In issue #12, we started an interview with Nolan Bushnell that took us up to the VCS akaAtari 2600. Todd Friedman had also done a recent interview that we brought part of into this article. We pick up when competition in the home video game space kicks up with the IIntellivision, Colecovision, Chuck E Cheese and more!
OSG: What was your opinion, at that time, of the Colecovision and Intellevision which competed against Atari in the early 1980’s? What is your opinion of them now as it relates to the history of gaming?
NB: All these games were better than the 2600, but had sparse software and helped to create confusion in the market.
OSG: Can you tell me how you felt after the Atari 2600 (VCS) stopped production and what Atari’s expectation was of the Atari 5200?
NB: I thought the whole Atari strategy from 1980 forward was a giant cluster. The 5200 was a rush job and based on the Atari 800. It was already old tech.
OSG: Arcades were hot in the early 80’s, but then crashed due to the booming home console generation. Did you expect that to happen, and was there competition against the arcade manufacturers?
NB: I think that the Arcade was killed by the era of Mortal Kombat. These games were very successful but narrowed the market drastical- ly. Arcades went from a casual game place for players and women to teens and young men only.
*Read the rest of this article on page 6 by clicking here!
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Michael Thomasson is one of the most widely respected videogame historians in the field today. He currently teaches college level videogame history, design, and graphics courses. For television, Michael conducted research for MTV's videogame related program Video MODS. In print, he authored Downright Bizarre Games, and has contributed to nearly a dozen gaming texts. Michael’s historical columns have been distributed in newspapers and magazines worldwide. He has written business plans for several vendors and managed a dozen game-related retail stores spanning three decades. Michael consults for multiple video game and computer museums and has worked on nearly a hundred game titles on Atari, Coleco, Sega and other console platforms. In 2014, The Guinness Book of World Records declared that Thomasson had “The Largest Videogame Collection” in the world. His businesses sponsor gaming tradeshows and expos across the US and Canada. Visit www.GoodDealGames.com.
