The Atari 2600 is a second generation video game console manufactered by Atari. It was released in September 1977, with the game Combat already pre-packaged with the games system. It popularised the usage of ROM cartridges that stored the game's data.
The games are very primitive by today's standards, but this was a revolutionary game console. Many renditions of the 2600 were released, including the 2800 and the 2600 Junior.
Video game crash of 1983[]
In 1983, Atari was working on a game, ET, based off the movie of the same name. This game was rushed to consumers in time for the movie's release. When the game was finally released, consumers found a very unsatisfactory and buggy game. The game sold nowhere near its expected figure. Atari was left with so many unsellable ET cartridges that they resorted to burying the leftover cartridges in a landfill. This almost single-handedly caused a video game crash, where video games became less and less popular. However, Nintendo and Sega, two Japanese companies, stepped up to create their own consoles, which went on to be massively popular.