Atari patents a sit-down cockpit arcade cabinet, ushering in a new era of realism for video games. The design makes Atari’s new game Hi-Way a big hit.
Pong (see here) fever had the U.S. and the world in its silicon grip throughout 1973, as adults and kids alike rushed to play the latest sensation: coin-operated electronic video games. But Atari realized it would have to get away from iterations like Superpong, Quadrapong, and Pong Doubles and create entirely new games to keep making money. Gran Trak 10, the company’s first car-racing game, featured realistic controls (gas and brake pedals, steering wheel and gearshift), but you had to stand up to play.
Hi-Way featured more sophisticated graphics and a cabinet in which you could sit down, as if you were driving a real car. Atari engineer Regan Cheng applied for the design patent on the cabinet October 20, 1975. Hi-Way incorporated both seat and screen into a single molded form, heightening the feeling of sitting inside a vehicle.
Hi-Way still had one problem: Although its cabinet was uniquely designed to enhance realism, the game itself was still played from a third-person point of view. You were driving the car, but you watched from overhead, as if you were having an out-of-body experience. In 1976, Atari solved that problem with Night Driver: the player looked through the windshield. The graphics still left a lot to be desired—just a few small dots suggested a road weaving its way toward the viewer—but it set the standard for all future driving games.
Later games like Sega’s motorcycle-racer Hang-On added even more realism to the experience, building the game’s monitor into a life-size motorcycle that the player sits and leans on to control the onscreen action—vrrRROOM!—CK