November 1981

Video Game Newsroom Time Machine

Atari kills the Cosmos, Commodore bets on games & British retail discovers computers

These stories and many more on this episode of the Video Game Newsroom Time Machine

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

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Links: 7 Minutes in Heaven: Video version - https://www.patreon.com/posts/59272714 https://www.mobygames.com/game/arcade/galaga https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaga https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/12/loading-screen-game-patent-finally-expires http://www.indieretronews.com/2021/07/galaga-arcade-classic-as-early-c64_7.html

Corrections: October 1981 Ep - https://www.patreon.com/posts/57968823 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagatelle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pachinko https://memorymachinepod.com/2021/06/30/the-memory-machine-59-the-birth-of-pinball-w-ethan-johnson/ https://memorymachinepod.com/2021/02/22/the-memory-machine-52-the-era-of-the-penny-arcade-w-ethan-johnson/ https://memorymachinepod.com/2021/05/03/the-memory-machine-57-the-70s-video-arcade-game-preservation-society/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qix https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunchback_(video_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Cobra http://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/vector-lights/ Michael Katz Interview Part 1 - https://www.patreon.com/posts/35169258 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyond_Castle_Wolfenstein https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7X6Yeydgyg https://archive.org/details/1981-11-compute-magazine/page/n5/mode/1up 1951: Man challenges machine to a game of chess https://www.nytimes.com/1951/11/12/archives/mere-man-defies-a-robot-at-chess-so-unbeatable-electric-brain.html?searchResultPosition=2 https://www.nytimes.com/1951/11/13/archives/machine-spurns-chess-electronic-brain-to-be-too-busy-at-defense.html?searchResultPosition=3 https://www.gettyimages.de/detail/nachrichtenfoto/washington-dc-donald-jacobs-bethesda-maryland-nachrichtenfoto/515303124

1971: Stanford Daily reports on the Galaxy Games Standford Daily January 5, 1972 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxy_Game http://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/the-galaxy-game/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacewar! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Space

MITS introduces their digital calculator http://www.decodesystems.com/pe-71nov.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro_Instrumentation_and_Telemetry_Systems#Calculators https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altair_8800

Intel launches the 4004 https://www.edn.com/intel-4004-is-announced-november-15-1971/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_4004

PayTV is coming to a hotel room near you https://www.nytimes.com/1971/11/14/archives/payasyouview-movies-for-hotels-firstrun-films-are-shown-on-tv-in.html?searchResultPosition=22 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_television_systems

1981: Cosmos cancelled https://archive.org/details/ElectronicGames/Electronic%20Games%20Issue%201%20%28Winter%201981%29/page/n17/mode/1up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Cosmos https://www.patreon.com/posts/47987060

Gaming is coming to a writst near you Toy & Hobby World November 1981 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/69501320/game-time-electronic-game-watch-profile/ https://www.handheldmuseum.com/GCE/GameTime.htm https://www.newspapers.com/clip/69501320/game-time-electronic-game-watch-profile/ http://vectrexmuseum.com/vectrexhistory.php https://www.polygon.com/a/smartwatch-history-guide-evolution/watch-history https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microvision

Mattel grabs D&D license https://archive.org/details/ElectronicGames/Electronic%20Games%20Issue%201%20%28Winter%201981%29/page/n16/mode/1up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons_Computer_Fantasy_Game https://www.handheldmuseum.com/Mattel/MU.htm https://www.handheldmuseum.com/Mattel/D&D.htm https://www.mobygames.com/game/advanced-dungeons-dragons-cartridge https://www.mobygames.com/game/advanced-dungeons-dragons-treasure-of-tarmin-cartridge TSR advertises Dungeon! Playthings, November 1981 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_S8YbfoUzLw https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeon!

What is the best game? https://www.nytimes.com/1981/11/21/style/the-videogames-how-they-rate.html?searchResultPosition=1 Atari admits to easter egg in Adventure https://archive.org/details/ElectronicGames/Electronic%20Games%20Issue%201%20%28Winter%201981%29/page/n15/mode/1up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Robinett

Asteroids brings bankswitching to the VCS https://archive.org/details/ElectronicGames/Electronic%20Games%20Issue%201%20%28Winter%201981%29/page/n15/mode/1up https://web.archive.org/web/20180716082851/http://www.ataricompendium.com/archives/articles/longevity/longevity.html https://web.archive.org/web/20180716082851/http://www.ataricompendium.com/archives/articles/longevity/longevity.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_switching Commodore licenses Bally games Play Meter, November 15, 1981 p. 32 https://books.google.de/books?id=3UDbCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA54&lpg=PA54&dq=bally+commodore+deal&source=bl&ots=nVnqsVhSoU&sig=ACfU3U2v0rJQNf7QjSNQl7BAaBPXJNoiTw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj8lI3v7p70AhWMh_0HHVhoA7EQ6AF6BAghEAM#v=onepage&q=bally%20commodore%20deal&f=false https://tcrf.net/Star_Battle https://tcrf.net/Radar_Rat_Race_(Commodore_VIC-20)

Metamorphic Systems wants to make your Apple ii a PC compatible https://archive.org/details/eu_BYTE-1981-11_OCR/page/n514/mode/1up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z-80_SoftCard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_III https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_II_processor_cards

HP launches the 125 https://archive.org/details/eu_BYTE-1981-11_OCR/page/n519/mode/1up http://hpmuseum.net/display_item.php?hw=41 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VEB_Robotron http://rechenwerk.halle.it/usr/digital-ag/projekte/andere/museum/

Compute! magazine profiles the state of Japanese micros https://archive.org/details/1981-11-compute-magazine/page/n43/mode/1up http://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/the-japanese-pc-industry/

British drug store chain to become computer retailer https://archive.org/details/your-computer-1981-11/page/13/mode/1up https://archive.org/details/your-computer-1981-11/page/37/mode/1up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boots_(company) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WHSmith

Acorn gets approval for 50% grant for UK secondary schools https://archive.org/details/creativecomputing-1981-11/page/n25/mode/1up https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/1984/nov/27/computers-in-schools https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acorn_Computers

Computer & Video Games launches in the UK https://archive.org/details/Computer_Video_Games_Issue_001_1981-11_EMAP_Publishing_GB https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_and_Video_Games Electronic Games launches in the USA https://archive.org/details/ElectronicGames https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_Games January 1981 Ep - https://www.patreon.com/posts/46769496 Rubick's Cube is taking the toy world by storm Playthings, November 1981 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubik%27s_Cube

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.