Who designed the Intellivision electronics?

[mr_me]

The Intellivision was created by David Chandler at Mattel, the system software by David Rolfe of APh Technological Consulting, much of the graphics by Dave James at Mattel. The electronics and chipset came from General Instrument and the work of Duncan Harrower, Steve Maine and Eric Bergman.

 

There's an interview with Duncan Harrower here. https://thegeekiverse.com/interview-with-gilbert-duncan-harrower-inventor-of-the-pong-on-a-chip/

 

Thanks goes to Nateo. http://atariage.com/forums/topic/287804-interview-with-gilbert-duncan-harrower-creator-of-the-pong-clone/?view=getnewpost

Edited February 1, 2019 by mr_me

[+save2600]

You seemed to have answered your own question. Or is this a public service announcement?

[Intymike]

A rethorical question.

 

btw. Thanks for the info.

[Nateo]

Thanks for posting the interview! It was a total pleasure getting to interview Mr. Harrower. I'd ask him more about his involvement with the Intellivision, but he's currently in the middle of moving.

[mr_me]

He did say, regarding Intellivision, there's a long story there. Thanks again.

[+intvsteve]

Long stories also fit well into the podcast, if that kind of interview could happen it would be a double plus good bonus.

[CrazyBoss]

I guess is how you define it, the "chipset" was designed by General Instruments.

[+DZ-Jay]

@Nateo: That was a fantastic interview. I urge you to try to get a follow up interview with Mr. Harrower to get his insight and experiences in the early Intellivision design.

 

By his comments, I suppose he participated in the design of the Gimini 8900, the "off-the-shelf" game system that eventually became the Mattel Intellivision, not the Intellivision itself.

 

Thanks for the interview!

-dZ.

[Walter Ives]

On 2/1/2019 at 11:05 AM, mr_me said:

The Intellivision was created by David Chandler at Mattel, the system software by David Rolfe of APh Technological Consulting, much of the graphics by Dave James at Mattel. The electronics and chipset came from General Instrument and the work of Duncan Harrower, Steve Maine and Eric Bergman.

Ah, the spontaneous flash mob theory of product generation. Strikes me as a second law violation. Reminds me of the story of the vacuum pockets (see "The absolute Greatest Moment in Wacked out Real Science," specifically John Schilling's original post of Sep 27, 2004, 9:42:11 PM at https://groups.google.com/g/rec.arts.sf.written/c/Qbpredr3Tts/m/lpNMpBrqOwcJ); the post is about a third of the way down the thread.)

On 2/2/2019 at 4:57 AM, mr_me said:

He did say, regarding Intellivision, there's a long story there. Thanks again.

Yup.