December 1981

Video Game Newsroom Time Machine

Atari takes Pacman clones to court Sinclair balks at government handout for BBCMicro Captain Kirk pimps the Vic20

These stories and our celebration of 50 years of Computer Space on this episode of the VGNRTM

This episode we will look back at the biggest stories in and around the video game industry in December 1981. As always, we'll mostly be using magazine cover dates, and those are of course always a bit behind the actual events.

Peter is on vacation so we have the pleasure of Mads from the Retro Asylum to join us. http://retroasylum.com and https://playthroughpod.com/

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Links: 7 Minutes in Heaven: Video version - https://www.patreon.com/posts/60231061 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Space Computer Space Simulation - https://archive.org/download/ComputerSpaceSimulatedForWindows/Computer_Space_Simulated_Win_EN.zip https://thehistoryofhowweplay.wordpress.com/2021/11/29/why-computer-space-was-a-success/

Corrections: November 1981 Ep - https://www.patreon.com/posts/59272789 https://playingattheworld.blogspot.com/2021/09/game-wizards-tsr-financials.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxy_Game https://archive.org/details/sim_computerworld_1972-01-12_6_2/page/40/mode/2up?q=%22mcs+4%22+intel

1941: War curtails coinop https://www.nytimes.com/1941/12/11/archives/juke-boxes-limited-by-priority-order-nelson-directs-manufacturers.html?searchResultPosition=4

1971: Nutting shows off Computer Space at MOA show https://archive.org/details/cashbox33unse_18/page/n45/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/cashbox33unse_21/page/54/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/cashbox33unse_22/page/44/mode/2up https://gamehistory.org/ep-60-computer-space/ https://videogamehistorian.wordpress.com/2021/05/12/worldly-wednesdays-a-timeline-of-computer-space/ Jim Trucano Interview - https://www.patreon.com/posts/48912975 Space War emulator - https://spacewar.oversigma.com/

1981: Court dismisses counterclaims in Chuck E Cheese case Play Meter, Dec. 1, 1981, pg. 121, pg. 196 https://books.google.de/books?id=ej0EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq=on-line+systems+pacman+lawsuit&source=bl&ots=PmhWvgAncV&sig=ACfU3U2yVUNLqzGGbwtcCdxWIXSEAZjG7A&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj0sqjz4-D0AhWSSvEDHVgGC3kQ6AF6BAgOEAM#v=onepage&q=on-line%20systems%20pacman%20lawsuit&f=false May 1980 Jump - https://www.patreon.com/posts/37289753 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_E._Cheese https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ShowBiz_Pizza_Place https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Nights_at_Freddy%27s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willy%27s_Wonderland

Coinop asks: Recession? What recession? Play Meter, Dec. 15, 1981, pg. 4

Play Meter looks back at the year that was Play Meter, Dec. 1, 1981, pg. 43

Atari numbers continue to sore Toy & Hobby World Dec. 1981 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari

Atari licenses game from Namco Replay Dec 1981, pg. 7 https://www.mobygames.com/game/pole-position https://www.mobygames.com/game/dig-dug https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namco

Atari sues Online Systems https://books.google.de/books?id=ej0EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq=on-line+systems+pacman+lawsuit&source=bl&ots=PmhWvgAncV&sig=ACfU3U2yVUNLqzGGbwtcCdxWIXSEAZjG7A&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj0sqjz4-D0AhWSSvEDHVgGC3kQ6AF6BAgOEAM#v=onepage&q=on-line%20systems%20pacman%20lawsuit&f=false Gaming Historian - KC Munchkin - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1ItAYurjoo&t=7s Ken Williams Interview - https://www.patreon.com/posts/42700706 https://www.mobygames.com/game/jawbreaker https://www.mobygames.com/game/gobbler

Atari fails to stop KC Munchkin https://books.google.de/books?id=ej0EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq=on-line+systems+pacman+lawsuit&source=bl&ots=PmhWvgAncV&sig=ACfU3U2yVUNLqzGGbwtcCdxWIXSEAZjG7A&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj0sqjz4-D0AhWSSvEDHVgGC3kQ6AF6BAgOEAM#v=onepage&q=on-line%20systems%20pacman%20lawsuit&f=false Gaming Historian - KC Munchkin - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1ItAYurjoo&t=7s https://www.mobygames.com/game/kc-munchkin

Odyssey2 gets reviewed https://archive.org/details/creativecomputing-1981-12/page/n57/mode/1up https://archive.org/details/YourComputer_198112/page/n19/mode/1up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnavox_Odyssey_2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interton_Video_Computer_4000 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quest_for_the_Rings

Tomy cuts deal with Midway to produce handheld games Toy & Hobby World Dec. 1981 https://www.handheldmuseum.com/Entex/PacMan.htm

Coleco sees drop in electronic toys Toy & Hobby World Dec. 1981 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coleco

Captain Kirk pimps for Commodore https://archive.org/details/1981-12-compute-magazine/page/n197/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/PersonalComputing198112/page/n147/mode/2up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_International https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shatner https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_VIC-20

Atari cries foul over Intellivision ads https://www.nytimes.com/1981/12/14/business/atari-intellivision-tv-battle.html?searchResultPosition=1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h00PNO-JA48 at 1:38 at 10:44 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsA7ZKTGrr4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-V-bPLmtAFg https://wearethemutants.com/2017/05/18/george-plimpton-advertisements-for-intellivision-1980-1983/ February 1980 jump - https://www.patreon.com/posts/34288179 Michael Katz Interview Part 1 - https://www.patreon.com/posts/35169258

Creative computing reviews the IBM PC https://archive.org/details/creativecomputing-1981-12/page/n20/mode/1up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_PC_DOS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS-DOS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Personal_Computer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CP/M-86

Sinclair strikes back at government backing for BBCMicro https://archive.org/details/YourComputer_198112/page/n12/mode/1up November 1981 Ep - https://www.patreon.com/posts/59272789 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Micro https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX81

Xmas season not as bad as feared https://www.nytimes.com/1981/12/24/business/christmas-sales-top-predictions.html?searchResultPosition=10 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hess%27s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_VIC-20

Atari slashes price of 800 https://www.nytimes.com/1981/12/31/business/atari-reduces-price-of-computer.html?searchResultPosition=6 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_8-bit_family#400/800_release http://www.indieretronews.com/2021/11/final-assault-rather-impressive-fps.html https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/gtw64/mood/

Recommended Links: The History of How We Play: https://thehistoryofhowweplay.wordpress.com/ Gaming Alexandria: https://www.gamingalexandria.com/wp/ They Create Worlds: https://tcwpodcast.podbean.com/ Digital Antiquarian: https://www.filfre.net/ The Arcade Blogger: https://arcadeblogger.com/ Retro Asylum: http://retroasylum.com/category/all-posts/ Retro Game Squad: http://retrogamesquad.libsyn.com/ Playthrough Podcast: https://playthroughpod.com/

Sound Effects by Ethan Johnson of History of How We Play and Enzo Maida.