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The Video Game Newsroom Time Machine is a weekly retro gaming podcast in which we travel back in time to see what was making headlines 40, 30, and 20 years ago in the arcade, video game, and computer gaming business and interview industry veterans. 

We try to put those events into historical context to understand how the industry of today came to be. 

It's fun and educational! (in case you need to justify listening to it to a significant other)

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Jun 25, 2021

Centipede begins its decent into arcades
Analysts predict a big future for video games
The BBC chooses Acorn over Sinclair

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 June of 1981.
As always, we'll mostly be using magazine cover dates, and those are of course always a bit behind the actual events.

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Links:
7 Minutes in Heaven:
Video - https://www.patreon.com/posts/52937474
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zork

Corrections:
May 1981 - https://www.patreon.com/posts/51570497
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJFnWZH5FXc
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racing_the_Beam

1961:
IBM 1301 drive introduces hydrodynamic air bearing slider
https://www.nytimes.com/1961/06/05/archives/computers-memory-is-enhanced-reprograming-time-is-cut-sharply-by.html?searchResultPosition=5
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_height
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_IBM_magnetic_disk_drives#IBM_1301

1981:
Midway gets counterfeits seized
RePlay June 1981 pg. 6
Vending Times June 1981, pg. 57

Centipede launches
RePlay June 1981 pg. 29
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centipede_(video_game)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_Lovelace
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_computing
https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2016/07/22/487069271/episode-576-when-women-stopped-coding?t=1624520759815

PlayCable hits the market
https://www.nytimes.com/1981/06/01/arts/two-way-games-channel-is-coming-to-cable-tv.html?searchResultPosition=1

Video Games are conquering toy stores
Toy & Hobby World June 1981 pg. 29
Don Daglow Interview https://www.patreon.com/posts/38445119
Ed Zaron Interview https://www.patreon.com/posts/30697517

Programmable video game market to reach $295 million in revenue by 1990!
Toys Hobbies & Crafts, June 1981, pg. 18
https://vgsales.fandom.com/wiki/Video_games_in_the_United_States

Magnavox pushes Odyssey 2 at CES
https://archive.org/details/19810602LeisureTimeElectronicsReports/page/n3/mode/1up
https://archive.org/details/19810602LeisureTimeElectronicsReports/page/n4/mode/1up
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnavox_Odyssey_2
https://www.mobygames.com/game/odyssey-2/quest-for-the-rings
Michael Dornbrook Interview https://www.patreon.com/posts/44335732

Bally Arcade gets keyboard add-on
https://archive.org/details/1981SummerLeisureTimeElectronics/page/n56/mode/1up
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bally_Astrocade

Mattel delays Intellivision Keyboard
Toys Hobbies & Crafts, June 1981, pg. 3
Leisure Time electronics Report, June 1, pg. 2

TI gets out of the digital watch business, but Commodore sticks with it
https://archive.org/details/19810601LeisureTimeElectronicsReports/page/n2/mode/1up
https://archive.org/details/19810601LeisureTimeElectronicsReports/page/n5/mode/1up
http://www.digital-watch.com/DWL/searchresults/4de1255c9d624a3b8705b94329703e41/

Micro magazine begins pushing the 6809
https://archive.org/details/Micro_NO._37_1981-06_Micro_Ink_US/page/n8/mode/1up
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_6809
Bill Stealy Interview - https://www.patreon.com/posts/36710924

Avalon Hill's first batch of games gets reviewed
https://archive.org/details/creativecomputing-1981-06/page/n39/mode/1up
https://www.mobygames.com/company/microcomputer-games-inc
https://www.mobygames.com/game/warp-factor
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avalon_Hill

Softalk reviews Ultima,Olympic Decathalon, Cartels & Cutthroats, and Zork
https://archive.org/details/softalkv1n10jun1981/page/48/mode/2up

BBC chooses Acorn over Sinclair
https://archive.org/details/your-computer-magazine-1981-06/page/n2/mode/1up
https://archive.org/details/your-computer-magazine-1981-06/page/n5/mode/1up
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Micro
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Computer_Programme
https://archive.org/details/your-computer-magazine-1981-06/page/n31/mode/1up
Micro Men movie - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXBxV6-zamM

 

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.