A Brief History of Awful Game Console Marketing

[Steve-O]

PC World, of all places, has a very cool article that follows the evolution of the video game console by examining the laughable TV commercials that have evolved along with them.  Fun stuff, especially for old farts like myself who remember seeing, and salivating over, a lot of these ads.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,128295-page,1-c,gameconsoles/article.html

[Nunyerbiz]

Well, the latest video game consoles aren't all that expensive considering inflation. In 1976, the Fairchild Channel F would be about $620 in today's dollars, with each catridge going for almost $70.

[AmandaGal]

I read this a few months ago (and bookmarked it, does that make me a sad person? :-) :
http://curmudgeongamer.com/2006/05/history-of-console-prices-or-500-aint.html

It compares the price of consoles now vs then with inflation factored in.  The comments are interesting too.

I think maybe it was a /. story because I don't really remember *why* I read it otherwise.

[Dr.Impossible]

I hereby direct you to Seanbaby's NES page.

http://www.seanbaby.com/nes.htm

I promise at least one good belly-laugh.

[Johnny_Short_Torso]

Let's not forget... the PS3's sales figures are already on the decline. Seriously... you'd have to pay someone the $599 just to buy it.

[BEERxTaco]

I had a Mattell Intellivision... baseball rocked!

[Bob]

I had a Mattell Intellivision... baseball rocked!

Me too, that was THE best game.   We usually ended up with 2-1 or 1-0 nothing games as we figured out the pitching and the game let your firstbasemen cheat off the bag and the ump still said "Yeerrrrr Rout".   

I swear some of the runners were faster than others (maybe a design flaw that added to the fun) and it seemed to like opposite field home runs to right field more than pulled balls to left field.

We also noticed a fun little bug that, sometimes, if you bunted the ball and it stopped over third base, the ball would go into a black hole and none of the fielders could pick it up.   The runner would circle the bases, the fielder would roam around and the game would be called since there was no way to get the ball back to the pitcher.

[BEERxTaco]

the key to winning in that game was being able to effectively utilize your 2nd baseman... I loved the slow rollers that went to the wall then disappeared for home runs lmao... we routinely played 14 inning 1-0 games... such fun in the early 80's

[Bob]

Yeah, middle defense was always the key.   I just prented mine where Ozzie Smith and Tommy Herr.   I could usually stop everything with my pitcher (reflexes were better then!), but I was horrible with my right fielder and I saw many a slow roller be called a homerun as my right fielder ran circles around the ball.

Sea Battle was another favorite.   PS2 came out with a game of Intellivision classics, but since there was NO instruction manual telling us which PS controller button matched the old "telephone button" paddles of Intellivsion, it was impossible to play.

[BEERxTaco]

Sea Battle was my 2nd favorite.... damn are you sure your name isn't Ed Levinson? lol...

[Bob]

Sea Battle was my 2nd favorite.... damn are you sure your name isn't Ed Levinson? lol...

Hmmm, are you sure you did not hang out in Hudson Hall at Mizzou in the early-mid 80's?

[mrbasehart]

I didn't have a console when I was younger, I had the Commodore 64.  There was some great games for it: Head over Heels, Paradroid, Jack the Nipper... Good times!

[BEERxTaco]

Sea Battle was my 2nd favorite.... damn are you sure your name isn't Ed Levinson? lol...

Hmmm, are you sure you did not hang out in Hudson Hall at Mizzou in the early-mid 80's?

No, but I did live in Mark Twain in 1977-78... if my my somewhat blurry, fuzzy memory serves me correctly. 

[BEERxTaco]

I didn't have a console when I was younger, I had the Commodore 64.  There was some great games for it: Head over Heels, Paradroid, Jack the Nipper... Good times!

World Class Leaderboard golf was a good 64 game!

[tgeorgic]

i just dug out my odyssey 2 this last weekend to show my neice and nephew what home video games looked like when they were my age.  still works