#3 Breakout

Released: 1976 - Various Platforms              

Developer: Atari
Played: 30th January 2013 - Super Breakout (Atari Official Site) 

Breakout is another one of those games, like Pong, Pacman and Space Invaders, where I believe everyone has played at least one version of it at some point. Like Pong, the concept is simple, here's a paddle, here's a ball, but instead of trying to beat another person, here's a brick wall. Smash your way through it!

Like many of the successful arcade games, especially the earlier ones in this list,  it's a repeated formula of a simple concept that has been well executed, that then captures the imagination of the public.  There is something very satisfying when you manage to breakthrough to the top row and the ball seems possessed as it smashes every tile in sight. 

Interestingly, Breakout was born out of the concept of making Pong into a single-player game and the task of designing a prototype was given to a fresh-faced Steve Jobs for the princely sum of $750, Jobs then brought on his friend Steve Wozniack to assist, though the actual final manufactured machine differed from the prototype the concept of the machine lead the two to work on the first of Apple's computers and inspired the now famous Apple II,  and the rest is history...bazillion dollar history.

Unfortunately it seems it's nigh on impossible to find an emulated version of the original Breakout due the way it was built/programmed, the Atari 2600 version or the much ported sequel Super Breakout are the one's you usually see and the sequel is the one I have had to play, but the concept is the same, plus begin that it's an official Atari port, it's probably the closest i can get to it without forking out for an original machine.

Play Super Breakout here: http://www.atari.com/arcade#!/arcade/superbreakout/play