What was the original name of Atari 2600?

It was initially released as the Atari Video Computer System (VCS) in 1977 and rebranded as Atari 2600 in 1982 to align with the Atari 5200 naming convention.

When was Atari 2600 released?

The console launched in North America in late 1977, Europe in 1978, France in 1982, Brazil in September 1983, and Japan as Atari 2800 in October 1983.

What CPU powers Atari 2600?

It uses an 8-bit MOS Technology 6507 processor running at 1.19 MHz, a cost-reduced version of the 6502 with fewer address pins, limiting addressable memory to 4 KB without bank switching.

How many Atari 2600 units sold?

Approximately 30 million units were sold worldwide by 2004, with over 10 million in the US by 1982 and continued sales into the early 1990s in Europe.

What was the best-selling Atari 2600 game?

Pac-Man sold 8 million copies by 1990, despite criticism for not resembling the arcade original, becoming the console's top seller.

What caused 1983 video game crash?

Factors included poor Atari titles like Pac-Man and E.T., third-party shovelware glut, market oversaturation, and declining sales leading to industry-wide losses.

Why was it called codename Stella?

The prototype was named Stella after engineer Joe Decuir's bicycle brand, developed by Cyan Engineering starting in late 1975 using MOS 6507 chips.

How does bank switching work?

Bank switching allowed cartridges larger than 4 KB by swapping memory banks, first used in Asteroids in 1980 to expand beyond the 6507's address limits.

Meta-Wiki

Welcome to Meta-Wiki, the global community site for the Wikimedia Foundation's projects and related projects, from coordination and documentation to planning and analysis.

Other meta-focused wikis such as Wikimedia Outreach are specialized projects that have their roots in Meta-Wiki. Related discussions also take place on Wikimedia mailing lists (particularly wikimedia-l, with its low-traffic equivalent WikimediaAnnounce), IRC channels on Libera, individual wikis of Wikimedia affiliates, and other places.

Current events

+/−

April 2026

January 1 – May 30:

Discussions about the Wikimedia Foundation's annual plan for 2026–2027.

April 30:

40th DCW Conversation Hour, Youth Engagement in Wikimedia, featuring Ndahiro Derrick Alter, the Founder of Wikimedia Rwanda, on 30 April, 12:30 PM UTC.

May 2026

May 1 – May 3:

Wikimedia Hackathon 2026 in Milan, Italy

May 4:

All editions of Wikinews will close and become permanently read-only on 2026-05-04. See the announcement here.

May 15 – May 17:

ESEAP Conference 2026 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan

July 2026

July 21 – July 25:

Wikimania 2026 in Paris, France

Requests

+/−

Cross-wiki issues

Other

Community and communication

+/−

Babel, a discussion place for Meta-Wiki matters
Mailing lists and IRC
Newsletters
Meetups, a list of offline events
Recurring online meetings
Events calendar
Wikimedia Embassy, a list of local contacts by language
Wikimedia Forum, a multilingual forum for Wikimedia projects
Wikimedians
Wikimedia Resource Center, a hub for Wikimedia Foundation resources

Core issues and collaboration

+/−

Wikimedia Foundation, Meta-Wiki, and its sister projects

+/−

The Wikimedia Foundation is the overarching non-profit foundation that owns the Wikimedia servers along with the domain names, logos and trademarks of all Wikimedia projects and MediaWiki. Meta-Wiki is the coordination wiki for the various Wikimedia wikis.

+/−

Content projects with single language editions