Lecture+14+Notes

= __Lecture 14 Notes__ = ===For the Fall 2010 Discussion Board, Click [|HERE] ===

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 * Atari and Mattel doing great business – Coleco suffering
 * Company nearly bankrupt after fall of Pong-style games – barely survived end of 1970's
 * Arnold Greenberg – CEO of Coleco – saw new hand-held market and saw potential
 * Decided to take Coleco into hand-held video-games
 * After Mattel released LED-based game Football, Coleco released Electronic Quarterback
 * Similar LED game - had more features and cost less than Mattel's game
 * Greenberg hired Michael Katz – former Mattel executive
 * Katz had overseen release of Mattel's Auto Race and Football hand-held games
 * Katz brought on to create marketing department for Coleco
 * Coleco created more hand-held games – 2-player Head-To-Head series – sold very well
 * Also licensed a number of popular arcade games – like Pac-Man and Donkey Kong
 * Released table-top games reproducing them – games much simpler than originals
 * Designs of table-top games exactly mimicked arcade cabinets, including exterior artwork
 * Coleco's table-top games also sold very well
 * 1980 – hand-held market already beginning to die off – Greenberg unconcerned
 * Attention elsewhere – wanted to make console capable of playing arcade-quality games
 * Had earned enough money from hand-held games to research new console
 * Meanwhile Coleco used relationships it had formed with arcade companies
 * Entered the home market again as 3rd-party publisher for VCS and Intellivision
 * Did not create new games – licensed and re-created arcade games for home consoles
 * End of 1981 – Greenberg's dream system almost ready – shown at 1982 January CES
 * ColecoVision – had a number of things in common with other consoles
 * Standard 8-bit processor, 8k RAM, 8k Video-Ram – similar to VCS and Intellivision (Intellivision actually used an early 16-Bit Processor, though it was far less powerful than later 16-Bit processors)
 * Had other features that made it more powerful
 * Technology costs much cheaper by this point – Coleco could afford extra chips
 * Implemented separate chips for memory-mapping and frame-buffers
 * Separate chips left out of VCS and Intellivision due to costs
 * Chips resulted in smoother animation and more arcade-quality graphics than competitors
 * ColecoVision's chip set very advanced – could even handle video imagery
 * Later – 1985 – Hasbro engineers began experimenting with interactive video
 * Used modified ColecoVision console
 * ColecoVision more advanced – still had a tough battle ahead
 * Atari dominated home video-game market – over 100 games for VCS
 * Also had tons of money to throw around to secure licenses for big games
 * Mattel didn't have as many games for Intellivision
 * Still had a nice chunk of market due to its sports simulation games
 * Coleco couldn't compete with Atari's money or Intellivision's sports crowd
 * Instead Coleco turned mainly towards licensing smaller games from smaller companies
 * Had a knack for choosing games with large fan-base – like Mr. Do, for example
 * Also helping Coleco compete – an adapter developed for ColecoVision
 * Let ColecoVision play VCS games – Intellivision had similar 2600 adapter to try and limit the advantage of the 2600
 * 2600 games played using adapters still had poor VCS graphics
 * Still, instantly gave ColecoVision (and Intellivision) owners access to huge library of VCS games
 * Big victory for Coleco came with licensing deal from Nintendo
 * 1981 – Nintendo of America still small company
 * Minoru Arakawa – NOA president – felt he needed outside help to market Donkey Kong
 * Turned to Coleco – had offered to make both cartridge and table-top versions of game
 * Howard Lincoln – at this time lawyer and outside consultant for Nintendo
 * Lincoln wrote up licensing contract for Coleco to sign
 * Had no experience with game licensing – researched similar contracts
 * Found that most made original company liable for all claims against game in all formats
 * If Coleco was sued over cartridge version of Donkey Kong – Nintendo responsible
 * Thought this absurd – added clause to contract
 * Coleco responsible for all actions against cartridge version of Donkey Kong
 * Coleco signed deal – clause later paid off for Nintendo (to be discussed in later class)
 * Agreed to pay Nintendo $1.40 for every cartridge sold – $1 for ever table-top game
 * Coleco made a very accurate home-conversion of Donkey Kong
 * Graphics more closely matched arcade version than any home game before it
 * ColecoVision version sold exclusively as pack-in with console for 6 months
 * July '82 ColecoVision released – could only play Donkey Kong at home on ColecoVision
 * After 6 months – Coleco got as much mileage as could with ColecoVision exclusive
 * Coleco released Donkey Kong for VCS and Intellivision as third-party software
 * 1982 - 50th anniversary of Coleco – big year for company
 * Sales more than doubled to $500 million – profits increased by factor of 4 to $40 million
 * J.R. Rissman – President of Tiger Electronics – company that makes hand-held games
 * Summer 1981 – Rissman sees Donkey Kong while in Tokyo
 * Gets back to US – contacts Universal Studios – owns rights to King Kong
 * Tiger wants to license King Kong to make game
 * Universal receives request – one of many Universal Vice Presidents runs standard search
 * Looks for existing licenses – finds only 1 license of King Kong in user
 * License for making costumes/masks based on King Kong
 * Finds number of other unofficial uses – ignores since uses are so small
 * Grants Tiger license in September of 1981
 * 2 months after Nintendo released Donkey Kong in America
 * Month before Donkey Kong becomes a hit
 * January 1982 – another search run at Universal by same Vice President
 * Found new licensing agreement between Coleco and Nintendo – licensing Donkey Kong
 * Contacts universal Vice President of Licensing – Both go to arcade to see Donkey Kong
 * Play game – assume Tiger wants King Kong license to copy Donkey Kong
 * Contemplate taking away Tiger license – do not discuss Donkey Kong as a problem
 * April 1982 – Universal President Sid Sheinberg hears about Donkey Kong
 * Sheinberg known for being mean guy in Hollywood
 * Has Universal lawyer Robert Hadl check out Donkey Kong
 * Hadl feels Donkey Kong infringes upon King Kong copyright – tells Sheinberg
 * Sheinberg arranges meeting with Coleco CEO – Arnold Greenberg
 * Greenberg led to believe meeting about Universal investing in Coleco
 * Sheinberg threatens Greenberg/Coleco at meeting
 * Threatens to sue Coleco unless royalties paid over Donkey Kong game
 * Greenberg panicked – ColecoVision set to ship with packed-in Donkey Kong game
 * Worried that Universal could stall or stop ColecoVision shipment
 * Knew Universal had huge legal department – also knew Coleco on its own
 * Licensing agreement with Nintendo – Coleco responsible for cartridge/table-top version
 * Greenberg signs agreement with Universal
 * Agreement states Universal agrees to not sue – Coleco has to pay all royalties
 * All back-royalties paid as well as all future royalties on Donkey Kong game
 * Universal also threatens Nintendo via a sent memo
 * Memo stated that Nintendo to cease all shipment of Donkey Kong and destroy all units
 * Also had to report all earnings to Universal so they could take cut
 * Hiroshi Yamauchi considered options from Japan
 * Minoru Arakawa and Howard Lincoln flew to California to meet Universal and Coleco
 * Lincoln had run trademark search – found Universal filed for trademark in past decade
 * Suspicious and Lincoln doubted Universal's claim – wanted to do further research
 * Greenberg pushing Nintendo to sign with Universal
 * Nintendo didn't know Greenberg signed an agreement for Coleco with Universal
 * Unknown to Nintendo – next day Coleco and Universal discuss investment in Coleco
 * Nintendo didn't sign agreement in meeting – Universal promise to send “Chain of Title”
 * “Chain of Title” document – meant to establish Universal's claim over King Kong name
 * Never arrived at Nintendo – Lincoln contacted Universal about document
 * Once again threatened by Universal – document never sent
 * Lincoln now believed Universal's claim weak at best
 * Urged Arakawa not to back down from fight – Arakawa trusted Lincoln – took advice
 * Arakawa risked job – Yamauchi wary about battling big American company
 * Nintendo set up another meeting with Universal who expected Nintendo to sign
 * Sheinberg even said that Universal may consider investing in Nintendo if they signed
 * Lincoln responded by saying he doubted Universal's claim on King Kong
 * Nintendo had no intention of signing – Sheinberg taken off guard – exploded
 * Told them to save up money – said even Universal's legal department made a profit
 * June 1982 – Universal officially filed suit – made claim to King Kong name
 * Said owned all rights as result of agreements with RKO Pictures and original writer
 * Same day – Universal announced licensing agreement with Coleco for Donkey Kong
 * Didn't stop at just attacking Nintendo – by this point Donkey Kong huge hit
 * Nintendo had licensed character to over 50 companies – from cereals to cartoons
 * Universal threatened nearly all Nintendo licensees
 * Threatened to sue if they didn't break ties with Nintendo – all backed down
 * Nintendo lost all licensees but 1 – Milton Bradley – never threatened by Universal
 * Shortly before trial – Arakawa asks Lincoln to join Nintendo
 * Lincoln agrees – became Senior Vice President of Nintendo of America
 * Court case lasted 7 days – turned out Universal did not even own King Kong
 * 1975 – Universal took RKO to court – claimed RKO had no claim to King Kong
 * Original RKO film over 40 years old – Universal said King Kong now public domain
 * Suit meant to pave the way for Universal's 1980's King Kong remake
 * Judge learned about previous case – ruled against Universal in Nintendo case
 * Chastised Universal for suing knowing they had previously sued to show NO ONE owned rights
 * Judge also did not agree that anyone would confuse Donkey Kong and King Kong
 * Also ruled that Tiger's King Kong game infringed on Nintendo's Donkey Kong copyright
 * Allowed Nintendo to choose – collect damages from Tiger or take Universal's licensing fee
 * Nintendo chose to take money from Universal
 * Universal had taken away business from Nintendo by threatening licensees
 * Nintendo could now counter-sue for lost damages and lost revenue
 * Other companies saw Nintendo's victory – sought payment from Universal
 * Coleco wanted their royalty money back
 * Atari – had paid royalties for VCS version of Donkey Kong – also wanted money back
 * Even company who made Donkey Kong cartoon filed a claim against Universal
 * Nintendo's counter-suit went to court years later – 1985
 * Universal forced to pay $1.8 million to Nintendo
 * Once case finally settled, video-game industry had already nearly died-out
 * Middle of 1982 video-game industry started slow demise – no one seemed to notice
 * Popular culture indicated video-games stronger than ever
 * Walt Disney Pictures made Tron – about world inside a computer – one of the 1st to use CG effects
 * Inspired video-games of its own – Bally/Midway made 2 games – Tron and Discs of Tron
 * Mattel made a number of Intellivision Tron games
 * Companies let people buy video games while at home
 * Columbia House – Columbia Cartridge Club – mail-order catalog
 * TeleSoft Inc. and VideoLivery – toll-free numbers to buy games over phone
 * Companies experimented with delivering games over cable TV and computer modems
 * Activision replaced Atari as fastest-growing company in US history in 1982
 * New consoles/add-ons came to market
 * Zircon International re-released Fairchild Channel F almost unchanged as Channel F II
 * Mattel released voice-module for Intellivision adding synthesized speech to games
 * Magnavox – still trying to make Odyssey II a success – also released voice module
 * Most notable new addition – Atari finally made new console Bushnell wanted in 1978
 * End of 1982 – Atari released the Atari 5200 – began calling VCS by its internal product name, the Atari 2600, to line up with the new 5200 release
 * 5200 used same processor as Atari home computer, the Atari 400
 * New versions of popular VCS/2600 games made for 5200
 * Super Break-Out, Centipede, Space Invaders, Defender, Missile Command, etc.
 * System had 12 games by time it launched
 * 5200 notable improvement over VCS/2600
 * More powerful processor – more on-screen objects, higher-resolution, more colors
 * Relatively sophisticated sound-synthesizer (compared to 2600)
 * Still problems – priced higher than ColecoVision – ColecoVision still had better graphics
 * Atari programmers couldn't work extensively on 5200 – had to support huge number of VCS owners
 * Biggest problem for 5200 – poor controller
 * Atari employees petitioned against release of 5200 unless controller fixed
 * Kassar ignored them – released 5200 with bad controller
 * 5200 controllers did not center themselves – most other joysticks had internal spring
 * Stick snapped to center when released – 5200 had no spring
 * Joystick fell to sides - Very difficult to control games
 * 5200 specifically did not lead to fall of video-games – other Atari problems did
 * December 7, 1982, Atari announced projected sales figures for 4th quarter of the year
 * Everyone expecting 50-percent increase over previous year – including Atari executives
 * Final report listed only 10-15 percent increase – everyone shocked and panicked
 * Stock exchange closed on December 8th – Warner stock down 17 points
 * News leaked – Kassar sold 5000 Warner shares 23 minutes before announcement
 * Kassar claims selling shares unrelated – probably true – would have sold more if not
 * Damage done – image of Atari as sinking ship in public mind – image not far from truth
 * Atari had significant problems – spread throughout industry
 * Atari too-heavy – at peak had more management and marketers than programmers
 * Focused solely on bottom line – not creation of good games
 * Many industry executives believed that anything could sell as a video-game
 * Video-game from Purina – Chase the Chuck Wagon – based on dog-food commercial
 * Better example – video-game from Atari based on Rubik's cube – was a disaster
 * Bigger disaster came from Atari VCS/2600 version of Pac-Man
 * Atari execs knew VCS Pac-Man would be big hit – Pac-Man biggest game franchise ever
 * Atari had exclusive rights to Pac-Man
 * Believed people would buy VCS just to play Pac-Man – probably right but over-estimated
 * Decided that 12 million Pac-Man cartridges would be made
 * Had research that less than 10 million owned VCS – were making 2 million more
 * Assumed millions of people would buy VCS just to play Pac-Man
 * Had plan – needed to make game quickly to get their sales
 * Made contract with programmer Todd Frye to create VCS version of Pac-Man
 * Contract had Frye receive royalties on every cartridge sold
 * He knew that the game would sell no matter what – even if it was bad he'd make money
 * Rushed through game and it showed – final VCS version horrible
 * Released in May 1982 – VCS Pac-Man was slow – terrible animation – lots of flicker
 * Frye made over $1 million on Pac-Man royalties because game still sold well
 * Games like Rubik's cube disaster because they didn't sell
 * VCS Pac-Man was a paradox – even bigger disaster because it DID sell
 * Almost anyone who bought it completely dissatisfied – hordes of people wanted refunds
 * Number of retails canceled summer orders of Pac-Man
 * Big retailers stuck by Atari despite poor reaction – Sears, JC Penny, Kmart, etc.
 * Final straw came with VCS version of ET
 * Steve Ross – Warner Communications President – first approached Spielberg
 * Wanted him to make movies for Warner – promised a hit game based on his movie E.T.
 * Promised a Christmas release – deal made in July
 * Kassar complained to Ross that games took over 6 months to make
 * Ross had made a deal with Spielberg – told Kassar to get it done
 * Kassar believed E.T. would be big hit – worried about short time-table for game
 * No Atari programmers wanted to do E.T. – high expectations – unrealistic deadline
 * Kassar asked Howard Scott Warshaw to make E.T. game
 * Warshaw made 2 big Atari hits
 * 1st hit - Raiders of the Lost Ark – based off another Spielberg movie – sold over 1 million
 * 2nd hit – Yar's Revenge – inside joke on Ray Kassar
 * Game about Yar from the Rassak Solar System
 * Yar = Ray backwards, Rassak = Kassar backwards
 * Game secretly about Kassar's revenge on Activision – Kassar never found out the joke
 * Yar's Revenge became best-selling original game on VCS
 * Kassar personally asked Warshaw to make E.T. game
 * Final game widely considered to be one of the worst games ever made
 * Poor graphics, even by VCS standards – boring game-play
 * Involved getting pieces of galactic device to phone home
 * Most of game had E.T. falling down holes and getting back out
 * E.T. sold incredibly poorly – consumers started to be turned off from video-games
 * Atari tried to buy its way back into profit – tried licensing top arcade games
 * Coleco bid-up licensing prices – high bid for arcade hits – knew Atari would bid higher
 * Atari spent millions of dollars to get exclusive arcade rights – didn't result in more sales
 * 1983 – Arcade dying – top games old 20,000 units or so, not 80,000 or so of earlier years
 * Atari went into tailspin – took rest of industry with it
 * Ended up with millions of unsold cartridges – put them in landfills
 * People found out about this – stole cartridges from land-fills
 * Atari had to pay to destroy unused cartridges to prevent people from getting free games
 * End of 1983 – Atari had lost hundreds of millions – laid off 3000 employees
 * Moved most of its manufacturing overseas – Warner sold company the following year
 * Mattel Electronics – over $200 million in debt in 1983 – laid off 37% of workforce
 * Activision – lost $5 million dollars over 3 months
 * Bally – leading arcade manufacturer of time – had 85% decline in profit
 * Once-profitable video-game industry was nearly dead
 * Final note – 1982 – General Consumer Electronics (GCE) entered home-console market
 * Industry rumor – GCE President Ed Krakauer vising Asia - warehouse of vector monitors
 * Supposed to be for cardiogram machines – delivery had been refused
 * Offered to sell Krakauer monitors for less than it cost to make them
 * Krakauer bought monitors – had engineers design game console around it
 * Rumor untrue – no warehouse – GCE made monitors themselves in Hong Kong
 * Vectrex – built in Vector monitor - $199 – interchangeable cartridges $30-$40 – overlays
 * Funded production, like Coleco, using money from 1970's hand-held sales
 * GCE made wrist-watch games – GameTime, ArcadeTime, SportsTime
 * Milton Bradley – makers of Simon – bought GCE to market Vectrex
 * Vectrex sold well – appealed to hardcore gamers familiar with vector graphics in arcade
 * Literally had arcade quality graphics – used vector monitors
 * Parents liked that it didn't tie up home TV – Vectrex had built-in monitor
 * Vectrex sold out – no second series made – 1983 no one had parts for 9” vector monitors
 * 1984 Video Game crash also hurt Vectrex - Milton Bradley (who bought GCE) ultimately lost lots of money on Vectrex (having to sell it at a loss and not being able to produce follow-ups due to lack of interest)
 * Vectrex had some unique accessories and ideas for its time, though
 * Light Pen - allowed you to "draw" directly on Vector Monitor
 * 3D Imager - Displayed certain games with a relatively convincing 3D effect (like Virtual Boy, but much earlier and less effective)
 * Vectrex games are STILL being made by the HomeBrew community, with the last finished game (as of this writing) having been released in 2008 (HomeBrew is a term used for home-made software, typically not sanctioned by a system's manufacturer)

Mr. Do!

Coleco Handheld Games and Tabletop Arcade Games

Information, images, and Links of ColecoVision

Game Reviews and Screenshots for ColecoVision Games

**__ Donkey Kong on Competing Home Video-Game Platforms (all versions of Donkey Kong shown here made by Coleco) __**
Donkey Kong for the Atari VCS/2600s

Donkey Kong for the Mattel Intellivision

Donkey Kong for the ColecoVision - Can you tell that Coleco favored its own system when releasing Donkey Kong?

Donkey Kong for the NES - Best of the Bunch - Released Later, Created by Nintendo Itself

**__ Later Atari Consoles __**
Atari 5200

Game Reviews and Screen-shots for Atari 5200 Games

Atari 7800

Game Reviews and Screen-shots for Atari 7800 Games

German Site, which has Screen-shots from various Atari consoles, including the 5200, 7800, and much later consoles, like the Lynx and Jaguar

Info and Screenshots of GCE Vectrex

Game Reviews and Screenshots for Vectrex Games

Watch a Video of Pole Position for Vectrex in Action (without the color overlay)

Site Featuring Info, Screenshots, and Links for Vectrex

A History of Vectrex

An Article on Vectrex HomeBrew

**__ The Vectrex Light Pen __**
See a Video of the "Connect" Mode of the Art Master "Game" for Vectrex (this mode draws the individual points of a vector object, to be connected by vector lines)

Here's another Video of the Vectrex Light Pen in Action, Using the "Sketch" Mode of Art Master (this mode draws lines directly on screen, without displaying the points)

Probably the Most Interesting Video of the Bunch - The Last Mode of the Art Master "Game", Called "Animate" (which obviously allows you to create animations with objects you create)

An Online Instruction Manual for the Art Master "Game" for the Vectrex, Describing the Different Modes in Detail

A Prototype Game for the Vectrex called "Mail Plane," Which Uses the Light Pen in a Way Similar to the Nintendo DS Stylus (watch at about 1 minute in for drawing a path, and then dragging objects onto the plane)