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Turns out that Mondays are busy for thaddius. Hooray! So Tuesday is the new Monday now. I'll try to make updates then.
So, a quick recap of the rules:
On to the competition!
This week we have the first generation of consoles (or as I like to call it: the generation of consoles that no one will vote on because they've never heard of these consoles). If you are indeed unfamiliar with this week's choices, I implore you to stick around. Feel free to try out an emulator or something (note: thaddius does not endorse piracy, but can't stop you), you might learn some history! Awesome! And of course, there's no doubt that we'll eventually get to something you love and care about as we slog through the reaches of (recent) time together! It's time we got this started though, so.... let the descriptions begin!
It was the mid-70s. Everyone was still reeling from the Summer of Love, and hippies were everywhere. Video games had had a minor breakout into the mainstream as programmers were no longer making weird games for oscillators anymore and instead were cramming their new-found knowledge into arcade machines that were sweeping the States by storm! There were a couple of arcade games that had limited success, but mostly people were wary of this new technology. They were afraid of what it would become, but no one would ever admit that.
This week's challengers are:
The Magnavox Odyssey
The first console ever! What a title! This hunk of plastic was a cartridge based system two player functionality. It sold quite well seeing as how it was a whole new medium, reporting 330,000 units sold. Much like a board game, it came with all sorts of chips and paper monies and stuff, but also had a light gun attachment as well as some overlays for the TV to make up for it's almost complete lack of graphics! Woo hoo!
The Atari/Sears Pong
Atari hits the console scene with a home version if it's super arcade hit, Pong! You guys know Pong. You guys love Pong...! right? Atari was just starting up, so it had no distribution infrastructure. It had to rely on retailers like Sears to distribute it's machines. Needless to say it sold well, even though I have no sales records to back that up! Isn't history grand?
The Coleco Telstar series
At some point in time, the Connecticut Leather Company decided to get into the video game market, changing their name to Coleco to snare the kids with a hip new name. I did not make that up. Between '76 and '78 they released a series of 14 (!!!) consoles under the name Telstar. While the original console was a Pong clone, and some of the later models were Pong clones with little variation in their extra built-in games, the final model (pictured above) took triangular cartridges, and had a plethora of inputs. What an ugly bastard of a system!
The aptly named Nintendo color TV Game
There was this playing card company in Japan that, after releasing Love Testers and other novelties in the 60s, suddenly started to take an interest in video games. For their first entry into the industry that decided to go with a Pong clone, y'know, like everyone else. While only released in Japan, it made a huge impact, setting Nintendo up for future ventures. Too bad no one's ever heard of this company.
Random Pong Consoles (or, How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Clones)
Send in the clones! This last one is dedicated to any particular Pong clone that you had around the house that kept you entertained. Pong was widely copied and cloned. If your favourite one was not mentioned above, give a vote for this one!
You can't make a popular game these days without someone copying your fundamentals in their own package, so why would the 70s be any different? No sooner had Atari's Pong become an arcade hit, than clones started to surface everywhere. It seemed like any Joe Blow with a soldering iron and minimal programming skillz felt the need to flood the market with these things. Nice guys. Since it was a new medium, copyright and patenting was dubious, and would take years to sort out. Luckily for Atari, most of these companies would go bankrupt by the end of the decade and not be a problem. Others, like the aforementioned Coleco and Nintendo though...
Housekeeping!! Woo!
That's it for this week folks. Results will be posted next week! Soon after I'll post the next competition with another spectacular breakdown! Stay tuned for next week's competition, featuring the underrated Second Generation!
*sweeping orchestral crescendo, fade*
Check the spoiler window for the upcoming brackets!
Who will win? It could be you!*
note: It can't be you.
EDIT: Poll is closed. Next bracket will be up soon, first I must post the results.
So, a quick recap of the rules:
Each week, video game history will be put to the test to see which console or handheld is the greatest. There can only be one!
Vote for your favourite and follow it through to the end as we try to determine GBATemp's favourite console/handheld!
Consoles and handhelds will face off in brackets comprised of their generation. Once a winner has been declared for each generation, the console winners and the handheld winners will face off in individual brackets. Once an ultimate console and ultimate handheld have been chosen, they will face off against each other to see who is the greatest!
For a concrete example of the brackets, see the image at the bottom of this post.
Possible future excitement:
I'm going to try to get some sponsorship. If I'm successful, I might have prizes for the best lamentations, reminisce-enteurs or nostalgiosos. That being said: if anyone would like to sponsor this competition, please send me a PM.
Vote for your favourite and follow it through to the end as we try to determine GBATemp's favourite console/handheld!
Consoles and handhelds will face off in brackets comprised of their generation. Once a winner has been declared for each generation, the console winners and the handheld winners will face off in individual brackets. Once an ultimate console and ultimate handheld have been chosen, they will face off against each other to see who is the greatest!
For a concrete example of the brackets, see the image at the bottom of this post.
Possible future excitement:
I'm going to try to get some sponsorship. If I'm successful, I might have prizes for the best lamentations, reminisce-enteurs or nostalgiosos. That being said: if anyone would like to sponsor this competition, please send me a PM.
On to the competition!
This week we have the first generation of consoles (or as I like to call it: the generation of consoles that no one will vote on because they've never heard of these consoles). If you are indeed unfamiliar with this week's choices, I implore you to stick around. Feel free to try out an emulator or something (note: thaddius does not endorse piracy, but can't stop you), you might learn some history! Awesome! And of course, there's no doubt that we'll eventually get to something you love and care about as we slog through the reaches of (recent) time together! It's time we got this started though, so.... let the descriptions begin!
It was the mid-70s. Everyone was still reeling from the Summer of Love, and hippies were everywhere. Video games had had a minor breakout into the mainstream as programmers were no longer making weird games for oscillators anymore and instead were cramming their new-found knowledge into arcade machines that were sweeping the States by storm! There were a couple of arcade games that had limited success, but mostly people were wary of this new technology. They were afraid of what it would become, but no one would ever admit that.
This week's challengers are:
The Magnavox Odyssey
The first console ever! What a title! This hunk of plastic was a cartridge based system two player functionality. It sold quite well seeing as how it was a whole new medium, reporting 330,000 units sold. Much like a board game, it came with all sorts of chips and paper monies and stuff, but also had a light gun attachment as well as some overlays for the TV to make up for it's almost complete lack of graphics! Woo hoo!
The Atari/Sears Pong
Atari hits the console scene with a home version if it's super arcade hit, Pong! You guys know Pong. You guys love Pong...! right? Atari was just starting up, so it had no distribution infrastructure. It had to rely on retailers like Sears to distribute it's machines. Needless to say it sold well, even though I have no sales records to back that up! Isn't history grand?
The Coleco Telstar series
At some point in time, the Connecticut Leather Company decided to get into the video game market, changing their name to Coleco to snare the kids with a hip new name. I did not make that up. Between '76 and '78 they released a series of 14 (!!!) consoles under the name Telstar. While the original console was a Pong clone, and some of the later models were Pong clones with little variation in their extra built-in games, the final model (pictured above) took triangular cartridges, and had a plethora of inputs. What an ugly bastard of a system!
The aptly named Nintendo color TV Game
There was this playing card company in Japan that, after releasing Love Testers and other novelties in the 60s, suddenly started to take an interest in video games. For their first entry into the industry that decided to go with a Pong clone, y'know, like everyone else. While only released in Japan, it made a huge impact, setting Nintendo up for future ventures. Too bad no one's ever heard of this company.
Random Pong Consoles (or, How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Clones)
Send in the clones! This last one is dedicated to any particular Pong clone that you had around the house that kept you entertained. Pong was widely copied and cloned. If your favourite one was not mentioned above, give a vote for this one!
You can't make a popular game these days without someone copying your fundamentals in their own package, so why would the 70s be any different? No sooner had Atari's Pong become an arcade hit, than clones started to surface everywhere. It seemed like any Joe Blow with a soldering iron and minimal programming skillz felt the need to flood the market with these things. Nice guys. Since it was a new medium, copyright and patenting was dubious, and would take years to sort out. Luckily for Atari, most of these companies would go bankrupt by the end of the decade and not be a problem. Others, like the aforementioned Coleco and Nintendo though...
Housekeeping!! Woo!
That's it for this week folks. Results will be posted next week! Soon after I'll post the next competition with another spectacular breakdown! Stay tuned for next week's competition, featuring the underrated Second Generation!
*sweeping orchestral crescendo, fade*
Check the spoiler window for the upcoming brackets!
Who will win? It could be you!*
note: It can't be you.
EDIT: Poll is closed. Next bracket will be up soon, first I must post the results.
Don't worry though, folks, Coleco still has some kick left in them. What do I mean? Stay tuned!
