1 00:00:04,480 --> 00:00:12,399 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 2 00:00:12,480 --> 00:00:16,320 Speaker 1: and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. 3 00:00:16,440 --> 00:00:19,720 Speaker 1: I'm an executive producer with iHeart Podcasts and how the 4 00:00:19,800 --> 00:00:24,840 Speaker 1: tech are You? So this past weekend and I'm recording 5 00:00:24,880 --> 00:00:28,320 Speaker 1: this June twelfth, twenty twenty four, But this past weekend 6 00:00:28,480 --> 00:00:31,280 Speaker 1: was the Summer Games Festival, which is kind of a 7 00:00:31,400 --> 00:00:37,160 Speaker 1: marketing extravaganza for the video game industry. The festival has 8 00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:41,680 Speaker 1: grown in importance, especially since the dissolution of E three 9 00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:44,760 Speaker 1: May at Rest in Peace, and while several of the 10 00:00:44,760 --> 00:00:47,160 Speaker 1: big companies in the space now tend to hold their 11 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:51,479 Speaker 1: own events that are completely independent, the festival still remains 12 00:00:52,040 --> 00:00:55,000 Speaker 1: a really important tool for tons of developers who might 13 00:00:55,200 --> 00:00:58,640 Speaker 1: otherwise find it difficult to get their work showcased. But 14 00:00:59,080 --> 00:01:02,800 Speaker 1: one thing I did see during the festival was news 15 00:01:02,920 --> 00:01:06,759 Speaker 1: on the long awaited piece of retro hardware called the 16 00:01:06,800 --> 00:01:11,360 Speaker 1: Intellivision Amiko, and that reminded me that I've never really 17 00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:16,400 Speaker 1: done an episode dedicated to in television either. So we're 18 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:19,160 Speaker 1: going to address that today. And before I get to 19 00:01:19,240 --> 00:01:24,360 Speaker 1: all of that, if you're really, really really into in television, 20 00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:29,120 Speaker 1: well chances are you already know about the Intellivisionaries podcast, 21 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:31,480 Speaker 1: which I have no connection to, by the way, but 22 00:01:31,560 --> 00:01:36,480 Speaker 1: it's a show that has episodes that dive super duper deep, deep, deep, 23 00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:40,000 Speaker 1: deep down into all things in television. I listened to 24 00:01:40,360 --> 00:01:43,839 Speaker 1: about a third of one episode in which they interviewed 25 00:01:43,959 --> 00:01:48,680 Speaker 1: authors Braxton Soderman and Tom Belstorf. Those two wrote a 26 00:01:48,800 --> 00:01:52,440 Speaker 1: book that's titled in Television, How a Video Game System 27 00:01:52,520 --> 00:01:56,040 Speaker 1: Battled Atari and Almost Bankrupted Barbie. That book actually comes 28 00:01:56,080 --> 00:01:58,920 Speaker 1: out later this year, so sadly I wasn't able to 29 00:01:59,080 --> 00:02:01,200 Speaker 1: use it for this episode. Maybe I'll reach out to 30 00:02:01,240 --> 00:02:04,080 Speaker 1: them and we'll do an episode later in the year 31 00:02:04,120 --> 00:02:06,520 Speaker 1: when the book comes out. But I really did listen 32 00:02:06,560 --> 00:02:08,840 Speaker 1: to like a third of the episode they were on 33 00:02:09,200 --> 00:02:12,799 Speaker 1: because that interview is about an hour long, but the 34 00:02:12,840 --> 00:02:17,040 Speaker 1: whole episode is five and a half hours long. So 35 00:02:17,160 --> 00:02:20,520 Speaker 1: y'all thought my shows get lengthy, I got nothing on 36 00:02:20,560 --> 00:02:24,000 Speaker 1: The intellivision Areies. Turns out like the more I think 37 00:02:24,520 --> 00:02:29,920 Speaker 1: focused your podcast is, the longer the episodes tend to get. Anyway, 38 00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:33,560 Speaker 1: for those of us of a certain age, the brand 39 00:02:33,680 --> 00:02:39,079 Speaker 1: in television conjures up memories of very early console wars. Technically, 40 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:43,040 Speaker 1: the second generation of video game consoles. So in television, 41 00:02:43,080 --> 00:02:46,680 Speaker 1: along with things like I would say Kalico and Atari 42 00:02:46,919 --> 00:02:50,480 Speaker 1: would compete in the burgeoning home video game system market 43 00:02:50,680 --> 00:02:53,560 Speaker 1: more than forty years ago at this point. So let's 44 00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:57,240 Speaker 1: talk about where in television came from, what happened to it, 45 00:02:57,680 --> 00:03:00,720 Speaker 1: and how recent efforts to resurrect it have in countered 46 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:04,359 Speaker 1: new road bumps along the way, as well as the 47 00:03:04,400 --> 00:03:07,519 Speaker 1: tale of an old enemy coming back to pick over 48 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:11,640 Speaker 1: the bones of its former competitor, which is foreshadowing. So 49 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:15,840 Speaker 1: let us set the scene now, before home video game 50 00:03:15,919 --> 00:03:22,120 Speaker 1: consoles or video game arcades, there were nerdy computer science students, 51 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:25,160 Speaker 1: and these students were some of the only folks to 52 00:03:25,200 --> 00:03:29,120 Speaker 1: have regular access to computers. Computers in those days were huge, 53 00:03:29,200 --> 00:03:32,560 Speaker 1: they were expensive, they were super complicated. You know, a 54 00:03:32,600 --> 00:03:35,600 Speaker 1: small computer might be the size of your typical refrigerator, 55 00:03:35,720 --> 00:03:38,000 Speaker 1: and many of them were much much bigger than that. 56 00:03:38,480 --> 00:03:40,640 Speaker 1: And while the computers were meant to do all sorts 57 00:03:40,640 --> 00:03:45,520 Speaker 1: of important number crunching things, creative students would naturally begin 58 00:03:45,640 --> 00:03:49,560 Speaker 1: to experiment with them in order to make them, you know, 59 00:03:49,640 --> 00:03:53,400 Speaker 1: do other stuff like games, for example. And so in 60 00:03:53,440 --> 00:03:56,480 Speaker 1: the early days, and we're talking like the nineteen sixties. 61 00:03:56,520 --> 00:03:59,600 Speaker 1: Here the only folks who even knew that video games 62 00:03:59,720 --> 00:04:03,880 Speaker 1: could be a thing where college students working in computer labs. 63 00:04:04,120 --> 00:04:07,600 Speaker 1: But eventually these ideas were able to creep their way 64 00:04:07,760 --> 00:04:12,560 Speaker 1: into the mainstream. Nolan Bushnell, who will mention a few 65 00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:16,160 Speaker 1: times in this episode because he did not work in 66 00:04:16,200 --> 00:04:20,240 Speaker 1: television at all, he would be a co founder of Atari, 67 00:04:20,640 --> 00:04:25,120 Speaker 1: the other really huge important video game console company in 68 00:04:25,160 --> 00:04:28,600 Speaker 1: the late seventies early eighties, and he took an idea 69 00:04:28,960 --> 00:04:32,640 Speaker 1: that began in computer labs. It was a game that 70 00:04:32,760 --> 00:04:36,840 Speaker 1: was called Space War, and he adapted this into a 71 00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:41,760 Speaker 1: coin operated arcade cabinet called Computer Space. This was back 72 00:04:41,800 --> 00:04:45,839 Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy one. However, this game failed to take 73 00:04:45,920 --> 00:04:49,800 Speaker 1: the world by storm. It was a complicated game. It 74 00:04:49,839 --> 00:04:53,359 Speaker 1: was very difficult. It did not get much traction, but 75 00:04:53,560 --> 00:04:57,280 Speaker 1: it was a start. The first home video game console, 76 00:04:57,600 --> 00:04:59,800 Speaker 1: and at least this is what the general agreement is on, 77 00:05:00,279 --> 00:05:04,920 Speaker 1: was the Magnavox Odyssey. This launched way back in September 78 00:05:05,080 --> 00:05:09,000 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy two, and it was Pong before there was 79 00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:13,440 Speaker 1: a Pong. Quick side note, the aforementioned Nolan Bushnell, who 80 00:05:13,560 --> 00:05:18,160 Speaker 1: again co founded Atari, would actually assign his brand new engineer, 81 00:05:18,240 --> 00:05:23,279 Speaker 1: Alan Alcorn, the job of building a table tennis arcade cabinet. 82 00:05:23,480 --> 00:05:27,400 Speaker 1: So essentially what Bushnell did was he described to Alcorn 83 00:05:27,600 --> 00:05:31,320 Speaker 1: all the elements of the table tennis game on the Odyssey, 84 00:05:31,839 --> 00:05:35,279 Speaker 1: like he knew of that version, the home video game 85 00:05:35,320 --> 00:05:37,520 Speaker 1: console version, but Alcorn had never seen it. He had 86 00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:41,560 Speaker 1: never played that, and this was a test of Alcorn's abilities. 87 00:05:41,560 --> 00:05:43,520 Speaker 1: He essentially said, hey, I need you to build this game, 88 00:05:43,600 --> 00:05:46,239 Speaker 1: and he was able to describe specifically what he wanted 89 00:05:46,320 --> 00:05:49,040 Speaker 1: because he was describing a game that already existed. It's 90 00:05:49,120 --> 00:05:52,880 Speaker 1: just that Alcorn didn't know about that. And Bushnell claimed 91 00:05:52,920 --> 00:05:54,919 Speaker 1: that this was all part of a contract job with 92 00:05:55,040 --> 00:05:57,960 Speaker 1: General Electric, which turned out to be a total fabrication. 93 00:05:58,320 --> 00:06:01,719 Speaker 1: So Alcorn took the assignment and eventually he made Pong. 94 00:06:02,200 --> 00:06:04,920 Speaker 1: Pong ended up going on to be a huge hit 95 00:06:05,120 --> 00:06:08,400 Speaker 1: arcade cabinet for the fledgling Atari company. In fact, you 96 00:06:08,400 --> 00:06:11,200 Speaker 1: could argue it was the first like mega hit as 97 00:06:11,200 --> 00:06:15,160 Speaker 1: far as arcade cabinets go. Anyway, my point is that 98 00:06:15,200 --> 00:06:18,479 Speaker 1: the home video game console market got its start in 99 00:06:18,560 --> 00:06:23,680 Speaker 1: the early nineteen seventies. The Magnavox Odyssey was a dedicated console. 100 00:06:23,960 --> 00:06:27,279 Speaker 1: Now that meant you could only play what had been 101 00:06:27,400 --> 00:06:32,920 Speaker 1: hard coded onto the console itself. The game was integrated 102 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:36,120 Speaker 1: into the console, so there was no cartridge slot. There 103 00:06:36,160 --> 00:06:39,719 Speaker 1: certainly wasn't something like an optical drive or anything like that. 104 00:06:40,080 --> 00:06:43,400 Speaker 1: All of that would come on later. So in a way, 105 00:06:43,440 --> 00:06:45,839 Speaker 1: it was sort of like those retro consoles that you 106 00:06:45,920 --> 00:06:49,159 Speaker 1: sometimes find that have a limited library of games pre 107 00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:52,760 Speaker 1: programmed onto the device itself, right Like there's some of 108 00:06:52,800 --> 00:06:56,560 Speaker 1: those for the Atari twenty six hundred or Nintendo Entertainment 109 00:06:56,600 --> 00:07:00,240 Speaker 1: System or SNS, all of those old systems have like 110 00:07:00,600 --> 00:07:06,000 Speaker 1: these dedicated retro consoles that have a limited library available 111 00:07:06,080 --> 00:07:08,719 Speaker 1: on them. That's kind of what the first video game 112 00:07:08,760 --> 00:07:12,800 Speaker 1: consoles were like, except the library often was just one game, 113 00:07:12,840 --> 00:07:16,000 Speaker 1: and it was just some variation of Pong. In nineteen 114 00:07:16,080 --> 00:07:21,400 Speaker 1: seventy six, the Fairchild Channel F console would introduce an innovation. 115 00:07:21,680 --> 00:07:25,200 Speaker 1: It was a console that could accept ROM cartridges and 116 00:07:25,240 --> 00:07:28,080 Speaker 1: therefore it was not limited to games that had been 117 00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:32,400 Speaker 1: hard coded onto the console itself. BROM stands for read 118 00:07:32,560 --> 00:07:36,560 Speaker 1: only memory. That means the games were physically programmed on 119 00:07:36,680 --> 00:07:39,400 Speaker 1: circuit boards and there was no way to write new 120 00:07:39,440 --> 00:07:42,680 Speaker 1: information to the games themselves. The circuit boards had a 121 00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:46,200 Speaker 1: little electrical contacts on them, and those contexts would connect 122 00:07:46,280 --> 00:07:50,120 Speaker 1: to matching contexts in the console itself. When you plug 123 00:07:50,160 --> 00:07:54,120 Speaker 1: the cartridgeen, that's what would complete the circuit. It would 124 00:07:54,200 --> 00:07:57,720 Speaker 1: let you play whatever game had been programmed on the cartridge. 125 00:07:57,880 --> 00:08:01,160 Speaker 1: While the Channel F hit the market months before Atari 126 00:08:01,240 --> 00:08:04,840 Speaker 1: launched the twenty six hundred, initially called the Video Computer 127 00:08:04,960 --> 00:08:08,800 Speaker 1: System or VCS, Atari's library of games would have a 128 00:08:08,880 --> 00:08:13,360 Speaker 1: much broader appeal than the Channel f's selection. The Atari 129 00:08:13,400 --> 00:08:17,280 Speaker 1: twenty six hundred became a really popular video game console, 130 00:08:17,320 --> 00:08:20,280 Speaker 1: and there was a huge demand for the technology. Folks 131 00:08:20,280 --> 00:08:22,680 Speaker 1: who worked at Atari began to enjoy a sort of 132 00:08:22,840 --> 00:08:26,000 Speaker 1: rock and roll lifestyle as the money came flooding in. Seriously, 133 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:29,440 Speaker 1: if you read the articles about Atari in its early days, 134 00:08:29,760 --> 00:08:32,440 Speaker 1: it comes across as a bit rock and roll. Probably 135 00:08:32,960 --> 00:08:36,440 Speaker 1: not as wild and crazy as some of the articles indicate, 136 00:08:36,559 --> 00:08:41,120 Speaker 1: but it certainly presages, i would say, the startup culture 137 00:08:41,200 --> 00:08:44,480 Speaker 1: that we would associate with companies in like the late 138 00:08:44,640 --> 00:08:48,200 Speaker 1: nineteen nineties before the dot com bubble burst. Of course, 139 00:08:48,480 --> 00:08:54,000 Speaker 1: lots of companies wanted to cash in on this growing trend, 140 00:08:54,920 --> 00:08:57,760 Speaker 1: whether it was considered a fad or an actual trend 141 00:08:57,800 --> 00:09:00,800 Speaker 1: at the time didn't matter. Companies saw that people were 142 00:09:00,840 --> 00:09:03,520 Speaker 1: interested in video games and they wanted to be able 143 00:09:03,600 --> 00:09:06,400 Speaker 1: to get in on that. So some of the consoles 144 00:09:06,400 --> 00:09:09,520 Speaker 1: that popped up in the mid to late seventies and 145 00:09:09,640 --> 00:09:13,040 Speaker 1: into the early eighties were pretty much garbage. In fact, 146 00:09:13,080 --> 00:09:16,480 Speaker 1: the number of consoles that essentially were just Pong clones 147 00:09:16,800 --> 00:09:21,320 Speaker 1: created an unstable market, and consumers grew disenchanted with the 148 00:09:21,720 --> 00:09:25,160 Speaker 1: limited offerings that these consoles made and that some of 149 00:09:25,200 --> 00:09:28,960 Speaker 1: them were just really poorly designed. Ultimately, this led to 150 00:09:29,280 --> 00:09:32,720 Speaker 1: the first video game crash of the home video game 151 00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:36,160 Speaker 1: console market. This happened in nineteen seventy seven. Now, when 152 00:09:36,160 --> 00:09:39,719 Speaker 1: you hear me talk about the video game crash, typically 153 00:09:39,760 --> 00:09:43,880 Speaker 1: what I'm referencing is a much larger market crash that 154 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:47,200 Speaker 1: happened in the United States in nineteen eighty three. But 155 00:09:47,480 --> 00:09:50,520 Speaker 1: the first generation of consoles had its own crash six 156 00:09:50,600 --> 00:09:53,800 Speaker 1: years earlier. Again, these were for consoles that were mostly 157 00:09:53,840 --> 00:09:58,880 Speaker 1: dedicated consoles are Pong clones. Anyway, there's overlap between the 158 00:09:58,920 --> 00:10:03,520 Speaker 1: first generation of conso and the second generation. It's not 159 00:10:03,679 --> 00:10:08,040 Speaker 1: like we can just draw a line in years and 160 00:10:08,080 --> 00:10:11,400 Speaker 1: say everything before this is first generation and everything after 161 00:10:11,440 --> 00:10:14,119 Speaker 1: this is second generation. There was a lot more crossover 162 00:10:14,360 --> 00:10:17,600 Speaker 1: than that. Really, when we say first generation and second generation, 163 00:10:17,960 --> 00:10:21,559 Speaker 1: we're talking about a generation of consoles that were primarily 164 00:10:21,600 --> 00:10:25,560 Speaker 1: dedicated systems where you could not change out what game 165 00:10:25,600 --> 00:10:28,160 Speaker 1: you were playing. It was just limited to whatever was 166 00:10:28,160 --> 00:10:31,120 Speaker 1: on the console itself. And the second generation would have 167 00:10:31,400 --> 00:10:34,880 Speaker 1: more of the cartridge based approach where you could buy 168 00:10:34,960 --> 00:10:39,280 Speaker 1: different cartridges and thus you could accumulate a library of games, 169 00:10:39,640 --> 00:10:41,720 Speaker 1: and you know, playing a different game was as simple 170 00:10:41,760 --> 00:10:44,320 Speaker 1: as turning the system off, pulling a cartridge out, putting 171 00:10:44,360 --> 00:10:46,120 Speaker 1: a new one in, turning the system on again, and 172 00:10:46,200 --> 00:10:49,319 Speaker 1: they're your way to go. So there is overlap between 173 00:10:49,360 --> 00:10:53,120 Speaker 1: those two generations. Atari would become the dominant company in 174 00:10:53,200 --> 00:10:55,800 Speaker 1: this space, but there were quite a few other competitors 175 00:10:55,800 --> 00:10:59,400 Speaker 1: that also stood out with systems that sometimes had features 176 00:10:59,400 --> 00:11:02,000 Speaker 1: and function that made them a more serious threat to 177 00:11:02,040 --> 00:11:06,960 Speaker 1: Atari's dominance because the systems were more sophisticated and had 178 00:11:07,120 --> 00:11:10,040 Speaker 1: you know, a leg up in some technical aspect. But 179 00:11:10,280 --> 00:11:14,240 Speaker 1: Atari had a really big head start and that was 180 00:11:14,280 --> 00:11:16,920 Speaker 1: a huge help because they were able to establish a 181 00:11:17,120 --> 00:11:22,760 Speaker 1: pretty significant customer base early on, and that's invaluable. Well, 182 00:11:22,760 --> 00:11:26,120 Speaker 1: one company that saw opportunity in the video game space 183 00:11:26,600 --> 00:11:30,720 Speaker 1: was the giant toy company Mattel. So Mattel got started 184 00:11:30,760 --> 00:11:33,880 Speaker 1: as a little home business made out of a garage 185 00:11:33,920 --> 00:11:37,240 Speaker 1: way back in nineteen forty five, and originally Mattel made 186 00:11:37,280 --> 00:11:40,600 Speaker 1: stuff like you know, like dollhouse furniture and picture frames 187 00:11:40,600 --> 00:11:42,960 Speaker 1: and that kind of thing. But in nineteen forty seven 188 00:11:43,040 --> 00:11:46,880 Speaker 1: Mattel introduced a toy ukulele as a new product and 189 00:11:46,960 --> 00:11:51,200 Speaker 1: then began to make toys more regularly. Things really got 190 00:11:51,320 --> 00:11:54,800 Speaker 1: moving in nineteen fifty nine with the introduction of a 191 00:11:54,840 --> 00:11:59,440 Speaker 1: little toy called the Barbie Doll Hi Barbie. That Doll's 192 00:11:59,480 --> 00:12:03,679 Speaker 1: massive sitcess propelled Mattel into becoming a publicly traded company, 193 00:12:03,800 --> 00:12:07,199 Speaker 1: and it really took off, and flush with cash from 194 00:12:07,280 --> 00:12:09,719 Speaker 1: this IPO, Mattel started doing what a lot of other 195 00:12:09,800 --> 00:12:12,760 Speaker 1: companies do when they get tons of money. It started 196 00:12:12,760 --> 00:12:16,120 Speaker 1: to gobble up other toy companies left, right and center. 197 00:12:16,240 --> 00:12:19,680 Speaker 1: And not just toy companies. Mattel would also acquire everything 198 00:12:19,720 --> 00:12:23,000 Speaker 1: from the Wringling brothers in Barnum and Bailey Circus to 199 00:12:23,400 --> 00:12:27,840 Speaker 1: industrial companies specializing in everything from plastic production to die casting. 200 00:12:28,120 --> 00:12:31,840 Speaker 1: So by the nineteen seventies, Mattel was a really big deal, 201 00:12:31,920 --> 00:12:34,560 Speaker 1: despite some missteps along the way, Like there were some 202 00:12:35,040 --> 00:12:38,400 Speaker 1: times where Mattel was in some financial trouble, but the 203 00:12:38,480 --> 00:12:41,360 Speaker 1: company had managed to survive all of that. In the 204 00:12:41,480 --> 00:12:45,200 Speaker 1: early to mid nineteen seventies, Mattel leadership was reluctant to 205 00:12:45,320 --> 00:12:49,719 Speaker 1: get into the video game console space because remember, in 206 00:12:49,760 --> 00:12:53,640 Speaker 1: this time, the market's still very young, right, it's unproven. 207 00:12:54,040 --> 00:12:57,080 Speaker 1: This is also really still the era of the first 208 00:12:57,080 --> 00:13:02,600 Speaker 1: generation video game consoles, so tell executives weren't entirely sure 209 00:13:02,760 --> 00:13:05,240 Speaker 1: that this was going to be a sustainable business. So 210 00:13:05,280 --> 00:13:07,280 Speaker 1: it should come as no surprise that the company kind 211 00:13:07,280 --> 00:13:09,440 Speaker 1: of held back at first. And to be totally fair 212 00:13:09,480 --> 00:13:13,240 Speaker 1: to Mattel, the corporation had some rocky financial situations earlier 213 00:13:13,360 --> 00:13:15,800 Speaker 1: that decade, so you know they were a little gun 214 00:13:15,880 --> 00:13:19,840 Speaker 1: shy as well. But then enter Richard Chang, Mattel's head 215 00:13:19,880 --> 00:13:22,360 Speaker 1: of toy design and development. In the mid to late 216 00:13:22,440 --> 00:13:26,280 Speaker 1: nineteen seventies, he began considering the possibility of getting into 217 00:13:26,480 --> 00:13:30,200 Speaker 1: home video games. There were some competing ideas within Mattel 218 00:13:30,240 --> 00:13:34,200 Speaker 1: at the time. Some engineers wanted to focus on handheld games. 219 00:13:34,400 --> 00:13:37,360 Speaker 1: These would be similar to the dedicated consoles in that 220 00:13:37,559 --> 00:13:40,600 Speaker 1: they would have a game hard coded onto the circuitry 221 00:13:40,600 --> 00:13:43,560 Speaker 1: of the system itself. Others wanted to make an actual 222 00:13:43,679 --> 00:13:47,880 Speaker 1: video game console for hooking up to your television. Ultimately, 223 00:13:47,880 --> 00:13:50,560 Speaker 1: Mattel would do both, though at first the company would 224 00:13:50,559 --> 00:13:53,680 Speaker 1: produce and release the handheld systems while some within the 225 00:13:53,679 --> 00:13:57,280 Speaker 1: company worked on what would become the in television. Okay, 226 00:13:57,280 --> 00:13:59,319 Speaker 1: we've got a lot more to this story, but before 227 00:13:59,320 --> 00:14:01,040 Speaker 1: we get to that, let's take a quick break to 228 00:14:01,080 --> 00:14:14,200 Speaker 1: think our sponsors. We're back. So Chang, the head of 229 00:14:14,520 --> 00:14:17,760 Speaker 1: development over at Mattel's toy division, reached out to a 230 00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:23,440 Speaker 1: company called APH Technology Consultants to help with the various 231 00:14:23,880 --> 00:14:27,320 Speaker 1: video game projects within Mattel and Mittel would actually spin 232 00:14:27,480 --> 00:14:31,240 Speaker 1: up a kind of a subsidiary called Mattel Electronics to 233 00:14:31,280 --> 00:14:34,840 Speaker 1: oversee this stuff. So this consulting group would ultimately do 234 00:14:34,920 --> 00:14:37,880 Speaker 1: a lot of the programming for the handheld systems. Mattel 235 00:14:37,960 --> 00:14:40,960 Speaker 1: worked with a company called General Instruments to tweak the 236 00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:45,280 Speaker 1: design of a platform that General Instruments or GI had 237 00:14:45,320 --> 00:14:49,480 Speaker 1: created called the Jiminy sixty nine hundred. I guess it's Jimminy. 238 00:14:49,560 --> 00:14:55,320 Speaker 1: It's spelled Gimni, and I know that some astronauts referred 239 00:14:55,360 --> 00:14:58,280 Speaker 1: to the Gemini spacecraft as the jim and E spacecraft, 240 00:14:58,360 --> 00:15:01,560 Speaker 1: so I'm guessing it's the same here. Anyway. The whole 241 00:15:01,680 --> 00:15:05,200 Speaker 1: concept was to take this platform, this Jiminy sixty nine 242 00:15:05,240 --> 00:15:07,360 Speaker 1: hundred and tweak it so that it would be easier 243 00:15:07,400 --> 00:15:10,920 Speaker 1: for programmers to use the same basic foundation to program 244 00:15:10,920 --> 00:15:14,600 Speaker 1: different games that would speed things up and bring costs down. 245 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:18,440 Speaker 1: And GI was eager to do this because they saw 246 00:15:18,640 --> 00:15:22,200 Speaker 1: this as an opportunity to really have a profitable business 247 00:15:22,360 --> 00:15:27,600 Speaker 1: working in chips meant for specific applications like this. Mattel 248 00:15:27,680 --> 00:15:31,040 Speaker 1: began to release the games these handheld systems, and they 249 00:15:31,080 --> 00:15:34,360 Speaker 1: did well, and this helped build some momentum toward pushing 250 00:15:34,360 --> 00:15:38,120 Speaker 1: out a fully fledged home video game console system. So 251 00:15:38,160 --> 00:15:42,040 Speaker 1: this was around nineteen seventy eight or so. Atari had 252 00:15:42,080 --> 00:15:45,920 Speaker 1: released the VCS in nineteen seventy seven. And the dates 253 00:15:45,920 --> 00:15:48,120 Speaker 1: get a little fuzzy when I talk about this kind 254 00:15:48,120 --> 00:15:50,360 Speaker 1: of stuff, because, as it turns out, no one was 255 00:15:50,400 --> 00:15:54,320 Speaker 1: really acting like an historian during the whole process. Like 256 00:15:54,360 --> 00:15:57,320 Speaker 1: that's true for a lot of the technologies that came 257 00:15:57,360 --> 00:16:00,800 Speaker 1: out in the seventies and eighties. The documentation is limited. 258 00:16:01,200 --> 00:16:04,200 Speaker 1: Sometimes it doesn't even exist, or no one knows about 259 00:16:04,440 --> 00:16:08,120 Speaker 1: where it might exist, because the company is responsible may 260 00:16:08,120 --> 00:16:11,080 Speaker 1: have gone out of business decades ago. So the book 261 00:16:11,080 --> 00:16:14,000 Speaker 1: I mentioned earlier in this episode, the one that was 262 00:16:14,080 --> 00:16:17,640 Speaker 1: featured in that interview of the epic podcast, that book 263 00:16:17,680 --> 00:16:20,840 Speaker 1: isn't out yet. It comes out later this year, the 264 00:16:20,880 --> 00:16:25,400 Speaker 1: fall of twenty twenty four, so I can't reference it, 265 00:16:25,880 --> 00:16:28,160 Speaker 1: so I can't look to see what the more heavily 266 00:16:28,200 --> 00:16:32,160 Speaker 1: researched bits actually say. Maybe again, I'll revisit this when 267 00:16:32,160 --> 00:16:36,120 Speaker 1: that book comes out to see if it clarifies things. 268 00:16:36,320 --> 00:16:39,560 Speaker 1: But within Mattel, there was a guy named Dave Chandler 269 00:16:39,680 --> 00:16:43,120 Speaker 1: who also got the nickname Papa in television, who led 270 00:16:43,120 --> 00:16:46,480 Speaker 1: a team to develop the actual physical hardware. The software 271 00:16:46,520 --> 00:16:50,040 Speaker 1: side went to the APH Technology Consultants Group, and the 272 00:16:50,080 --> 00:16:53,040 Speaker 1: operating system for it in television would receive the code 273 00:16:53,120 --> 00:16:57,920 Speaker 1: name the Executive or sometimes the exec. The team was 274 00:16:57,960 --> 00:17:01,400 Speaker 1: sticking with General Instruments for the chipset that would ultimately 275 00:17:01,440 --> 00:17:06,560 Speaker 1: be used within the intelevision console. Reportedly, Texas Instruments at 276 00:17:06,600 --> 00:17:10,600 Speaker 1: one point pushed to have Mattel jettison the GI chipset 277 00:17:10,840 --> 00:17:14,359 Speaker 1: in favor of a chipset from Texas Instruments, but ultimately 278 00:17:14,359 --> 00:17:17,960 Speaker 1: Mattel stuck with their previous partner for those handheld systems, 279 00:17:18,080 --> 00:17:21,720 Speaker 1: partly because changing course would have set the whole project 280 00:17:21,760 --> 00:17:24,400 Speaker 1: back by at least half a year, and the home 281 00:17:24,520 --> 00:17:29,119 Speaker 1: video game market was really getting red hot in the 282 00:17:29,200 --> 00:17:32,239 Speaker 1: late seventies, so a six month delay could have been 283 00:17:32,359 --> 00:17:35,280 Speaker 1: very costly because who knew how long this video game 284 00:17:35,280 --> 00:17:38,879 Speaker 1: fad would actually last. Well, the hardware was interesting, and 285 00:17:38,920 --> 00:17:41,760 Speaker 1: Mattel would introduce some add on components to make it 286 00:17:41,840 --> 00:17:45,800 Speaker 1: even more interesting and introduce or developed some that did 287 00:17:45,800 --> 00:17:50,040 Speaker 1: not get widespread adoption, but probably would have made the 288 00:17:50,080 --> 00:17:53,560 Speaker 1: system pretty incredible if Mattel had been able to get 289 00:17:53,560 --> 00:17:57,480 Speaker 1: a handle on some very tough problems. But first off, 290 00:17:57,560 --> 00:18:00,720 Speaker 1: the initial console bore at least some so samilarities to 291 00:18:00,760 --> 00:18:04,520 Speaker 1: the early Atari twenty six hundred console, complete with faux 292 00:18:04,560 --> 00:18:08,000 Speaker 1: wood paneling on the edges, because well, because it was 293 00:18:08,040 --> 00:18:11,600 Speaker 1: the nineteen seventies and we were all crazy for wood paneling. 294 00:18:11,920 --> 00:18:14,639 Speaker 1: I actually think it's pretty amazing that the Intellivision didn't 295 00:18:14,640 --> 00:18:17,760 Speaker 1: also have orange brown shag carpet on it, if I'm 296 00:18:17,760 --> 00:18:22,119 Speaker 1: being honest. The controllers for the Intellivision were a major 297 00:18:22,200 --> 00:18:25,359 Speaker 1: departure from the Atari twenty six hundred. So while the 298 00:18:25,720 --> 00:18:28,080 Speaker 1: faux paneling made it kind of look a little bit 299 00:18:28,119 --> 00:18:31,280 Speaker 1: like an Atari system, the controllers were their own thing. 300 00:18:31,640 --> 00:18:34,960 Speaker 1: Kalika Vision had its own controllers that were kind of similar, 301 00:18:35,280 --> 00:18:40,639 Speaker 1: but in television man so, the Atari controller was just 302 00:18:40,680 --> 00:18:44,720 Speaker 1: a basic joystick that had a single red button on it. 303 00:18:45,240 --> 00:18:48,480 Speaker 1: The Atari twenty six hundred joystick was digital, which meant 304 00:18:48,800 --> 00:18:51,640 Speaker 1: moving the stick in one of the four primary directions 305 00:18:51,640 --> 00:18:54,159 Speaker 1: would just complete a circuit and send a command to 306 00:18:54,240 --> 00:18:56,840 Speaker 1: the console. It's not like you could press harder or 307 00:18:56,880 --> 00:19:00,240 Speaker 1: softer to make your character move faster or slower. It 308 00:19:00,320 --> 00:19:02,879 Speaker 1: was either moving that way or it wasn't. Now, you 309 00:19:02,920 --> 00:19:06,200 Speaker 1: could also move the joystick on the diagonal and thus 310 00:19:06,280 --> 00:19:10,359 Speaker 1: complete two points of contact, and that would allow the 311 00:19:11,080 --> 00:19:13,920 Speaker 1: system to let you move characters on a diagonal path 312 00:19:13,960 --> 00:19:17,320 Speaker 1: if the game supported that, so which meant that ultimately 313 00:19:17,359 --> 00:19:20,960 Speaker 1: with an Atari joystick, you had up to eight directions 314 00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:25,399 Speaker 1: of movement possible. Now, the in television controller looked kind 315 00:19:25,400 --> 00:19:28,399 Speaker 1: of like a remote control with a direction pad disc 316 00:19:29,119 --> 00:19:32,520 Speaker 1: that was set either above or below a number pad. 317 00:19:33,119 --> 00:19:36,480 Speaker 1: Whether it was above or below dependent upon the generation 318 00:19:36,560 --> 00:19:39,040 Speaker 1: of controller. You had but yeah, think of like a 319 00:19:39,119 --> 00:19:42,840 Speaker 1: remote control with a number pad that's three numbers wide, 320 00:19:43,200 --> 00:19:45,480 Speaker 1: so you get the you know, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, 321 00:19:45,520 --> 00:19:48,600 Speaker 1: eight nine, maybe some other little command buttons, and then 322 00:19:48,880 --> 00:19:50,879 Speaker 1: would have this disc either at the base or at 323 00:19:50,920 --> 00:19:53,400 Speaker 1: the top, and the disc was a direction pad where 324 00:19:53,400 --> 00:19:55,240 Speaker 1: you'd press on the edge of the disk and you 325 00:19:55,280 --> 00:19:59,879 Speaker 1: could make stuff move that way. This had sixteen different 326 00:20:00,200 --> 00:20:04,240 Speaker 1: points of directional control, and the number pad meant that 327 00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:07,840 Speaker 1: the Intellivision games could have a much more complicated interface 328 00:20:07,880 --> 00:20:10,920 Speaker 1: than your basic Guitari games. The pad itself, I would say, 329 00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:14,160 Speaker 1: was a real thumb killer. It was just the circular 330 00:20:14,240 --> 00:20:16,160 Speaker 1: disk and you would press along the edges to give 331 00:20:16,200 --> 00:20:21,120 Speaker 1: commands to the game. You could eventually buy little joystick 332 00:20:21,119 --> 00:20:24,400 Speaker 1: adapters that clipped on over that part of the controller. 333 00:20:24,600 --> 00:20:28,160 Speaker 1: The joystick would just manipulate the disc underneath. That's actually 334 00:20:28,200 --> 00:20:32,360 Speaker 1: how I played most of my intelevision games, because otherwise 335 00:20:32,359 --> 00:20:34,960 Speaker 1: my hands would really cramp up pretty fast just trying 336 00:20:34,960 --> 00:20:39,200 Speaker 1: to manipulate the disc. Just holding the controller could be 337 00:20:39,280 --> 00:20:42,359 Speaker 1: pretty uncomfortable. There were also, as I would call buttons 338 00:20:42,480 --> 00:20:48,080 Speaker 1: along one side of that gave you some more input options, 339 00:20:48,400 --> 00:20:50,160 Speaker 1: and it meant that you had to hold the controller 340 00:20:50,160 --> 00:20:54,480 Speaker 1: a specific way because the buttons would be inaccessible if 341 00:20:54,520 --> 00:20:56,879 Speaker 1: you held the base of the controller, say in your 342 00:20:56,960 --> 00:20:59,959 Speaker 1: left hand instead of your right hand, which could be frustrating, 343 00:21:00,240 --> 00:21:02,280 Speaker 1: you know, if you were you know, if you weren't 344 00:21:02,320 --> 00:21:05,080 Speaker 1: right handed, it could be a little difficult. I'm not 345 00:21:05,200 --> 00:21:07,080 Speaker 1: right handed, so I guess what I'm saying is, I've 346 00:21:07,119 --> 00:21:10,639 Speaker 1: personally found it very difficult. But interestingly, because of that 347 00:21:10,760 --> 00:21:14,919 Speaker 1: number pad, game developers could create little plastic overlays, and 348 00:21:14,960 --> 00:21:18,320 Speaker 1: these overlays would slide into a slot on the face 349 00:21:18,359 --> 00:21:22,040 Speaker 1: of your controller and would fit over the number pad, 350 00:21:22,320 --> 00:21:25,679 Speaker 1: and the overlays could indicate to gamers what each button did, 351 00:21:26,040 --> 00:21:28,199 Speaker 1: if they did anything at all within the game. So 352 00:21:28,320 --> 00:21:30,840 Speaker 1: rather than just having to remember that you would need 353 00:21:30,880 --> 00:21:34,120 Speaker 1: to push I'll give you hypothetical you needed to push 354 00:21:34,160 --> 00:21:37,399 Speaker 1: the number two button to pull up an inventory or 355 00:21:37,400 --> 00:21:39,480 Speaker 1: something like that, instead of that, you would have this 356 00:21:39,600 --> 00:21:41,600 Speaker 1: overlay and you would see like there'd be a little 357 00:21:42,160 --> 00:21:46,600 Speaker 1: marking that represents inventory, and it's over top the number two. 358 00:21:46,680 --> 00:21:48,240 Speaker 1: But it meant you didn't have to remember you needed 359 00:21:48,240 --> 00:21:50,479 Speaker 1: to press number two. You just pressed the picture that 360 00:21:50,480 --> 00:21:52,840 Speaker 1: made it look like a backpack or whatever it might be, 361 00:21:53,280 --> 00:21:55,240 Speaker 1: and so you could just look at the overlay to 362 00:21:55,280 --> 00:21:57,920 Speaker 1: see what you needed to push in order to do 363 00:21:57,960 --> 00:22:00,920 Speaker 1: a specific action within the game. Of course, each game 364 00:22:01,359 --> 00:22:04,600 Speaker 1: would have its own overlay, which meant you had twice 365 00:22:04,600 --> 00:22:07,680 Speaker 1: as many components you could misplace and thus make it 366 00:22:07,720 --> 00:22:10,360 Speaker 1: hard or impossible to play the game, because I mean, obviously, 367 00:22:10,359 --> 00:22:12,600 Speaker 1: if you misplace the cartridge, well then you don't have 368 00:22:12,640 --> 00:22:15,440 Speaker 1: a game to play. If you misplace the overlay, well 369 00:22:15,480 --> 00:22:18,320 Speaker 1: then you don't have the indicator for what the controller does, 370 00:22:18,480 --> 00:22:20,479 Speaker 1: and you would be down to trial and error, and 371 00:22:20,520 --> 00:22:22,840 Speaker 1: then you'd have to try and remember from that point forward. 372 00:22:23,200 --> 00:22:25,680 Speaker 1: But still, the overlay thing was a really cool idea. 373 00:22:25,800 --> 00:22:28,679 Speaker 1: It was a little challenging for folks like me because 374 00:22:28,720 --> 00:22:32,720 Speaker 1: I inherited my in television game system and all the 375 00:22:32,800 --> 00:22:35,280 Speaker 1: games for it and all the overlays, and it meant 376 00:22:35,280 --> 00:22:38,760 Speaker 1: that I had maybe overlays for about half the games 377 00:22:39,040 --> 00:22:41,560 Speaker 1: that came with the box that I got, So I 378 00:22:41,600 --> 00:22:44,080 Speaker 1: had overlays for games that were not in the box, 379 00:22:44,160 --> 00:22:46,600 Speaker 1: but sounded really cool, like I'm like, oh man, I 380 00:22:46,640 --> 00:22:48,679 Speaker 1: wish I had the game that went with this overlay. 381 00:22:48,840 --> 00:22:51,320 Speaker 1: And then I also had games where there was no 382 00:22:51,400 --> 00:22:55,240 Speaker 1: overlay whatsoever, or at least I didn't have the overlays, 383 00:22:55,280 --> 00:22:58,200 Speaker 1: so whether one was never made or it was lost 384 00:22:58,280 --> 00:23:01,600 Speaker 1: or whatever, I don't know. Still, I mean, I had 385 00:23:01,640 --> 00:23:04,840 Speaker 1: an intelevision, gosh darn' it, so I guess I shouldn't 386 00:23:05,320 --> 00:23:07,480 Speaker 1: look at a gift horse in the mouth or anything. 387 00:23:07,920 --> 00:23:11,040 Speaker 1: The cartridge slot on the original intelevision was on the 388 00:23:11,119 --> 00:23:13,679 Speaker 1: right side of the system, so it wasn't in the 389 00:23:13,720 --> 00:23:15,520 Speaker 1: top or the face of it. It was on the 390 00:23:15,600 --> 00:23:19,280 Speaker 1: right side, and the cartridges themselves were narrower than Atari 391 00:23:19,320 --> 00:23:21,920 Speaker 1: twenty six hundred games. They also didn't have any artwork 392 00:23:22,160 --> 00:23:24,359 Speaker 1: on the face of them, Like if you look at 393 00:23:24,359 --> 00:23:26,240 Speaker 1: an old Atari twenty six hundred game, a lot of 394 00:23:26,240 --> 00:23:29,480 Speaker 1: them have this cool artwork on one side as well 395 00:23:29,520 --> 00:23:32,520 Speaker 1: as the title typically along the top of the cartridge. 396 00:23:32,640 --> 00:23:35,639 Speaker 1: In television cartridges, you just had the title on the end. Really, 397 00:23:36,240 --> 00:23:39,440 Speaker 1: as I already mentioned, the APH consulting firm designed the 398 00:23:39,480 --> 00:23:41,920 Speaker 1: operating system that would run on top of the hardware. 399 00:23:42,080 --> 00:23:45,639 Speaker 1: They also would provide the platform for developers who wanted 400 00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:49,119 Speaker 1: to make games for the Intellivision, and the initial games 401 00:23:49,119 --> 00:23:54,160 Speaker 1: for the Intellivision almost exclusively came from APH Mattel did 402 00:23:54,200 --> 00:23:57,520 Speaker 1: a kind of a soft launch for the system in Fresno, 403 00:23:57,640 --> 00:24:00,360 Speaker 1: California in nineteen seventy nine in order to which how 404 00:24:00,400 --> 00:24:03,960 Speaker 1: receptive consumers would be to a new video game console, 405 00:24:04,200 --> 00:24:06,320 Speaker 1: because you know, the Atire twenty six hundred had been 406 00:24:06,320 --> 00:24:09,120 Speaker 1: out for two years at this point. The Intellivision would 407 00:24:09,119 --> 00:24:13,480 Speaker 1: initially retail for two hundred ninety nine dollars, which was 408 00:24:13,520 --> 00:24:17,160 Speaker 1: more than one hundred dollars more expensive than the initial 409 00:24:17,160 --> 00:24:20,439 Speaker 1: Attari twenty six hundred cost when it launched two years earlier. 410 00:24:20,640 --> 00:24:23,760 Speaker 1: So if we adjust for inflation, get ready for this one, y'all, 411 00:24:23,880 --> 00:24:25,960 Speaker 1: it would mean that if you bought a brand new 412 00:24:25,960 --> 00:24:29,000 Speaker 1: in television in nineteen seventy nine, that would set you 413 00:24:29,119 --> 00:24:34,240 Speaker 1: back the equivalent of around one thousand, two hundred dollars 414 00:24:34,280 --> 00:24:37,960 Speaker 1: in twenty twenty four. Like it's it's the equivalent amount 415 00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:40,920 Speaker 1: of buying power. So imagine going out and buying a 416 00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:44,240 Speaker 1: video game console for one thousand, two hundred bucks. That 417 00:24:44,280 --> 00:24:46,640 Speaker 1: really puts things in perspective, doesn't it. I mean, video 418 00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:49,879 Speaker 1: game consoles are an absolute steel these days if you 419 00:24:49,920 --> 00:24:53,160 Speaker 1: compare it to how much the old ones cost. By 420 00:24:53,200 --> 00:24:57,440 Speaker 1: taking buying power into consideration, in that initial launch, Mattel 421 00:24:57,640 --> 00:25:01,159 Speaker 1: offered just four games. Again, this is a test market 422 00:25:01,200 --> 00:25:04,959 Speaker 1: in Fresno, California, and those four games aren't exactly titles 423 00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:07,800 Speaker 1: that you would expect to be a huge success. They 424 00:25:07,800 --> 00:25:14,119 Speaker 1: were Math Fun, Armor Battle, Backcabin, and then Poker and Blackjack. 425 00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:17,840 Speaker 1: So you've got two video game versions of card or 426 00:25:17,920 --> 00:25:21,480 Speaker 1: board games, You've got one game that's desperately trying to 427 00:25:21,480 --> 00:25:24,520 Speaker 1: convince you that Math is in fact fun, and then 428 00:25:24,520 --> 00:25:26,680 Speaker 1: you have a more standard video game in the form 429 00:25:26,720 --> 00:25:29,800 Speaker 1: of Armor Battle. Now, remarkably, folks still found the system 430 00:25:29,840 --> 00:25:32,439 Speaker 1: to be intriguing, and the response was enough to convince 431 00:25:32,480 --> 00:25:36,280 Speaker 1: Mattel to push into mass production for a nationwide effort. 432 00:25:36,680 --> 00:25:39,520 Speaker 1: One thing that would set in television apart from Atari 433 00:25:39,920 --> 00:25:42,560 Speaker 1: was the chip set in the in television allowed for 434 00:25:42,640 --> 00:25:46,240 Speaker 1: higher resolution graphics. Now, keep in mind, the graphics of 435 00:25:46,440 --> 00:25:50,600 Speaker 1: Atari twenty six hundred games were really primitive, so in television, 436 00:25:50,840 --> 00:25:53,880 Speaker 1: when you get down to it was slightly less primitive. 437 00:25:53,920 --> 00:25:57,280 Speaker 1: It's not like they were super high resolution games or something, 438 00:25:57,400 --> 00:26:00,600 Speaker 1: but it was definitely an improvement over the Attari twenty 439 00:26:00,600 --> 00:26:03,560 Speaker 1: six hundred. Mattel would brag that the characters in their 440 00:26:03,600 --> 00:26:07,200 Speaker 1: games would actually have stuff like arms and legs, for example, 441 00:26:07,320 --> 00:26:10,520 Speaker 1: which is not exactly a high bar to clear. The 442 00:26:10,640 --> 00:26:14,119 Speaker 1: sound chip in the Intellivision was actually pretty limited to 443 00:26:14,280 --> 00:26:17,560 Speaker 1: beeps and buzzes, but Mattel would develop and release some 444 00:26:17,680 --> 00:26:21,919 Speaker 1: hardware that would improve things for specific titles. Again, the 445 00:26:21,960 --> 00:26:26,800 Speaker 1: actual chips would come from General Instrument GI had developed 446 00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:30,000 Speaker 1: a voice synthesizer chip in the late nineteen seventies. It 447 00:26:30,040 --> 00:26:33,440 Speaker 1: was called the SP zero two five six. The team 448 00:26:33,440 --> 00:26:36,760 Speaker 1: at Mattel responsible for taking that chip from GI and 449 00:26:36,800 --> 00:26:40,280 Speaker 1: then incorporating it into a module for the Intellivision would 450 00:26:40,320 --> 00:26:44,440 Speaker 1: include Ron Carlson who led the hardware team, Ron Sarrat 451 00:26:44,560 --> 00:26:48,080 Speaker 1: who was there to write software for this thing, and 452 00:26:48,160 --> 00:26:52,359 Speaker 1: Patrick us to help with the voice analyzation and voice 453 00:26:52,440 --> 00:26:57,360 Speaker 1: data for the games. The result was the Intella Voice Module. 454 00:26:57,680 --> 00:27:00,159 Speaker 1: This was an add on. It would plug into the 455 00:27:00,200 --> 00:27:03,560 Speaker 1: cartridge slot on the right side of the Intellivision. On 456 00:27:03,640 --> 00:27:07,240 Speaker 1: the right side of the module was another cartridge slot. 457 00:27:07,280 --> 00:27:09,639 Speaker 1: That's where you'd put the relevant game so that you 458 00:27:09,680 --> 00:27:13,400 Speaker 1: could get the synthesized voice action. And that module would 459 00:27:13,400 --> 00:27:16,480 Speaker 1: come out in nineteen eighty two, just a year before 460 00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:19,480 Speaker 1: things would get really hairy for the entire home video 461 00:27:19,520 --> 00:27:22,879 Speaker 1: game market in the US. Only a couple of games 462 00:27:22,920 --> 00:27:26,320 Speaker 1: ever came out that supported this feature. Just five titles, 463 00:27:26,400 --> 00:27:30,000 Speaker 1: in fact, came out that supported it. I owned one 464 00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:34,239 Speaker 1: of them because the Intellivision I inherited also had the 465 00:27:34,280 --> 00:27:38,679 Speaker 1: Intelli Voice module, and one of the games, notably B 466 00:27:38,840 --> 00:27:41,879 Speaker 1: seventeen Bomber, which I remember having a narrator with an 467 00:27:41,920 --> 00:27:45,320 Speaker 1: over the top Southern accent, came with it. That accent 468 00:27:45,359 --> 00:27:47,920 Speaker 1: it would sound I'll never forget this. I would boot 469 00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:50,080 Speaker 1: up the game and the game would just spout off 470 00:27:50,119 --> 00:27:55,680 Speaker 1: to me by seventeen Balmer like. It was way over 471 00:27:55,720 --> 00:27:58,280 Speaker 1: the top, very slow. I think it was slow so 472 00:27:58,320 --> 00:28:01,800 Speaker 1: that you could understand it more easily, because obviously it's 473 00:28:01,840 --> 00:28:04,600 Speaker 1: like listening to someone speak through a vocoder, Like it's 474 00:28:04,680 --> 00:28:08,560 Speaker 1: really digitized and odd. But I thought it was pretty 475 00:28:08,800 --> 00:28:12,359 Speaker 1: darn rad at the time. However, the Intelli Voice ultimately 476 00:28:12,440 --> 00:28:15,840 Speaker 1: didn't sell very well, despite early excitement for the add on. 477 00:28:16,040 --> 00:28:17,879 Speaker 1: Perhaps part of the issue was the industry as a 478 00:28:17,920 --> 00:28:21,520 Speaker 1: whole was rapidly approaching a precipice that ultimately it would 479 00:28:22,040 --> 00:28:25,520 Speaker 1: plummet off of, and it was just bad timing. But 480 00:28:25,640 --> 00:28:28,119 Speaker 1: it was also a really expensive add on, right, and 481 00:28:28,160 --> 00:28:31,280 Speaker 1: it was only working with a couple of games. It's 482 00:28:31,320 --> 00:28:35,439 Speaker 1: not like somehow it retroactively gave better sound effects to 483 00:28:35,560 --> 00:28:37,840 Speaker 1: all the games that were ever made for the Intellivision. 484 00:28:37,960 --> 00:28:42,200 Speaker 1: It didn't, So maybe those were other strikes against it. Anyway, 485 00:28:42,560 --> 00:28:44,560 Speaker 1: we're going to get back to the games. We got 486 00:28:44,600 --> 00:28:47,960 Speaker 1: more to talk about with them and the fate of 487 00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:52,000 Speaker 1: the Intellivision system and the brand. But before we get 488 00:28:52,040 --> 00:28:54,280 Speaker 1: to all that, let's take another quick break to thank 489 00:28:54,320 --> 00:29:06,520 Speaker 1: our sponsors. So in television games, let's talk about them 490 00:29:06,560 --> 00:29:08,560 Speaker 1: for a second, Like how much they cost, because of 491 00:29:08,800 --> 00:29:13,120 Speaker 1: a new cartridge would typically cost around thirty nine ninety 492 00:29:13,160 --> 00:29:16,239 Speaker 1: five or around forty dollars in the United States, So 493 00:29:17,280 --> 00:29:20,040 Speaker 1: that's less than what you would buy a Triple A 494 00:29:20,120 --> 00:29:22,760 Speaker 1: title for today, right Like you're talking about Triple A titles, 495 00:29:22,800 --> 00:29:26,320 Speaker 1: they're probably sixty or seventy dollars. However, that's before we 496 00:29:26,360 --> 00:29:30,600 Speaker 1: adjust for inflation, and when we do that, forty dollars 497 00:29:30,600 --> 00:29:34,040 Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty would be close to spending around one 498 00:29:34,120 --> 00:29:37,480 Speaker 1: hundred and forty seven dollars on a new game today. Again, 499 00:29:37,520 --> 00:29:39,760 Speaker 1: it puts things in perspective, and keep in mind the 500 00:29:39,840 --> 00:29:42,800 Speaker 1: in television games well really innovative at the time. I 501 00:29:42,800 --> 00:29:44,840 Speaker 1: don't want to take anything away from the people who 502 00:29:44,880 --> 00:29:48,120 Speaker 1: made these games, because they were the foundation for everything 503 00:29:48,160 --> 00:29:51,080 Speaker 1: that would follow. But those games would be considered almost 504 00:29:51,080 --> 00:29:54,000 Speaker 1: too primitive to play by today's standards for a lot 505 00:29:54,040 --> 00:29:56,640 Speaker 1: of gamers. And I say that as someone who actually 506 00:29:56,680 --> 00:30:00,760 Speaker 1: really loves these games and television would sell, but it 507 00:30:00,800 --> 00:30:04,640 Speaker 1: wouldn't topple the dominant Atari twenty six hundred. They wouldn't 508 00:30:04,680 --> 00:30:07,800 Speaker 1: come close. Also, Mattel executives realized that they could make 509 00:30:07,840 --> 00:30:10,760 Speaker 1: more money if they brought more video game development in 510 00:30:10,920 --> 00:30:15,400 Speaker 1: house rather than outsourcing it to a consulting firm like APH, 511 00:30:15,720 --> 00:30:18,680 Speaker 1: and to that end, Mattel assembled a team of programmers. 512 00:30:18,800 --> 00:30:22,000 Speaker 1: They poached some of them from competing companies. That group 513 00:30:22,120 --> 00:30:27,320 Speaker 1: included Don Daglow, John sol Rick Levine, and Keith Robinson. 514 00:30:27,520 --> 00:30:30,560 Speaker 1: Robinson would oversee the group as manager. He would also 515 00:30:30,600 --> 00:30:35,400 Speaker 1: become very important to the Intellivision brand later on. So 516 00:30:35,440 --> 00:30:39,200 Speaker 1: Mittel would try to keep those names and identities under wraps. 517 00:30:39,440 --> 00:30:43,240 Speaker 1: And the reason for it was because Atari was notorious 518 00:30:43,360 --> 00:30:46,240 Speaker 1: for luring away talent, and Mattel did not want Atari 519 00:30:46,280 --> 00:30:49,840 Speaker 1: to know who was developing games for the Intellivision, so 520 00:30:50,080 --> 00:30:54,080 Speaker 1: the group was only referenced as the Application Software Programmers 521 00:30:54,280 --> 00:30:57,480 Speaker 1: until TV Guide published a piece about the group in 522 00:30:57,560 --> 00:31:00,600 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty two. The writer of that piece found the 523 00:31:00,680 --> 00:31:05,880 Speaker 1: official terminology kind of stodgy and boring, so that writer 524 00:31:06,120 --> 00:31:10,480 Speaker 1: renamed the developer team the Blue Sky Rangers, which is 525 00:31:11,160 --> 00:31:13,480 Speaker 1: way more cool. I mean, it gives me kind of 526 00:31:13,560 --> 00:31:17,480 Speaker 1: Disney vibes, but way more cool than Application Software Programmers, 527 00:31:17,600 --> 00:31:20,520 Speaker 1: and that nickname stuck. They became known as the Blue 528 00:31:20,560 --> 00:31:25,040 Speaker 1: Sky Rangers. One thing Mattel planned and worked on but 529 00:31:25,200 --> 00:31:29,400 Speaker 1: it never got a nationwide release was a keyboard peripheral 530 00:31:29,600 --> 00:31:32,600 Speaker 1: for the Intellivision, and so the idea was that this 531 00:31:32,600 --> 00:31:37,360 Speaker 1: would help turn the video game system into a somewhat primitive, 532 00:31:37,400 --> 00:31:41,680 Speaker 1: but working personal computer system. The keyboard module itself had 533 00:31:41,720 --> 00:31:44,840 Speaker 1: an additional eight bit six ' five ZHO two processor 534 00:31:44,920 --> 00:31:48,640 Speaker 1: built into it, and that would boost the Intellivision's processing capability, 535 00:31:48,680 --> 00:31:52,480 Speaker 1: so it would technically become a dual processor computer. Way 536 00:31:52,600 --> 00:31:57,000 Speaker 1: back in the early nineteen eighties, but the development of 537 00:31:57,040 --> 00:32:00,840 Speaker 1: the keyboard was really difficult. It was it was hard 538 00:32:00,920 --> 00:32:04,040 Speaker 1: to make something that was going to work with the 539 00:32:04,120 --> 00:32:07,400 Speaker 1: base system and turn it into a computer. It was 540 00:32:07,640 --> 00:32:09,760 Speaker 1: very hard to do it in a way that was 541 00:32:09,800 --> 00:32:12,320 Speaker 1: going to be cost effective because it was so expensive 542 00:32:12,360 --> 00:32:15,560 Speaker 1: to produce that it would mean Mattel would have to 543 00:32:15,680 --> 00:32:19,760 Speaker 1: charge a lot of money for this keyboard peripheral. In fact, 544 00:32:19,880 --> 00:32:22,520 Speaker 1: ultimately the company would offer the keyboard in a very 545 00:32:23,080 --> 00:32:28,320 Speaker 1: very small, limited market for a whopping six hundred dollars. 546 00:32:28,800 --> 00:32:32,880 Speaker 1: Six hundred dollars is twice as expensive as the base 547 00:32:32,960 --> 00:32:35,760 Speaker 1: console when it first launched. And keep in mind Mattel 548 00:32:35,840 --> 00:32:38,840 Speaker 1: actually marked down the price of the in television, you know, 549 00:32:39,080 --> 00:32:41,640 Speaker 1: six months in a year after it came out. But 550 00:32:41,800 --> 00:32:43,960 Speaker 1: when it first launched it was three hundred dollars. This 551 00:32:44,120 --> 00:32:48,000 Speaker 1: keyboard peripheral was six hundred. And you could only find 552 00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:50,280 Speaker 1: it for sale in a couple of cities in the 553 00:32:50,400 --> 00:32:53,000 Speaker 1: United States, like I think one was, I want to say, 554 00:32:53,040 --> 00:32:56,760 Speaker 1: like New Orleans, and the other was Seattle or something. Otherwise, 555 00:32:56,760 --> 00:32:58,520 Speaker 1: the only way to get it was to purchase it 556 00:32:58,560 --> 00:33:01,640 Speaker 1: by mail order. You couldn't find it at your local 557 00:33:02,280 --> 00:33:07,280 Speaker 1: hobby store or whatever. This ambitious project, unsurprisingly turned out 558 00:33:07,320 --> 00:33:10,160 Speaker 1: to be a big failure. Like part of it is 559 00:33:10,200 --> 00:33:13,120 Speaker 1: that you know, it's so expensive, and the other part 560 00:33:13,160 --> 00:33:15,320 Speaker 1: is that it just was impossible to find, and it's 561 00:33:15,320 --> 00:33:19,280 Speaker 1: a shame that it failed, because who knows, maybe in 562 00:33:19,280 --> 00:33:22,240 Speaker 1: Television might have weathered the video game crash of nineteen 563 00:33:22,280 --> 00:33:25,120 Speaker 1: eighty three a little better if consumers had seen the 564 00:33:25,160 --> 00:33:28,720 Speaker 1: system as a viable personal computer. That's how Neees was 565 00:33:28,840 --> 00:33:32,760 Speaker 1: able to convince toy stores to carry the Nintendo Entertainment 566 00:33:32,800 --> 00:33:37,320 Speaker 1: System because Nees marketed it as a type of home 567 00:33:37,400 --> 00:33:40,280 Speaker 1: computer system, not just a video game console. Because after 568 00:33:40,320 --> 00:33:43,480 Speaker 1: the video game crash of nineteen eighty three, toy retailers 569 00:33:43,480 --> 00:33:46,320 Speaker 1: did not want to get back into video games because 570 00:33:47,040 --> 00:33:50,320 Speaker 1: it had been such a terrible experience. At the end 571 00:33:50,560 --> 00:33:54,880 Speaker 1: of the crash, when you had all this merchandise that 572 00:33:55,000 --> 00:33:57,920 Speaker 1: wasn't moving, you were marking it down to practically nothing, 573 00:33:58,280 --> 00:34:00,320 Speaker 1: and half the time you just had to throw it out. 574 00:34:00,400 --> 00:34:02,840 Speaker 1: You never get your money back, so retailers did not 575 00:34:03,000 --> 00:34:05,440 Speaker 1: want to deal with video games anymore. If in Television 576 00:34:05,480 --> 00:34:09,239 Speaker 1: had been able to position itself as a computer system 577 00:34:09,360 --> 00:34:11,840 Speaker 1: more than a video game system, then it might have 578 00:34:11,960 --> 00:34:14,879 Speaker 1: had an easier time of it. But as it turned out, 579 00:34:15,080 --> 00:34:18,839 Speaker 1: this keyboard peripheral was just too darn expensive, so it 580 00:34:18,920 --> 00:34:23,040 Speaker 1: was not really a viable option. Mattel did produce a 581 00:34:23,040 --> 00:34:25,759 Speaker 1: lot of games for the Intellivision. By the end of 582 00:34:25,800 --> 00:34:30,000 Speaker 1: the system's life cycle, which actually extended beyond Mattel's operation 583 00:34:30,080 --> 00:34:33,000 Speaker 1: of the brand in television would boast around one hundred 584 00:34:33,000 --> 00:34:36,000 Speaker 1: and twenty five titles. Now in Television didn't have the 585 00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:39,560 Speaker 1: same number of licensed games that Atari did. That was 586 00:34:39,600 --> 00:34:43,120 Speaker 1: a bit of a strike against the Intellivision system. Gamers 587 00:34:43,120 --> 00:34:45,560 Speaker 1: wanted to be able to play their favorite arcade titles 588 00:34:45,560 --> 00:34:48,160 Speaker 1: at home, and while that didn't always work out so 589 00:34:48,280 --> 00:34:51,520 Speaker 1: well see also the Atari twenty six hundred version of 590 00:34:51,520 --> 00:34:54,160 Speaker 1: Pac Man, one of the worst games I ever owned, 591 00:34:54,360 --> 00:34:57,440 Speaker 1: it still gave Atari a leg up on Intellivision because 592 00:34:57,480 --> 00:35:00,960 Speaker 1: Atari did have more licenses. That's not to say Mattel 593 00:35:01,040 --> 00:35:04,840 Speaker 1: didn't secure a few licenses itself. It did, but a 594 00:35:04,880 --> 00:35:07,560 Speaker 1: lot of the games that in Television produced were kind 595 00:35:07,560 --> 00:35:11,440 Speaker 1: of like these independent titles. These original ideas. Original ideas 596 00:35:11,440 --> 00:35:13,959 Speaker 1: are just harder to sell to gamers who were hoping 597 00:35:14,000 --> 00:35:17,480 Speaker 1: to bring the arcade experience to their home. Mattel also 598 00:35:17,520 --> 00:35:20,600 Speaker 1: produced a more compact, cheaper version of the Intellivision in 599 00:35:20,719 --> 00:35:23,600 Speaker 1: early nineteen eighty three, just as the whole market was 600 00:35:23,600 --> 00:35:27,439 Speaker 1: starting to crumble. This was called the Intellivision two, and 601 00:35:27,880 --> 00:35:30,880 Speaker 1: it wasn't like a huge improvement over the Intellivision. It 602 00:35:30,920 --> 00:35:33,640 Speaker 1: was really the same system, but with a few quality 603 00:35:33,640 --> 00:35:37,520 Speaker 1: of life improvements, right Like it had longer chords for 604 00:35:37,680 --> 00:35:40,279 Speaker 1: the controllers, so you didn't have to sit right next 605 00:35:40,280 --> 00:35:43,960 Speaker 1: to the console. The original Intellivision, those chords were super short, 606 00:35:44,000 --> 00:35:46,360 Speaker 1: so it's not like you could have the Intellivision saying 607 00:35:46,360 --> 00:35:48,720 Speaker 1: on a coffee table and you're kicking back on the couch. 608 00:35:48,760 --> 00:35:52,040 Speaker 1: You'd be like hunched right up over top the system 609 00:35:52,080 --> 00:35:55,280 Speaker 1: in order to play it well in television. Two improved 610 00:35:55,320 --> 00:35:58,560 Speaker 1: that a little bit. It was also more compact, smaller, 611 00:35:58,719 --> 00:36:02,160 Speaker 1: it's less expensive, but it also was not compatible with 612 00:36:02,400 --> 00:36:05,399 Speaker 1: every game that had been made for the original Intellivision, 613 00:36:05,680 --> 00:36:07,520 Speaker 1: and the reason for that turned out to be that 614 00:36:07,520 --> 00:36:11,120 Speaker 1: Mattel had made some tweaks to the operating system, allegedly 615 00:36:11,360 --> 00:36:15,720 Speaker 1: specifically so that they could prevent certain third party games 616 00:36:15,760 --> 00:36:18,960 Speaker 1: from operating on it, which is pretty darn sneaky Mattel. 617 00:36:19,360 --> 00:36:22,080 Speaker 1: The company had also started to id eate an engineer 618 00:36:22,200 --> 00:36:27,400 Speaker 1: around actual updated versions of the hardware, like real successors 619 00:36:27,480 --> 00:36:31,640 Speaker 1: to the original Intellivision, so and Intelevision three was in development, 620 00:36:31,840 --> 00:36:34,640 Speaker 1: and also plans were in place for yet another console. 621 00:36:34,719 --> 00:36:37,239 Speaker 1: It was code named Decade. It might have been the 622 00:36:37,239 --> 00:36:41,839 Speaker 1: Intelevision four, but the video game crash would sideline all 623 00:36:41,880 --> 00:36:47,000 Speaker 1: of those plans. Interestingly, the Intellivision would technically survive the 624 00:36:47,120 --> 00:36:50,440 Speaker 1: video game crash. In fact, it was the lone video 625 00:36:50,520 --> 00:36:55,520 Speaker 1: game console for sale in the holiday season and nineteen 626 00:36:55,560 --> 00:36:57,960 Speaker 1: eighty four here in the United States, it was the 627 00:36:57,960 --> 00:37:00,680 Speaker 1: only one still being produced and sold in store. All 628 00:37:00,800 --> 00:37:03,840 Speaker 1: the other competitors had either completely gone out of business 629 00:37:04,000 --> 00:37:07,280 Speaker 1: or they had changed their focus to some other technologies. 630 00:37:07,600 --> 00:37:11,200 Speaker 1: But at that point it wasn't Mattel calling the shots, 631 00:37:11,560 --> 00:37:14,920 Speaker 1: because in nineteen eighty four, Mattel actually shut down the 632 00:37:14,960 --> 00:37:18,439 Speaker 1: Mattel Electronics division of the company and started to sell 633 00:37:18,480 --> 00:37:23,000 Speaker 1: off assets, and one former marketing executive for Mattel, a 634 00:37:23,040 --> 00:37:27,000 Speaker 1: guy named Terence Veleski, formed a new company that was 635 00:37:27,080 --> 00:37:33,760 Speaker 1: ultimately called IINTV Corporation. He purchased the Intellivision IP from Mattel, 636 00:37:33,960 --> 00:37:36,200 Speaker 1: so he got the brand and the technology and all 637 00:37:36,200 --> 00:37:40,200 Speaker 1: the games and everything, and so I INTV Corporation would 638 00:37:40,239 --> 00:37:43,960 Speaker 1: take over the production and development of the Intellivision systems 639 00:37:44,000 --> 00:37:47,640 Speaker 1: and brands, and so the console stayed in production, although 640 00:37:47,680 --> 00:37:51,520 Speaker 1: now produced by ITV as opposed to Mattel, so it 641 00:37:51,560 --> 00:37:54,759 Speaker 1: was doing so with a new corporate overlord. This meant 642 00:37:54,760 --> 00:37:59,400 Speaker 1: the Intellivision would actually survive throughout the entire nineteen eighties, 643 00:37:59,640 --> 00:38:02,520 Speaker 1: but despite efforts to build out things that would allow 644 00:38:02,600 --> 00:38:06,160 Speaker 1: in television to continue beyond that, everything started to fizzle out. 645 00:38:06,760 --> 00:38:10,799 Speaker 1: Right around nineteen ninety, Intellivision secured a deal with the 646 00:38:11,080 --> 00:38:14,960 Speaker 1: World Book Encyclopedia to produce an educational system that was 647 00:38:15,040 --> 00:38:20,319 Speaker 1: based off the Intellivision console, but that all kind of 648 00:38:20,360 --> 00:38:25,000 Speaker 1: fell apart and in television or IONTV Corporation and Worldbook 649 00:38:25,000 --> 00:38:28,960 Speaker 1: would end up suing the pants off each other proverbially speaking, 650 00:38:29,400 --> 00:38:33,360 Speaker 1: and ultimately IONTV Corporation would go into bankruptcy toward the 651 00:38:33,400 --> 00:38:36,640 Speaker 1: end of nineteen ninety and folded in nineteen ninety one, 652 00:38:36,760 --> 00:38:40,000 Speaker 1: partly as a result of these lawsuits, but even then 653 00:38:40,080 --> 00:38:45,400 Speaker 1: the Intellivision was only mostly dead. Keith Robinson, you know, 654 00:38:45,480 --> 00:38:47,960 Speaker 1: who was the former manager of the Blue Sky Rangers, 655 00:38:48,239 --> 00:38:52,320 Speaker 1: actually obtained the rights to many of the Intellivision games 656 00:38:52,320 --> 00:38:55,080 Speaker 1: that were made by his group in the mid nineteen nineties, 657 00:38:55,280 --> 00:38:57,640 Speaker 1: and in nineteen ninety seven he started to make these 658 00:38:57,719 --> 00:39:02,440 Speaker 1: games freely available with an m yes DASS based emulator. 659 00:39:03,719 --> 00:39:07,520 Speaker 1: Just quick side note, and emulator is a device or 660 00:39:07,560 --> 00:39:12,400 Speaker 1: some software that copies or emulates some other system in 661 00:39:12,520 --> 00:39:14,920 Speaker 1: order for you to be able to access software for 662 00:39:15,000 --> 00:39:19,120 Speaker 1: that system on some other platform. Most of the time, 663 00:39:19,160 --> 00:39:22,200 Speaker 1: when I talk about video game emulators, I'm actually talking 664 00:39:22,200 --> 00:39:25,440 Speaker 1: about stuff that has no official rights to emulate the 665 00:39:25,480 --> 00:39:28,960 Speaker 1: other technologies. That's not the case here, which I think 666 00:39:29,000 --> 00:39:32,359 Speaker 1: is pretty cool because again, typically i'm talking about like 667 00:39:33,200 --> 00:39:36,480 Speaker 1: things that are related to piracy. This isn't so. Robinson 668 00:39:36,560 --> 00:39:40,640 Speaker 1: formed a company called Intelevision Productions to oversee these efforts, 669 00:39:40,800 --> 00:39:45,040 Speaker 1: and in fact, at one point in Television Productions even 670 00:39:45,080 --> 00:39:48,279 Speaker 1: took steps to go into production with brand new and 671 00:39:48,360 --> 00:39:52,080 Speaker 1: television cartridges, some of which were games that had been 672 00:39:52,360 --> 00:39:54,840 Speaker 1: through development but had never been released, and others that 673 00:39:54,880 --> 00:39:58,120 Speaker 1: were brand new, so these would be new cartridges that 674 00:39:58,160 --> 00:40:02,400 Speaker 1: would work on legacy and television systems. Unfortunately, those efforts 675 00:40:02,440 --> 00:40:04,880 Speaker 1: fizzled out, but it was cool that for a while 676 00:40:04,920 --> 00:40:07,200 Speaker 1: it looked like an obsolete system was going to get 677 00:40:07,239 --> 00:40:10,960 Speaker 1: a second retro life. In the late nineteen nineties, the 678 00:40:11,000 --> 00:40:15,840 Speaker 1: Intellivision brand faded a bit further from memory in subsequent years, 679 00:40:15,840 --> 00:40:18,840 Speaker 1: though occasionally titles would pop up in special deals or 680 00:40:18,920 --> 00:40:22,320 Speaker 1: compilations for other platforms, things like, you know, like mobile 681 00:40:22,320 --> 00:40:25,680 Speaker 1: devices or whatever. In twenty fourteen, a company called at 682 00:40:25,719 --> 00:40:30,520 Speaker 1: Games Digital Media Incorporated licensed the Intellivision brand and released 683 00:40:30,520 --> 00:40:35,360 Speaker 1: a dedicated console featuring around sixty titles. This console was 684 00:40:35,360 --> 00:40:40,280 Speaker 1: called the Intellivision Flashback, So that was something that people 685 00:40:40,320 --> 00:40:43,200 Speaker 1: could get again, one of those just little dedicated console 686 00:40:43,280 --> 00:40:46,680 Speaker 1: retro systems. Four years after that, in twenty eighteen, the 687 00:40:46,880 --> 00:40:50,319 Speaker 1: video game composer Tommy Tellerico, whom I always think of 688 00:40:50,560 --> 00:40:53,080 Speaker 1: back in the days of G four TV. Any of 689 00:40:53,160 --> 00:40:56,959 Speaker 1: y'all who remember that cable channel, that short lived cable 690 00:40:57,040 --> 00:40:59,600 Speaker 1: channel G four I'm talking about the original G four TV, 691 00:40:59,760 --> 00:41:03,200 Speaker 1: not reboot that also unfortunately had a fairly short life. 692 00:41:03,520 --> 00:41:07,239 Speaker 1: Tommy tall Rico was a personality on that channel, but 693 00:41:07,280 --> 00:41:11,560 Speaker 1: he also is a really prolific video game composer. Well. 694 00:41:11,680 --> 00:41:14,319 Speaker 1: He announced in twenty eighteen that he had purchased the 695 00:41:14,400 --> 00:41:18,120 Speaker 1: rights to the Intellivision brand. Now, at this stage, tall 696 00:41:18,239 --> 00:41:21,600 Speaker 1: Rico's plan was to develop a new video game console 697 00:41:21,880 --> 00:41:24,879 Speaker 1: that was inspired by the Intellivision. This new console would 698 00:41:24,880 --> 00:41:27,680 Speaker 1: be the Intellivision Amiko, which I mentioned at the very 699 00:41:27,680 --> 00:41:31,319 Speaker 1: top of this episode. The new company he created took 700 00:41:31,360 --> 00:41:34,880 Speaker 1: the name in Television Entertainment. So initially the hope was 701 00:41:34,880 --> 00:41:37,560 Speaker 1: to bring this console to market in twenty twenty, but 702 00:41:37,640 --> 00:41:39,640 Speaker 1: then a whole bunch of stuff happened. You know, you 703 00:41:39,680 --> 00:41:44,080 Speaker 1: had your typical delays and engineering challenges, but then you 704 00:41:44,120 --> 00:41:47,400 Speaker 1: also had I don't know, a global pandemic. Maybe you 705 00:41:47,440 --> 00:41:51,479 Speaker 1: remember that. Anyway, the Amiko would experience numerous delays until 706 00:41:51,560 --> 00:41:55,399 Speaker 1: yet another seismic shift would hit the brand because on 707 00:41:55,440 --> 00:42:01,200 Speaker 1: May twenty third of twenty twenty four, Atari s acquired 708 00:42:01,280 --> 00:42:04,719 Speaker 1: the rights to the Intellivision brand and library. Now, they 709 00:42:04,719 --> 00:42:07,919 Speaker 1: did not buy the rights to the Amiko console. That's 710 00:42:07,960 --> 00:42:12,600 Speaker 1: still staying with Intelevision Entertainment, which is going to rename itself. 711 00:42:12,719 --> 00:42:14,840 Speaker 1: It may have by the time I've recorded this episode. 712 00:42:14,880 --> 00:42:16,600 Speaker 1: I didn't look into that to see if they had 713 00:42:16,600 --> 00:42:19,040 Speaker 1: actually changed their name yet. But yeah, they're changing that 714 00:42:19,200 --> 00:42:22,360 Speaker 1: name and it won't be the Intellivision Amiko anymore. But 715 00:42:22,640 --> 00:42:25,120 Speaker 1: the plan is for the Amiko to still come out, 716 00:42:25,200 --> 00:42:28,319 Speaker 1: to still have games made for it. And also to 717 00:42:28,520 --> 00:42:32,319 Speaker 1: license games from Intellivision, so you would still be able 718 00:42:32,320 --> 00:42:36,680 Speaker 1: to get certain intelevision titles on the Amiko. But yeah, 719 00:42:36,800 --> 00:42:41,600 Speaker 1: now Atari Essay owns in television. This seems like one 720 00:42:41,640 --> 00:42:45,480 Speaker 1: of those kind of ironic ending type things where you know, 721 00:42:45,760 --> 00:42:48,680 Speaker 1: these former competitors are now part of the same company. 722 00:42:48,719 --> 00:42:53,440 Speaker 1: But that doesn't really work because neither Atari Essay is 723 00:42:53,480 --> 00:42:56,560 Speaker 1: the same as the original Atari company in the nineteen eighties, 724 00:42:56,719 --> 00:43:01,720 Speaker 1: nor is the new intelevision entertainment brand that was brought 725 00:43:01,760 --> 00:43:06,560 Speaker 1: over to Atari Essay that's not directly related to Intellivision either. Like, yeah, 726 00:43:06,640 --> 00:43:09,359 Speaker 1: it's the brand, it's the IP, but it's not all 727 00:43:09,400 --> 00:43:13,040 Speaker 1: the people who put it together, so it's not quite 728 00:43:13,080 --> 00:43:17,200 Speaker 1: the same thing. On paper, it seems like a delicious irony, 729 00:43:17,400 --> 00:43:21,880 Speaker 1: but in reality it's you know, corporate maneuvering and acquisitions 730 00:43:21,960 --> 00:43:26,000 Speaker 1: and divestments and all that mess. Nothing that's easy to 731 00:43:26,120 --> 00:43:30,920 Speaker 1: actually outline, but still interesting. Now that Atari technically not 732 00:43:31,040 --> 00:43:36,080 Speaker 1: technically Atari owns the Intellivision IP, So how that's going 733 00:43:36,120 --> 00:43:39,480 Speaker 1: to manifest I don't know, Like I don't know if 734 00:43:39,480 --> 00:43:42,160 Speaker 1: we're going to start seeing re releases of these classic 735 00:43:42,239 --> 00:43:46,239 Speaker 1: in television titles or another like attempt at creating a 736 00:43:46,600 --> 00:43:51,720 Speaker 1: dedicated console that features some of the more popular titles. 737 00:43:52,200 --> 00:43:55,560 Speaker 1: I would love to play the Intellivision Dungeons and Dragons title. Again. 738 00:43:55,640 --> 00:43:57,239 Speaker 1: I really had a lot of fun playing with that 739 00:43:57,280 --> 00:43:59,000 Speaker 1: when I was a kid, so I would love to 740 00:43:59,480 --> 00:44:01,759 Speaker 1: have that. I'm sure I could find it online. I 741 00:44:01,920 --> 00:44:04,640 Speaker 1: just I wouldn't mind having a little dedicade console so 742 00:44:04,680 --> 00:44:07,399 Speaker 1: I could try to relive my childhood and then within 743 00:44:07,520 --> 00:44:09,480 Speaker 1: like three or four minutes, turn it off and put 744 00:44:09,480 --> 00:44:11,400 Speaker 1: it in the corner and never touch it again because 745 00:44:11,400 --> 00:44:15,080 Speaker 1: the games are hard and I'm old. But anyway, that's 746 00:44:15,080 --> 00:44:18,360 Speaker 1: an overview of the story of in television. As I said, like, 747 00:44:18,400 --> 00:44:21,120 Speaker 1: there's this full length book that's coming out later this year. 748 00:44:21,160 --> 00:44:23,640 Speaker 1: It's really expensive too. When I looked on Amazon like 749 00:44:23,680 --> 00:44:26,240 Speaker 1: pre ordering, it was like sixty dollars. So I'm guessing 750 00:44:26,280 --> 00:44:28,400 Speaker 1: it's going to be used like a textbook or something 751 00:44:28,440 --> 00:44:31,640 Speaker 1: because at that price, that's that's a hefty price tag 752 00:44:31,680 --> 00:44:34,040 Speaker 1: for a book. But maybe I'll reach out to the 753 00:44:34,080 --> 00:44:37,040 Speaker 1: authors and see about having them on to talk about 754 00:44:37,600 --> 00:44:40,120 Speaker 1: in more detail some of the stories about the development, 755 00:44:40,160 --> 00:44:43,399 Speaker 1: because I'm sure there's lots of twists and turns and 756 00:44:43,719 --> 00:44:47,480 Speaker 1: interesting decisions like I didn't really touch on the corporate 757 00:44:47,600 --> 00:44:50,760 Speaker 1: level of MATEL on what was going on there, because 758 00:44:50,760 --> 00:44:53,440 Speaker 1: it didn't really look too deeply into that, but surely 759 00:44:53,520 --> 00:44:57,200 Speaker 1: that played a part in these decisions as well. Anyway, 760 00:44:57,320 --> 00:44:59,560 Speaker 1: I hope you enjoyed this episode, and I hope all 761 00:44:59,560 --> 00:45:01,800 Speaker 1: of you are well, and I'll talk to you again 762 00:45:02,640 --> 00:45:12,480 Speaker 1: really soon. Tech Stuff is an iHeartRadio production. For more 763 00:45:12,560 --> 00:45:17,279 Speaker 1: podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or 764 00:45:17,320 --> 00:45:19,240 Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.