Although considered a gaming console, in 1987 Atari had released their new XE Game System. This game system was actually a computer. It came with a built-in game, as well as a detachable keyboard. The Atari XEGS was an 8-bit computer system that featured 64K of RAM, the game Flight Simulator II, a light gun, and also the game Bug Hunt.
By the time that Atari had released the XE Game System, it was already out of date. For this reason, the average gamer chose to go with the Nintendo Entertainment System rather than the Atari.
When originally released, this system was a full-fledged gaming console, but soon after the release of the game system Atari would also release their add-on keyboard. Once Atari added this keyboard, this game system became more of a computer that was even capable of using disk drives. The Atari XE Game System featured the normal reset and select buttons that are mounted on the case; they also came with a cartridge slot in order to play the games and they even had two joystick ports. Atari had intended this gaming system to be a crossover unit between computers and gaming consoles.
Although as a game console, the Atari XE Game System did not sell well, but as a computer its sales were tremendous. As the computer sold so well they continued supporting the Atari XE Game System until 1992. This gave this game system a full production run of four years.
In the beginning of 1992, Atari had completely dropped any of their remaining support for all of their 8-bit computer lines. Then in 1996, the Atari name was purchased by the JTS Corporation who was a manufacturer of the drives. Then again in 1998 JTS sold the Atari name to the Hasbro game company. The price tag for the Atari name was a whopping 5 million US dollars. Today there are actually two completely separate Atari corporations. This first Corporation is the one that is owned by Hasbro. The second Atari Corporation is a spin-off of when Atari was owned by Warner Communications. Today you will hear the Hasbro version, which is known as the Atari Corp., while the spin-off version is known as Midway Games Inc.
Original Authors: Gobel Team (Nick)
Edit Update Authors: M.A.Harris
Updated On: 21/05/2008
