Exclusive Preview: Historical Gaming

Premiering soon will be my new show, Historical Gaming. I'm pretty excited about this idea, and I think you will be too after reading about it. Below is a quick FAQ about the show.

What is Historical Gaming?
Historical Gaming is a show that takes an in-depth look at historical games. It not only gives you information on the actual game, but information on the history it pertains to. For example, a video on God of War will provide information on the greek mythology that inspired the game, as well as information on the game itself.

There are a lot of review shows...why this?
Simply put, I'm a history nerd. I play mostly history-related games, and I figured it would not only provide good information on subjects, but give people a better idea on whether or not they should buy the game. Not only that, I am covering games from Atari to X-Box 360. There are a lot of history games that span every console!

Sounds kind of boring...
Well if you don't like history, I guess it could seem that way. My idea is to bring the entertainment of video reviews and integrate a history lesson into them. I think everyone will enjoy it!

Is this going to be on YouTube?
Of course, in fact the first episode will premiere simultaneously on YouTube and this website. After that, it will premiere here first, and then on YouTube. I'm not sure if these will go on Retroware TV or not, that is up to the staff over there.

When will it premiere?
I want to say 2 weeks, but I'm gonna say ASAP. I'm pretty excited about the first episode.

Footnotes: The Pacman Frog

Everybody panic! Video games have infiltrated the scientific community. I think video games have hit it big when you have an animal named after a popular video game character. I stumbled across this interesting find while researching for a future Gaming Historian episode (gee, I wonder what the topic is?).

Pictured here is a Ceratophrys, but most scientists around the world call it a Pacman Frog! This is due to it's large mouth and abdomen, similar to the popular arcade character, Pac-Man. These are extremely popular pets in households because they are very easy to take care of and don't require a lot of water (because they are very poor swimmers!).

Personally, I've never owned a pet frog before. When I was little I would always try to capture the lizards when my family went down to Florida, but never the frogs. However, I wouldn't mind trying to raise my own Pacman Frog, especially if they are easy to care for.



The one pictured here is albino, but I thought it would be a great picture because it is yellow, just like Pac-Man.

Random Review: Mountain Dew Game Fuel

As some of you may know, I am a gamer (wow, really?). So when I stumbled across Mountain Dew Game Fuel at a gas station, I decided to try it, despite the World of Warcraft picture on the front. Anything to help fuel my gaming must be delicious.

According to the bottle it is a citrus cherry flavored soda. I'd say that taste is pretty accurate. It's pretty delicious, but I couldn't see myself drinking a lot of it. It is pretty potent, and after I finished the drink, I played video games for 12 hours straight.

All jokes aside, I'm not sure why it is a game fuel (probably to just cash in and appeal to gamers), but it is tasty. Donatello enjoyed it, so give it a try!

Ben & Derek's Totally Random Show

I'm featured in the latest episode of Ben & Derek's Totally Random Show over at RetrowareTV.com. Actually, I think I am in just about every episode...but nevertheless, check out the latest episode!

Click Here

Monday Musings

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend. Onto today's update.

The new episode of The Gaming Historian is now on YouTube and this website. I'm working on creating a text version, so expect that tomorrow. I've gotten a lot of good feedback on this first part of the history of Sonic, so hopefully you enjoy it too.

Second, I'm working on some projects for Retroware TV. These will be exclusive to RWTV, so I'll let you know when those go up. However, I am ALSO working on exclusive videos for this site. The long delayed trailer should hopefully be ready this week. I've just been messing around with different recording settings, but I think I have finally settled on something.

Finally, make sure you check out Footnotes! These are cool little facts about the industry you may not know.

Enjoy your Monday (although I'm sure most of you won't...it's MONDAY).

Weekend!

The Gaming Historian is going on vacation! I'm heading with the girly up north for some quality relaxation. In the meantime, I'd like you to check out one of my favorite shows on YouTube, 2-Bit Gaming!

Kain is a very talented video maker and his show, 2-Bit Gaming, covers many aspects of the video game industry. Below is one of my favorite episodes, where he covers the Game Boy. Enjoy, and be sure to subscribe to his channel!



2-Bit Gaming Channel

Footnotes: Nintendo's Advanced Video System

Back in 1985, Nintendo released the console we all know and love, the Nintendo Entertainment System. Ah, such great memories with the toaster. Blowing on the cartridges, catching them on the edge, replacing corroded pins....ok so maybe the NES wasn't brilliantly designed. But it worked, and people loved it. The NES went on to sell 61 million units worldwide and is currently Nintendo's best selling console (although the Wii is following closely behind).

The NES came out in 1985, but it's incarnation in Japan, the Famicom, was released 2 years earlier in 1983. During the 2 year span between the two systems, Nintendo was trying to find a way to bring the Famicom over to the United States. Lance Barr was hired to redesign the Famicom for America, and here is what he came up with.



This is the Advanced Video System! It premiered in 1984 at the Consumer Electronics Show. It had a keyboard, zapper gun, controllers, joystick, and even a cassette player. Not to mention all the controllers were wireless (thanks to infrared technology). While people were impressed with the AVS, no one wanted to purchase it. Remember, this was right after the video game crash, so memories of Atari were still fresh in peoples minds. Luckily the NES was redesigned to look like the toaster, given ROB the Robot, and sold as a toy!

I was able to snap a shot of the AVS last year when I visited New York City. You can view it on display at the Nintendo World Store in Rockefeller Plaza, as well as many other cool items.

The Gaming Historian - Sonic The Hedgehog (Part 1)

Hard At Work!

Sorry guys, I can't say much about today. I have been finalizing this new episode! Remember, it comes out tomorrow. Don't miss it!

The Gaming Historian - Sonic the Hedgehog (Preview)

I know a lot of you have been waiting for this episode, so I hope you are excited for Wednesday! This episode has been a massive undertaking, and I am STILL not finished. I decided I had to make Sonic fans happy...so I went through EVERY sonic game and scrapped every piece of information I could find. I think the fans of the series will be pleased.

So check back Wednesday for Part 1. A new part will be released every 2 weeks. Check out the preview!

Footnotes: Birdo's Gender Confusion

Welcome to Footnotes! These are short interesting facts about video games that are not well known. I thought about making a video series for this, but I figured text versions are just as fine (and would save me a lot of time!). These are exclusive to the website, so come back every week for a new Footnote.

Our first Footnote is on Birdo. Growing up I always assumed Birdo was a female. She had eyelashes, a bow in her hair, and was usually associate as the female counterpart to Yoshi. Mario has Peach, Luigi has Daisy, Toad has Toadette, so Yoshi has Birdo....right?

While researching Super Mario Bros. 2, I was going over the original manual when I stumbled across this interesting quote from the enemies section. Please note Birdo and Ostro's name were accidentally switched in the manual.


HE!? That's right, according to the original manual, Birdo is actually a male. This is also true in Japan, where Birdo is known as Catherine. This would make Birdo, as far as I know, the very first transsexual video game character. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the Birdo trophy describes her as "indeterminate gender." Today, Nintendo pokes fun at the gender confusion of Birdo. She is actually a character in the game Captain Rainbow (which is only available in Japan as of now). She speaks with a deep male voice and gets thrown in jail for walking into the women's bathroom.

I think it is pretty safe to say that today, Nintendo feels Birdo is a female, even if they poke fun at her every once in a while.

Fanart

Click on the image for the full version. E-mail your fanart to gameflop@gmail.com.


Thanks to Robin Flodin!


Thanks to Brittany Forks!

Ikaruga!

I learned today from a friend that Ikaruga is only 400 Microsoft Points on X-Box Live. DO NOT miss out on this deal for one of the greatest shoot em up games ever.

If you didn't notice, I released a new Game Quickie yesterday on Mario Tennis. I had been playing it on and off for the past week so I decided "why not do a Quickie on it?" Don't forget, it is in beautiful widescreen now!

Tomorrow I'll be showing off some new fanart. If you have some fanart, feel free to send it to me and I will be more than happy to put it on the website. It also gives you some exposure! E-mail any fanart to gameflop@gmail.com

See you tomorrow!

Game Quickie - Mario Tennis

Game Quickie takes a look at one of the greatest tennis (and Mario) games ever created. Now in Widescreen!

Recommended? YES

8,000 Subscribers!

Today The Gaming Historian Youtube Channel reached 8,000 Subscribers! This is a big achievement for the show, and I just wanted to thank everyone who has subscribed and enjoyed my work. Believe me, without you I would not be doing this.

Today is Monday, so I have a new poll up on the right. I was simply curious on what everyone's current console of choice is right now. Right now mine is the Xbox 360, but maybe yours is different.

I know I said I would premiere the trailer of my new show last week, but I hit a snag with my recording. I figured out how to record in widescreen, so I had to go back and re-record some footage. Widescreen is definitely the new standard for videos, so all future Game Quickies, Gaming Historians, and anything else I put out will be shown in widescreen.

see you tomorrow!

The People Have Spoken!

It looks like Rare will be the subject of a future Gaming Historian episode! Rare is a pretty old gaming company that has made a lot of great games, so expect it to be a pretty big episode.

Look for all sorts of good stuff coming Monday. Have a good weekend!

Poll Ending Soon

The biggest announcement for today is that the poll for the next episode is ending soon! So be sure to vote for the next topic (this won't necessarily be the NEXT episode since I am already working on the next one, but maybe the next episode?).

Tomorrow is going to be another good day as I have another Game Quickie going up at Retroware TV. I'll be sure to post the link tomorrow!

Today was a bit of back tracking, as I had to re-record some game footage to widescreen (since I know how to do it now). No biggie, but I had to backtrack about 3 hours of progress.

That is all from me today. Goodnight!

Hump Day

Today is Wednesday, which means that it is hump day! Surprisingly, I was able to get a lot of things done (video wise).

For starters, I finally figured out how to record through my Dazzle in widescreen. This was extremely important for the new show I will be previewing later this week. I also got another Game Quickie done, which should be on Retroware TV Friday.

Now for the big news of today: Battlefield 1943 has launched on X-Box Live! for 15 dollars, you can play this update of Battlefield 1942 with the all new Frostbite Engine (used in Battlefield: Bad Company). I love the Battlefield games, so be sure to check this one out if you are a fan. I'll be playing online all night probably!

Game Quickie - World of Illusion

World of Illusion takes everything Castle of Illusion did and made it better. Find out how!

Recommended? YES

Website Launch +1

Hey everyone!

Thanks for the overwhelmingly positive feedback on the website. I hope that you continue to come back everyday for new updates. So what is going on in the world of The Gaming Historian?

Well it is summer time, so that means no work for me. That also means more content from me. Currently I am working on the latest episode of The Gaming Historian (topic is secret), as well as creating an all new show. What is it about? The trailer will premiere this week exclusively on this website! I am very excited about it and I think a lot of people will enjoy it (especially the history buffs out there).

Now to answer some FAQ's about the website.

#1: Does this mean no more YouTube videos?
Absolutely not. YouTube is where I started and most of my fans found me on Youtube. However, as with previous videos, they will premiere first at Retroware TV, then put on Youtube a few days later. This is for several reasons. The big reason is for you to check out Retroware TV and enjoy all of the other content posted there. The other reason is that I make a small amount of money when you view my videos at Retroware TV. This helps greatly in supporting the show!

#2: Will you keep this up once you start teaching again?
Definitely. Last year was my first year of teaching and it was pretty stressful. However, I feel I have a better grasp on things in the classroom, which gives me more time to work on my real passion (making these videos). If I could work full-time on these videos, it would be a dream come true.

#3: Does this mean more new episodes?
Of course. I planned to make new episodes anyways. What it REALLY means is that you can expect new original, exclusive content from me (because I can post it here!)

Well, that is it from me today. Expect a new Game Quickie this week as well. Til' tomorrow, adios!

Welcome to The Gaming Historian!

On behalf of...myself, welcome to The Official Gaming Historian website! This was an idea I had a few weeks ago to have my own personal blog about the show as well as archive all of the work I have done.

But this website is more than just a archive. Here you will find daily updates on the show, as well as exclusive videos, text versions of every Gaming Historian episode, and more!

So be sure to check back every day on gaminghistorian.com!

About The Gaming Historian

The Gaming Historian is a side project I started while attending Elizabeth City State University in the Spring of 2008. My love for history and video games combined into an idea, so I decided to create the first episode on the NES 2, a console a lot of people don't know about but are very curious about.

The feedback was overwhelming to say the least. I was featured on ScrewAttack and received overwhelmingly positive feedback. Because of this, I continued the series and I haven't stopped since.

After a few more episodes, I joined the team at Retroware TV. Lance and John were extremely supportive of my show and we all became great friends. The Gaming Historian premieres at Retroware TV first, before YouTube or this website. I strongly urge you check out all of the other great shows there too!

Along with The Gaming Historian, I also make Game Quickie, short video game reviews of some older games I have been playing. I tend to make random videos as well, and you can see them all here!

I graduated from Elizabeth City State University with a Bachelor of Arts in History and a minor in Secondary Education. I am a licensed North Carolina Secondary Education teacher in the Social Studies subject.

Game Quickie - Balloon Fight

In this episode of Game Quickie, we take a look at one of the best NES launch titles, Balloon Fight!

Recommended? YES

Game Quickie - Mercs

On this episode of Game Quickie, we tackle Mercs for the Sega Genesis, a great run-n-gun game from Capcom. Nifty!

Recommended? YES

Game Quickie - Castle of Illusion

Featuring awesome graphics, music, and butt-stomping, Castle of Illusion is easily one of the finest platformers on the Sega Genesis.

Recommended? YES

Game Quickie - Baseball

The first baseball game on the Nintendo, the appropriately named "Baseball" isn't the greatest, but it's still a classic. Game Quickie takes a look at this heavily ported NES launch title.

Recommended? NO

Game Quickie - Abadox

If you are looking for a challenging game with goofy box art, look no further than Abadox, a great shoot em up on the NES.

Recommended? YES

Game Quickie - Galaga '90

Galaga '90 on the Turbografx 16 is awesome, but does it really have to have the number 90 in the title?

Recommended? YES

The Gaming Historian - Universal v. Nintendo Case

Back in 1982, Donkey Kong was on top of the video game world. Nintendo had firmly put their foot in the North American video game market with the addictive arcade game. Donkey Kong was featured in breakfast cereals, Saturday cartoons, and a board game. Despite this success, Nintendo was still a small company and found themselves up against Universal Studios involving a lawsuit over a trademark violation of King Kong. The Universal vs. Nintendo court case was a major turning point for Nintendo as a company, and was an inspiration around the world for other small companies. Nintendo took on a giant...and won.

The year is 1981. Arcades are a big business, and Nintendo has just released Donkey Kong, the brainchild of Shigeru Miyamoto. During this time, Tiger Electronics (the creators of those handheld games you usually find at Wal-Mart) took notice of Donkey Kong and how great of a game it was. Inspired, they developed a game based on King Kong as a handheld. As is standard in creating a product, Tiger Electronics contacted Universal about making licensed King Kong games as handhelds. The only other active license at the time was with a company that made King Kong costumes. Universal did a trademark report on King Kong and found little. This was all standard procedure and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Universal granted Tiger Electronics the license in September of 1981, completely unaware of Donkey Kong.

The following year, Universal performed another routine trademark report. This time Donkey Kong came up because Nintendo and Coleco were trying to reach an agreement for a cartridge license of the game. The trademark report still saw nothing suspicious, and dismissed Donkey Kong. Sid Sheinberg, however, president of Universal Studios, had other plans. Sheinberg and his lawyer, Robert Hadl, tested a Donkey Kong machine and thought it infringed on King Kong. Universal wanted in on the video game industry. Warner had recently purchased Atari and Sega with success, so why not Universal? They already had much success in the movie and music industry. To get in, Sheinberg would use his copyright case against Coleco…

Sheinberg invited Arnold Greenberg, president of Coleco to California to meet. Greenberg assumed the meeting was about a potential venture with the two companies but instead, Sheinberg confronted Greenberg about Donkey Kong. Sheinberg stated “we are going to sue you if you don’t give us some kind of royalty on Donkey Kong.” This was bad news for Coleco as their console was going to be shipped with Donkey Kong pre-packaged. Universal agreed not to sue Coleco if they paid royalties on every cartridge sold and promised future ventures with Universal. Coleco agreed.

After the behind the scenes deal was finished, Sheinberg’s next move was to go after the remaining companies. Universal contacted Nintendo and several companies that licensed Donkey Kong, including Mattel (for their Donkey Kong board game) and Ralston Purina for their Donkey Kong cereal. Nintendo met with Universal and Coleco on May 6th to discuss the trademark issue. Representing Nintendo was Minoru Arakawa, head of operations for Nintendo of America, and Howard Lincoln, Nintendo’s legal counsel. Robert Hadl, the lawyer for Universal, demanded Nintendo pay royalties on Donkey Kong. Lincoln responded firmly with “we are not going to buy the Brooklyn Bridge.” Lincoln claimed that Nintendo ran its own trademark search and had found many unlicensed uses of King Kong. Hadl replied that he had a chain of title and would send it immediately to Nintendo. This chain of title would prove Universals claim to King Kong. Hadl never sent it.

Nintendo had no idea about the agreement made between Coleco and Universal, but Lincoln knew something was abounding when Coleco urged Nintendo to give in to the demands of Universal at the meeting. Arakawa was shocked by Lincoln’s decision to fight Universal. Remember, Nintendo was still a relatively small company and Arakawa was not used to dealing with legal issues, especially with a company such as Universal. On May 21st, Nintendo met with Universal one last time. Sheinberg and Hadl assumed they were going to negotiate, but they were sorely mistaken. After a small lunch and some small talk about Universal investing in Nintendo, Lincoln broke the bad news to Universal. After further investigation, Nintendo had decided to not accept Universals claim to King Kong and that Nintendo would not pay royalties. Sheinberg was furious and famously shouted “You’d better start saving money to pay your attorney’s fees, I view litigation as a profit center.”

On June 29, 1982 Universal filed suit against Nintendo claiming ownership of King Kong and claiming Nintendo had infringed upon its trademark. The remaining companies that had licensing deals with Nintendo all gave in to Universal except for Milton Bradley and Ralston Purina, which stayed with Nintendo. Ralston Purina tried a 5,000 dollar settlement, but Sid Sheinberg found it “the most stupid thing I have ever heard of” and threw them out of his office. The epic battle between David and Goliath was about to begin.

To represent Nintendo, Lincoln hired John Kirby, a lawyer with Latham and Watkins. At first glance, John Kirby didn’t seem like a good lawyer to Howard Lincoln. “When I initially met him, I wasn’t all that impressed. He was kind of disheveled looking and out of sorts.” But Kirby was one hell of a lawyer. He had a reputation for defending his clients adamantly and had won big antitrust cases for Pepsi. Howard Lincoln and John Kirby flew to Japan to speak with Hiroshi Yamauchi about the case. Yamauchi did not like lawyers, and here he had two standing in front of him. He made himself clear when he stated “we MUST win.” After interviewing Gunpei Yokoi (creator of the Game Boy) and Shigeru Miyamoto (creator of Donkey Kong) and other staff members about the game, the two headed back to the United States to prepare for the case. Then came the discovery that would change everything.

Howard Lincoln’s instincts were indeed correct. Universal did not own the rights to King Kong. In fact, Universal had recently won a court case PROVING that King Kong was in public domain. They had the case so they could create a remake of the original film (which got less than stellar reviews). Howard Lincoln also discovered the agreement between Universal and Coleco, and Sheinberg’s motive to enter the video game business and push away competitors. These new motives made the case very clear. Because of his help and his firm decision to fight Universal, Arakawa offered Howard Lincoln the job of Senior Vice President of Nintendo. Lincoln, who had been working almost exclusively with Nintendo anyways, agreed and put in his thirty days notice at his law firm on December 7th.

The case took place in the New York courtroom of US District Court Judge Robert W. Sweet (date here). Nintendo had Howard Phillips (who you may recognize from the Howard and Nester comics from Nintendo Power) play Donkey Kong for the entire courtroom to show there was no infringement on King Kong. Furthermore, John Kirby presented a testimony from Shigeru Miyamoto, who explained that he initially named the ape character King Kong simply because King Kong was a generic term in Japan for “menacing ape.” John Kirby also brought up the older court cases that Universal filed to prove that King Kong was public domain, and that Universal had filed the suit KNOWING they did not own the rights to King Kong. He also mentioned Sheinberg’s statement of viewing litigation of a profit center.

Robert W. Sweet had heard enough. He concluded that Nintendo did not infringe on Universals rights because they did not even own the rights. And even if they did own the rights, the game Donkey Kong had nothing to do with King Kong. Sweet criticized Universal for even bringing this case to court knowing full well they did not own the rights to King Kong, and thus Nintendo would be awarded damages. Universal would appeal the case several times all the way to the US Supreme Court, but failed. Nintendo was awarded 1.8 million dollars. Soon after, the companies that had licensed Donkey Kong began suing Universal to get back any royalties they had paid to them, including Coleco and Atari. Universal settled with most of them.

This case not only gave Nintendo a hefty amount of money, but it also established them as a legitimate company, and one that could handle themselves against the bigger companies. It was an inspiration to not only the video game industry, but any small company trying to make it. So what happened next for everyone involved?

Howard Lincoln was appointed senior vice president of Nintendo and continued to work with Nintendo for several more years, becoming Chairman in 1994. After leaving Nintendo, he took over as chairman of the Seattle Mariners baseball team, which is owned by Nintendo. John Kirby was rewarded with his own sailboat, christened “Donkey Kong” Many say he is also the inspiration for the Nintendo character “Kirby”. He continued his job for many more years before retiring in 2007. Coleco would soon leave the video game industry and begin selling dolls. The company closed its doors in 1989.

And as for Universal? Still hoping to enter the video game business, they bought a small company known as LJN to create video games. LJN put out poorly made games, especially on the NES as well as a few accessories such as the Roll’n Rocker. Universal soon sold LJN and abandoned the video game business.

And as for Nintendo? Well....you know!

The Gaming Historian - The Video Game Crash of 1983

The video game industry is booming these days. Some games are rivaling hollywood movies in terms of sales, and the technology is beyond what anyone would have imagined 10 years ago. But back in 1983, an event happened that would change the video game industry forever. Poorly made games, a ton of systems to choose from, superior technology, media frenzy! What happened to the industry back in 1983? It crashed. Now, I try not to bore you guys when I do these shows, so I'm not going to be going into financial details about the stock market and company sales figures and what not. Hopefully, by the end of this episode, you will know the main reasons why there was a crash.

Let's start with the first reason. Poorly made games. Pac Man is easily one of the most successful arcade games of all time, and according to a recent survey, the most recognized video game character of all time. After its release in the United States in 1980, Atari obtained the license to port the game to its Atari 2600. Around this time, there was about 10 million Atari's in US households. With this data, Atari decided to manufacture 12 million copies of the game. Atari was so confident with their game, they made MORE games than there were consoles, hoping consumers would buy an Atari JUST TO PLAY PAC MAN. Todd Frye, a leading programmer at Atari, was asked to do the port. Frye eventually showed them a prototype of the game. Rather than miss the approaching 1981 holiday season, Atari PUBLISHED THE PROTOTYPE. It was a disaster. The game barely resembled the original, and consumers were upset, many asked for refunds. Overall, about 7 million Pac Man cartridges were sold. Todd Frye was given a royalty on every copy sold, so it didn't matter if the game was bad or not, he made a huge sum of money. But Atari had to accept the losses with the extra 5 million unsold.

Another disaster was E.T. E.T. was released on June 11th, 1982 in movie theaters. It was a big success, and soon it was licensed to become a video game. Steven Ross, head of Warner Communications (which owned Atari), told Ray Kassar, CEO of Atari, that he wanted the game out by Christmas. The game was a disaster and to this day it is still considered one of the worst video games of all time. About 5 million cartridges were produced, and almost all of them came back to Atari. With millions of unsold cartridges sitting in an Atari warehouse, Atari dumped them in a New Mexico landfill, steamrolled them, then poured cement over top. Atari had lost 536 million dollars by the end of 1983.

These two games really made consumers lose ALOT of confidence in the video game industry. That's not to say there were other bad games. Believe me, there were alot. For instance, if you sent in proofs of purchase of Purina dog food bags, you could get a copy of Chase the Chuck Wagon. That's right, dog food companies had video games. There was a flood of games being released during this time, and many stores could not even keep up, let alone have enough shelf space for them all. Console games went from being 30-40 dollars to about 4 dollars in a bargain bin during the crash.

Let's take a look at another reason for the Video Game Crash of 83; too many consoles. In todays time, we have 3 home consoles competing against each other: The Xbox 360, the PS3, and the Nintendo Wii. Well, back in the early 80's, you had dozens of consoles competing against each other. Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Colecovision, Intellivision, Coleco Gemini, Vectrex, Magnavox Odyssey II, Fairchild Channel F System, Emerson Arcadia 2001, I could keep going. Not only that, but some of these consoles had interchangable software. For example, the Colecovision had an expansion module that would allow you to play Atari 2600 games. Can you imagine if that happened today? What if Sony announced a device that would allow 360 games to be played on the PS3? Since the Atari 2600 could be reproduced with standard parts, this was legal. Coleco also released the Coleco Gemini, which is basically an Atari 2600 clone. The US Market was flooded with consoles, and consumers had way too many choices and not enough information.

This brings me to my next reason for the Video Game Crash of 1983. Loss of publishing control. Activision was the first third party publisher of video games. Because Atari would not credit their game designers, several programmers from Atari left and founded Activision. Many noticed this, and soon tons of developers and publishers began making their games and putting them on shelves. See how this might go wrong? Today, all games for consoles are controlled by the console manufacturer. You won't find an xbox 360 game without this logo on top. When the manufacturer loses control of this, the market is flooded. This is exactly what happened. They were everywhere. You know Columbia House, the company that sends you flyers in the mail that offer 5 dvd's for 49 cent each? They formed the Columbia Cartridge Club to sell video games. Some companies even experimented sending games through cable television! Regardless, this flood of games was just bad for the industry.

Today, we rely on computers for just about everything. Internet, news, even this video. Well during the early 80's, personal computer were first being put into american households, and guess what? They contributed to the crash. During the 70's, a computer would run easily over 1,000 dollars. But by the early 80's, they had come down in price. Computers offered not only superior graphics and sound, but also other uses such as word processing and accounting. Many consumers felt that owning a computer was a strictly better investment than a console. Computers were also much more widely distributed. PC's such as the Commodore, the Atari 400, Atari 800, and the Radio Shack Color Computer were all technologically superior to consoles and were competitively priced as well.

So what happened as a result of all of these events? Consumers lost confidence in the industry, and business analysts saw no long term future for the business. The industry came to a sudden halt in 1983 and would last for 2 years. Now keep in mind, this was bad mostly for the businesses. Due to the crash, all of the consoles and games were marked down to bargain bin deals, and this was good for consumers. Even though arcades were beginning their downfall, they were still popular. Thus many people don't even KNOW about the Video Game Crash of 1983. The Video Game Crash was primarily bad for the industry, not the consumer.

The North American Video Game Crash of 1983 did have some long term effects. Starting with the Nintendo, new measures were taken to control third party development. One example would be the lockout chip in the Nintendo Entertainment System. The most important change however, was the shift of the video game market from the United States to Japan. Even today, Japan has a majority control over the home video game market. Atari never fully recovered from the crash. Warner Communications sold the company soon after, and when Atari tried to reenter the market, they found themselves far behind Sega and Nintendo. Atari called it quits on hardware after the Jaguar failed. Many other companies such as Mattel and Coleco simply abandoned the video game market.

It was not until 1985 with the release of the Nintendo Entertainment System that the industry would recover.