The Fairchild Channel F

An image of the Fairchild Channel F

The Fairchild Channel F is the first video game system to use a microprocessor and cartridges for game storage.
Released, in 1976, Its weak lineup of games led to it being a commercial failure with the Atari 2600 vastly outselling it. 

What is interesting to note is the Fairchild had its own version of Space War, though it was dumbed down significantly and much slower
compared to the version later released by Atari. 

The Fairchild's failure came down to the market: its measly 22 games were mostly educational and slow-paced, which did not
appeal to the video game playing crowd who were more interested in action and adventure titles.

Spacewar on the Fairchild Channel F

Atari 2600

An image of the Atari 2600

The Atari 2600, origianlly called the Atari VCS, released in 1977, was the first commercially successful home video game system. 
It popularized video game cartridges and made video games accessible to the masses. 

Sales were originally slow, but increaseddramatically with the rlease of Space Invaders in 1980. 
Out of the nine launch titles for the 2600, 7 were action-oriented. Atari partnered with Sears to sell their consoles,
allowing them to make several different designs for the system, which gave collectors an incentive to buy different models.

Atari let third parties develop games for the 2600, and eventually the system would have 472 licensed games 
under its belt by the time it was disocntinued. The sucess of the 2600 is largely contributed to the release of Space Invaders, which was enjoyed by all ages. 

Even now, the name "Space Invaders" is synonymous with Atari.


The Fairchild Channel F and Atari systems both found a market in bringing arcade games into people's homes. Sometimes, good ideas happen in the same places at different timees.
Its all about using the resources in your environment to make those ideas a success, whether it be people or physical materials.