February 2020

Coleco does what Mattel-don't! Nintendo misfires with DragonQuest! Big Money sees big future for the Playstation 2!

These stories and many more on this month's episode of the Video Game Newsroom Time Machine

This month we will look back at the biggest stories in and around the video game industry in November of 1980, 1990, 2000. 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: 1980: Gottlieb announces their System 80 Pinball platform Replay, Feb. 1980, pg. 27 We mistakenly talk about "Mystery House" instead of "Haunted House" from Gottlieb in this piece. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPcjOVUq4Do

Atari abandons pinball https://archive.org/details/Atari_Coin_Connection_Volume_4_Number_2_February_1980 https://atarimuseum.nl/atari-pinball/

Sega/Gremlin continue their push for multi-game cabinets Replay, Feb. 1980 pg. 58 https://segaretro.org/Sega_VIC_Dual

Gary Stern calls for changes to deal with inflation Replay, Feb. 1980, pg. 25

Holiday sales strong after slow start Playthings Feb. 1980, p. 50 Toys, Hobbies & Crafts, Feb. 1980 p. 51

Atari blasts the airwaves Playthings Feb. 1980

Michael Katz moves from Mattel to Coleco Toy and Hobby Jan. 1980 Toys, Hobbies & Crafts, Feb. 1980, p. 44

Coleco dares to compare https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93u6POODKQY https://tinyurl.com/ut7r89x https://tinyurl.com/tnos93q Toy & Hobby World Jan 1980, p. 4 Plaything Feb. 1980 p. 29

Tiger Electronics goes solo Playthings Feb. 1980, p. 29

IBM introduces the 5120 https://www.nytimes.com/1980/02/06/archives/a-desktop-computer-by-ibm-giants-converge-on-tiny-market.html?searchResultPosition=11 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_5120

NY Times profiles new trend in the publishing business https://www.nytimes.com/1980/02/28/archives/technology-small-computer-software-gains.html?searchResultPosition=6

Broderbund is founded https://twitter.com/tcwpodcast/status/1227957826087247872?s=20

1990: Kasparov beats Deep Thought https://archive.org/details/1990-02-compute-magazine/page/n8 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Thought_(chess_computer) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Blue_(chess_computer)

Turtle Mania is coming... https://archive.org/details/ACEIssue29Feb90/page/n7 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTcwZ6gRXnQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fujd94i3EYs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jo6R6LqpNNY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bv1M5SSk7f8

Winter CES brings the games.. https://archive.org/details/Computer_Gaming_World_Issue_68/page/n37

Nintendo misfires with Dragon Warrior https://archive.org/details/Computer_Gaming_World_Issue_68/page/n9 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Quest_(video_game)#1989_North_American_localization https://www.nytimes.com/1989/12/24/business/investing-nintendo-as-nemesis.html?searchResultPosition=1

VGA will save us from 16 bit consoles! https://archive.org/details/Computer_Gaming_World_Issue_68/page/n37 https://www.mobygames.com/game/wing-commander

And sound is a bit trickier... https://archive.org/details/Computer_Gaming_World_Issue_68/page/n38 Cinemaware announces TG16 version of It Came From the Desert https://archive.org/details/Computer_Gaming_World_Issue_68/page/n38 https://www.filfre.net/2016/12/a-time-of-endings-part-1-cinemaware/

New World Computing has shipped Nuclear War https://www.mobygames.com/game/nuclear-war http://amiga.lychesis.net/artist/AvrilHarrison.html https://archive.org/details/Computer_Gaming_World_Issue_68/page/n46

Software Toolworks buys Mindscape https://archive.org/details/vgmuseum_questbusters_qbustersVII2/page/n1/mode/1up https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-08-09-fi-171-story.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datasoft https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindscape https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Software_Toolworks

Michael Cranford leaves Interplay https://archive.org/details/vgmuseum_questbusters_qbustersVII2/page/n1/mode/1up https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelcranford/ https://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,11314/

Domark goes 3D https://archive.org/details/ACEIssue29Feb90/page/n6 https://archive.org/details/commodore-user-magazine-77/page/n6 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSzcoG7k2FI

Magnetic Scrolls signs up with Virgin Mastertronic https://archive.org/details/ACEIssue29Feb90/page/n7 https://www.mobygames.com/game/wonderland Apparently its not cool to give games bad grades https://archive.org/details/ACEIssue29Feb90/page/n12 http://amr.abime.net/review_7375 https://www.mobygames.com/game-group/ghostbusters-licensees

French Zombies are coming https://archive.org/details/commodore-user-magazine-77/page/n8 https://www.mobygames.com/game/zombi/release-info https://www.mobygames.com/game/zombiu

2000: Sega announces downloadable game service for Dreamcast http://www.thedreamcastjunkyard.co.uk/2017/11/dream-library-dreamcast-foreunner-to.html https://archive.org/stream/ElectronicGamingMonthly_201902/Electronic%20Gaming%20Monthly%20Issue%20127%20%28February%202000%29#page/n33/mode/1up Nuon to be shown at winter CES https://archive.org/stream/ElectronicGamingMonthly_201902/Electronic%20Gaming%20Monthly%20Issue%20127%20%28February%202000%29#page/n33/mode/1up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS9alQbHHPk http://www.8-bitcentral.com/miscellaneous/logitechNuon.html

Samsung announces Extiva DVD players https://www.samsung.com/us/news/newsPreviewRead.do?news_seq=403 https://archive.org/details/MicromaniaTerceraEpocaSpanishIssue61/page/n5/mode/1up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cTcqQsLXzU#action=share https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_2 https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-DVDN2000-DVD-Player/product-reviews/B00004WI43 https://www.ign.com/articles/2019/10/30/top-15-best-selling-video-game-consoles-of-all-time Merrill Lynch predicts big things for PS2 https://archive.org/details/NextGen62Feb2000/page/n21 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_2_sales https://www.ign.com/articles/2019/10/30/top-15-best-selling-video-game-consoles-of-all-time

Nintendo is sticking to its 2000 release date for Dolphin https://archive.org/details/NextGen62Feb2000/page/n8

Resident Evil Zero dropped from N64 and moved to Dolphin https://archive.org/stream/ElectronicGamingMonthly_201902/Electronic%20Gaming%20Monthly%20Issue%20127%20%28February%202000%29#page/n39/mode/1up

Resident Evil the Ride hits Japan https://archive.org/details/NextGen62Feb2000/page/n13 https://youtu.be/iahPKDCQZsc

Hasbro lays off Microprose devs https://archive.org/details/Computer_Gaming_World_Issue_187/page/n37 https://archive.org/details/PC-Player-German-Magazine-2000-02/page/n10

Sierra defends itself https://archive.org/details/Computer_Gaming_World_Issue_187/page/n37

Codemasters buys Sierra Yosemite studio https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codemasters https://archive.org/details/NextGen62Feb2000/page/n13 https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_ca/C2172750 https://www.mobygames.com/company/yosemite-entertainment

MMO mania continues https://archive.org/details/Computer_Gaming_World_Issue_187/page/n38 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons_Online https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neverwinter_(video_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neverwinter_Nights_(1991_video_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neverwinter_Nights https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neverwinter_Nights_2

eidos buys 51% stake in Ion Storm https://archive.org/details/Computer_Gaming_World_Issue_187/page/n38

...and the top selling computer game of Xmas 1999 was... https://archive.org/details/NextGen62Feb2000/page/n13

Roger Wilco brings voice to online gaming https://archive.org/details/PC-Player-German-Magazine-2000-02/page/n18 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Wilco_(software)

Back2Roots is trying to make emulation legit https://archive.org/details/PC-Player-German-Magazine-2000-02/page/n19 https://web.archive.org/web/20130715101947/http://www.back2roots.org/

Tim Schafer leaves Lucasarts https://archive.org/details/MicromaniaTerceraEpocaSpanishIssue61/page/n3/mode/1up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Schafer

Recommended Links: They Create Worlds: https://tcwpodcast.podbean.com/ Digital Antiquarian: https://www.filfre.net/ The Arcade Blogger: https://arcadeblogger.com/ The History of How We Play: https://thehistoryofhowweplay.wordpress.com/

Sound Effects by Ethan of History of How We Play.