{"product_id":"king-pong-isbn-9780262051330","title":"King PONG","description":"\u003cb\u003eWhy and how Atari’s first video game \u003ci\u003ePONG \u003c\/i\u003eestablished an industry that shapes consumers’ relationships to technology to this day.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePONG\u003c\/i\u003e is one of the longest- and most consistently circulating video games. Released in 1972, it remains at our fingertips as Android or iOS app, hosted at freepong.org and the Internet Archive, and even released as \u003ci\u003eA Tiny Game of Pong\u003c\/i\u003e for the Apple Watch. Despite its simplicity and ubiquity, Atari’s \u003ci\u003ePONG\u003c\/i\u003e encapsulates far more than the history of a video game and an iconic game company. \u003ci\u003eKing PONG\u003c\/i\u003e is the first book dedicated to an unassuming game that changed the world. Through the prisms of product positioning, market development, and category creation, Raiford Guins answers the question of why Atari’s inaugural product succeeded and why it endures.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe author of \u003ci\u003eGame After\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eAtari Design\u003c\/i\u003e, and an excavator of the “Atari landfill” in New Mexico, Guins brings us a unique history that reconsiders the launch of Atari’s \u003ci\u003ePONG\u003c\/i\u003e through the lens of the company’s business practices. He follows the young Silicon Valley startup from its early days of positioning its new product within the existing coin-op amusement industry to its establishment of a consumer industry for home video games—a story of remarkable market development innovation. Written with a passion for video games and a historian’s insight, the book animates the business exploits of one of the fastest growing and most influential companies ever.\u003cb\u003eENDORSEMENTS\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eKing PONG \u003c\/i\u003eis a well written, entertaining exploration of \u003ci\u003ePONG\u003c\/i\u003e’s early history and faithfully tells the story about how it revolutionized the beginning of video games.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Al Alcorn, Creator of \u003ci\u003ePONG\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“I thought I knew everything about \u003ci\u003ePONG\u003c\/i\u003e, but Guins’s book proved I knew almost nothing. This is the definitive story of \u003ci\u003ePONG\u003c\/i\u003e—the coin-op that started the video game revolution.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Ian Bogost, author of \u003ci\u003ePlay Anything\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eHow to Do Things with Videogames\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eREVIEWS\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Guins tells us with infectious glee how the video game phenomenon all started in a bar in California…. Find someone who loves you the way Guins loves to examine even the smallest details of the creation story of video games.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eRaiford Guins is Professor and Chair of Cinema and Media Studies in the Media School at Indiana University, Bloomington. A few of his books include \u003ci\u003eAtari Design\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eGame After\u003c\/i\u003e (MIT Press). Guins also coedits the MIT Press’s Game Histories book series with Henry Lowood.","brand":"The MIT Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48233298362597,"sku":"NP9780262051330","price":19.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780262051330.jpg?v=1767730753","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/king-pong-isbn-9780262051330","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}