Any gamers in here?

[Systematic Chaos]

15. Nothing about the 2600 per se caused the 1983 crash.

It was 1977 technology which enjoyed a 10-year run, so of course the early games on it looked primitive. But then, so did the Magnavox Odyssey 2. That one was much worse, actually.

Rather, it was Atari's management which decided it would be a great idea to release two prototypes as finished games. Both Pac-Man and E.T. were nowhere near ready for release, but they got rushed out the door nonetheless.

If you've ever seen the Atari releases of Ms. Pac-Man and Pac-Man Jr., you'd know that the system had more than enough power to run that sort of game. It just sucks that they nearly killed the industry before learning how to do a release properly. Oh, and the homebrew version of the original Pac-Man is rather stellar also, because it was lovingly programmed by someone who wanted to duplicate the real arcade experience and not just turn a quick buck.