Funny to read that Interpublic’s Draft FCB Group has won its first pitch as a combined entity, landing Atari's global ad duties after a review. I’d forgotten that Atari was still around. I used to work on it many years ago in California when they were the leaders (‘cos they were the inventers) of the electronic game… Anyone old enough to remember Pong and Space Invaders? The company founder was Nolan Bushnell who sold out for several billion dollars and bought the Folger estate south of San Francisco. Had a 20 car garage built to hold the assorted Ferraris and Bentley’s etc. Then he started the Chucky Cheese Pizza chain, which rapidly gained fame for producing the worst pizza in the world. Last I heard he sails his yacht around the bay and charges idiots a couple of grand a pop to attend his “Entrepreneurship” conferences. I look forward to FCB/Draft’s no doubt miserable efforts on their new account.
The Emperor Zarkon knows where everyone lives!
I should just point out that they didn't actually invent the electronic game.
Technically the first computer game as we would know the term today was Spacewar, the first version of which was finished in about 1962. (Although there are other 'games' from as early as the 40s and 50s)
Atari was founded in 1972.
Posted by: Rob Mortimer | July 30, 2006 2:03 PM | Permalink to Comment