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Imagic
Imagic ( ) was an American video game developer and publisher that created games initially for the Atari 2600. Founded in 1981 by corporate alumni of Atari, Inc. and Mattel, its best-selling titles were ''Atlantis'', ''Cosmic Ark'', and ''Demon Attack''. Imagic also released games for Intellivision, ColecoVision, Atari 8-bit family, TI-99/4A, IBM PCjr, VIC-20, Commodore 64, TRS-80 Color Computer, and Magnavox Odyssey². Their Odyssey² ports of ''Demon Attack'' and ''Atlantis'' were the only third-party releases for that system in America. The company never recovered from the video game crash of 1983 and was liquidated in 1986. History Imagic was the second third-party publisher for the Atari 2600, formed after Activision. Founders included Bill Grubb, Bob Smith, Mark Bradlee, Rob Fulop, and Denis Koble from Atari, Inc., Jim Goldberger, Dave Durran and Brian Dougherty from Mattel. Grubb previously served as the vp of sales and marketing for Atari for 18 months. Before that, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atlantis (video Game)
''Atlantis'' is a fixed shooter video game released by Imagic in July 1982 for the Atari 2600. It was written by Dennis Koble who also wrote ''Trick Shot'', ''Solar Storm'', and ''Shootin' Gallery'' for Imagic. ''Atlantis'' was ported to the Atari 8-bit computers, VIC-20, Intellivision, and the Magnavox Odyssey 2. The game was inspired by Taito's 1981 ''Colony 7'' arcade game. ''Atlantis'' was the subject of Destination Atlantis, a video game competition in which players of the Atari 2600 version were encouraged to mail photos of their high scores to Imagic to receive a special edition of the game named ''Atlantis II''. Plot and gameplay The player controls the last defenses of the City of Atlantis against the Gorgon invaders. The city has seven bases, which are vulnerable to attack. Three of these have firepower capabilities to destroy the Gorgon ships before they manage to fire death rays at one of the settlements. The gun bases have fixed cannons; the center base fires st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Demon Attack
''Demon Attack'' is a fixed shooter written by Rob Fulop for the Atari 2600 and published by Imagic in 1982. It was ported to the Intellivision, Magnavox Odyssey 2, Atari 8-bit family, VIC-20, Commodore 64, Tandy 1000 (as a self-booting disk), TRS-80, IBM PCjr, and TRS-80 Color Computer. There is also a port for the TI-99/4A titled ''Super Demon Attack''. ''Demon Attack'' is supposedly based on the 1979 arcade shooter ''Galaxian'', though it closely resembles several waves from the 1980 arcade game ''Phoenix''.Stilphen, Scott. "DP Interviews... Rob Fulop", ''Digital Press''. The similarities prompted a lawsuit from Atari, Inc., who had purchased the latter's home video game rights. Imagic settled out of court, and ''Demon Attack'' became Imagic's best-selling game as of 1983. Gameplay Marooned on the ice planet Krybor, the player uses a laser cannon to destroy legions of demons that attack from above. Visually, the demons appear in waves similar to other space-themed shooters ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cosmic Ark
''Cosmic Ark'' is an Atari 2600 game designed by Rob Fulop and published by Imagic in 1982. The objective is to gather specimens from different planets in a spaceship which contains the survivors from the city of Atlantis. There are two versions of the cartridge. One allows the player to toggle the starfield display with the Black & White / Color TV switch. In the other the starfield cannot be disabled. Gameplay In the first stage, the player must fend off meteor showers from all four sides of the screen by pushing the joystick to fire in the desired direction, similar to the 1980 arcade game '' Space Zap''. The second stage requires the player to pilot a shuttle to a planet and use its tractor beam to pick up life forms. While near the planet's surface, planetary defenses will fire at the shuttle. If hit, one previously captured specimen will be freed, forcing the player to retrieve another. After a set period of time, a klaxon will warn of renewed meteor activity, and the pla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Intellivision
The Intellivision is a home video game console released by Mattel, Mattel Electronics in 1979. The name is a portmanteau of "intelligent television". Development began in 1977, the same year as the launch of its main competitor, the Atari 2600. In 1984, Mattel sold its video game assets to a former Mattel Electronics executive and investors, eventually becoming INTV Corporation. Game development ran from 1978 to 1990 when the Intellivision was discontinued. From 1980 to 1983, more than 3 million consoles were sold. In 2009, IGN ranked the Intellivision No. 14 of the greatest video game consoles of all time. It remained Mattel's only video game console until the HyperScan in 2006. History and development Master Component The Intellivision was developed at Mattel in Hawthorne, California along with the Mattel Electronics line of Mattel Auto Race, handheld electronic games. Mattel's Design and Development group began investigating a home video game system in 1977. It was to have ric ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rob Fulop
Rob Fulop is an American game programmer who created two of the Atari 2600's biggest hits: the port of arcade game ''Missile Command'' and 1982's ''Demon Attack'', which won '' Electronic Games''' Game of the Year award. While at Atari, Fulop also ported '' Night Driver'' to the 2600 and ''Space Invaders'' to the Atari 8-bit family. Early life Fulop grew up in Oakland, California where was first introduced to computers via a teletype in Skyline High School in 1974, which he used to create simple programs in BASIC such as a coin flipper and a game similar to '' Nim''. His experience with the device inspired him to pursue a degree in electrical engineering and computer science at the University of California, Berkeley. Career Atari (1978-1981) While studying in university, Fulop got an internship in Atari's coin-op division where he worked on sound design for a ''Superman'' pinball machine and developed an editor to be used for generating sound effects for other pinball mac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dragonfire (video Game)
''Dragonfire'' is a 1982 video game written by Bob Smith and published by Imagic. The player grabs treasure guarded by a dragon while avoiding fireballs. It was originally released for the Atari 2600 then ported to the Intellivision, VIC-20, Commodore 64, Apple II, ZX Spectrum, ColecoVision, and TRS-80 Color Computer. The game's source code was put into the public domain by developer Bob Smith on May 24, 2003. Gameplay Each level of ''Dragonfire'' has two stages. The first stage is a side view of the character trying to cross a drawbridge to reach a castle. To traverse the bridge, the player must duck under high fireballs and jump over low fireballs. Upon success, the second stage begins, which has a more top-down point of view. The player guides the character around the room collecting treasure and dodging fireballs spewed by a dragon that patrols the bottom of the screen. Collecting every piece of treasure opens a door to the next level. A single hit from a fireball in eithe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atari, Inc
Atari, Inc. was an American video game developer and home computer company founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. Atari was a key player in the formation of the video arcade and video game industry. Based primarily around the Sunnyvale, California, area in the center of Silicon Valley, the company was initially formed to develop arcade games, launching with ''Pong'' in 1972. As computer technology matured with low-cost integrated circuits, Atari ventured into the consumer market, first with dedicated home video game console, home versions of ''Pong'' and other arcade successes around 1975, and into programmable consoles using game cartridges with the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS or later branded as the Atari 2600) in 1977. To bring the Atari VCS to market, Bushnell sold Atari to Warner Communications in 1976. In 1978, Warner brought in Ray Kassar to help run the company, but over the next few years, gave Kassar more of a leadership role in the company. Bushn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magnavox Odyssey²
The Magnavox Odyssey 2 (stylized as Magnavox Odyssey²), also known as Philips Odyssey 2, is a second generation home video game console that was released in 1978. It was sold in Europe as the Philips Videopac G7000, in Brazil and Peru as the Philips Odyssey and in Japan as Odyssey2 (オデッセイ2 ''odessei2''). The Odyssey 2 was one of the four major home consoles prior to the 1983 video game market crash, along with Atari 2600, Intellivision and ColecoVision. In the early 1970s, Magnavox pioneered the home video game industry by successfully bringing the first home console to market, the Odyssey, which was quickly followed by a number of later models, each with a few technological improvements (''see Magnavox Odyssey series''). In 1978, Magnavox, now a subsidiary of North American Philips, decided to release an all-new successor, Odyssey 2. In 2009, the video game website IGN named the Odyssey 2 the 21st greatest video game console, out of its list of 25. Design The ori ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phoenix (video Game)
is a fixed shooter arcade video game released in December 1980 by Taito. It was then released in Europe, and then in the Americas by Centuri and Amstar Electronics in January 1981. The ''Phoenix'' mothership is one of the first video arcade game bosses to be presented as a separate challenge.Sterbakov, Hugh. (2008-03-05The 47 Most Diabolical Video-Game Villains of All Time GamePro. Retrieved on 2008-04-28. It was a critical and commercial success, becoming one of Centuri's most successful titles. Gameplay The player controls a spaceship that moves horizontally at the bottom of the screen, firing upward. Enemies, typically one of two types of birds, appear on the screen above the player's ship, shooting at it and periodically diving towards it in an attempt to crash into it. The ship is equipped with a shield that can be used to zap any of the alien creatures that attempt to crash into it. The player cannot move while the shield is active and must wait approximately five s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atari 2600
The Atari 2600, initially branded as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS) from its release until November 1982, is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977, it popularized microprocessor-based hardware and games stored on swappable ROM cartridges, a format first used with the Fairchild Channel F in 1976. The VCS was bundled with two joystick controllers, a conjoined pair of paddle controllers, and a game cartridgeinitially '' Combat'' and later '' Pac-Man''. Atari was successful at creating arcade video games, but their development cost and limited lifespan drove CEO Nolan Bushnell to seek a programmable home system. The first inexpensive microprocessors from MOS Technology in late 1975 made this feasible. The console was prototyped as codename Stella by Atari subsidiary Cyan Engineering. Lacking funding to complete the project, Bushnell sold Atari to Warner Communications in 1976. The Atari VCS launched in 1977 with n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Video Game Crash Of 1983
The video game crash of 1983 (known as the Atari shock in Japan) was a large-scale recession in the video game industry that occurred from 1983 to 1985, primarily in the United States. The crash was attributed to several factors, including market saturation in the number of video game consoles and available games, many of which were of poor quality, as well as waning interest in console games in favor of personal computers. Home video game revenues peaked at around $3.2 billion in 1983, then fell to around $100 million by 1985 (a drop of almost 97 percent). The crash abruptly ended what is retrospectively considered the second generation of console video gaming in North America. To a lesser extent, the arcade game market also weakened as the golden age of arcade video games came to an end. Lasting about two years, the crash shook a then-booming video game industry and led to the bankruptcy of several companies producing home computers and video game consoles. Analysts of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Activision
Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one of the largest third-party video game publishers in the world and was the top United States publisher in 2016. The company was founded as Activision, Inc. on October 1, 1979 in Sunnyvale, California, by former Atari game developers upset at their treatment by Atari in order to develop their own games for the popular Atari 2600 home video game console. Activision was the first independent, third-party, console video game developer. The video game crash of 1983, in part created by too many new companies trying to follow in Activision's footsteps without the expertise of Activision's founders, hurt Activision's position in console games and forced the company to diversify into games for home computers, including the acquisition of Infocom. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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