March 1981

The Integrated Circuit is born, Home computers storm CES and Atari orders massive chip inventory

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

This episode we will look back at the biggest stories in and around the video game industry in March of 1981. As always, we'll mostly be using magazine cover dates, and those are of course always a bit behind the actual events.

Peter is still out "on assignment" so we are joined again by Jon from the Retro Game Squad. http://retrogamesquad.libsyn.com/

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Links: Jon's 7 Minutes in Heaven https://www.mobygames.com/game/asteroids-deluxe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEvQCLhkwGg

Corrections: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/transcripts/tcw114 https://www.mobygames.com/game-group/sierra-hi-res-adventures https://www.mobygames.com/company/aventuras-ad https://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,82501/ https://archive.org/details/SoftwarePeopleDougCarlston/page/n9/mode/2up

1961: Fairchild introduces the IC https://www.nytimes.com/1961/03/15/archives/fairchild-introduces-circuits-in-miniature.html?searchResultPosition=1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairchild_Semiconductor

The libraries of the year 2000 will be on computer tape https://www.nytimes.com/1961/03/28/archives/librarian-of-2000-may-be-computer-mathematician-gives-plan-for.html?searchResultPosition=2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_G._Kemeny

1971: Film editing goes non-linear thanks to computers https://www.nytimes.com/1971/03/14/archives/computer-to-save-millions-in-film-editing-due-soon-computer-to-save.html?searchResultPosition=11 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-linear_editing#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CMX_Systems https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CMX_600 https://web.archive.org/web/20080210020634/http://www.sssm.com/editing/museum/offline/cmx600.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npExd1D6mtI

George Lucas makes his feature film debut with THX1138 https://www.nytimes.com/1971/03/12/archives/lucass-thx1138love-is-a-punishable-crime-in-future.html?searchResultPosition=66 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066434/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0 https://www.nytimes.com/1971/03/21/archives/wandas-a-wow-sos-thx-wandas-a-wow-sos-thx.html?searchResultPosition=121

1981: Electronic toys dissapoint at CES but video games come out swinging Toys Hobbies & Crafts March 1981, pg. 14 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_Electronics_Show https://videogamenewsroomtimemachine.libsyn.com/tom-dusenberry-interview

Microcomputers take the stage at CES https://archive.org/details/creativecomputing-1981-03/page/n51/mode/2up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharp_MZ http://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/the-japanese-pc-industry/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APF_Electronics_Inc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bally_Astrocade https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GRASS_(programming_language) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFnD_K3abOc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellivision#Keyboard_Component https://videogamenewsroomtimemachine.libsyn.com/dan-daglow-interview-part-1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_8-bit_family https://www.mobygames.com/game/atari-8-bit/asteroids_ https://www.mobygames.com/game/atari-8-bit/missile-command_ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scram_(video_game) https://videogamenewsroomtimemachine.libsyn.com/michael-katz-interview-part-1 https://videogamenewsroomtimemachine.libsyn.com/tom-dusenberry-interview https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_VIC-20 https://www.mobygames.com/company/commodore-business-machines-inc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX80 http://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/sir-clive-of-zx/ https://www.mobygames.com/game/rockys-boots https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Instruments_TI-99/4A https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Instruments_TMS9918 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086567/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 https://videogamenewsroomtimemachine.libsyn.com/1979-fcc-reform-special-feat-quarterpast38 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC-8000_series https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TurboGrafx-16

Atari orders chips from Commodore https://www.nytimes.com/1981/03/06/business/briefs-030360.html?searchResultPosition=2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOS_Technology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_8-bit_family https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_2600

Membrane keyboards are vying for dominance https://www.nytimes.com/1981/03/05/business/technology-the-membrane-keyboard.html?searchResultPosition=32 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Membrane_keyboard

Surge expected at the patent office https://www.nytimes.com/1981/03/14/business/patents-reagan-budget-asks-rise-in-patent-office-funds.html?searchResultPosition=18 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Patent_and_Trademark_Office

Automated Simulations launches Epyx line https://archive.org/details/softalkv1n07mar1981/page/36/mode/1up https://www.mobygames.com/company/epyx-inc https://videogamenewsroomtimemachine.libsyn.com/video-game-newsroom-time-machine-0 https://videogamenewsroomtimemachine.libsyn.com/michael-katz-interview-part-1

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/

Sound Effects by Ethan Johnson of History of How We Play and Enzo Maida.