The History of Computer Games: Part Two: 1983-1985

Electronic Arts, publishing their first games this year, produced a memorable ad that ran in many magazines. The ad, sometimes called "the 'image' ad" for the computer gaming industry, started out with the statement: "Software artists? It is a name these people are uncomfortable with. 'I'm not so sure there are any software artists yet', says Bill Budge. 'Maybe we've got to earn that title.'"

With dozens of great computer games published in a little under 15 years, there is no doubt that these few that founded EA did, indeed, earn that title.

In 1984, the cartridge based systems (the Atari 2600 and Colecovision, for example) became suddenly un-popular. "In 1983 the video game industry hit the skids and by 1984 had gone over the cliff", says Computer Gaming World magazine.

While the video game industry was falling, Commodore and other disk-based systems were gaining ground. The C-64 and Atari 800 were chosen over the older cartridge based systems because of the same reason computers are chosen over video games systems today--you could do other things besides games with the new systems. My dad swears that our Atari 800 "bought this house" because of a financial program he wrote in BASIC.

Meanwhile, IBM released their PCJr with little fan-fare. It combined an early version of DOS with a 5 1/4 disk drive and two cartridge slots. Unfortunately, while this computer was technically more advanced than the others at the time, it was too expensive and very few companies would support it. Needless to say, the PCJr failed so badly that IBM had people lining up for their money back.

Home-computers kept gaining in popularity in 1985, with the Commodore 64 outselling the Apple's and Atari's. When everyone figured that the industry had leveled out, two new competitors showed up--IBM and Commodore's Amiga. But developers were un-decided on which platform to publish on: Electronic Arts took out ads in magazines declaring their commitment to the Amiga, while others insisted on the IBM. It would be a few years until one came out as a definite winner.

Next Week: Developing for multiple platforms, graphics and sound advances, CD-ROMS gain speed, and "user-friendliness" in computer games.

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