The RCA Studio II is a

home video game console A home video game console is a video game console that is designed to be connected to a display device, such as a television, and an external power source as to play video games. Home consoles are generally less powerful and customizable than ...

made by

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

that debuted in January 1977. The graphics of Studio II games were black and white and resembled those of earlier

Pong ''Pong'' is a table tennis–themed twitch arcade sports video game, featuring simple two-dimensional graphics, manufactured by Atari and originally released in 1972. It was one of the earliest arcade video games; it was created by Allan Alcor ...

consoles and their clones. The Studio II also did not have

joystick A joystick, sometimes called a flight stick, is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. A joystick, also known as the control column, is the principal cont ...

s or similar game controllers but instead used two ten-button keypads that were built into the console itself. The console was capable of making simple beep sounds with slight variations in tone and length. The Studio II included five built-in games. The Studio II was not a successful product; the previously released

Fairchild Channel F The Fairchild Channel F, short for "Channel Fun", is a video game console, the first to be based on a microprocessor and to use ROM cartridges instead of having games built-in. It was released by Fairchild Camera and Instrument in November 1976 a ...

made it obsolete at launch and the

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- ...

, superior to both, was released ten months later. After poor Christmas sales in 1977, RCA discontinued the Studio II.

Development

engineer

Joseph Weisbecker Joseph A. Weisbecker (September 4, 1932 – November 15, 1990) was an early microprocessor and microcomputer researcher, as well as a gifted writer and designer of toys and games. He was a recipient of the David Sarnoff award for outstanding tech ...

began building his own personal computer at home in the late 1960s, and encouraged the company to sell small computers. RCA introduced the Studio II video game console—using Weisbecker's COSMAC 1802 CPU—in January 1977.

Joyce Weisbecker Joyce Weisbecker (born 1958) is an American retired engineer and actuary. She became the first female commercial video game designer in 1976. She considers herself the first indie developer, given that she did her work as an independent contrac ...

, the daughter of the console's designer, learned how to program her father's homemade home computer as a child. After graduating from high school in 1976, she used her familiarity with the architecture to create ''School House I'' and ''Speedway/Tag'' for the Studio II, becoming the first woman to develop a commercial video game.

Market loss

The Studio II sold poorly. An internal sales document put RCA's own sales estimate for the console between 53,000 and 64,000 units sold between February 15, 1977, and January 31, 1978. It was released after the superior

, and the very successful

also appeared in 1977. RCA announced the console's discontinuation in February 1978 because of low Christmas sales. While losses were not disclosed, the company laid off 120 workers at its plant that produced the system in North Carolina. Some analysts blamed the fact the RCA Studio II's games were in black and white, and could not compete with systems offering color.

Technical specifications

RCA 1802 The COSMAC (Complementary Symmetry Monolithic Array Computer) is an 8-bit microprocessor family introduced by RCA. It is historically notable as the first CMOS microprocessor. The first production model was the two-chip CDP1801R and CDP1801U, w ...

microprocessor, 1.78 MHz * 2 KB ROM (includes the five built-in games) * 512 bytes RAM *

RCA CDP1861 The RCA CDP1861 was an integrated circuit Video Display Controller, released by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in the mid-1970s as a support chip for the RCA 1802 microprocessor. The chip cost in 1977 amounted to less than US$20. History T ...

"Pixie" video chip, 64x32, monochrome graphics

List of games

Built-in games

* ''Addition'' * ''Bowling'' * ''Doodle'' * ''Freeway'' * ''Patterns''

Released cartridges

# 18V400, TV Arcade I: Space War # 18V401, TV Arcade II: Fun with Numbers # 18V402, TV Arcade III: Tennis/Squash # 18V403, TV Arcade IV:

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

# 18V404, TV Arcade Series: Speedway/Tag # 18V405, TV Arcade Series: Gunfighter/Moonship Battle # 18V500, TV School House I # 18V501, TV School House II: Math Fun # 18V600, TV Casino I: Blackjack # 18V601, TV Casino Series: TV Bingo (''very limited release; only 3 copies are known to exist as of 1/7/2018'') # 18V700, TV Mystic Series: Biorhythm

Cartridges released on the MPT-02 clones (France/Australia)

# MG-200 Grand Pack (Doodle, Patterns, Blackjack and Bowling) # MG-201 Bingo # MG-202 Concentration Match # MG-203 Star Wars # MG-204 Math Fun (School House II) # MG-205 Pinball # MG-206 Biorythm # MG-207 Tennis/Squash # MG-208 Fun with Numbers # MG-209 Computer Quiz (School House I) # MG-210 Baseball # MG-211 Speedway/Tag # MG-212 Spacewar Intercept # MG-213 Gun Fight/Moon ship

Cartridges released on the Visicom COM-100 clone (Japan)

# CAS-110 Arithmetic drill (Math Fun & Fun with Numbers) # CAS-130 Sports fan (Baseball & Sumo Wrestling) # CAS-140 Gambler I (Blackjack) # CAS-141 Gambler II (Slot Machine and Dice) # CAS-160 Space Command (Space War) # CAS-190 Inspiration (Bagua, Blood typing and Astrology)

Other

# M1200-05 Star Wars (Sheen M1200) # M1200-07 Pinball (Sheen M1200) or Flipper (German Clone)

Legacy

The Studio II was followed by the Studio III which can also display color and uses the RCA CDP-1802 microprocessor. A Studio IV was planned but not created.

References

External links

History of Home Video Games - RCA Studio IIThe Dot Eaters article
featuring the RCA Studio II
Emma 02
including RCA Studio II Emulator
Studio II Owner's Manual
{{Home video game consoles Home video game consoles Second-generation video game consoles RCA brands Monochrome video game consoles Products introduced in 1977