This is a classic commercial from 1982 starring Jack Black talking about the amazing Pitfall. He has been around for a long time hasn't he.
I just read a Wiki on the Atari 2600 Pacman game. I was completely lost for words at how the game was this big flop, listing nothing but flaws on how different it was from the arcade Pacman. The ghosts were wrong, the sound was wrong, Pacman's mouth was always opening and closing, and it just went on. I'm sure the writer was just listing facts dug up from reviews but was it really that bad? I spent many an hour playing Pacman on my Atari and I loved every minute of it. I'm pretty sure I got it for free with the purchase of my Atari. I didn't care that it didn't look exactly like the arcade. Hey man, I was playing Pacman! What do you think? Was it really that bad?
Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney form Atari Inc. in 1972 and begin work on a video game called Pong. Based on the tabletop ping-pong game, the home version of Pong becomes a huge success in 1974. Three years later, the company introduces its video game console, the Atari 2600, and scores another huge success. Atari is subsequently sold to Warner Communications in 1976.
http://www.printedowl.com/CalendarDetail.aspx?id=computer_history