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Atarico - laminitis Ted Dabney die on May 26th at the age of 81 , following a diagnosis of esophageal cancer in former 2017 , which , according to his friends , he opted against invite discussion for after being told he only had eight months to live on .
Born in 1937 , Dabney worked a identification number of jobs in electronics before make a motion into video games . Enlisting in the Marine Corps , he take aim courses on electronics that actuate his interest in the field . After the Corps , he bring at Bank of America before move on to Ampex , an electronics ship’s company that particularize in reel - to - bobbin tape recorders , where he meet future Atari co - founder Nolan Bushnell and came up with the idea for coin - operate biz organisation . Bushnell and Dabney would spin off to create the ship’s company Syzygy ( later re - named Atari ) and make their first gameComputer Space , which Dabney nibble together using standard component of a television creating a video circuit that dish out as a predecessor toPong .
newsworthiness of his death was , fit in toEuro Gamer , first reported onFacebookby tight friend and video plot historian Leonard Herman , who wrote about Dabney ’s story for a feature clause inEdge Magazineback in 2009 title “ The Untold Atari Story . ” Leonard ’s billet read , “ I just learned that my near friend , Ted Dabney , the Centennial State - founder of Atari , passed away at the age of 81 . RIP dear Quaker . Your bequest will live on a long time ! ”
Dabney ’s contributions to video recording gaming were often overshadowed , and sometimes contradicted , by his Atari co - father Bushnell , who prefer to patent Dabney ’s video electrical circuit idea without Dabney ’s name . The two had a falling out that led to Dabney ’s departure from the caller in the seventies . While he would begin his own company in Syzygy Game Company and continue to work on with Bushnell as an employee at various times in his calling , he finally go away the manufacture all in all to guide a grocery store storehouse with his married woman in California and moved to Washington in his retreat .
News of his death has prompted reactions and festivity of his lasting impact to the field , from many in the industry including Video Game Preservation historianPatrick Scott Patterson , who save , “ Crushed to see about the passing of my friend … Always so grace of God and lowly , ” and Digital Eclipse Head of DevelopmentMike Mikawho tweeted , “ His video circuit power Computer Space and Pong , and inspired an entire industriousness . RIP . ”
Rest in Peace Ted Dabney
Source : Euro Gamer , Polygon , Wired
