If the names Asteroids, Missile Command, Centipede, and Yar’s Revenge mean anything to you then it’s likely you were among one of the first generation of gamers that embraced Atari in the late ’70s and early ’80s. Nearly 40 years ago, the Atari 2600 began a new era of home entertainment and video games, often with box art that had very little to do with the actual games themselves. Later this year, Dynamite Entertainment will celebrate the legacy of Atari with a new hardcover called The Art of Atari.
The Art of Atari was written and compiled by Robert V. Conte and Tim Lapetino, with Ready Player One author Ernest Cline contributing the forward of the book. The Art of Atari draws upon the artwork commissioned for the arcade and the company’s home entertainment systems, as well as iconic advertisement images. Additionally, the book features profiles of several important figures from the company as well as an extensive look back at the history of Atari itself, with behind-the-scenes stories from the earliest days of the video game industry.
“Atari spearheaded a transformation of an entire generation’s consciousness,” said Conte in a statement. “As comic books changed the face of American entertainment in the 1930s and 1940s, video games did something more in the 1970s and 1980s. Starting with Pong, the company changed our world forever.”
Lapetino added that “Atari is remembered as the pioneer of video games…but the company was much more than that. Atari’s creative culture set the standard for Silicon Valley startups, while its art and design-driven approach yielded an amazing body of work in illustration, graphic design, and industrial design.”
Dynamite announced The Art of Atari at this weekend’s Emerald City Comicon, and released a few preview pages online. As they say on The Simpsons, click to embiggen the images!
The Art of Atari will released in October.
What do you think about this early preview from The Art of Atari? Let us know in the comment section below!
