Atari
In 1971, Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney founded a small engineering company, Syzygy Engineering, that designed and built "Computer Space", the world's first commercially available arcade video game, for Nutting Associates. On June 27, 1972, the two incorporated Atari, Inc. and soon hired Al Alcorn as their first design engineer. Bushnell asked Alcorn to produce an arcade version of the Magnavox Odyssey's Tennis game, which would be named Pong. While Bushnell incorporated Atari in June 1972, Syzygy Company was never formally incorporated. Before Atari's incorporation, Bushnell considered various terms from the game Go, eventually choosing "atari", referencing a position in the game when a group of stones is imminently in danger of being taken by one's opponent. Atari was incorporated in the state of California on June 27, 1972.
In 1973, Atari secretly spawned a competitor called Kee Games, headed by Nolan's next door neighbor Joe Keenan, to circumvent pinball distributors' insistence on exclusive distribution deals; both Atari and Kee could market virtually the same game to different distributors, each getting an "exclusive" deal. Joe Keenan's management of the subsidiary led to him being promoted president of Atari that same year.
Harry M. Rubin
Atari, Inc. released the rights to develop a live action film version of Alone in the Dark, one of Atari's most acclaimed video game series. The original Alone in the Dark video game received critical acclaim upon its release and is considered a breakthrough and influential title, as it was the first 3D survival horror game. In 2009, Empire included Alone in the Dark on their list of 100 greatest video games of all time. Further the "Alone in the Dark" series gave birth to several critically and financial successful titles including "Alone in the Dark", "Jack in the Dark", "Alone in the Dark 2", "Alone in the Dark 3", "Alone in the Dark 4", "Alone in the Dark: New Nightmare". Atari CEO, Bruno Bonnell, and Rubin, then Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer, served as co-executive producers for the movie . The cast included major film actors such as Golden Globe-winner Christian Slater who starred in the lead role as Edward Carnby, and Tara Reid, star of The Big Lebowski. The film was directed by three-time Razzies nominee and "Worst Career Achievement" winner, Uwe Boll, who also served as the film's executive producer. The film received a widely negative critical and box office response. Uwe Boll and Tara Reid were nominated for Worst Director and Worst Actress in a Lead Role at the Golden Raspberry Awards.