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105-532: The Fairchild Channel F sold only about 350,000 units before Fairchild sold the technology to Zircon International in 1979, trailing well behind the Atari VCS . The system was discontinued in 1983. In 1974, Alpex Computer Corporation employees Wallace Kirschner and Lawrence Haskel developed a home video game prototype consisting of a base unit centered on an Intel 8080 microprocessor and interchangeable circuit boards containing ROM chips that could be plugged into

210-415: A Combat cartridge; eight additional games were sold separately. Most of the launch games were based on arcade games developed by Atari or its subsidiary Kee Games : for example, Combat was based on Kee's Tank (1974) and Atari's Jet Fighter (1975). Atari sold between 350,000 and 400,000 Atari VCS units during 1977, attributed to the delay in shipping the units and consumers' unfamiliarity with

315-476: A $ 425 million loss reported in the second quarter. By mid-1984, software development for the 2600 had essentially stopped except that of Atari and Activision. Warner, wary of supporting its failing Atari division, started looking for buyers in 1984. Warner sold most of the assets of Atari's counsumer electronics and home computer divisions to Jack Tramiel , the founder of Commodore International , in July 1984 in

420-690: A 2600, though companies like Epoch had distributed the 2600 in Japan previously. The 2800 was released a short time after Nintendo 's Family Computer (which became the dominant console in Japan), and it did not gain a significant share of the market. Sears previously released the 2800 in the US during late 1982 as the Sears Video Arcade II, which came packaged with two controllers and Space Invaders . Around 30 specially branded games were released for

525-465: A 4KB ROM . It was able to output 384 x 336 graphics and 128 x 56 semigraphic characters in 16 colors, (based on UV-201 and UV-202 proprietary chips ) and sound to a connected television set through an RF connector . By far its most striking feature was the 36-key keyboard - though the keyboard of the VideoBrain was poorly designed and difficult to use, keyboards were not available on any of

630-500: A 50  Hz format, is limited to 8 colors, each with only a single brightness level. The first VCS bundle has two types of controllers: a joystick (part number CX10) and pair of rotary paddle controllers (CX30). Driving controllers, which are similar to paddle controllers but can be continuously rotated, shipped with the Indy 500 launch game. After less than a year, the CX10 joystick

735-421: A Keyboard Videocart. There was one cartridge released outside the numbered series, listed as Videocart-51 and simply titled "Demo 1". This Videocart was shown in a single sales brochure released shortly after Zircon acquired the company. It has not been seen listed for sale after this single brochure which was sent out in the winter of 1979. Unreleased carts: German electronics manufacturer SABA also released

840-694: A conjoined pair of paddle controllers, and a game cartridge—initially Combat and later Pac-Man . Sears sold the system as the Tele-Games Video Arcade . Atari rebranded the VCS as the Atari 2600 in November 1982, alongside the release of the Atari 5200 . Atari was successful at creating arcade video games , but their development cost and limited lifespan drove CEO Nolan Bushnell to seek

945-490: A countdown timer , and a Color Bar generator. Two additional hardware modules were marketed that would extend the capabilities of the VideoBrain. The Expander 1 was an interface to various I/O devices. It allowed users to connect a cassette tape recorder for saving or loading data, and included two RS-232 ports for attaching a printer and the Expander 2. The Expander 2 was a 300 baud acoustic modem used by

1050-552: A deal valued at $ 240 million , though Warner retained Atari's arcade business. Tramiel was a proponent of personal computers , and halted all new 2600 game development soon after the sale. The North American video game market did not recover until about 1986, after Nintendo 's 1985 launch of the Nintendo Entertainment System in North America. Atari Corporation released a redesigned model of

1155-504: A few compatible carts different from the original carts: translation in Videocart-1 Tic-Tac-Toe to German words, Videocart-3 released with different abbreviations (German), and Videocart-18 changed graphics and has a German word list. In 2021, a number of new 'Homebrew' games were released on itch.io by retro developer Arlasoft. These included ports of mobile puzzle games Tents & Trees, 2048 and Threes, as well as

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1260-534: A final library of 26 games on the console. The Channel F is based on the Fairchild F8 microprocessor, which was innovative compared to other contemporary processors and integrated circuits. Because chip packaging was not initially available with enough pins, a few pins were used to communicate with other chips in the system. At least two chips were necessary to set up an F8 processor system to be able run any code. The savings from using standard pin layout enabled

1365-446: A fire button, it could be pulled up as well. The model 1 unit contained a small compartment for storing the controllers when moving it or when not in use. The System II featured detachable controllers with two holders at the back to wind the cable around and to store the controller in. Zircon later offered a special controller that featured an action button on the front of the joystick. It was marketed by Zircon as "Channel F Jet-Stick" in

1470-483: A home console powered by new programmable microprocessors capable of playing Atari's current arcade offerings. The programmable microprocessors would make a console's design significantly simpler and more powerful than any dedicated single-game unit. However, the cost $ 100–300 of such chips was far outside the range that their market would tolerate. Atari had opened negotiations to use Motorola's new 6800 in future systems. In September 1975, MOS Technology debuted

1575-410: A key audience. Most available software was aimed at productivity or educational markets, and lacked any variety of entertainment titles. Perhaps the largest contributor to the VideoBrain's failure was simply a lack of proper marketing and hardware availability. Public understanding of computers in 1977 was significantly lower than it is today, and many potential consumers simply did not understand

1680-486: A landfill in the New Mexico desert, later labeled the Atari video game burial . Long considered an urban legend that claimed the burial contained millions of unsold cartridges, the site was excavated in 2014, confirming reports from former Atari executives that only about 700,000 cartridges had actually been buried. Atari reported a $ 536 million loss for 1983 as a whole, and continued to lose money into 1984, with

1785-412: A letter sent out to registered owners before Christmas 1982. One feature, unique to the console, is the 'hold' button, which allows the player to freeze the game, change the time or speed of the game. The hold function is however not universal (like the hardwired reset) as the four buttons are set up in code. The programmer can choose their function/purpose. The text labels explains the button functions in

1890-675: A native controller. Third-party controllers include Wico's Command Control joystick. Later, the CX42 Remote Control Joysticks, similar in appearance but using wireless technology, were released, together with a receiver whose wires could be inserted in the controller jacks. Atari introduced the CX50 Keyboard Controller in June 1978 along with two games that require it: Codebreaker and Hunt & Score . The similar, but simpler, CX23 Kid's Controller

1995-416: A number of competitors to the growing arcade game market. The competition along with other missteps by Atari led to financial problems in 1974, though recovering by the end of the year. By 1975, Atari had released a Pong home console , competing against Magnavox , the only other major producer of home consoles at the time. Atari engineers recognized, however, the limitation of custom logic integrated onto

2100-431: A number of reasons. Poor design decisions hindered user acceptance; for example, the VideoBrain's confusing and user-unfriendly keyboard made even simple text entry a tedious process. Moreover, the computer did not offer the then-popular programming language BASIC , forcing users to instead adopt APL/S - a far more obscure and difficult programming language. Finally, the VideoBrain software library had trouble reaching

2205-539: A port of the classic arcade shooter Centipede . Through a secret button combination a hidden game could also be started, the box and instruction booklet has multiple hints about the needed code. These were released on cartridge as Videocart-29. The Channel F had beaten the Atari VCS to the market, but once the VCS was released, sales of the Channel F fell, attributed to the types of games that were offered. Most of

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2310-424: A programmable home system. The first inexpensive microprocessors from MOS Technology in late 1975 made this feasible. The console was prototyped under the codename Stella by Atari subsidiary Cyan Engineering . Lacking funding to complete the project, Bushnell sold Atari to Warner Communications in 1976. The Atari VCS launched in 1977 with nine games on 2 KB cartridges. Atari ported many of their arcade games to

2415-410: A single program (Timeshare) that allowed the VideoBrain to act as a terminal when dialed into a compatible mainframe computer . Additional software was sold on cartridges measuring approximately the size of a Betamax tape. The cartridge interface was unique: unlike most video game systems, VideoBrain cartridges had an exposed strip of conductive traces that simply lie flush against a set of pins on

2520-472: A swappable-cartridge console that is not dedicated to only one game. In 1978, Atari sold only 550,000 of the 800,000 systems manufactured. This required further financial support from Warner to cover losses. Bushnell pushed the Warner Board of Directors to start working on "Stella 2", as he grew concerned that rising competition and aging tech specs of the VCS would render the console obsolete. However,

2625-483: A television. The second prototype included a TIA, a 6507, and a ROM cartridge slot and adapter. As the TIA's design was refined, Al Alcorn brought in Atari's game developers to provide input on features. There are significant limitations in the 6507, the TIA, and other components, so the programmers creatively optimized their games to maximize the console. The console lacks a framebuffer and requires games to instruct

2730-643: A total of over 12 million VCS systems and an estimated 120 million cartridges sold. In Europe, the Atari VCS sold 125,000 units in the United Kingdom during 1980, and 450,000 in West Germany by 1984. In France, where the VCS released in 1982, the system sold 600,000 units by 1989. The console was distributed by Epoch Co. in Japan in 1979 under the name "Cassette TV Game", but did not sell as well as Epoch's own Cassette Vision system in 1981. In 1982, Atari launched its second programmable console,

2835-600: Is commonly referred to by fans as the "Vader" model, due to its resemblance to the Star Wars character of the same name. Atari continued its OEM relationship with Sears under the latter's Tele-Games brand, which started in 1975 with the original Pong . This is unrelated to the company Telegames , which later produced 2600 cartridges. Sears released several models of the VCS as the Sears Video Arcade series starting in 1977. The final Sears-specific model

2940-582: The 6502 microprocessor for $ 25 at the Wescon trade show in San Francisco. Mayer and Milner attended, and met with the leader of the team that created the chip, Chuck Peddle . They proposed using the 6502 in a game console, and offered to discuss it further at Cyan's facilities after the show. Over two days, MOS and Cyan engineers sketched out a 6502-based console design by Meyer and Milner's specifications. Financial models showed that even at $ 25 ,

3045-701: The Atari 5200 . To standardize naming, the VCS was renamed to the "Atari 2600 Video Computer System", or "Atari 2600", derived from the manufacture part number CX2600. By 1982, the 2600 cost Atari about $ 40 to make and was sold for an average of $ 125 (equivalent to $ 390 in 2023). The company spent $ 4 .50 to $ 6 to manufacture each cartridge, plus $ 1 to $ 2 for advertising, wholesaling for $ 18.95 (equivalent to $ 60 in 2023). Activision , formed by Crane, Whitehead, and Miller in 1979, started developing third-party VCS games using their knowledge of VCS design and programming tricks, and began releasing games in 1980. Kaboom! (1981) and Pitfall! (1982) are among

3150-411: The Nintendo Entertainment System . Production of the Atari 2600 ended in 1992, with an estimated 30 million units sold across its lifetime. Atari, Inc. was founded by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney in 1972. Its first major product was Pong , released in 1972, the first successful coin-operated video game . While Atari continued to develop new arcade games in following years, Pong gave rise to

3255-428: The call stack , and the state of the game environment. The top bezel of the console originally had six switches: power, TV type selection (color or black-and-white), game selection, left and right player difficulty, and game reset. The difficulty switches were moved to the back of the bezel in later versions of the console. The back bezel also included the controller ports, TV output, and power input. The Atari 2600

Fairchild Channel F - Misplaced Pages Continue

3360-471: The 2600 in 1986, supported by an ad campaign touting a price of "under 50 bucks". With a large library of cartridges and a low price point, the 2600 continued to sell into the late 1980s. Atari released the last batch of games in 1989–90 including Secret Quest and Fatal Run . By 1986, over 20 million Atari VCS units had been sold worldwide. The final Atari-licensed release is the PAL-only version of

3465-461: The 2600 was supported with new games and television commercials promoting "The fun is back!". Atari released several minor stylistic variations: the "large rainbow" (shown), "short rainbow", and an all-black version sold only in Ireland. Later European versions include a joypad. The Atari 2700 was a version of the 2600 with wireless controllers. The CX2000, with integrated joystick controllers,

3570-512: The 2600. Mattel used the M Network brand name for its cartridges. Third-party games accounted for half of VCS game sales by 1982. In addition to third-party game development, Atari also received the first major threat to its hardware dominance from the ColecoVision. Coleco had a license from Nintendo to develop a version of the arcade game Donkey Kong (1981), which was bundled with every ColecoVision console. Coleco gained about 17% of

3675-413: The 2800. Designed by engineer Joe Tilly, the 2800 has four controller ports instead of the two of the 2600. The controllers are an all-in one design using a combination of an 8-direction digital joystick and a 270-degree paddle , designed by John Amber. The 2800's case design departed from the 2600, using a wedge shape with non-protruding switches. The case style is the basis for the Atari 7800 , which

3780-471: The 6502 would be too expensive, and Peddle offered them a planned 6507 microprocessor , a cost-reduced version of the 6502, and MOS's RIOT chip for input/output . Cyan and MOS negotiated the 6507 and RIOT chips at $ 12 a pair. MOS also introduced Cyan to Microcomputer Associates , who had separately developed debugging software and hardware for MOS, and had developed the JOLT Computer for testing

3885-466: The 6502, which Peddle suggested would be useful for Atari and Cyan to use while developing their system. Milner was able to demonstrate a proof-of-concept for a programmable console by implementing Tank , an arcade game by Atari's subsidiary Kee Games , on the JOLT. As part of the deal, Atari wanted a second source of the chipset. Peddle and Paivinen suggested Synertek whose co-founder, Bob Schreiner,

3990-507: The 6502. Decuir began debugging the first prototype designed by Mayer and Milner, which gained the codename "Stella" after the brand of Decuir's bicycle. This prototype included a breadboard -level design of the graphics interface to build upon. A second prototype was completed by March 1976 with the help of Jay Miner , who created a chip called the Television Interface Adaptor (TIA) to send graphics and audio to

4095-482: The Channel F games as "high in interest" and called that "an impressive proportion" and further noted that "Some of the Channel F cartridges are timeless; no matter what technological developments occur, they will continue to be of interest." His overall conclusion was that the games "serve a limited, but useful, purpose" and that the "strength of the Channel F offering is in its excellent educational line for children". In 1983, after Zircon announced its discontinuation of

4200-629: The Channel F in 1983. Atari 2600 The Atari 2600 is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977 as the Atari Video Computer System ( Atari VCS ), it popularized microprocessor -based hardware and games stored on swappable ROM cartridges , a format first used with the Fairchild Channel F in 1976. The VCS was bundled with two joystick controllers ,

4305-455: The Channel F titles were slow-paced educational and intellectual games, compared to the action-driven games that launched with the VCS. Even with the redesigned Channel F II in 1978, Fairchild was unable to meet the sales that the VCS and its games were generating. By the time Fairchild sold the technology to Zircon in 1979, around 350,000 total units had been sold. Ken Uston reviewed 32 games in his book Ken Uston's Guide to Buying and Beating

Fairchild Channel F - Misplaced Pages Continue

4410-569: The Channel F, Video Games reviewed the console. Calling it "the system nobody knows", the magazine described its graphics and sounds as "somewhat primitive by today's standards". It described Space War as "may be the most antiquated game of its type still on the market", and rated the 25 games for the console with an average "interest grade" of three ("not too good") on a scale from one to ten and "skill rating" at an average 4,5 of 10. The magazine stated, however, that Fairchild "managed to create some fascinating games, even by today's standards", calling

4515-535: The Extra-Terrestrial , a game programmed in about six weeks. Atari produced an estimated four million cartridges, but the game was poorly reviewed, and only about 1.5 million units were sold. Warner Communications issued revised earnings guidance in December 1982 to its shareholders, having expected a 50% year-to-year growth but now only expecting 10–15% due to declining sales at Atari. Coupled with

4620-642: The Home Video Games in 1982, and rated some of the Channel F's titles highly; of these, Alien Invasion and Video Whizball were considered by Uston to be "the finest adult cartridges currently available for the Fairchild Channel F System". The games on a whole, however, rated last on his survey of over 200 games for the Atari, Intellivision, Astrocade and Odyssey consoles, and contemporary games were rated "Average" with future Channel F games rated "below average". Uston rated almost one-half of

4725-553: The United Kingdom. Both models of the Saba Videoplay were sold in Germany and Italy. Lawson moved on to form his own company, Video Soft in 1980. Talesfore continued working on the system at Fairchild, and eventually a number of these improvements resulted in the improved System II. The major changes were that the controllers were now removable, using the Atari joystick port connector (not Atari compatible), and their storage

4830-544: The VCS led to the founding of Activision and other third-party game developers and competition from the Intellivision and, later, ColecoVision consoles. Games grew to use four or more times the storage size of the launch games with significantly more advanced visuals and gameplay than the system was designed for, such as Activision's Pitfall! . By 1982, the Atari 2600 was the dominant game system in North America. Poor decisions by Atari management damaged both

4935-503: The VCS was made in Sunnyvale during 1977, using thick polystyrene plastic for the casing as to give the impression of weight from what was mostly an empty shell inside. The initial Sunnyvale batch had also included potential mounts for an internal speaker system on the casing, though the speakers were found to be too expensive to include and instead sound was routed through the TIA to the connected television. All six console switches on

5040-469: The arcade game KLAX in 1990. After more than 14 years on the market, 2600 production ended in 1992, along with the Atari 7800 and Atari 8-bit computers . In Europe, last stocks of the 2600 were sold until Summer/Fall of 1995. The Atari 2600's CPU is the MOS Technology 6507 , a version of the 6502 , running at 1.19 MHz in the 2600. Though their internal silicon was identical, the 6507

5145-511: The background is set to black, at a resolution of 128 × 64, with approximately 104 × 60 pixels visible on the TV screen. This VRAM or framebuffer was "write only" and not usable for anything else. 64 bytes of scratchpad RAM are available for general use - half the amount of the later Atari 2600 . The Maze game (Videocart-10) and Hangman game (Videocart-18) used 1024 bits of on-cartridge static RAM connected directly to one PSU port - adding to

5250-498: The base unit. The duo attempted to interest several television manufacturers in the system, but were unsuccessful. Next, they contacted a buyer at Fairchild, which sent engineer Jerry Lawson to evaluate the system. Lawson was impressed by the system and suggested Fairchild license the technology, which the company did in January 1976. Lawson worked with industrial designer Nick Talesfore and mechanical engineer Ronald A. Smith to turn

5355-526: The benefits of owning a home computer. Additionally, the VideoBrain was mainly sold through mail-order outfits, and only made a brief retail showing at Macy's Department Stores. (By contrast, video game consoles at the time were easily available in a number of department and toy chains, allowing them to far outsell the VideoBrain Computer System). Albert Yu said, in a 2005 interview, said he had invited Andy Grove to look over

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5460-553: The black areas around the screen to extend the game code's processing time. Regional releases of the Atari 2600 use modified TIA chips for each region's television formats, which require games to be developed and published separately for each region. All modes are 160 pixels wide. NTSC mode provides 192 visible lines per screen, drawn at 60  Hz , with 16 colors, each at 8 levels of brightness. PAL mode provides more vertical scanlines, with 228 visible lines per screen, but drawn at 50 Hz and only 13 colors. SECAM mode, also

5565-512: The board stayed committed to the VCS and ignored Bushnell's advice, leading to his departure from Atari in 1979. Atari sold about 600,000 VCS systems in 1979, bringing the installed base to a little over 1.3 million. Atari obtained a license from Taito to develop a VCS conversion of its 1978 arcade hit Space Invaders . This is the first officially licensed arcade conversion for a home console. Atari sold 1.25 million Space Invaders cartridges and over 1 million VCS systems in 1980, nearly doubling

5670-542: The built-in games (and some of the Videocarts). Despite the failure of the Channel F, the joystick's design was so popular— Creative Computing called it "outstanding"— that Zircon also released an Atari joystick port -compatible version, the Video Command Joystick, first released without the extra fire button. Before that, only the downwards plunge motion was connected and acted as the fire button;

5775-490: The circuit board, permanently confining the whole console to only one game. The increasing competition increased the risk, as Atari had found with past arcade games and again with dedicated home consoles. Both platforms are built from integrating discrete electro-mechanical components into circuits, rather than programmed as on a mainframe computer . Therefore, development of a console had cost at least $ 100,000 (equivalent to about $ 566,000 in 2023) plus time to complete, but

5880-439: The code to the screen on the part of the programmer was labeled " racing the beam "; the actual game logic runs when the television beam is outside of the visible area of the screen. Early games for the system use the same visuals for pairs of scan lines, giving a lower vertical resolution, to allow more time for the next row of graphics to be prepared. Later games, such as Pitfall! , change the visuals for each scan line or extend

5985-523: The computer itself. Cartridges could contain up to 12KiB of data . Patent 4232374 titled "Segment Ordering for Television Receiver Control Unit" describes the VideoBrain display hardware. "VideoBrain: Screen Captures" at HCVGM Because the VideoBrain computer was discontinued so quickly, fewer than 25 software titles were ever marketed for the system. The library comprises a handful of games, educational titles, and productivity software. The VideoBrain largely failed to achieve commercial viability for

6090-402: The console market, contributing to the video game crash of 1983 . Warner sold the assets of Atari's consumer electronics division to former Commodore CEO Jack Tramiel in 1984; in 1986 the new Atari Corporation under Tramiel released a revised, low-cost 2600 model, and the backward-compatible Atari 7800 , but it was Nintendo that led the recovery of the industry with its 1985 launch of

6195-867: The console only had 22 games compared to Atari's 187. Marketing for the console included an event featuring Ken Uston playing Video Blackjack and commercials starring Milton Berle . The console was licensed in Europe to television manufacturers and led to the clone consoles of Ingelen Telematch Processor in Austria, Barco Challenger in Belgium, ITT Telematch-Processor and Nordmende Color Teleplay μP in Germany, Dumont Videoplay System and Emerson Videoplay System in Italy, Luxor TV-Datorspel and Luxor Video Entertainment Computer in Sweden, and Grandstand Video Entertainment Computer in

6300-400: The consumer requirements for the console. In his final report, Landrum suggested a living room aesthetic, with a wood grain finish, and the cartridges must be "idiot proof, child proof and effective in resisting potential static [electricity] problems in a living room environment". Landrum recommended it include four to five dedicated games in addition to the cartridges, but this was dropped in

6405-457: The cost of manufacturing it. The Chess game contained considerably more on-cartridge RAM than that, 2048 Bytes accomplished by using an F8 memory interface circuit to be able to use industry standard ROM and RAM. The F8 processor at the heart of the console is able to provide AI to allow for player versus computer matches, a first in console history. All previous machines required a human opponent. Tic-Tac-Toe on Videocart-1 had this feature, it

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6510-531: The decision to substitute the APL/S programming language over the then-standard BASIC . Due to the high cost of RAM memory, it only contained 1 KB . It had a full-travel keyboard, unlike some early home computers that featured membrane keypads (and earlier kit machines that used switches), but with a very non-standard layout. It was designed by David Chung and Albert Yu. The VideoBrain Family Computer

6615-410: The design of the hand controllers, console, and video game cartridges. Talesfore also worked with graphic designer Tom Kamafugi, who did the original graphic design for the early video cartridges cartons. John Donatoni, the marketing director of Fairchild's video games division, stated that the console followed the razor and blades model where they would sell the "hardware, and then we're going to make

6720-434: The enthusiast community. Although it lacked lowercase, its keyboard was both full-travel and of a normal layout. The VideoBrain, by contrast, was a much more closed design targeting home users with more simplicity and low cost. Even the keyboard was simplified, in terms of the number of keys. Apple created closed systems designed around simplicity later, such as the original Macintosh (which eschewed slots, hard disk support, and

6825-425: The final designs. The cartridge design was done by James Asher and Douglas Hardy. Hardy had been an engineer for Fairchild and helped in the initial design of the Channel F cartridges, but he quit to join Atari in 1976. The interior of the cartridge that Asher and Hardy designed was sufficiently different to avoid patent conflicts, but the exterior components were directly influenced by the Channel F to help work around

6930-463: The final product only had about a three-month shelf life until becoming outdated by competition. By 1974, Atari had acquired Cyan Engineering , a Grass Valley electronics company founded by Steve Mayer and Larry Emmons, both former colleagues of Bushnell and Dabney from Ampex , who helped to develop new ideas for Atari's arcade games. Even prior to the release of the home version of Pong , Cyan's engineers, led by Mayer and Ron Milner, had envisioned

7035-438: The front and replacing the previous all lowercase font for the switch labels to fully capitalized wording. Otherwise, these four-switch consoles look nearly identical to the earlier six-switch models. In 1982, to coincide with the release of the Atari 5200, Atari rebranded the console as the "Atari 2600", a name first used on a version of the four-switch model without woodgrain, giving it an all-black appearance. This all-black model

7140-428: The front panel. Production of the unit was moved to Taiwan in 1978, where a less thick internal metal shielding was used and thinner plastic was used for the casing, reducing the system's weight. These two versions are commonly referred to as "Heavy Sixers" and "Light Sixers" respectively, referencing the six front switches. In 1980, the difficulty switches were moved to the back of the console, leaving four switches on

7245-446: The hardware market in 1982 compared to Atari's 58%. With third parties competing for market share, Atari worked to maintain dominance in the market by acquiring licenses for popular arcade games and other properties to make games from. Pac-Man has numerous technical and aesthetic flaws, but nevertheless more than 7 million copies were sold. Heading into the 1982 holiday shopping season, Atari had placed high sales expectations on E.T.

7350-623: The inclusion of 64 bytes of internal scratchpad RAM in the CPU. The VES/Channel F, as well as the System II, had one CPU and two storage chips (PSU:s). (A single-chip variant of the F8 was used by the VideoBrain computer system). The Channel F is able to use one plane of graphics and one of four background colors per line, with three plot colors to choose from (red, green, and blue) that turns white if

7455-810: The install base to over 2 million, and then an estimated 3.1 million VCS systems in 1981. By 1982, 10 million consoles had been sold in the United States, while its best-selling game was Pac-Man at over 8 million copies sold by 1990. Pac-Man propelled worldwide Atari VCS sales to 12 million units during 1982, according to a November 1983 article in InfoWorld magazine. An August 1984 InfoWorld magazine article says more than 15 million Atari 2600 machines were sold by 1982. A March 1983 article in IEEE Spectrum magazine has about 3 million VCS sales in 1981, about 5.5 million in 1982, as well as

7560-522: The licensing model that continues to be used by console manufacturers for game development. Activision's success led to the establishment of other third-party VCS game developers following Activision's model in the early 1980s, including U.S. Games , Telesys , Games by Apollo , Data Age , Zimag , Mystique , and CommaVid . The founding of Imagic included ex-Atari programmers. Mattel and Coleco, each already producing its own more advanced console, created simplified versions of their existing games for

7665-593: The market. By October 1976, Warner and Atari agreed to the purchase of Atari for $ 28 million . Warner provided an estimated $ 120 million which was enough to fast-track Stella. By 1977, development had advanced enough to brand it the "Atari Video Computer System" (VCS) and start developing games. The unit was showcased on June 4, 1977, at the Summer Consumer Electronics Show with plans for retail release in October. The announcement

7770-475: The meantime. Button is controlled through code so it was used for other things in other games. The controllers for the system were conceived by Lawson and built by Nicholas Talesfore. Unlike the Atari 2600 joystick , Channel F controllers lack a base. Instead, the main body is a large handgrip with a triangular "cap" on top, which can move in eight directions. It could be used as both a joystick and paddle (twist), and not only could it be pushed down to operate as

7875-407: The more common video game consoles of the time . Some popular kit-based computers also typically lacked a keyboard, opting for toggle switches instead. The system also features four joystick ports, a cartridge connector, and an expansion port . The system included four built-in software titles, available if the unit is powered on without a cartridge inserted - a simple text editor , a clock ,

7980-462: The most successful with at least one and four million copies sold, respectively. In 1980, Atari attempted to block the sale of the Activision cartridges, accusing the four of intellectual property infringement. The two companies settled out of court, with Activision agreeing to pay Atari a licensing fee for their games. This made Activision the first third-party video game developer and established

8085-431: The oversaturated home game market, Atari's weakened position led investors to start pulling funds out of video games, beginning a cascade of disastrous effects known as the video game crash of 1983 . Many of the third-party developers formed prior to 1983 were closed, and Mattel and Coleco left the video game market by 1985. In September 1983, Atari sent 14 truckloads of unsold Atari 2600 cartridges and other equipment to

8190-482: The playing field. Tennis was much like the original Pong. A sales brochure from 1978 listed "Keyboard Videocarts" for sale. The three shown were K-1 Casino Poker , K-2 Space Odyssey , and K-3 Pro-Football . These were intended to use the Keyboard accessory, which is displayed on the Channel F II box. All further brochures, released after Zircon took over from Fairchild, never listed this accessory nor anything called

8295-419: The poker game Casino Royale (actually Videocart-25, Casino Poker ) "the best card game, from blackjack to bridge, made for any TV-game system". It also favorably reviewed Dodge-It ("simple but great"), Robot War ("Berzerk without guns"), and Whizball ("thoroughly original ... hockey with guns"), but concluded that only those interested in nostalgia, video game collecting , or card games would purchase

8400-517: The potential for the growing video game industry to help offset declining profits from its film and music divisions. Negotiations took place during 1976, during which Atari cleared itself of liabilities, including settling a patent infringement lawsuit with Magnavox over Ralph H. Baer 's patents that were the basis for the Magnavox Odyssey . In mid-1976, Fairchild announced the Channel F, planned for release later that year, beating Atari to

8505-706: The profit on the cartridge sales". Their marketing campaign was conducted by Ogilvy . Fairchild announced the console at the Consumer Electronics Show on June 14, 1976, and the Federal Communications Commission approved it for sale on October 20. It was released as the Video Entertainment System (VES) at the price of $ 169.95, but renamed to the Channel F the next year. Channel F was unable to compete against Atari's Video Computer System (VCS) as

8610-507: The prototype into a viable project. Jerry Lawson replaced the 8080 with Fairchild's own F8 CPU ; while Nick Talesfore and Ron Smith were responsible for adapting the prototype's complex keyboard controls into a single control stick, and encasing the ROM circuit boards into plastic cartridges reminiscent of 8-track tapes. Talesfore and Smith collaborated on the styling and function of the 8 degrees of freedom hand controller. They were responsible for

8715-521: The pull-up and twist actions were not connected to anything. Twenty-seven cartridges, termed "Videocarts", were officially released to consumers in the United States during the ownership of Fairchild and Zircon, the first twenty-one of which were released by Fairchild. Several of these cartridges were capable of playing more than one game and were typically priced at $ 19.95 (equivalent to $ 91 in 2020). The Videocarts were yellow and approximately

8820-477: The same colors as the players; and a 1-pixel ball , which shares the background color. The 1-bit sprites all can be controlled to stretch to 1, 2, 4, or 8 pixels. The system was designed without a frame buffer to avoid the cost of the associated RAM . The background and sprites apply to a single scan line , and as the display is output to the television, the program can change colors, sprite positions, and background settings. The careful timing required to sync

8925-438: The size and overall texture of an 8 track cartridge . They usually featured colorful label artwork. The earlier artwork was created by nationally known artist Tom Kamifuji and art directed by Nick Talesfore. The console contained two built-in games, Tennis and Hockey, which were both advanced Pong clones. In Hockey, the reflecting bar could be changed to different diagonals by twisting the controller knob and could move all over

9030-440: The static electricity concerns. Atari was still recovering from its 1974 financial woes and needed additional capital to fully enter the home console market, though Bushnell was wary of being beholden to outside financial sources.> Atari obtained smaller investments through 1975, but not at the scale it needed, and began considering a sale to a larger firm by early 1976. Atari was introduced to Warner Communications , which saw

9135-476: The system and company's reputation, most notably the release of two highly anticipated games for the 2600: a port of the arcade game Pac-Man and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial . Pac-Man became the 2600's highest-selling game, but was panned for being inferior to the arcade version. E.T. was rushed to market for the holiday shopping season and was similarly disparaged. Both games, and a glut of third-party shovelware , were factors in ending Atari's relevance in

9240-551: The system and he was skeptical – wondering who would want to buy a computer for the home. Yu also said Grove was skeptical about the Apple II as well but Yu felt that the Apple was successful because it targeted a market (computer enthusiasts) that was easier to sell to. The Apple was also quite a bit more powerful and more expensive. It was an open system, with many expansion slots and fully documented software and hardware – to target

9345-540: The system to generate graphics in synchronization with the electron gun in the cathode-ray tube (CRT) as it scans across rows on the screen. The programmers found ways to " race the beam " to perform other functions while the electron gun scans outside of the visible screen. Alongside the electronics development, Bushnell brought in Gene Landrum, a consultant who had just prior consulted for Fairchild Camera and Instrument for its upcoming Channel F , to determine

9450-415: The system, and the VCS versions of Breakout and Night Driver are in color while the arcade originals have monochrome graphics. The system's first killer application was the home conversion of Taito 's arcade game Space Invaders in 1980. Adventure , also released in 1980, was one of the first action-adventure video games and contains the first widely recognized Easter egg . The popularity of

9555-452: The television's antenna. Atari developed the Television Interface Adaptor (TIA) chip in the VCS to handle the graphics and conversion to a television signal. It provides a single-color, 20-bit background register that covers the left half of the screen (each bit represents 4 adjacent pixels) and is either repeated or reflected on the right side. There are 5 single-color sprites : two 8-pixel wide players ; two 1 bit missiles , which share

9660-478: The video game market in April 1979. Zircon International acquired the rights to the system and related assets in 1979. The company redesigned the console into the Channel F System II. This featured removable controllers and audio coming from the TV rather than a speaker within the console. It was sold at the price point of $ 99.95 or $ 69.95 if the previous console was traded in. Zircon released an additional four games for

9765-479: Was a first for home computer systems (Later price reductions brought costs down to $ 300 for the computer by itself, and $ 350–900 for the packaged deals). Available software ranged in price from $ 20 to $ 40 for video games and educational software , and $ 70 to $ 150 for productivity tools. The VideoBrain Family Computer was built around the F8 processor from Fairchild Semiconductor , and featured 1 KB of RAM and

9870-427: Was a friend of Peddle. In October 1975, Atari informed the market that it was moving forward with MOS. The Motorola sales team had already told its management that the Atari deal was finalized, and Motorola management was livid. They announced a lawsuit against MOS the next week. By December 1975, Atari hired Joe Decuir , a recent graduate from University of California, Berkeley who had been doing his own testing on

9975-633: Was a redesign based on human factor analysis by Henry Dreyfuss Associates . VideoBrain The VideoBrain Family Computer (model 101) is an 8-bit home computer manufactured by Umtech Incorporated, starting in 1977. It is based on the Fairchild Semiconductor F8 CPU . It was not a large commercial success and was discontinued from the market less than three years after its initial release. Some of its lack of success has been attributed to

10080-532: Was cheaper than the 6502 because its package included fewer memory-address pins—13 instead of 16. The designers of the Atari 2600 selected an inexpensive cartridge interface that has one fewer address pins than the 13 allowed by the 6507, further reducing the already limited addressable memory from 8 KB (2 = 8,192) to 4 KB (2 = 4,096). This was believed to be sufficient as Combat was only 2 KB. Later games circumvented this limitation with bank switching . The console has 128 bytes of RAM for scratch space,

10185-496: Was designed and produced by Umtech Inc., doing business as the VideoBrain Computer Company of California in 1977. It was not widely available, although Macy's department store briefly carried the computer on its shelves. It was sold in various configurations, and the price ranged from $ 500 to $ 1100 depending on the accessories chosen. New software for the VideoBrain was available on cartridge , which

10290-404: Was designed to be compatible with the cathode-ray tube television sets produced in the late 1970s and early 1980s, which commonly lack auxiliary video inputs to receive audio and video from another device. Therefore, to connect to a TV, the console generates a radio frequency signal compatible with the regional television standards ( NTSC , PAL , or SECAM ), using a special switch box to act as

10395-463: Was moved to the back of the machine. The sound was now mixed into the RF modulator so you could adjust it on your TV set instead of a fixed volume internal speaker. The internal electronics were also simplified, with two custom logic chips replacing the standard TTL logic chips. This resulted in a much smaller motherboard which allowed for a smaller, simpler and more modern-looking case design. Fairchild left

10500-429: Was only for one player against the machine. The same is true for the chess game, which could have very long turn times for the computer as the game progressed, depending on the set difficulty. The Channel F is also the first video game console to feature a pause function; There is a 'Hold' button on the main unit of the console which allows players to freeze inside the two built-in games and change several game settings in

10605-531: Was purportedly delayed to wait out the terms of the Magnavox patent lawsuit settlement, which would have given Magnavox all technical information on any of Atari's products announced between June 1, 1976, and June 1, 1977. However, Atari encountered production problems during its first batch, and its testing was complicated by the use of cartridges. The Atari VCS was launched in September 1977 at $ 199 (equivalent to about $ 1,000 in 2023), with two joysticks and

10710-562: Was redesigned for the 7800 by Barney Huang. The cost-reduced 1986 model, sometimes referred to as the "2600 Jr.", has a smaller form factor with an Atari 7800 -like appearance. It was advertised as a budget gaming system (under $ 50 ) with the ability to run a large collection of games. Released after the video game crash of 1983, and after the North American launch of the Nintendo Entertainment System ,

10815-484: Was released later for a series of games aimed at a younger audience. The CX22 Trak-Ball controller was announced in January 1983 and is compatible with the Atari 8-bit computers. There were two attempts to turn the Atari 2600 into a keyboard-equipped home computer : Atari's never-released CX3000 "Graduate" keyboard, and the CompuMate keyboard by Spectravideo which was released in 1983. The initial production of

10920-573: Was replaced with the CX40 model designed by James C. Asher. Because the Atari joystick port and CX40 joystick became industry standards, 2600 joysticks and some other peripherals work with later systems, including the MSX , Commodore 64 , Amiga , Atari 8-bit computers , and Atari ST . The CX40 joystick can be used with the Master System and Sega Genesis , but does not provide all the buttons of

11025-537: Was the Video Arcade II, released during the fall of 1982. Sears released versions of Atari's games with Tele-Games branding, usually with different titles. Three games were produced by Atari for Sears as exclusive releases: Steeplechase , Stellar Track , and Submarine Commander . The Atari 2800 is the Japanese version of the 2600 released in October 1983. It is the first Japan-specific release of

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