When Nintendo sued Blockbuster

When Nintendo sued Blockbuster

Here’s a late ’80s memory you may not have thought about in a while. Do you remember going to the video rental store to rent a video game and getting the cartridge but not getting the instruction booklet? The reason video stores would rent you a cartridge without instructions dates back to events that started in late July 1989, when Nintendo sued Blockbuster.

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Nintendo Famicom and the secret of Nintendo’s success

Nintendo Famicom and the secret of Nintendo’s success

On July 15, 1983, the Famicom, or Family Computer, launched in Japan. Despite the name, the Family Computer was a game console, and it went on to shatter the Atari 2600’s record for the most sales worldwide by a game console. The Famicom remains one of the most successful and popular game consoles of all time, even if you know it better as the Nintendo NES, and even if it wasn’t as popular in Europe as it was in other parts of the world.

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How Donkey Kong toppled Atari

How Donkey Kong toppled Atari

In July 1981, at the height of Pac-Man fever, Nintendo released its third stand up arcade game. This game, Donkey Kong, took over as the most popular arcade game in the world, but it had a lasting repercussions. It irreversibly changed the course of the home console market, and whether you know it or not, you are still feeling those effects today. Donkey Kong played a direct role in Nintendo toppling Atari.

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What went wrong with 3DO

What went wrong with 3DO

3DO sounded like a great premise. Several great minds came together to design a game console that they could license to any consumer electronics manufacturer who wanted to make it. It could have been the VHS or the IBM PC clone of the video game console market. But it didn’t catch on and 3DO exited the game console market June 24, 1997.

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How the Vectrex game console sunk a 124-year-old company

How the Vectrex game console sunk a 124-year-old company

On May 4, 1984, Milton Bradley, a leading producer of board games for 124 years, agreed to sell itself to Hasbro. Changes in the way people played games in the 80s, especially kids, put pressure on the company. In this blog post, I’ll explain how changing times led Milton Bradley to make a transformational bet at the worst possible time that ultimately sunk the maker of the game Battleship, and what happened to what was left of Milton Bradley.

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The first 3Dfx card: Orchid Righteous 3D

The first 3Dfx card: Orchid Righteous 3D

On March 20, 1996, Orchid Technologies announced the Orchid Righteous 3D, the first consumer graphics card based on 3Dfx technology. It retailed for $299, achieved FCC certification July 24, 1996, and reached retail shelves October 6, 1996, beating Diamond Multimedia’s Monster 3D to market. Orchid was 3Dfx’s first OEM partner and the maker of the first 3Dfx Voodoo card.

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Magnavox Odyssey 2: 1978-1984

Magnavox Odyssey 2: 1978-1984

The Magnavox Odyssey 2 is an overlooked second generation game console, at least in the United States. I was curious how this console sold 2 million units and yet I never saw one and rarely heard about it growing up. It was launched December 1, 1978 and discontinued March 20, 1984. That makes today as good of a time as any to give this console a second look.

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Atari 2600 Pac-Man went on sale March 16, 1982

Atari 2600 Pac-Man went on sale March 16, 1982

On March 16, 1982, sales of the eagerly anticipated Pac-Man conversion for the Atari 2600 started. The game was supposed to launch April 3, 1982. But some retailers started selling the game early. This wouldn’t happen today, but the 1980s were a different time. Atari didn’t have the power to stop it in March 1982, and although nobody realized it at the time, Atari was at the very pinnacle of its power in the early spring of 1982.

Pac-Man ended up being the best selling video game cartridge of 1982, but in the long run, the reputational damage Atari suffered wasn’t worth the cash it made from the 8 million copies it sold.

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Game designer Sid Meier born Feb. 24, 1954

Game designer Sid Meier born Feb. 24, 1954

Legendary game designer Sid Meier was born February 24, 1954. After creating a run of popular flight simulators in the early and mid 1980s, he shifted to strategy games in the second half of the decade, creating some of the greatest strategy games of all time in the late 1980s and into the 1990s.

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Al Alcorn born January 1, 1948

Al Alcorn born January 1, 1948

Al Alcorn was a New Year’s baby, born January 1, 1948. He was Atari’s first full-time engineer and an early casualty of Ray Kassar‘s management style after the Sock King took over as Atari CEO.

Arguably, Alcorn is famous for two things. He was the engineer who designed Pong, and he was also the engineer who hired a young Steve Jobs.

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