May 1981

Video Game Newsroom Time Machine

Missile Command comes to Atari's VCS Handheld games lose their mojo and Scramble revolutionizes the shoot 'em up

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 May 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 https://www.patreon.com/posts/51570452 https://www.mobygames.com/game/atari-2600/missile-command_ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missile_Command https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racing_the_Beam

Corrections: https://www.patreon.com/posts/50337962 https://www.patreon.com/posts/50315337 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox_Alto https://macromedia.fandom.com/wiki/Tim_Mott https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_effect https://bestclassicbands.com/ozzy-osbourne-bat-1-20-16/ 1981: First meeting of the International association of video game manufacturers is held in Tokyo Replay, May 1981, pg. 7 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Amusement_Machine_and_Marketing_Association

Midway goes after Pacman and Rally X gray importers Replay May 1981 pg. 12 https://www.mobygames.com/game/arcade/rally-x https://www.mobygames.com/game/arcade/pac-man https://www.patreon.com/posts/47087268

Cinematronics wins Star Castle case Replay May 1981 pg. 12 https://www.mobygames.com/game/arcade/star-castle https://www.uscourts.gov/about-federal-courts/court-role-and-structure

Stern secures rights to Konami's Scramble Replay May 1981 pg. 14 https://www.mobygames.com/game/arcade/scramble https://www.patreon.com/posts/50315337

Atari ventures to Japan ... again Replay May 1981, pg. 71 https://archive.org/details/Atari_Coin_Connection_Volume_5_Number_3_April-May_1981/page/n2/mode/1up https://www.patreon.com/posts/50612798

Atari launches Asteroids Deluxe and VCS Missle Command with National Press conference Replay May 1981 Toys Hobbies & Crafts May 1981, pg. 12 https://archive.org/details/Atari_Coin_Connection_Volume_5_Number_3_April-May_1981/page/n2/mode/1up https://www.mobygames.com/game/atari-2600/missile-command_ https://www.mobygames.com/game/arcade/asteroids-deluxe

Atari promotes Stephen D Bristow to VP of advanced technology consumer electronics Toy and Hobby World May 1981 https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/02/obituary-gaming-pioneer-steve-bristow-helped-design-tank-breakout/

Atari adds $1 million in punitive damages to its suit against Activision Playthings, May 1981, pg. 32 http://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/activision-and-atari/

Atari slashes prices https://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/05/business/company-news-atari-cuts-prices-discloses-products.html?searchResultPosition=1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_8-bit_family https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_VIC-20 https://www.patreon.com/posts/44335732 https://www.patreon.com/posts/44632017

Atari wants your programs https://archive.org/details/1981-05-compute-magazine/page/n151/mode/1up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Program_Exchange

Electronic games lag as Xmas sell off ripples through market Playthings, May 1981, pg. 39, pg. 122 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/He-Man

Mattel reports $15.5 million loss for fourth quarter Toy and Hobby World May 1981 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsUFBm1uENs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_A-Team https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manimal https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ugb_TIpPoWA https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWyl4k4LRRg Coleco sues Tandy... and Mattel... and well, everyone.. https://archive.org/details/80-microcomputing-magazine-1981-05/page/n64/mode/1up Playthings May 1981

TSR licenses Escape from New York Playthings, May 1981 pg. 9 https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/731/escape-new-york https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_from_New_York https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckvDo2JHB7o

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.