Moonsweeper

[Malathion5]

I just got a moonsweeper blue label today and was wondering why it showed up in an Activision case with the Imagic name on it. The rarity guide and label guide show it as an Activision cart but Imagic is clearly printed on it. It originally had the standard Imagic case and label of course but seems to have an identity crisis in it's late life.

 

Any clues?

[Albert]

I assume this is the label you're talking about? At some point Activision secured the rights to release Imagic games, and they did so in Activision shells with blue labels as you described. Two other Imagic titles also were released with these labels, Atlantis and Demon Attack.

 

..Al

[Malathion5]

That's it. I found the Demon Attack in the Activision catalogue section too.

[Klove]

Activision DOES NOT own the rights to any of the Imagic catalog AT ALL.

 

This is a common mis-conception.

 

In my talking with Bruce Davis (final CEO for Imagic), he told me that around 1983-1984 he was asked to come on-board and basically replace Jim Levy as Activision's CEO. At the same time, Bruce was still managing Imagic (or what was left of it anyway.) One of his last tasks with Imagic was too basically get rid of their remaining 'product'. "Which he did." Most, if not all of the PC titles were sold off to EA.

 

I'm a little gray on this part so excuse me if I don't get this 100% word for word, but.. at this time Imagic and Activision had become incredibly friendly with each-other. Imagic was on it's way out of the game industry and money was incrdibly.. incredibly tight. So much so, that Imagic could barely make rent. Activision apparently offered Imagic some help by letting them use office space. Imagic gladly accepted the offer.

 

Now, in regards to those Blue labels, My guess is that Bruce basically cleaned-house with both Activision and Imagic's atari 2600 titles. Basically.. "I don't care what the carts look like. Just get them labelled and get them out the door."

 

I'm not sure of that last part of course, but it's probably not too far off par.

 

I'll have to call Bruce and ask what he knows about it.

 

Stay Cool!

 

My guess

[videotwit]

Ken-

 

At that point in time wasn't Activision calling itself Mediagenic?

 

If this is the case (which I believe it is), I woul like to formally petition Alex and Al to seperate the "Blue Label Activision" carts out from under the umbrella company "Activision," and give them their own section. I believe Mediagenic should be its own entity, and listed as thus.

 

But then again maybe I am completely mistaken . Thoughts?

[Albert]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ken @ Activision:

Activision DOES NOT own the rights to any of the Imagic catalog AT ALL.

 

This is a common mis-conception.

---

 

I understand that Activision doesn't own any rights to Imagic titles now, but given the scenario you described I have to believe that those Imagic titles were used with Imagic's blessing, especially if the companies were that close back then. Maybe nothing "official" was ever inked, perhaps just a verbal agreement?

 

..Al

[Albert]

quote:

---

Originally posted by twit:

At that point in time wasn't Activision calling itself Mediagenic?

 

If this is the case (which I believe it is), I woul like to formally petition Alex and Al to seperate the "Blue Label Activision" carts out from under the umbrella company "Activision," and give them their own section. I believe Mediagenic should be its own entity, and listed as thus.

---

 

Since Mediagenic was really just a temporary name for Activision, I think we should keep the Blue label carts under Activision. I believe it would be confusing to move them to Mediagenic, as that would mislead people into believing that an entirely different company was involved in the production of these Blue label games. Also, it would cause problems on the Profile page for these games, since the Blue label variations wouldn't be listed with, say, the normal Activision label variations. So it would muck up the works a bit from that perspective.

 

However, we can certainly adjust the notes for the Blue label variation to include more information, such as, "We believe during the time period these games were released that Activision was known as Mediagenic". And we should also mention something about the three Imagic titles, since I'm sure many people scratch their heads about those.

 

..Al

[videotwit]

Al-

 

You are probably right. That does seem like a good solution IMHO. These blue labeled games have been problematic for me as well. I personally keep them listed under "Mediagenic" right now, just because of the addition to the Imagic titles, but really do need to find a way to better cross reference all 3 "companies" (Activision, Imagic, and Mediagenic).

 

Thanks!

[Malathion5]

I'll go with Albert on this one. I think that moving the blue labels to Mediagenic would be too confusing, especially since the name Mediagenic doesn't actually show up anywhere on the cart. A note about why there are Imagic carts in the Activision pile would be about all the list would need.

[atari70s]

ALEX,

 

I think since the carts have IMAGIC clearly on the label and the chips and programs are clearly IMAGIC then it shouldnt be ACTIVSION listed it should stay under IMAGIC. I will sign a petition to seperate it. Please dont leave them together it shoudlnt be.

[videotwit]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Malathion5:

...especially since the name Mediagenic doesn't actually show up anywhere on the cart

---

 

While it doesn't show up on the cart itself, many of the boxes these things come in have a small sticker on them that are printed with the name Mediagenic.

[videotwit]

Last night I came to a decision about how I will list Mediagenic-released Activision games in my collection....

 

I think they are close in relationship to other licensed Activision releases be companies like Salu and HES. They are the same game program, but are labeled in the style of the company that licensed them. For this reason (and since I do collect PAL as well as NTSC releases), I will personally keep them seperate on my listing. If I listed Activision, Mediagenic, HES, and Salu released Activision games all in the same section, I think it would be too much to try to keep straight.

 

This doesn't mean that I think this is the appropriate solution for AtariAge, however. It's just how I decided to do it myself, and I wanted to express my opinion regarding the issue.

[Albert]

quote:

---

Originally posted by twit:

I think they are close in relationship to other licensed Activision releases be companies like Salu and HES. They are the same game program, but are labeled in the style of the company that licensed them. For this reason (and since I do collect PAL as well as NTSC releases), I will personally keep them seperate on my listing.

---

 

In my physical collection, I keep the blue-label Mediagenic carts adjacent to the Activision carts, but I don't mix them in. It's easier to keep tabs on 'em that way, plus they look cooler all together. Same thing with the various Salu carts I have. I'm now using Cart Commander to keep track of my carts, and have all the blue label carts listed as Activision, but with Blue labels. Since I can group the games together by label, it's still easy to lump 'em all together when I need to.

 

..Al

[Malathion5]

quote:

---

While it doesn't show up on the cart itself, many of the boxes these things come in have a small sticker on them that are printed with the name Mediagenic.

---

 

That brings me to another question. The Imagic titles bought (used, pawned...whatever) by Activision, the blue labels in question, don't have a box scan with them. Is there any great difference in the blue label Imagic boxes?

[Albert]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Malathion5:

That brings me to another question. The Imagic titles bought (used, pawned...whatever) by Activision, the blue labels in question, don't have a box scan with them. Is there any great difference in the blue label Imagic boxes?

---

 

Good question. I personally do not own any boxed Activision blue labeled games. I assume they use the standard Activision-style box. I do have a box for one of the Imagic titles and it's black instead of silver. We even have a scan of it on AtariAge:

 

Blue Label Atlantis Box

 

I'd love to get scans of the other two Imagic titles, I imagine those boxes would be black also. And it would be nice if someone could confirm what the Activision blue boxes look like.

 

Incidently, there's a sticker on the back of this box that says, "Distributed by MEDIAGENIC GD-945-110".

 

..Al

[videotwit]

Albert-

 

They look just like standard Activision releases, except they also include the small sticker on the back (like your Imagic title). I'll try to hace a scan for you as soon as I fix my scanner or decide to buy a new one.