The Crash

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scotland171
Posts: 816
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

The Crash

Postby scotland171 » May 26th, 2013, 12:38 pm

I don't see a crash either, and oops if I came across as being a prophet of doom.  The times are different, and while similarities remain, and the market is not doing well relative to a few years ago, its still strong.

Consumers in 1983 couldn't tell a quality Atari cartridge from a poor one, even the name "Atari" was not a guarantee of quality (see: Pac-Man).  Other consoles have played with that, the Sega CD and the have had the issue of too many games of dubious quality giving the console a black eye.  Atari paid out large dollars for ET, and certainly paying big bucks for a licensed property is still a risk for software developers. 

Atari rushed out hot properties and then overproduced thinking they would move consoles.  The move toward digital distribution is going to limit the overproduction risk, but rushing a title in hot demand is a risk - you need to get a movie property out when the movie comes out, or for a new console, people may holler 'where is my new Zelda'.  Gotta be a risk a company might rush out their hottest property to move consoles.

There were several consoles to choose from in 1983 that has been linked to the crash. That's odd, variety doesn't seem to hurt most product lines, but maybe because it was still so new then. Consumers today have far more gaming choices, including three large quality console makers, at least two of them also making quality portables, then add in Apple iOS, the Droid Market, the new Ouya, PC gaming, etc.  

As for finances, Coleco may not have had big money, but Atari had pulled in $2 billion in receipts in 1982, and it was owned by Warner at the time. Atari had deep pockets, although it was losing big bucks and no one knew what the future held. In hindsight, Warner probably could have weathered the storm, but cut Atari loose thinking it wasn't a storm, it was a sinking ship.  There is a business mantra about people holding on to losers too long. The situation of the console being just a part of a larger company exists still, but I think any setbacks would be seen just as a storm and not as a sinking ship. Sony didn't cut and run after the less than stellar PS3 launch, did they.  


Irenicus1
Posts: 421
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

The Crash

Postby Irenicus1 » June 1st, 2013, 11:50 pm

I remember it. I was very young. I remember how it just seemed like video gaming was suddenly gone. People weren't talking about it. No new stuff was being made & the old stuff was discounted. I think much of society really thought it was just a fad, kinda like this whole internet thing. I kept playing my Intellevision and picked up an occasional game whenever I could. I remember Beam Rider was my last INTV game & it was awesome, one of the best. Then I think it was Christmas of 1985 & the NES came out of nowhere. I remember going over to a friends to see what he got for Christmas. The first time I saw Super Mario Bros. I was in love. I had already gotten my Christmas, but my mom knew how much I loved my Intellivision so she got me one anyway. Best Christmas ever.

FinalLapTwinkie1
Posts: 175
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

The Crash

Postby FinalLapTwinkie1 » June 2nd, 2013, 1:47 pm

I remember the games going cheap and Star wars toys were discontinued at about the same time. I had moved on to computers.

When my friends I talk about the crash, we always end up comparing what video consoles and soda drinks are now gone. Double Cola, Elf, Like, and Teem are no more. Demand drives a product and people enjoy video games and Faygo pop. So as some disappear, others are waiting to fill the void.


a1
Posts: 3032
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

The Crash

Postby a1 » June 2nd, 2013, 3:53 pm

[QUOTE=FinalLapTwinkie] Demand drives a product and people enjoy video games and Faygo pop. [/QUOTE]

Ha ha. Are you from Michigan? I've never seen Faygo outside of this state.

scotland171
Posts: 816
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

The Crash

Postby scotland171 » June 2nd, 2013, 8:26 pm

[QUOTE=FinalLapTwinkie]

When my friends I talk about the crash, we always end up comparing what video consoles and soda drinks are now gone. Double Cola, Elf, Like, and Teem are no more. Demand drives a product and people enjoy video games and Faygo pop. So as some disappear, others are waiting to fill the void.

[/QUOTE]

Faygo?  Maybe our Turbografx friend is from Indiana?  I've only heard of it with the gang at Knights of the Dinner Table comic strip; its that Muncie Indiana based group of tabletop players fizzy drink of choice for 2 decades now.  I think Double Cola still exists in Indiana too...field trip!

I miss Mr. Pibb...not the cinnamon flavored modern Pibb Xtra, Pibb Zero, or any others but the original one.   Lots of good arcade and 8 bit gaming fun was consumed along with Mr. Pibb.

nesfan1
Posts: 995
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

The Crash

Postby nesfan1 » June 2nd, 2013, 9:45 pm

[QUOTE=a][QUOTE=FinalLapTwinkie] Demand drives a product and people enjoy video games and Faygo pop. [/QUOTE]

Ha ha. Are you from Michigan? I've never seen Faygo outside of this state.[/QUOTE]
We got Faygo over here in North Carolina.

darkrage61
Posts: 1678
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

The Crash

Postby darkrage61 » June 3rd, 2013, 1:10 am

We've got Faygo in Illinois too.

a1
Posts: 3032
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

The Crash

Postby a1 » June 3rd, 2013, 8:10 pm

Huh. Well there you have it. I never saw it until I moved to MI. It's very popular here, along with Vernor's ginger ale (yuck). I'll stop derailing the thread now.

SpiceWare1
Posts: 57
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

The Crash

Postby SpiceWare1 » June 3rd, 2013, 9:21 pm

Like others, I didn't notice the crash at the time.  My friends and I all just switched our gaming from consoles to computers.

I think the problems with the arcade is they stopped coming out with all the unique games (Asteroids, I Robot, Marble Madness, Tapper, etc) - instead of the variety of games they seemed to only come out with sequels to racing and fighting games, neither of which I was interested in.

The other issue I had with arcades was they stopped pushing the limits of the hardware.  It used to be the games in the arcade exceeded the abilities of the consoles/computers you had at home - arcade units in the 90s should have already been using HDTV style displays - instead they were releasing games like Golden Tee '97 at a measly 384x240.

scotland171
Posts: 816
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

The Crash

Postby scotland171 » June 4th, 2013, 6:52 pm

Just wanted to say hello to Spiceware, which the VGC has listed as its newest member.  I appreciated the slideshow on your site about Atari 2600 homebrew.   I grew up writing little BASIC programs back in the family computer era, and wondered about the hobbyists who today seem to make games as good or better than the ones of yore.  Maybe one day I'll give making an Odyssey 2 homebrew a chance (and dread what the VGC would rate it here on this very site...)



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