Warshaw Howard Scott - Once Upon Atari

Copyright 2020 Howard Scott Warshaw, MA, ME, LMFT: (California MFT #52529)

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owners and the publisher of this book.

Published By: SCOTT WEST Productions

Book Design By: Tommy Owen (TommyOwen.com)

ISBN #: 978-0-9862186-5-1

Version 1.0

Printed in the United States of America All rights reserved.

All images & illustrations were either licensed, created, or permission was granted to use them.

INTRO

CHAPTERS

HERES WHAT THEYRE SAYING
ABOUT ONCE UPON ATARI:

Once Upon Atari is, ostensibly, a book about nostalgic videogames; a tale set in a golden era that for many of us represents the dawn of an art form that has irrevocably and powerfully changed our lives and our world. And, as a personal history of these times, it is a moving and emotional trip, filled with interesting details and stories as told by someone so deeply inside them as to have been a part of their essential fabric. But thats not the soul of this book, which is, in its true heart, the journey of a man a programmer of immense talent sucked in by a machine of greed and spat out, carelessly, after giving all and everything to it. A journey of learning and redemption, set against a world all about the seemingly magical, effortless creation of fun and joy. This wonderful book is the capstone of that journey, and to read it is to be a part of that odyssey, and to partake in the lessons that it challenges us to learn.

- Seamus Blackley, Father of the XBox

Howard sheds light on Ataris most tumultuous period. If you want to understand the true story of the video game crash, I highly recommend this book.

- Nolan Bushnell, Atari Founder

In those few years that Howard was at Atari, he experienced more than most of us ever will over decades of working in this crazy field. All of the extreme highs and deep lows were condensed into a short exhaustive burn thats both beautiful and serves as an allegory for the pitfalls of unchecked creative sacrifice. This book is just as much for those interested in the early days of video games as it is for anyone giving their all to any kind of creative endeavor. He looks back from the vantage point of an accomplished therapist, not with any warning or overt guidance, but with the contagious excitement of someone who is content with the role hes played, and optimistic about the future of an industry he helped create. Ive worked in games for over twenty-five years, and Ive known Howard for most of them. I can honestly say that he represents the heart and soul of our industry more than anyone else I know.

- Mike Mika, Video Game Developer, Author and Historian

Once Upon Atari brings me right back to my childhood video game days, living in Silicon Valley where it was all unfolding. Howard pulls back the curtain on an industry that exploded into our family rooms with his help, and shares incredible behind the scenes stories of how that curtain came crashing down in the most unlikely place. A must-read.

- Bret Burkhart, Broadcaster, KGO Radio

This book is dedicated to my good friend, Jerome Domurat.

Jerome was a technologist in the world of art just as I was an artist in the world of technology. We were each comfortably out of place in our respective environments. Two mirrors facing each other, reflecting endlessly upon the universe we shared. You may not get to read it, but Im glad we lived it together. And good luck with that dPhone!

For my wife, Sherri. Shes responsible for some of the best lines youll see and some of the worst ones you wont. She matches my creativity yet brings calm to my chaos, for which I am eternally grateful. My relationship with Sherri started about the same time as my journey to become a psychotherapist. Life attempted to block each early on, but neither was daunted. Both continue to be amazing.

To Bob Saenz. Ill tell you about him later.

Thank you to Emily Boykin of Em and a Pen, whose keen editorial eye improved the trip.

Thank you to Tommy Owen (www.TommyOwen.com), whose creative design skills improved the destination.

Thank you to Dave Staugas, not only a great programmer, but a great photographer and prognosticator. He shot the cover for this book decades before I knew there would be a book.

And a special thank you to Tod Frye, it simply would not have been Atari without you.

Theres an old adage that you should avoid meeting one of your heroes, because the chances are that youll end up being disappointed somehow. Thankfully, Ive never found this to be the case. Ive been lucky enough to meet several of my heroes in person, and to even work with a few of them. Never once have I been disappointed. Quite the opposite. Ive always ended up admiring the person even more than I did previously, when I just knew them through their creative output. A few of my childhood heroes have even become personal friends. Howard Scott Warshaw is one of them.

I grew up in the 1970s and 80s in a small town in Ohio, and two of my childhood passions were movies and video games. That was how Howard first entered my life. He created one of my favorite home video games, Yars Revenge for the Atari 2600, which was the first game ever to come with a comic book that laid out its back story. Howard also created the first video game adaptation of a movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark . Raiders was one of my all-time favorite films, and Howards adaptation became one of my all-time favorite games. Can you imagine? A video game that allowed a regular kid to become Indiana Jones while he was sitting cross-legged in front of his TV on Saturday morning! This was something completely new, and it changed my whole concept of what a video game could be.

Howard is probably most well-known for also being the creator of E.T., another game based on a Steven Spielberg movie. I got this game for Christmas in 1982 and I absolutely adored it! It was the most detailed and advanced Atari 2600 game I had ever played. It contained an entire cube-shaped world for the player to explore, treasures to find, enemies to avoid, and even an ally, in the form of E.T.s human pal, Elliott, who would show up to help you out when things werent going your way. I happily played it for hours and hours. It was the first game that contained multiple Easter eggs for the player to find. It was also the first video game that ever made me tear up, when I managed to help E.T. successfully phone home for the first time

Years later, when the Internet came along and I saw people attempting to label E.T. as the worst video game of all time, I knew they were all completely full of crap. And I still do. E.T . was one of the most innovative and groundbreaking video games of its time. Like Howards two previous games, it was filled with things that no programmer had ever thought to put into a game before. And best of all, it wasnt an easy game to beat. It was incredibly challenging, and it required you to use your brain, during an era when most werent and didnt. Im so grateful that Howard had the courage to try something different, along with the programming genius to pull it off.