The Art of Atari

This is truly a fantastic book, and an amazing value for the treasures it contains. After making a recent pilgrimage to the American Classic Arcade Museum, I’ve had a renewed interest in arcade and vintage console machines. People forget just how ground-breaking and influential Atari’s game and industrial design was over a generation of kids. This was a company unrestrained by finance, precedent, or expectations. At Atari, everything was on the table, and the misfires are as intriguing as the successes. In an era where most homes didn’t have or hadn’t even heard of a “personal computer,” where Neuromancer and The Matrix were years or decades away, computers and video games had a magical lure about them. These were The Mysteries of the 21st century. This was the time of Tron, pre-internet, pre-Pixar, pre-cell phone, pre-Warcraft, when new digital technology was materializing almost faster than we could figure out what it meant or how to use it. Atari games (and their contemporaries) were a social and imagination-firing activity – the world of the game was only partly on the screen. The genius of the appeal was how these games kept firing your imagination long after you unplugged and were engaged in a completely different activity. The skill of Atari’s art and design personnel made this magic happen. Art of Atari captures these memories perfectly, treating them respect, framing them, curating them. This book is a trove of information from the era, containing not just well-known stuff like the E.T. debacle (debunked, by the way in these pages), but going into interesting trivia even 80’s junkies like me only have a passing knowledge of. Graphic art? Fine Art? Industrial design? Even fonts (yes – the freakin’ box fonts!) are all represented here, in spades. This book is a boon of pre-Illustrator, pre-Photoshop, old-school analog art and methods. It’s invaluable as a time capsule, educational resource, and nostalgia device. My only quibble – if it can be called one – is the underrepresentation of Atari’s vast number of arcade machines. By covering all things Atari, this book admirably covers a breadth of detail, but it does so by sacrificing scrutiny of Atari’s design and social influence outside the home. Perhaps for another book..? A similar treatment of the “arcade era” is long overdue. But all in all – Well worth the wait. The reign of Atari is long past, but I hope this renews an interest in the art itself – many of these iconic cover pieces (Asteroids, Vanguard, Star Raiders, Missile Command, I could go on and on) deserve reproduction release.

I came across this book online by accident while doing some art research and was very interested in it not only as an artist but also the cover art drew me in. Needless to say it is highly ranked in my book collection. Outstanding item. Shipped fast and packed good No Problems!

The title says it all. This books contains some of the elaborate and beautiful art and stylings of the Atari era. When games told a narrative by the cover of the game's box, the sticker on the plastic cartridge, and your youthful imagination, all coupled together. This book takes that nostalgia and talent and treats it with the respect it sorely deserves. Not full of "flash" or overthought, this book looks to have been lovingly (and painstakingly) gathered and laid out in a manner that seems only those who grew up in the era would genuinely appreciate. The pages contain little snippets of phrases as quotes from the artist, "did you know" type trivia snippets, and other interesting blurbs. What is great is these blurbs do not detract from the main focus, the art, and are done in a way that still places the beautiful imagery front and center. This book serves as a multifaceted member of your library. Historically, it has a relevance which really highlights the place that art had in games at the time, with so many top artists having put their hats on for this field. Art wise, the styles are of multiple eras and references, giving a great display to the skills and talents of some fine craftsmen. Prideful, this book can dominate even the most conservative of living room coffee tables and it begs the inner child in you just as it does the external snob in you to pick up and delicately flip through as not to disturb the quality images laid before you. I genuinely recommend this book. It is so well constructed and crafted that it has honestly become my litmus test for other books endeavoring to do the same across all subjects. Whether you are a child of Atari or a fan of an era of art, do I do strongly suggest you pick this book up. I have sincerely seen grown men grin ear to ear when remembering the content and cover art contained within the spine.

I received my Atari 2600 for Christmas of 1978 and spent the next 4 years entrenched in everything Atari - from the games, to the manuals that were included, to the boxes themselves. Spending all of my spare change in the arcade during the days, I'd come home and play my Atari for hours before bedtime: Dodge 'Em, Night Driver, and Combat were my first. Then came the onslaught of arcade conversions; Space Invaders, Missile Command, Asteroids. Going to the mall or department store meant another chance for me to be able to look over those wonderful boxes and stare at the artwork hinting at the wonder that they contained. This book takes the reader back to those days and the overall magic and wonder of the early home videogame years. It's more than just pictures of box art - it's stories, personal accounts, history, and informative facts about the early world of Atari. This book is a must buy if, like me, you were in your "prime" years during the late 70's and early 80's. It is going to find a permanent place on my coffee table and will be a source for conversation for many years to come. Thanks to everyone who put this book together!

Tim has done a fantastic job at gathering very old material from various sources and merging the whole thing into a comprehensive list of high resolution artworks, screenshots and some never-before-seen (at least for me) behind-the-scenes photographs. I've been working in the video games industry for over 10 years, and I know how hard it can be to find good quality material from old stuff, and the author definitively has my highest praise for this job. I've also worked on PAC-MAN for a long time and there are pictures I've never seen, which was really exhilarating to discover. Additionally, the work that went in this book manages to create an interesting read through a well articulated and organized narrative making for an undeniable 'replay' value over time. In other words, this is not just a nice little package of visuals with very little insight about its origin and (his)story, as is the case for many 'retro' books released recently. I do regret the omission of some key imagery and packaging from iconic publishers of the time such as Imagic. I also regret that some box scans are below par with the quality of the rest of the book: even if it might have been the boxes from the author's personal collection (I do not know if this is the case), it does still create some inconsistency in terms of quality. To be noted, neither positive or negative, the fact this book isn't an history of video games. This is something you should look into elsewhere. Owning the print edition of this book is a must-have for all those who still remember the feeling of killing dragons with a dot in Adventure's maze :)

Great deal from a great brand new product, packaged well and in excellent condition in the original box. Brand new and looked great ,as described and shipping cost was reasonably low & immediately shipped. You won't find a better value for your money anywhere else. This product is top quality & cool looking and will exceed all of your expectations. Don't miss out on this amazing offer! Get yours today before it's too late.

I can only imagine how many hours I spent back in the day on my Atari 2600. The idea of being able to bring the arcade experience into your home was just incredible at the time. Sure the games themselves weren't anywhere near as good as the arcade versions, but Atari had a way of marketing the game to help immerse you in the experience, which often allowed my teenage mind to see past the low res graphics and limited audio quality. The artwork on the boxes, the game manuals, the stories to pull you into the game just made it an incredible experience all around. This book really brings all of that back into focus, and gives me much more perspective than I ever had about much of the behind the scenes that made all of that magic happen. At the time, I didn't care about any of it, as I only wanted the next cool game for my 2600. Now that I'm older, it's been a wonderful experience reading this book and taking a walk back down memory lane. Great Job!

As a kid I loved looking at the video game artwork and advertising that was on each cartridge box and in the catalogs Atari used to give out. It literally got you revved up to play the games and when you weren't playing you were dreaming up a list of games to get which was fueled by all of the great artwork and your imagination. Like everyone else I pre-ordered this (and debated getting the deluxe edition for a few minutes but ultimately decided it wasn't worth the extra $45) and held out hope it would be good. Boy was I wrong - this book is phenomenal! Fantastic art coupled with the names, stories, anecdotes, history, photos and did I mention this thing is huge? If any of the above rings true for you get this book before it's out of print you won't be disappointed.