January 1982

Video Game Newsroom Time Machine

Video games and computers are Christmas biz standouts Atari and Activision settle out of court Anti-games hysteria begins to rise

These stories and many more on this episode of the VGNRTM

This episode we will look back at the biggest stories in and around the video game industry in January 1982. 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/61568657 https://www.umlautllama.com/projects/Rollercoaster/ https://twitter.com/KaySavetz https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG3diS7yxow https://archive.org/details/CreativeComputingbetterScan198201/page/n57/mode/1up https://archive.org/details/CreativeComputingbetterScan198201/page/n61 https://archive.org/details/CreativeComputingbetterScan198201/page/n81/mode/1up/mode/1up https://archive.org/details/CreativeComputingbetterScan198201/page/n7/mode/1up https://archive.org/details/CreativeComputingbetterScan198201/page/n7/mode/1up https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076636/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Corrections: December 1981 Ep - https://www.patreon.com/posts/60231153 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interton_Video_Computer_4000 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coleco_Telstar_Arcade https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlezone_(1980_video_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defender_(1981_video_game) AMOA 1980 Special - https://www.patreon.com/posts/42756585 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-1_(arcade_game) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1WSYdn1b8I https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Micro 1942: New Jersey town raises pinball licensing fees by 1,900% https://www.nytimes.com/1942/01/08/archives/pinball-fee-raised-1900.html?searchResultPosition=1 https://www.nytimes.com/1942/01/29/archives/pinball-player-fined-in-jersey-winner-who-demanded-prize-pays-25.html?searchResultPosition=7

New York cracks down on pinball https://www.nytimes.com/1942/01/28/archives/police-press-drive-on-pinball-games-3031-machines-seized-and-1562.html?searchResultPosition=4 https://www.nytimes.com/1942/01/26/archives/pinball-blitz-pressed-police-to-rush-seizure-of-machines-before.html?searchResultPosition=6/26/85213738.html?pageNumber=17 https://www.nytimes.com/1942/01/29/archives/pinball-as-racket-fought-by-mayor-in-affidavit-oposing-suit-for.html?searchResultPosition=10 https://www.nytimes.com/1942/01/25/archives/mayor-asks-speed-in-pinball-raids-fearing-injunction-moves-by.html?searchResultPosition=11 https://www.nytimes.com/1942/01/22/archives/police-open-raids-on-pin-ball-games-seizures-in-5-boroughs-made.html?searchResultPosition=12

National pinball and slot machine tax rakes in the bucks https://www.nytimes.com/1942/01/19/archives/game-machine-tax-produces-4708696-wisconsin-leads-in-payments-on.html?searchResultPosition=3

1952: Ordvac makes the grade https://www.nytimes.com/1952/01/18/archives/-ordvac-the-brain-to-be-gi-genius-it-finds-mathematics-easy-as-pi.html?searchResultPosition=1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ORDVAC Electronic Fighter Jet simulator delivered to Navy https://www.nytimes.com/1952/01/13/archives/simulator-to-train-jet-pilots-of-navy.html?searchResultPosition=3 https://curtisswright.com/company/default.aspx

1962: US Congress holds hearings on pinball https://www.nytimes.com/1962/01/20/archives/pinball-company-denies-crime-links.html?searchResultPosition=2 https://www.nytimes.com/1962/01/17/archives/attorney-general-asks-pinball-law.html?searchResultPosition=1 https://www.thisweekinpinball.com/pinball-u/beginners-guide-bingo-pinball-nick-baldridge/ https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-87hhrg79618/pdf/CHRG-87hhrg79618.pdf http://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/gottlieb-part-1/ http://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/gottlieb-part-2/

1982: Christmas season is a bust for retail... https://www.nytimes.com/1982/01/05/business/christmas-sales-plunge.html?searchResultPosition=1 Playthings 1982-01 https://www.nytimes.com/1982/01/20/business/business-failures-rise.html?searchResultPosition=20 https://www.nytimes.com/1982/01/12/business/december-retail-sales-rose-7.8-in-new-york.html?searchResultPosition=26 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_1980s_recession

Commodore and Apple earnings skyrocket https://www.nytimes.com/1982/01/26/business/commodore-international-ltd-reports-earnings-for-qtr-to-dec-31.html?searchResultPosition=1 https://www.nytimes.com/1982/01/22/business/apple-computer-inc-reports-earnings-for-qtr-to-dec-25.html?searchResultPosition=1 https://www.nytimes.com/1982/01/22/business/computer-markers-list-earnings.html?searchResultPosition=2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_III

Winchesters are on the rise https://www.nytimes.com/1982/01/10/business/new-from-silicon-valley-the-winchester-drive.html?searchResultPosition=8 https://archive.org/details/1982-01-compute-magazine/page/n201/mode/1up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_hard_disk_drives

Sears to offer NEC, IBM and Vector Graphic computers https://archive.org/details/CreativeComputingbetterScan198201/page/n7/mode/1up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sears https://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=797

Atari opens its Regional Software Acquisition Center in Sunnyvale, California https://archive.org/details/CreativeComputingbetterScan198201/page/n121/mode/1up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Program_Exchange

Softside magazine introduces Sofside DV the magazine of the future. https://archive.org/details/softside-magazine-40/SoftSide_40_Vol_5-04_1982-01_Gambler?q=softside+1982 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SoftSide

Book publishers jump on gaming bandwagon https://www.nytimes.com/1982/01/31/books/paperback-talk.html?searchResultPosition=1 Replay 1982-01 pg. 13 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Uston https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Master_the_Video_Games https://archive.org/details/Computer_Gaming_World_Issue_2.1/Computer_Gaming_World_Issue_2.1/page/n27/mode/2up Replay 1982-01 pg. 93 https://books.google.de/books/about/Amusement_Machines.html?id=YKoMAAAACAAJ&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y

Blue Sky dealers invade coin op market Play Meter 1982-01-15 pg. 39 https://historian159.rssing.com/chan-12531872/all_p5.html The video game scare hits the opinion pages https://www.nytimes.com/1982/01/10/nyregion/invaded-by-video-war-games.html?searchResultPosition=1 https://www.nytimes.com/1982/01/24/opinion/wasting-time.html?searchResultPosition=6 Ronnie Lamm takes on video games https://www.nytimes.com/1982/01/05/nyregion/the-battle-for-america-s-youth.html?searchResultPosition=5 https://www.nytimes.com/1982/01/20/opinion/l-video-games-offer-a-lot-more-than-fun-179177.html?searchResultPosition=10 https://www.nytimes.com/1982/01/05/nyregion/the-battle-for-america-s-youth.html?searchResultPosition=5 Play Meter 1982-01-01 pg. 58 Games People Pay Early-January 1982 pg. 6 Play Meter 1982-01-01 pg. 46 http://popularculturegaming.com/?p=697 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4jjyGIdAvE (Starting at 2:15)

Government antitrust actions end https://www.nytimes.com/1982/01/09/business/dow-advances-4.75-phone-accord-cited.html?searchResultPosition=5 https://www.nytimes.com/1982/01/09/business/dominance-ended-ibm-fights-back.html?searchResultPosition=5 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaganomics

Atari and Activision reach settlement Toy and Hobby World Jan 1982 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activision#Early_years_(1980%E2%80%931982)

Mattel settles suit with Conic Toy and Hobby World Jan 1982 https://www.handheldmuseum.com/Mattel/FB.htm https://www.handheldmuseum.com/Conic/Football.htm

Creative Computing invents laser disc gaming https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG3diS7yxow https://archive.org/details/CreativeComputingbetterScan198201/page/n57/mode/1up https://archive.org/details/CreativeComputingbetterScan198201/page/n61 https://archive.org/details/CreativeComputingbetterScan198201/page/n81/mode/1up/mode/1up https://archive.org/details/CreativeComputingbetterScan198201/page/n7/mode/1up https://www.umlautllama.com/projects/Rollercoaster/ https://archive.org/details/CreativeComputingbetterScan198201/page/n7/mode/1up

The UK declares 1982 to be the Information Technology Year https://archive.org/details/YourComputer_198201/page/n2/mode/1up https://www.economicshelp.org/macroeconomics/economic-growth/uk-recession-1981/ https://www.eteknix.com/raspberry-pi-becomes-third-best-selling-computer-ever/

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/ Retromags.com: https://www.retromags.com/

Sound Effects by Ethan Johnson of History of How We Play.