With all this Atari gloom and doom, it's easy to forget the company used to rule the roost. Good thing Gamasutra hasn't forgotten! The site has posted a whooper of a feature (twenty pages!) that traces Atari year by year from 1971-1977. The feature is peppered with quotes from Atari founder Nolan Bushnell. Quotes like:

I had to come up with a game people already knew how to play; something so simple that any drunk in a bar could play.

The piece talks about Atari's early fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants years and the company's successful raise — as well as touching on things like the Apple I computer Atari connection and the dawn of Chuck E. Cheese. Give it a read.
Atari History [Gamasutra]

Contact information for this author is not available.