Getting my Atari history straight

[Miss 2600]

Nice research, batari!

 

I can vouch for "lemmingism". I run a website on a silent film actor and I got erroneous info from a source about his siblings (that he had 10 brothers). Well, I later learned he had brothers and sisters and changed my site but, in my research, I found other sites stating he had 10 brothers (obviously copying my error). Then another thing I had ended up in a BOOK. This was about my subject being an alcoholic. I had a person who studied my guy telling me thing and giving me some sources but nothing that definitely stated he was an alcoholic. I've since backed off a little in my site, stating there are rumors and accounts of alcohol problems. Of course, back then there is no clear info on such things because such things weren't written about. Well, the way the author wrote about it, it was obvious to me he pulled the info from my site. Whether a person was an alcoholic is something I'd think you'd want to research and get right before publishing it in a book, but there you go.

[SpaceDice2010]

Ms. Pac Man was released in 1993.

[Albert]

I just cleaned this thread up a bit, please refrain from personal attacks. If you can't get your point across without resorting to name calling, then move on to another thread or don't post at all. If you're getting your panties in a bunch arguing over the release year of an Atari 2600 game, you need to get away from the computer and go outside for some fresh air.

 

Having said that, just because a website lists a release date for an Atari 2600 game, that doesn't make it gospel. If a majority of such sites list a year of 1982 versus 1983, that doesn't mean the majority is right. That often just means that the other sites are copying information from each other. Given the evidence presented here so far, it seems logical to conclude that Ms. Pac-Man was released in early 1983.

 

..Al

[mattbuc16]

Thanks, Albert.

[SpaceDice2010]

Yeah. Thanks Albert.

 

A little trivia on Ms. Pac Man. It was named video game of the year 1983 (under 16k rom) by Electronic Games Magazine. Also, it was reviewed in the Feb 1983 issue of Arcade Express. AE was a newsletter published by the publishers of EG that was pretty timely in the reviews and didn't suffer from a printing lag as I believe it was published twice a month.

 

You know. One thing I would love to see is a time line (month/year) and what games were released during each month for the VCS. It would be interesting to see that. But, if so much hard feelings are caused by just trying to decide what year Ms. Pac Man came out, I am afraid we would start a world war...

[Chuck D. Head]

 

Me thinks Random Terrain may be wrong on this one.

 

Well, if that is the case, it would be the first time

 

 

Not that I believe that, just wanted to steal R.T.'s chance to say it first

Edited November 8, 2010 by Chuck D. Head

[+Random Terrain]

Moby Games, Video-Game-Central, Gamespot and Gamefaqs claim a 1982 release date for Ms. Pac Man on the VCS console.

 

Gamespy goes so far as to list an actual release date of July 5, 1982 (US).

 

Me thinks Random Terrain may be wrong on this one.

Would Albert Yarusso know? AA lists release date of 1982 for Ms. Pac Man, see here.

Seems that clearly the release date here is incorrect. It's spring '83.

"Clearly" to who, Random Terrain? Wow, I am so glad you have presented the facts...

 

I was 17 when the game was released, so my memory is probably better than a lot of people who were fetuses at the time. Besides my memory, I have Atari Age magazine to back me up:

 

http://www.atariage.com/magazines/magazine_thumbs.html?MagazineID=5

 

I also have this Atari catalog to back me up:

 

http://www.atariage.com/catalog_page.html?CatalogID=83&currentPage=6

 

I was drooling over this game and couldn't wait to play it since it was supposed to be so much better than Pac-Man. If the game would have been released in 1982, I would have crapped my pants.

 

A lot of dates on the Internet are wrong. It's hard to get people to spell Yars' Revenge correctly, so how do you expect them to get dates right?

 

The general release date for Ms. Pac-Man is easy stuff. At the very least, it's easy to track down the year it was released. If you're going to argue about something this easy to look up, there's no hope for games that aren't as easy.

[Room 34]

For what it's worth, I remember absolutely that Ms. Pac-Man for the Atari 2600 was released in 1983. As someone else said, a copyright date does not mean that's the year it was released.

 

I have very specific memories tying Atari games to specific months in 1982-1983 as well.

 

I got my Atari 2600 in May 1982. I was in second grade. That summer I got Defender, shortly after it was released, in JUNE 1982. I also very specifically remember getting Berzerk, Star Raiders, and Pitfall! for Christmas in 1982. Ms. Pac-Man was not available yet.

 

Forget about copyright dates. Think about it logically:

 

For Christmas of 1982 Atari was aggressively promoting two games: Pac-Man and E.T. There is no way Ms. Pac-Man was available yet.

 

Also check the announced release dates for games in the Atari game catalogs of the era. Those were not always right, but the games were NEVER released BEFORE those dates.

 

Finally, focus on the label styles. The silver labels were introduced in late 1982, it's true, but the games that were released with those labels in 1982 were extremely limited. E.T. and Raiders of the Lost Ark are the only two I can think of, offhand, but I know Ms. Pac-Man was not among them.

 

Here are some links to relevant pages in the game catalogs:

 

A pre-silver label catalog announcing Berzerk's release in August 1982

http://www.atariage.com/catalog_page.html?CatalogID=33&currentPage=18

 

And the same catalog announcing Star Raiders for September 1982

http://www.atariage.com/catalog_page.html?CatalogID=33&currentPage=20

 

The first catalog to mention Ms. Pac-Man, with a February 1983 release date

http://www.atariage.com/catalog_page.html?CatalogID=83&currentPage=6

[SpaceDice2010]

I think it's pretty much established that Ms. Pac Man came out in 1983. I remember buying both Vanguard and Ms. Pac Man after Christmas of 1982. Now, here are the titles that Atari released in 1982 broken down by month. Enjoy...

 

http://www.atariage.com/magazines/magazine_page.html?MagazineID=4&CurrentPage=15

 

(I didn't realize that Yar's came out after Pac Man.)

[BigO]

I think it's pretty much established that Ms. Pac Man came out in 1983. I remember buying both Vanguard and Ms. Pac Man after Christmas of 1982. Now, here are the titles that Atari released in 1982 broken down by month. Enjoy...

 

http://www.atariage....&CurrentPage=15

 

(I didn't realize that Yar's came out after Pac Man.)

 

sp: Yars'

(apparently it bothers some people )

[Retro Rogue]

I searched news archives in 1982 looking for ads, and there were none that said Ms. Pac Man was for sale. However, here is an ad dated Dec. 10, 1982 that clearly states that Ms. Pac Man is not yet available but will be released in Feb, 1983.

Link

 

Searching in Jan. 1983 yielded no results. Searching in Feb. 1983 yielded ads indicating the game was available (and implied it was recently released):

link

link

 

So all of those gaming websites are clearly wrong.

I was 17 when the game was released, so my memory is probably better than a lot of people who were fetuses at the time. Besides my memory, I have Atari Age magazine to back me up:

 

http://www.atariage.com/magazines/magazine_thumbs.html?MagazineID=5

 

I also have this Atari catalog to back me up:

 

http://www.atariage.com/catalog_page.html?CatalogID=83&currentPage=6

 

I was drooling over this game and couldn't wait to play it since it was supposed to be so much better than Pac-Man. If the game would have been released in 1982, I would have crapped my pants.

 

A lot of dates on the Internet are wrong. It's hard to get people to spell Yars' Revenge correctly, so how do you expect them to get dates right?

 

The general release date for Ms. Pac-Man is easy stuff. At the very least, it's easy to track down the year it was released. If you're going to argue about something this easy to look up, there's no hope for games that aren't as easy.

 

 

Darn you guys and your pesky fact checking.

 

BTW, here's a few more -

 

Link1

 

"There will be a Ms. Pac-Man this quarter..."

 

LA Times ad, December 10, 1982: "And in February you can spend hours keeping Ms. PAC-MAN well fed."

 

Miami Herald February 5, 1983: "...the new Ms PacMan cartridge looks a lot more finished..."

 

Philadelphia Inquirer Feb 6, 1983

: "Atari, the industry's leader, plans to release 16 new games for the 2600 system by June including such arcade classics as Ms. Pac- Man, Centipede, Jungle Hunt...."

Edited November 9, 2010 by wgungfu

[OldAtarian]

Yeah. Thanks Albert.

 

A little trivia on Ms. Pac Man. It was named video game of the year 1983 (under 16k rom) by Electronic Games Magazine. Also, it was reviewed in the Feb 1983 issue of Arcade Express. AE was a newsletter published by the publishers of EG that was pretty timely in the reviews and didn't suffer from a printing lag as I believe it was published twice a month.

 

You know. One thing I would love to see is a time line (month/year) and what games were released during each month for the VCS. It would be interesting to see that. But, if so much hard feelings are caused by just trying to decide what year Ms. Pac Man came out, I am afraid we would start a world war...

 

Under 16k? Were there a lot of games over 16k in 1983? I can't believe Ms. Pacman for the 2600 used more memory than Pac Man and looked nearly as bad.