They Create Worlds by Smith Alexander;

Author:Smith, Alexander;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Group
Published: 2020-05-15T00:00:00+00:00

32 Ibid, 139—143.

33 Ibid, 144.

34 Ibid, 144—148.

35 Kent, 2001, 72—73.

Atari accepted Wozniak’s schematics and wire-wrapped prototype, but had to completely reengineer the game for release. Although Wozniak’s design was efficient, it was also idiosyncratic and impossible for Atari’s technicians to understand for testing purposes. He also failed to complete several features, including coin control and sound, while also incorporating several components like an LED readout for the score that were not suitable to a coin-operated product. Atari engineer Gary Waters used Wozniak’s work as a base but discovered several glitches in the logic and received permission to use a typical Atari layout, thus largely negating the chip savings that Wozniak had engineered. He also added proper on-screen scoring, sound, and a two-player mode to the game.36 Once the redesign was complete, Atari released Breakout in May 1976.37 It proved to be a smash hit and sold over 11,000 units.38 As popular as the game was in the West, its impact was even greater when it reached Japan later in the year through the Nakamura Manufacturing Company.

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Atari had been interested in releasing its products in the lucrative Japanese coin-op market since its earliest days, so John Wakefield established Atari Japan in August 1973.39 Wakefield placed Kenichi Takumi in charge of the company, a salesman who graduated from Japan’s prestigious Waseda University and spent time at National Cash Register and The Ohio State University.40 From its inception, the company was beset with a host of problems stemming largely from both Atari’s unfamiliarity with the Japanese market and Takumi’s own lack of experience in coin-op, including an inability to pass product through customs or attract local operators to take their games.41 Takumi finally approached Masaya Nakamura in early 1974 to ask Nakamura Manufacturing to serve as a distributor. Nakamura was already thinking about global expansion now that his firm was one of the largest coin-op manufacturers in the country and readily agreed.42

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