Two Books About Atari’s Arcade Days Coming In June

Ever since I was a kid, I have had a little infatuation for Atari, starting with the discovery of the Atari 2600 and later on their many other systems and arcade games. So if you are an Atarian like myself, then you will probably find a couple of new book projects to be of great interest – but I believe that anyone who enjoys video games and in particular arcade games will enjoy these. Both books are slated to come out this June, just in time for any celebration of Atari’s 40th anniversary this year.

The first project is called Inside Atari: A Photographic History Book, which is being put together by Scott of Atarigames.com. He obtained the historical assets of Atari Games back when they closed their Milpitas facility back in 2002. He has unveiled plenty of fascinating historical items through Atarigames.com but it looks like this photo book will be one of the most complete packages of the ideas that Atari had been working on over the years, with a particular focus on the arcade side of the business. As stated on a new blog that is covering the project, ” The majority of the content has never been seen outside of Atari.” I imagine that there will be much to study when it comes to arcade concepts that they never got out of the door.  The book will first be released on Apple iBooks (here’s hoping for a Kindle Fire release) with the possibility of a print edition down the road.

UPDATE: The author has just released a new video showing off the project

The second project I found out about from the KLOV Forum thread discussing the above project, which is being done by Curt Vendel and Martin Goldberg. Curt Vendel runs the Atari History Museum. It is called Atari History Book – Volume 1 (Beginnings to 1984). This will be a book that covers all aspects of Atari, not just the arcade side but the consumer console and personal computing one as well. You can read about the project here, at their Kickstarter page (which has already been funded).

With both of these projects going to be finished pretty soon, I guess this means I need to get my butt in gear on the book I’ve been working on and off on since last year. I will be covering the modern arcade industry and extolling virtues of arcades in general. I’ve already completed three chapters, with a few more to go, but I suppose a self-imposed deadline would work. Let’s say July 2012?