Most people familiar with Atari had heard of the Atari Cosmos holographic video game system that Atari had shown at the New York Toy Fair in 1981 and was readying for a Christmas 81' release.   However, Atari's management pulled the plug on Cosmos and closed the Holoptics labs and it was never seen again.

        Originally The Atari Cosmos had several tentative names, Spector was one of them.   After market testing, Spector, Cosmos and Future Vision were the top 3 names favored.   So after Cosmos was chosen,  another Holoptic game system was given the possible name Spector.

        The Atari Spector had some unique ideas.    Unlike the Atari Cosmos, the Atari Spector would have a drop in holoptic cylinder which would go into the center chamber of the game and spin around to produce a hologram playfield.   In the center of the cylinder would be the LED array that would have the players and opponents.    Up to 3 players could play and when an opponent fired past a players shields, the LED trace would go from the center cylinder, down the control arm to the player, if deflected  that player would continue, if it made it past the shields or ship then the player lost one life and the opponent would gain points.
 

        With the demise of the Atari Cosmos project, the Atari Spector never made it past prototype modeling and concept.