[game_preservation] Release date of the Odyssey?

[Devin Monnens]

Steve Kent mentioned in his book that when they were trying to figure out
where to sell Home Pong, they looked in the Sears catalog and saw they were
advertising Odyssey through the sporting goods department. So that was
where I looked.

I have no clue where you would find catalogs or information on Magnavox
dealers from 1972. I guess we'll just have to find out from Ralph Baer!

On Tue, Aug 7, 2012 at 10:25 PM, Bill Loguidice <bill at armchairarcade.com>wrote:


> Keep in mind that magazines of the time had lead times of three months or

> greater, so at best those are their safest guesses based on information

> from Magnavox. Also, as was previously stated, Sears didn't carry

> videogames until their rebranded Atari Pong console in 1975 (it's not like

> there were any other options prior, anyway). The only known places the

> Odyssey systems were sold were authorized Magnavox dealers.

>

> ===================================================

> Bill Loguidice, Managing Director; Armchair Arcade, Inc.<http://www.armchairarcade.com>

> ===================================================

> Authored Books<http://www.amazon.com/Bill-Loguidice/e/B001U7W3YS/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_1>and

> Film <http://www.armchairarcade.com/film>; About me and other ways to get

> in touch <http://about.me/billloguidice>

> ===================================================

>

>

>

> On Tue, Aug 7, 2012 at 5:54 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?

>>

>>

>>

> _______________________________________________

> 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/20120807/875d72ef/attachment.html>