Fulminata reviewed Art of Atari by Tim Lapetino
Review of 'Art of Atari' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Atari has a tumultuous history from its arcade roots through its creation of the first hit gaming console to the gaming crash of 1983 and the splitting of the company. While it still exists as a brand today, it's never had the prominence it had during the era of the Atari Video Computer System aka Atari 2600. This book covers the art of that era, finally giving credit to the designers and artists that crafted the look and feel of Atari, while also giving a bit of a general history of the company along the way.
Creator credit was something that Atari didn't give at the time. At least partly as a conscious effort to prevent headhunting of their creative talent. The programming talent has long since become public knowledge for those interested in knowing who created the actual games, but the artist credits for the covers, manuals, and industrial …
Atari has a tumultuous history from its arcade roots through its creation of the first hit gaming console to the gaming crash of 1983 and the splitting of the company. While it still exists as a brand today, it's never had the prominence it had during the era of the Atari Video Computer System aka Atari 2600. This book covers the art of that era, finally giving credit to the designers and artists that crafted the look and feel of Atari, while also giving a bit of a general history of the company along the way.
Creator credit was something that Atari didn't give at the time. At least partly as a conscious effort to prevent headhunting of their creative talent. The programming talent has long since become public knowledge for those interested in knowing who created the actual games, but the artist credits for the covers, manuals, and industrial designs of the consoles themselves have remained largely a mystery until now. It's nice that some of that credit is finally being given, no matter how long overdue.
While not every piece of art has been fully attributed (the most notable example being the Space Invaders cover), the author has done an excellent job of tracking down and interviewing those artists he could identify that are still alive, and getting what second hand information he could about those who have passed away.
The author has really done his homework in other ways too. The biggest sign of this is that he refuses to buy into the pernicious myths surrounding the ill-fated ET game. Atari didn't bury millions of ET cartridges to hide its failure. They routinely disposed of unsold merchandise at the end of the fiscal year for tax purposes, including unsold ET cartridges.
This is an entertaining look at the history of the first hit gaming console from a unique perspective.
