Atari employee Steve Bristow who helped develop the Atari Video Computer System, aka the Atari 2600 has passed away. Atari Inc. co-author Marty Goldberg, shared the news via a post on an Atari Facebook group. Bristow led Atari's Coin-Op Division, during his time at the company he also came up with the concept for 'Breakout' alongside Atari founder Nolan Bushnell. The game was then built by Steve Wozniak aided by Steve Jobs. Breakout was a massive hit which was influenced by the 1972 Atari arcade game Pong. The simple bat and ball style game in which players would try and smash a layer of bricks lines at the top of the screen by hitting a ball which bounced off the top and side walls of the screen using a paddle at the bottom of the screen. The game actually influenced books, video games, film, and even the Apple II personal computer. During the era that introduced arcade machines into the home, Bristow is said to have been behind 'Computer Space' the world's first arcade game, which was also co-created by Bushnell before Atari was founded. Bristow later went on to become Vice-President in the engineering division of Atari before his departure in 1984. He continued his impressive career with electrical engineering, however its his accomplishments at Atari for which he is most well known, and the massive influence to the gaming industry.
