June 1982

Jul 23, 2022

Activision and Atari bury the hatchet
CES is flooded with 3rd party VCS carts
Video games give Wall Street the jitters

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 June 1982.
As always, we'll mostly be using magazine cover dates, and those are of course always a bit behind the actual events.

Mads from the Retro Asylum is our cohost. You can find his other fine podcasts here:
http://retroasylum.com
and
https://playthroughpod.com/

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Links:
7 Minutes in Heaven: Naughty Boy
Video Version - https://www.patreon.com/posts/7-minutes-in-boy-69425784
https://www.mobygames.com/game/naughty-boy

Corrections:
May 1982 Ep - https://www.patreon.com/posts/68285778
https://www.mobygames.com/game/arcade/super-cobra
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnavox_Odyssey
Tron - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084827/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
https://www.mobygames.com/game/atari-2600/pac-man
Wild Bill Stealey - Microprose - https://www.patreon.com/posts/36710924

1822
Charles Babbage announces Difference Engine
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Difference_engine
https://www.computerhistory.org/babbage/engines/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GameStop#Babbage's_(1984%E2%80%931994)

1972
The Carnegie Institute sees computers as future of education
https://www.nytimes.com/1972/06/02/archives/electronics-seen-as-education-key-carnegie-study-urges-us-aid-for.html?searchResultPosition=16

Nolan Bushnell contracts with Bally
https://archive.org/details/1974-06-25-john-britz-depositon-and-exhibits/1974-06-25%20John%20Britz%20Exhibit%202/page/n0/mode/2up
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutting_Associates

Atari incorporated
https://twitter.com/GameResearch_E/status/1541419743646720001

1982:
Bankers bearish on coin-op
Games People Pay Early-June 1982 pg. 1

Federal spending cuts hit coinop
Play Meter June 15th, 1982 pg. 22
https://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/03/garden/issue-and-debate-should-video-games-be-restricted-by-law.html?searchResultPosition=3

Chuck E Cheese reports earnings
The Pizza Times June 1982 pg. 5

Atari, Gottlieb split Krull license
Play Meter June 1st, 1982 pg. 32
https://archive.org/details/Electronic_Games_Volume_01_Number_04_1982-06_Reese_Communications_US/page/n7/mode/1up?view=theater
https://www.mobygames.com/game/krull

Japanese imports drying up
Play Meter June 1st, 1982 pg. 32

Experts suggest arcade games may become collectible
Games People Pay Early-June 1982 pg. 6

Thief ads list Bernie Stolar as director
Play Meter June 1st, 1982 pg. 43
https://www.mobygames.com/game/arcade/thief__
https://flyers.arcade-museum.com/?page=flyer&db=videodb&id=1735&image=1

Count Up to the Crash!

Video Games add pep to dreary CES
https://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/09/business/the-video-game-sales-war.html?searchResultPosition=2

GCE introduces Vectrex
Toy & Hobby World June 1982 pg. S9
Lange Nacht der Computerspiele - https://computerspielenacht.htwk-leipzig.de/computerspielenacht-start/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vectrex

Entex introduces Adventure Vision
Toy & Hobby World June 1982 pg. S34
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventure_Vision
http://www.adventurevision.com/SystemPictures-loose.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entex_Industries
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Knight_(pinball)

Stand-alone electronic games bet on licenses
Toy & Hobby World June 1982 pg. S1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Professor
https://www.achtziger-forum.de/viewtopic.php?p=16206

Mattel has finally launched the Intellivision keyboard component... sorta
https://archive.org/details/Electronic_Games_Volume_01_Number_04_1982-06_Reese_Communications_US/page/n9/mode/1up?view=theater
Don Daglow Part 1 - PDP - Mattel - Intellivision - EA - https://www.patreon.com/posts/38445119
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellivision#Keyboard_Component

ColecoVision to have VCS add-on
https://archive.org/details/Electronic_Games_Volume_01_Number_04_1982-06_Reese_Communications_US/page/n8/mode/1up?view=theater
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ColecoVision#Atari_2600_expansion

Tiger Electronics enters the VCS market
Toy & Hobby World June 1982 pg. S20
https://www.mobygames.com/company/tigervision
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_Electronics
https://www.mobygames.com/game/miner-2049er
https://www.mobygames.com/game/manic-miner
Gauntlet Handheld - https://archive.org/details/hh_tgaunt

Fox enters cartridge market
https://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/07/business/fox-to-offer-video-games.html?searchResultPosition=3
https://www.mobygames.com/company/fox-video-games-inc
Jerry Jewell - Sirius Software - https://www.patreon.com/posts/57602735

Activision and Atari bury the hatchet
https://archive.org/details/Electronic_Games_Volume_01_Number_04_1982-06_Reese_Communications_US/page/n8/mode/1up?view=theater
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activision#Early_years_(1980%E2%80%931982)

Activision announces new games
Toy & Hobby World June 1982 pg. S21
https://www.mobygames.com/browse/games/activision-publishing-inc/offset,1450/so,1d/list-games/

Activision earnings jump ten-fold
Toys Hobbies and Crafts June 1982, pg. 13
https://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/11/business/mattel-profit-17.1-million.html?searchResultPosition=7
Gregory Fischbach Part 1 - Activision - Acclaim - https://www.patreon.com/posts/46578120

Fears of crash hit Warner stock
https://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/04/business/market-place-pac-man-and-beyond.html?searchResultPosition=4
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warner_Bros.#New_owners

Toy retailers prepare for the cartridge onslaught
Toy & Hobby World June 1982, pg. S1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TSR,_Inc.

Toy retailers urged to attend CES
Toy & Hobby World June 1982 pg. S4

Osborne 1 gets reviewed
https://archive.org/details/sim_byte_1982-06_7_6/page/n351/mode/1up?view=theater

Corvus shows off their Concept
https://archive.org/details/sim_byte_1982-06_7_6/page/5/mode/1up?view=theater
https://archive.org/details/kilobaudmagazine-1982-06/page/n25/mode/1up

Commodore takes on IBM
https://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/22/science/personal-computers-how-much-memory-to-buy.html?searchResultPosition=2

IBM has no time for the UK
https://archive.org/details/popular-computing-weekly-1982-06-03/page/n4/mode/1up

Speccy and Beeb get off to rocky starts
https://archive.org/details/popular-computing-weekly?query=1982-06

Timex launches the Sinclair 1000
Toy & Hobby World June 1982 pg. S4
7 Minutes in Heaven - 3D Monster Maze - April 1982 - https://www.patreon.com/posts/7-minutes-in-3d-66504463

Sinclair to go public
https://archive.org/details/Sinclair_User_003/page/13/mode/1up
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_Research

Llamasoft advertises Vic20 games
http://minotaurproject.co.uk/lshistory8.php
https://archive.org/details/popular-computing-weekly-1982-06-03/page/n5/mode/1up

Creative Computing isn't giving up on video discs
https://archive.org/details/creativecomputing-1982-06/page/n9/mode/1up?view=theater
7 Minutes in Heaven - Adventures in Video Land - https://www.patreon.com/posts/7-minutes-in-in-61568657

Byte goes video disk crazy
https://archive.org/details/sim_byte_1982-06_7_6/page/3/mode/1up?view=theater

Professor equates video games to masturbation
Replay June 1982, pg. 83

 

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.

Copyright Karl Kuras