Fairchild gets out of gaming PC sound is going to get blasted and Sega cans Bernie Stolar
This month we will look back at the biggest stories in and around the video game industry in October of 1979, 1989, 1999. As always, we'll mostly be using magazine cover dates, and those are of course always a bit behind the actual events..
Send comments on twitter @videogamenewsr2 Or [email protected]
And if you like what we are doing here at the podcast, don't forget to like us on your podcasting app of choice, YouTube, and/or support us on patreon! https://www.patreon.com/user?u=7594060
Show Notes: 1979: Tandy announces development of the TRS-80 Color Computer https://books.google.de/books?id=Kz4EAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA1&dq=infoworld%201979&hl=de&pg=PA3#v=onepage&q=rumor%20mill&f=false
Apple II+ released https://archive.org/details/kilobaudmagazine-1979-10/page/n7
Sublogic is advertising their 3D graphics software https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1979-10-rescan/page/n137 http://www.sublogiccorp.com/
Heathkits land at Zenith https://shop.heathkit.com/shop
Does the S-100 bus still have a future? https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1979-10-rescan/page/n110
Ted Lewis formulates the laws of personal computing https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1979-10-rescan/page/n189 https://blog.ubiquity.acm.org/author/ted-lewis/ Q&A is at the end of the show notes
TI tries to convince the FCC to change its regulations https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1979-10-rescan/page/n110
The race to develop optical storage media is on https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1979-10-rescan/page/n111
The digital imaging era is here... sorta https://archive.org/details/creativecomputing-1979-10/page/n28 https://books.google.de/books?id=ziOMgcvgXnYC&pg=PA54&lpg=PA54&dq=periphicon+company&source=bl&ots=TKPNcrIA3H&sig=ACfU3U2Au8ufHokIOREj0wAj5jdPqGcHsg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjVt4aUpfDkAhXCIlAKHVp8CmIQ6AEwCnoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=periphicon%20company&f=false
Channel F is dead https://archive.org/details/creativecomputing-1979-0/page/n9 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairchild_Channel_F https://www.zircon.com/
1989: Plessey introduces in-flight computer entertainment at Paris Air Show https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/GEC-Plessey_Avionics https://archive.org/details/ACE_Issue_25_1989-10_Future_Publishing_GB/page/n9 https://www.cbronline.com/news/plessey_seeks_fortune_with_in_flight_communications_fun/
Sega introduces the System 24 board https://archive.org/details/ACE_Issue_25_1989-10_Future_Publishing_GB/page/n21 https://www.system16.com/hardware.php?id=708
Creative announces the Game Blaster and the Killer Kard https://archive.org/details/1989-10-compute-magazine/page/n11 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_Blaster#Game_Blaster https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0TAU35QS-8
Access Software announces RealSound https://archive.org/details/1989-10-compute-magazine/page/n9 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wivtSeGr_T8 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RealSound
Orson Scott Card announces that he'll be working with LucasFilm Games https://archive.org/details/1989-10-compute-magazine/page/n105 https://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,2865/ https://www.quora.com/Orson-Scott-Card-was-credited-in-the-LucasArts-game-Loom-What-was-his-contribution https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y92k0Lakq04
EA goes public https://archive.org/details/Computer_Gaming_World_Issue_64/page/n9 https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/the-electronic-arts-ipo-with-trip-hawkins https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences-and-law/economics-business-and-labor/businesses-and-occupations/electronic-arts-inc
Sierra acquires Dynamix 3D tech https://archive.org/details/Computer_Gaming_World_Issue_64/page/n9 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usme3xqyBBg
Commodore cancels Commodore Magazine https://archive.org/details/thegamesmachine-23/page/n13 https://archive.org/details/34-commodore-magazine
1999: Sega takes the Dreamcast Online https://archive.org/details/NextGen58Oct1999/page/n23 https://www.retromags.com/files/file/3960-gamepro-issue-133-october-1999/ page 32 Bernie Stolar gets booted from Sega https://archive.org/details/NextGen58Oct1999/page/n13 https://www.retromags.com/files/file/3960-gamepro-issue-133-october-1999/ page 32 https://www.polygon.com/features/2017/7/10/15923640/sega-dreamcast-history-games-bernie-stolar https://nypost.com/1999/08/13/president-is-out-in-sega-shake-up/ https://segaretro.org/Bernie_Stolar
SNK's NeoGeo Pocket will have Dreamcast connectivity https://www.retromags.com/files/file/3960-gamepro-issue-133-october-1999/ page 32 https://segaretro.org/Neo_Geo_Pocket/Dreamcast_Setsuzoku_Cable
Both Sony and Nintendo drop the price of their consoles https://archive.org/details/NextGen58Oct1999/page/n23 https://www.retromags.com/files/file/3960-gamepro-issue-133-october-1999/ page 32 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy_VIII Sony enveils the Playstation 2 at the Tokyo Game Show https://archive.org/details/MicromanaTerceraEpocaSpanishIssue57/page/n3
Dreamcast launch in Europe pushed back to October 14 https://archive.org/details/MicromanaTerceraEpocaSpanishIssue57/page/n25 https://www.computerworld.co.nz/article/515494/sega_bt_offerf_free_internet_via_dreamcast_console/
Nvidia launches "the world's first GPU" https://archive.org/details/MicromanaTerceraEpocaSpanishIssue57/page/n29 https://www.nvidia.com/object/IO_20020111_5424.html
Microsoft is developing a console https://archive.org/details/NextGen58Oct1999/page/n10 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_(console) Developers grumble about the high cost of PS2 development https://archive.org/details/NextGen58Oct1999/page/n19 Wizards of the Coast reveals D&D 3rd Edition at GenCon together with Bioware's NeverWinter Nights https://www.retromags.com/magazines/usa/nextgen/nextgen-issue-58/ page 22 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neverwinter_Nights Another Daikatana developer leaves Ion Storm https://archive.org/details/PC-Player-German-Magazine-1999-10/page/n9 https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/343443/Obituary_Veteran_programmer_Stephen_Ash_has_passed_away.php https://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,3208/
Charlie Brooker foretells Let's Plays https://archive.org/details/PC_Zone_Issue_081_1999-10_Dennis_Publishing_GB/page/n145
Ted Lewis Q&A:
>1. How did this article come about? I was a young professor at Oregon State University in 1979 and the personal computer industry was just getting started. Apple computer gave me an Apple ][e to play with, which started a long relationship and thinking about the disruptive nature of PCs. I began writing books and articles about them, eg How To Profit From Your PC, and The Mind Appliance. I think they were the first books on the topic.
> Did you submit it or was it requested by the magazine?
I don’t recall but probably it was unsolicited. I think it was little high-brow for Byte. > > Was it part of a larger research project? No. Back then, PCs were considered toys unworthy of academic study. Everyone else used the mainframe on campus. By 1985 I had a lab of 20-30 Macs for Master degree students to do their research on. It was a robust effort at that time and for OSU. > > > 2. Which "personal computers," according to your definition in the article, were you using at the time?
> Like I said, Apple ][e, but before that I had a kit computer from North Star, which went out of business. But it had a disk operating system and BASIC burned into ROM. That was 1977. But when the Apple came out, it took over the market. > > 3. Your fourth law, concerning the high cost of producing software, seems prescient of the need for standardized hardware architectures. Were you imagining at the time that such a universal standard might be possible? Were you thinking that the S-100 was such a standard? How long did you think a standard in personal computing could last? > > Well you are right - the S-100 was a standard as well as Bill Gate’s BASIC. But I was thinking more in terms of what is now FOSS. Also, I was enamored by p-code UCSD Pascal. Boy was I wrong! > > 4. In laws 5 and 6, you talk about the usability of a personal computer as well as the service required to make that usability understandable to the consumer. Did you consider the existing machines you named in the piece as "simple" enough to be successful on the mass market at the time without the need to have the consumer to be held by the hand by a human service person? (aka you didn't need a human to explain a simple calculator but you did for most software packages at the time)
> I completely missed the importance of GUIs until we got some Xerox Parc windows machines and then the Macintosh came out. They were so easy to use, you didn’t even need a manual. Totally surprising.
I missed this again when the iPhone came out. I was right about ease of use, but totally missed the impact of GUIs. > > 5. Had you already seen Visicalc at the time of writing this piece and, if not, would it have changed any of your views concerning interface and usability?
I wrote the first book on spreadsheets, 32 VisiCalc Spreadsheets, soon after. It paid off my mortgage! But I never thought of it as a GUI. And of course it was. It was an example of ease of use. I was stuck in a BASIC paradigm, were the language was the interface. There had to be better interface, but I was stuck in the command line interface. > > 6. Law 8 makes a rather bold statement concerning operating systems. Do you think this statement was true at the time, and if so, what changed in the technology or the market place to make operating systems as ubiquitous as they are today?
I am sad to say that operating systems are still too primitive. We are stuck with Unix and it’s derivatives. I consider Unix (Circa 1976) to be a major misstep in computing, akin to the original sin. It stripped out the security of Multics and usability of VMS. Much of what is wrong with computing today is traceable back to Unix and Linux. Nuff said. > > 7. Law 10 seems to sound an ominous warning for the future. How has the propagation of personal computing over the last 40 years differed from the way you imagined it at the time? (yes, I know, a very narrowly crafted question) :)
Well the more time that passes, the less accurate become predictions. Wireless internet has changed everything. Mobile computing and cloud are the result. The future is probably wireless 5G with a computer in everything down to light bulbs and toothbrushes. When quantum computers take over, the Internet and its computers will have to be reinvented. > > I hope this isn't asking too much. I really found the article fascinating and trying to put such things into a proper historical context is the main goal of our show.
No problem. Thanks for reminding me that I wrote the article 40 years ago.
Recommended Links: They Create Worlds: https://tcwpodcast.podbean.com/ Digital Antiquarian: https://www.filfre.net/ The Arcade Blogger: https://arcadeblogger.com/
