Atari.com - A classic is reborn
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Fi is humbled, proud and excited to have been given the golden opportunity to work with another gaming legend: ATARI. The titan of the arcade world has been rocking hard since the introduction of the revolutionary video game console and the Pong craze that has dominated screens across the globe since the early 70's.
Atari selected us from a group of larger agencies; our strong gaming and entertainment client portfolio, including EA.com, Nintendo and MTV.com, was a key factor. The latest redesign of the Atari.com website a sheer honor for many of our team, who are passionate gamers in their own right.
This iconic brand, responsible for delivering some of the greatest arcade classics, brought many exciting challenges for the Fi team to tackle. One being to develop a site that could be localized in five different languages (IT/FR/DE/ES/EN) without compromising the look/feel.
While Atari made their mark in the home console market, the resurrection of the legendary Atari Arcade portfolio was one challenge Fi had to meet. In this initial phase, Fi worked closely with Atari to bring a traditional arcade experience to the browser.
Having owned Atari 2600s, the Fi team knew games like Asteroids, Lunar Lander and Centipede are best suited in their natural environment. The overall design, as well as the Arcade section, is aimed at keeping the Atari spirit alive. This was a dramatic change from the old Atari.com, and one that has been rewarding.
We must admit that most of the Fi team are past their prime when it comes to Asteroids and Yar’s Revenge, and the goal of reigniting an interest for the older demographic, while educating the younger gamers on video game history seemed almost impossible. Since the launch of Atari Arcade, we witnessed a dramatic spike in traffic on Atari.com. Bounce rates are down, and visit longevity per user is up.
The technology Fi delivered was one that encompassed new territory for Atari. The introduction of AJAX for the first time with our esteemed client, changed their perspective about information architecture and presentation. Core interactivity was written in JavaScript, and careful consideration was made to ensure that it degrades gracefully for users without JavaScript and those on mobile devices.
Another key item was the smooth carousel featured on the homepage to feature key releases, the Atari Arcade and highlighted Atari news. Created using embedded Flash streaming video, this would be both auto-rotating and controllable by the user.
To learn more about this project, please visit the Atari Case study.
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vionnet
4 months ago
great! it works pretty well but, in my opinion, the look and feel looks similar than other projets by FI.
It needs its own personality; now it hasn't.
Score:
user-experience: 8
design: 4
technology: 9
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jaimespaniol
4 months ago
It is a very good solution for this project. It's simple and objetive. It is a very good interface design.
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alexander
4 months ago
I'm sure you put a lot of hard work into it... it's a good website but the design seems a little pale and outdated. remindes me of the ea.com website from the design point of view...
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AlexanderG
4 months ago
Love it! :) good job guys!
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xulqarnain
4 months ago
Well as being a designer myself, I know that sometimes it is very hard to educate / convince the client about a specific type / design of a layout. I am sure Fi had some difficulties in the same manner because when we see their previous work / profile we can very easily deduct that they have the capability of creating very different things and thus creating wonders. But the site does look a bit like EA.
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SNDKno
4 months ago
Quoted from: xulqarnain - "Well as being a designer myself, I know that sometimes it is very hard to educate / convince the client about a specific type / design of a layout. I am sure Fi had some difficulties in the same manner because when we see their previous work / profile we can very easily deduct that they have the capability of creating very different things and thus creating wonders. But the site does look a bit like EA."
It might look a bit like it but there is a saying "if it aint broken, don't change it". I believe we do struggle to hard to always come up with something new. Its of course good to try and improve something but after 20 years of web design there are solutions and ways that are proven better then others. I believe its better to try and "reuse" the solutions for the better usability for the user then fight over "we did it first". Im not here talking about copying design. Just look at the car industries. ABS, Airbags + have been adopted to about all car brands because its for the better. Change is good but sometimes stuff that work don`t need changing :-)
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xtrarice
4 months ago
I always enjoy hearing other people's thoughts as I'm a firm believer in the saying:
Everyone thinks they're right... based on what they know.
Let's not mistake design and style as the same thing--these are two different things. Atari.com might look similar to EA.com because of some shared aesthetics (rounded corners, clean interface, big buttons, etc.), and if that's the case then i'll that i'll add that it also looks similar to other web sites--including kontain. But know that although they both share the same goals--sell games--these two companies have different business objectives which, I personally think, through our design process we've nailed--the site works and people are clicking away.
If anyone has branding issues with Atari or EA let it be heard I'm sure their branding gurus are all ears. :)
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aleks
4 months ago
Quoted from: xtrarice - "i always enjoy hearing other people's thoughts as i'm a firm believer in the saying:
everyone thinks they're right... based on what they know.
let's not mistake design and style as the same thing--these are two different things. atari.com might look similar to ea.com because of some shared aesthetics (rounded corners, clean interface, big buttons, etc.), and if that's the case then i'll that i'll add that it also looks similar to other web sites--including kontain. but know that although they both share the same goals--sell games--these two companies have different business objectives which, i personally think, through our design process we've nailed--the site works and people are clicking away.
if anyone has branding issues with atari or ea let it be heard i'm sure their branding gurus are all ears. :)"
Could't agree more.
In my humble opinion, Atari looks like a game site should look. Super easy to use, super informative, simple and fast, and yet eye catching. Nice and simple clean style. If it is similar to EA, that's completly normal, both are gaming sites.
Great work, next project: gamecenter.com :)
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krauser
4 months ago
OK so it may have a few similarities to EA and it was something I picked up immediately but all it means to me is that the Atari site shares the same user focused experience which is essential on a platform such as this. Atari is very clean, simple and very easy to use which goes a long way, users can access information very quickly without any trouble at all which is a real credit to Fi's focus on end user experience.
Do you have any screen shots of the old site? :-)
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SNDKno
4 months ago
Quoted from: krauser - "OK so it may have a few similarities to EA and it was something I picked up immediately but all it means to me is that the Atari site shares the same user focused experience which is essential on a platform such as this. Atari is very clean, simple and very easy to use which goes a long way, users can access information very quickly without any trouble at all which is a real credit to Fi's focus on end user experience.
Do you have any screen shots of the old site? :-)"
You can see it on the Internet Archive: web.archive.org/web/20080728225755/www.atari.com/
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krauser
4 months ago
Quoted from: SNDKno - "you can see it on the internet archive: web.archive.org/web/20080728225755/www.atari.com/"
Wow! What a difference!
Hats off to Fi for such a fantastic job, I guess the guys at Atari must have needed a bit of convincing coming from such a dated site. Great job guys once again.
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The Design...
4 months ago
Very FI !
Great job!
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David
4 months ago
What a pleasure to work with something that influenced your life. In regards to it looking like EA, I don't see it at all. We in-fact set out to avoid any similarities at all costs as we would with Nintendo designs. If anything, EA.com looks more similar to the new Joost.com (coming shortly) because it's white has a lot of content and video.
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xulqarnain
4 months ago
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jam_altun_23
4 months ago
Great job and all pixels wonderful. I saw this site in website of FÄ°. Congratulations...
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kaizen
4 months ago
congratulations...
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xtrarice
4 months ago
Quoted from: xulqarnain - "So, this means that from now onwards Fi will be creating the exact kind of websites for every gaming site. The sites will share the exact style (not layout as xtrarice mentioned earlier in his post above)."
Hi Ali,
I don't know about "from now on onwards..." If it isn't too obvious, that trend didn't start with this one, it started years ago. It's called the Fi house-style–something that's constantly evolved, blatantly copied, and inspired (or sometimes inspired by) other designers. Just like every rap music has beats and every rock song, a guitar solo, each genre has its own style and set of rules it lives by.
As for creating exact styles for the same type of websites, I ask: do all Beatles songs sound the same even though there's only seven basic notes? And with a very limited Crayola color palete, do all coloring books end up looking alike?
Here's a great song to go that came to mind earlier. Enjoy the day.
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phillip
4 months ago
It's easy to navigate, easy on the eyes, and crafted pretty darn well.. so yeah, same as EA
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David Philip
3 months ago
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corebean
3 months ago
and because FI did such an awesome job on the site redesign, you are giving away free t-shirts to all those that leave comments. because atari tshirts are what every rockstar designer needs !!!!!!!
awesome work FI team.
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Claire Lit...
3 months ago
Happy + Sad...
First of all I'd like to say that I am a fan of FI and think you guys do some really lovely work :)
I'm happy - to see that Atari is alive and well! (Very nostalgic memories; was the best Xmas ever when my little brother and I opened that Xmas present all those years ago and couldn't believe our eyes when we got an Atari console with Pac Man AND Space Invaders! :)))
Sad - Because I worked for 3/4 months at Draft FCB in 2007 Art Directing the redesign of the (Infogramme owned ) Atari website, which was to feature a social network element with profiles and all the other usual stuff...
It was a difficult project mainly because our client contact at Atari changed about 4 times and each time they all had very strong opinions about what they thought the direction and design style should be. Suddenly each one was replaced with someone new and we all wondered what was going on!?
Ultimately we discovered that Atari had gone into receivership and the reason people were disappearing was due to redundancy... the project was canned and I and the 2 senior designers I was working with left the project feeling very disappointed and that it was such a shame that a legend had gone under...
Ah well, cest la vie... it happens...
Lovely work guys,
Claire
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cooldept
3 months ago
Amaze!!!
Comments (22)