September 2011
NEWSLETTER for September 2011 President’s Corner by Michael Current September 2011 Well, I was up near our Falcon Heights Community Center this past Friday night, not for SPACE, but for the Minnesota State Fair! Maybe it was my third time there ever. I was there to see the Def Leppard + Heart show Friday night. I've seen them both before, but certainly not in the same night. And, what I great place for a show! It looked good, it sounded good, and the weather was absolutely perfect. And both acts were awesome, better than I remembered. I'm thinking, outdoors is maybe the only way to see a rock concert! I may have to make a new tradition of that. Atari history research continues. I just found a few new details on the history of Atari Japan, in an article published in the Journal of Japanese Trade & Industry, published in 1985. Fortunately the article was written in English! It's called "Namco: Maker of the Video Age." And it's the first time I've ever seen mentioned the name of the first president of Atari Japan hired by Nolan Bushnell in 1973: Kenichi Takumi. Perhaps he's never mentioned by name due to the more famous fact that Atari Japan did nothing but lose a lot of money for Atari over 1973-1975. Don't miss the modified 800XL that Greg hopes to bring to SPACE this month! Thanks, keep using that Atari, and come to your next SPACE meeting, Friday September 9, 2011. **********************************************
Treasurer's Report by Greg Leitner For August 2011
Wow! Only four members for the August 2011 SPACE meeting. We really miss Lance and Brian; so get well Lance and hope to see you next month. I have a modification to an 800XL that I want to bring to the meeting in September. It is from a customer that frequents Tony's shop. He modifies computers and game systems and as a present Tony had an
800XL modified for me. So I hope you can all make it to the meeting in September. Nothing really going on and our August meeting was very short ending before 8:00 P.M. That was okay with me as I was dead tired from the long week. The weather was great all week and I was too tired all week to take advantage of it. Things are pretty hectic at work and now with six grand-children it has been pretty hectic on the home front as well. Anyway, here is how our Treasury is shaping up for the month of August 2011: Beginning balance as of August 1, 2011
641.15
Receipts for the August meeting: Membership renewal Dom sales
15.00 3.00
Total receipts
18.00
Expense for the August meeting: Web-site
10.00
Ending balance as of August 31, 2011
649.15
The best I can say is that our balance is going up, but we are about $150.00 down from where we were at this time last year. Of course last year we were able to have an auction at our July 2010 SPACE Birthday Party and that really helped our financial situation in 2010. Unfortunately we haven't had many donations to SPACE this year other than an Atari 1040ST brought in by Michael. I hope we have an auction soon as I am very much interested in bidding for this machine. I had the opportunity to bring the 1040 home with me and test it out. Both the computer and the monochrome monitor worked flawlessly. I hooked up one of my color monitors to it and loaded some games and they all loaded just fine. This is one auction item I won't let go for the customary $1.00 bid so whoever wants this 1040 ST better be prepared to spend a few bucks. That's all I have for now. See you all in September. Can't believe the summer is almost over and kids are back in school. With the hot weather this year it seems like we lost the whole summer months. Let's hope we have a mild fall to make up for the (Lost Summer). **********************************************
Secretary's Report By Brian Little For August 2011
No minutes from the August meeting were submitted in time for this Newsletter. ******************************************** From: Michael Current [michael@mcurrent.name] Sent: Sunday, August 28, 2011 7:35 AM Subject: Atari Bolsters Management Team for Continued Expansion Into Mobile and Social Online Gaming Atari Bolsters Management Team for Continued Expansion Into Mobile and Social Online Gaming LOS ANGELES, Aug. 17, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Atari, a leading multi-platform, global interactive entertainment and licensing company, has strengthened its senior management team with the appointments of Robert Mattes as Chief Financial Officer, Owais Farooqui as Senior Vice President, Digital Publishing, and Maria Pacheco as Vice President, Mobile. The bolstering of its senior management team comes as Atari continues to shift its core focus to casual gaming experiences designed for mobile, social networks and emerging platforms. The Company's titles have enjoyed #1 status across three different platforms in the last 90 days. Atari's Greatest Hits rose to #1 in the iTunes store and generated more than 3 million downloads in its first three months. Dungeons and Dragons: Daggerdale hit #1 on the Xbox Live Arcade network, and The Witcher 2 achieved #1 status on the Steam gaming platform. In their new positions, Mr. Farooqui and Ms. Pacheco will be charged with developing and executing a cohesive mobile, social and online strategy for the company designed to best leverage Atari's legendary gaming franchises for a new generation of gamers across online (i.e. Atari.com, browser, Facebook®, Google+), smartphones and tablets. They will have at their disposal one of the gaming industry's most iconic portfolios that includes: Asteroids, Missile Command, Centipede, Pong and Breakout. Additionally, this Fall Atari will be launching its richest Facebook experience to date with Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes of Neverwinter. Meanwhile, Mr. Mattes brings in depth experience from various online and micro-transaction business models will be responsible for Atari's finance, accounting, IT and various administrative functions. Mr. Mattes and Mr. Farooqui will report directly to Jim Wilson, CEO of Atari, S.A. Ms. Pacheco will report to Mr. Farooqui. "Owais and Maria are innovative managers whose vast online and mobile success aligns with Atari's goal of creating the best experience for players across all social and casual gaming platforms," said Jim Wilson, CEO of Atari. "As we continue to evolve our business, Owais and Maria will be instrumental in helping us build the digital vision and strategy for the overall Atari brand." Mr. Wilson added, "Robert is accomplished financial executive who brings a significant background to address our continued expansion into emerging platforms. His financial transaction experience will also be important as Atari continues to grow."
Following these new nominations, Atari's executive committee is now composed as follows: Jim Wilson, CEO Robert Mattes, CFO Kristen Keller, General Counsel Lee Jacobson, Senior Vice President, Business Development and Licensing Owais Farooqui, Senior Vice President, Digital Publishing Mr. Mattes brings to Atari more than 20 years of senior level financial management experience. He has held positions as Co-President and CFO of Authentic Response, Inc., a leading provider of online data to the market research industry, and CFO of Return Path Inc., the global leader in email deliverability services. He started his career at KPMG where he rose to the level of manager in their New York City office and was then Assistant Corporate Controller at W.R. Berkley Corp., a financial services company focused on the property and casualty insurance business. A Certified Public Accountant, Mr. Mattes received his Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Villanova University. Mr. Farooqui has more than 10 years of strategic planning experience, with expertise in business development and integrated marketing. Mr. Farooqui joins Atari from King.com, the world's largest tournament games company, where he served as the GM of North America. In this capacity he managed the company's initiatives surrounding social games' marketing, strategy and partnerships -- delivering successful social, competitive and pastime gaming experiences to millions of people across the globe in the region. He was also responsible for King.com's groundbreaking partnerships with NBC, CBS, Yahoo!, Real Networks, and Lifetime Networks, enabling the major media networks to extend interactivity and entertainment to consumers. Prior to King.com, Mr. Farooqui held positions at Knowledge Adventure and Academy123, which was acquired by Discovery Communications. He received his Bachelors of Applied Sciences in Computer Engineering at the University of Toronto. Ms. Pacheco brings to Atari vast experience in marketing mobile games and applications. She most recently served as vice president of marketing for Vivendi Games Mobile, a division of Vivendi Games, where she helped build the division into a leading US publisher of mobile games. In that capacity, Ms. Pacheco oversaw product marketing initiatives for the Americas including channel marketing, consumer insights, social media and promotions. Prior to joining Vivendi Games Mobile, Pacheco held positions at JAMDAT, which was acquired by Electronic Arts in 2006, and Sprint where she was instrumental in launching Sprint's 'Game Lobby', the industry's first carrier-based mobile games community. She holds a Master's degree in Business Administration from Baker University and a Bachelor's degree in Marketing from Pittsburg State University. For more information about other available positions at Atari, please go to www.atari.com/careers.
About ATARI, SA Atari (www.atari.com) is a multi-platform, global interactive entertainment and licensing company. The original innovator of video gaming, founded in 1972, Atari owns and/or manages a portfolio of more than 200 games and franchises, including world renowned brands like Asteroids®, Centipede®, Missile Command®, Pong®, Test Drive®, Backyard Sports®, Deer Hunter®, Ghostbusters®, and Rollercoaster Tycoon®. Atari capitalizes on these powerful properties by delivering compelling games online (i.e. browser, Facebook® and digital download), on smartphones and tablets and other connected devices. The Company also develops and distributes interactive entertainment for video game consoles from Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony. As a licensor, Atari extends its brand and franchises into other media, merchandising and publishing categories. Atari has offices in Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Lyon and London. © 2011 Atari Interactive, Inc. All rights reserved. Atari word mark and logo are trademarks owned by Atari Interactive, Inc.
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