Editing Atari XEGS (section)

==Development==
[[File:Atari_XEGS_with_Keyboard-7949_Fertig_1500.jpg|thumb|Atari XEGS with keyboard]]
[[File:Atari XEGS-7942 Fertig 1500.jpg|thumb|Atari XEGS]]
[[File:Atari XEGS-7944 Fertig 1500.jpg|thumb|Joystick ports]]
[[File:Atari XEGS-7943 Fertig 1500.jpg|thumb|Backside ins and outs]]
In 1984, following the [[video game crash of 1983]] when [[Atari, Inc.]] had great financial difficulties as a division of [[Warner Communications]], [[John J. Anderson]] of ''[[Creative Computing]]'' stated that Atari should have released a video game console in 1981 based on its [[Atari 8-bit computers]] and compatible with that software library. The company instead released the [[Atari 5200]], which is based on the 8-bit computers but is incompatible with their software.<ref name="anderson198403">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/creativecomputing-1984-03/Creative_Computing_v10_n03_1984_Mar#page/n51/mode/2up | title=Atari | work=Creative Computing | date=March 1984 | access-date=February 6, 2015 | author=Anderson, John J. | page=51|quote=The games division [..] saw the home computer division as a threat [..] If any of their new machines could expand into true computers, the reins would automatically be handed over [..] To the games division, this was a fate worse than death [so] they chose death. [..] If, in 1981, the next-generation game machine ''had'' been designed to be compatible with the Atari 400 and 800 microcomputers, Atari would not be in the state it is today. Instead, the 5200 game unit was launched. Internally, it was very nearly an Atari 800, and as such was a fabulous game machine. The notable exceptions were that all compatibility and expandability had been designed out [..] with an external keyboard and 800 compatibility, could have been transformed into a product superior to the famed Coleco Adam, way back in 1982.}}</ref>

After [[Jack Tramiel]] purchased the company, [[Atari Corporation]] re-released two game consoles in 1986: the [[Atari 7800]], which had previously been released in a brief test run in 1984; and a lower cost redesign of the [[Atari 2600#Atari 2600 Jr.|Atari 2600]].

Atari conceived the console in a plan to increase the company's console market share while improving sales of its 8-bit home computer family which had started with the Atari 400 and 800.<ref name="Wolf2008">{{cite book | last = Wolf | first = Mark J. P.  | year = 2008 | title = The video game explosion: a history from PONG to PlayStation and beyond | publisher = Greenwood Publishing Group | isbn = 978-0-313-33868-7 | page = 60 }}</ref> Providing a "beginning computer" and "sophisticated game console" in one device, was thought to convince more retailers and software developers to support the platform. Matthew Ratcliff, who had been contributing editor for [[Antic (magazine)|''Antic'' magazine]], recalled that "Atari executives asked the heads of several major toy store chains which product they'd rather sell{{mdash}}the powerful 65XE home computer for about {{US$|long=no|80}}, or a fancy new game system for about {{US$|long=no|150}}. The answer was, 'You can keep the computer, give us that game machine!"<ref name="XEGS info">{{cite web | title=Atari XEGS Information | first=Matthew | last=Ratcliff | url=https://www.atarihq.com/atcomp/xegs.html | website=AtariHQ | access-date=February 28, 2021}}</ref> In May 1987, Atari's Director of Communications, Neil Harris, updated the online Atari community by outlining this plan, noting that the XEGS was intended to further the 8-bit line by providing mass-merchants with a device that was more appealing to their markets.<ref>{{cite web | last = Harris | first = Neil | title = Re: Is Atari killing the 8 bit? | date = May 12, 1987 | url = http://groups.google.ca/group/comp.sys.atari.8bit/msg/98a62e383f31d6cc?dmode=source | access-date = August 4, 2013}}</ref>

The XEGS is a repackaged Atari 65XE home computer,<ref name="XEGS info"/> compatible with the existing range of [[Atari 8-bit computer software]] and [[Atari 8-bit computer peripherals|peripherals]], and thus can function as a [[home computer]].<ref name="ClassicGaming">{{cite web|title=Atari 8 Bit Computers – 1979–1987 |work=Classic Gaming |url=http://classicgaming.gamespy.com/View.php?view=ConsoleMuseum.Detail&id=52 |access-date=July 21, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120211095903/http://classicgaming.gamespy.com/View.php?view=ConsoleMuseum.Detail&id=52 |archive-date=February 11, 2012 }}</ref><ref name="Paleotronic">{{cite magazine |title=The Toy Store: Shootout of the games systems |url=https://archive.org/details/paleotronic0418-150dpi/page/n97/mode/2up?q=%22XG-1+light+gun | magazine=Paleotronic | date=April–June 2018 | issue=2 | page=96 | access-date=March 1, 2021}}</ref><ref name="Retro Gamer UK">{{cite magazine |title=Peripheral Power |url=https://archive.org/details/Retro_Gamer_UK_124/page/78/mode/2up?q=%22light+gun%22 |magazine=Retro Gamer UK |issue=124 |page=76 | access-date=March 1, 2021}}</ref><ref name="VGC">{{cite book |last1=Loguidice |first1=Bill |last2=Barton |first2=Matt |title=Vintage Game Consoles |date=2014 |publisher=Focal Press |isbn=9780415856003 |page=66 |url={{Google books | id=wZnpAgAAQBAJ | plainurl=yes | page=66}} |access-date=March 1, 2021}}</ref> At a more premium {{US$|159|1987|round=-1|about=yes}},<ref name="hutchinson" /> it co-existed with the Atari 7800 and remodeled Atari 2600,<ref name="hutchinson">{{Cite news | title = Kaybee Toy Store Ad | newspaper = Hutchinson News | location = Hutchinson, Kansas | pages = 64 | date = October 8, 1987}}</ref> and was occasionally featured alongside those systems in Atari print ads and television commercials.<ref name="syracuse">{{Cite news | title = Atari Retailer Rebate Ad | newspaper = Syracuse Herald Journal | location =  Syracuse, New York | pages = 187 | date = December 11, 1988}}</ref>

Atari Corporation discontinued their 8-bit product line, including the XEGS, in December 1991.<ref name="duarte92">{{cite magazine |last=Duarte |first=Tim |date=July 1992 |title=The Game's the Thing |url=https://archive.org/details/atari-user-1992-07/page/n21 |access-date=February 5, 2025 |magazine=AtariUser |department=Feature |publisher=Quill Publishing Co. |page=22}}</ref>