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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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Feb 25, 2021

Williams fights copycats
Sierra beats Atari
and
Holograms promise the third dimension

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 February 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:
Peter's 7 Minutes in Heaven
https://www.mobygames.com/game/arcade/astro-blaster
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AR2kStMWBCs


Corrections:
https://videogamenewsroomtimemachine.libsyn.com/january-1981
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Bowser
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanders_Associates
https://www.mobygames.com/game/adventure
https://www.mobygames.com/game/akalabeth-world-of-doom/cover-art/gameCoverId,51963/
https://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,4577/
https://www.lemonamiga.com/games/docs.php?id=1113


1981:
Williams defends its rights to Defender
Replay February 1981, pg. 6
https://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=8709

Atari loses preliminary injunction against On-Line System's Jawbreaker
https://archive.org/details/Computer_Gaming_World_Issue_2.1/Computer_Gaming_World_Issue_2.1/page/n3/mode/1up
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jawbreaker_(video_game)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY-yUGwLoM0

Atari warns developers against copycats
https://archive.org/details/softalkv1n06feb1981/page/21/mode/1up
https://archive.org/details/softalkv1n06feb1981/page/37/mode/1up
https://archive.org/details/softside-magazine-38/page/n15/mode/1up
https://archive.org/details/softside-magazine-38/page/n16/mode/1up
https://archive.org/details/softside-magazine-38/page/n16/mode/1up
https://www.mobygames.com/game/missile-command_
https://www.mobygames.com/game/apple2/abm_
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wb87qqEhEd0
https://videogamenewsroomtimemachine.libsyn.com/ed-zaron-interview

Mattel introduces the Discovery System
Toy and Hobby World, February 1981 pg. 102
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEQXKzrskd4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXSH60XQRs0
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_Discovery_System
https://web.archive.org/web/20160308024718/http://www.ggdb.com/GameByName.aspx?c=Handheld&s=Other&vid=6592
https://christmas.musetechnical.com/ShowCatalogPage/1981-Sears-Christmas-Book/0558
https://christmas.musetechnical.com/ShowCatalogPage/1981-Sears-Christmas-Book/0666

Atari announces Hologram system
Toy and Hobby World, February 1981 pg. 270
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Cosmos
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astro_Invader
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxian
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waY3svOHGGI

Siro-Tech launches its first title
https://archive.org/details/softalkv1n06feb1981/page/12/mode/1up
http://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/2020/05/
http://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/the-return-of-the-sdraziw-of-sir-tech/
https://www.mobygames.com/game-group/wizardry-games

Time Zone will finally hit shelves
https://archive.org/details/Computer_Gaming_World_Issue_2.1/Computer_Gaming_World_Issue_2.1/page/n3/mode/1up
https://www.filfre.net/2012/06/time-zone/
https://www.mobygames.com/game-group/sierra-hi-res-adventures
https://www.mobygames.com/game-group/scott-adams-questprobe-series

Sirius becomes a corporation
https://archive.org/details/softalkv1n06feb1981/page/12/mode/1up
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_in_Japan_(Alphaville_song)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ3uSL9aeqg

SPI releases Dawn of the Dead boardgame
Toy and Hobby World, February 1981 pg. 275
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1773/dawn-dead
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcXuy1Jocfw
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077402/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2


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.