History of the System Wars

[Fort Apocalypse]

Are there any good histories of the fights between classic (or just plain old) computer and console companies/their users (PR wars, skirmishes, bad feelings, alliances, etc. - the whole she-bang)? I know there have to be references in a lot of books/magazines/etc., but just curious if anyone ever pooled that knowledge together into a single comprehensive history?

Edited August 8, 2008 by Fort Apocalypse

[Seob]

The thing i can think of for now are,

The fight between Atari and Magnavox involving copyright issues for KC Munchkin, looks to much like Pac-man.

Sega's ad "Sega does what Nintendon't"

[madhatter667]

Atari Vs. Commodore?

[Seob]

Magnavox against Atari. Atari cloned pong from Magnavox Ping-Pong game. Settled for $700.000,- dollar.

[+FujiSkunk]

I read parts of a book once that had pretty good details on the many skirmishes between Atari (both of 'em) and Nintendo during the NES/Tengen/7800 days. Sadly I can't remember the name of the book, but such things are out there.

 

Support your local library.

[monzamess]

If you want archives of user wars, Usenet archives are a good place to start. Heck some people are still posting flames on comp.sys.atari.8bit and comp.sys.cbm, but I think at this point it's just tongue-in-cheek.

 

The best place to look would be 1980s BBS forums, but I don't know offhand of any that archived their message boards.

 

I know I spent too much of my time as a 14-yr-old debating Atari ST vs. Amiga. Heck, I had both, I knew what was better.

[A Sprite]

Sounds like a fun challenge.

 

8 bit wars: C64 vs. Spectrum

 

One of the nastiest system wars never touched American soil. This is a history of one battle, fought long ago in Italy.

 

For those new to the scene:

 

The Spectrum was a low cost computer: High resolution for the time, at a terrible price...

 

 

The C64 was blessed with better than NES sound, and full color graphics - but only a skilled artist could get past the low resolution display...

 

 

Which was better? Who knows? The best part is that the war is still being fought, even if it's a bit more tongue in cheek these days...

Edited August 9, 2008 by A Sprite

[A Sprite]

16 bit wars - Turbografx-CD vs. Sega CD

 

Meet Johnny Turbo.

[A Sprite]

Youtube is filled with buried teasure...and fossilized monkey poop!

 

 

.

 

Edited August 9, 2008 by A Sprite

[madhatter667]

Skunkworx,

I think the book was Ultimate History of Videogames. I recall there being details of the Tengen/NES scrap.

[+FujiSkunk]

Skunkworx,

I think the book was Ultimate History of Videogames. I recall there being details of the Tengen/NES scrap.

 

That sounds familiar. I think you're right.

[madhatter667]

Aside from the info about console wars, I highly recommend that book as a fun read for anyone interested in the hobby

[games-video]

Gamate vs Supervision