Games! Games! Games!

If you don't remember the good old days of video games, talk to a former Atari employee.

I found it interesting how many similarities exist between the release of early arcade games like Asteroids and Pachinko, in Japan, and the release of the Xbox 360 game system a couple months ago. Pachinko was noted for creating a Yen shortage in Japan, and even many early arcade games placed in bars in the U.S. drew enormous amounts of people to play them, leaving companies like Atari unable to keep up with the demand. When the Xbox 360 was released late last year, there was almost an instant shortage of game systems, leaving people scrambling around and waiting in long lines, only to be turned down and told that the next shipment wasn’t expected until Feb. 2006 (long after the Christmas shopping season was over). This was surprising to many after Microsoft had assured stores and consumers that it would maintain a constant supply of systems on store shelves after witnessing similar issues with the release of the Playstation 2. I find it unfortunate for Microsoft that they were unable to plan ahead better, leaving many wanting to purchase the Xbox 360 system waiting and without systems. This definitely reminds me of the early days of video games and Atari, when the company was struggling to keep up with an overwhelming demand for games, often times pulling programmers and engineers away from their jobs to help manufacture the actual systems.

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