Rare vintage Atari, Inc. t-shirt from circa 1984, deriving from the personal collection of David Sherman, lead hardware designer of the innovative Atari games Missile Command and I, Robot. The bright blue Hanes t-shirt, size medium (38-40), features an awesome front cover design for the arcade shooter game I, Robot, showing the servant robot, ‘Unhappy Interface Robot #1984,’ advancing towards the inexorable end boss, Big Brother. The left sleeve reads “ATARI” white white lettering. In fine, used condition.
According to Sherman: ‘The idea for the I, Robot hardware came about from my enthusiasm for anything novel and new in hardware design. I had read the early ‘bibles’ of 3-D rendering such as Sutherland, and got hot for it. Dave Theurer and I had worked closely and well together on Missile Command and we decided that this HAD to happen.
Having read the Asimov series and other seminal Science Fiction about artificial intelligence and robots, the fundamental and inevitable truths of these works were weighing heavily on me. So that, plus the advent of the year 1984, created a perfect setting for a dystopian trope for the game.
Playing Alan Parsons' ‘I, Robot’ at least once during midnight sessions in the lab completed the scene.’
From the Collection of David Sherman
