September 2020

Electronic games may be about to crash! Amstrad enters the console wars Pokemon single handedly saves video games

These stories and many more on this month's episode of the Video Game Newsroom Time Machine

This month we will look back at the biggest stories in and around the video game industry in September of 1970, 1980, 1990, and 2000. 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: 1970: IBM launches their first macine exclusively using semiconductor RAM https://www.nytimes.com/1970/09/24/archives/a-new-computer-unveiled-by-ibm-main-memory-system-uses.html?searchResultPosition=9 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic-core_memory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiconductor_memory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_System/370_Model_145

World's first Chess competition between computers takes place in New York https://www.nytimes.com/1970/09/02/archives/chess-computer-loses-game-in-a-kingsize-blunder.html?searchResultPosition=17 https://www.cs.mcgill.ca/~newborn/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Newborn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackers:_Heroes_of_the_Computer_Revolution

1980: Mattel announces test market for Intellivision keyboard Plaything, Sept 1980 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellivision#Keyboard_Component

Mattel warns shareholders that competitors may start dumping game inventory Plaything, Sept 1980, pg. 11

Pizza Time Theatre loses first round to Topeka Inn Management Play Meter, September 1, 1980, pg. 5 https://videogamenewsroomtimemachine.libsyn.com/may-2020

Stratavox brings speech to the video games! Play Meter, September 15, 1980, pg. 39 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0C-1J5XvhB0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratovox

Williams is entering the video game biz Play Meter, September 15, 1980, pg. 40

Computer magazines report from Summer CES https://archive.org/details/1980-09-compute-magazine/page/n14/mode/1up https://archive.org/details/CreativeComputingbetterScan198009/page/n17/mode/1up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Instruments_TI-99/4A https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_Scientific https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_series_80#85 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_8-bit_family https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX80 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_VIC-20 https://archive.org/details/Kilobaud198009/page/n25/mode/2up

Japan takes on the US for 64k supremacy https://www.nytimes.com/1980/09/16/archives/the-fight-over-computer-chips-us-japanese-competing-on-new-advance.html?searchResultPosition=11

Softalk launches https://archive.org/details/softalkv1n01sep1980/mode/1up

Dan Bunten's first major release tested https://archive.org/details/softalkv1n01sep1980/page/13/mode/1up https://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,8515/ https://www.mobygames.com/game/apple2/computer-quarterback/credits https://youtu.be/xsGfXR0m8Lg

The other trinity https://archive.org/details/CreativeComputingbetterScan198009/page/n39/mode/1up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bally_Astrocade https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interact_Home_Computer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VideoBrain_Family_Computer

1990: Computer games are coming to TV https://archive.org/details/Computer_Gaming_World_Issue_74/page/n10/mode/1up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maniac_Mansion_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_on_Earth_Is_Carmen_Sandiego%3F

Cinemaware slugs it out with Beyond over TV Sports Baseball https://archive.org/details/Computer_Gaming_World_Issue_74/page/n10/mode/1up https://www.mobygames.com/game/tony-la-russas-ultimate-baseball

TMNT is getting a second Amiga port https://archive.org/details/ACEIssue36Sep90/page/n7/mode/1up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFQkdLd4M_g

Mediagenic becomes first US SNES dev https://archive.org/details/Computer_Gaming_World_Issue_74/page/n10/mode/1up https://www.mobygames.com/browse/games/snes/activision-publishing-inc/

Megadrive finally coming to the UK https://archive.org/details/Computer_Video_Games_Issue_106_1990-09_EMAP_Publishing_GB/page/n12/mode/1up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_Genesis

First rumors of a Sega CD add-on for the Genesis surface https://archive.org/stream/ElectronicGamingMonthly_201902/Electronic%20Gaming%20Monthly%20Issue%20014%20%28September%201990%29#page/n21/mode/1up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_CD

Amstrad launches the GX4000 https://archive.org/details/Computer_Video_Games_Issue_106_1990-09_EMAP_Publishing_GB/page/n7/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/micromania-segunda-epocha-28/page/n7/mode/1up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amstrad_GX4000

Atari to redesign the Lynx https://archive.org/stream/ElectronicGamingMonthly_201902/Electronic%20Gaming%20Monthly%20Issue%20014%20%28September%201990%29#page/n21/mode/1up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Lynx

Coin Op sales are slumping Replay, Sept. 1990, pg. 38

Atari repurchases stock back from Namco Playthings, Sept. 1990 pg. 13 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namco#Atari_Games,_rifts_with_Nintendo_and_other_ventures_(1985%E2%80%931989)

2000: Controversy over violent games continues https://www.retromags.com/files/file/4317-gamepro-issue-144-september-2000/ pg. 30

SNK closes down its US operations https://archive.org/stream/ElectronicGamingMonthly_201902/Electronic%20Gaming%20Monthly%20Issue%20134%20%28September%202000%29#page/n25/mode/1up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNK#Bankruptcy_and_Playmore_Corporation_(2001%E2%80%932003)

100th million Gameboy shipped https://www.retromags.com/files/file/4317-gamepro-issue-144-september-2000/ pg. 28 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_Boy

Pokemon singlehandedly lifts video game sales https://archive.org/details/NextGen69Sep2000/page/n18/mode/1up

Piracy hits the Dreamcast https://archive.org/stream/ElectronicGamingMonthly_201902/Electronic%20Gaming%20Monthly%20Issue%20134%20%28September%202000%29#page/n37/mode/1up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GD-ROM

Micromania magazine deals with the rise of "abandonware" https://archive.org/details/MicromanaTerceraEpocaSpanishIssue68/page/n53/mode/1up

Windows ME is coming to make everything better... https://archive.org/details/PC_Zone_Issue_093_2000-09_Dennis_Publishing_GB/page/n19/mode/1up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Me

Rebellion buys 2000AD https://archive.org/details/PC_Zone_Issue_093_2000-09_Dennis_Publishing_GB/page/n29/mode/1up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebellion_Developments

Eidos is up for sale https://archive.org/details/NextGen69Sep2000/page/n9/mode/1up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_Enix_Europe

Probe software is no more https://archive.org/details/PC-Player-German-Magazine-2000-09/page/n12/mode/1up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Acclaim_Entertainment_subsidiaries#Acclaim_Studios_London

Recommended Links: 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/ The History of How We Play: https://thehistoryofhowweplay.wordpress.com/ Retro Asylum: http://retroasylum.com/category/all-posts/ Retro Game Squad: http://retrogamesquad.libsyn.com/

Sound Effects by Ethan of History of How We Play.