almightytodd

The Atari VCS game I most wanted, strangely enough, was "Video Chess". Unlike the variety of popular arcade-ported "twitch" games, the idea of playing chess against an electronic opponent seemed really futuristic to me. It made the VCS seem more like a Video "Computer" System and less of a "home Pong machine". But for some reason, Atari's Chess was one of the most expensive titles when it came out - like 50 bucks. In 1979 dollars that would translate to something like 150 bucks today! Although I eventually inherited the family Heavy Sixer (...and still have it today), I never did get a Chess cartridge. I have played several games against it using emulation and the only time I've ever been able to beat it even on the easiest level, is by playing it against another computer chess program. Doesn't say much for my chess-playing abilities I guess...

Agree that a more appropriate title would be something like, "Slot Combat" since there isn't any kind of "racing" involved. Still, I found it to be one of the more exciting two-player games providing you had to players with a similar skill level.

If you can find an old VCR - even one where the tape mechanism doesn't work, but one that has coax inputs and RCA connector video and audio outputs, that would be an inexpensive way to go. There are dedicated external devices that convert analog RF signals to other formats but they tend to be a bit pricey - like this one for 80 bucks...

For classic cabs at Walt Disney World, there are rows of them available in "free-play" mode included with the price of admission to Disney Quest at Downtown Disney's West Side.

While the argument in favor of Spacewar! certainly has merit, I think it's more complicated than that. The problem as I see it, is in the differentiation between a "computer game" that plays using a programmable CPU paired with a raster video screen, and a pure "video game" that uses discreet electronic circuitry to convert voltage inputs from analog devices into corresponding movements of objects on a video display. Technology pioneers such as Baer, Bushnell, and Dabney are left out of the story if you ignore the 16 years between 1961 when Spacewar! was programmed for the PDP-1, and 1977 when microprocessors such as the Zilog Z80 and the MOS 6502 made CPU-based arcade and home videogame systems practical. I think the Wikipedia article on the topic of "First video game" does a pretty good job of listing the various relevent events, and leaving it up to the reader to decide which constitutes the "first".

The Pizza Planet arcade at Walt Disney World's Hollywood Studios theme park. Ah, the classics... Here's a switch; games that first appear on home consoles "ported" to arcade versions. Other things to note; flat-screen video and built-in camera to make "you" part of the game. This looks like the latest thing. I haven't seen anyone actually play it though. Another game with a flat-screen and camera. Notice the portrait-orientation; a classic technique for the "arcade-only" experience that you can't get at home. Classic arcade games that used this technique include Space Invaders, Donkey Kong, Galaxians, and Pac Man. The earliest example I'm aware of is Atari's Fire Truck from 1978. Videogaming is still an important part of the entertainment mix for Disney parks and resorts, ever since the videogame "Starcade" appeared at Disneyland in the mid-70's. There's also an arcade at the exit of Space Mountain at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom park. There's an entire branch of I.T. devoted to the operation of Disney videogame arcades. Most of the resort hotels have arcades that use rechargable magnetic strip cards as payment.

...and don't forget that there were talks of Atari being the distributor for the U.S. version of the Nintendo Famicom before Nintendo decided to go it alone in the U.S. market... ...at a time when some were proclaiming the home console concept a passing fad.

Combat on our 1977 heavy-sixer (#17718K Post on Heavy Sixer list) We started getting a mix of Atari and Sears Telegames after that: Pong Sports/Video Olympics, Target Fun/Air Sea Battle (...the demo game at Sears, so technically the first game I actually played on a 2600), Dodge 'Em, Surround, Street Racer (love "Scoop Ball"), Gunslinger/Outlaw, Indy 500, Home Run, Star Ship, 3D Tic-tac-toe, Slot Racers, and Space Invaders.

In my opinion, the higher relative cost of Apple products has always been considered a feature. In 1977, a new TRS-80 computer was $600 - equal to a couple thousand in today's dollars. An Apple II was double that - with no monitor. When IBM started marketing their $4,000 "Personal Computers", the response from Apple was to introduce the $10,000 Lisa. Atari and Commodore got into a price war with their 8-bit systems and Apple continued to extend their Apple II line with newer models that were always sure to be the most expensive 8-bit computers you could buy. The first "person" (...not school or institution) I knew who owned an Apple II was a lawyer who also drove a Mercedes and wore an expensive watch. Owning an Apple computer was presigious, compared to owning a "Trash-80" or "Atari game machine". To argue that Apple's strategy was "right" or that they "won", because Apple is still in the business of making computers while Atari and Commodore are not, misses the point that Apple's primary source of revenue has been something other than computers for almost a decade now. I would argue that the dominance of the Microsoft/Intel PC format in the business world, and the availability of used hardware from that source was more of a competitor against Atari and Commodore than was Apple. In the past five years, I've purchased three used PC's for less than $50 each that serve my needs quite well, while running an operating system and software that I am totally familiar with, because I use it everyday at work. I'm sure I'm not the only one with that kind of experience. I don't own any Apple products because they don't sell anything that I need, and I have no desire to use personal possessions as a way of defining my status as a human being. I don't wear jewelry, I drive a worn economy car, I wear simple clothes, and my Casio wrist watch, while not nearly as prestigious as a $10,000 Rolex, keeps better time, because it synchronizes with the Atomic Clock in Colorado each night. But you know, to each his own.