July 1981

Video Game Newsroom Time Machine

Sega introduces conversion kits Coin-Op breaks financial records Microsoft buys 86-DOS

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 July 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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Time Codes: 7 Minutes in Heaven: 10:29 Corrections: 19:42 Time Jump: 42:40

Links: 7 Minutes in Heaven: Video Version - https://www.patreon.com/posts/54022503 http://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/?s=The+Nutting+Associates https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/they-create-worlds-53243/episodes/dave-nutting-nutting-industrie-90360408 https://www.mobygames.com/game/wizard-of-wor Corrections: June 1981 Ep - https://www.patreon.com/posts/52937539 https://thehistoryofhowweplay.wordpress.com/ https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2016/07/22/487069271/episode-576-when-women-stopped-coding https://www.gamingalexandria.com/wp/2021/06/video-game-sales-1972-1999/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/353380/Steam_Link/ https://www.theguardian.com/games/2021/jul/20/steam-deck-valve-nintendo-switch-for-nerds https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnavox_Odyssey_2

1981: Sega/Gremlin introduce their first conversion kits Replay July 1981, pg. 24, pg. 53 Vending Times, July 1981, pg. 46 December 1979 Ep - https://www.patreon.com/posts/32503287 Jim Trucano Interview - https://www.patreon.com/posts/48912975 Donkey Kong released in Japan https://twitter.com/Lord_Arse/status/1413435520449847305 https://www.mobygames.com/game/arcade/donkey-kong

General Computer Corp. is looking for new software ideas Play Meter, July 15, 1981 pg. 72 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Computer_Corporation https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1023366/Classic-Game-Postmortem-Ms-Pac https://www.mobygames.com/game/arcade/ms-pac-man

Midway sues Artic over speed-up kits Replay July 1981, pg. 7 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midway_Manufacturing_Co._v._Artic_International,_Inc.

Stern beats Omni in Scramble bootleg case Replay July 1981, pg. 8 Vending Times, July 1981, pg. 41 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Vc-RIkpk40&t=98s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmFCc3vUAw0

Coin Op video games reached $2.8 billion in revenue in 1980 Vending Times Census of the Industry - 1981, pg. 56

Arcades may be putting the pinch on movie theatres https://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/06/arts/is-electronic-games-boom-hurting-the-movies.html?searchResultPosition=2

Warner profits soar https://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/16/business/warner-profits-jump-66.4.html?searchResultPosition=1

Broderbund begins publishing Star Craft https://archive.org/details/CreativeComputingbetterScan198107/page/n119/mode/1up

IBM introduces small business computer https://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/29/business/an-ibm-computer-for-small-business.html?searchResultPosition=1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_System/23_Datamaster

Microsoft buys 86-DOS https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=99 Pirates of Silicon Valley Trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEyrivrjAuU Pirates of Silicon Valley QDOS scene - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14vHaqEMvXA

Patent issued for Age Morphing tech https://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/04/business/patents-a-method-that-pictures-a-person-at-any-age.html?searchResultPosition=45 https://www.freepatentsonline.com/4276570.html https://www.nancyburson.com/index

Dutch to broadcast software over shortwave https://archive.org/details/80-microcomputing-magazine-1981-07/page/n69/mode/1up

Summer camps go geek https://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/17/nyregion/a-camp-where-the-program-is-programming-swim-withdavid-evans-and-jonathan-bing.html?searchResultPosition=4

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.