The Golden Age of Video Games The Birth of a Multibillion Dollar Industry 1st Edition by Roberto Dillon 1040053602 9781040053607

Part I: From research labs and academia to the birth and booming of a new industry

The Beginning

The First Commercial Game and the First Home Console

Atari, Pong, and the Jackals

Pong Goes Home

Home Consoles

Fairchild Channel F and RCA Studio II

The VCS Emerges amidst Big Changes at Atari

Easter Eggs and the Birth of Third-Party Software

Intellivision, ColecoVision, and the Others

Meanwhile, in Japan…

Computers Go Home Too!

Jack Tramiel and Commodore

Across the Pond: Sinclair

Games That Pushed Boundaries I

Breakout (1976, Atari)

Night Driver (1977, Atari)

Asteroids (1979, Atari)

Galaxian (1979, Namco)

Star Raiders (1979, Atari)

Zork (1979, Infocom)

Tail Gunner (1979, Cinematronics)

Defender (1980, Williams)

Flight Simulator (1980, SubLogic)

Ultima (1981, California Pacific Computer Company)

Pitfall! (1982, Activision)

Utopia (1982, Mattel)

Part II: The crash, home computers, and an extra life

1983: The Crash

Public Perception

Over-Saturation and Low-Quality Games

Transitioning to a New Generation

Home Computer Wars

Casualties

Computers, Computers, Computers

Atari 800XL

Commodore 64

ZX Spectrum

BBC Micro

Amstrad CPC

MSX

Apple II

And What about the IBM PC?

Atari and Commodore: from Here, Where?

Nintendo Gives Consoles an Extra Life: the NES, ROB, and Super Mario

New Competition: the Sega Master System

Games That Pushed Boundaries II

Football Manager (1982, Addictive Games)

Pole Position (1982, Atari)

Atic Atac (1983, Ultimate)

One on One (1983, Electronic Arts)

Dragon’s Lair (1983, Cinematronics)

Mario Bros. (1983, Nintendo)

M.U.L.E. (1983, Electronic Arts)

Impossible Mission (1983, Epyx)

Karate Champ (1984, Data East)

Lords of Midnight (1984, Beyond Software)

Seven Cities of Gold (1984, Electronic Arts)

Little Computer People (1985, Activision)

The Legend of Zelda (1986, Nintendo)

Metroid (1986, Nintendo)

Final Fantasy (1987, Square)

Maniac Mansion (1987, LucasFilm)

Part III: Sixteen-bit power, new generations, and the rise of the PC

The Beginning of a New Era

Atari ST

Commodore Amiga

New Generations with Some of the Same Old Problems

PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16

Mega Drive/Genesis

Super Nintendo Entertainment System

Neo-Geo

3DO Interactive Multiplayer

1991: Sony and Nintendo?

The PC Becomes Gaming Mature

Games That Pushed Boundaries III

Sid Meier’s Pirates! (1987, MicroProse)

Captain Blood (1988, ERE Informatique)

Snatcher (1988, Konami)

Prince of Persia (1989, Broderbund)

Kick Off (1989, Anco)

SimCity (1989, Maxis/Infogrames)

Populous (1989, Bullfrog/EA)

Lost Patrol (1990, Shadow Development/Ocean)

Civilization (1991, MicroProse)

Another World (1991, Delphine/U.S.Gold)

Lemmings (1991, DMA Design/Psygnosis)

Street Fighter II (1991, Capcom)

Neverwinter Nights (1991, Stormfront Studios / SSI)

Doom (1993, ID Software)

Epilogue

Game Over

Press Start to Continue

Appendix A

A Brief History of Handheld Devices

Appendix B

Collecting Classic Games Today

An Interview with Mike Kennedy

Bibliography

Photo Credits

Index

About the Author