Unreleased Consoles or Marketing Hype?

[jhd]

A few years ago, I reviewed the business press (e.g. Business Week, Fortune magazine) for a series of articles about the video game industry in the early-1980s. Interestingly, there were a few passing references to unreleased games (e.g. Grover's Music Maker).

 

In an interview published in November 1982, Perry Odak, President of Atari's Consumer Products Division, promised that “a console and programs designed especially for people over 45 [years old]” would be coming next year. He also alluded to another project that would appeal specifically to female gamers, but he was not forthcoming about the specific details.

 

Does anyone have any ideas what these systems were, or if they even existed?

 

Atari did not release any new consoles in 1983; the 5200 came out in 1982, and the 7800 was announced (if not sold) in 1984.

 

What sort of system would even appeal to older gamers?

[spacecadet]

The original Atari Flashback

[Newsdee]

It was probably an idea they were working on, but dropped it / failed.

[GemWare Games]

Typically (and generally speaking), people over 45 usually don't like to play video games that much (especially in the late 70s-early 80s). The console would most likely be or have one or all of the following:

-It could have been a gaming/utility system

-It could have featured adult games/controllers

-It could have been more simplistic for the non-tech small niche market of gaming elders (ex. Seniors today typically don't know how to work an iPhone.)

[jhd]

The only thing that I can think of that would appeal to an older audience are the more traditional games like chess, checkers, and the various card games -- but those genres were already well represented on the 2600 (and the Intellivision).