April 1982

Video Game Newsroom Time Machine

Space War heralds the dawn of the video game Sanders and Associates patents the game console Pacman finally kills KCMunchkin

These stories and many more on this episode of the VGNRTM

This episode we will look back at the biggest stories in and around the video game industry in April 1982. As always, we'll mostly be using magazine cover dates, and those are of course always a bit behind the actual events.

Wouter, aka Wiedo, is our cohost. You can find his awesome twitter feed here: https://twitter.com/wiedo

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Links: 7 Minutes in Heaven: 3D Monster Maze Video Version: https://www.patreon.com/posts/66504463 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_Monster_Maze https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX81#/media/File:Sinclair-ZX81.png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX81#/media/File:Sinclair_ZX81_Setup_PhotoManipped.jpg

Corrections: March 1982 Ep - https://www.patreon.com/posts/64415756 Tom Dusenberry Interview - https://www.patreon.com/posts/42807419 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=166YVv8ZV4E https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckner_%26_Garcia https://ballyalley.com/pics/keypad_overlays/keypad_overlays.html https://www.mobygames.com/game/atari-st/star-raiders/screenshots

1932 Pinball ruled to be gambling https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/380431067/ https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74171177/pinball-ordinance-not-yet-implemented/

1952 Anti-Pinball law deemed illegal https://www.nytimes.com/1952/04/11/archives/pinball-law-illegal-hoboken-magistrate-rules-city-ordinance.html?searchResultPosition=1

IBM sees bright future in electronics https://www.nytimes.com/1952/04/30/archives/watson-reports-i-b-m-expansion-business-machines-chairman-tells.html?searchResultPosition=1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_701 https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/history/year_1952.html https://videogamehistorian.wordpress.com/tag/ibm-709/

1962 Spacewar released at MIT https://www.howtogeek.com/794165/video-games-turn-60-how-spacewar-launched-a-revolution/ http://tech.mit.edu/V82/PDF/V82-N11.pdf

Business managers play IBM business sim https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12413174/the-observer/ https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81965512/smu-banking-management-game/

1972 Sanders and associates get game console patents https://www.newspapers.com/clip/99426904/magnavox-odyssey-patent-announcement/ https://www.nytimes.com/1972/04/29/archives/dc10-patent-is-set-mcdonnell-douglas-stresses-arrangement-of-3.html?searchResultPosition=14 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_H._Baer https://youtu.be/kDAKxjG7VaI

Cartrivision introduces movie rentals to the world https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Poptronics/70s/1972/Pop-1972-04.pdf pg. 25 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWZHh5oVjB0

1982 Make your own maze is the new arcade craze https://archive.org/details/Atari_Coin_Connection_Volume_6_Number_3_April-May_1982 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dig_Dug https://www.mobygames.com/game/pit

Atari releases promo video to fight local laws Replay April 1982 pg. 9 https://archive.org/details/Atari_Coin_Connection_Volume_6_Number_3_April-May_1982

Pizza Time Theater fails to impress Wall Street https://www.nytimes.com/1982/04/05/business/market-place-pizza-time-unproven-idea.html?searchResultPosition=7 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_E._Cheese Willy's Wonderland - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8114980/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_8

Court rules that speed-up and conversion kits are illegal Replay April 1982 pg. 9 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0013442/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Atari, finally, beats KC Munchkin Games People Pay Early April 1982 pg. 6 Replay April 1982 pg. 25 Play Meter April 15, 1982 pg. 15 Play Meter April 1, 1982 pg. 14

Atari profits surge despite higher tax rate https://www.nytimes.com/1982/04/14/business/company-earnings-warner-up-57.4-in-quarter.html?searchResultPosition=3 https://www.nytimes.com/1982/04/14/business/business-digest-wednesday-april-14-1982-the-economy.html?searchResultPosition=10

Atari releases home computer ports of Pacman and Centipede https://archive.org/details/kilobaudmagazine-1982-04/page/n199/mode/2up https://www.mobygames.com/game/atari-8-bit/pac-man/screenshots https://www.mobygames.com/game/atari-8-bit/centipede_/screenshots

Atari 5200 won't be backward compatible https://www.newspapers.com/clip/62351753/atari-5200-notice-of-no-backwards/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_5200

Sega to distribute Colecovision in Japan Replay April 1982 pg. 40 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ColecoVision https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SG-1000

CBS gets into games https://www.nytimes.com/1982/04/21/business/cbs-to-market-bally-games.html?searchResultPosition=2 https://www.mobygames.com/company/cbs-software https://www.nytimes.com/1982/04/23/business/cbs-unit-offers-58-million-for-maker-of-rubik-s-cube.html?searchResultPosition=5 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubik%27s_Cube https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideal_Toy_Company

Quaker Oats gets into games too https://www.nytimes.com/1982/04/23/business/cbs-unit-offers-58-million-for-maker-of-rubik-s-cube.html?searchResultPosition=5 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quaker_Oats_Company#Quaker_Oats_Company https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Games

Flat panels are coming our way https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1982-04-rescan/page/n429/mode/1up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid-crystal_display Sinclair announces flat screen computer... and electric car https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1982-04-rescan/page/n427/mode/1up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV80 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_C5

Sinclair claims volume victory https://archive.org/details/creativecomputing-1982-04-a/page/n7/mode/1up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX80 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX81 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_VIC-20

ZX82 is near! https://archive.org/details/popular-computing-weekly-1982-04-23/page/n4/mode/1up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX_Spectrum

BBC goes all in on computer literacy https://archive.org/details/your-computer-magazine-1982-04/page/n16/mode/1up The BBC wants to answer your computer inquiries https://archive.org/details/your-computer-magazine-1982-04/page/n16/mode/1up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC Micro Men - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXBxV6-zamM&t=65s

Hyperlink gaming comes to UK TVs https://archive.org/details/Computer_Video_Games_Issue_006_1982-04_EMAP_Publishing_GB/page/n24/mode/1up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prestel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minitel

Buy plotting paper to make your zx81 art dreams a reality! https://archive.org/details/Computer_Video_Games_Issue_006_1982-04_EMAP_Publishing_GB/page/n49/mode/1up

Sinclair User launches https://archive.org/details/sinclair-user-magazine-001

Antic magazine debuts https://archive.org/details/1982-04-anticmagazine

16 bit revolution is coming https://archive.org/details/creativecomputing-1982-04-a/page/n7/mode/1up

Video Disc gaming not dead yet... https://archive.org/details/creativecomputing-1982-04-a/page/n7/mode/1up

Zork Users Group announced https://archive.org/details/creativecomputing-1982-04-a/page/n248/mode/1up https://www.filfre.net/2012/07/the-zork-users-group/ Michael Dornbrook Part 1 - https://www.patreon.com/posts/44335732

Recommended Links: The History of How We Play: https://thehistoryofhowweplay.wordpress.com/ Gaming Alexandria: https://www.gamingalexandria.com/wp/ They Create Worlds: https://tcwpodcast.podbean.com/ Digital Antiquarian: https://www.filfre.net/ The Arcade Blogger: https://arcadeblogger.com/ Retro Asylum: http://retroasylum.com/category/all-posts/ Retro Game Squad: http://retrogamesquad.libsyn.com/ Playthrough Podcast: https://playthroughpod.com/ Retromags.com: https://www.retromags.com/

Sound Effects by Ethan Johnson of History of How We Play.