company name	Atari
company logo
type	Public company
foundation	28 June 1972 as Atari, Inc.1984 as Atari Corporation and Atari Games1998 as Atari Interactive (division of Hasbro Interactive)
location	Los Angeles, Los Angeles, New York City, New York, USALyon, France
industry	Consumer electronics, video games
products	Video games, consumer electronics
parent	Atari, SA }}

Atari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by Atari Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of the French publisher Atari, SA (ASA). The original Atari, Inc. 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 the computer entertainment industry from the 1970s to the mid 1980s.

In 1984, the original Atari Inc. was split, and the arcade division was turned into Atari Games Inc. Atari Games received the rights to use the logo and brand name with appended text "Games" on arcade games, as well as rights to the original 1972 - 1984 arcade hardware properties. The Atari Consumer Electronics Division properties were in turn sold to Jack Tramiel's Tramel Technology Ltd., which then renamed itself to Atari Corporation. In 1996, Atari Corporation reverse merged with disk drive manufacturer JT Storage (JTS), becoming a division within the company.

In 1998, Hasbro Interactive acquired all Atari Corporation related properties from JTS, creating a new subsidiary, Atari Interactive. IESA bought Hasbro Interactive in 2001 and renamed it to Infogrames Interactive. IESA changed the company name entirely to Atari Interactive in 2003.

The company that currently bears the name Atari Inc. was founded in 1993 under the name GT Interactive. IESA acquired a 62% controlling interest in GT Interactive in 1999, and renamed it Infogrames, Inc. Following IESA's acquisition of Hasbro Interactive, Infogrames, Inc. intermittently published Atari branded titles for Infogrames Interactive. In 2003, Infogrames Inc. licensed the Atari name and logo from Atari Interactive and changed its name to Atari Inc. On October 11, 2008, Infogrames completed its acquisition of Atari, Inc., making it a wholly owned subsidiary.

History

Atari Inc. (1972–1984)

In 1971, Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney founded an engineering firm, Syzygy Engineering, that designed and built the first arcade video game - Computer Space for Nutting Associates. On June 27, 1972 Atari, Inc. was incorporated and soon hired Al Alcorn as their first design engineer. Bushnell decided to have Alcorn produce as a test of his abilities, an arcade version of the Magnavox Odyssey's Tennis game, which would be named Pong. While Bushnell incorporated Atari in June 1972, Syzygy Company was never formally incorporated. Before Atari's official incorporation, Bushnell wrote down several words from the game go, eventually choosing ''atari'', a term which in the context of the game means a state where a stone or group of stones is imminently in danger of being taken by one's opponent. In Japanese, ''atari''　(当たり, あたり, or アタリ) is the nominalized form of ''ataru'' （当たる, あたる, or アタル） (verb), meaning "to hit the target" or "to receive something fortuitously". The word 'atari' is used in Japanese when a prediction comes true or when someone wins a lottery. Atari was incorporated in the state of California on June 27, 1972.

In 1973, Atari secretly spawned a "competitor" called Kee Games, headed by Nolan's next door neighbor Joe Keenan, to circumvent pinball distributors' insistence on exclusive distribution deals; both Atari and Kee could market (virtually) the same game to different distributors, with each getting an "exclusive" deal. Though Kee's relationship to Atari was discovered in 1974, Joe Keenan did such a good job managing the subsidiary that he was promoted to president of Atari that same year.

In 1976, Bushnell, through a Grass Valley, CA. engineering firm — Cyan Engineering, started an effort to produce a flexible video game console that was capable of playing all four of Atari's then-current games. The result was the Atari Video Computer System, or "VCS" (Later renamed the Atari 2600 when the Atari 5200 was released). Bushnell knew he had another potential hit on his hands, but bringing the machine to market would be extremely expensive. Looking for outside investors, in 1976 Bushnell sold Atari to Warner Communications for an estimated $28 – $32 million, using part of the money to buy the Folgers Mansion. Nolan continued to have disagreements with Warner Management over the direction of the company, the discontinuing of the Pinball division and most importantly, he felt that the Atari 2600 should be discontinued. In 1978, the Kee Games brand was dropped. In December of that year during a heated argument between Nolan Bushnell and Manny Gerard, Bushnell was fired.

A project to design a successor to the 2600 started as soon as the system shipped. The original development team estimated the 2600 had a lifespan of about three years, and decided to build the most powerful machine they could, given that time frame. Midway into the effort's time-frame, the home computer revolution was taking off, so the new machines were adapted, with the addition of a keyboard and various inputs, to produce the Atari 800, and its smaller cousin, the 400. Although a variety of issues made them less attractive than the Apple II for some users, the new machines had some success when they finally became available in quantity in 1980. In 1982, the Atari 5200 was released, based heavily on the 400 and 800 models, but without a keyboard.

Under Warner, Atari Inc. achieved its greatest success, selling millions of 2600s and computers. At its peak, Atari accounted for a third of Warner's annual income and was the fastest-growing company in the history of the United States at the time. However, Atari Inc. ran into problems in the early 1980s. Its home computer, video game console, and arcade divisions operated independently of one another and rarely cooperated. Faced with fierce competition and price wars in the game console and home computer markets, Atari was never able to duplicate the success of the 2600.

These problems were followed by the infamous video game crash of 1983, with losses that totaled more than $500 million. Warner's stock price slid from $60 to $20, and the company began searching for a buyer for its troubled division. In 1983, Ray Kassar was forced to resign, and executives involved in the Famicom lost track of the negotiations, and the deal eventually died. With Atari's further financial problems and the Famicom's runaway success in Japan after its July 16, 1983 release date, Nintendo decided to go it alone.

Financial problems continued to mount and Ray's successor, James J. Morgan, had less than a year in which to tackle his predecessor's problems, he began a massive restructuring of the company and worked with Warner Communications in May 1984 to create "NATCO" which stood for New Atari Company which would further lean the company facilities, personnel and spending and make the company profit. Unknown to James Morgan and the senior management of Atari, Warner had been in talks with Tramel Technology to buy Atari's Consumer electronics and Home Computer divisions. Negotiating up until close to midnight of July 1, 1984 Jack Tramiel purchased Atari. Warner sold the home computing and game console divisions of Atari to Tramiel for $50 cash and $240 million in promisary notes and stocks, giving Warner a 20% stake in Atari Corporation who then used it to create a new company under the name Atari Corporation. Warner retained the arcade division, continuing it under the name Atari Games, but sold it to Namco in 1985. Warner also sold the fledgling Ataritel to Mitsubishi.

Atari Corporation (1984–1996)

Under Tramiel's ownership, Atari Corp. used the remaining stock of game console inventory to keep the company afloat while they finished development on a 16/32-bit computer system, the Atari ST. ("ST" stands for "sixteen/thirty-two", referring to the machines' 16-bit bus and 32-bit processor core.) In April 1985, they released the first update to the 8-bit computer line — the Atari 65XE, the Atari XE series. June 1985 saw the release of the Atari 130XE, Atari User Groups received early sneak-preview samples of the new Atari 520ST's, and major retailer shipments hit store shelves in September 1985 of Atari's new 32-bit Atari ST computers. In 1986, Atari launched two consoles designed under Warner — the Atari 2600jr and the Atari 7800 console (which saw limited release in 1984). Atari rebounded, earning a $25 million profit that year.

In 1989, Atari released the Atari Lynx, a handheld console with color graphics, to much fanfare. A shortage of parts kept the system from being released nationwide for the 1989 Christmas season, and the Lynx lost market share to Nintendo's Game Boy which, despite only having a black and white display, was cheaper, had better battery life and had much higher availability. Tramiel emphasized computers over game consoles but Atari's proprietary computer architecture and operating system fell victim to the success of the Wintel platform while the game market revived. In 1989, Atari Corp. sued Nintendo for $250 million, alleging it had an illegal monopoly. Atari eventually lost the case when it was rejected by a US district court in 1992.

In 1993, Atari positioned its Jaguar as the only 64-bit interactive media entertainment system available but it sold poorly.

By 1996, a series of successful lawsuits had left Atari with millions of dollars in the bank, but the failure of the Lynx and Jaguar left Atari without a product to sell. Tramiel and his family also wanted out of the business. The result was a rapid succession of changes in ownership. In July 1996, Atari merged with JTS Inc., a short-lived maker of hard disk drives, to form JTS Corp. Atari's role in the new company largely became that of holder for the Atari properties and minor support, and consequently the name largely disappeared from the market.

As a division of Hasbro (1998–2001)

In March 1998, JTS sold the Atari name and assets to Hasbro Interactive for $5 million—less than a fifth of what Warner Communications had paid 22 years earlier. This transaction primarily involved the brand and intellectual property, which now fell under the Atari Interactive division of Hasbro Interactive. The brand name changed hands again in December 2000 when French software publisher Infogrames took over Hasbro Interactive.

Atari Inc., a division of Atari, SA (2001-)

In October 2001 Infogrames (now Atari, SA) announced that it was "reinventing" the Atari brand with the launch of two new games featuring a prominent Atari branding on their boxarts : ''Splashdown'' and ''MX Rider''. On May 7, 2003, Infogrames had its majority-owned, but discrete US subsidiary Infogrames NA officially renamed Atari, Inc., renamed its European operations to Atari Europe but kept the original name of the main company Infogrames Entertainment. The original Atari holdings division purchased from Hasbro, Atari Interactive, was also made a separate corporate entity.

In November 2006, Krome Studios had acquired Melbourne House from Atari and that the studio would be renamed to Krome Studios Melbourne.

On November 13, 2007, The US division announces to exit the game development business to concentrate solely on publishing and distribution.

On March 6, 2008, Infogrames made an offer to Atari Inc. to buy out all remaining public shares for a value of $1.68 per share, or $11 million total. The offer would make Infogrames sole owner of Atari Inc., thus making it a privately held company. On April 30, 2008, Atari Inc. announced its intentions to accept Infogrames' buyout offer and to merge with Infogrames. On October 11, 2008, Infogrames completed its acquisition of Atari Inc., making it a wholly owned subsidiary.

On December 9, 2008, Atari announced that it had acquired Cryptic Studios, an MMORPG developer.

Namco Bandai has purchased a 34% stake in Atari Europe on May 14, 2009, paving the way for its acquisition from Infogrames. Atari has had significant financial issues for several years now, posting losses in the tens of millions since 2005.

Atari, SA (2009-)

In May 2009 Infogrames Entertainment, SA, the parent company of Atari Inc. and Atari Interactive Inc., announced it would be changing Infogrames' name to Atari, SA. In April 2010, Atari board member and former CEO David Gardner resigned. His replacement is Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell.

See also

History of video game companies

Golden Age of Video Arcade Games

Atari Democrat

Tengen (company)

References

External links

Atari brand's official global site

The Atari History Museum - Atari historical archive site.

Atari Times, supporting all Atari consoles.

AtariAge.com

Atari Gaming Headquarters - Atari historical archive site.

Atari On Film - List of Atari products in films.

The Dot Eaters: classic video game history - Comprehensive history of videogames, extensive info on Atari offerings and history

Category:Companies established in 1972 Category:Video game developers Category:Video game publishers Category:Home computer hardware companies Category:Video game companies of France Category:Video game companies of the United States Category:Entertainment Software Association

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name	Boots Riley
background	solo_singer
birth name	Raymond Riley
genre	Hip hop, spoken word, Rap-metal, Funk
occupation	Musician, songwriter, activist, producer, organizer
instrument	Vocals
associated acts	The Coup, Street Sweeper Social Club
years active	1991–present }}

Boots Riley (born Raymond Lawrence Riley in 1971) is an American musician, vocalist, writer, and public speaker most known for being the front man and producer of The Coup as well as the front man for Street Sweeper Social Club.

Biography

Boots Riley was born in 1971 into a family of radical organizers in Chicago. The family later moved to Detroit and then to Oakland. His interest in politics began at a young age, inspiring him to join the Progressive Labor Party and the International Committee Against Racism.

In 1991 Riley founded the political hip hop group The Coup with fellow United Parcel Service worker E-roc. Pam the Funkstress, DJ for the group, joined in 1992. Boots was chief lyric writer and produced the music on the albums. They released a song on a 1991 compilation album called ''Dope Like A Pound Or A Key'' along with fellow former UPS worker Spice-1 and future Thug Life member Mopreme Shakur, then known as Mocedes. The album was released on Wax That Azz Records, which was owned by Pierre "The Beat Fixer" James, Too Short's DJ.

In 1991, he and other Hip-Hop artists created the Mau Mau Rhythm Collective. They put on "Hip-Hop Edutainment Concerts" which allied with and promoted the campaigns of community based organizations like Women's Economic Agenda Project (WEAP), Copwatch, International Campaign To Free Geronimo Pratt, and the Black Panther Alumni Association. The Mau Mau Rhythm Collective was actively involved in the campaign to stop the FBI's "Weed And Seed" program (which was used in the '60s in conjunction with CoIntelPro) from coming to Oakland. They used the growing popularity of their concerts to bring a large number of youth to take over a closed Oakland city council meeting and hold a public meeting.

In 1992, The Coup signed to Wild Pitch Records/EMI. The group released their debut album ''Kill My Landlord'' in 1993. Two singles from that album, "Dig It" and "Not Yet Free", received play on BET, Yo! MTV Raps, and mix shows on national Black radio.

Also, in 1993, E-40 released the video for "Practice Lookin' Hard". It was a song based around Boots's lyric, "I got a mirror in my pocket and I practice lookin' hard" from the song "Not Yet Free" on ''Kill My Landlord''. The video featured Boots Riley singing the chorus while he, Tupac Shakur, and E-40 reflected light into the camera from a handheld mirror while dancing around.

In 1994, The Coup released their second album, ''Genocide & Juice''. It featured guest appearances by E-40 and Spice-1. Fueled by video play and some radio play for the single "Fat Cats And Bigga Fish", the album shot up the charts, but stalled when EMI suddenly absorbed Wild Pitch. At this point, E-roc left The Coup on amicable terms.

At this time, Boots decided to stop making music in favor of forming an organization called The Young Comrades, with a few other radical, black community organizers. The organization mounted a few important campaigns in Oakland which yielded some minor victories, such as the campaign against Oakland's "no cruising" ordinance. The organization folded and Boots went back to music.

1998's ''Steal This Album'', released on indie label Dogday Records, was called "a masterpiece" by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. The single from that album “Me And Jesus The Pimp In a ‘79 Granada Last Night” was an 8-minute song about the grown-up son of a prostitute driving his mother’s killer to a secluded place in which to murder him. A novel, ''Too Beautiful For Words'' by Monique W. Morris, based on the story characters and \ descriptions in the song, was published by HarperCollins in 2000. The album also featured a guest appearance by Del The Funky Homosapien.

In 2000, Boots, through his workshop on Art and Organizing at La Peña Cultural Center, led a group of young artists to create “Guerilla Hip-Hop Concerts” on a flatbed truck which traveled throughout Oakland to protest California’s Proposition 21. The workshop also distributed tens of thousands free cassettes of “The Rumble”, which he called "newspapers on tape".

The group's fourth album, ''Party Music'', was released on 75 Ark Records in 2001. It was re-released in 2005 by Epitaph Records. Its cover art depicted group members standing in front of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center as they explode. Riley is depicted pushing a button on a bass guitar tuner and DJ Pam the Funkstress is shown holding conductor's wands. The photo was taken in May 2001. The album was scheduled to be released just after the September 11, 2001 attacks. In response to the uncanny similarity of the artwork with the attacks, the album release was held back until alternative cover art could be prepared. The album hit #8 in the 2001 ''Village Voice'' Pazz and Jop Poll- the most important year-end critic's list, was named “Pop Album Of The Year” by the ''Washington Post'', and "Hip-Hop Album Of The Year" by ''Rolling Stone''. The album included a guest appearance by dead prez on the song "Get Up". Boots Riley released a controversial press release one week after the 9/11 events, which was later published in the book, ''Another World Is Possible''. The press release stated that "last week's events were symptomatic of a larger backlash against U.S. corporate imperialism." The controversy surrounding the cover art, press release, and the lyrics from ''Party Music'' (specifically the song "5 Million Ways To Kill A CEO") led to Boots appearing on local network news affiliates all over the U.S. He also appeared on Fox News's ''Hannity and Colmes'' and ABC's ''Politically Incorrect'' with Bill Maher. During this time, syndicated right-wing columnist and sometimes Fox News host Michelle Malkin called Boots's lyrics “a stomach-turning example of anti-Americanism disguised as highbrow intellectual expression.”

In 2002, Riley taught a daily high school class, "Culture and Resistance: Persuasive Lyric Writing", at the School of Social Justice and Community Development in East Oakland.

In 2003, ''Vibe'' Magazine named Boots Riley one of the 10 most influential people of 2002.

That same year, Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave guitarist Tom Morello invited Riley to be part of the "Tell Us the Truth Tour". The tour was meant to shed light on the monopolization of the media and the coming FTAA agreements. It featured acoustic performances by Riley, Morello, Billy Bragg, Steve Earle, Mike Mills and Jill Sobule. It was hosted by Janeane Garofalo and Naomi Klein.

Boots Riley was invited in Paris to play and record with Ursus Minor and Jeff Beck (on the ''Zugzwang'' album)

At around that time, he founded ShoYoAss Words, Sounds, & Pictures, a media company specializing in music and art that he calls "relevant to social change."

Boots Riley produced the score for the 2005 episode of ''The Simpsons'', "Pranksta Rap". In 2006, The Coup released ''Pick a Bigger Weapon'' on Epitaph Records. The album was named "Album Of The Year" by Associated Press. It featured guest appearances by Tom Morello, Talib Kweli, Black Thought from The Roots, and Jello Biafra.

In 2007 and 2008, Riley toured heavily with New Orleans-based band Galactic. The band performed Coup songs behind Riley's vocals and they also performed their collaboration, "Hustle Up". In 2008, while performing with Galactic in Norfolk, VA, police interrupted the concert and Riley was charged with "public profanity"- a charge that had, until then, never been used in its 26 years of existence. The case was thrown out of court, with the judge citing that the law itself was unconstitutional. At their next meeting, the Norfolk city council voted to get rid of the law in question.

Back in 2006, Morello approached Riley to form a band together under the name Street Sweeper. The duo who later changed their name to Street Sweeper Social Club, releasing their self-titled debut album in 2009. They toured in support of it along with Nine Inch Nails and the recently reunited Jane's Addiction. Two songs, "100 Little Curses" and "Promenade", from their self-titled debut received rotation on Rock radio in major markets. On May 24, a press release went out announcing Street Sweeper Social Club as one of the headliners of the 2010 Rock The Bells tour. Street Sweeper Social Club released "The Ghetto Blaster EP" in late July 2010.

In 2010 and 2011, Boots Riley recorded with Ursus Minor again on ''I will not take "but" for an answer'' and toured with the group in France. During the fall of 2011, Riley became heavily involved with the Occupy Oakland movement.

Boots is also working on a script for a feature length film.

Discography

;With The Coup:

1991 - "The EP"

1993 - ''Kill My Landlord''

1994 - ''Genocide & Juice''

1998 - ''Steal This Album''

2001 - ''Party Music''

2006 - ''Pick a Bigger Weapon''

;With Street Sweeper Social Club:

2009 - ''NINJA 2009 Tour Sampler''

2009 - ''Street Sweeper Social Club''

2010 - ''The Ghetto Blaster EP''

;Other appearances:

1991 ''Dope Like A Pound Or A Key'' (Compilation)

1994 "Practice Lookin' Hard" from ''The Mailman'' by E-40

1994 "Streets Of Oakland" from ''The Big Bad Ass'' by Ant Banks

1994 ''Zugzwang'' by Ursus Minor

2004 - ''Axis of Justice: Concert Series Volume 1''

2007 - "Hustle Up" from ''From the Corner to the Block'' by Galactic

2011 ''I will not take "but" for an answer'' by Ursus Minor

2011 - "9/11 'til Infinity" from ''From the Dumpster to the Grave'' by Star Fucking Hipsters

2011 - "Black Flags" (Single) by Atari Teenage Riot

References

Abdul Hassan (2006-01-26) Love for the Underdog: PA Talks with Raptivist Boots Riley politicalaffairs.net Retrieved: 2009-07-09

Eric K. Arnold (2006-04-26) The Life of Riley eastbayexpress.com Retrieved: 2009-07-09

Michelle Malkin (2001-12-28) Stop giving America a bad rap jewishworldreview.com Retrieved: 2009-07-09

Tom Morello and Boots Riley Join Forces to Form Street Sweeper guitarplayer.com Retrieved: 2009-07-09

Mark Pollard (1991-09-10) An Interview w/ Boots of the Coup daveyd.com Retrieved: 2009-07-09

The Coup’s Boots Riley San Francisco PF profiling victim hiphopcongress.com Retrieved: 2009-07-09

Deborah Kong (2003-1-12) Alternative School in Oakland Raps to Tap Students' Potential latimes.com

Associated Press (2008-7-25) Profanity Ordinance Unconstitutional whsv.com

Harry Minium (2008-8-20) Norfolk City Council revises ban on public cursing hamptonroads.com

Kristin Davis (2008-6-23) Charge of profanity stops show at Norfolk's Town Point Park pilotonline.com

Boots Riley Interview cbrap.com

T. Eve Greenaway (2002-1-08) Post-9/11 Anthology Released alternet.org

Eric K. Arnold (2010-5-19) Generation Vexed eastbayexpress.com

External links

Boots Riley Twitter

Street Sweeper Social Club Website

Street Sweeper Social Club MySpace

"Revolutionary Party Music" - video report by ''Democracy Now!''

Category:1972 births Category:Living people Category:American activists Category:American Marxists Category:American rappers