Big Wait for Atari or NES?

[sandmountainslim]

Seeing all the people standing in line waiting for the new "Playstation Deluxe" or whatever made me wonder if there was anything like this happening when the Atari VCS and the NES were released?

I don't recall hearing about people lining up for days to get one of these classic consoles when they were new.

Did I miss it?

WP

[ubersaurus]

Doubt it. The NES debuted to a pretty dead market, and the 2600 was kind of a bomb up until Space Invaders came along(and the market was pretty small then, too).

[JamesD]

NES was test marketed in New York first and sold 50K units in that market for that holiday season according to the CNBC documentary.

[+uosipa llamxew]

I'm not sure that anyone camped out, necessarily. People are just nuts anymore!

 

The year that I got my NES, you couldn't find them on the shelves in any store. My parents searched endlessly and eventually ended up travelling to another state to pick one up (my sister was attending college in Utah and managed to put one on layaway). I'm not sure they thought everything through because they brought me along. My Mother tried to distract me while my Dad made the purchase. He had the clerk place a second paper bag over the top so that I couldn't see what he had bought. I knew, of course, by the size of the package and by the funny way my parents were acting. Every night till Christmas, I had fantastic dreams of playing Super Mario Bros! It's probably my favorite Christmas memory.

Edited November 16, 2006 by mojofltr

[thomasholzer]

NES took two years to establish in USA (time taken from AES to NES), according to 'Game Over' the Book.

It had a very slow start. AES shown twice at the CES (Jan and June), they gotten no orders, AES recalled, back to the designing table, NES released, test market in NY, again toyshops very scepital, but slowly it got off the ground due to hard work from the USA Nintendo team (4 or 5 people or so, who even put all their money into it).

[Shawn]

I got my NES Xmas 85 with no problems at all, or so my parents told me as I was young and they bought it for me. And my Dad also told me in '77-'78 Atari sold pretty well but nothing like the systems of today do.

[JamesD]

Well, the NES wasn't "launched" like other game machines. They just put it on display and sold it.

[Paranoid]

Marketing has become more sophisticated. Blame the Miata. They've realized that by creating this sense of excitement, a lot of people actually get caught up in the frenzy of it.

[Lord Helmet]

I don't remember their being preorders and lines for systems until the N64. That was the first system I ever preordered. The shortages started with the PS2 IIRC.

[jboypacman]

As far as the NES goes i remember them being just about everywhere to buy in my town when they came out.As far as the 2600 goes i dont remember them in the stores but it seemed like almost everyone had one already and we just trade games between each other.I did get Pitfall 2 and Enduro one year for Christmas so they must of been at the store i just never look to see i guess.I dont think there was a mad frenzy to get these game systems like you have now with the PS3.I do feel its just crazy the way people act and what they will pay to have one of these new systems.

[King_Salamon]

SNES had a bit of excitement built up for it... but with the lack of instant news (internet) there wasn't as much people waiting in line for it on 'launch'.

 

On the other hand, there were plenty of news stories about people fighting over systems. Nothing of the Cabbage Patch variety though. LOL!

 

I don't know why people have to have these systems on launch day... if I walk into a store and see what I want, I'll buy it. If it's not there, it may be next time.

[Vic George 2K3]

Partly because they want to have bragging rights of getting one among the first batch, if NOT ALSO being the one who got the first one sold to a customer in that store.

[RickHarrisMaine]

I remember lines at Service Merchandise to get Pac Man for the 2600. And I remember the Colecovision generated loads of excitement.

 

and remember the Cabbage Patch Kids? Kenner not having the Star Wars figures in time for the holidays? This stuff always happens.

[spacecadet]

Yeah, this is new for a *console* launch, but it's not new at all in overall retail and it happens pretty much every year for whatever the hot holiday toy is. It's true that not everybody's buying the PS3 as a gift, but there is a reason why console manufacturers launch in October/November after all.

 

But I remember the Cabbage Patch doll thing too - people would camp out for days for those things if they heard a store was getting them in. This was more than 20 years ago.

 

The NES was actually really difficult to find in the NYC test market before it hit nationwide. I don't think people actually camped out but they did go store to store looking for it and there was definitely some price gouging by profiteers (no ebay back then, but classified ads existed). People also came from well outside the NYC area looking for it; they'd travel 100 miles or more to get it.

 

And I remember the Colecovision generated loads of excitement.

 

Now that you mention it, I remember this too. I don't know if people camped but I remember my friend across the street called me as soon as she got home with hers and said "I got it! I got a ColecoVision!" I remember being really surprised; as surprised as I'd be now if somebody called and told me they got a PS3. They sold out immediately in a lot of places.

 

So, maybe there wasn't this culture of "lining up" for days, as if that's an accepted thing to do, but there was definitely big hype for certain console launches and then a mad rush as soon as they went on sale before they sold out.

[Murph74]

I think the difference in market then and now isn't supply and demand, it's the creation of a universal (or national as the case may be) launch date. The first one I recall having a 'launch' date was the original PlayStation in September 1995, even backed with TV commercials touting it.

 

Oddly enough, a quick google shows the Saturn was launched a week earlier, and I have no recollection of that-- shows how well it was marketed I guess.

 

But point being, there are still 600K PS3's expected by the end of the year-- on a 'when-they-get-there' basis. That means no more lines, just tons of phone calls and lucky people who happen to call at the right time.

 

As for lining up, I'm pretty amazed at the number of people mocking those who line up-- almost everyone I know has lined up for 'something' in pop culture-- concert tickets, sporting event tickets, new music releases, etc...Hell, even waiting 2 hours at Red Lobster is kinda silly by that logic.

 

Quite frankly, $600 for a console seems ridiculous to most, but the investment will surely provide infinately more longevity than the $600 I spent on 2 tickets to the World Series games (3 games).

 

And no, I didn't get a PS3... stayed home last night.

Edited November 17, 2006 by Murph74

[CHIP72]

The Saturn was launched in May 1995 (I think 5/11/95 to be specific, after an announcement at the 1995 E3), not one week before the Playstation (9/9/95). The scheduled launch for the Saturn was 9/2/95 (Saturnday), but that date was a decoy.

 

Video games were nowhere near as big in the late 1970's or mid-1980's as they are now. I'm a little too young to remember the Atari 2600 launch, but I do know at the time video games were treated as more of a seasonal thing. The Atari 2600 didn't really enter popular consciousness (which I do remember to some degree) until the Space Invaders cartridge came along in 1980. As for the NES, you gotta remember the Video Game Crash of 1983 was still fresh in everybody's minds, and many people thought video games were a fad that passed. It took a couple years, until sometime in 1987, for the NES to become genuinely popular.

 

I think the first system where there was genuine anticipation at launch was the SNES, and the first system were pre-orders were needed was the original Playstation.

[spacecadet]

As for lining up, I'm pretty amazed at the number of people mocking those who line up-- almost everyone I know has lined up for 'something' in pop culture-- concert tickets, sporting event tickets, new music releases, etc...Hell, even waiting 2 hours at Red Lobster is kinda silly by that logic.

 

I think the reason is that it seems so archaic. It's like being back in the retail stone ages. Now that we have the internet, why do we have to buy things at retail the same way people did in the era of the Cabbage Patch Kids, with all the chaos that entails? I think we've all also realized that the PS3 launch is not a once-in-a-lifetime thing - there will be other PS3's in other places for the next five years, at least. It's not really like a concert, which only ever happens once (every concert is unique in some way, so even on a tour by a prolific band, each concert is a special event).

 

I waited in line for 2 days for Pink Floyd tickets when they had their first tour in like 10 years in 1989 or whenever that was. I also waited in line for other concerts (in fact, I can't remember which one, but at one point me and the two girls I was with were in "line" for one concert by ourselves for 2 days). But you know what? At a certain point, Ticketmaster realized how dumb this was and just put everything on the internet. Even before that, the place where we used to regularly buy our tickets had decided they were just going to give out numbers - and there would be no lining up for numbers. They were just given out as soon as a concert was announced, so you couldn't sit out in the parking lot and wait either. It worked well; you'd hear about a concert and you'd go and see if they had any numbers left. If they did, you got one; if not, you went home. Why the heck should you have to wait in line for 2 days?

 

I also waited in line for the PS2, for one day. I didn't get one. It was just a huge waste of time. Would I have felt that way if I got one? Well, yeah - because my online pre-order with GameStop came through 5 days later (unexpectedly).

 

I don't understand why retailers don't just take orders on a constant basis over the internet. Why shut down preorders when you've filled your initial launch allotment? Do they think there will *never* be another shipment? Why not just keep taking orders and tell people they can't guarantee a date? I placed one of those Best Buy "preorders" a week or two ago, knowing I probably wouldn't get a launch system but not caring. Obviously, they cancelled my order, so today I dragged my ass around to like eight different stores searching, which I wouldn't have had to do if they had just left my order intact.

 

The line-up system just seems ridiculous, and those participating in it at this point are just enabling the ridiculousness. Either don't accept lines at all or give out numbers and don't accept lines for that. Personally, I think if I ran a store, I'd just take online orders *exclusively*, and continuously - I mean are do you really think a store would sell any fewer units that way? And it'd get rid of the entire line "problem" and all that it entails.

[thomasholzer]

Pink Floyd ah, that brings back memories. I remember hunting for 'The Wall' tickets back in 81 here in Germany. At least it was still the Gilmore/Waters lineup. Great concert too.

 

Few years before they toured Germany with the 'Animals' tour. Why the ticket had the 'wish you were here' logo is anyone's guess. Still, both albums were played live, and we had flying pigs and all that, great fun....

 

Edited November 18, 2006 by thomasholzer

[shadow460]

I waited in line for about ten minutes on Sep 9th, 1999 for my Dreamcast.

[Vic George 2K3]

I waited until 1991 to get my first NES because I just wasn't fully ready to give up on my Atari 7800 and all the cartridges I have collected for the 2600. Of course, my brother had an NES system for a few years, and I have been busy playing with it and even buying some games for it, such as CastleVania and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I also had bought the original Nintendo Gameboy system in 1990, so eventually I knew that my days with the Atari 7800 were coming to a close.

 

Overall, I can't say that I ever have waited in line to get a new system when it came out at its launch date.

Edited November 18, 2006 by Vic George 2K3

[oldgames]

I don't remember long lines like the Xbox and PS3 launches. There were periods when the 2600 was hard to find though. In 1981, after saving all year, my wife and I set out to finally buy our Atari for Christmas. Tried all the stores in the area and there were none to be had. Finally waited till January and got one at Sears!

[jpfalcon2003]

Well i was a kid when I got these systems (NES and 7800), but don't recall my parents ever saying they had problems getting these.

[Student Driver]

The NES was actually really difficult to find in the NYC test market before it hit nationwide. I don't think people actually camped out but they did go store to store looking for it and there was definitely some price gouging by profiteers (no ebay back then, but classified ads existed). People also came from well outside the NYC area looking for it; they'd travel 100 miles or more to get it.

 

My mom and I traveled by train in October 1985 to pick one up and had no difficulty finding one. It may have been incredibly early in its release (before sell-outs and gouging). We were grilled by the toy store salesman on if we knew what we were buying, that we knew that it wouldn't play Atari "tapes," etc. The salesman seemed really incredulous that anyone would want the thing (indicative of the disdain with which retailers held the rebirth of home gaming). Ended up simply getting the Deluxe set with no extra games-- SMB had yet to be released. Played Gyromite and Duck Hunt for months. Whee! I was overjoyed when local retailers began stocking NES games, and for months I seemed to be the only person buying them. Every time, the retailer would look at me oddly when I'd ask to see Wrecking Crew or something... "you know this is for something called the Nine-teen-doo, right kid?"

 

On lines...

 

The first lines for a console that I can recall were for the SNES. An interesting change from when I could stop by a store and unexpectedly see the Genesis or TG16 out for sale. No camping out for the SNES, but people lined up hours before the local stores put them out, and the system was difficult to come by for a while. No lines for the PS, but the N64, Dreamcast, GameCube, PS2, Xbox and PSP all had respectable lines.

 

For software, Nintendo had played-up the marketing idea of coordinated launches, customers lining up, etc. before with SMB3. Acclaim did the same with the Mortal Kombat releases, some of the Blitz releases; Sega with Sonic 2; Capcom with SF2. I've been surprised in recent years by what titles can create lines-- Everquest expansion packs a couple of years ago, Halo, Madden every single year, Guitar Hero II. Heck, there were lines for Windows 95. Unlike consoles, I don't understand the rush for popular software-- it's not like there's going to be a shortage.

[Video]

The first system I waited in line to get was the X-Box. And I never regreted it. It was a great ssytem. I auctally bought system #1 for our town, as I was first in line (of all three people that showed up) Hey, it might be Microsoft, I thought, but it's also American owned. Yay Patriotism

 

BTW, I still own system # 1, and it's still ticking just fine, though due to it getting along in years, I have bought a replacement.

 

Uh...but that's besid the point. I believe the first systems that were actually marketed as "must have, hard to find this christmas" feeding frenzy systems was the early 32bit era systems. Playstation was actually hard to come by. Sega Saturn not so much, as they pretty much had run their user bass off by then. And the Nintendo 64 seemed to have a lot of hope, then died due to idiots that think a game will be more fun if it's on a cheapass CD as opposed to a cart (But to this day, the only game PSX had that came close to Mario, Donkeykong, etc, was Spyro)

 

Pretty much every console from that point on has had the hype built up, good or not. The first handheld to really do this, seems to me to be the PSP and DS. Though being handheld, they will never have the mass appeal a console will, never mind the fact that the gameboy line sold more handhelds, than sony, Microsoft, or even Nintendo, and probably all combined.

 

The last console I bought on Launch day, was the Wii. PS3 was to expensive, but that didn't prevent me from trying to get one, I just happened to be one person to many to get it oh well, for that, I was just going to put it on Ebay, for my own personal use, I'll wait till it drops a few hundred in price.

Edited November 19, 2006 by Video