[game_preservation] Release date of the Odyssey?

[Devin Monnens]

While I think it's great to have all the data available immediately without
much effort, I would support an annotated bibliography project. That way,
all you need to do is submit the APA formatted source to the librarian and
let them do the work for you :)

Incidentally, I have been trying to assemble one for all the research I did
on pre-1973 games, but there's a LOT to go through and I have been far too
busy to turn it into anything intelligent.

On Thu, Aug 9, 2012 at 3:58 PM, Henry Lowood <lowood at stanford.edu> wrote:


>  Benj,

>

> From a library perspective and as a historian, it seems to me that all the

> documents ARE available -- and they were discovered without that much

> effort.  I'm not sure that setting up a collection is really necessary, and

> yes, there are copyright issues, since access to the databases is governed

> by  licenses.  From a copyright perspective, I think links and embeds are

> the way to go, rather than hosting documents under copyright.  But my main

> point is that these documents were discoverable and available.  An article

> or an information resource (maybe what you mean in your last sentence)

> pulling the information together and citing the sources would be a more

> valuable project -- just my nickel's worth of opinion.

>

> Henry

>

>

> On 8/9/2012 12:05 PM, Benj Edwards wrote:

>

> Excellent work, Frank and everybody.  I did come across the following

> article references in my search through the Magnavox legal papers last

> night:

>

> Article on Magnavox ODYSSEY from the Wall Street Journal for May 11, 1972

> (CDIPX 7B, MPX 78)

>

> Article on Magnavox ODYSSEY from the Television Digest for May 15, 1972

> (CDIPX 1C, MPX 79)

>

> Article on Magnavox ODYSSEY from Time Magazine for May 22, 1972 (CDIPX 7D,

> MPX 80)

>

> Those were submitted as evidence for the 1984 Activision v. Magnavox

> trial.  The WSJ article was already mentioned by Brian, but I thought I'd

> include it for completeness (it's interesting to know what the lawyers knew

> about).

>

> On a related subject, with all these attachments flying around, perhaps we

> should set up an archive of scans of source material like this that would

> be free for any researcher to access.  Mainly so future historians

> (presumably those not connected to this group of people) don't have to go

> through what we just did to figure out (and confirm) the launch date of a

> particular machine.

>

> There may be copyright issues, but I'd be willing to risk hosting select

> newspaper and magazine clippings on my server.  It could be a big date and

> fact archive with numbers like launch dates and retail prices that only

> come from hard sources.

>

> Regards,

> Benj

>

>

> On 8/9/2012 12:59 PM, Frank Cifaldi wrote:

>

> BREAKING NEWS!

>

> Via the July 27, 1972 edition of The Daily Herald (Chicago):

>

> "Available to Magnavox dealers in August, Odyssey's initial price tag of

> just under $100 will include 12 different games."

>

> This was in a report about Magnavox's annual zone meeting for its dealers.

> There you go!

>

> Article is available (for pay) at newspaperarchive.com

> <http://newspaperarchive.com> <http://newspaperarchive.com>.

>

>

> On Thu, Aug 9, 2012 at 9:37 AM, Philippe Dubois, association MO5.COM

> <http://MO5.COM> <http://MO5.COM>, Président <samurai at mo5.com

> <mailto:samurai at mo5.com> <samurai at mo5.com>> wrote:

>

>     Thanks everyone for your answer.

>

>     The biography of M.Baer just came out in France this month through

>     the edition "Pix'n Love", i'm sure it will be delightful to read

>     it in details ;)

>

>

>     Best regards,

>

>     -----------

>

>     Cordialement,

>

>     Philippe Dubois, Association MO5.COM <http://MO5.COM> <http://MO5.COM>,

> Président

>

>     --

>

>

>

>

>

>     On Aug 9, 2012 11:25 AM, "Philippe Dubois, association MO5.COM

>     <http://MO5.COM> <http://MO5.COM>, Président" <samurai at mo5.com

>     <mailto:samurai at mo5.com> <samurai at mo5.com>> wrote:

>

>     >

>

>     > Hi everyone !

>

>     >

>

>     >

>

>     > How can it be possible for M.Baer, with all the respect i have for

> him, not to know the

>     exact date the Odyssey was publicly launch and available in stores ?

>

>     Because he had nothing to do with that. Remember, he was with Sanders.

>

>     The Odyssey's launch, distribution, etc. was a Magnavox issue.

>

>     What about the date when M.Baer showed up the tennis game to

>     M.Bushnell so he went into the idea of cloning this as "Pong" ?

>

>     >

>

>     >

>

>     He didn't show anything, Magnavox did.

>

>

>     >

>

>     > Best regards,

>

>     >

>

>     > -----------

>

>     >

>

>     > Cordialement,

>

>     >

>

>     > Philippe Dubois, AssociationMO5.COM <http://MO5.COM><http://MO5.COM>,

> Président

>

>     >

>

>     > --

>

>     >

>

>     >

>

>     >

>

>     > Maybe we just have different philosophies but I'm going to have to

> strongly disagree here. The

>     only thing we know as solid fact right now is that sometime

>     between May 3 and August 30, the Odyssey was in at least one

>     store. Saying "by August" is safe, I agree, but I fail to see how

>     saying the first sale was in August is any safer than saying the

>     first sale was in July. We just don't know.

>

>     >

>

>     >

>

>     >

>

>     > On Thu, Aug 9, 2012 at 9:02 AM, Bill Loguidice <

> bill at armchairarcade.com

>     <mailto:bill at armchairarcade.com> <bill at armchairarcade.com>> wrote:

>

>     >

>

>     >

>

>     > August is safest at the moment because the ad is thus far our

> earliest proof of a unit

>     physically being in a store. Again, it doesn't mean it was for

>     sale - it could have been a demo unit - but even if it wasn't

>     necessarily in stock, it was likely available for order. If we

>     have some type of earlier proof a unit was in a store, we can

>     revise the estimate. That's why I personally think August is

>     "safe" and the best available time period. If someone can dig up

>     earlier availability at a Magnavox dealer, all the better...

>

>     >

>

>     >

>

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

>

>     >

>

>     > Bill Loguidice, Managing Director; Armchair Arcade, Inc.

>

>     >

>

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

>

>     >

>

>     > Authored Books and Film; About me and other ways to get in touch

>

>     >

>

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

>

>     >

>

>     >

>

>     >

>

>     >

>

>     > On Thu, Aug 9, 2012 at 11:36 AM, Frank Cifaldi <fcifaldi at gmail.com

>     <mailto:fcifaldi at gmail.com> <fcifaldi at gmail.com>> wrote:

>

>     >

>

>     >

>

>     > Why is August the safest estimate? And do we want a "safe estimate"

> or do we want an exact

>     range?

>

>     >

>

>     >

>

>     >

>

>     > On Thu, Aug 9, 2012 at 8:30 AM, Bill Loguidice <

> bill at armchairarcade.com

>     <mailto:bill at armchairarcade.com> <bill at armchairarcade.com>> wrote:

>

>     >

>

>     >

>

>     > I think right now August is still our safest estimate, though you're

> right, it could

>     certainly have been released sooner. Even the ad - which at least

>     proves the system was at dealers by August - doesn't necessarily

>     mean it was for SALE in August (it's a relatively modest "come

>     see" - you would think they would advertise something so "cool"

>     with the TVs and indicate its actual availability).

>

>     >

>

>     >

>

>     >

>

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>

>     >

>

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>

> --

> Henry Lowood

> Curator for History of Science & Technology Collections;

>   Film & Media Collections

> HSSG, Green Library, 557 Escondido Mall

> Stanford University Libraries, Stanford CA 94305-6004650-723-4602; lowood at stanford.edu; http://www.stanford.edu/~lowood

>

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-- 
Devin Monnens
www.deserthat.com

The sleep of Reason produces monsters.
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