[game_preservation] Release date of the Odyssey?

[Devin Monnens]

An article publication date is not necessarily the same thing as a purchase
date. So it is possible that even though these articles say 'this is the
system, this is how it works, and this is how much it costs', you might not
be able to go out and buy them. However, I admit that sounds kind of
silly... Why put out an article for something that isn't available now?

But I agree that these articles are not definitive proof of an August
release, even if they suggest it.

On Tue, Aug 7, 2012 at 6:00 PM, Frank Cifaldi <fcifaldi at gmail.com> wrote:


> So do we think that an August article date means that the system came out

> in August? Because my assumption would be that there was a standard

> three-month lead time before print, and these articles are based on seeing

> the Odyssey during the Carvan Tour in May/June.

>

>

> On Tue, Aug 7, 2012 at 2:54 PM, Devin Monnens <dmonnens at gmail.com> wrote:

>

>> Thank you for clarifying the release dates, Benj and Frank. I think this

>> holds true for the US, but probably not so much for Japan where they had

>> mastered the system of 'on-demand shipping' as part of the economy. Surely

>> this was the case during the Famicom era, at least, hence why there are

>> release dates for those games. It does seem pretty silly to think about

>> 'release dates' when those didn't exist at the time. It's more about 'when

>> and were did this go on sale first?' or 'when was it first shipped from the

>> warehouse?' or 'at about what time would these have been available?'

>>

>> Yeah, I think the August date comes from the August and September

>> articles from 1972 here:

>>

>> http://www.magnavox-odyssey.com/Advertising.htm

>>

>> Either that, or from one of the earlier game history books. Electronic

>> Design suggests that the system was coming out after August, but the others

>> suggest it is available at the date of publication. (Sadly, the 1973

>> Consumer Reports article is missing the very beginning!).

>>

>> I think the surefire way to tell would be to locate ads and sales flyers

>> from the period. If it's available for sale, it's advertised. However, I

>> doubt those are easy to find... Same would go for shipping orders, but it's

>> probably easier to just find receipts!

>>

>> BTW, here's the Christmas 1972 Sears Catalog:

>>

>> http://www.wishbookweb.com/1972_Sears_Christmas/index.htm

>>

>> ADDENDUM: Ok, there's actually NO Magnavox Odyssey advertised in this

>> catalog! Looked under games and TVs. Nothing. Either I missed it (and

>> again, I looked pretty thoroughly), or it's not advertised. No wonder the

>> Odyssey didn't sell well - if it's not in the Christmas catalog, how are

>> people going to know to buy it?? For this reason, I don't think you'll find

>> ads for the Odyssey, unless it's from a local Sears in the Sunday paper.

>>

>> Was anyone aware of this?

>>

>> However, check out these pages from the 1975 catalog:

>>

>>

>> http://www.wishbookweb.com/1975_Sears%20C%20Web/images/SearsC1975_Page410.jpg

>>

>> http://www.wishbookweb.com/1975_Sears%20C%20Web/pages/SearsC1975_Page537.htm

>>

>> Anyone have a clue what those electromechanical Pong games are on 537?

>>

>>

>> On Tue, Aug 7, 2012 at 4:53 PM, Frank Cifaldi <fcifaldi at gmail.com> wrote:

>>

>>> I still can't find where August came from. The closest I can find is the

>>> review in the August 17, 1972 issue of Electronic Design (scanned and

>>> printed in Ralph's book), which simply says "starting this fall." Anyone

>>> able to back this up, or is this another one of those "internet truths"

>>> that gets spread without an actual source?

>>>

>>>

>>> On Tue, Aug 7, 2012 at 9:49 AM, Benj Edwards <

>>> editor at vintagecomputing.com> wrote:

>>>

>>>>  Thanks, Frank.  It's good to see you too.  I have the highest respect

>>>> for everyone I've seen so far on this list, so I'm glad I've finally joined

>>>> up.

>>>>

>>>> I've asked Ralph a few times about the release date of the Odyssey, and

>>>> he simply points to his book, "Videogames...In The Beginning."  From that

>>>> book, I determined a general August 1972 release date (I don't have the

>>>> exact page number on hand).

>>>>

>>>> Ralph can't provide a more precise answer because he doesn't (and

>>>> didn't) have access to internal Magnavox records, and he wasn't privy to

>>>> internal marketing and distribution conversations at Magnavox.

>>>> Essentially, he did his initial work (Brown Box prototype) and handed off

>>>> to Magnavox, who made a commercial product out of it.

>>>>

>>>> Coincidentally, I took apart a Magnavox Odyssey a few months ago and

>>>> turned it into a slideshow for PC World.  Anyone interested in the Odyssey

>>>> (and moss) might enjoy it.

>>>>

>>>>

>>>> http://www.pcworld.com/article/256101/inside_the_magnavox_odyssey_the_first_video_game_console.html

>>>>

>>>> As an aside, you guys might enjoy looking at this US patent for the

>>>> Odyssey's exterior plastic housing:

>>>>

>>>>

>>>> http://www.google.com/patents?id=kK4nAAAAEBAJ&zoom=4&dq=magnavox%20game&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q=magnavox%20game&f=false

>>>>

>>>> It has the designers' names on it, if anyone feels like tracking them

>>>> down.  I did a little work on that front, but had to abandon it to move on

>>>> to another project.

>>>>

>>>> Kind Regards,

>>>> Benj

>>>>

>>>>

>>>> On 8/7/2012 12:16 PM, Frank Cifaldi wrote:

>>>>

>>>> Hi Benj! Great to see you here. I agree 100% too, there was no firm

>>>> release date for the Odyssey. In fact, I'd be curious to know where August

>>>> even came from, do you have a source for that Devin?

>>>>

>>>>  My go-to source for this would be Ralph Baer himself, who took

>>>> meticulous notes. I have in front of me a production copy of his book and a

>>>> pre-release manuscript (JUST IN CASE!). According to Baer, Magnavox started

>>>> showing the Odyssey on the traveling Magnavox Profit Caravan show on May 3,

>>>> 1972, and "over the following months Magnavox began supplying the dealers

>>>> with production units."

>>>>

>>>> On Tue, Aug 7, 2012 at 8:40 AM, Benj Edwards <

>>>> editor at vintagecomputing.com> wrote:

>>>>

>>>>>  Hi Devin,

>>>>>

>>>>>     I'm new to the list -- hope you don't mind if I jump in.

>>>>>

>>>>> From my experience, the concept of a firm "release date" for a product

>>>>> was much different in 1972 than it is today.  As far as I know, companies

>>>>> didn't set a single date for a worldwide or even nationwide release back

>>>>> then -- the supply chain to pull something off just wasn't that efficient

>>>>> at the time.  The marketing and communication methods of the day weren't as

>>>>> instantaneous as today either, so a simultaneous nationwide release, even

>>>>> if they could pull it off, wouldn't have meant as much for the product PR

>>>>> wise.

>>>>>

>>>>> What you'd probably find if you dug into the release dates for the

>>>>> Odyssey is that Magnavox started shipping units to retail distributors on a

>>>>> certain date (this might be the most definitive single date you could

>>>>> find), but the actual Odyssey units probably trickled into stores

>>>>> throughout the month of August 1972 and even further throughout the rest of

>>>>> the year.  So you'd have Odyssey units first available at different

>>>>> retailers at different times.  (And by the way, it's possible -- I don't

>>>>> recall -- that the Odyssey 1 was only sold through authorized Magnavox

>>>>> retailers.)

>>>>>

>>>>> Whenever I search for a single release date for a tech product

>>>>> released, say, before 1990, I almost never find one.  It's obvious through

>>>>> contemporary press reports that the companies did not announce such precise

>>>>> dates to the media.  Even if they did, the press didn't find it important

>>>>> enough to report the specifics of availability beyond a season like "Fall

>>>>> 1981" or a certain month (although even the specific month is rare, and it

>>>>> gets more uncommon the further back in the past you look) -- probably for

>>>>> the reasons I described above.  As far as I know, the precision to get

>>>>> product into every store nationwide by a certain date just hadn't been

>>>>> achieved in the electronics industry yet.  Either that or nobody cared

>>>>> enough to try to pull it off until much later.

>>>>>

>>>>> Kind Regards,

>>>>> Benj

>>>>>

>>>>>

>>>>>

>>>>> On 8/7/2012 11:17 AM, Devin Monnens wrote:

>>>>>

>>>>>  Do we have a more accurate release date for the Odyssey than 'August

>>>>> 1972'? I know there was a big hullaballoo about how nobody knows the

>>>>> release date of Super Mario Bros., but one would think there would be

>>>>> better documentation from Magnavox (such as Sears ads).

>>>>>

>>>>>  -Devin

>>>>>

>>>>>  --

>>>>> Devin Monnens

>>>>> www.deserthat.com

>>>>>

>>>>> The sleep of Reason produces monsters.

>>>>>

>>>>>

>>>>>  _______________________________________________

>>>>> game_preservation mailing listgame_preservation at igda.orghttp://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation

>>>>>

>>>>>

>>>>> --

>>>>> Freelance Writer / Editor in Chief VC&Ghttp://www.benjedwards.comhttp://www.vintagecomputing.com

>>>>>

>>>>>

>>>>> _______________________________________________

>>>>> game_preservation mailing list

>>>>> game_preservation at igda.org

>>>>> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation

>>>>>

>>>>>

>>>>

>>>>

>>>> _______________________________________________

>>>> game_preservation mailing listgame_preservation at igda.orghttp://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation

>>>>

>>>>

>>>> --

>>>> Freelance Writer / Editor in Chief VC&Ghttp://www.benjedwards.comhttp://www.vintagecomputing.com

>>>>

>>>>

>>>> _______________________________________________

>>>> game_preservation mailing list

>>>> game_preservation at igda.org

>>>> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation

>>>>

>>>>

>>>

>>> _______________________________________________

>>> game_preservation mailing list

>>> game_preservation at igda.org

>>> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation

>>>

>>>

>>

>>

>> --

>> Devin Monnens

>> www.deserthat.com

>>

>> The sleep of Reason produces monsters.

>>

>> _______________________________________________

>> game_preservation mailing list

>> game_preservation at igda.org

>> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation

>>

>>

>

> _______________________________________________

> game_preservation mailing list

> game_preservation at igda.org

> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation

>

>



-- 
Devin Monnens
www.deserthat.com

The sleep of Reason produces monsters.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/game_preservation/attachments/20120807/3add1679/attachment.html>