June 1981

Video Game Newsroom Time Machine

Centipede begins its decent into arcades Analysts predict a big future for video games The BBC chooses Acorn over Sinclair

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 June 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: 7 Minutes in Heaven: Video - https://www.patreon.com/posts/52937474 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zork

Corrections: May 1981 - https://www.patreon.com/posts/51570497 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJFnWZH5FXc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racing_the_Beam

1961: IBM 1301 drive introduces hydrodynamic air bearing slider https://www.nytimes.com/1961/06/05/archives/computers-memory-is-enhanced-reprograming-time-is-cut-sharply-by.html?searchResultPosition=5 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_height https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_IBM_magnetic_disk_drives#IBM_1301 1981: Midway gets counterfeits seized RePlay June 1981 pg. 6 Vending Times June 1981, pg. 57

Centipede launches RePlay June 1981 pg. 29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centipede_(video_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_Lovelace https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_computing https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2016/07/22/487069271/episode-576-when-women-stopped-coding?t=1624520759815

PlayCable hits the market https://www.nytimes.com/1981/06/01/arts/two-way-games-channel-is-coming-to-cable-tv.html?searchResultPosition=1

Video Games are conquering toy stores Toy & Hobby World June 1981 pg. 29 Don Daglow Interview https://www.patreon.com/posts/38445119 Ed Zaron Interview https://www.patreon.com/posts/30697517

Programmable video game market to reach $295 million in revenue by 1990! Toys Hobbies & Crafts, June 1981, pg. 18 https://vgsales.fandom.com/wiki/Video_games_in_the_United_States

Magnavox pushes Odyssey 2 at CES https://archive.org/details/19810602LeisureTimeElectronicsReports/page/n3/mode/1up https://archive.org/details/19810602LeisureTimeElectronicsReports/page/n4/mode/1up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnavox_Odyssey_2 https://www.mobygames.com/game/odyssey-2/quest-for-the-rings Michael Dornbrook Interview https://www.patreon.com/posts/44335732

Bally Arcade gets keyboard add-on https://archive.org/details/1981SummerLeisureTimeElectronics/page/n56/mode/1up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bally_Astrocade

Mattel delays Intellivision Keyboard Toys Hobbies & Crafts, June 1981, pg. 3 Leisure Time electronics Report, June 1, pg. 2

TI gets out of the digital watch business, but Commodore sticks with it https://archive.org/details/19810601LeisureTimeElectronicsReports/page/n2/mode/1up https://archive.org/details/19810601LeisureTimeElectronicsReports/page/n5/mode/1up http://www.digital-watch.com/DWL/searchresults/4de1255c9d624a3b8705b94329703e41/

Micro magazine begins pushing the 6809 https://archive.org/details/Micro_NO._37_1981-06_Micro_Ink_US/page/n8/mode/1up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_6809 Bill Stealy Interview - https://www.patreon.com/posts/36710924

Avalon Hill's first batch of games gets reviewed https://archive.org/details/creativecomputing-1981-06/page/n39/mode/1up https://www.mobygames.com/company/microcomputer-games-inc https://www.mobygames.com/game/warp-factor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avalon_Hill

Softalk reviews Ultima,Olympic Decathalon, Cartels & Cutthroats, and Zork https://archive.org/details/softalkv1n10jun1981/page/48/mode/2up BBC chooses Acorn over Sinclair https://archive.org/details/your-computer-magazine-1981-06/page/n2/mode/1up https://archive.org/details/your-computer-magazine-1981-06/page/n5/mode/1up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Micro https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Computer_Programme https://archive.org/details/your-computer-magazine-1981-06/page/n31/mode/1up Micro Men movie - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXBxV6-zamM

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.