Dave Needle, an instrumental figure in the completion of the Lorraine project, which resulted in the Amiga 1000, passed away on Saturday, February 20.

Needle was one of the main engineers behind the Amiga's custom chips, and later on went on to co-create the Atari Lynx - the first handheld system to feature a color LCD screen - in the late 80s.

Needle was also the co-inventor of the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer home console, a short-lived, but cutting edge system created by himself, designer R.J. Mical, and EA founder Trip Hawkins.

News of Needle's death was posted on Facebook by the Atari History Book team over the weekend, although no cause was given.