Atari

Atari is a corporate and brand name that has been owned by several entities since 1972. The name is currently held by Atari, Inc., a majority owned subsidiary of Infogrames Entertainment SA (IESA), encompassing its North American operations. Atari develops, publishes and distributes games for all major video game consoles, as well as for the personal computer, and is currently one of the largest third-party publishers of video games in the United States.

The original Atari was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. It was a pioneer in arcade games, home video game consoles and home computers. The company's products, such as PONG and the Atari 2600, helped define computer entertainment industry from the 1970s to the mid-1980s. Read on for more information on Atari as a console maker ...

In 1996, Atari merged with JTS Inc., who went on to sell the Atari name and assets to Hasbro Interactive in 1998. The brand name changed hands again in December 2000, when French software publisher Infogrames took over Hasbro Interactive.

Games

Over the years, a number of Atari classic games have been re-released for new platforms, including Atari Anthology for the PS2, Atari Arcade Collection for the PC, Atari Masterpieces for the N-Gage and Retro Atari Classics for the Nintendo DS. The collections include such classic games as PONG, Tempest, Centipede, Battlezone, Asteroids, Super Breakout and Missile Command.

Recently, Atari's top-selling titles have included the Dragon Ball Z games based on the popular anime license, which have topped the best-seller charts for numerous console platforms since the release of Atari's first Dragon Ball Z game, The Legacy of Goku in 2002. Atari have also released a series of games based on the smash-hit The Matrix film trilogy, which were some of the most expensive video games ever developed. Other currently popular titles for Atari include RollerCoaster Tycoon 3, Godzilla games, the Alone in the Dark series and the Driver series. Other current games include:

• Act of War: Direct Action
• Act of War: High Treason
• Alone in the Dark Series.
• Atari Flashback
• Atari Flashback 2
• Backyard Sports
• Boiling Point: Road to Hell
• Chris Sawyer's Locomotion
• Dark Earth
• Dragon Ball GT: Transformation
• Dragon Ball Z: Budokai
• Dragon Ball Z: Sagas
• Dragon Ball Z: Super Sonic Warriors
• Dragon Ball Z: Super Sonic Warriors 2
• Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku
• Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure
• DRIV3R (2004)
• Driver (1999)
• Driver 2 (2000)
• Driver: Parallel Lines (2006)
• Dungeons & Dragons Online
• Enter the Matrix
• Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee
• Godzilla: Save the Earth
• Heavy Rain
• Ikaruga
• Indigo Prophecy Aka Fahrenheit in EU.
• Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure
• Mission Impossible: Operation Surma
• Neverwinter Nights (2002)
• Neverwinter Nights 2 (2006)
• Retro Atari Classics
• RollerCoaster Tycoon 3
• Terminator 3: The Redemption
• Test Drive (1987)
• Test Drive Unlimited (2006 + 2007)
• The Matrix: Path of Neo
• The Temple of Elemental Evil (computer game)
• Transformers
• Tycoon City: New York
• Unreal Tournament 2003 (2002)
• Unreal Tournament 2004 (2004)