there. As one of the most influential brands both in gaming and technology, it only seems right to take a look over the company's history and chart some of the more significant twists in its less than straightforward journey. After the break we speak to the man that started it all and the one currently at the helm, as well as some of the many people whose lives were irreversibly changed by its influence. Happy birthday to you, Atari!

Continue reading Atari: celebrating 40 years on the dots

Atari: celebrating 40 years on the dots originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jun 2012 17:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Multiplayer gaming today has become an inherently and bewilderingly antisocial affair. You grab a controller, take up as much space as possible on your couch at home, then connect to some random game hosted by some random server filled with some random people with whom you do your damnedest to fill with some collection of lead thrown from some assortment of futuristic weaponry. Along the way, you'll be taunted, insulted and, if you're playing a Halo game, quite possibly physically shamed.

Back in 1976, of course, things were a bit different. Pong was the height of at-home multiplayer gaming. Two dials, one button and one switch is all you had, and with your opponent sitting in extremely close proximity to you, chances are most of the heckling would be the good-natured variety. It is a vastly simplified experience versus what we have today, but in some ways a vastly superior one. Click on through to see why.

Gallery: Atari Pong review