Comments on: Confessions of a 1982 video game junkie

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Jan 2018 22:54:53 +0000

It's eerie to see how many of us had parents who 'motivated' us in some way using video games. In my case, second grade, my math scores were down and my dad offered me an Atari 2600 as incentive. If I could get a VG or better by the end of the year, we'd get an Atari over the summer. The grading system being E-excellent, VG-Very Good, G-Good, and a couple other ones that all meant You're Grounded.

I blew it. Got a "G+" and my dad wasn't having any of it. No VG, no 2600. That fall, third grade, same deal. First quarter math grade was going to be a B+ (third graders joined "the big kids" and got standard letter grades) or I could forget it.

The dilemma was compounded by the fact third grade meant multiplication and long division. I have, bad, bad memories about learning multiplication. Somehow, to this day I think out of my teacher's charity… she was a kindly soul and heard my plight, I got a B+ and had a very memorable Christmas. Still have the system.

Hauntedheadful is right about the cost. Even today, you can -still- buy a very good Chinese take-out dinner for the price of a game cartridge thirty years ago. I remmeber a few birthdays and Christmases where all I got was -one- new cartridge, an arcade title, and was absolutely delighted.

In my city, only the rich kids' parents could afford Intellivision. Everyone agreed it had better graphics, but they were outsiders. Intellivion didn't have the same broad range of licensed game titles. That "rivalry" page is a perfect example. Baseball is nice, but everyone wanted Asteroids. Atari -owned- the licensing arena for only a few but very critical years. If you didn't have an Atari, you were stuck with Intellivision's copy-cat titles which were no different than the ones for Odyssey and Leisure Vision.

Even when Mattell's licensing department caught up, it didn't matter. The few Intellivision kids weren't part of the shared Atari school culture. Unconscious resentment also played a part. Intellivision -did- have markedly better graphics, so did a few of the other "oddball" systems and Atari kids knew it. Even if they weren't willing to kiss up to the upscale kids just to hang out, every month every line of Marvel comics had little reminders like these…

http://www.vintagecomputing.com/wp-content/images/retroscan/popeye_screens_large.jpg
http://www.atarimania.com/pubs/hi_res/pub_8ways_frogger.jpg

The same thing happened a year or two later when families started buying video players. Laser discs were superb, no doubt about it. But VHS is what everyone could afford and everyone had. Nobody went down to their local Mom 'n Pop video store and rented a laser disc.

Better graphics versus versatility, In some ways there are a lot of parallels between these early formats and the MAC/ PC rivalry.

By: Nick Bartolo

Nick Bartolo — Tue, 02 Jan 2018 20:49:15 +0000

Ah, those were the days. I had the Sears licensed Intellivision. It was a blast to pick out games at the mall.

By: John Addison

John Addison — Tue, 02 Jan 2018 20:23:50 +0000

I never did get the Atari system, or Collecovision, or Intellivision. My friends had them, but not me. But like you, my first gaming system was a computer. And whoa Nellie I was hooked on those games. My first console was the original Nintendo. But my real love remained with computer games, and still today!

By: Hauntedheadful

Hauntedheadful — Tue, 02 Jan 2018 16:09:45 +0000

Isn't it amazing how much these systems cost when brand new?That was more than a lot of workers brought home in a week back then.In my home town, we had several enterprising people that opened shops dedicated to video games and systems ONLY.There was no better feeling than earning money mowing lawns or shoveling snow and earning cash for a new game.These stores had huge counters with glass tops and inside were the latest video games, which seemed to arrive on almost a weekly basis back then.I can remember walking about 5 miles through a snowstorm to pick out a game.Activision's Stampede was my choice that day.

By: pro wrestling photog

pro wrestling photog — Tue, 02 Jan 2018 05:46:24 +0000

I really like this post. The story of how you had to work to get your Atari is great. I have no idea I we got an Atari in my house. Can't remember if it was a Christmas gift or something else. Thanks for sharing your story.