Dodge 'em and Video Checkers, which one was released first?

[high voltage]

Dodge 'em and Video Checkers, both came out in 1978. Which one came first?

 

Carol Shaw's Checkers or Carla Meninsky's Dodge 'em?

 

[BassGuitari]

This is one of the most random questions I've seen on this board in a long time.

Unfortunately, I don't know. But according to Atari's own catalogs, they actually came out, or were at least announced in 1980, not 1978. Also note that Atari slightly changed the font on the text label carts in 1980 (different "e" and y"); these carts conform to this change as well.

[zzip]

aren't the catalog numbers sequential? Maybe that would help

[Tempest]

aren't the catalog numbers sequential? Maybe that would help

No not always

[high voltage]

This is one of the most random questions I've seen on this board in a long time.

 

Unfortunately, I don't know. But according to Atari's own catalogs, they actually came out, or were at least announced in 1980, not 1978. .

 

Ah ok, Atarimania says 1978, that's where I got the info from.

 

Edited November 8, 2017 by high voltage

[BassGuitari]

Yeah, copyright dates on labels are sometimes dubious. Super Breakout is another one people get confused by the date on the label; people assume it was 1978 since that's what it says on the label, but it was actually 1982. Pretty much all the pic label carts, regardless of title or actual release date, have a date of 1978 on them. Except for a few like Defender and Pac-Man, which say 1981 but actually released in '82. On the flip side, it's conclusively and abundantly established that Combat and Air-Sea Battle appeared in 1977, yet the pic label versions say 1978.

TLDR: don't assume copyright dates on cart labels are trustworthy as release dates.

The Astrocade was a particularly egregious offender; many titles show 1977 copyright dates even when they couldn't have been released in 1977 (ex: Space Invaders, which was quickly renamed to Astro Battle; the original arcade version didn't even appear until '78 or '79!)

Edited November 8, 2017 by BassGuitari

[NE146]

Everyone was either too young, or too stoned then to be paying attention to details like this on a random toy such as the VCS

[high voltage]

So it's a close call between Carol or Carla being the second female programmer (1st is Joyce Weisbecker, I won't include Ada Lovelace for now)

Edited November 8, 2017 by high voltage

[jhd]

So it's a close call between Carol or Carla being the second female programmer (1st is Joyce Weisbecker, I won't include Ada Lovelace for now)

 

The first female video game programmer, or the first female programmer at all?

 

What about Grace Hopper?

[high voltage]

Yeah, I should've stuck to 'female video game programmer'.

 

Joyce Weibecker programmed for the RCA Studio II and the RCA Cosmac, Carol Shaw and Carla Meninsky for VCS. But did they program games for VCS at the same time? Carol Shaw is often being credited for being the first female VCS programmer.

[ubersaurus]

The best information I have is that both games came out in the fall of 1980. So who knows which one actually hit store shelves first!

[zzip]

The best information I have is that both games came out in the fall of 1980. So who knows which one actually hit store shelves first!

The release date isn't even the important factor here. It's which one was hired first.

[ubersaurus]

The release date isn't even the important factor here. It's which one was hired first.

Release dates wouldn't have any bearing on that then, it's not like Atari was throwing games out as soon as they were done.

 

According to Michael Current's compiled timeline of Atari history, Carol Shaw joined Atari in August 1978, Carla Meninsky in the fall of 1979. So by that reckoning, Carol Shaw would have been the second woman working in game development (and the first woman to be a full time game development employee, since Joyce Weisbecker was a contractor). Shaw's first game was Polo, which got shelved, but 3D Tic Tac Toe came out prior to Video Checkers (circa March 1980).

 

http://mcurrent.name/atarihistory/wci_games.html

Edited November 9, 2017 by ubersaurus

[high voltage]

Thanks

[jhd]

Yeah, I should've stuck to 'female video game programmer'.

 

Joyce Weibecker programmed for the RCA Studio II and the RCA Cosmac, Carol Shaw and Carla Meninsky for VCS. But did they program games for VCS at the same time? Carol Shaw is often being credited for being the first female VCS programmer.

 

I just discovered that Linda Averett was coding games for the Odyssey² at about this same time (though she was also a freelance contractor, not a Phillips/Magnavox employee).

http://thedoteaters.com/?bitstory=odyssey²