The fail of NES hardware/gaming video from UK outlook

[high voltage]

High Voltage may be referring to Galoob vs Nintendo. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Galoob_Toys,_Inc._v._Nintendo_of_America,_Inc.

Sorry, I've presumed this is well known.

[high voltage]

I don't understand how the video game console crash didn't apply to Europe. Many of our consoles were in Europe because America dominated the console market at the time. When our market crashed it would have affected those same consoles in Europe. For an example of what I mean, if a Japanese console crash was to happen before the XBOX was on the scene then here in America Nintendo's, SEGA's, and Sony's consoles would be taken off the shelves with their games going in bargain bins. So, a Japanese console crash would also be an American console crash just as an American console crash would be a European console crash. One of the reasons cited for the console crash was competition from home computers. What kind of gaming was the guy in the video mostly talking about? Playing games on home computers. Where is his list of consoles that were dominating in Europe between the time of the crash but before they got the Master System? To me it seems that all this talk about how much gaming on home computers was dominating the market is a good indication that they were affected by the console crash. Not just that but even more affected considering that the NES was able to revive the market here but couldn't do it for Europe. I mean, while we were enjoying console gaming again with the NES they were still gaming like it was 1984. Also, his argument that if Nintendo didn't revive the video game market someone else like Commodore would is missing the point because it was a console market crash. If Commodore would have taken Nintendo's place then it would likely result in gaming on home computers with gaming in America through the 80's looking like Europe's. How would that be reviving the video game console market?

 

the only thing happening was that carts all the sudden were sold cheaper. Or not, in 1985 I purchased Golf for the VCS for more than 100 bucks. By the time the VCS disappeared the JR had arrived. When you were enjoying gaming with the NES and its outdated technology from 1983, so basically you were stuck in 1984, we were way ahead of you with 16/32bit gaming on ST/Amiga.Consoles weren't as huge in Europe, computers ruled, C64, A8, Spectrum, Thompson. In US Apple 2 and C64 thrived during and after the crash

Edited April 30, 2017 by high voltage

[mr_me]

As others have said Ataris and Intellivisions and their cartridges were expensive in Europe; computers and piracy was practical and popular. The "crash" was retail based in North America so if shops in Europe were still willing to sell consoles and cartridges, they were available. There was often a bit of a delay between North American and European release so what was a little old in NA was new in Europe.

 

The NES seemed most popular with a generation that were too young to know about Atari 2600s and Intellivisions. For developers and publishers, I dont think they care if they make their games for consoles or home computers. They program for whatever platforms are most popular at the time.

[CatPix]

I don't understand how the video game console crash didn't apply to Europe.

To me it seems that all this talk about how much gaming on home computers was dominating the market is a good indication that they were affected by the console crash. Not just that but even more affected considering that the NES was able to revive the market here but couldn't do it for Europe. I mean, while we were enjoying console gaming again with the NES they were still gaming like it was 1984.

It's important to remember that the European market at the time was more fragmented then than it is today, and that most game publishers didn't exist at the time.

Game markets were pretty much national. Let's also remember that the market was much smaller, as half of Europe was behind the Iron Curtain.

Releases were VERY delayed.

It's why the Videopac (Odyssey2) is popular in Europe, and the Atari 2600 is just "a console". The Videopac was released in 1978, but the Atari 2600 didn't made it before 1980. The Intellivision, with Mattel being big in Europe, was released in time, so basically, the 2600 was looking a bit outdated. And it was quite expensive too (in 1982 in France, the Videopac was sold for 999FF, the Atari 2600 for 1600FF).

The Channel F was sold too, under several brands as well. It even got a unique cart, Chess.

Several local consoles were also sold, mostly the AVPS-1292/Interton VC4000 European system, sold under about 3 different brands per country (no joke), and later the Emerson Arcadia clones under several brands as well.

The market was fragmented, and for the Atari 2600, several 3rd party games simply never made it, because those 3rd parties didn't had any presence in Europe.

As other pointed out, release were slow, and carried by independant, local importers and publishers.

So, the American crash had an impact in Europe, but it was smoothed out by the fact that console and cart import were slower to start with. It lead to some consoles beign discontinued, but as other pointed out, the Atari 2600 Darth vaders were still sold, and the JR arrived in time for what appeared as uninterrupted sales.

 

The Videopac being mostly European wasn't affected at all, with Philips even releasing the Videopac+ in 1983. I often read that the Videopac+ release (and the Famicom releases) were bold moves, but they weren't, as there was no market crash happening.

 

European computing started around that time, with the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, and more marginally, the MSX and Atari 8 bits.

Simply say, the crash went unnoticed because consoles of the time were "first generation" (Atari 2600, Intellivision, Channel F, Interton VC4000, etc...). Even a ZX Spectrum looked better, with detailled graphisms (let's not forget, if you start to point out the color clash, that most computers of the time were sold with monochrome monitors or were used on second-hand black-and-white TV). What you see as crude, clunky graphisms today were at the time, more advanced than anything Europeans ever laid their eyes upon.

 

Also, if you look, the timeline is in fact pretty short. Aside from the Atari 8 bits, the Spectrum was 1982, the C64 1983, the CPC 1984. And the Atari ST in 1985! It went very quickly.

 

If we (Europeans) talk about how much computer dominated market is because the legacy of computing is largely ignored by younger people that get interested in retrogaming. Also, from what I see here in France, several computer gamers of the time doesn't mix with the console gamers. There is a sort of "wall" that make communication hard; the European retrogaming history is rewritten by the younger generations that see it only by the prism of console gaming and ignore the computers totally, treating them like marginal phenomenons.

 

 

The NES and the Master System paved the way in Europe to revive console gaming, but they didn't revived it. The Megadrive and Super Nintendo did, on the other hand.

You can say that the NES and Master System were footholds that Nintendo and Sega planted to get a firm stable presence in Europe.

Edited April 30, 2017 by CatPix

[high voltage]

Mustn't forget the Vic20, huge sales in Germany alone.

[mr_me]

Intellivision came out a couple years late for most of Europe in 1982; 1981 in the UK I believe. Was £199 or DM499 expensive for an Intellivision in the early 1980s? Intellivision games did not require conversion to PAL like Atari 2600 did. How about Colecovision. Anyone know the Colecovision story in Europe?

[HoshiChiri]

The NES was not the Saviour of Gaming, come to guide us from the darkness of The Crash with its golden light.

 

The NES was not an overpriced obsolete piece of garage with no real importance.

 

The NES was a good console, with an excellent game library, that altered the course of gaming history.

 

The reason the NEStalgia is spreading to Europe is because, in the US, it was essentially the gaming machine of the 80s. Thirty-something American Youtubers are gushing about what they loved as kids. Thirty-something European gamers are looking into it and seeing that hey, NES games are still pretty fun. It'd be nice if it would work both ways and European content creators could get us yanks in on the microcomputers they grew up with... but I don't see a lot of content about the European retro scene around. Plus, it's a dense, dense jungle to wade through- a couple dozen machines, with the possibility of tens of thousands of games on each- where the hell do you start in on something like that?

 

Meanwhile, the Master System sits off in the corner, alone, hoping someone from Brazil will catch on in the global retrogaming community.

[mbd30]

It'd be nice if it would work both ways and European content creators could get us yanks in on the microcomputers they grew up with... but I don't see a lot of content about the European retro scene around. P

 

I love old computer stuff. There's actually a lot on Youtube about 80s British computer gaming and the ZX Spectrum, Amiga, etc. But you have to seek it out.

 

Nostalgia Nerd's channel is excellent.

 

Edited April 30, 2017 by mbd30

[juansolo]

I also highly recommend the documentaries: From Bedrooms to Billions and The Amiga Years if you're interested in what was going on in Europe at the time. The latter film and it's special edition version in particular I thought was excellent, being very Amiga focused. The former film covers a lot of how things got to the Amiga (I wouldn't bother with the SE on that one).

There are a few good channels, though they tend to be more technical based rather than focussing on the gaming. Nostalgia Nerd as mentioned is one, Dan Wood is another. Some of the interviews in the podcasts they do are particularly excellent. I also enjoy chilling with MsMadLemon who has her own unique (frikin') style.

[+GoldenWheels]

Just my 2 cents: I actually really enjoy Retro Gamer magazine BECAUSE it's from the UK and looks a lot at computers and computer software. To me, that stuff is all new and very interesting.

[atarilovesyou]

Sorry, I've presumed this is well known.

 

Not a presumption so much as an assumption, but both lead to the same place. It's not so much that nobody knows; nobody cares.

 

And you paid $100 bucks for VCS Golf in 85?

 

Even the vastness of the internet can't produce a meme worthy of such a facepalm moment. I refuse to hear anymore excuses of what poor value the NES was in the UK with piss-poor taste like that...in 85? Appalling.

[atarilovesyou]

 

the only thing happening was that carts all the sudden were sold cheaper. Or not, in 1985 I purchased Golf for the VCS for more than 100 bucks. By the time the VCS disappeared the JR had arrived. When you were enjoying gaming with the NES and its outdated technology from 1983, so basically you were stuck in 1984, we were way ahead of you with 16/32bit gaming on ST/Amiga.Consoles weren't as huge in Europe, computers ruled, C64, A8, Spectrum, Thompson. In US Apple 2 and C64 thrived during and after the crash

 

Just...stop...just stop it. You have outed yourself more than once, but this is truly the icing on your bonkers, Coo-Coo Bananas cake.

 

You were waaaay ahead of us, alright. What a maroon.

[HoshiChiri]

 

I love old computer stuff. There's actually a lot on Youtube about 80s British computer gaming and the ZX Spectrum, Amiga, etc. But you have to seek it out.

 

Nostalgia Nerd's channel is excellent.

 

 

 

I also highly recommend the documentaries: From Bedrooms to Billions and The Amiga Years if you're interested in what was going on in Europe at the time. The latter film and it's special edition version in particular I thought was excellent, being very Amiga focused. The former film covers a lot of how things got to the Amiga (I wouldn't bother with the SE on that one).

There are a few good channels, though they tend to be more technical based rather than focussing on the gaming. Nostalgia Nerd as mentioned is one, Dan Wood is another. Some of the interviews in the podcasts they do are particularly excellent. I also enjoy chilling with MsMadLemon who has her own unique (frikin') style.

 

I will have to check these things out later.

 

Perhaps what we need is a change to Youtube's inner workings. Basically, if I watch one guy's retro stuff- say, Angry Video Game Nerd- it recommends other retro creators to me (think Game Sack & such.) When I watch the British guys I enjoy, like Guru Larry, it never seems to prompt more British/UK content. Maybe the American narrative wouldn't hold so strong if it was easier to find European voices without a guide.

[mbd30]

Guru Larry is another one of my favorite Youtubers.

[juansolo]

I don't understand how the video game console crash didn't apply to Europe. Many of our consoles were in Europe because America dominated the console market at the time. When our market crashed it would have affected those same consoles in Europe. For an example of what I mean, if a Japanese console crash was to happen before the XBOX was on the scene then here in America Nintendo's, SEGA's, and Sony's consoles would be taken off the shelves with their games going in bargain bins. So, a Japanese console crash would also be an American console crash just as an American console crash would be a European console crash. One of the reasons cited for the console crash was competition from home computers. What kind of gaming was the guy in the video mostly talking about? Playing games on home computers. Where is his list of consoles that were dominating in Europe between the time of the crash but before they got the Master System? To me it seems that all this talk about how much gaming on home computers was dominating the market is a good indication that they were affected by the console crash. Not just that but even more affected considering that the NES was able to revive the market here but couldn't do it for Europe. I mean, while we were enjoying console gaming again with the NES they were still gaming like it was 1984. Also, his argument that if Nintendo didn't revive the video game market someone else like Commodore would is missing the point because it was a console market crash. If Commodore would have taken Nintendo's place then it would likely result in gaming on home computers with gaming in America through the 80's looking like Europe's. How would that be reviving the video game console market?

 

 

Because you're equating the video games market to the console market. Video games thrived during the US crash in Europe on computers. The NES and Master System were sold here, sure. But made hardly any impact because we weren't really interested in what they had to offer at that point in time (for reasons I went into earlier). It wasn't until the next generational leap that consoles really made an impact. It could have been so different had Atari and Commodore been on the ball, but when the PC took over computing it was expensive (I remember at the time I think my first PC cost me £1300. The A500 and 520ST were in the £400 area. Like the 8-Bit Ataris and C64 before them), so to get the next generation of games meant the SNES and the Megadrive for many. It was then that consoles came back as the primary gaming platform here.

Edited May 1, 2017 by juansolo

[high voltage]

 

Just...stop...just stop it. You have outed yourself more than once, but this is truly the icing on your bonkers, Coo-Coo Bananas cake.

 

You were waaaay ahead of us, alright. What a maroon.

 

I like bananas, thanks.

 

And the biggest joke was, later the NES got discounted to 49,99, and GAMES for the NES were still 59,99 or more. NOW THAT WAS A JOKE

[juansolo]

I also highly recommend the documentaries: From Bedrooms to Billions and The Amiga Years if you're interested in what was going on in Europe at the time. The latter film and it's special edition version in particular I thought was excellent, being very Amiga focused. The former film covers a lot of how things got to the Amiga (I wouldn't bother with the SE on that one).

There are a few good channels, though they tend to be more technical based rather than focussing on the gaming. Nostalgia Nerd as mentioned is one, Dan Wood is another. Some of the interviews in the podcasts they do are particularly excellent. I also enjoy chilling with MsMadLemon who has her own unique (frikin') style.

 

Totally forgot Kim Justice another great producer of retro content.

Edited May 1, 2017 by juansolo

[Schizophretard]

the only thing happening was that carts all the sudden were sold cheaper. Or not, in 1985 I purchased Golf for the VCS for more than 100 bucks. By the time the VCS disappeared the JR had arrived.

And here carts were also sold cheaper, the VCS disappeared, and the Junior arrived. That sounds like Europe was affected by the crash.

 

When you were enjoying gaming with the NES and its outdated technology from 1983, so basically you were stuck in 1984, we were way ahead of you with 16/32bit gaming on ST/Amiga.Consoles weren't as huge in Europe, computers ruled, C64, A8, Spectrum, Thompson. In US Apple 2 and C64 thrived during and after the crash

Consoles are always outdated compared to home computers. Anyway, that is besides the point. My you being stuck in 1984 point wasn't about us having better gaming hardware or anything like that. My point was that, as you said,"Consoles weren't as huge in Europe, computers ruled..." is like our period of time between the crash but before the launch of the NES when it looked like consoles were just a fad and home computers were the future of gaming. In other words, while we had only a couple of years without a console market you had a decade of being in something like our post crash but pre-NES state. Our 1984 lasted one year while yours lasted a decade. Here are a couple of excerpts from articles from back then to try to clarify the point I'm trying to make:

 

Gainesville Sun - Dec 12, 1982

 

Home video games are under attack. Some analysts believe that overproduction, consumer boredom, and an invasion of cheap home computers will result in a major shakeout in the industry after Christmas....... The ultimate challenger to video games' turf is the home computer, analysts say. In addition to playing games, home computers, which are in the same price range as games systems, can be used for education, data base retrieval, home financial calculations, and record-keeping.

Electronic Games Magazine (January 1985)

 

The most important happening of 1984 was that computers replaced videogames as the cutting edge of electronic entertainment. Aggressive marketing, cheap hardware and sophisticated software, have moved computers out of the hacker/techie ghetto into the era of mass-market acceptance. So, while 1984 sales of videogame hardware and software slid alarmingly from previous record levels, millions of Americans took the plunge and bought their first computer..... Once the home gaming champ, Atari saw its commanding position erode during 1984 as dedicated consoles and cartridges lost favor. Atari had hoped that its 5200 would bridge the chasm between videogames and computers, but the switch happened a lot faster than anyone predicted. The price differential between the two types of systems evaporated, so most consumers have had no trouble making the leap to a micro without an intermediate step.

 

So, the guy's point in the video was that Americans give too much credit to the NES saving us from the crash because we are not thinking globally. His example of us not thinking globally was that video gaming was doing extremely well on home computers in Europe(The same console-less future we were heading towards after the crash). Then he went on to explain that if the NES didn't exist that someone like Commodore would take their place to make video gaming do extremely well in the US in the same way it was in Europe with home computers(The same console-less potential future that we claim the NES saved us from).

 

That makes no sense to me. If our 80's looked exactly like Europe's 80's with gaming on home computers instead of consoles then that isn't an example of recovering from the video game crash and an example of someone else filling in the same void that Nintendo did because the video game crash was about consoles and a recovery is having a strong console market again instead of it turning out to be true that consoles were just a fad as people were predicting. In other words, our 80's looking like yours is a crash without a recovery. Nintendo showed that it wasn't a fad and this guy isn't explaining how someone else would have shown the same thing because he is talking about home computers instead of providing a likely hypothetical scenario where we still end up having just as strong of a console market starting up around the same time but without the NES.

 

I think he is wrong that we aren't thinking globally. We understand that our console market crashed, we understand that gaming on home computers was big in Europe, we understand that our future was heading in the same direction, we understand that the console market was still strong in Japan, and we understand that market made its way here to recover our console market from the crash with Nintendo taking the lead. I think this guy is the one not thinking globally because he is projecting his home computer 80's onto us when it is the console market we are thankful for that was saved. Consoles are a big deal to us just as handheld consoles are a big deal to the Japanese. Not acknowledging these slight differences between our gaming preferences and cultures isn't thinking globally.

 

His points about why the NES didn't do well in Europe makes sense to me and even why he preferred it that way but his points about the console market crash and the NES's role in recovering from it doesn't.

[mr_me]

I don't see a big deal about distinguishing between consoles and home computers. Home computers at the time plugged into televisions just like consoles. The popular video game platforms in Europe were just different than in North America. Nintendo can be credited with bringing back hand held electronic games. Handheld games were very popular in the late 70s early 80s.

[empsolo]

I don't see a big deal about distinguishing between consoles and home computers. Home computers at the time plugged into televisions just like consoles. The popular video game platforms in Europe were just different than in North America. Nintendo can be credited with bringing back hand held electronic games. Handheld games were very popular in the late 70s early 80s.

Except there is a big difference between consoles and computers that extends beyond simple plug and play. Consoles are geared towards gaming whereas home computers of the era were jack of all trades systems that did no task efficiently. The 8 and 16 bit computers of the era tended to be machines that either played games pretty poorly due most of the memory being dedicated to office stuff or played games better due to having more memory allocated to games and not enough to the office.

 

Either way what you had here in the US were pretty expensive paper weights that were too expensive for a games machine or were too expensive for a home office machine. It wouldn't be until the arrival of the PC that computer gaming would take off here in the US and even then it wouldn't become the big industry until the arrival of valve and steam in the 2000's.

Edited May 1, 2017 by empsolo

[zzip]

It's important to remember that the European market at the time was more fragmented then than it is today, and that most game publishers didn't exist at the time.

Game markets were pretty much national. Let's also remember that the market was much smaller, as half of Europe was behind the Iron Curtain.

Releases were VERY delayed.

It's why the Videopac (Odyssey2) is popular in Europe, and the Atari 2600 is just "a console". The Videopac was released in 1978, but the Atari 2600 didn't made it before 1980. The Intellivision, with Mattel being big in Europe, was released in time, so basically, the 2600 was looking a bit outdated. And it was quite expensive too (in 1982 in France, the Videopac was sold for 999FF, the Atari 2600 for 1600FF).

The Channel F was sold too, under several brands as well. It even got a unique cart, Chess.

Several local consoles were also sold, mostly the AVPS-1292/Interton VC4000 European system, sold under about 3 different brands per country (no joke), and later the Emerson Arcadia clones under several brands as well.

The market was fragmented, and for the Atari 2600, several 3rd party games simply never made it, because those 3rd parties didn't had any presence in Europe.

As other pointed out, release were slow, and carried by independant, local importers and publishers.

So, the American crash had an impact in Europe, but it was smoothed out by the fact that console and cart import were slower to start with. It lead to some consoles beign discontinued, but as other pointed out, the Atari 2600 Darth vaders were still sold, and the JR arrived in time for what appeared as uninterrupted sales.

 

The Videopac being mostly European wasn't affected at all, with Philips even releasing the Videopac+ in 1983. I often read that the Videopac+ release (and the Famicom releases) were bold moves, but they weren't, as there was no market crash happening.

 

European computing started around that time, with the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, and more marginally, the MSX and Atari 8 bits.

Simply say, the crash went unnoticed because consoles of the time were "first generation" (Atari 2600, Intellivision, Channel F, Interton VC4000, etc...). Even a ZX Spectrum looked better, with detailled graphisms (let's not forget, if you start to point out the color clash, that most computers of the time were sold with monochrome monitors or were used on second-hand black-and-white TV). What you see as crude, clunky graphisms today were at the time, more advanced than anything Europeans ever laid their eyes upon.

 

Also, if you look, the timeline is in fact pretty short. Aside from the Atari 8 bits, the Spectrum was 1982, the C64 1983, the CPC 1984. And the Atari ST in 1985! It went very quickly.

 

If we (Europeans) talk about how much computer dominated market is because the legacy of computing is largely ignored by younger people that get interested in retrogaming. Also, from what I see here in France, several computer gamers of the time doesn't mix with the console gamers. There is a sort of "wall" that make communication hard; the European retrogaming history is rewritten by the younger generations that see it only by the prism of console gaming and ignore the computers totally, treating them like marginal phenomenons.

 

 

The NES and the Master System paved the way in Europe to revive console gaming, but they didn't revived it. The Megadrive and Super Nintendo did, on the other hand.

You can say that the NES and Master System were footholds that Nintendo and Sega planted to get a firm stable presence in Europe.

How did gaming/computer sales get off the ground in UK/and or Europe? Were people told they needed a computer for their children? Were there certain games that drove sales? Was adoption rapid or slow? Looking to see how similar or different things were to North America

[mr_me]

True, some computers were designed as gaming machines others were not. The C64 was, the zx spectrum was not. Although hand controllers on all these things could have been better. The PC arrived in 1981 was expensive and not designed for games. The C64 could be had for under US$200. Also true is there could be some cost savings by elminating the keyboard and some expansion ports. Once you buy a handfull of Nintendo cartridges the cost savings is gone. A game console is just a computer without a keyboard.

 

Edit:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Micro

In the UK they had the "BBC computer literacy project" that included a TV show teaching everyone about computers in 1982. There were only a couple of channels on TV so everyone thought they needed a computer.

Edited May 1, 2017 by mr_me

[zzip]

]So, the guy's point in the video was that Americans give too much credit to the NES saving us from the crash because we are not thinking globally. His example of us not thinking globally was that video gaming was doing extremely well on home computers in Europe(The same console-less future we were heading towards after the crash). Then he went on to explain that if the NES didn't exist that someone like Commodore would take their place to make video gaming do extremely well in the US in the same way it was in Europe with home computers(The same console-less potential future that we claim the NES saved us from).

 

That makes no sense to me. If our 80's looked exactly like Europe's 80's with gaming on home computers instead of consoles then that isn't an example of recovering from the video game crash and an example of someone else filling in the same void that Nintendo did because the video game crash was about consoles and a recovery is having a strong console market again instead of it turning out to be true that consoles were just a fad as people were predicting. In other words, our 80's looking like yours is a crash without a recovery. Nintendo showed that it wasn't a fad and this guy isn't explaining how someone else would have shown the same thing because he is talking about home computers instead of providing a likely hypothetical scenario where we still end up having just as strong of a console market starting up around the same time but without the NES.

I don't see a big deal about distinguishing between consoles and home computers. Home computers at the time plugged into televisions just like consoles. The popular video game platforms in Europe were just different than in North America. Nintendo can be credited with bringing back hand held electronic games. Handheld games were very popular in the late 70s early 80s.

I don't think NES saved the console market as much as Atari and Commodore destroyed the computer-as-a-console concept.

 

The XL/XE and C64 were priced similarly to a console, they could play carts and be used just like a console if you wished.. plugged right into the TV, floppy drive was an optional (and expensive) accessory. But whatever, millions bought them and used them as game machines mostly.

 

But when the ST/Amiga came along, they wanted to be taken seriously. Gone was the TV connection (at first). Floppy drive (still expensive) was now mandatory, as was a dedicated monitor. These things were no longer priced like console, and were not affordable to many. Also for the 8-bit computers almost everything necessitated a disk drive by that point.

 

This necessitated a more budget gaming option, and Nintendo was in the right place to fill the void. If Nintendo hadn't, someone else would've.

[mr_me]

The NES was marketed for small children with the spinning tops and toy robots. They scooped up that market easy,

 

edit:

It's true the new owners of Atari wanted nothing to do with video games. And the Amiga was engineerd as a video game machine but was marketed as a productivity computer. In 1985 in North America, video games did really become subculture. And Zzip makes a good point about the price of home computers. In the later 80s I wanted a computer but they were just too expensive, and I didn't want to buy an outdated C64 or the toy NES.

Edited May 1, 2017 by mr_me

[CatPix]

How did gaming/computer sales get off the ground in UK/and or Europe? Were people told they needed a computer for their children? Were there certain games that drove sales? Was adoption rapid or slow? Looking to see how similar or different things were to North America

As I saif, there were few consoles in the UK/Europe, the market was fragmented. There was no global marketing strategy before 1980, console were sold as novelty toys. When "big players" arrived on the market, it was in 1980/1982 (Atari, Mattel). By then, computer kits were sold in various magazines, and computers kits like the ZX 80 were cheap.

In 1982, the ZX Spectrum was sold for under 100£ or 1000FF, the same prince (in France) than a Videopac, and cheaper than a VCS. And probably the Intellivision but I can't recall the Intelli prices.

In France in 1984, the government launched a "computer for all" school policy. French schools were equipped with (mostly) French-made computers, the Thomson MO5, TO7, and the PC-compatible SMT Goupil G3 and G4.

There were shows on TV to learn BASIC to kids, on public TV!

In the meantime in France, there was the launch of the "Minitel" that introduced the idea of a national network and using a computer in homes. The Minitel is a dumb terminal, so it introduced the idea that computers were quite easy to use.

Adoption rates are very hard to find, because there were several brands, it would need a country by country basis comparison. And figures of today's system are of little help.

The Oric 1 sold 200 000 units in France. It is considered a decent sale figure for the era; it sounds like an horrible failure today

Game drove sales, yes. Tho, again, there was no "universal" sales game. Games that most people remember about, at least in France, are "local" games, because arcade ports were on all machines.

 

Plus, most developers weren't tied to a platform, so a platform having "that" game was hardly a sales argument, because one day or another, you knew it would be ported to another platform.

A very famous French game (famous in France), L'aigle d'Or, started on the Oric 1, which probably boosted it's sales. But the game was very quicky ported to the Amstrad CPC, the Thomson MO5 and DOS, and the CPC version is the one that most people remember.

Some developers favored a platform (Loriciels developed mostly for the Amstrad CPC) but I do not know of an editor that was tied to one platform only (exception are Atari, of course, and Amstrad's own software division, Amsoft)

Edited May 1, 2017 by CatPix