Yes, there was a time when a little 4k (yes, that’s 4 kilobytes) plastic cartridge would rally up young teens, better known as the first generation of addicted video gamers.  It mainly happened on an old console made by a company called Atari, and it was known as the Atari 2600.  What set it apart was the brilliant marketing of game titles, known as carts (short for cartridges), that were sold separately for about $30.  Back then, that was considered a bit pricey, so the heads of the video game companies put together this amazing cover art that let imaginations run wild.  It was a wet dream of what a “real life” game would look like rather than 4-bit bleeps and 8-bit graphics that looked like wooden blocks that came to life.

Well finally, as a homage to these video game marketeers, there’s a  hardcover coffee table book in the works called The Art of Atari ($35) scheduled to drop in October, but you can get of preview taste of the book’s pages at  www.artofatari.com

For an old video game junkie like me, it brings back loads of memories as I would dole out my coins at the cash register, waiting to get home to my glorious 13″ color TV set.