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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 24, 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..

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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.