Contents

Dedication

Foreword

Introduction

  1    At Any Moment

  2    Atari: The Early Gaming Pioneers

  3    Coin-Op’s Revenge

  4    The First Concept

  5    Getting the Green Light

  6    Finding Meaning in Pixels

  7    Failure to Innovate Was Anti-Atari

  8    When Passion Turns to Obsession

  9    Melting Flesh

10    The Tests Begin

11    Into the Wild

12    The Public Loves It

13    From the Ground Up: The Story of Tempest

14    The Great Crash

15    Lasting Influence

16    The Second Cold War

17    Defining a New Generation of Games

18    “Do You Feel Like a Hero Yet?”

19    Pioneering the Future

Epilogue

Acknowledgments

About the Author