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The story begins in the States; the year is 1972. With an initial outlay of $250, Nolan Bushnell founded a company which he called 'Atari', an expression of victory used in a Japanese board game called Go - similar in intent to the chess term 'check'. The product which formed the basis of the company was a video game called Pong, which was ludicrously simplistic by today's standards. The company grew rapidly and in 1975 the annual turnover exceeded $40 million. Atari was attracting the attention of the business world and, in particular, Warner Communication Incorporated. A massive conglomerate in the 'entertainment' industry, Warner were quick to realize the limitless potential of this new medium. The following year, Warner wooed Atari, negotiated and subsequently bought the company for $28 million - a relatively cheap price to pay for a company that was at the forefront of a rapidly growing industry. Atari was just a division in the massive Warner ranks, but no time was wasted in the development of games for the amusement arcades and, on the home consumer sector, the famous VCS game console was designed and introduced on the market in 1977. The VCS package included a game console which connected to the television and two joysticks to play the games. The software itself was in cartridge format and could be bought separately, initially through catalogues. Concurrently, Warner had established the Atari name as a major force in the arcades with some of the most popular and profitable games in arcade history. Over the next five years, more than 25 million VCS units were sold, which grossed over $2 billion. But this phenomenal success only served to highlight what was about to happen in the following year - the big crash! In 1983, losses of $533 million were recorded, a vast amount at any level! In July 1984, Warner sold certain 'key elements' of the home consumer side of Atari to a new company headed by Jack Tramiel. As founder of Commodore, Tramiel was experienced in the industry and brought with him a wealth of talent in twenty-five key country managers from Commodore, including his three sons.